True Wargamer

From The Wargaming Site, which I got from Tamsin's Wargaming Girl blog.

There are many steps you must go through before calling yourself a true Wargamer. To genuinely call yourself a Wargamer, then you must have done most or all of the following;

* Spent at least £500 on figures/tanks - and you get extra kudos for every £500 you've spent

Yes, but I assume over the last year, rather than all time total? Either way, yes, but really does spending money make you a true anything?

For me what makes a true wargamer, rather than board-gamer, is playing games using miniatures on terrain boards. Anything less, is well, less really. I accept one buys stuff to make stuff, and if you have not talent for painting them getting others to paint for you is okay, but the point is the intent to play with miniatures on the tabletop.

* Pricked your finger or thumb on a pike block - several times

Yes, but not pike blocks, but certainly I've been bitten by the aerials on my vehicles and mechs. One blogger I read took exception to the specificity of this question in a rather pedantic way. I suggest understand the intent of the question, which is to show a common bond.

* Tried at least 10 different rule sets and vowed never to play half of them ever again

Yes, at least ten, but I thought that the reason I play so few was because I was crotchety and set in my ways?

* Bought an army off EBay

Yes, my MechWarrior Dark Age collection started by buying a whole load of Clix infantry.

* Sold an army on EBay

Never, my preciouses...

* spent months painting an army - then used it in anger once

Maybe? Really can't remember. I have sold on armies that fell out of favour. I say on balance no.

* tried several different periods and genres

Yes, but not in the last year, but over the years I've done quite a bit. Ancient Greeks, WW2, WW1 (aircraft and land forces for both), Vietnam, SCW, African Wars, SF.

* dropped a box of figures on the floor from a great height

No, I can't ever recall doing that, but I'm sure it can happen.

* lost a battle on the last throw of the dice

No, not on the last roll, can't recall that happening, but I've lost plenty enough battles.

* made at least one enemy for life

Probably, but that's a bit of a sad thing really.

* had a proper, stand up argument over a wargamers table

Yes, but not for a long time, but it has happened in the past when I was younger.

* thrown a dice across a room

Yes by accident, but not deliberately. I will tend to walk away if angry.

* rebased an army for a different rule set

Oh yes, the pain, the suffering, the doubts about was it all worth while? 

* inflicted a whopping defeat on an opponent

Yes, as I have a bit of a reputation for pulling victories out from the jaws of defeat to my opponents chagrin, especially when I've been playtesting Phil Barker rules.

* suffered an embarrassing defeat due to a stupid tactical decision

Yes, on many occasions.

* joined a wargamers club 

Yes, but no longer a member of one. That's because I think I've become old and crotchety, and can't get along with clubs anymore.

* bought a ton of lead that remains unpainted

Yes, but I like to call it the Maturing Phase.

* been to a wargamers show

Yes. Regularly been to at least three shows a year over the last four years.

* have more dice than is logical or necessary to own - and have used most of them

I don't understand the point? What has logic to do with the necessity to have lots of dice?

* have taken boxes of troops down to a club just to show them off to your mates

Yes, but not recently, and usually only a few choice figures.

So on balance more yes's than no's, but that is not really the point of these questionnaires really. For me they are about the narrative. Am I experiencing the same problems as other people? Are we in the same group? Do I belong?

The answer to that is definitely yes. Unfortunately, I tend to think that wargamers become crotchety as they get older too.
  

BattleTech Infantry: Player Offside View

  
Today a guest post by my good friend Clive who sent me a very apposite set of observations that pointed out the Elephant in the Room about infantry in BattleTech. Over to Clive who hopefully won't mind the bits of editing and pruning I've done to turn his email into this post?

The problem with infantry is as follows:

1) Lack of Mobility (by comparison to everything else)
2) Fragility
3) Artillery
4) Mechs

Numbers one to three have been the PBI problem since the Stone Age, and they still seem to be important, even today. BattleTech has gone out of its way to make them unimportant, when compared in the modern era, where it is possible for an infantryman to carry a weapon that will total a MBT 1000m+ away

So BattleTech has from day one emasculated the PBI, because otherwise they get in the way of fighting it out mecha-a-mecha, because combat is scaled to battlemechs. Given the premise that battlemechs are masters of all they see, and basic infantry are one hit wonders, everything that isn't a battlemech ends up just being so much roadkill.

In my opinion infantry are only capable of two jobs; holding a building , or observing the enemy and bringing down an artillery strike

Given that agroup of powered battle armour (not basic infantry) attacking a battlemech did frankly derisory amounts of damage over several rounds, at no point did I get the feeling the battlemech was in any real danger. The main balancing in most cases is that mechs don't normally have a whole load of anti personal weaponry.

In the last battle the queen of battle, artillery, was back with a vengeance, but 20 points will wipe anything but a battlemech. Given an artillery strike of 1 will kill basic infantry, logically you would set the burst up to 20 times the size, or at least spread it out by N, where N is the number of guns in the battery, and accept an attack of 20/N. Perhaps one of the first things that could be tried is to tie the FO cards to how many actual artillery battery cards have already been dealt, which would cut their impact by half, or so?

So, what is the correct use of the PBI in Battlemech?

I think the only use they appear to have is to stop the other side easily acquiring buildings to hide their infantry from all the things that kill everybody's infantry, or have I missed something really subtle?

So as they say, let the discussion begin.
   

Mummerset Reflection & Overview

It has been more than a year since I last ran a game, which makes me ask what do I and the players want, or expect from playing the game? A better question perhaps is what makes it so hard to run regular games? 

I guess that as I no longer go to a games club each week the opportunity to play games is reduced, and that all of us have jobs and family commitments, which all leads to less games played. I will have to think about a new plan of action that addresses this problem, as the current one is not delivering the goodies.

Some of players have asked me is the Mummerset campaign based on Vietnam? 

No, not really, though it has some shout outs to Vietnam, like airborne formations and riverine operations. The genesis of the Mummerset campaign is rooted in the inter war period, especially the Spanish Civil War, with bits taken from the Russian Civil War. 

I like the whole feel of the period with its ad hoc use of armour, and mix of old and modern tactical doctrines. And yes House Steiner is a nod towards the German support for Franco, as played by General Whales. 

Saying that though, the campaign is not meant, or set as a Nazi Germany parable. The real villains are a blast from the past that have only just been revealed.

The campaign falls under Operation Sandbox, because it is my sandbox where I can kick around ideas. 

I use BattleTech rules, but these really focus on battlemech combat, and presents a vision of combat that is rooted by the constraints of being board game based. My goal is to develop rules to help speed up the amount of time each turn takes, and play games where the focus of the game is on combined arms where the battlemech is important, but doesn't work alone. 

The focus is also on playing with the miniatures on nice terrain too.

Currently I want to polish up the artillery rules, and write them up for the blog.

Then I want to work more on the infantry rules, which are proving to be problematical. This seems to be down to a combination of the size of the figures, which makes them hard to see clearly, and a lack of understanding of how to deploy infantry in BattleTech? 

The basic BattleTech rules for infantry are really rather simple, all things considered. Platoons get an attack value based on size and weapons. It all leads to rather bloody combat. 

I want to get players to enjoy deploying infantry, rather than them being some after thought that gets in the way of the battlemech action. I can see that I'm going have to rethink the organisation into squads/sections and make it easier for the players to understand and use.

When we do the next AAR role-play debrief, and plan the next phase of the campaign, I will sit and talk through the problems the players are having with using infantry. Meanwhile I shall go and jot down some notes and think about how to base the figures so that the organisation tracks both the number of casualties, and allows one to calculate the attack values without having to use a record sheet.

Finally, I've been thinking about using the BattleTech introductory rules from the box set that eliminates all the critical hits and internal structure from play. 

However, a part of me loves the detail, so I'm caught by the desire for fast, yet at the same time, detailed games of giant battlemechs fighting it out. I know that if you reduce the stats for the battlemech too far you end up with something like BattleForce. 

Quite frankly this doesn't satisfy me as it seems to me that there is still too much paperwork, with none of the atmosphere that comes from the details of playing a regular game of BattleTech.

I enjoy the feel of a game where the battlemechs are having bits & pieces shot off and degrading slowly under fire. If I can keep that, and get the game to run with a battalion per side in under four hours per game, I will have cracked it.
  

Mummerset 10.28.12: The 3rd Battle of South Boring AAR

The set up, and all is quiet with House Steiner forces with hidden deployment.

The players plan was to hide their mechs in hidden prepared positions, and wait for the anticipated attack by the Freedom Army of Mummerset on the day when the next pirate jump point opens.

Background

The Freedom Army of Mummerset have a four part plan to bring their ten year campaign to a successful conclusion.

The first part of the plan is how to neutralize House Steiner's deployment? Over the last year FAOM high command have come to the conclusion that House Steiner forces will use their dropship to deliver forces to stem attacks made against their ally General Whales.

Therefore the Circinis Federation dropship will engage the House Steiner dropship in orbit and prevent it from landing during the planned offensive. The plan is to deploy a short-battalion size force with a demi company of battlemechs, drawn from  FAOM and Circinus Federation assets in support. 

This force will be deployed to destroy House Steiner non-battlemech ground forces that remain in South Boring.

The second part of the plan is to simultaneously attack General Whales in South Boring, and reduce his assets so that he no longer has an effective force. It is imperative that his battlemech forces are eliminated, and if possible capture, or kill, both General Whales and last remaining heir to the throne of Mummerset.

A second short-battalion sized force, again with a demi-company of battlemechs drawn from both FAOM and Circinus Federation assets will be in support. This force will deployed with the objective of eliminating all Royalist forces.

The third part of the plan is to also attack the remnant forces of the Mummerset Republican Guard, defeated at the hands of General Whales and House Steiner allies, who retreated to the capital Clear Water Boring.

A third short-battalion sized force will be deployed for this objective with two FAOM battlemechs and one Circinis Federation battlemech in support.

The fourth part of the plan is to detonate the mines that have been placed at Landfall to deny the enemy use of the refueling and repair facilitates that are currently neutral, and supporting both Rufus Marx's Republic of Mummerset government and General Whales Royalists.

In reserve at Newten are a full battalion with air mobile assets for deployment for the follow-up operational phases.

OPFOR Composition (Freedom Army of Mummerset & Circinus Federation Pirates)

Urban Mech UM-R70P custom modified 3062 Inner Sphere tech (move 2-3-2, armour 99 points, and 11 single heat sinks). Loadout 1 x Rotary AC5, 1 x ER medium laser, and 1 x ER small laser.

Rifleman RFL-PAC custom modified 3025 Inner Sphere tech (move 4-6-0, armour 72 points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 4 x Ultra AC2s.

ConstructionMech 30 ton MOD-P custom modified 3132 industrial (3-5-0, armour 48 points, and 1 single heat sink). Loadout 1 x SRM6, and 2 x lift hoists.

Ostol OTL-6PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-0, armour 188 points, and 14 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER PPCs, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

Ostroc OSR-4PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-5, armour 179 points, and 14 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER large lasers, 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x small pulse laser.

Ostol  OTL-5PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-0, armour 120 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 5 x LRM 10s, 2 x medium lasers, 2 x small lasers.

One Company of vehicles:

4 x Vedette light tank
6 x 3039 GEV APCs each carrying one platoon of infantry
2 x 3039 GEV scout vehicles

Two Companys of Infantry (Reinforced):

2 x Mechanised infantry platoons
2 x PAL infantry platoons
2 x Jump infantry platoons
2 x Foot infantry platoons

Long Tom artillery (off board): 1 battery of 4 tubes

4th Battalion of the House Steiner 4444 Regimental Combat Team

Zeus 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 4-6-4, armour 240 points, and 16 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER PPC, 1 x LRM20 (with Artemis), 3 x ER medium lasers, 4 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

Scorpion 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-0, armour 192 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER large lasers, 1 x ER medium laser, 1 x LRM5, 2 x SRM2, and 1 targeting computer.

Firestarter 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-6, armour 58 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER Large laser, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x flamers, and 1 targeting computer.

Commando 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-0, armour 86 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x Streak SRM4, 1 x LRM5, 1 x ER small laser, and 1 targeting computer.

Conventional Infantry Company: 4 platoons (with 4 squads of 7 infantry in each) .
Battle Armor Support (Infantry): 2 platoons (with 4 Squads of 5 BA in each).
One platoon of GEV LRM carriers: 1 platoon of 4 vehicles.
Long Tom artillery (off board): 1 battery of 4 tubes.

Initial Deployment

 

The players deployed their mechs along with their conventional infantry platoon,  one scout and one heavy battle armour squad in support,  and one GEV missile carrier. All hidden in pre-prepared  positions on the board.

Clive looking calm and collected as he plans his deployment. Actually, he was quite stressed by having to work out where to best deploy his hidden assets. The consequences of getting this wrong would have a significant impact on the campaign.

Oliver, our youngest player, was commanding the attackers and chose to deploy on the crest of the hills outside the town and dice for sensor contacts i.e.: spot hidden units. Also, as per my Epiphany posts, the BattleTech alternate I-go then U-go rules were replaced with a card activation system.

Oliver, with his dad Trevor, both a year older and Oliver was incredibly cool, calm and collected about his mission.

We were playing with house rules for the artillery, using forward observer cards to designate targets, and allocating artillery barrages as the cards were drawn. This worked incredibly well from a game perspective, and all the players felt that the artillery was now pretty scary.

That explosion at the front is a House Steiner artillery barrage that has just blown up a Freedom Army Urban mech. The two clumps of infantry that are running away are what are left of two platoons that had to bail out of their APCs after said APCs were hit by artillery barrages. The Firestarter at the back, behind one of the buildings, had then lovingly lit up the survivors with its flamethrowers, along with a mechanised infantry platoon that had been in support..

 House Steiner artillery forced the Freedom Army to advance, but it effectively disrupted the attack and caused substantial damage.

Dan rolling for his hit locations on a fleeing enemy mech. His Zeus can be seen on the lower left of the picture with more fleeing enemy infantry platoons that had seen artillery rain down upon them. We remove the layers from the buildings that have been hit by artillery, which is easy to do with Fieldworks products.

The battle then opened up with House Steiner mechs being deployed to apply the coup de grâce to the enemy mechs.

Dan's Zeus again with the enemy mech at the left fleeing in the distance.The enemy tank on the right would bug out and have a pop at the Zeus with little effect.

The downside to this was that it allowed the enemy the opportunity to brings its artillery to bear on them, resulting in the Commando being brought down when the center torso was blown out by sequential attacks by artillery.

Though the half the enemy mechs were destroyed by our players, with the one industrial mech actually captured, what you don't see here is Clive's Commando, which had been blown up by three enemy artillery barrages that hit it, and the Scorpion four legged mech, in quick succession. The Scorpion took considerable damage, but was still battle worthy even with a gyro hit, and losing the coffee maker (player in game joke).

Oliver took the whole, you have been ambushed, very well indeed, and made a credible fist of the whole engagement. The resulting casualty list was five enemy infantry platoons eliminated, three mechs destroyed and their remains captured.

Costs were one Commando gutted, one conventional infantry squad lost, and one scout battle armour both lost when caught by enemy artillery barrages.

Though the players started to turn up around midday for the game, by the time we had lunch, faffed setting up the table, and getting them to decide where to place their hidden units, the game didn't start until 15.00. We played through until 20.00, but I lost count of the number of turns, but I guess about ten were resolved?

So five hours of gaming, which is okay, but still too long.

On the other hand a lot faster than just using conventional BattleTech rules, given we had 10 mechs, 16 vehicles, and just over 12 infantry platoons in play. I would imagine we would not have had enough time to lay to a conclusive outcome using the conventional BattleTech rules, especially with five players who were all a bit rusty on what they had to do.

All in all, an outright House Steiner win, and we now have to wait and see what the happens in the other two battles that are taking place simultaneously on this day.
   

Red Queen

  
The room was bare and dark. I sat on a folding steel chair at a plain table steel table, and it was cold enough that I found myself shivering. I remembered being captured by Renfred Tor and his men had captured the dropship that was to take him to Luthien where I was to report the success of operation Dragon and be rewarded with more opportunities to serve the Coordinator.

The door to the room opened and a tall man dressed in an off the shelf business suit entered the room. “Ohayo gozaimasu Captain Miura Yorunabi san. Or should I say Proctor Sinvalie of House Mailai? How about Mr Thomas Jones of the Free World League? My, my you do get around.” The man chuckled. “You may call me John.”

“I am Tai-I Yorunabi Miura of the Draconis Combine Military Service, my serial number is 848163-2980-8. I am a prisoner, and under the articles of war that is all I will tell you.”

“Miura san, may I call you Miura?”

“I care not what you call me, I will tell you nothing.”

“Muira, what war are you talking about?” John said while sitting down.

“The war that exists between House Kurita and House Steiner” I replied.

“Oh, you mean that war…” John leant back in his chair as if considering the import of the answer.

“Do not take me for a fool John, but I know you must be an agent of LOKI. We both know that the War of Succession still rages on, even as we speak.”

Ah, yes the Third Succession War. The one that ended five years ago when the Archon sent out a peace proposal to all the other leaders of the great houses.” John paused, “As far as the Lyran Commonwealth is concerned the war is over. I suggest to you that your war is over.”

“Just because your Archon has declared peace, doesn’t mean that the war is over.”

“Would you like some tea, Muira san? I could do with a drink myself, and as a student of all things Japanese I understand that tea has a certain solemnity about it for your people.” John signalled with his hand and a few minutes later another man entered the room with a tray with cups and a pot of tea.

“What game is this?” I said.

“No game Muira san. Just a nice cup of tea.”

He poured two cups and took one, taking a sip. “See, not poisoned, no tricks here.”

“How do I know you haven’t taken an antidote to any poison that is in the tea?”

“Muira san, if I wanted you dead, you would already be dead.” He looked at me and smiled.

I took the tea, it was plain, but I found myself thirsty, and drank it.

“See, drinking that wasn’t so hard after all. A cup of tea, a nice chat and then you can go.” The man who called himself John smiled at me.

“You are going to let me go without questioning me?” I said, not believing what I’d heard.

“Yes. No tricks, we already know every thing that we need to know. This isn’t an interrogation, because we have already interrogated you. You can’t remember, because we don’t want you to remember. Every thing about the operation Code Dragon, your mission to investigate Duke Ricol, the money making schemes that you were running on the side with House Malai. We know it all.”

“What do you want of me?”

“Ah, now that is a good question? I think you know that we know everything about you. Things that if they were known by your bosses would shorten your opportunities for any future career prospects.” John said looking at me, judging me, and waiting for my answer.

“What if I say no?”

“You won’t, we already know you won’t. You may look all Japanese, and act like one, but we also know that you didn’t take your own life when you could’ve. We found the poison tooth, which you could’ve used at anytime. You didn’t, therefore we are certain that you will take us up on our offer to work for us.”

I pretended to mull over what John had said. I could see that if I wanted to live that I had little choice in the matter. However, later, things might change. “If I say yes to your offer, how does this work?”

“You leave, and we will be in contact when needed via a Comstar message from our House Malia agent.”

“That’s it?” I said.

“One thing Muira san. You cross us, and Subhash Indrahar will have a copy of our interrogation transcript to read. You understand what that would mean, don’t you?”

I certainly did, I would be dead before I knew I was dead. “It seems I have had an offer made to me, which in all politeness I cannot refuse.”

John smiled at me, “Good, I’m glad that is settled, you may leave, and have a nice day.”

I stood up and left the room. My life my own, for what it was worth?

The man who called himself John looked at the fat ISF Captain leave. The chances that they would get anything useful from turning one of ISFs own agents was slim, but it cost LOKI nothing to try. The worst that could happen would be that Yorunabi would be killed, which given what he knew about the man would still be a win for humanity.

NB: This was written for a BattleTech Universe Forum writing competition that was cancelled, and the story above is part of what I submitted. This story was driven by me wanting to know what happens in the parts of Decision at Thunder Rift by William Keith that occurred off stage. Stylistically the conversation changes character perspective, which probably needs to be re-written.

Anyway, the big battle is tomorrow, so this story fragment is to give you all something to read until such time as I get around to writing up the report next week.
  

BattleTech 3.0: Epiphany Update

 

  
Previously on Paint it Pink I did a post called BattleTech 3.0: Epiphany that laid out some ideas that are worth repeating when it comes to making a fast play variant of the game.

This update is driven by the recent Catalyst games Battlechat with Herb Beas, the Line Developer for BattleTech, where he made it know that in 2015 there will be a new box set with quicker play rules for small actions. Now whether this will be combined arms games was not clarified during the Battlechat, but I can't see how it would be unreasonable to assume that the rules wouldn't allow for for this.

Anyway, no point speculating too much on what was a very sparse, one-liner.

More important I need to update my campaign groups experience from the number of games we have been playing over the last couple of years where we have fielded what are quite large numbers of model and played games to a full resolution within three to fours hours over an afternoon. As a reminder you can find all the Operation Sandbox Mummerset Campaign reports here.

Reviewing the Guidelines

1. For board games keep movement as cost per hex, but double the firing range. 

No, we didn't stick to that. Instead we had one movement point equal two inches, and ranges of weapons were based on the same metric.

2. For movement now all units just count the number of hexes (board-game), or inches moved (tabletop), and add a free facing change at the end of the turn only. 

We never played the quickplay on hex maps, as I've always set the game up on my terrain boards, but otherwise yes this worked.

3. Roll one pair of 2D6 (change to 4D6 and discard two results) for combat to calculate whether or not all the weapons that the unit has hit or miss. 

No, this didn't work out, because it was skewing results in the short term with either all hits, or all misses being generated. Instead ended up I colour coding all the weapons on the players record sheets and gave them matching pairs of dice to use.

4. Roll one pair of 2D6 ( change to 4D6 and discard two results) for all the missile weapons fired to get an average of number of missiles hit.

Didn't work out, and instead we used the simpler mechanic of using dice with the number of faces equal to the number of missile e.g.: use a D4 for and SRM4 etc., half a D10 for a D5 for an LRM5 and so on.

5. Ammo explosions are calculated as the value of one round of the ammo cooking off when they explode. However, after applying the internal damage, roll again on 2D6 (the usual roll of plus eight) to see if more critical damage is done to the mech (if the ammo bay is hit again, this too will explode one round and so on). 

This worked pretty much as expected.

6. Ferro-fibrous armour, endo-steel count and empty slots count as valid locations for an internal hit and need not be re-rolled.

Still out for the count. What we do is roll a D12 for the internal locations to save all the time having to re-roll D6s for results that are invalid.

7. Head hits do not automatically kill the pilot, instead the auto-pilot is assumed to eject the pilot, unless of course there is no ejection system or auto-eject is turned off for some reason. Pilots only die from wounds received. 

No problems.

8. Initiative to be governed by using cards, which will randomise what moves when during a turn.

Of all the things we did, this was the one that really changed the dynamic of the game by removing the optimum move search, as players realised that there was no longer an optimum move, as one had to make the most of the tactical situation as it was handed to you.

9. Introductory Rules to be used as the jump off point with the minimum amount or rules from other books as necessary.

Definitely the thing that drives quicker games.