Category Archives: Sessions

Fall Gertrude – Conceptual Framework

December 30, 2018Boardgames, Sessions, World War IIEuropa, Fall GertrudeRalph

Huge Disclaimer Primarily For Those That Were And Have Probably Been Involved In Flame Wars In Any Form Of Europa List Past, Present And Future……

This is not an attempt at crafting an A Strange Alternate History Scenario……..Just playing with counters and possibilities.

Every time War In The Desert (WITD) comes off the shelf, I’ve looked at all those Turkish counters, and what a waste it is they remain neutral and unplayed.

Information concerning “Gertrude”, the German plan to invade Turkey, seems scarce and vague. Strategy and Tactics published a World At War game a couple of years ago. I bought it, looked it over, and sold it. Too much emphasis on special operations, which seemed strange for an operational game. However, I did note their conjectural divisional/corps Axis force list as a starting point for Europa, as Turkish initial dispositions and reinforcements are in WITD.

Gertrude was considered an unnecessary diversion of resources, given the demands of other theaters. Maybe the operation would have taken place if Hitler pursued a Southern Strategy.

Developing a context for invasion became an interesting thought exercise. Plausibility of each of these factors is, by definition, subject to plenty of debate and/or outright dismissal. However, I had to start somewhere.

During the process, I came to more fully appreciate how strategically important Great Britain’s operations during the Spring and Summer of 1941 were. During this period, Britain quashed the Golden Square’s revolt in Iraq, invaded Syria to remove the collaborationist Vichy forces and, with the Soviet Union, invaded and occupied pro-German Iran. These actions secured Turkey’s southern borders from possible pro-German military activities.

My framework assumes these operations take place, despite the interesting possibilities inherant in an invasion of Turkey involving Vichy, Iraqi and, possibly, Iranian troops.

The framework also assumes an invasion would not have taken place in 1941 after Marita-Merkur or before Operation Barbarossa.

This leaves Spring-Summer of 1942 as a possible time frame for invasion. However, German forces were stretched to the limit for Case Blue, with other assets committed to Rommel in North Africa.

To get around these limiting elements, my framework assumes the Germans pulled back from Moscow in late 1941, avoiding significant losses during the Soviet winter counter-offensive, with greater resources available in the East for 1942’s offensives. Also, that units in France were available for use in Gertrude. Operation Jubilee (Dieppe) did not occur until August.

Fall Gertrude would now be a pincer aimed at meeting Case Blue’s forces in the vicinity of Grozny, securing Turkish mineral resources and the Baku oil fields. The victorious German forces would now threaten British held Syria and, by extension, the Suez Canal.

It’s a start. Accepting these highly arguable assumptions, the next step was to develop a German force list.

Clear The Woods – Pt. 4

December 28, 2018Colonials, Miniatures, SessionsTSATFRalph

The Lieutenant’s options are pretty straightforward; if you think about them for 10 minutes rather than the minute or less he has to ponder the situation.

Withdraw – You’ve cleared the woods, now get the hell out of there.
Fire and Then Withdraw – Punish them. But, they might get the initiative and being only 12 inches away with a D6x4 charge roll, they can run you down in the Woods.
Fire and Hold – Same as (2) above, but you will be in melee, and the woods have no favorites.
Charge – Hope they break. If not….

I cheated, playing both Options 1 and 4. In Option 1, the Marines successfully broke contact and moved towards camp.

Two of the three Boxer units fled the Marines’ Option 4 charge. Only the riflemen remained, killing one Marine before melee.

Marines Ready To Close. Die Roll of 1-5 Needed. Piece Of Cake.

Two Boxer Units Fail Their Stand Die Roll of D6 1-3. Marines Close With Remaining Riflemen And Gunners.

The melee took two turns. The Marines had a +1 D6 modifier because of the rifle and artillerymen’s presumed ineptitude in hand-to-hand combat. OK….????

In the first round, two Marines retreated, with one Boxer killed, one wounded and three fleeing.

Five more Boxers, one lightly wounded, fell back during the second round.

The Boxers left the battlefield on a D6x4 roll of 14, leaving the bloodied and exhausted Marines holding the ridge.

Clear The Woods – Pt. 3

December 27, 2018Colonials, Miniatures, SessionsTSAFTRalph

Event and Terrain Cards are played. The former limits visibility to 20 inches, while the latter causes a Marine to badly hurt his leg and fall behind the others.

Event Not Applicable, So I Changed It To One Marine Hurting Leg And Falling Behind.

The Boxers roll for reinforcements each Movement phase. A roll of “Yes” generates a number of units equal to a D4.

The Marines respond artillery fire by shifting to a skirmish line, but vegetation (bad die rolls) slows movement to the edge of the woods.

A second artillery round (the antiquated cannon can shoot every two moves), kills the limping Marine.

Limping Marine Killed By Artillery. Others Struggle To Extend Into Skirmish Line And Avoid Artillery Casualties By Bunching Up.

A combination of bad Boxer luck and two good movement rolls allow the Marines to reach the tree line. They can easily destroy the Boxer field gun if their luck can hold concerning Boxer reinforcements. But, NO. A “Yes” is rolled with a D4 of “3” calling for three Boxer units, one of which will be a rifle unit.

Will the Boxers be positioned on top of the ridge, or in defilade? A “Maybe” roll for top of the ridge leads to a 50-50 chance. The ensuing die roll indicates the Boxers are massed along the ridge. Such a tempting target!

This is a SERIOUS problem for the Marine Lieutenant. Does he engage or withdraw. His orders were to clear the woods. The Boxers have already had their Movement Phase. If the Marines fall back now, they can probably make it back to their camp and report the presence of this force. If they send a runner, he might summon reinforcements for support. Or, is it “Death Or Glory”?

Clear The Woods – Pt 2

December 19, 2018Miniatures, SessionsTSAFTRalph

The Boxers took 80% casualties, most of them lightly wounded, during the melees. Both Boxer groups and the fanatic riflemen fell back into the woods.

The Marines suffered two dead and three lightly wounded. Treating the wounded and burying the dead, they pushed on.

The new Terrain Effects Card indicated a rifle range of 15 inches and a maximum movement of two D6 +3 inches in the woods.

The chance of new contact was 20% . A percentage die roll of 80 resulted in no contact, and the Marines pushed deeper into the woods.

After that move, the chance of contact increased by 20 basis points, now at 40%. No contact again, on another roll of 80.

The next Marine movement die roll included a six, triggering an Event Card draw. The card was not appropriate and disregarded.

With the chance of contact now at 60%, the die roll was a 10, resulting in a contact. A D6 roll of 2, divided by two, resulted in one Boxer unit emerging in the woods. The question was “A rifle or other unit”. The die roll of “Yes” indicated a rifle unit, with a subsequent Directional die roll of approaching from the East. With a 3x D6 roll of “7” indicating 7 inches from the Marines.

The well disciplined Marines conducted an immediate action move facing the Boxer threat, and, luckily drew a “Fire” card from the Action deck.

In the ensuing fire fight, both sides took casualties. After two exchanges, the Marines charged. The Marines closed to contact, and the Boxers rolled a withdrawl, fleeing off the table.

The Marines detailed one lightly wounded Marine to take a more seriously wounded comrade back to camp.

The mission continues…….

Immediate Action Drill. Contact Right. Marines Away From Contact Maintain 360 Watch

Firefight. Both Sides Take Casualties. Boxer Leader Killed.

Despite Wound To Leader, Marines Close To Contact. Still Maintain Overwatch. Boxers Flee.

Clear The Woods

December 18, 2018Miniatures, SessionsTSAFTRalph

Been slowly but steadily working with the game. Solo play requires a lot of imagination, assisted by “Yes, No, Maybe” dice and directional dice.

A simple scenario. A Marine squad is tasked with clearing a wooded area known to contain groups of Boxers. For the Marines, it wasn’t a wooded area, but a hornet’s nest.

Random die rolls generated three groups of Boxers the moment Marines entered the woods. It was a wild melee.

I’m using old wooden Risk cubes to denote light (pink) and serious (red) wounds. Pinned troops are marked with a brown cube, with shaken troops getting a yellow cube. Deaths are shown with black cubes.

The Marines fought well, and the Boxers were resilient….maybe because I messed up the retreats from melee. It was an entertaining slugging match, allowing me the opportunity to work with both Action and Terrain decks.

The two large groups of Boxers withdrew after heavy casualties. However, the one band of fanatical riflemen remain.

Lost Weekend?

August 31, 2018Boardgames, Sessions, World War IIEuropaRalph

The bad news came on Thursday. Tim couldn’t make it to our annual Labor Day Weekend wargaming/college football blow-out. His pup, Crater, was not doing well and putting her in a kennel was out of the question.

Had just finished setting up the maps and sorting the counters for Storm Over Scandanavia’s Campaign for Sweden Scenario. Might as well make the best of it.

This is a hypothetical German attack after the Fall of Fance. The timeframe is July-September 1940.

An infantry affair, with very limited armored resources for both sides. The Germans do have air superiority and a wealth of General Support air assets. This advantage is mitigated by wooded/lake terrain. To make things even more challenging, much of the German commander’s combat power is in the extreme north of Norway, and will have to work its way south, or be railed to a more central position.

The Swedish set-up is mandated by their mobilization region (MR). There are also garrisons in each region. They are immediately activated once Germans enter the area, or activiated during the initial phase if the Germans are adjacent to the region.

All victory point calculations aside, the Germans must take Stockholm. The Swedish deployment has made an amphibious attack (using rail ferries!), implausible. As mentioned, a northern axis of advance will take too much time. So the main effort, using three corps, will be through west-central Sweden with axes of advance channelized by lakes and terrain.

Should be interesting. Here’s a quick photo of the setup.

Weekend At Tim’s

July 31, 2018Boardgames, Sessions, World War IIEuropaRalph

Real pleasant couple of days in Portland. Hotter than Hell, but we stayed refreshed and hydrated.

Maybe that’s one reason not a lot of gaming took place. Also a perceived need to view a few action films outweighed the desire to push cardboard.

We played “Operation Exporter” from War In The Desert. This is an operational simulation of the Allied invasion of Syria. Not exactly Tim’s cup of tea – low counter density, only a small portion of the map used and….gasp…..no real tanks (only a couple of Vichy light tank units with attack strengths of 1). The Allies will win, it’s just a matter of time. However, the victory point schedule makes time of the essence

Nonetheless, Tim did a great job as Allied Commander. He used his one motorized asset to harass the Vichy flanks and optimized the use of his limited air assets and naval gunfire. He also quickly assembled the two divisions available to him, with their enhanced combat power and zones of control. The regiments and brigades that make up all the Vichy forces cannot be formed into divisions.

I played my part by having a (typical) cavalier approach to victory conditions. While Tim didn’t win on VIPS, he certainly won the game.

I didn’t fare as well when we switched sides.

This is a good little scenario. It’s viewed as excellent starter game as it has all of the Europa food groups, but without the counter density to make the experience overwhelming.

He’ll be out at The Pinecone Lodge around Labor Day for Storm Over Scandanavia’s hypothetical scenarios involving the invasion of Sweden.

Old Itch Scratched

July 26, 2018Boardgames, Review + Session Report, SessionsOil WarRalph

One of the lost games that I have fond memories of is SPI’s Oil War. Don’t know where it went, but probably in a late 70’s purge along with the also lamented World War I.

Been looking for both on E-Bay but the high prices were off-putting. Recently found a reasonably priced folio game and snapped it up.

Fairly quick to set up, moves along at a brisk pace, but there is one problem. The Western nations have to really screw it up to lose. Why? Airpower. Air attacks simply crush the combined Arab forces. It will take time….but victory conditions will be attained.

My approach was to establish airheads in southern Saudi Arabia, reducing logistical demands, snap up the Saudi oil fields, then gradually move north. Yes, Kuwait has to be captured to assure a substantial victory, but that is an eventuality.

Arab forces need to defend airbases to deny the West their logistics benefits, and to give ground grudgingly, hoping that the game will end before losing the 25 oil fields signifying a substantial Western victory.

At the time, it was a challenging and fun game, dealing with a very current topic. Now…..not so much, but I enjoyed playing it, and that’s the main thing. Here’s a couple of photos.

First Time Through: Aggressiveairlanding on the coast. Air units staged to savage Saudis defending oil fields. Significant assets attacking Qatar.

First Time Through: Too aggressive. Coastal unit just before ZOC kill.

Second Time Through: Slow and Steady. No distractions and no sudden moves.

What’s Not To Like?…..Revisited

July 25, 2018Boardgames, SessionsArab-Israeli WarsRalph

In May I posted up about my positive impression of Avalon Hill’s old Arab-Israeli War.

Since then, I’ve played a couple of the advanced scenarios and confirmed why the game isn’t that well regarded.

The first is line-of-sight. It can be hard to envisage, especially if the player does not have any experience with map countours, military crest, reverse slope and dead ground. For that player, it’s a puzzler.

The second is the slow pace of play. Slow, if the Israeli’s want to win. The Israeli’s have to advantage of the ground, and maintain their ability to stand-off and destroy the Arab units piecemeal. This takes patience. No charges up any valleys. Slow and steady working on the flanks.

The Arab player’s best hope is to delay/defend and reduce the level of Israeli victory by having the game end before objectives can be achieved.

While not necessarily action-filled armor fun, this type of play makes it an interesting challenge for both sides.

Common Sense Wargaming

May 30, 2018Kriegsspiel, SessionsKriegsspielRalph

Really enjoyed starting up a Kriegsspiel scenario.

Used the old Programmed Wargame Scenarios book. One of the first to introduce random events and personalities into a solo-friendly context. Also used a log to keep track of events.

KSpiel is intuitive to me. Work with the maps, the contours, basic concepts involving reconnasiance, and security, as well as some period knowledge about Prussian tactics. The latter is covered in the Two Fat Lardies rules.

This allows you to just play the game.

I used a company scale, with three to a battalion, three battalions to a regiment, with three regiments to a division. Each side had one division of infantry, along with attached cavalry squadrons.

The scenario called for Blue to have an advance force at a river crossing and to hold that crossing until reinforcements arrived. Red’s mission was to take the crossing. Both Red and Blue reinforcements (variable timing) had to enter the map from a programmed point (die determined).

I changed the scale from the prescribed 2 minutes per turn to 15 minutes, with an adjustment to movement rates. Risk game blocks designated regimental and division commanders.

Here are a few photos. As always, had to pack it up to go somewhere else.

Wargaming In Central Oregon

A Journal of Miniature Wargaming and Board Wargaming – Complete With Impaired Photography