Month: April 2019

Fun with telephones

Today I had some fun with a call from an unknown company, previously logged on my i-phone as an “ambulance chaser”. i.e. someone who has, possibly illegally, picked up information about an insurance claim.

“Ring – ring” “I-phone – ‘Ambulance Chaser'”
Me: “Hello”.
Them: “My name is…”
Me: ” You should be aware that all calls may be recorded for training purposes.”
Them. “My name is…”
Me. “Can you please provide me with your postcode for security purposes?”
Them: “Why?”
Me: “If you do not know your postcode, can you please give me your mother’s maiden name?”
Them: “What?”
Me: “If you do not know your postcode, can you please give me your mother’s maiden name?”
Them: Brrrrrrrrrr……

Success!

Getting the look right

Sometimes I play my wargames with mediocre models on mediocre terrain, but not often.

Nowadays a lot of my games are played using home-produced gaming tokens on a recycled board game map.  I would like to spend more time creating good terrain with good models, but I seem to have to many irons in the fire.

However, when I do play a “proper” game with 6mm models, I like to get the look of the thing as good as I can.  For example, this is from an e-mail campaign of Operation Sealion, the German invasion of Britain in 1940.

The German player was sent three “postcards” before the game, on the basis that they had been found for sale in the post office at Lewes, captured the previous evening.  These photographs are taken directly from the 1:285 scale wargame table.  Only the “sky” has been blurred to remove the background shed planking.

 

 

Measure twice – cut once!

Recently I have been working on how to use  Bob Cordery’s gridded wargame systems with my 6mm toys.

I have spray-painted and gridded a small cork board (already painted and gridded on the other side for another game).  I have been trying to find a way to satisfactorily reduce (or bathtub) large battles such as Blenheim into a grid of 18 x 12 squares.  Previous efforts at this sort of thing can be seen here.

From my viewpoint there is one major problem.  A battle like this has three or four villages that must be occupied.  If you put houses (a house?) in the square at this scale there is insufficient room for troops.

Yesterday I remembered the pictures I had seen in Chris Kemp’s ‘Not Quite Mechanised’ blog, where he uses something looking like cinema flats across the sides of the squares to represent towns.

I decided to create some outline towns in a similar method, using the 3d printer.  I also had the same idea for woods that could be occupied by troop blocks.

I use the free online site Tinkercad to create my models.  I created a trial town with terraced gables on a 40mm x 40mm base with a 2mm “wall” depth, and a similar woodland with greater depth to the trees.

After a few hours printing the town I was quite pleased with the result until I tried it on the board – and realised my squares are 30mm x 30mm!  Doh!

I immediately cancelled the woodland print half-way through, but realised that I can use the resulting half-model, inverted and cut into pieces,  to make 6mm gabions on a parapet.

So I reduced the size to 75% and tried again.  This time I was not impressed with the result and the wood was too small to accept a troop base.

And thus I started all over again.  This time I think it will work.  The woods need to be filed on the inside to insert the troops on a 2cm 2cm base.

Below are the undercoated pieces (and some fresh from the printer) awaiting detail painting.  I think that once the houses are painted in a variety of brick, stone or render shades, maybe with some half-timbering detail, they will do the job.

Front row, left to right:  original 40mm print, reduced 30mm print with command unit, typical “Blenheim” infantry unit, redesigned 30mm print.

Second row, left to right:  inverted half-printed piece (now destined as gabions), 30mm outline wood (too small), redesigned outline wood.

Third row, left to right:  hexagonal outline town, Heroscape tile for this town.

I may decide to make models of only two sides (3 sides for hexagonal towns) so that larger built-up areas can be constructed.

We shall see.  Far more pressing projects await.  Little lead men keep screaming at me in incredibly high-pitched voices things like: “I love the hat boss, but can you PLEASE get round to the breeches?!”

 

 

Upon nearly reaching 65

Be it known to all that upon Wednesday next I will arrive at the grand old age of 65.  This used to be a major life point, when one was officially recognised as “old”, and could amongst other benefits travel free upon the omnibus.  However, due no doubt to budget considerations, Her Majesty’s Government has decided to postpone this “milestone” for a further six months in my case.

Therefore I similarly intend to postpone my celebrations until 1st November when (Brexit permitting), the parsimonious Department of Work and Pensions will commence repaying some of my contributions to their coffers over the last 47 years.

No doubt I shall have to make an application, but I have been preparing for this eventuality for some time…

I am lucky.  My wife’s original expectations have been delayed for more than six years!

Not how I expected to spend Easter

Recently I have been concerned about my health. Over the last couple of months I have been frequently short of breath and “wheezy”. In addition I have a chesty cough that will not go away. I went to my GP who scheduled several tests for me.

Blood test, chest x-ray, spirometry all came back “normal”.
I was given a nebuliser to try, but it appeared to make the cough worse.
In the last few days, a couple of times I have coughed so much that I actually blacked out for a few seconds. I checked out the NHS “111” service and the recommendation, as usual, was “Get to A&E a.s.a.p.”

Easter Sunday. Not the best day to choose, but off we went.
Two hours later, having been tested twice for blood pressure and oxygen levels I was put onto additional oxygen and then almost immediately examined.
My blood pressure was in the “normal” range, which was odd because it has been worryingly high for years. Oxygen intake was flashing “low” (below 90 whatevers that they measure).

Another blood test, another chest x-ray. Both showed nothing abnormal.

In the end I was diagnosed with underlying asthma with gastro-respiratory complications.
I was advised to use the nebuliser more frequently and with a heavier dosage, and prescribed some gastric inhibitor pills on a trial basis. Oddly the accompanying label says I should discontinue them if I feel sudden wheezy-ness, which is what triggered the whole investigation in the first place!

Last night I found that when I was lying flat (back or side) I was unable to take a deep breath, and spent half the night coughing pointlessly and getting out of bed to breathe properly. Sleeping in a sitting position triggered the cough, lying down made me puff and pant.

Back to the doctor tomorrow.

Meanwhile we have a couple of air purifiers arriving today. Since 26 years of secondary smoking and the occasional bowl of pipeweed have apparently left no effect on my lungs I wonder if I have developed an allergy to the dog!

A storage solution

Over the last few years I have bought several of Richard Borg’s games based on the “Commands & Colors” format.  These games contain a lot of cardboard terrain hexagon tiles, but are not very good at providing storage for them, particularly once one begins to acquire expansion sets.

My particular bug-bear is Memoir’44, which does provide storage boxes, but made in a way that makes the tiles difficult to extract, and they are quite flimsy.

And so I have pressed my 3d printer into service, and using the online free design program “Tinkercad”. I have created my own boxes.

Each of these holds 36 double-sided tiles, and should fit nicely into a Really Useful Box (we shall see when I have printed enough of them).  I might get organised enough to label them, but that’s a job for another day!

The downside is that each one takes over four hours to print.

When I have enough of these I will try making boxes for the rectangular terrain elements like bridges and bunkers, and maybe even circular ones for the counters.

Unintended Consequences part 2. The best laid plans…

South-east of Nijmegen

18th September 1944 13:30

Played to Memoir ‘44 rules, with local scenario special rules.

In this report I will elaborate the game mechanisms, followed by a creditable narrative of the battle action. Extract from it what you will…

Situation

406 Landesshützen Regiment, now reduced to three companies, is facing an estimated two companies of US parachute infantry holding a crossroads near their observed supply drop zone.

With no definite orders from Corps HQ, I rolled a die for the local commander’s decision. A 6 showed that, with odds of 3:2 in his favour, he would order an attack.

Unfortunately for the Germans, when I rolled for the detailed force make-up, one of their company units was no more than a battalion HQ, which can be useful if there are a lot of units under command, but possibly not so useful in this case. The rest of the force was made up of six rifle platoons, one mortar platoon and one platoon armed with Panzerfausts.

The second potential problem was that there turned out to be three American companies rather than the expected two; two with mortar platoons and all elite forces. I use the US Marines “Gung-Ho!” rules for US parachute infantry, which is effectively about the same as giving them a free HQ unit, allowing one more unit to be activated than the number allowed on the command card.

The picture above is looking from the south (US) side. Rough heathland to the left, flooded polder to the right with a farm near the crossroads.

The Germans, with 9 platoons, start with 3 command cards. The Americans, with 12 platoons, start with 4 command cards.

Victory points. Side with the lowest units, with number of units divided by two, rounding down. Both sides have 3 units, so 1 VP ends the battle.

Both sides win 1 VP for eliminating an enemy unit. The Germans will win 1VP by exiting the field at the crossroads.

13:30

The German player, with orders to attack, must make at least one aggressive move. But with no useable cards, he must surrender one card from his hand and take another. The initiative is lost.

The American player has only one playable card: Recon with 1 unit. “Gung-Ho!” rule increases this to 2 units.

The left flank company advanced half-left and opened fire on the enemy, supported by the mortars of the 2nd company. 1 hit and 1 retreat.

Narrative

Observing the strength of the enemy, the attack stalled.

The Americans initially opened fire with mortars, then advanced a rifle company on the left flank which drove the Germans back with light casualties.

13:40

The German player was still not able to use any of the cards in his hand. Nor was the US player.

13:50

Still no useful cards for either player.

Narrative

After the initial engagement there was a lull for 20 minutes before…

14:00

The German player still had no playable cards.

The US player used “Direct from HQ”, allowing orders to any four units.

I use this in the campaign to include off-table reinforcements within one map square, so the four companies of 3rd Bn 508th PIR arrived on the left flank.

This brought the US strength up to 25 units, and thus 8 command cards, so 4 more were drawn from the pack.

Narrative

At around 14:00 US reinforcements arrived from the south-west in the form of 3rd Bn 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment: HQ, 10 Rifle platoons and 2 mortar platoons.

14:10

Finally the Germans had a useable card. Attack Center. The right flank company advanced to fire on the US left flank company, supported by the mortars of the other company. 1 hit and 1 retreat.

The US played Attack Center. 3 units. The mortar platoon attacked the enemy to the left with 1 hit. The two rifle companies advanced and fired. 2 hits and 2 hit respectively. One German company eliminated. 1 VP. End of game.

Narrative.

The Americans advanced both rifle companies, supported by mortar fire. One of the enemy companies broke and ran. The remainder began to fall back.

Result. US victory.

Casualties.

2/508 PIR. 1/12 = 8%

406 LS Rgt. 5/9 = 56%

Fascinated with Technology

 

Maybe it’s a personal thing, but I have always found watching machines producing things fascinating.  In my working life I always enjoyed factory visits, just to see how the machines, designed by humans, could make parts ad infinitum, and then combine them into meaningful artefacts.

When I bought a 3d printer the effect was the same.  I can sit for ages watching a project brought to life by intricacies that I will always fail to understand.

My latest project is a simple storage box for hexagon tiles of about 6cm (for several board games and my own wargame tiles).

Each box is designed to fit with a number of others into a specific “Really Useful Box”.

Each storage element will take 4 hours to print, so it will be about two or three days before I will actually know if a group of them can fit the storage box and incorporate the hexagon tiles in the intended way.

Here is the first one under construction.  Not very interesting for most of you, but I could watch it for hours…

Sorry!

General Whiskers.

Unexpected Consequences

It is very easy when playing a wargame to lose sight of the objectives.  When playing a campaign it is easier to focus on what needs to be acheived rather than the obvious quick results.  When playing a game within a campaign to other people’s instructions it focuses the mind even more.  When the game involves a card-based order system this complicates the situation.

This was my latest challenge, west of Arnhem on 18th September 1944.

Orders:

The British troops [green tokens] from 1st Airborne Division have an overall objective to push through the town towards the Arnhem road bridge in support of the troops holding the bridge.  They were also tasked with doing maximum damage to enemy armour.

The Polish battalion [yellow tokens] was in defensive mode, protecting the southern end of the railway bridge across the Rhine.

The Germans [black tokens] were initially on the defensive.  Their objective was to destroy as many allied units as possible, and to retake the railway bridge.

Allied forces:

2nd Bn South Staffordshires (Glider Infantry):

     1 HQ Platoon, 3 rifle platoons, 1 MG Platoon.

10th Bn Parachute Regiment:

     1 HQ Platoon

7th Bn King’s Own Scottish Borderers (Glider Infantry)

     9 rifle platoons, 3 mortar platoons

1st Battalion Polish Independent Parachute Brigade

     11 rifle platoons, 1 MG platoon.

Off-table artillery support from two batteries of 75mm Howitzers of 1st Air-Landed Light Battery Royal Artillery.

German forces:

9th SS Armoured Recce Bn.

     3 platoons SdKfz222 scout cars.

2nd PanzerGrenadier Bn, 9th SS Panzer Div.

     9 rifle platoons, 2 mortar platoons, 1 panzerfaust platoon.

3rd PanzerGrenadier Bn, 9th SS Panzer Div.

     1 HQ platoon, 11 rifle platoons, 1 MG platoon.

I use the Memoir ‘44 game system, with some house rules for equipment types not covered in the game.  For example, light armoured cars move like supply trucks but fight like half-tracks. Off-table artillery is activated by “barrage” cards, and if appropriate by artillery order cards.

Game set up

For campaign games I allocate command cards by dividing the number of platoon elements by three.  As casualties are suffered or reinforcements arrived, the hand of cards is recalculated.   This reproduces the friction of battle: as casualties are suffered the number of command choices is reduced.

Victory points are calculated by the number of company units of the smaller force divided by two.  But points are won by achieving goals for the battle or campaign as set by the remote generals.For this battle, Victory points were set at 4.  Allies win 1 VP if the enemy armoured unit is destroyed, and 1 VP for each company that leaves the board by the eastern edge, towards the Arnhem road bridge.  Germans win 1 VP for every allied company destroyed and 1 VP for possession of the rail bridge.

Battle Report

The South Staffordhire’s opened the action with a surprise assault against about a dozen light armoured cars (SdKfz222) in the yard of the Arnhem railway station.  Leaving three or four ablaze they then moved on into the town itself, heading for the road bridge.

South of the river the 3rd PzGren Bn charged the Polish paras south of the bridge.  The Poles fell back with light casualties.  They called in artillery support which pounded the Germans and caused heavy casualties.  The Germans attacked again at close range, this time inflicting heavier casualties, and the Poles retreated, followed up by the victorious Germans.  One Polish platoon counterattacked, inflicting light casualties on the Germans and halting their chase.

Back to the north of the Rhine 2nd Bn commenced mortar fire on the KOSBs. Light casualties were inflicted.  The KOSB mortars replied, and the Germans lost about one third of their number.

The Germans’ answer was to advance to closer range and use the rifle platoons against the KOSBs.  One British company fell back with light casualties and another took several hits.

South of the river the 3rd Bn kept up the pressure on the Poles, effectively wiping out two of the three companies defending the bridge.

\With the situation south of the river getting desperate the KOSBs pressed on with their objective.  The mortars fired again causing very heavy casualties on the enemy and opening up the possibility of breaking through.

In the Polish sector the Germans attacked again and drove the remaining Polish paras away from the bridge, taking control of the railway line.

The KOSBs pushed eastwards and fired at the defending Germans with minimal result.

The Poles charged the Germans on the railway line and retook the south end of the bridge.

The Germans now launched an all-out assault, wiping out the last of the Polish defenders and driving the KOSBs back.  The KOSBs began to dig in where they stood.

In the final act the Germans moved their last remaining company south of the river onto the railway bridge, achieving their objective.

Summary

A battle which the British initiated, with the idea of pushing forwards north of the Rhine, but which was ultimately lost to the south of the river.  Each player started with a wide range of options from the command cards (10 and 9 respectively), but the Germans managed to play aggressively on the south flank, forcing the Allied player to respond to his moves.  When the allied player had a chance, his cards were used well to break down the enemy force, but that, in this battle, did not score him any points.  It may help for the future, but we shall see…

Eventually both sides were reduced to only 4 command cards.

Casualties:

Allies 18/30 = 60%

Germans 16/28 = 57%

Not good news for the newspapers on either side!