A wargamer looks at Malta

Well not a wargamer but a father and husband who took his family to Malta for a long weekend!  We spent most of teh time at the beach but did venture into Valletta one day. 

Here is the fortess where the Knights/Maltese held off the Turks.

It is in the grand harbor across from Valletta.  Valletta was actually built after the siege.

The entrance to the one muesuem I went into.  Looked to be the best.  Small but talked about life on the island.   The island was subjected to 155 days of continuous bombing and King George awarded the whole island the King George Cross which is on their flag today.  The bombing was far worse than what London experienced during the blitz.

Without an underground tube system the people dug out caves.  Most folks didn't have private quarters such as pictured here!

One of the biggest monuments in battery park overlooking the harbor.  Dedicated to a military physcian of course!  Dr Thompson of the 69th regiment died during a Choleria epidemic on the island while treating others.  Monument erected  by his regiment for their "universal affection and esteem".  No man can do better!

Inland is a church, the Mostra Dom.  It had a german 250kg bomb go through the roof during Mass one sunday that did not explode!  Saved 200 people but rattle the congregation.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of Malta.  It is a great place to visit with lots of history!

Joe

The Kicking Mules; an example of post game Squadron Forward

Played a game of Squadron Forward yesterday using my P-38 squadron, Kicking Mules.  Thought this would prove to be a good example of post action for SF.  This is my 3rd mission with this squadron and they have not done much.  Their biggest problem is their inexperience (as you would expect coming from the states to Tunisia).  ! vet in the whole bunch.  They have won one, lost one but not downed a plane yet.
We roll up a patrol which is always fun.  I personally never let the CO and XO fly the same mission in case they both get boxed!  This time the XO, Zap McGruder will lead a flight of 4. We pick Lt Zuckerman because we are trying to get him upgraded to element lead quickly.  Lewis will lead the other flight with Lucky Schlick the wingman.   The characters are:
Capt Zap McGruder  Foolhardy/wealth
Lt   Zuckerman            Cheap/ Religion    Rookie

Lt Lewis  Addicted Avarice                  influnence
2Lt  Glenn Schlick   Cheap                   Lucky

Pre game Lt Lewis wakes up with a headcold and the doc DNIFs him.   We quickly sub in 2Lt Chuck Carls who although a 2Lt and average has incredible flying skill.

A couple of rolls later we encouter a photo recon mission escorted by 4 fighters  en route to our lines.  I roll up advantages and we spot both the fighters and recon plane and are placed at their 2 oclock.   I roll up the fighters and get MC202s. 

Should make for a challenging game for the mules!   I have no idea what photo planes the Italians used so decide on a SM 79.
Zap starts to work around towards the rear and gets 2/3rds before he is spotted.  He and Zuckerman will now take the bomber (they don't know it is recon) While Lewis will try to keep the fighters busy.

Zap lines up his shot!

Zap misses the slow moving bomber in his first pass and a melee ensues.   It is a challange for the mules as the MC 202 is almost as fast as their mounts and turns much better. 

Carls lines up his shot!

2Lt Carls gets a deflection shot and makes it count; sending the bomber to earth in a ball of flame!  The squadron's first kill.  

Next turn enemy reinforcemnts appear.  I normally like to use differnt fighters than on the table for variety.   I roll up ME 109Fs.  I decided I would like to keep this an Italian show so substitue an element of MC 200s.   I roll up where they are to enter and get punked by my own game system!  They enter right behind element one!

Who designed these rules?!





A turn later  a MC 200 is hammering at Lt Zuckerman's wing which snaps off.  A parachute is spotted.

Now it is 3 P-38s against 6 Italian fighters over Italian territory.  2Lts Carls and Schick are ready to leave.  Capt Zap, being foolhardy, is not ready yet.   However, the P-38s stay fast and can not come close to any MCs except one time when Zap manages to damage the Italian leader.    It is time to go.

No planes are damaged so landing is easy.I declare this mission a win for the mules.  I reason we achieved the main purpose and while we did lose a fighter, the bomber was heavily guarded.  Regarding glory, we shot down a bobmer, lost a fighter, faced Italians but they were good ones and they had us 1:1 or better the whole time and we did not run away.   I say "unlikely" we gain a glory point and we do not.

 We roll to determine Zuckerman's fate and he becomes a POW.  We can only hope it is with the Italians.  Next we roll for a replacement pilot and plane.  Unfortunalty this is modified by our group commander Col Green who doesn't like us because until today we had not downed a plane.   We get no replacements today.

We had 2 planes with minor damage form last battle.  We get to roll to see if those are fixed adding 1 because there has been another mission completed.   Both planes are fixed and ready to go. 

Now we go to events.    The first couple of missions I automatically introduce a NPC so there are a couple to chose from if needed.   today we introduce Doc McCormick.  He is a cheapskate but he likes the squadron.    Next I will add a freeform event.   I think it is likely that 2Lt Carls will be upgraded to veteran status because he shot down a plane and he already has the flying demon skill.  We pass this roll and now have our second Veteran in the squadron!   My event is someone goes DNIF.  Normally I would roll for one of the pilots that participated in the mission.  This time I will use Lt Lewis who went DNIF this morning.  He goes DNIF for 4 missions but Doc McCormick will help us out with this and it drops to 3; thanks doc!  For next mission I will chose a freeform event to try to promote 2Lt Carls to LT and have him take Zukerman's place.  The squadron will know by then he is not coming back. But will Col Green buy it? 

Great mission and a great squadron is now shaping up with 2Lt Carls now showing some leadership in the Squadron.  Maj Bunker needs to nurture this.  Will Capt McGruder nuture this or become jealous? 

Hopefully this gives you some idea of how to use the post game events of Squadron Forward to drive your story forward.  This is what I mean by the phrase, the charts are the 90% solution 90% of the time."   Feel free to deviate a little to move the story forward but don't change dramatically.  Many of those things that happen that you are disappointed about actually end up being quite interesting later!

Enjoy!

Joe  

SQUADRON FORWARD PUBLISHED!!!

Yes it is true!!  Squadron Forward was finally published yesterday and is available for a mere 8 pounds from the Too Fat Lardies website.  (If I knew how to link I would do that.)  For the rest of us that is about $14.  The post below describes the product.  Also read the Black Rams from April which is a good walk through of the rules.
If you have any questions (because this is a unique product) please ask.  Ask here or on TMP or the Lardies Yahoo group.  Three questions often come up that I will answer now.
1.  Yes this is compatible with ALL tactical rule sets.  That is because it is writen generically such as the pilot ability will be "crack shot".  You decide what that is in your favortie rule set.  In BTH that would be adding 2 dice when shooting.
2.  No it is not a stand alone rule set.  You will need a tactical rule set to go with this.  This is a campaign generator that bolts on to your rules.
3.  Yes this is very solitare friendly.  I play 90% solitaire and this is how I play my games.  It will set up a scenario for you where you don't know what you are facing until you have determined your forces.  It will then give you starting positions for the aircraft.
Any other questions please ask!  I will feel bad if someone buys it and they don't like it.

thanks

Joe

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