Dark Night for Dog Boats AAR

Greetings! Doing the final moving from the US to the UK. Read Coastl Patrol rules in the Lardie special. They look like a fun quick play set of rules; good show Jim! Thus inspired, I dusted off my Release the Hounds rules and tried my take on the scenario from the book.

Lt Ian Evershiem (RNR) took stock of his boat one last time. Intel had a convoy coming down the coast tonight with a light escort. Hopefully trawlers, maybe barges but not F-lighters. Ian didn't have a good answer to those yet. Draft too shallow for torpedoes, Jerry had added armor and concrete to barges, then added 88s to create a force to be reckoned with .

British forces are 3 Dog boats ( Jolly Jack Tars)
Lt Evershiem
SLt Tompkins
SLt Smith

I did not roll for Jerry to try to play the scenario. I didn't mess with blinds but used initative similar to Squadron Forward.
Jerry
2 Patrol Boats 1 88 each Raeder's men (Avg)
4 Flak Lighters 2 Raeder's men 2 Hitler's men ( green)

Jerry creeping down the coast

Lt Evershiem on the Hunt

Lt Evershiem had his eyes peeled for movement. A half moon hung in the sky and visability was about a mile for barges. Despite the cool night air he was sweating profusely.

Suddenly the air errupted with light and exposions and his boat came under fire from his 11"o clock. KuJ 324's gunners opened up on the Dog Boats as they radioed to the fleet of the danger. As Ian gathered his wits, a fire errupted aft and his boats started taking a pounding from 88mm and 37mm shells coming a mile a way.

Dog 1 in trouble

Ian immediatly doubled back as Smith broke right and Tompkins broke left looking for the merchants. Fortunately the germans did not pursue Ian but went after Smith. Why became apparent 3 minutes later when Smith sighted 2 barges.

Dog 2 trying to find the range

SLT Tompkins had circled far left and was now trying to join the battle. Ian was still in retreat; trying to fight a fire aft before it blew his small craft to kingdom come. SLT Smith gallantly charged the barges hoping they were not Flak lighters.

SLt Smith charges the F lighters

KuJ 324 in pursuit at 15 knots!

They were Flaklighters! Blast! Well the 6 pounders could still do damage. Smith bobbed and weaved his boat on a gun run and managed to damage one of the F-lighters. In return his boat was damaged and flooding. He turned for home. Ian had put out the fire but with a boat 50% damaged it was foolish to go up against Flak lighters. Lt Tompkins meanwhile had lined up KuJ 324 for a torpedo shot. He let go his torpedoes early at a mile and turned his attention to the damaged F-lighter. A gun pass revieled no significant damage to either side. But then a huge explosion (20% chance!) cut through the night.

KuJ324 after the Torpedo hit

She sank in 15 minutes

With that the British withdrew savoring a minor victory!

Fun game! Would like to play it again to see what would happen if Ian's boat is not put out of action on the first turn. Will also change it to 1 Flaklighter and 3 unarmored barges.

Have actually started writing down Squadron Forward.

Talk to you next from the UK

Enjoy!

Joe

Scenario R avaliable

Scenario R is available in the Too Fat Lardies Summer Special. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, they really pack alot of stuff into their specials for 5 pounds [ about $7 ]. I always enjoy reading them; even the bits about games and history I don't play ( which is minimal).

In the editing, Rich either forgot or wisely cut out my introductory comments; for the intrepid they are reproduced here:

The Scenarios included in Platoon Forward were aimed at typical situations that a basic platoon would face. That doesn't mean we can't have a little fun. Included in this issue is a meeting engagement that an armored infantry platoon might be faced with. It is ideal for the US and German panzergrenadiers as well as the UK motorized infantry. It also works well with Russian tank riders but you should beef up the defenders a bit by ensuring your first real "B" is a big AT gun or ensure your real "C" are tanks or SP guns. Players should feel free to substitute scenario R into the scneario table wherever they wish. I often put it in in place of recon; not because it makes sense, but because I often do not wish to play recon! [recce for the St Albans group!]
In addition, this is my favorite 2 player game because, like the patrol scenario, it never plays the same way twice, allows both players to manuver and everyone gets to play with at least a couple of vehicles.
I would like to thank those of you who have given me feedback on Platoon Forward. Your support and kindness have been more than I could have imagined. Thank You.

"Fighting Joe" Legan

Flank attack at the factory

Finally got my soldiers; not all my terrain but you can't have everything. So last weekend had a chance to send my Russian Platoon Forward! This is battle #5 and this is a fun platoon to play. There is tension between the platoon leader and the 1st squad leader. This is not helped by the fact that the company commander seems to favor the squad leader. It is 1943 and the Platoon Leader is a replacement coming into the company. To catch up read about the attack outside of Kursk from last November posted on this site; I'll wait...

Still no camera so I will try to describe the board:

There is a factory in the center with a plaza in front. To the right is a small collection of buildings and on the left is a small church. Behind the factory are some scattered trees. To the left of the factory is a ruined railroad station. This is all on a beautiful Kalestra hexagon board that a least one visitor doesn't like :)


If you read the post from last November you know that a reporter from Pravda is here to do a story on Sgt Shakulo. Of course the CO is not going to let the JrLT mess this up so he is going to to make sure the reporter is not killed.


Characters

JrLt Bessonov Scholarly/plessure Gr II
Sgt Shakulo addicted/ alcohol Gr II
Sgt Chrnnyshov Evil/ knowledge Gr II
Sgt Mikhev conformist/ wealth Gr I

Lt Konerko Fanatic/ Position Gr II Company CO



Sgt Shakulo wished commerade Lennin was here. The Russian army in 1943 was not the classless society Lennin envisioned. These officers were driving him crazy! Oh, they had their place, doing grand strategy and such. They had gotten the platoon onto the flanks of the fascists today. But by and large they got in his way. JrLT Bessonov was a timid old woman. He was afraid of making a decision and was against a man having a drink now and then. Lt Konerko was better. But he was always trying to help him. Shakulo didn't need any help. He just wanted to rid mother russia of the invaders and go home to his family. Now this reporter was here asking hiim all kinds of questions. Lt Konerko seemed nervous.


By the time they got into position, a T-34 and an armored car had joined the platoon. JrLtBessonov's plan was to have Shakulo clear the houses on the right. 2nd squad would stay with the armor in the center and 3rd squad would be in reserve. As soon as the reporter said he was going wtih Shakulo the JLt decided he was leaving the reserve and going with Shakulo too. Shakulo tried to run his squad but the JrLT kept taking over. They cleared the first building easily. They became pinned down by a MG from the factory while advancing towards a second building. Lt Konerko showed up. He Ordered teh Jr LT to go back and rally 3rd squad in the plaza (the tanks had run into an 88 dug in near the church) while he shuffled the reported into the safety of a house. I got my squad moving again and barely missed capturing a MMG in the second house.


By this time 2nd squad and my own were in buildings facing the factory trading fire with its occupants which consisted of about a squad of germans supported by several MGs. We traded fire until Lt Konerko showed up with the reporter. The reporter wanted to see me and my squad "in action". Lt Konerko led our 2 squads in an assault on the factory. He told me he wanted my squad to go in first. Just as we were entering JrLt Bessonov showed up with 3 men from 3rd squad. He ran past me to make sure he entered the building right behind the Lt! Fighting in the factory was moderate until the germans retreated. The reported took my picture in the factory next to a russian flag that he had and left pleased.

Unfortunatly Sgt Mikhev was badly wounded in the attack. I don't think he will be back. JrLt Bessonov has moved Cpl Zuvich up to take over 3rd squad.


Great battle. The fighting in the factory was particularly exciting. We never even saw the company CP in the station. I am sorry I have no pictures for you all. The only other post game event of note is 3rd squad's morale is decreased.


For the scenario:
This is a flank attack (C) so set up the germans facing to the right. The russians recieve a T-34 and armored car at start.
The german forces generated for me were:
1 squad, 2 MMGs 1 88 ATG 1 company command post with 10 men with decreased morale.
1 Gr III leader, 3 Gr II leaders and 1 Gr I leader

Place a reporter figure on the board. It can never be more than 50 yards from Sgt Shakulo and Lt Konerko can never be more than 50 yards from the reporter. If the reporter is killed you can do no better than a draw.



Enjoy

Joe

Malta Spitfires AAR

In the new house, internet appears to be working. Still no camera but a 3 day weekend. Went to the Duxford Air Museum in the UK; outstanding! Three cool things that differenciate it from most of the air museums in the US. First, it appears most of the planes are in working condition. Second they always tell you where this particular plane came from. Third they have a land warfare hanger that is over the top! They have life size diaoramas of a tank battle in Berlin, a german AT gun in France, british troops at D-Day. There is a shrine to Field Marshal Montgomery which was interesting since you here nothing about him in the states.
After Duxford I had to use Spitfires but I only have my desert ones as Mark from Raiden has been 2 weeks slow on my Battle of Britain package! So... Malta Spitfires round 2. (Same squadron as the last post)

Flt Lt Wilson rather liked running the squadron. He could do things HIS way. He had been at it for 2 days every since Cheese went missing near Sicily. Gp Cpt Eithing told him a CO was inbound from England but wouldn't get here for awhile.
He hadn't spoken to Sgt Randel directly after "Cheese's" last mission but several of the NCOs had. Randel had denigned losing "Cheese" on purpose and was sticking to the story. "Scrum" Patson had refused to fly with him. Wilson had avoided the issue so far by not scheduling Randel. There were plenty of pilots. Today's mission was an intercept. 5 planes were ready to go!
Characters
Flt Lt Jim Wilson Unsupportive/avarice Vet
F/O Jamie Farnsworth Cocky/ Avarice Avg
F/O Bullet Skeel Corrupt/ Position Avg
Green element
Sgt Scrum Patson Cocky/ religion Vet
Sgt Joey Towson Fickle/ enginering Avg

Jim saw the bombers off at his 10 o'clock closer than he wanted due to some clouds. Stukas without fighters! He turned to get behind them; Scrum asked to go over them to get in better position. Jim didn't really care as long as he got a couple of shots.
As all 5 spitfires closed Scrum called out 2 bandits 12 o'clock high! [ great place for a picture if I had a camera] Jim told Scrum to cover the bandits while blue flight took care of the 8 stukas.
As Jim continued to close on the Stukas, bullets hammered into his wing! He looked back and a MC202 was on his tail. [ I have to explain this as it was too cool. A random event had 3 more MC 202s enter right behind blue flight. I got bounced by my own game system!!] Bullet and Jamie screamed they were taking fire. The 2 outside Spits started tight turns while Jim did a snap roll. Bullet took a while to shake his pursuer needing several barral rolls but not before he had taken minor engine damage. Throttled back he could keep the temperature down but any faster and he risked over heating.
Meanwhile Scrum and Joey had tangled with the 2 original MC 202s and saw the furball developing behind the Stukas. Since no one was now calling for help they gave chase to the bombers. Joey downed one in a brilliant flash that left no doubt to its destruction. Scrum's shooting was off as he fired off all his ammo, damaging 2 that aborted. [nother great place for a picture]
The 3 members of blue flight could not break away from 4 of the Italian fighters to chase the bombers. Worse, Bullet's plane had a bad engine and Jim's plane had lost speed as well due to his wing damage. after several minutes the English could not gain an advantage, the bombers were nearing the field and Jim still had 2 out of 3 machines damaged. He told blue flight to break off and Green element to leave once they entered flak range. The British successfully disengaged. Only 4 Stukas bombed the target; 1 nearmissed teh runway, 2 destroyed parked aircraft and one destroyed the operations building.

Post game Sgt Towson was upgraded to Veteran [possible]. Doc Logan, the flight surgeon, is hearing alot of complaints about Flt Lt Wilson and is acting as a great sounding board. The Squadron had to undergo a morale check and he was able to add positively to the die roll. [Don't be alarmed about the term "morale checks'. Think of it here as a cohesivness check and it occures after the flying.] A replacement plane for Cheese shows up and one of the damaged planes is repaired.

Great Game! Really enjoyed it. Squadron Forward is working well and adds a layer to the game which really increases my enjoyment. I have started writing it down and am probably 25% done.

Scenario Interception

5 Spitfires vrs

2 MC202 2 Avg pilots
8 Stukas

3 MC 202s come in as reinfocements turn 3. 1 Vet 1 avg and 1 green Allow them to come in behind Blue flight.


Airfield defense I used 3 dice for heavy AA as per my LAAF AA rules found in 2 specials ago.


Hopefully my land troops will be here wednesday; then maybe I can visit Berlin with Platoon Forward!

Enjoy

Joe

Cheese is Packaged AAR

Having trouble posting to the blog. Will try in short snippets
Still moving but have played 2 games of Squadron Forward. thought I would post one here as it does a good job explaining some of the interactions and showing the differences/similarities with Platoon Forward. The big drawback is I am without a camera so written word only! Sorry folks
[BTH2 used for the tactical game with my "Brag the Hun" air to ground rules used for the rockets and bombing.]

Malta 1942
"Cheese" came back from group HQ happy. An escort of Beaus to Italy to take out some barges that the intel lads had found hold up in a small port. He would lead the flight as he desperately needed flight experience. He would take Sgt Randell as his wingman. Sgt Randell walked teh line of insolence but there was no doubt he was the best pilot in the squadron. Cheese could not ask for help but hoped to learn from Randell just by watching. F/O Barnes was a steady lad as long as you let him hit the bottle every 3-4 days. He could take up the new pilot, F/O Skeel to check him out. Skeel's nicknam was "Bullet" and he had a gaze that chilled Cheese at first.
Characters
Sdr Ldr Cheese Landry Pessimistic/Hedonism Avg
Sgt Paul Randel Cocky/ Family Vet gifted pilot
F/O Paul Barnes Pragmatic/ Alcohol Vet
F/O Bullet Skeel corrupt/position

Rendevouez over Malta was easy and they headed out. Several miles from Italy the Beaus called out bandits at 8 o clock. " Should have seen them first" thought Cheese. His next mistake was delaying the flights split S (missed his roll ) which put the spitfires out of postion to intercept. During the delayed split S Randel lost the Sdr Ldr. [Difficult for a gifted pilot to do.] fortunatley the bandits turned out to be lightly armed MC 202s which had a hard time with the Beaufighters. they managed to take only 1 down. Sgt Randel, unencumbered with Cheese, shot down one fighter and damaged another. F/O Barnes bagged one MC 202. Sdr Ldr Landry gamely tried to find firing positions without success. towards the end of the battle a MC 202 got off a deflection shot that must have hit his petrol for his plane was seen to catch fire. A good chute was seen and later it was confirmed that Cheese had been packaged and taken as an italian POW.
The 5 Beausfighters ripped up the port sinking 3 barges, damaging 2 others, damaging a VP ship nad destroying one AA emplacement.

Scneario should include the 4 Spitfires, 6 Beaufighters and 5 MC 202s. The Port contains 6 barges, 2 VP ships (AA str 2) and several AA emplacements around the port. I rolled the Italians had 4 average pilots and 1 green. If using my "Everyone wants an Ace" for BTH remember that Avg Italians don't have to roll for hard manuvers.

Post misison squadron reputation went up by one. The squadron feels that Randel intentionally dropped off Cheese's wing to go hunting with dire consequences for Cheese. Randel is persona non grata currently. F/O Barnes was medically disquallified for 4 missions due to an ear ache but Doc Logan managed to cut that down to 2. the squadron still waits for a replacement spitfire and Lt Jim Wilson [ not popular as he is a greedy SOB] will temporarily at least run the squadron.

Great game and hopefully gives you a feel for it. Hopefully will get a chance to play some Platoon Forward next month!

Enjoy

Joe

Easter Update

Apologize for the lack of updates. Fact is I have been doing little gaming. I have received orders for England and am getting ready to move. Good news is Squadron Forward is basically done. All I have to do now is write it down and begin the painful yet important process of haivng Rich Clark make it a better product. Next should be Middle of NoWhere and I am now starting to toy with Rifles Forward.
Would like to mention 2 games I did get in. The first was with my Italians (Sgt Bustamanti) in Kenya. They were soundly defeated by the British and there were no particularly interesting post game actions. A fun game but not a great battle report.

The Italian Attack.

Busta on the left.

This was as far as they got!

Staying with the desert theme I took 6 Tomahawks up from 111 SQN on a fighter sweep. Fighter Sweep is a great mission. It is similar to "patrol" in that you don't exactly know what will happen when you start.

Characters

Sdr Ldr " Puck" Poole Pessimistic vet 1 kill

F/O Jessie Oldfield jovial born leader

Sgt Ken Harrison foolish

2nd vic Lt Thurlby liberal 1 kill

Flgt Sgt Nick Skinner Generous Vet

Sgt George Turnhill Fanatic

Sdr Ldr "Puck" Poole was leading 2 vics on a fighter sweep when Dandoline came over the wireless. "Bandits 12 angles heading toward comet". Comet was a small convoy that was returning from Tobruk. Looks like they were going to earn there flight pay today! He only hoped he would get a chance to drink it.

He spotted the enemy far off and due to his experience, managed to get behind the stukas. "Must be italians" he thought. As he closed in he told everyone to break the vics and go for a stuka. He and Oldfield managed to do just that before the firing started.

"Puck" and Oldfield execute the bounce!

It was a one sided battle despite the prescence of 3 MC 200 fighters. "Puck" got 1 stuka and damaged another one. Flgt Sgt Skinner picked up both a stuka and an italian fighter. F/O Oldfield managed a hat trick with 2 stukas and a MC 200! Of the 6 Stukas only 1 reached the ships and he missed. Sgt Harrison was wounded during the battle and crashed landed back at base. He and his plane are reparable.

Nick takes out a fighter!

Post battle I tried to get F/O Oldfield promoted but this was denigned. Our reputation has increased and a junior staffer shows up next mission to fly with us! Lastly "Boomer" Balfour has returned form OCS and is now P/O Balfour but he wants the same respect he had when he was a Sgt!

Great battle. The Character system works well and the scenarios are fun and balanced. What I have found is that I really worry about putting some of my guys on a limb now. Unlike Platoon Forward, death is a more likely possibility for these guys, particularly over enemy territory or water. Oldfield is well liked in the squadron [jovial] and I can see everyone celebrating his hat trick. What if the next mission is a straffing mission of an enemy airfield deep in their territory?

Great fun with highs and lows!

Enjoy

Joe

Looking for Rango Yugoslavia 1942

The only thing predictable about me is the unpredicatability in what I want to play next. This week it was back to Middle of NoWhere. I am painting up some CR-42s and Italian Ju-87 though. I would also like to thank Chris and Laffe for their excellent posts at PlatoonForwardStories. They are both interesting tales and I look forward to hearing more.

Am working on a dawn raid scneario so I thought it was ready for playtesting. Rather than Ethiopia or Vietnam I wanted to see if the system would work for partisan warfare in WW II.

Needed to roll up a platoon. As some of you know I am partial to Italians having lived in Italy for 2 years.

Lt Scapolini Cunning / Avarice Gr II

Sgt Musculin Foolish/ Alcohol Gr II 1st squad

Cpl Zern Pragmatic/ Hedonism Gr I

Sgt Gunesto Unsupportive /Religion Gr I 2nd squad

Cpl Tarentino Cheap / position Gr I

So, how to interpret the men above? As their story unfolds they will develop character but Platoon Forward gives us some basics now. The Lt is obviously a greedy SOB who will steal anyone blind yet he is very clever. He has some leadership ability on the battlefield. I suspect he was transfered to the "Middle of NoWhere" because he was caught with his hand in a cookie jar somewhere back in the world. Sgt Musculin is too trusting and fond of the bottle. When sober he knows tactics and his men will follow him. His ASL, Cpl Zern, is almost the opposite. His pragmatism has him learning tactics from his Sgt and following him on the battle field. Yet in the barracks I wonder if he takes advantage of his NCO's trusting nature?

2nd squad is led by a rigid Catholic who feels all his men will be damned if they don't follow the true faith by the book. He is unsupportive of any deviation and thus unpopular with the men and his platoon leader. His ASL sees what is happening in the squad but will not make waves as he is worried about making the next stripe. If the political climate changes he would gladly help the squad if it would help him...

Anyway, that is how I interpret the above. With a little imagination you can get alot out of 10 words!

The Capitano called the platoon leaders into his office. "Gentlemen, we have them now. We know where the battalion leader "Rango" is hiding. [Rango fought in the SCW] He is in these hills. We will hit them with a hammer and anvil at dawn tomorrow. Lt Scapolini, your platoon will be the hammer. Move fast to capture Rango alive. If you can't drive him south towards our other platoon. You will have an amored car in support. Questions?" Lt Scapolini was not going to drive anyone anywhere. He would capture Rango! With that on his record all past indiscresions would be forgiven and he would be reassigned to Roma. What is your plan LT?

The hills are alive...

Scapolini would send the AC down the road with 1st squad while he went with second squad through the field in a pincer movement hoping to get Rango in the middle. He stressed to his men that speed was critical.

Lt Scapolini [ left] advancing

Some sentries fired but were quickly driven off as both squads approached the hills. Then on the left, 1st squad ran into some dug in partisans with an ATR. One round bounced off the armored car and Sgt Musculin could not believe his eyes. The armored car started backing down the road! He ran over the the AC and questioned the commander's manhood. That did the trick.

Sgt Musculin and the armored car

Rebels on the left flank

2 LMGs and the AC laid down fire while Sgt Musculin worked his way around the flank of the hill. Meanwhile, Lt Scapolini had run into a bunker with a MMG. This cost him 5 men and Sgt Gunesto WIA. "No time for a bunker." He ordered smoke and bypassed the bunker looking for Rango.

Lt Scapolini bypassing the bunker looking for Rango

Sgt Gunesto is far right waiting for a friend to help him

Sgt Musculin finally makes it onto the left most hill.

Sgt Musciln clears the hill

Lt Scapolini finds a truck in the woods

Could it be that Rango rides in style?

The itialian LMGs fire into the woods and momentarily supress the partisans. Before Lt Scapolini can get down into the valley they have rallied and the truck drives off southward. He sees Roma farther away than ever. It doesn't matter that his platoon has scattered the partisans and they retreat in poor order or his platoon has sustained only 7 casualties. Rango was so close! Or was he?

The Capitano tells Lt Scapolini he is quite pleased with his platoon's performance. Turns out Rango was not there having been delayed in route. There had been a large food cache however that was captured thanks in part to Scapolini's platoon!

[ I would have used a wagon instead of a truck if I had one. Time to buy something else I think.]

Enjoy

Joe