I have turned my attention to finishing up my expansion pack for asymetrical warfare entitled "Middle of NoWhere". This is an expansion to Platoon Forward focusing on partisan ( or freedom fighting) actions from the 1920s through Vietnam. While Platoon Forward can certainly be used to game these actions as is[ training excercise April 2010], this expansion changes the blinds tables, tweaks some encouter tables and add a bunch of new scenarios. One of the new types of missions is "rescue". A subset of "rescue" is a downed aircraft or helicopter. I swiped this title from a scenario by Max Maxwell in a TFL special. It was a cool scneario and title! I will only use the title in the pack if he says it's ok but for the blog I thought it fine. Hope you don't mind Max!
Today's platoon is my favorite. They started it all. This is my 8th battle. [ Please see Dawn Raid and training excercise found in April 2010} Sgt Bustamanti was just upgraded to Gr III and was moved to the second squad because morale there has dropped. In addition Cpl Fan has joined the platoon to replace Cpl Riccelo who was KIA last battle.
Sgt Bustamanti hurried into Capt Butro's office wondering where the fire was. Lt Chanti spoke first. "Buffo, One of our planes is missing. It was on a pacification patrol was struck by rifle fire and couldn't make it back to base. It crashed 15 minutes ago about 11 kilometers from here. I can't send Sgt Polti. Take your squad and find the pilot before the Wahlas do. For God's sake hurry!
Characters
Sgt Bustamanti confident/ family Gr III SL
Cpl Fan Conformist/avarice Gr I
Italian squad here made up of 10 man rifle section (assualt) and 9 man LMG section (support)
1truck and 1 saharina with 1 MMG and 20mm autocannon
No I don't have a cool model of a crashed plane!That is it in the white smoke
Buffo enters from top left
Buffo sees the plume of smoke past the mosque
The Italians enter the board as allthe locals stay indoors
Several blinds start on the board but turn out to be shadows. The jeep stops at the treeline watching the mosque and the crashsite. Buffo jumps out of the truck yelling for the pilot. Hearing no answer he sends Cpl Fan left with the LMGs and he takes the assualt section right to go searching.
Cpl Fan finds our aviator!Cpl Fan finds the aviator. Just then the jeep starts to fire at a MG in some brush. Cpl Fan sends the flyboy back to talk with Buffo and takes his men forward through the trees to flank the MG.
Unfortunatley...
Cpl Fan runs into some rebels trying to flank the Italians
In ferocious close quarters the casualties are even so Fan pulls back with 2 KIA and 2 WIA. Buffo dispatches 5 men back to the truck with the pilot and takes 5 to the LMGs. They lay down fire on the rebels which drives them back. Fire opens up from the mosque but the autocannon silences this quickly. As Buffo moves up his 10 Italians for an assualt, the rebels, with all there forces shaken and no pilot in their possesion, decided to leave the field.
Our Hero!I love this scenario! It has such a wide range of possibilities. Buffo was lucky that the rebel forces on board were not real therefore he found the pilot first with no bad guys around. He also found the pilot on the first try. In game event showed Cpl Fan ticked off Buffo so he must of been mad at Fan's inexperience of moving into the ambush. There is now friction between the two. My freeform event was to raise the morale of the LMG section to normal. Given how they performed I thought it unlikely and missed the roll. First fixed event was replacements with a +1 for winning this scenario, +1 becasue LtCol Aquino likes the platoon and -2 for heavy casulaties for 0 modifier. I rolled a 4 so no change. Second was player character effect. Character was Cpl Petracela and was a morale check of his LMG section. Petracela is cultured so no modifier there. A quick roll and morale of the squad goes up! Turns out they like his solid leadership.
Rebel forces
2 squads without LMGs 1 gr III leader 1 Gr I leader
1 MMG gr I leader
Enter near board edge turn 1
Enjoy
Joe
Great news - I specifically mentioned assymetric warfare over on my blog for Platoon Forward.
ReplyDeleteHope we see this one hit the shelves soon!
Interesting scenario and looking forward to see the final version of your project. I have acquired Platoon Forward and enjoyed reading it a lot; I'll try to oganise a game in myc club over the next two weeks.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I have one scenario for WW I in which a British squad should rescue the crew of a our-of-action tank stranded in no man's land and under siege by the Germans. It can probably fit in this new project of yours. If youare interested, please use it freely @ http://mylardiesgames.blogspot.com/
The scenario can be donwloaded in pdf fromat; juts look at the column on the right labelled "Resources" and click on "M&B Scenario: The Beast's last sting"
Donogh,
ReplyDeleteYou have a great blog! Lots of neat stuff. Guess I anticipated your "asymetric warfare".
AI
Nice site and great scenario. I have a similar one here called "saving Zeus". It is set in Vietnam.
Thanks
Joe
Hi Joe:
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It's eerily similar to a standard British Army training scenario they run here at Suffield, "Blackhawk Down", where the squaddies have to rescue a crashed aircrew before the Talibs get them. All done in our faux Afghan village out on the prairie.
I bought PF yesterday and your post makes me itch to get cracking. Since most of my kit is late WW2 Brit and German, I have an idea to use PF for a Canadian battalion in Normandy.
Joe,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I bought PF and have recommended it to others. It fills a niche. My worry at the time was I didn't want to go the WH40K way as far as making characters too significant, but your tables so far don't seem to go that way. They add character without being unreasonable.
I'm busy working on a SciFi PF campaign set in the Ground Zero Games universe (using Stargrunt II and Dirtside II rules for the tactical parts). Each player will run a platoon in an independent company (The King's Own Memphis Rifles of the New Anglian Confederation) engaged in the Second Solar War.
The site for the PF campaign is way incomplete, so I would not think of posting the URL yet, but perhaps people can get some ideas on how to adapt PF to other genres when I do get it done and post it here (so you can see it, not for some reason of vanity).
It would be nice if there was someplace (a page somewhere) that would track resource links (like campaigns and alternate rules) for PF. Maybe something you might host or find a place for?
You can check out my website too if you want (shared with my buddy Adrian): http//www.stargrunt.ca (this isn't the PF campaign site, that's coming)
I thought you might want to do supplement adapting PF to various genres (Sci Fi, Colonial, etc). Asymetric is good and I'm looking forward to it but I am curious as to why you stop at Vietnam. Newer stuff to fresh and ugly to want to write about? (I understand that.)
Anyway, thanks for a wonderful product. Look forward to adaptions. Picked up Sharpe's Practice too and it looks like a hoot and PF could be adopted to it with some tweaking.
Tom
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea about a site where people could post their stories and ideas. Let me think about that over the weekend.
Your blog is way fancier than here! I can't even figure out how to select a profile!
I had a board game years back called StarSoldier that was man to man combat. It was a lot of fun. I plan to expand PF into various genres. First up will be ACW and Napoleanics with Rifles Forward. As you might know I am 70% finished with a WW II air game and 25% finished with a WW II sea game. AS far as colonials and sci fi who knows?
Regarding truly modern stuff Platoon Forward and Middle of NoWhere will work. I dont' mention it becasue since I have been to those places I never want to be associated with them on the tabletop. The scenario above as Mad Padre states will work in Somalia, Afganistan or Iraq. Your right, I guess it is too personal for me.
Glad you are enjoying it and let me think about another page for stories and stuff!
Thanks
Joe