Coming Soon!!!

Squadron Forward should be relased this coming week!

 As you can see Rich has done a bang up job on the artwork with many international drawings. 

There are the usual three parts just like Platoon Forward.  Part One is similar actually except your pilots can have additional skills.  Part Two consists of 5 basic scenarios which expand to 8 basic situations.  Just like Platoon Forward, you don't pick your mission, it is handed to you.  Unlike PF, appendix 1 contains mission tables that break the war down by theater,  combatant, year and sometimes aircraft.  After all, a ME 109s missions were far different in 1940 than they were in 1945!

Part Three contains the in game and post game tables you need to test your men in battle and out.  Squadron Forward introduces some minimal resource management as you keep track of the number of pilots you have ready and the number of planes on the line.  Finally we have two more appendices.  Appendix 2 gives you tables for enemy and friendly fighter aircraft by theater and year for the entire war.   If the scenario card says you meet 4 enemy fighters you move to appendix 2 and roll to see what you are gonna face!  There are a couple of "theaters" not there like Syria and Norway but the vast majority are included.  [Greece is in there for you Chris]  If your theater is not in there e-mail me and we can talk about putting together a table.  Appendix 3 comes to us courtesy of Brian and adds medals to the Forward system.  Your pilot just got his 5th kill and you think he should get a medal?  I think the Wing Commander doesn't like him since he caused that ruckus in town last week.  The paperwork might get lost...

If you liked Platoon Forward  you will like Squadron Forward.  If you hated Platoon Forward please don't buy Squadron Forward. If you are a solitaire gamer then Squadron Forward will set up the battle for you.  It is not a AI programed opponenet however.   If you want to add a campaign element to your air combat games without a lot of fuss then either ask on your favorite forum or e-mail me here, TMP or the Lardies group about Squadron Forward and I will answer any questions you have.  Once you are satisfied and only then, buy it. 

I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Joe 

A one eyed man...

There is a saying that in a country of blind men a one eyed man is king.  Over the last several years in my gaming I have found this to be more and more true. 
When I started off I wanted a table of massive armies with at least a hundred figures/tanks.  I wanted tons of cruisers and battleships with lithe destroyers scouting the way.  I wanted companies creating grand movements and squadrons of ships going hither and yon. 

For those of you that do this that is great!  You obviously have more space, money, time and imagination than I have.  I have found that to have all these toys on the table not only costs a fair amount of coin, (please see my erudite piece on 15mm two posts ago) particularly for us solo gamers.  But it takes a lot of space if the toys are going to have room to manuver or lithly scout the way! 

                                                             Lithe DDs trying to scout!

Moreover it takes a lot of time!   Time to paint up all those hundreds of toys and time to set up and take down the grand battles.
Lastly is imagination.  I find that if I have 8 T-34s I am not too concerned if I lose 4 or 5 of them.  I will throw a company of infantry into the fray or a squadron of destoryers in harms way with little thought. (That is probably why I lose all the time!) 
I have found that if I have 1 T-34 I am very concerned about it's safety.  With a platoon of infantry or 3 destroyers every unit is important and I think carefully before I do anything.  Don't get me wrong, I still lose but it seems more fun.  I have also found that the battle seems more intement and personal.  You can't get attached to 8 tanks but you can to 1.  Of course Platoon Forward (and soon Squadron Forward and behind that Flotilla Forward) has helped me personalize my games as well.  

I have found that my smaller games have actually been my most enjoyable.  I still set up "big" games like Stalingrad or Savo Island and they are fun.  But the small games continue to surprise me by being fun way out of porportion to their size.  Take my last post, Sgt Smith runs for daylight.  The British had 2 sections and a mortar.  For me that was 5 bases total.  It ran 80 minutes and was a joy to play.

Lastly playing smaller games has allowed some weaker units to come to the fore.  I have had several coastal actions where a minesweeper was  the big man on the board!    In most naval games minesweeperer are an afterthought if a thought at all!  I have had some great games with jeeps and halftracks dueling it out!

                                                  A french armored car can indeed be king!

Don't get me wrong, I am not against the huge tables with thousands of figures or ships.  I have found for me that the smaller games actually give me more fun when actually playing them.  In addition, it allows me to savior some of my one eyed figures...

Joe
  

Sgt Smith runs for daylight

Things are moving along with Squadron Forward.   We are probably 2-3 weeks away!!  Think you will all love it.  Rich has changed the art work around to give it more of an internaitonal flavor.

Took a break from Squadron Forward, Vikings ( I play a fair amount of Leadership Matters, my variant of SAGA that I don't post as it does not generate much interest here. ) and manning for FY 2014 at my hospital to play a Platoon Forward game last weekend.  I chose my Desert Rat 1940 Platoon that has only had 1 battle.  You can read about it last November 2011.  One of the keys of Platoon Forward for me is it is sustainable.  By focusing on characters rather than a ridgid time sequence we can leave a platoon alone for 6 months and come back when I feel like it and pick right up. I don't have to play through a boring battle to get to the good stuff.

After the successful delaying action the platoon had been lucky to have seen little action for several days.   Sgt Smith had been running things with the Sergeant Majors help, not that there had bee much to run. He still felt bad for leaving the Leftenent.  No one in the platoon or comapny blamed him however.   He hurried over to the Major's bunker when summoned.  "Sgt, Eity made a mess of our minefields last attack.  The engineers are going out to repair it.  I would like you to take 2 sections out and keep any patrols from spoiling their fun, eh wot."

Sgt Smith  Optomistic/ position      Gr I             1st section
Cpl Egg Southcote   conformist/ weath    Gr II    2nd section
2in mtr

Mission   Screening   Engineers

Engineers are just off board to the south

There is a field to the right

What is your plan Sgt?

Sgt Smith decided to take his section and Egg's since Egg was a good leader and Crocket's boys had been through the wringer.  (morale down)   He place Egg on the left of the hill and himself with rifles and an ATR on the right of the hill with the bren in the field.

Pre game event gave the Italians extra "C" blinds but they rolled poorly.  They entered from the top right corner.



Sgt Smith gets the mtr going!

At first contact the Italians deployed their first truck and the Car started firing at the first section.



  
They laid down automatic fire which kept the Tommies heads down.  Then the bren gun jammed!  Sgt Smith, not hearing the gun firering moved down the hill into the field to assist.  Egg shifted his Bren team to fire but it was ineffective.

Seeing the fire slacken the Italians made their move.  The men from the first truck arose from the ravine and charged first section and the second truck sped for the field.

   

Italians pushing the leaderless rifles of 1st section

off the hill

Uninvited guests arrive!  That is Sgt Smith with the tommy gun

Sgt Smith retreats into the adobe house after rallying his bren team.  At this point a flare goes up signaling the engineers are done.  Mission accomplished!  Time to go home!

The Italians are rather insistant

 Egg collects 2nd section and leads then off the hill and starts to lay covering fire for 1st section.  ( I am concerned that we will be giving the Italians prisoners for the second time in two battles!)    The bren team is killed in the house while Sgt Smith escapes with a light wound.  He joins up with 3 riflemen who are left and things look bleak.  They managed to push back the Italians coming down the hill.

  

Sgt Smith runs for daylight!!

Sgt Smith sees the road 60 yards away and yells, " Come on lads" and runs like he had never run in his life.  All 4 tommies make it to the road where 2nd section is waiting thus ending a very exciting scenario!!

I got an ingame event that Sgt Smith impressed Cpl Egg so his great escape quickly makes the rounds and the tale growing taller by the hour.  Sgt Smith's popularity goes up by 1 to 2 but his skill as a leader stays at gr I as I missed my AKOT roll to get him upgraded which I thought was "possible".  My 2 prescribed events for the platoon are that the 4 men we lost this battle plus our bren gun will not be replaced (ouch)  and our new platoon leader show up.  SLt Richard Audley, straight from the academy.  Apparently the Audley's have fought in every war for the crown since 1812.  Unfortunalty Dicky did not learn much in school as he is a Gr I leader.   Should prove interesting...

For those of you that want to play this have the british have to hold the Italians for 6 turns then they can withdraw off the south edge of the table. They can not dig in as they have not been here long nor do they plan to stay.   The Italians have the following forces.

1  Sahara car

3 squads

1 Lt   Gr II     3 NCOs    1 Gr II    2 Gr I

2-3 trucks 

Enjoy!!

Joe





Convoy CAP

Thank you for all the feedback on the "Defense of 15mm article".  Since the response was positive I will probably post some more opinion pieces. 
Squadron Forward continues to move forward.  Rich has had some computer issues and I have had some work issues but progress continues to be made!
Painted up my Saxon command group and managed a quick game of Squadron Forward/Bag the Hun this weekend which I thought I would report.  This is my Tomahawks 8th battle and they are doing reasonably well.  Their reputation is +1 and they have 4 pilots that have scored.

The mission for today was CAP over a convoy returning from Tobruk.  Sdr Ldr Puck Poole figured a flight of 4 could handle it and he would turn this one over to his deputy and get some paperwork done. To give Lt Thurlby a hand he would send the Flgt Sgt with him who was a very experience airman and well liked in the squadron. 
 Before the brief Lt Mason from wing HQ showed up and asked if he could tag along as he needed some flying hours.  Lt Thurlby gladly added him to the flight and figured this couldn't be too dangerous a mission if a wing staffer volunteered to go!!

Lt Thurlby  liberal               1 kill
Lt Mason  [NPC]
F/O  Charles    cultured     sprog

Flt Sgt Skinner      generous         2 kills     Vet
Sgt    Turnhill        Fanatic


After boring holes in the sky for several hours Lt Thurlby spotted some Italian bombers low moving in fast.    They worked there way around towards the back.

Tomahawks enter to the upper left

I can't afford 6 Italian bombers yet so there

are 3 bases!

This was a full effort on this convoy; 6 SM 79s and 6 CR 42s.    The Brits would have their hands full protecting the convoy today!  

As they closed they were spotted and the fighters nimbly turned to greet them.  Thurlby left Skinner up top to deal with the fighters while he took 2 to bore in on the bombers.   A general melee ensued.





Tomahawks starting out well

Lt Thulrby caused one bomber to abort.  Flght Sgt Skinner and Lt Mason each got a bomber.  Sgt Turnhill must have had his Tomahawk on emergency power too long because his engine started to overheat and he had to leave the battle. 
As the bombers dropped low to start their torpedo runs Lt Thurlby lined up for one more shot desperatley trying to defend the ships

The Convoy making the run back to Alexandria

A CR42 snuck up behind him and caused the Lt to temporarily lose control of the Tomahawk.   With 10,000 ft to play with he could have righted himself but at less than 500 ft the tomahawk smacked into the souless sea and exploded into a hundred pieces. 

3 SM 79s made torpedo runs.    The dice were with them as a minesweeper was badly damaged but later towed and



a small merchant ship was sunk

On the return flight Sgt Turnhill's engine didn't make it and he had to crash land the tomahawk.   The plane was destroyed and Turnhill WIA.   Hopefully he will be back soon.

I declared the mission a win barely.   The Italians only had 50% of the bombers get through despite a heavy escort of fighters.   Combat losses were 1 fighter for 1 bomber  plus a empty merchant.  We did not earn any cool points though.  Lt Thurlby was not replaced.  Puck does not want to promote the next ranking pilot to deputy, Flt Lt Attleburg, because he is not that good.  He suggested F/O Oldfield (vet pilot, ranking scorer in the sq with 3 kills) but the old man Grp Capt Randel was polite but said "no".  Since the RAF is very rank consious Attleburg will be acting deputy until Puck can figure something else out.  This is the kind of situations that Squadron Forward sets up for you!

For those of you that want to play this the Forces generated for the Italians were:

6 CR 42s with 2 veterans, 3 Avg and 1 rookie

6 SM 79s with torpedos

1 large merchant, 3 small merchants    1 V class DD,    2 MS    1 patrol boat

Enjoy

Joe

In defense of 15mm

Well a week after Salute and I am back in the swing of things.  Rich and I are hard at work at Squadron Forward and I think it should be done before the end of May.  I am also starting to toy with "Warband Forward".   Am playing the first scenario with Olveg and his small band.

Seeing all the great tables at Salute and reading both Wargames Illistrated and Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy it would seem the whole world plays in 28mm.  When reading an article or figure review it is almost always, "and there are plenty of figures in smaller scales which will not be covered in this article."  What about those of us at 20mm/15mm and 6mm?  I have heard of 3mm but have never seen pictures of it. 
Don't get me wrong.  I love looking at the 28mm figures.  I guess that is why the tables and magazines use them.  But how about reviewing stuff for the rest of us?  Certainly there are people who buy smaller scales, particularly FOW. 
In defense of 15mm they are cheaper.  For the solo gamer who has to buy both sides and supply all the terrain this is a huge plus!
They are readily available at least for the wars I want to fight so far.  For WW II there are many companies that I use with good quality and reasonable prices to include Battlefront, Peter Pig and Command Decision  if I need a lot of stuff.  For Vikings I have Peter Pig again and the two companies for Salute, Donnington and Lancashire.  I am less thrilled with Lancashire after opening the package of Saxons and seeing 3 poses for my 40+ figures. 
They take up less space for storage.
They take up less space on the table thus my ground scale to figure scale is close to 1:1 for my skirmish games.

Skirmish gaming at 1:1 ground scale (horizontal at least)

They are more forgiving of less than stellar paint jobs.    I enjoy the painting of figures up to a point but I am definetly a gamer at the end of the day.  I don't need to worry about eye color and facial expression!

  Look deep into the color of my eyes!

Did I mention they are cheaper?

Now I realize that people that play with 6mm or 3mm can make all these claims against 15mm as well.  I say, "More power to you!".   For me 15mm is a good compromise between detail, space and price.   If I played larger games I suspect I would go smaller.  If I had started in the UK I might have gone with 20mm as I would have had a ton of HO soldiers lying around. 

So I am glad people take pictures of 28mm figures to inspire me but every once in a while I wish folks would take about the smaller figures.

Did I mention they are cheaper?

Joe

Salute 2012

One of the many advantages to living in England is I get to experience the largest game show in England; Salute.  It is very different from a US "con".  For one thing it last only 7 hours and there is really no space to set up "extra" gaming.  It is in a huge warehouse or hanger type exhibition hall and there are long rows of retailors.  there must of been at least 30.  Between the rows various clubs set up games.  The games are beautiful but are primarily there to be looked at.  Some of them can be demo'ed.  It is quite different from the US where the games are the focus and the traders are off to one side.  Then again in the US you normally have a whole weekend.  Both formats are fine; it depends on what you want.  Since I don't get to shop much this worked out well for me!
Rich Clark and the gang told me I could go down with them to the show.  They ditched me when they claimed to not look at the back entrance to the train station to see if I was there!!  As fate would have it we met in line to get in so alls well that ends well! 
I had hoped to get some SAGA dice (told you I am a dice junkie) and several 15mm clerics for my vikings to kill.   I manged to get both!

Keeper of the SAGA dice

I found the clerics from a company called Donnington.  They look good and I got some civilians and campfire stuff as well.

I have been looking for some vineyards for about a year.  I made some that looked good but they were too flinsey.  I came across some S&A scenics ones that looked nice so I picked up a couple of them as well. 

Finally picked up 2 FOW russian rural buildings as a spur of the moment purchase.  Don't know why but I did.  Can use them on the russian front and as saxon dwellings a thousand years ahead of their time!

Had a very nice lunch with Rich, Sid and Robert (not pictured) and the gang at a local pub. 

Rich calling in his fan club!

Rich decided to make time with his fans and I decided to go back to the show

Notice the storks nest !

 great table

Another great table

Interesting Chap

Crying table

The table above was the worst for me.   It showed the belgium army fighting the germans in 1940.  Almost all the tables were 28mm or bigger and as you can see were brilliant.   I take solace in the fact that they are larger than the 15mm scale that I use.  The table above was 15mm and blew away my stuff!

Another picture to weep over

If I had Belgium stuff it would look this good!

Great table/ bad picture

After the show I went back to the pub and there sat the Lardie lads.   So we talked for about an hour about US presidents, the Church of England  and Anglo-American relations.  It was a great time!

With that we all rode back to St Albans the long way so I could view the tower of London.



The tower of London blocked by tourists!

(Nick and Sid)

All in all it was a very nice show and I feel I had a great time with some good friends.  You can't do better than that.

Cheers

Joe









The Black Rams A walk through of Squadron Forward

Greetings all.    I hope you all had a blessed Easter, Passover or Spring break.  Spent the last week tooling around England and it has been fascinating.   
Rich has started working on Squadron Forward in earnest so I suspect we should be seeing it within the next 6 weeks or so.   Since I decided I needed a P-47 squadron in the pacific and had to roll one up I thought I would tkae this opportunity to do a walk though of Squadron Forward for those interested.  For those familiar with Platoon Forward much is the same but it plays different.  There is more of a individual feel.  There are no amorphous squads or platoons here.  Every pilot is a character here and his performance matters every time.

I have been playing several games of the AVG and got a little bored of the P-40s and Nates but still wanted to do Pacific.  (Good thing about Squadron Forward is my Flying Tigers will still be waiting for me whenever I get back to them!)  Was at wing HQ and saw some pictures of P-47s and bingo.  A little reading and found a P-47 squadron that set up in the Phillipeans; the Black Rams.  I was set.!

In Squadron Forward the first thing you do is roll up your pilots.  Each pilot has a personality and motivation.  Some personalities will help him get along better with others and some will make it a challange just like in real life.  Then for officers you roll for their background, again this can help/ hurt you with your superiors.  Finally you roll the starting skill level and if they start with any special skills.  The skill level will vary by country and year and is found in appendix 1.  It is very similar to my "Everyone wants an Ace" articles for those of you familiar with those. 
You can start with as many pilots as you want.   I usually play with 6 planes per side as I play solitaire and this is all I can handle.  Consequently a roster of 8 pilots works well for me.  More an I have too many idle.  Please note this is a function of my tactical game- not Squadron Forward.  I suggest you start with 8-12 and adjust from there.

So I roll up my 8 pilots but for brevities sake will only list the 4 that will go on this mission.

Maj Dingy McGee           Naive/ hedonism               Veteran         1 kill
Lt Blue    Mooney           Cocky/   family    (privilaged)  Veteran      eagle eye                -1

Lt Paul  Franklin             Mercurical/ position  (mustang)      Veteran                           -1
2Lt  Joe  Thurmond         Cheery/ hedonism                                                                  +1

Now to round out the personalities of your pilots you will have to interpret the above.   Here is how I did it.     Maj McGee rose to command the squadron based on hard work and skill.  He is a straight shooter who believes everyone else is as well and does not play politics.  Thus he does not care Lt Mooney's dad is a congressman but treats him like everyone else.  He lives life for today and takes all it has to offer.
 Lt Mooney grew up privilaged with money.  His Dad is a congressman and he makes sure everyone knows it.   He knows he is very good and feels he will get his way all the time.  He has excellent eye sight to boot.   He gets a -1 modifier on most interaction rolls because everyone dislikes him for the moment.   
Lt Franklin is erratic.  He is driven to get ahead in this man's army.  This is probably because he came up through the ranks and feels the need to prove he is a good as these college boys.  He plans on being the first ace and a squadron commander some day.   He is a good pilot, an unreliable wingman and alos gets a -1 modifier.
Lt Thurmond is a happy lad new to the theater.  An average pilot he knows he has a lot to learn.  He lives life to the fullest and is always the last to leave the bar.  He is very popular in the squadron and gets a +1 on most interaction rolls.  [That is why Dingy picked him to fly this first mission]

Once you have your roster you need to fly a mission.  You find your plane, theater and year and roll a d10.  As a squadron commander you have no say in this.  For a P-47 in the Pacific in 1945 I roll a 4 and get "patrol".  This is a great mission as almost anything can happen.  Suggested number of planes are 4-6 but you can take as many as you like.  Just like in Platoon Forward, the # of enemy you encounter is modified by how many aircraft you take so odds are you will have a balanced game.  Dingy decides to take 4 on a sweep of enemy lines.  Because this is the first mission he picks he best pilots.   Next you roll for weather and for any event that occurs before the battle.  Today the weather was fine and there was no event. 

Next you roll to see what you encounter.  [ While not realistic you will encounter something every mission.  You did not go through all this trouble for nothing!]  Fighters!!!   You now move to another scenario card to determine how many.  In this case we get 5.   Unlike Platoon Forward there are no enemy blinds.  I really wanted to do that  because it sounds cool to go chasing after blinds but in practice it just prolonged the game with little fun added.  In air combat there was no real reconnasense at the tactical level.  You either saw the enemy first or he saw you.  So it is in Squadron Forward.  You make several die rolls that determine where you and the enemy set up and how far away you are.  To explain it sounds complicated but it plays easily and Rich understood it the first time he read it.  It allows for bounces and surprises but otherwises get you right to the fighting.
For the black rams we started at the enemy's 8 o clock at 2/3rds the spotting distance because of Mooney's eagle eye.  Once the enemy is confirmed you roll on an appendix 3 table based on theater and year to determine what type of fighter you are facing.  Here we rolled Zeros.  Next it is back to appendix 2 to roll up the pilot skill levels.  For Japanese in 1945 we got one veteran, one average and two rookies.

The battle is then played out using whatever your tactical rules are. Some things should be modified.  For instance, Lt Franklin should have a low probablilty of sticking with his wingman.  (I used 33% chance after any manuver)   Like Platoon Forward there is a random event chart included.
In this game Lt Franklin bagged a Jap

 Scratch one Zero

The next turn a random event came up that stated his engine was running rough.  So guess what?  As he flew through his kill he got debris caught in his engine and had to leave the battle.  Cool eh?



 Japanese pincer Lt Mooney

Unfortunatley Mooney got shot down but a good chute was seen.  (There is a table for that.)

So now we have 2 P-47s against 3 Zeros and the Black Rams are low.  As Dingy calls for Thurmond to break off I get another random event.  This time it is US reinforcements.  I don't want any more P-47s so four 4 P-51s show up.



The cavalry arrive!



 They catch the Zeros from behind and quickly shoot down 2 thus ending the battle. 

Now we have to get everyone home.  Lt Franklin's engine is running rough so we go to the AKOT to see if he makes it back to base.  [ The scenario card told us we were over contested territory today so not too far.]  He does but then has to land a damaged plane.  20% chance of damage and we roll badly as the plane careens off the rough strip snapping its gear and knocking poor Franklin out cold. 
Meanwhile, Congressman Mooney's son lands in no man's land.   Another unlucky roll and he is captured by the Japanese.  The Black Rams will not know this for weeks so he will be listed as MIA.

Lastly we now go to the post battle events.  Unlike Platoon Forward there is some resource management in Squadron Forward.   We need to see if we got a replacment plane or pilot for Mooney. (no) and if Franklin or is plane is fixed yet (no).  Our squadron reputation and indivdual pilots can affect these rolls at times.

 A word about squadron reputation.  In this game you want your squadron to have the reputation as the baddest squadron in any air force.  So we track cool points.  This is a great equalizer amoung air forces.   My russian I-16 Ratas get cool points just by surviving in the air with ME 109s in 1941!   Here the Black Rams took on Zeros in an even fight, started to run away and got saved by P-51s.  Not Cool!!  They lost a cool point for this mission even though both sides  claimed a plane.

Next we introduced a new NPC, Lt Jake Shapiro the maintanence officer.  He is naive and motivated by wealth and is neutral to the squadron.   Lastly the group commander, Col Bubba Jackson is not happy that Congressman Mooney's son is MIA.  He blames Dingy and has tasked the Black Rams to provide a pilot and plane to help with the search operation. 

So that now leaves the Black Rams with Lt Franklin a 1 kill guy in the hospital.  They have -1 cool points and are down to 5 planes and 5 pilots ready for the next mission.    Oh, the challenges with leading your Squadron Forward!


Enjoy!

Joe