September SitRep

Been plugging away at a few things in my off time. Work has picked up and all the fall chores like cleaning up the garage naturally press upon me.

Also Cadets has started up, but Covid and Social Distancing has complicated that, so there's Zoom meetings and virtual lessons on Google Classroom and training schedules put in disarray to take me away from painting.

But I have been bashing away at the Norman cavalry renovation and am within a pip of finishing them! At least the painting. Then all 72 need to be based or rebased. Plus the infantry. Then they can go loot the village and set fire to the church, or something. 

Off with the old shields! 

On with the new!

So many bases!

I have also been cleaning up and priming my 1/600 scale aircraft and trying to research IJN aviation  colour schemes. It seems the Japanese weren't very precise in their colour regulations. Of course very few examples survived the war so it's hard to tell. Plus sitting on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier exposed to sun and salt water weathers the paint considerably.

L-R Me110, He111, Me109

Mosquito, Spitfire, Hurricane 

Taking advantage of the last good evenings. RAF and Luftwaffe getting primed

Avenger, Dauntless, Wildcat, Hellcat 

Teensy weensy landing gear to glue on teenie tiny Vals. So glad I didn't get any Stukas! 

Betty, Kate, Val and Zero 

And just to keep another plate spinning I've read two books on Afghanistan:

Operation Medusa was a good strategic overview. Fraser was certainly highly complimenatry of everyone he worked with during the lead up to and execution of the battle, from allied commanders down to the squaddies in his Close Protection Detail. The chapter headings featured a lot of quotes from "Mother" his Brigade HQ Sergeant who was in Tactical command of his Tac HQ when it rolled out several times a week. More detail about the tactical aspects of C Company's ambush or B Company's push in from the north would have been welcome, but I suppose that is out of the scope of the book. General Fraser's worry about losing access to all the allied air assets before he could conclude the battle and destroy the Taliban shaped some key decisions. He does also point out that TF31s actions on the southern flank as detailed in Lions of Kandahar were pretty key in winning the battle. Still an interesting read. 

Combat Mission Kandahar was also interesting for the soldier's eye view gritty detail. There is information on a few engagements. The chapter covering the Recce Squadron for instance told me that minimum patrol size was 3 vehicles and the sensor operators provided the dismounts as required. I had a third Coyote in the lead pile. A metal and resin kit from S&S Models which I had vague plans to add a sensor mast to, but I decided to just paint it up. A couple of large scale ambushes were also detailed, including one on a large vehicle convoy, and another featuring Canadian advisors and an ANA company. Both  could make for an interesting solo game at least.

Another piece off the lead pile!

Ambush in the Panjwayai

Played a semi-solo game of  Contact Front this past weekend. I set up the table, photographed it, and sent a picture with mission objectives to the Mad Padre. He then picked his Support Options and gave me his plan which I then executed.

He needed to hold a jirga at A, set up an OP on building B and establish a check point at C plus sweep for insurgent activity in the village. I hid 3 weapons caches in the grape huts for him to find, guarding the one closest to his table edge with an IED.

His plan called for infiltrating a 3 man team into the grape hut on the right of the table predawn (wish I'd put that IED somewhere else now). Then they would establish the OP on objective Bravo while the rest of the platoon arrived, set up a cordon and held the jirga.

Not entirely kosher by the rules, but Canadian infantry do hold with aggressive patrolling to deny the battle space to the enemy. So I allowed it, but gave the Taliban an extra move.

Morning market at Objective Bravo

Morning gossip at the well

Commuter traffic

Taliban infiltrating through pot fields 

Taliban crossing ditch about to bump Canadian patrol

Canadian patrol moving  to objective Bravo 

Rest of platoon arriving 

Firefight! Dropping a 40mike on Timmy wins the firefight

Establishing a cordon. Note fighters on rooftop. 

Firing on the jirga. Much of the Taliban force wasn't in position (bad command rolls) but had to open the fight before they got challenged and detained. In hindsight I think I should have randomized the casualty allocation rather than assign to the closest. Also keep forgetting that small teams get to refill a failed save. 

Confronting Taliban LMG team.  He opened fire rather than be searched and detained. Canadian team all seriously wounded. 

Sniper! 

Attack on the checkpoint 

Gunship giving support fires 

The Canadians have 4 KIA and 6 wounded being moved to a Casevac by LAV. But the Taliban have pretty much shot their bolt.

So  the Canadians get 5 VPs for finding one weapons cache, 10 VPs for the OP. 4x KIA is -16, so net -1 VP. Although holding the jirga after the shooting stops is arguable which would be 15 more VPs.
Taliban get 10 VPs for killing enemies. They didn't manage to dominate the market place or exit a patrol off the far table edge.

I'm tempted to play again, with another platoon coming on to recover the wreck and search for more weapons but dismounted and try more support options than the platoon LAVs.

Gaming During a State of Emergency

Social Distancing has certainly put a crimp on gaming. I've seen refernces to "Hot Lead Hiatus," "Not Lead" and "Hot Lead Instead" as people search for other ways to get their hobby on during the pandemic.

Saturday morning over breakfast, Mrs. Rabbitman suggested that using the video chat feature on Facebook Messenger would be a good way to play with some one. She uses it to talk to Daughter No. 1 in Alberta weekly and finds it easier and more reliable than Skype. To demonstrate she quickly set up a 4 way call between our daughters and us (although my grandson, being 3, did most of the talking!).

I still had my Afghanistan stuff out and wanted another bash at Contact Front from God's Eye Games. Pete (who lives about an hour away anyway) was quick to respond. So with him on a tablet at his painting desk (he painted while giving me instructions on how to move his figures and rolling dice) and me on my phone in the basement, I walked him through mission, objective and support option selection. I gave him the Canadians being more straightforward and he rolled a 9. So he took the platoon LAVs, an Apache attack helicopter and with the 2 pts for doing an "Advance to Contact" he took a Fireteam of ANA. I rolled a whopping 2 and took "Dominate the Ground". I picked a sniper team and extra RPG team.

As my phone was busy showing Pete what was going on I didn't get a  turn by turn photo record. I snapped the following during a hiatus caused by his battery running down. But once comms were reestablished we were able to play to a finish.

A lucky RPG hit

LAV gets revenge

Sniper team attractst he attention of the Apache

The sniper had gotten a kill on the section moving up beside the burning LAV before he was turned into mist by the Apache.

Casualties behind the burning LAV. Yellow is stabilized. Red is not. 1 chit light wound, 2 serious. 3 critical. One crewman has already bled out despite the medic being there.

Overview

Pete pushed up on his right to capture and hold the grape hut, getting to it first with a full section. I did all of my fighting with the RPG and sniper teams, who all died after scoring some kills on the infidel. Having made my VPs by brewing up the LAV and killing some Coalition troops I decided it was the smart thing to withdraw into the pot field.

Plus my phone was on low battery.

We both secured our objectives, but the Canadian casualties resulted in a 5-3 victory for the Taliban.

Interesting experience. I'll do it again, but maybe with rules everyone is familiar with like Dragon/Lion Rampant. Although Pete found the extra fog of war provided by the interface of viewing the table through my phone camera interesting. More than four players might get a bit messy however as we all miss the usual social conversational queues and talk over top of each other. Pete and I had a few isssues with that.

Now that the Provincial government has ordered the closing of all non-essential businesses, I suspect I may have more time over the next few weeks. I wonder if saw blades are essential?

Contact Front: first contact

I consoled myself after a stressful Friday and Saturday cancelling Hot Lead by having a solo game of Contact Front from God's Eye Games on Sunday. I've adopted from the Mad Padre the eminently sensible idea to solo play to learn new rules. It also means I get some gaming in. Especially at this time.

Force selection is interesting. You begin with a basic platoon or insurgent cell, then roll a d10 for support points. Choice of mission will give you some extra points too. A die roll determines who chooses their mission first, which limits the mission selection for the other player. The Taliban won the roll and took "Dominate the Ground" with +1 point. The Canadians then took "Advance to Contact" with +2 points. The Canadian die came up 10 and the Taliban die came up 6.

I'm using a mash-up of the free to download Danish and Australian army lists to get a start until I write one for the Canadians.  My 12 support points got me a platoons worth of LAV IIIs, an Apache attack helicopter, and some 81mm mortars on call at the FOB. The Taliban got an IED, a suicide bomber, a sniper team, a 2nd RPG team and a 2nd PKM LMG team. I find it odd that RPG teams are not a support option in the book, but I'm a rebel. I have loads of RPGs and the Canadians faced a lot of them. So I let them take one more.

The players then select their Victory Points. I had the Canadians searching for weapons caches, so three were spread across the table, 1 in each third. The Taliban wanted to slay the enemy and deployed their IED  in the middle third of the table.

Taliban begin infiltrating from their table edge 

CS21 deploys to sweep the village. 2 LAVs cover the flank and 2 provide over watch in the village 

First door. Took 2 attempts to kick it in!

But they found a cache!

Next door... again 2 attempts to force it. Note Taliban moving up in grape field.

Nothing!

Moving fireteams by bounds. Setting overwatches at each leg. 

Sniper team supported by RPG and LMG teams move up the flank 

Taliban getting in position at edge of grape field 

C6 team deploy to roof. LAV covers advance down road. Note Taliban by wall. Until they fire, the insurgents can't be engaged .

Local approaches LAV. Weapons team fail their toll to "Apprehend and Search."

BOOM! Suicide bomber detonates signalling the attack. RPG hits LAV immobilizing it. Fire from grape hut wounds one of the weapons team. 

Sniper! Man down. Team drags their dead comrade behind a wall. Their morale broken. 

C6 team and fire teams in houses engage insurgents in grape field, who find themselves in a crossfire. 

RPGs, 25mm shells and AK rounds fly across grape field. 

LAV races up to retrieve broken team. General fire fight across village. 

Taliban get a good command roll, so lots of activations combined with roll well on their shooting! No. 2 on the C6 hit by sniper. He's dragged down steps to waiting LAV. Casualties are piling up. Apache is inbound. One activation left for shooting is used to fire a LAV at the sniper wiping him out. 

BOOM! RPG gets a lucky hit on 21C. 2x crew KIA. 

Apache overhead fires on grape hut, blowing up insurgents and a weapons cache.  With all the casualties secure, remaining activation points spent having LAVs engage remaining Taliban. Taliban force left with2 command teams who fade out.

The Canadians got 10 VPs for 2x weapons caches eliminated. 4x KIA is -8 VP, but retrieving the bodies reduces it to -4. So net 6 VPs.Taliban got 10 for killing enemies.

The restricted Rules of Engagement really help. The insurgent can maneuver his teams into position and develop his plan and gets to choose when to start the battle, unless he miscalculates and gets too close, then the Western player can make a Search roll.

The generation of Activation Points helps with the friction too. The requirement to spend APs rallying pinned teams and securing casualties means the Western player can't do everything he wants to do either, keeping it from becoming a game of whack-a-mole.

So far I'm quite pleased with the rules and look forward to having Call Sign 21 out some more. The author is working on an Afghanistan supplement and rules for Special Forces. So both of those are on my radar now too.