D-Day

 So, D-Day is done and dusted. It was a huge effort to get the games prepared but the effort was worth it. My friend Stephen brought over Gold Beach and I did Omaha and Juno. Without going into a long AAR I will just say that Juno went historically with the Canadians taking their objectives. Gold and Omaha were not true to the past. The British found themselves hung up on the beach defences suffering too many losses before pressing on to neutralize the positions inland. The US assault forces were badly mauled with only one draw (exit) being cleared. German artillery was particularly nasty on the Americans.

Here are a few pictures. Alas, not many pictures were taken due to the pressures of running the game. And sadly too much game detritus obscures the hard work lavished on the terrain and miniatures. But I hope that the impact of 42' of beach front is somewhat evident. Thanks for looking.

 

Very little colonial gaming happening as I get ready for a huge D-Day 80th anniversary game

 As the title suggests, I am getting ready with bespoke terrain for a 42 foot long representation of Juno, Gold, and Omaha to be played with Rapid Fire Reloaded.  Fortunately, Gold is being presented by my friend Stephen. Much of the terrain was made about 10 years ago or more, but I never had a chance to present the full scenarios of either beach (Juno or Omaha) because of table requirements - each needs a 16' table and I have 12'. Of course, presenting both of these beaches has meant a lot of additional things required like beach obstacles and the scenarios themselves have evolved with new versions presented by the Rapid Fire Reloaded team. For example all the German positions now have to have wire fully enclosing the positions - not something the original scenarios required.

All of this has absorbed most of my gaming time and I will post lots of pictures when the game is played later this month. In the mean time, we did play Rorke's Drift again and my Swiss are slowing coming together. Only 4 more units to paint (for now).  Here are some pictures (since I know that no one really wants to read anything...just give me pictures!).

Happy 2024!

 Once again a long delay in posting.  I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season and wish you all the best for 2024. This is going to be an important year for me. I have two books prepared for released. CONTROL TO CATASTROPHE: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL is a grid rule set that I hope to have done for June or July.  The follow-up, CONTROL TO CATASTROPHE: RENAISSANCE will be done (hopefully) for December.  I have been working on these books for the last 2 years and I am very happy about how the games play.

I have my BFE based ACW rules ready too. BATTLES BETWEEN THE STATES has been played for over 5 years and work extremely well. I aim to release that book for 2025.  That rule set was a driver for several rule changes for BFE but colonials are getting a fresh treatment with campaign specific books starting with the Zulu War followed by Sudan and Afghanistan.

All of this is very exciting for me and I hope a few others will enjoy the games I develop.

So, again, happy 2024!

Grid Game: "Control to Catastrophe"

 My new game is developing very nicely and I am feeling like it has largely arrived at a place where it is 'stable.'  Small things will change and I am constantly looking for ways to further simplify the game, but the core rules and special rules for period specific doctrines and units have been well tested and work really well.  I am also really aware of the need to not only inject tension into the game, but also fun.  Since this is definitely NOT a tournament set of rules, I can add rules that reflect history and can turn the game in new directions dramatically.  This would not fly in a tournament set and might annoy those that prefer a controlled competitive set, but reflect history quite well.

A big issue for any game designer is how prescriptive one can be regarding unit organization and basing. Initially the game was actually driven by a particular approach to unit organization. Since those early days the game has changed to make unit representation completely up to the player.  That said, game play is facilitated by having units organized to reflect the 3 basic unit sizes -- however you want to do that.

Here are a couple of pictures of the same units in three different forms of representations.  We have played games using both of these approaches and one half way in between (I have three different gridded cloths to accommodate the different unit sizes.  Of course, I always prefer the 'grand manner' approach and so most of the games are played with the big battalions!  Note that in grid games unit size (which measures its ability to absorb hits) varies by depth since all units are assumed to have the same width (the grid box width).

Much too long!

 It has been much too long since my last post.  Since then much has been going on.  The ACW rules are written and in proof reading.  The ancient-renaissance (early-modern) grid game has developed really well and is with several groups for play testing; I am very excited about this game.  A 3rd edition of BFE is well under way with some interesting changes that partly stemmed from the ACW game.  In addition, the dice-based movement and morale system (that replaces the tables) was recently play tested and worked really well.  In fact, so well I am inclined to use it more than the tables especially for games using Zulu or Mahdist armies.

So lots of developments.  The big challenge now will be to layout and publish.  I am planning on hiring someone to do the layout.  Selling with be handled by Amazon for print copies and I will set up a web page for PDFs.  

Playing with Speed Paint

 There was a lot of fuss made when the Citadel Contrast Paints were released.  They were expensive and so I didn’t bother.  But the Army Painter Speed Paints were even more enthusiastically embraced and were cheaper.  So I got the starter set.   Initially I tested them on a unit of Celts Sloshing the Speed Paint straight onto the white undercoat. It worked well but I find any kind of wash technique on white a bitty messy and muddy.  I definitely feel that one has to frame the washes with solid paint on things like belts and other accoutrements.  I also found that they did not work on the shields which made sense; lacking crevices to flow into the whole purpose of the product was lost.  So, the shields got solid colour, painted designs and conventional highlights.  Overall I was quite pleased and it went quickly.  

I tried another technique on a small unit of cavalry.  This time I did a zenithal primer, starting with black and dry brushing the whole figure (horse and rider; I always glue everything together before painting) with white.   Once dry I used a brown Speed Paint on the horse and in one coat got a very pleasing effect.  Score!

Overall I like these paints.  I will continue painting my Napoleonics, Renaissance and SYW collections with a black undercoat and deliberate highlighting in 3 layers.  But for some ancients and colonials this set of paints works well, especially those with simple tunics. 

Some thoughts about skirmish gaming and Mourir pour l'Indochine

Skirmish gaming and few comments about Shawn Taylor’s Mourir pour l’Indochine

 

If you are reading this you are probably already interested in the war in Indo-China that culminated in the defeat of the French colonial army at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.  In many ways this is a forgotten war, overshadowed by the subsequent US involvement and the more familiar moniker, the Vietnam War. But this French conflict has a character of its own blending older technologies with the familiar helicopters and river boats of the later war.  What Shawn has done is take a very serious look at the war from an intimate perspective.  Mourir pour l’Indochine will put you into the firing line and the chaos of low-level combat.

 

First, I have to make clear two things.  Shawn is a friend of mine and I like to support his games.  I did some text editing for this book.  Second, this is not the type of game I usually play.  I love the “big game” and play and write rules that support epic battles played with 28mm models.  Shawn’s game is not that.  Mourir  is definitively a skirmish game and usually I run from these.  My problem with skirmish games is that they are either too simple and lack period feel or are too detailed and heavy going.  

 

It might seem strange, but I like this hobby because I am fascinated by military history, tactical problems, and how military systems and doctrines were developed and applied to resolve those problems.  I am not interested in the killing.  It is the tragedy of war. And yet, this is often where simple skirmish games devolve with clusters of figures running around the table simply killing off their opponents or suffering the same in return.  Militaries don’t function that way. As Phil Sabin pointed out in one of his scholarly pieces, if ancient armies fought each other like dueling fools, a la Hollywood, half of both sides would be dead and no one would win or lose.  And it makes a mockery of history where it is clear that miliary organization was about keeping men secure and controlled and that losing that control meant a devolution into chaos. Serious losses occurred once one side or the other fell into disarray. If a game does not attempt to show that tension it has lost me unless the scenario designer has done his work to mitigate that gap in the rules.  Indeed, I have played very good games with simple skirmish rules because the scenario was engaging and challenging in spite of the rules.

 

Now, the opposite problem -- a game that is too detailed -- can be a labour to play and yet I think skirmish games that are not saved by the intervention of the scenario designer must have a degree of detail.  Shawn’s game is definitely of this type.  One of the game play-testers wrote that Mourir was a ‘labour of love’ and this is certainly true.  Shawn put a huge amount of effort into addressing the technologies and tactics of this war.  What is also clear is Shawn’s intimate understanding of military organization and how chains of command at the low-level of infantry combat work.  Here his career in the Canadian military comes through.  Mourir puts you into the firefight and forces you to make command decisions for your fire-teams that respects the limits of their assets and training/quality.  As you would expect, running a force of Vietminh is different than commanding a French patrol.  Vietminh field craft and tactics gave them advantages “beyond the wire” but the French had assets like artillery support that could save them from certain defeat.  Using these assets and managing your command and control is essential to playing this game successfully.  And this is clearly something that must be learned.  The game is not a conventional I-GO-U-Go.  As one side performs actions, respecting their command hierarchy, keeping their fire-teams coordinated and thinking carefully about the order of actions  using fire and movement tactics and how the available weapon systems interact, the enemy can interrupt that process with interdiction fire in effect robbing the enemy of initiative.  Both sides need to be involved and focused on what is happening.  I think that a skirmish game demands this kind of interaction and Mourir delivers.

 

I think Mourir pour I’Indochine does what it promises.  It provides a detailed and evocative game of low-level infantry combat (with support weapons and vehicles) set in the diverse terrain of Indo-China.  This is not a beer and pretzels game and requires a degree of dedication to the history and the level of combat to play effectively.  If you don’t want to be immersed in your game, this ruleset might not be to your liking – there are lots of generic and simple skirmish games out there that might suit you better.  But if you want to think about how to best set-up an ambush or how to arrange your patrol to get out of that inevitable crossfire, this might be the game for you.