Tag Archives: Ranger

Warfighter vs. Ranger

Boardgames, Review,

Title reminds me of…….

Enjoying another session with Warfighter.

Started thinking about one of its modern tactical mission predecessors, Ranger.

What a difference, and not just the programmed text aspect of Ranger, but in the treatment of mission planning and execution.

Warfighter focuses on team selection. Sure, Ranger has that planning aspect also, but it goes into greater depth as the soldiers literally “acquire” skills during their pre-mission refresher training. In Warfighter, they come with their skills.

Ranger’s planning phase also involves route selection, and not simply blind movement to contact. Warfighter’s card allocation and flow allows little in the way of route planning. You can avoid a certain piece of terrain or place, but at the cost of time loss. That’s an acceptable abstraction, but Ranger focuses more on avoiding contact. After all its subtitle is “Modern Patrolling Operations.”

Warfighter is all about combat. As one reviewer over at Boardgame Geek put it, and I quote rather loosely, it’s “the analog version of Call To Duty”. Ranger’s combat is not as involved or relentless.

The tension in Ranger is “what might I run into next”. The tension in Warfighter is “how many of these bastards am I going to have to shoot next”.

Apples and Oranges. But, wouldn’t it be nice to combine the two?

Going Tactical

Boardgames, Sessions,

While the Battle of Katlego Faragh has been raging, I’ve also been playing Ranger and (gulp) ASLSK.

Be careful what you wish for.  My last two games of Ranger have been nothing short of disasters.  Those combat scenarios are a lot tougher than a pure recon mission.   In one game, the squad barely moved past the perimeter before it was hit by a close ambush.  I forgot doctrine, and tried to break contact.  Wrong & BLAMMO.  Need to assault through a close ambush.

The next mission was an anti-armor ambush that went really well……except the getting home.  Again, another close ambush, but far from home and too many casualties to evacuate.  Well, the good thing about wargaming is that it’s just like “Edge of Tomorrow”.  Die, Learn, Try Again.  I really dread rolling 2-3, or 11-12.  As mentioned in my previous Ranger post, bad things happen.

ASLSK has been fun.  Playing the first scenario, rules-in-hand, one half-turn at a time.  With low counter density, no supporting weapons, and a methodical approach, it’s been a pleasant and not frustrating experience.  I’ll try another similar scenario, and then, perhaps, add crew-served weapons.   Unfortunately, the complete rules are in the No. 3 game, and I am loathe to spend $30+  for just a set of rules.  I have a lot of counters and scenarios to mess with already.   Got to figure that out using the ASL rules and the player’s guide.

Another Mission

Boardgames, Sessions, Solitaire

Completed another Ranger reconnaissance mission (Card #3) yesterday afternoon.

Preparation time drastically reduced to about 15 minutes.  Kept my same roster and equipment from the last mission.  Plotting ingress and egress from the objective was straightforward.  I remembered to seal off the objective and PZ with supporting fires, as well as providing some contingency support at the LZ.

Managed to survive without incident.  Now I’m ready to move on to a combat mission.  Fun little game, small footprint.

Ranger

Boardgames, Review, Solitaire

Took Ranger off the shelf the other day.  Had messed around with it about a year ago, after picking up the latest edition for practically nothing on E-Bay (bad box).

Each game consists of a mission.  The mission has two parts, planning and execution.  United States Army small unit doctrine for squad or platoon sized missions is used.  If you have had any exposure to this, learning the game is simple.  If  not, there is a very informative booklet included to help you learn the basics.

What’s fascinating is the few number of rules.  The platoon leader has to act like a platoon leader during the planning, briefing and rehearsal stages of the mission.  Determine your unit’s load, work out the route from your insertion point to the objective and then back to your pick-up point, plan for supporting fires, and manage your rehearsals.

Mission execution is accomplished using the programmed text.  While movement to the objective can be a little tedious, you can’t make a mistake, or something bad might happen.  Make sure your unit is in an appropriate tactical formation, call halts every 750-1,000 meters, and don’t get in a hurry.

One aspect of the programmed text that confused me at first was how to stop moving once my squad had reached the objective rally point.  Well, the answer was simple….call a security halt, and go to that paragraph.  The text options provide the prompts to start your actions at the objective.

To be successful, actions at the objective must comply with doctrine.  If you start free-lancing, bad things do happen.

This game has a very quick set-up, but preparation before the mission is lengthy, but an integral part of the game.  However, after a couple of missions, SOPs can be established, reducing planning time and increasing effectiveness.

Playing time for my first mission was about 1.5 hours, all-in.  This squad-size reconnaissance  mission is an excellent introduction to the game.  I look forward to moving on to Mission Two in the very near future.