Plastic Command Rules

As I wrote in my previous post, I really appreciate all you readers and your comments. Especially those which points me into new rules or aspects of wargaming.

After writing a review on Nick Grant's Wargame in a Bag (2), J.P. Medved suggested on the Facebook-group Army Men Homepage another free ruleset; the Plastic Command Rules, which can be requested on the Plastic Command Homepage. The rules are made by J.P. Medved him self. I signed up and downloaded the rules and wanted to try them out. 

I think it would be fair to play them with the same scenario as I've done with all the other reviews of free wargame rules for army men and toy soldiers, and a scenario some of you will be familiar by now. I repeat the scenario here if it's your first time here and you haven't read it yet:

The scenario

I've placed this skirmish to the United Nations largest mission in both scale and operational scope during the Congo Crisis 1960-65, when UN troops 'peacekeeping' was more offensive 'peace enforcement' with force.

Situation:

This skirmish is finding place in fictional place of Lumbaya in the early January of 1963, when the UN during operation 'Grand Slam' are turning their attention to the remaining Katangese strongholds in Southern Katanga after after securing the Katangese capitol of Élisabethville.

Place:

Lumbaya is a very small village located 80km south west of Élisabethville, and are made into a stronghold by a small platoon of Katangese Gendarmes. The village is one of several strongholds in the area to trying to hold the UN off while trying to keep the self-proclaimed president Tshombe by power of the self-proclaimed Katanga state.

Forces:

• Katangese:
• 2 rifle-squads each of 10 soldiers, a LMG and and a bazooka/flame thrower. Each squad can operate as 2 fireteams independently. 
• 1 HMG-detachment of 3 soldiers
• 1 sniper
• HQ-section with platoon-leader and 2 medics
• After turn 12: A QRF consisting of 1 truck with a HMG and a section of 10 'veterans' with a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese forces. 

• UN:
• 1 Platoon of 3 rifle-squads each of 8 soldiers and a LMG. The squads can operate independently.
• 1 Light mortar-detachment of  2 soldiers and an observer
• 1 bazooka-detachment of 3 soldiers
• HQ-section with platoon-leader
• 1 Jeep with HMG and 2 soldiers.

Mission:

• Katangese: To hold the strongpoint of Lumbaya. Can request QRF-support as mentioned in the force-section from turn 12 if still holding whole or part of the strongpoint.
• UN: To take and hold the strongpoint of Lumbya, preferably within 12 turns, and take control on as many Katangese gendarms located there as possible.

AAR

Time:    1 hour and 45 minutes

Turns:   9

Result:  UN defeat

The UN offensive against the Katangese forces in Lumbaya did not have a successful start as the Katangese rooftop HMG immediate got a direct hit on the UN Jeep and eliminated it and the HMG. In the next turn the Katangese forces managed to eliminate an entire UN rifle squad as well.

Lacking an entire squad and necessary support-weapons, the UN had to improvise by using a bazooka-team in the support role for not to loose the initiative in their offensive.

The Bazooka team did well as close support and managed to score a hit in the Katangese defense line. Luckily for the Katangese Gendarmes, they had medics nearby, which managed to help some of the casualties (with good dice rolling). 

At this point the Katangese forces managed to make the UN advancement come to a halt and the forces were exchanging fire.

But when an UN mortar-grenade punched a brief hole in the Katangese defense-line, the UN troops had  to utilize it and make a run for it before the Katangese Gendarmes could fill it up again with their reserves.

But they were not quick enough to exploit the hole in the defenses, as the Katangese reserves arrived just in time to fight back and took out almost an entire rifle squad. The remaining UN-soldier failed his morale test and was hurring back to his own lines.

By this time the UN did not have the necessary forces left to continue their offensive against Lumbaya, and the Platoon-leader ordered a retreat for those very few left.

After giving his orders the UN Platoon-leader was taken out before he managed to leave the line of fire himself

The UN offensive against Lumbaya had taken a toll on the Katangese Gendarmerie, but they managed to hold their position. for now. Probably the UN will return to finish the job.

Pros

• It's free to download on the Plastic Command homepage or on this link.
• It can be played with any toy soldiers and inexpensive army men.
• The rules have very generous firing ranges. Maybe too generous considering that the suggested play area is 4'x6'. This may cause less movement and more static fire exchange. Remember to load your table with different kind of covers. You troops will need them.
• The rules have an own section how to build (equally strong) armies.
• The rules have an own section for urban fighting in buildings.
• It have rules for medics and how and for long to treat casualties.
• It has rules for airborne troops and where they arrive at the gaming area.
• Own rules for planes and helicopters if you want to add such to your game.
• Rules for how to cross and lay minefields.

Cons

• Despite a wide weapon range, the rules just list 'MG' and do not separate between LMGs and HMGs. HMGs just makes more damage than a LMG.
• The rules doesn't make it harder to hit the targets on langer ranges than shorter. And units not moving do not gain any benefits for having time to aim.
• There is no Owerwatch rules to interrupt enemy actions.
• The penetration and save rules makes it theoretically possible to blow up a truck with a single pistol or rifle shot.
• There seems to be contradictory information concerning snipers. In the unit section sniper units are given a shoot value of 4+ but in the weapon section it always hits on a 2+. I played as the latter.
• If the roll of a "1" is always considered a failure, why does a roll of a "1" give vehicles a save?

Conclusion

I'm glad J.P. Medved shared his rules, and I'm happy to play it. Thanks!! I had a good time and a narrative game. I also must say that these rules includes a lots of the different elements I've considered as 'pros' in earlier reviewed free wargame-rules for toy soldiers and army men. It's worth taking a closer look at them and have a game.

It looks like there have to be another revisit to Lumbaya....

Stay tuned!

A simplified set of rules for Modern Wargames

One of the nice things with writing this blog are all you people who reads it, and sometimes comments on my posts. Especially appreciated  are comments which points me into new rules or aspects of wargaming.

After writing a review on Donald Featherstone's 'Close Wars', John Yorio from the excellent blogg '54mm or Fight' suggested another Donald Featherstone's rules; 'War Games or Battles with Models Soldiers' as an alternative for simple rules in a more modern setting with heavier weapons. This was also encouraged by Mark from the excellent 'Man of Tin blog'. Links to both of these inspiring blogs are found in the bar to the right and below in the link-sections (and if you haven't been there yet, pay them a visit). John even provided me of a copy of the 3 short pages of Donald Feathersone's rules.  So I decided I had to try them out. Wow! What a society!!

I think it would be fair to play them with the same scenario as I've done with the other reviews of free wargame rules for army men and toy soldiers, and a scenario some of you will be familiar by now. I repeat the scenario here if it's your first time here and you haven't read it yet:

The scenario

I've placed this skirmish to the United Nations largest mission in both scale and operational scope during the Congo Crisis 1960-65, when UN troops 'peacekeeping' was more offensive 'peace enforcement' with force.

Situation:

This skirmish is finding place in fictional place of Lumbaya in the early January of 1963, when the UN during operation 'Grand Slam' are turning their attention to the remaining Katangese strongholds in Southern Katanga after after securing the Katangese capitol of Élisabethville.

Place:

Lumbaya is a very small village located 80km south west of Élisabethville, and are made into a stronghold by a small platoon of Katangese Gendarmes. The village is one of several strongholds in the area to trying to hold the UN off while trying to keep the self-proclaimed president Tshombe by power of the self-proclaimed Katanga state.

Forces:

• Katangese:
• 2 rifle-squads each of 10 soldiers, a LMG and and a bazooka/flame thrower. Each squad can operate as 2 fireteams independently. 
• 1 HMG-detachment of 3 soldiers
• 1 sniper
• HQ-section with platoon-leader and 2 medics
• After turn 12 if rules include vehicles or skilled troops: A QRF consisting of 1 truck with a HMG and a section of 10 'veterans' with a LMG and a bazooka arrives from the next village. Only if Lumbaya is still held by Katangese forces.

• UN:
• 1 Platoon of 3 rifle-squads each of 8 soldiers and a LMG. The squads can operate independently.
• 1 Light mortar-detachment of  2 soldiers and an observer
• 1 bazooka-detachment of 3 soldiers
• HQ-section with platoon-leader
• 1 Jeep with HMG and 2 soldiers.

Mission:

• Katangese: To hold the strongpoint of Lumbaya. Can request QRF-support as mentioned in the force-section from turn 12 if still holding whole or part of the strongpoint.
• UN: To take and hold the strongpoint of Lumbya, preferably within 12 turns, and take control on as many Katangese gendarms located there as possible.

AAR

Time:    1 hour and 30 minutes

Turns:   11

Result:  UN victory

The UN platoon made their advance towards Lumbaya, supported by both a Mortar team and a vehicle-mounted HMG.

Very early in the campaign the UN mortar made two successfully hits andt eliminated the Katangese HMG and support-base. This made the UN advancement much easier and quicker...

... and gave the UN the needed initiative in the battle.

When getting closer to the village the UN forces met more resistance and heavier fire, and their jeep and HMG were eventually taken out by a Katangese LMG, but not before...

...the UN support weapons made to tear up the Katangese line of defense completely...

...and the Katangese reserves didn't even make it to their defense line before they were under heavy fire and taken out by another successful UN-mortar grenade.

In turn 8 the first UN squads were entering the village. The Katangese had only one team and surprise left for the entering UN-troops, a 'secret weapon'. 

...Until it malfunctioned in the next turn (because you just don't miss with a weapon like this), and another UN squad came to the rescue. By this time there were only 2 unarmed Katangese medics left in the village, and an UN success with minimal losses (just a jeep and 4 plastic grunts).

Pros

• It's simple and can be played with easily available and cheap army men or toy soldiers from a lot of different (modern-) periods.
• Fast playing.

Cons

• These rules are really simple. Perhaps too simple. In only 3 small pages there are minimal information which may lead to misinterpretations.
• Even if the rules were short they were contradictory on the rifle ranges. One place it was written that the rifle range was 12", and on another thet you had to deduct '3' from your dice if firing rifles on ranges between 12"-24". I went for the long range alternative as I think the firing range for infantry weapons are a little too short.
• There were no clear turn sequence, so I decided to play is at 'I go, You go'.
• Even if it contains rules for a lots of special weapons, it doesn't have any rules for sniper rifles. It didn't matter much in my game anyway, because my 'sniper' (which I treated as a infantry man with long range) was only rolling '1's every time.
• In this game you don't roll a dice (or more) for each weapon. Infantry units fire 1 D6 for each volley of 5 men. - and deduct numbers from your dice depending on the range. The units under fire makes a roll for a save thou. So some calculation is needed when not operating 5-men teams or teams divisible by 5. It also makes it very difficult for smaller units to hit anything at all.

Conclusion

As the last time I played a game by Donald Featherstone, I had a good time. The game is easy and fast playing. I think it would work even better in a smaller scale such as 1:72 or similar. This game also shows that heavier weapons cause more damage and casualties, and that was exactly what I missed with Donald Featherstone's Close Wars. Thanks to John for the suggestion and the rules and Mark for the encouragement.

When writing this it seems like there has to be at least one more revisit to Lumbaya during 'Grand Slam'. Sign up on this blog if you haven't done so already, and stay tuned...