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.

Black Powder Epic ACW

Via my gaming group's mailing list, I bought an ACW Epic starter set thru an estate sale. It's not Paperboys, but it does have Peter Dennis's artwork on the cover!

I've meant to buy Black Powder for a long time, though I doubt I'll play it; my group prefers other rulesets. The minis are nice, though. I won't paint them, but use them for my solo games and possibly at work.

I had hoped not to glue the model strips to their bases, but turns out they don't fit snugly into the holes. White glue seems to work, though I've used plastic glue on the cannon and commanders. I'd like to use them with Junior General rules, counting each base as two to save space and build larger armies, and pluck one strip from a base for odd casualties. The alternative is casualty figures - at least the paper ones are cheap. So far, I've clipped out and assembled two frames each of Union and Confederate - this will represent three regiments, one gun and a general each side, enough to run Sawmill Village as a demo.

Photo taken in daylight (but the shade). Any better?

I know I keep saying this and falling through, but I hope to try a small game at work next week and, if it works, plan something bigger.

Undecided for the next post. Three possibilities, all testing my new 2x4 folding table outside:

• Another 3x3 Portable WWII Wargame
• Test round of Sawmill Village with Junior General ACW rules
• Next round of my nearly forgotten '45 campaign

I wonder if I could get them all this weekend...

More miscellaneous and reading

Blogging has slowed way down lately. This is mostly because of work, which is increasingly busy and under construction. (I stayed two hours late yesterday because we couldn't close a new door, much less lock it.) Haven't gamed much at home lately.

However, I've just been switched from Children's to Adult/Teen Librarian at work, which might be handy, as the teens are actually actively interested in tabletop gaming. I hope to start a weekly tabletop period soon, which will be mostly roleplaying but with the chance of slipping in other things on occasion. We tried a round of the storytelling card game Once Upon a Time last week, which was hilarious. It's a fine icebreaker, and one of those games that leads to outsiders hearing weird out-of-context statements. The oddest one was where we ended up setting the story in a town populated entirely by stepmothers. A few others I hope to use are Fluxx, Munchkin and Apples to Apples - the last easy enough for young children.

I've been reading a lot, of course, and as usual have been influenced towards particular gaming periods in the process. For example, I read Wiley Sword's The Confederacy's Last Hurrah, about Hood's Tennessee campaign in late 1864, and am working on Paddy Griffith's Battle Tactics of the Civil War. That led to some ACW18 Paperboys construction - a few bases of Confederates and a few more of black troops. The Rebels will be opposed to my Glory:1861 force, and both groups will (she said, tentatively) take part in a wargame demo next week at work. I am thinking of running the Sawmill Village scenario again, which at this point will only require a couple cannon bases to ready.

I couldn't resist adding these to the display. Might
read the right-hand book later.

I was hoping to run Olustee this month instead, as a battle during February 1864 (same month as Black History Month) featuring black troops, and set in Florida, our own state. Not going to happen at this rate, if only because my boss would prefer me to plan, and more importantly promote, events well ahead of time. Another possibility for March is Hampton Roads, as I have 3D prints of Monitor and Merrimac and a simple ruleset that has worked well with kids before, and it's the 160th anniversary of the battle.

The Confederacy's Last Hurrah, while generally good and packed with first-hand reminisces of the battles of Nashville and Franklin, is let down a bit by a lack of maps. It's won some awards, though, and I may look for more of the author's work.

Battle Tactics of the Civil War is something I'd heard a lot about, as Griffith had a controversial thought about the war and its historiography - that it wasn't the first modern war and rifles didn't really change the equation as much as people think. His reasoning is that the rifles of the time were not used at such range and accuracy as would have caused greater casualties with Napoleonic tactics, but rather that the armies were poorly trained in actual tactics so that, coupled with the terrain, they tended to fight at very close ranges where accuracy and range weren't that important. Also doesn't have much in the way of illustrations, which is disappointing as I've heard there's a version with Peter Dennis as illustrator. Which got me making more Paperboys whilst reading. And I've just ordered a discounted copy of the ACW Epic Black Powder set from Warlord Games. Not sure that was a good idea, but at least I don't intend to paint it!

The other period I've been reading up on and thinking about is the 18th century. I recently finished Christopher Duffy's epic two-volume history of the Austrian Army in the Seven Years War. Dense but readable, an excellent history and even uses model soldiers in some of the photographs (to demonstrate formations) - I wonder where he got a thousand little musketeers. I ended up making a few of my own. Unfortunately, Paperboys in PDF are the devil to resize. I have access to several printers, and none of them have the same settings, so printing is always an experiment. The originals are A4, my paper is 8.5x11 inches, sometimes the printer resizes this to fit the page automatically and sometimes it doesn't. This would be okay if I was alright with 25-28mm figures, but since discovering 18mms I haven't really looked back. So resizing the originals which already were coming out wrong... I am on the verge of ordering the Wofun 18mm plexis of Dennis' 7-Year-War collection.

These chaps ended up on 25mm-wide bases;
I was aiming for 30mm.

At least I wouldn't buy the entire large, varied collection - I do have a battle in mind. The Leuthen scenario from Junior General would be my go-to, and since each regiment would be just three bases in size and I'd get twelve bases per 14.50 Euro in 18mm, this seems achievable. I'm hoping I could fit it in on my small table by reducing the ranges and moves, and the figures would still match, Imagi-nation-wise, with the rest of my 18th-century 18mms.

So that's what I've been up to in the last few weeks. Hoping for a couple 3x3 Portable Wargames tomorrow out in the sunlight!

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).

My Colonial Collection, Part Four: Zulu War

 Been a while since I looked at my 1/72 Zulu War figures; I'd forgotten how few of them I'd based. I started with about sixty Zulu and twenty redcoats just for small games of TSATF, and it seems I also finished a squadron of lancers, a handful of gun crews and thirty Natal Native Contingent. There are actually a lot more troops for both sides. What I have will do for now, as I intend to stick to The Sword in Africa for now. I'll use the Zulu as tribal proxies, and the gun crews might stand in for Belgians or Germans in a pinch.

The Zulu are very attractive; I bought them off Ebay from a painter who individualized each unit with differing shields. They're delicate, though; the kit clearly came with separate spears and shields and some require repair.

A smallish horde of Zulu.

White, brown and black shields.

Black and white shields.

White and brown shields.

Black shields with white spots.

White shields.

A squadron of lancers, and a company of redcoats.

Gatling gun crew, and either surveyor or heliograph crew.

Natal Native Contingent, and a naval Gardner battery.

Experimental painting

 Ever since the library's teen tech-lab, YouMedia, started a Dungeons & Dragons group and got a new 3D printer a few months ago, I've been eager to try painting again. The initial plan was to sit down the DnD players with their new character minis and teach the basics of painting; the current, tentative plan is to open this up to all teens. This may seem like the same thing, since virtually all high-schoolers at my branch end up in YouMedia - it's nearly impossible to run teen programs outside of it, so we really haven't. But my manager wants me to try, to the point of actual advertising with posters and the library's social media. The YouMedia staff, luckily, are okay with this, since it can still be done in or next to YouMedia and they can spend a few minutes talking up the program to any kids who aren't already in it. It does at least let us get to kids under the age-fourteen limit, and maybe interest parents too.

That does mean we'll need extra minis beyond the ones designed by the DnD players; something generic is in order, possibly animals, videogame characters or ordinary medieval warriors or civilians. We'd pick a few types, and print a couple dozen ahead of time for anyone who hasn't already designed their own. Suggestions welcomed, though I lean towards animals for the appeal to younger kids. Perhaps suffragettes for Women's History Month?

Civilians from Paperboys Little Wars.

The one on the far right is hand-drawn, inspired by Man of Tin.

So I "borrowed" a tyrannosaur from some of the samples YouMedia have been cranking out, and bought a handful of Army Painter bottles and a few Contrast paints.

About 15mm scale, I think, and is poorly balanced.

Based with Army Painter Ash Grey and a basic brush.
Will use spraypaint in future.

"Basecoated" with Ork Flesh Contrast paint.

Sorry for the poor lighting.

Scar Tissue mouth and Troll Claws on
the teeth and claws.

Crude stripes in Matt Black. Also tried
highlighting with Goblin Green and Skeleton Bone;
doubt it's visible even in good light.

Better view of the stripes, which I tried
(but failed) to taper.
Paint pens would work better.

Complete with base to keep him standing.

This should be a good sample to show what a beginner painter can make of the models the new printer makes. Having painted a couple from the older printer, I'm surprised at how smooth and realistic this model is; it was remarkably easy and fun to do. Even counting drying of the different layers, might have taken an hour (though a few days working in my spare time). I do suspect a proper event might require two days even with prebasing.

I next hope to try a large bust of Groot (the Treeman from Guardians of the Galaxy), which should show off Gore-Grunta Contrast paint to effect and be easy to drybrush as well (with good-sized brushes, of course).

It's been a long while since I tried to paint something like this; I'm looking forward to trying again, and getting some teens to do it with me!

Reading, and surviving the plague

 Am not getting much done game-related at all this first week of 2022, due to having caught the plague (though I don't think it was at the Regatta, more likely passing out thousands of Covid tests at work). Appropriately, I just finished two books by Martin R. Howard:

 

Thanks to commenters Ross MacFarlane and James Fisher, who recommended the second one. Both are short and contain lots of period commentary. I will admit that, at least, government response to the present pandemic could have been a LOT worse. Walcheren fever (seemingly malaria) is sickeningly and repeatedly described.

Also received two Charles S. Grant volumes from On Military Matters: 

• Refighting History vol. 7: Warburg, Vellinghausen, and Wilhelmsthal
• Wargamers Annual Summer Special 2015

I ordered the latter on a tip from Graham Cummings on the Wargaming the '45 Facebook group, who wrote a very useful article and wargames campaign for the abortive French invasion of Britain in 1744. I may need it, as it looks increasingly like Bonnie Prince Charlie in my '45 campaign is going to run into overwhelming numbers of unhappy Government troops. After the "conventional" campaign ends, I may want to try the '44 too. We'll see!

As for the first book, I have to admit I like the smaller, more compact style of Grant's previous series, Wargaming in History. I have his first two volumes and find them delightful. The newer series is in a larger format, but there's something about it... maybe the lack of artwork by the late Bob Marrion, though the German artist whose characterful, almost cartoony sketches fill the pages is just as good in his own way. Maybe more white space. And maybe the lack of detail about the Lorraine and VFS armies, as the Refighting series uses more deliberately historical units. I won't tire of rereading the Wargaming in History volumes.

That's not to say they're not good. I selected the 7th and 8th volumes specifically because I'm not as interested in Frederick the Great and more in the British and French, and these are specifically about the Western theater. There are useful and beautiful articles about the British, French and German "specialist" units such as legions, early Highlanders and converged grenadiers. They make me want to collect Crann Tara... (No, Jennifer! Bad hobbyist! Stick to stuff you'll actually use!)

I was hoping to spend this week painting a couple 3D prints as samples for the program I keep telling myself I'll do at work. Not happening anytime soon now, though I'll have to delve thru my desk to see what paints I have undried.

Back to bed, with books to finish reading. Hope your turn of the year is better than mine.