Another 3x3 Portable Wargame

 I tried the minimal version of WWII Portable Wargame again, making it a touch even more minimal. I also tried taking photos outside, and marking the squares more clearly with tape, which seems to have helped. I ran the same basic scenario as last - this time around the Americans were defenders and had a forest and river in their deployment zone. The effect of rivers isn't in the rules I had, so I had to ignore it, but it adds to the atmosphere. I am thinking of including more trees, for a Hurtgen Forest or jungle feel.

Taking lessons from last game, firing and close combat in adjacent squares became synonymous, while just one die was rolled for each side. I also left out the choice between loss of an SP and retreat, simply rolling for it.

Deployment. The river is a preproduction element by Wofun, the producers of plexi Paperboys, while the 54mm-scale tree comes from an Australian firm via a tip from Man of Tin.

Turn 1. The Germans have advanced, and both sides
have sustained casualties (elements with one soldier left)
or been pushed back.

American rifles flank the German "point." Unable to
retreat owing to the filled square behind them,
they take more casualties.

The American flankers are themselves flanked, and
eliminated.

When units in the rear square are forced off the board,
they become reinforcements who may return on a 5+.

Fired on by the rifles before him and the
machine-gunners in the woods, the German gunner
bites the dust.

But the Germans advance again on the US center
and left, wiping out another American unit.

That left two US units on the board, with three others in "reserve." Most Portable Wargame rulesets declare a side defeated that has lost a third of its SPs or units, so (discounting the HQ) I decided the Germans had won. Only those in the forest remained, mostly because the Germans hadn't tried to attack them in their cover.

A simple but fun game. I keep the figures and dice in a small bin so the game can be set up quickly, but a playsheet would be useful too. It took longer to set up the folding table than to ready the game.

3x3 Portable Wargame

I've been intrigued by Bob Cordery's series of Portable Wargames played on grids. They're popular on Facebook, and many players have devised their own variants that Cordery happily publishes. While I've experimented with them during Chess Club at work, they're a touch complex for my taste - or at least would take more play and practice which, if you've followed me at all, you know I'm too flighty to hold still for long.

But just in the last week or two a "half-hour" version has been created. A lot of reports have already been posted on the Portable Wargames Facebook group, and it seems like it really is possible to run quickly in a small space. So I started with the four-page rules and two-page WWII amendments.

I apologize for the poor photography, though they're actually better than they seem when looking at the phone-screen. I marked the 3x3 grid with spots at the corners of six-inch squares. I'm thinking actually of taking this outside - in such a small scale it would be easy enough to do it on a picnic table, and there'd be plenty of light.

The units are 54mm toy soldiers, and except for the MG crews and command groups I chose pairs of the same pose so that one can be removed to indicate hit-point loss (each element starts with two "SP").

The WWII variant has a roll for terrain; in this case I had one hill in the defender's (German) side. The defender could also move one of its units before the game.

Deployment: Each side has two rifle units to left and right, with one rifle unit, one machine-gun unit, and one command unit in the center. 

 

Both sides score hits, losing an SP apiece.

A square holds only two units, but this being my first game and not having played in a while, I ended up having combat inside the same square for part of the game. "Close combat" and firing, at least for infantry, has the same range, which caused the confusion.

The rifle units in the closest squares get +3 to their rolls
for being supported by an MG and command element.

This was also a bit confusing; I started allowing both units in a square to fire or fight, but reading the rules closely indicates that only one unit fights, while the others support. This has the bonus of preventing confusion over who takes the damage.

One of the German units here had the choice to lose an SP
or retreat from the board, then roll a 5+ to return.
It chose the former.

You can see from some of the 1-man elements that
units have lost SPs; one German on the right
retreats instead.

The rifle team on the hill is gone, reducing the defenders'
effectiveness - the MG can get +1 support from the HQ,
which I'm not sure can itself fight with a +2 from the MG.

Inconclusive combat.

Both sides on the left must fall back.

US center, with +3 to the roll, wipes out a German unit.

The Germans try to gang up on that pesky command element.

Overhead and endgame. The Germans are still stubbornly holding the hill.

As usual with new rules for me, the game helped me clarify the rules, and I think the next game will go more smoothly. This "lite" variant of the Portable Wargame, for me, lies in between the simplicity of Featherstone and the complexity of games like Charge! It's an easy and fun way to spend a half hour (well, an hour given the photography and rechecking of the rules! We'll see if I can cut that to 45 minutes next time).