Welcome to Platoon Forward!

Welcome to the site where the story of the battle is as important as the battle itself. Here we will focus on men thrust into extraordinary situations of life and death. They must lead other men with duty and honor to meet their countries objectives. Some will be blessed with great skill, some will carry great shortcomings. No matter what nation, no matter what war, no matter what theater, they are all called to move their Platoon or Squadron forward!

These are their individual stories as played out using my various campaign rules . Hopefully these stories will entertain and inspire you to use your own troops, airmen and sailors to accomplish your own great heroics.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Black Seas: A review

I really enjoyed Warlord's Cruel Seas as many of you know.  I found it a good base set of rules to modify into the right level of detail I wanted. [ Hence Crueler Seas]  Also the models are superb.   Hence when the same designer was going to release Black Seas I was all in.  The only difference here was I actually have a pretty good set of AOS rules in Post Captain.  I will split this review into two parts; the models and the rules.
THE MODELS
I purchased the Flotilla bundle. As some of you know, my interest lies in the Caribbean, and I got multiple small ships plus flags.  I will need some schooners and I hope these will be released soon.

The models as I expected are lovely!



 A British Brig partially rigged under sail off Yorktown

They are big and go together easily.  If you don't worry about sails and rigging you can have a ship built that looks nice.  The rules have a painting guide that I didn't find particularly helpful but there are plenty of pictures in the book that can guide you.
If you want to rig a ship with sails this will be a challenge.  The rules have a guide as to how to rig a ship which is helpful.  There will still be trial and error.  Please note; I am a surgeon and I still found tying knots too fiddly.  Either do an instrument tie or place a drop of glue over the first loop once you have your tension set.  Don't bother squaring off the knot. 
Sails.  I found no directions anywhere for sails.  If you look at the pictures you can figure it out.  Don't use super glue.  It will take you a while to get the sails into place.  Use regular stick glue and pick ups [ tweezers for you non surgeons] to get the sails in place. [ you will have to work around your rigging.]  Once in place several strategic drops of super glue will hold them.

As much as the above sounds frustrating it went much easier with the second ship.  And the results are very good!

A revolutionary war Brig at speed!


A further tip; I chose to not fully rig the ship but go with partial rigging.  I went with effect.  This was quicker and made placing the sails easier.  Second, you can see the ratlines above.  In person they look shiny and I don't think I will add them to the rest of my fleets.


Overall I am very happy with the ships.  They look great and now that I know how to build them it shouldn't be too frustrating.  I just wish the above paragraph had been in the rulebook somewhere.

Black Seas the game  [ I have played 4 games solo so far.]

Rules are very much a personal thing.  I loved the simple approach of Cruel Seas and found it was easy to modify it through Crueler Seas to add the detail I wanted.  [ and more such as USSR 12.7 MG get a +1 for damage}

Black Seas is very basic. With just basic rules it is hard to tell it is an AOS game.  The advanced and optional rules bring it up to a simple game in line with Cruel Seas.

So my comments are really about the "advanced" game with all the potential rules.  Everything that you would expect in an AOS game is in there somewhere, it is just presented simply except command and control.  This was no surprise to me as C + C is absent in CS as well.  So let's run through the big items of AOS and see how BS handles them.
Initiative
BS handles this elegantly in that the ship with the weather gauge goes first.  In a nod to C+C if a ship is in a line the whole line gets to move. 
Combat
This was the most intriguing part of Black Seas for me.  Unlike other AOS games BS doesn't separate out hull, sail and crew damage.  It is all rolled up into one damage factor. I was curious if it would work.  I would say it depends.  If you want a simple quick game the answer is "yes".  If you want Heart of Oak, then "No". The game does differentiate sail and hull through critical hits which have their own critical hit charts.   You can aim high or low.  It does work in an abstracted, simple way.

A British brig fires low.

The "to hit" sequence is very simple and easy enough to calculate in your head.  You have chain shot, grape shot, double shot and even heated shot as well though chain shot has no range restriction. Rakes are handled eloquently.   I have only had 2 melees but this seems to work and there are rules for sharpshooters.

US sharpshooters go to work!

Ships normally strike before they sink as you would expect though inexperienced ships maybe strike too often needing to roll a "6" to save themselves from this fate.   Every AOS game has to have the possibility of a ship blowing up because it happened once during the battle of the Nile and you will find it here.  As a matter of fact that poor ship has a special rule that makes it easy for her to blow up if you use her historically.  ( As if the french don't have enough problems!)

My thoughts are overall the combat system works.  It needs to be tweaked for my tastes just like Crueler Seas did.  The critical hits need to be expanded and the sail hits need to be made more pronounced and permanent.  I will be working on this.  But the damage system plays fast and clean and seems to give historical results.  As I get older I like faster and cleaner at the expenses of some detail; just not as much as the original game.  The only thing I don't like in the combat system is the fact that there is no reload time.  To me to get the feel of AOS verses Cruel Seas you need reload time.   This is already in there partially as "fire as she bears".  This simulates each cannon firering as rapidly as possible at a target and give a -2 penalty verses a loaded broadside.  Still, all ships can fire a loaded broadside each turn.  Looses some flavor for me.

Sailing
As you would expect this is also abstracted.  Ships can't sail directly into the wind and actually take damage if the wind changes and they find themselves in that position. [ an odd bit of chrome] .  Ships basically have 3 speeds,  The wake markers that I loved in Cruel Seas are back but here they annoy me because the terminology on them is just plain wrong.  The three speeds are full sails, light sails and battle sails.  Those three speeds don't correspond to those sail states but the ship's relationship to the wind which are close reach, broad reach or run with the wind.  I am fine with simplifying sailing but please don't use incorrect terms.  You don't want someone playing the game to think that they are moving to full sail when they are broad reaching. Have them think they are moving "fast".  While we are here I was disappointed there are no rules for full sails.  It would add another decision to the game and would be simple enough to abstract in.  There are also no rules for fore and aft rigged ships such as my schooner.  Now if I am only playing Trafalgar this is no problem.  But for a comprehensive ruleset that will be used in the Caribbean with pirates that is a problem.

Ships at sail size each other up.


There is a simplified tacking rule which works, but again, woe to the inexperienced crew as they have little chance to tack needing a "6" to succeed.  [ poor Spanish].  Movement feels very fast to me as well, more like cruel seas than an Age of Sail game. Ships broad reaching move 3 times their basic speed so move pretty far.    Finally, there is no difference between square rigged and fore and aft rigged ships as to sailing characteristics.  For Trafalgar again no problem but in the Caribbean or even privateers in the channel a problem.

My overall thoughts are I was disappointed in the sailing system.  It doesn't feel like a sailing game at all.  It would take an awful lot for me to fix this part.  If you want a very simple abstract sailing game which bears little relation to sailing then I think this works.  It felt like I was sailing a vosper with rigging rather than an elegant sailing ship.



Odds and Ends
The campaign rules were very disappointing and are nothing but common sense.   There are special rules for each of the 4 main combatants and rules for several of their notable ships.  These are okay.
There are excellent photos of models and osprey drawings and history of the AOS.  The production values of the book are topnotch.

Overall this is a basic set of AOS rules.  If that is what you are looking for you will like this set.  I really like the concept of 1 damage number for the whole ship.  It is simple and elegant.  I can expand the detail enough to take into account sails verses hull.  The sailing rules left me flat.  An AOS game has to feel like an AOS game, not like MTBs under sail. As I stated at the beginning rules are a personal thing.  For me I think there are better sets out there.  I will probably work on the combat rules and incorporate them into my Post Captain rules.  Your mileage may vary.

 Enjoy

Joe   
   

 


Monday, October 7, 2019

Romanians over the Kuban

Flotilla Forward continues to move ahead but it has slowed down because it is october and that means playoff baseball.  A bonus for me is my favorite team, the Nationals, are in the playoffs.  Fingers crossed.
Decided to do something different last week after reading about Jack's air campaign in the Pacific.  Decided to do a Bag the Hun mission.  I had just finished painting up 2 seibel ferries from warlord's sale in preparation for a game with my brother and dad so decided to use my Romanian ME 109 squadron to do a CAP mission over the Kuban river.  [ You can see I am fixated on the Romanian air force as well as their navy!]  This is an interesting squadron as they have flown 8 mission already.  Their CO was sacked after the 3rd mission for not being aggressive enough and the XO [SLt Florescu] was fleeted up to temporary command.  After performing well this was made permanent along with a promotion to Capt.  Despite what you might think this is a good squadron with 13 kills against 5 losses.  They currently only have 5 mission ready aircraft with 2 in the shop. SLt Bernad is the maintenance officer and he works what miracles he can. 

Capt Florescus left the operations hut to go brief the squadron.  He had just left LtCol Ulsei in a reasonably good mood.  They were to fly CAP over the Kubian river where the germans were moving supplies down towards the Black seas beachhead the russians had created 3 days ago.  He would take a schwarm and mulled over in his head who should accompany him.  The logical choice to lead the other element was Adj Sef Miron.  He was the senior NCO of the squadron, had 2 kills and was a great pilot.  Unfortunately, he was shot down 2 days ago and just walked into the squadron last night.  The flight surgeon had not cleared him for combat yet.  His XO was too green having arrived 2 weeks ago.  Lt Marulis, the leading scorer in the squadron with 4 kills, had just made a dead stick landing earlier today.  That left 2 NCOs Burileanu and Manoliu.  Both had been with the squadron since they had converted to the ME 109 and had flown primarily as wingmen.  He would ask his senior NCO for his recommendation.  Everyone else in the squadron was just too green. 

Characters

Capt Florescu   son of a doctor  Scholarly/position   military grad   Vet with 3 kills
wingman  Adj Moraru      addicted /wealth       green pilot

Adj Stag Manolui  dock worker    agressive   avg     has lucky trait
wingman  Adj Stag Burileanu   Cheery        avg 


The schwarm over the Kubian     


I picked CAP mission and rolled up intercept bombers.  ( I actually rolled up operational bombers but I only have early war soviets.  I have been meaning to get some B-25s in Russian colors.)  So I rolled up 6 Sturmovik escorted by 4 LA-5s.   ( 1 of the LA-5s is a brand new LA-5 FN which for me gives is slightly faster speed.)    Despite being a veteran and being on CAP Florescu rolled badly on the intercept and ended up being significantly behind the soviets when he spotted them.  

Bandits 12 oclock!

Capt Florescu told teh NCO element to get the bombers and he would handle the fighters. 

Unfortunately they are seen by Ivan at a distance and the escorts circle back. 

Florescu finds a russian fighter off alone and bores in.   ( Green pilot fails to keep formation.)
He is rewarded by the plane suddenly spiraling down awkwardly.   His 4th kill!

However, before the elation of his 4th kill has time to sink in bullets rattle his plane from the left side!  

A quick turn to port loses the russian but Moraru comes over the headset telling him his plane is trailing fluid at an alarming rate.  A scan of the instruments shows his fuel dropping fast.  His fuel line must be cut.  He has no choice but to leave his very green wingman and the NCOs and head back towards base. 

Meanwhile the 2 NCOs bore in.  But a Sturmovik is very hard to bring down.

Then the wiley russians hide in the clouds! 

Meanwhile, floating down the kuban river...

Very cool looking ferries!  Wonder where the 88 crews are? 

Jack, these are the 29 cent rivers I told you about last year.  Not as nice as the Wargamer's terrain but waaay cheaper. 
They are some type of shelving paper.  Here is a shot of the back.  I bought it at Michael s. 

Back to the battle...

A furball ensues...




And our green pilot takes a shot and damages one!

Meanwhile...
the bombers drone on getting closer to the kuban...

Finally Adj Stag Manoliu's persistance is rewarded by smoke coming from a sturmovik's engine.  It pulls out of formation but only heads for home.  Russian fighters protect it well.

As flak blossoms the Romanian fighters break off with only 2 bombers diverted from their mission. 

Multiple rockets head for the 2 ferries.  Only 2 hit and they cause minor damage.

Each sturmovik carries 2 small bombs in addition to the rockets.  I use my Brag the hun rules to bomb.  While the ferries are slow and they look huge in the pictures, they are actually very small targets...

obviously too small for our 4 bombers...

to hit!


The 3 romanians head for home but there is one more drama to play out.   Remember our dear Capt leaking fuel?  We use the AKOT table from Squadron Forward and I decided it is unlikely that he will make the airfield.  A d10 roll of "7" confirms he is going to be short.  As his gas gauge moves to empty he radios his position and looks for a flat place to set his plane down.  I decide he is likely to  find such a place in southern russia and he does.  He shuts his engine off and glides down as best he can.  He has never heard such screeching and groaning of metal in his life but when the dust settles he is alive and in one piece!  The plane sustains only major damage; good landing.  

Great battle!  I declared it a draw because we did not stop the attack on the ferries but the escort was strong and the ferries were unhurt. ( more or less)  Plus the good Capt did pick up 1 kill.  Our green pilot Moraru upgrades to average.  The squadron's reputation also goes up to 2 which is very good and signifies they are considered somewhat elite within the Air Force.  ( True Top Gun status is 3.)  This will help with many checks as people start to behave they way it is expected.  If people see you as a hot shot you will start to believe you are!   Things are looking up.  Hopefully next time I will report my second Romanian ace.  (I have one in my IAR-80 squadron already.) 

Enjoy

Joe