Attack on Iskender's Fort

On Sunday I hosted a game so some mates could have a first go at wargaming. Given a choice of several games from throughout history, they chose to go with an Andreivia 1918 scenario.

Back in 2024 I'd planned an Arc of Fire game in which several factions competed to capture Professor van Langendonck's experimental gas shells from the rogue Turkish officer calling himself Iskender Bey. Scheduling conflicts meant it didn't go ahead at the time but now I knocked up a two-player version of the scenario.

In the end we had three players; Tim and Frazer who commanded a small British force, and Nick, who took on the role of Iskender Bey himself.

The field of battle was dominated by a ruined fort on a small hill:

The British would arrive from the road on the near edge of the table above but with a small chance of units being delayed or arriving in the wrong place if the dice so decreed.

The venerable Sarzeh Fort making yet another
appearance on the gaming table

Meanwhile Nick had to deploy his forces not knowing from which direction the enemy would arrive or even which enemy they would be. The Andreivian army, the British, the Germans or even his Turkish former colleagues could all be after him!

After Nick had deployed his forces it became apparent that he'd misunderstood my briefing and had his entire force facing in the wrong direction! As I felt the error was mine, I allowed him to redeploy one unit (Iskender Bey's personal guard) and its trenches. This would be balanced by my making another on-the-fly adjustment in favour of the British later in the game.

After a small dice-driven delay, the British arrived and began pushing towards the fort with their Mark V tank in the lead. Nick's only effective defence against this lumbering monster was his 75mm field gun, which happened to be the unit equipped with the VM gas shells.

Unfortunately, they were deployed facing in the wrong direction and it took them a while to redeploy. 

When they did, though, they got off a lucky shot and brewed up the tank!

There was always the likelihood that one side or the other would lose a duel between tank and gun. This was the reason I'd reinforced the British with a Gun Section with a Quick Firing 13pdr and a Vickers MMG, which Frazer skilfully deployed on a hill covering the approaches to the fort.

If the tank had taken out the Turks' gun I would have allowed them another as a reinforcement. This would have to drive onto the table from the far end so encouraging the British to press their attack before it arrived.

It was about this time that I discovered my second error. I'd been treating the Iskenderist (can we use that term?) troops dug in in front of the fort as "Concealed" for the purposes of the Arc of Fire spotting rules. This might be appropriate for well-camouflaged Japanese bunkers in the jungles of Burma but in this case the British couldn't target their enemies without getting ridiculously close. 

I made an executive decision to change to "In the open" for spotting purposes but retaining "Hard Cover" against the incoming fire. This worked much better and rewarded Frazer's positioning of the Gun Section.

Nick had successfully repositioned his Arab bandits to the end of the fort menaced by the British but this only brought them under the fire of Frazer's Gun Section. They were rapidly reduced to just a single man left wandering inside the fort!

Meanwhile, Tim (in the role of the British commander, Lt Ponsonby-Smythe) had pushed his infantry forward on the left. Using the knocked-out tank as cover, his Lewis gun team brought the enemy guards under enfilading fire. 

The effect was to trigger a morale test on the guards that left them all cowering in their trenches. If Ponsonby-Smythe's main force had been in a position to charge the enemy trenches, the fight would have been all over bar the shouting. This kind of timing would be challenging even for a player with luck and experience on his side. Sadly Tim had neither.

At this point Iskender Bey himself made an appearance in the trenches. His steadying influence rallied enough of the defenders to all but wipe out Tim's charging First Section.  The Second Section, moving out of the woods in support, were hit by gas shells and forced to retreat.

On mature reflection, I'm calling it a win for Nick and Iskender Bey.

Nick and Iskender Bey

I'm reasonably pleased with how the game went but wonder whether one of the other scenarios might have been a better introduction to wargaming. The rules considered were Arc of Fire, Lion Rampant and Sharp Practice. I know all of them really well but perhaps the other two have a slightly shallower learning curve? Might Chain of Command have been a better choice for this period - easier to pick up although they are notoriously hard to master?

Anyway I don't expect to make any instant converts from this but at least the guys now have some idea of how I spend my weekends.  I'm pleased that we've also told another tale from the bloody history of Andreivia. Maybe a future game will see a second attempt the pull the fangs of Iskender Bay?

Crisis Point VI - AAR (Richard P)

The first two parts are up on my blog.

http://atomicrenegade.blogspot.co.uk/

Cheers

Richard P

Unit Activation System

I ran into Mark Kniveton at Vapnartak at the weekend and we discussed plans for Crisis Point.

Mark mentioned that he has in the past struggled with the Arc of Fire activation system because he had trouble remembering which unit was which when comparing the units sheet with what's actually on the table. The next card's a red Ace... yes that's one of mine... Oh yes, it's second infantry squad... now which one was that...?

I was able to reassure Mark that this wouldn't be the case this year because I've adopted an alternative system from elsewhere.  I've adopted and indeed adapted it, in fact, from Buck Surdu's Combat Patrol as described on the Meeples and Miniatures podcast.  The system uses a modified activation deck.

The New Activation Deck

There will be an activation deck for each table. This deck will consist of the following cards:

• Red cards 1 to 6 (one of each)
• Black cards 1 to 6 (one of each)
• Blue card 6
• Red Joker
• Black Joker.

Unit Activation

Units will continue to be defined as previously in Arc of Fire - roughly squad sized (though representing companies in our bath-tubbed game.

At the start of each turn a d6 is rolled for each unit.  The unit is marked with the resulting Activation Number (either with a numbered counter or by leaving a die next to it).  Let us suppose our unit has scored 6.  

When the Red 6 card comes up, the unit activates and wounded and non-wounded figures (the latter having red markers) can act.

When the Black 6 card comes up, the unit activates but only with non-wounded figures.

When the Blue 6 comes up the unit may activate (with wounded and non-wounded figures) but only if the unit is designated as "aggressive" in the army list. 

The Jokers continue to have the standard Arc of Fire function. If the Red Joker comes up first, a random event follows the draw of the Black Joker.

If competing units have the same Activation Number, the unit with the lower TAC score gets to choose whether to go first or second.

Optional Additions

If a tank or armoured car has the an Activation Number of 6 and the Blue 6 card comes up, it is subject to an additional effect depending on the vehicle type:

• Whippet - make an additional move activation
• Renault FT - make an additional move activation
• Mark IV - immobilised by engine failure
• Mark V - crew must abandon the vehicle for two whole cards due to heat exhaustion
• any armoured car - make an additional move activation if on-road, bog down if off-road.

WIP - Mill

WIP for Crisis Point V in three weeks time, a railside Mill located somewhere in Andreivia.

Tcherbevan Tram

Picked this up for a bargain off a well known auction site. Been wanting to get one for ages but always seem to go for a bit too much.

Sold to the Andreivian Transport Authority for use in Tcherbevan in the mid 1950's by the Birmingham City Transport Co. after the system had stopped all services in Birmingham. This tram is the only one left running and operates along the south bank of the Krupnehr linking the capital with the coastal town of Kvish and its sandy beaches.

Tcherbevan Progress

Managed to get a bit of time in the Shed this week so started to put the layout together for Tcherbevan.

The Central Square in Tcherbevan surrounded by the Grand Hotel (Top Left), Ministry of Culture (Top Right) and the WIP building in the bottom right is the beginnings of the Central Station.

The Central Square from another angle. The card model on the right is from Lidl. Its a model of the Brandenburg Gate. Its a bit small to allow vehicles through so I am using it in a pedestrian area.

Andreivian Type 61 tanks rumble through Central Square past the Grand Hotel.

The Embankment made from vinyl floor strips. The MDF area to the right will be the river. Richard C providing his 2 x 21" wide river boards. The area at the bottom of the picture will have a railway bridge and railway. 

Tcherbevan in all its WIP Glory!

Standing in the Foyer of the Grand Hotel

Suitcase in his hand looking for a bill.

The Tcherbevan Grand Hotel is finished. This will form another side of the square with the Ministry of Culture on another edge.

NEXT: OPERA HOUSE, CAFE AND MORE!!!!!

1991 Monument

Finished '1991' monument for Tcherbevan's Central Square.

Base includes old Coke and a ripped up Andreivian flag!

Yellow and Blue flag remnants litter the base!

Ministry of Culture (Part 3)

The Ministry of Culture is almost finished, just got a couple of bits from S&S to make it look modern (air conditioning unit and satellite dish).

The completed Ministry of Culture, just got an aircon unit and satellite dish to add when they arrive from S&S.

The Ministry of Culture sign and Andreivian coat of arms.

Close up of the completed paving slabs with weeds.

The balcony where the President makes state appearances.

Optional rules for Tcherbevan

I've put together the following list of the optional rules in Arc of Fire that I'd suggest using (or not using) for the game at Crisis Point 2014.  Comments welcome.

Page	Rule	Use?	Notes
4	Excellent leaders	y	But restricted to units approved by umpires and listed in unit stats
5	Heroes and unit integrity	n	Not inclined to use Heroes
12	Direction of fire	y	No reason not to
12	Special camouflage	y	But restricted to units approved by umpires and listed in unit stats
14	Moving dismount	y	If anyone’s daft enough to use it
14	Jumping horses	y	If anyone’s daft enough to use it
18	Gunnery skill	y	But restricted to units approved by umpires and listed in unit stats
18	Tightly packed infantry targets	y	Easy enough to implement
20	Extremes	y	Easy enough to implement
24	Multiple vehicles in close attacks	y	Easy enough to implement
24	Special close combat weapons	y	But restricted to units approved by umpires and listed in unit stats
25	Snipers vs fortifications	n	Too powerful
25	Jamming	n	Slows down the game too much
25	Horrific KIA	n	Slows down the game too much
25	High ROF belt-fed LMGs	n	Inclined to leave it out and say no-one has enough ammo
25	Detailed infantry wound and KIA	n	Slows down the game too much
26	Canister Ammo	n	Simpler to leave it out
31	Light and medium mortar rate of fire	n	Inclined to leave it out and say no-one has enough ammo
32	Blind fire	y	Easy enough to implement
32	HE overhead fire	n	Simpler to leave it out
34	Ripple effect	n	Want to avoid the risk of players losing their force due to an unlucky series of die rolls
34	Destroyed unit retreat	n	Simpler to leave it out
35	Reorganisation of leaderless units	y	Allows people to keep playing a force that’s been unfortunate with Leader casualties
35	Hero and Panic	n	Simpler to leave it out
35	Heroes as Leaders	n	Not using Heroes
36	Entry and exit from buildings	y	Would have needed a house rule for this anyway
36	Fire from buildings	y	Would have needed a house rule for this anyway
36	Camouflaged field defences	n	Simpler to leave it out
47	Random Events	y	Best rule in the book!