15mm

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author

Rob and I did a test game with the new Nam rules for Team Yankee (Team Yankee Early War?) but instead of using traditional lists, we decided that since Team Yankee the novel is a what-if scenario, then why not do a what-if of the Oil Crisis of the 1970s!  In our case, we did a Canadian Tank force (Aussie Centurions) vs some T-55s and Motor Rifles out in a desert oil facility.    As usual, video bat-rep at the end.  Thanks to Rob for hosting as usual, this time on his awesome AFG board where I added my 15mm terrain to good effect:View from the industrial center

by NDNG-Dane and Tom Burgess

Welcome Comrades,

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BRIEFING

The new ‘NAM  book provides a lot of options for the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN). In fact, the North Vietnam Forces could have easily have been divided and printed solely as a Communist Forces in Vietnam book.  The Politburo has directed that we brief you on our glorious and loyal forces battling the Capitalist foes in the South. We will do so in to four separate briefings so that you may better understand each.

by Troy A. Hill
Photos by the Author

I’ve recently begun a series that looks at the . This piece will look at some basic rules of the game. All page references are from the Battlegroup Rule Book, hardcover revised edition.

Winning the Game: 

The first question a player asks of any game is: “how do I win” (or lose)? In Battlegroup, there are several ways: controlling all objectives at the end of your opponent’s turn, causing the opposing force to be destroyed or pinned so they cannot use any orders on their next turn, or (as

occurs most often) when your opponent’s Battle Counter Chits sum exceed their force’s Battle Rating.

Battlegroup uses a secret countdown of these Battle Counter tokens as a core mechanic. During the course of the game, players will be required to blindly draw morale “chits” from a bag or cup. These chits range up in value from one to five points each. Typically, there are more of the middle numbers (two and three) than there are ones and fives in the pool of chits. There are also special chits, with beneficial effects for the one who draws them. I will cover these more in a later piece.

I had a chance to play a FOW V4 game with one of my regular opponents, Karl this past week.  My purpose was to test the new formations in the new Armies of Late War (AoLW) book. Ed Sales has written a review of the forces in the book which can be .

Scouting Stuarts prepare for the battle of the century

I knew from looking at the book that it was geared more towards newer players.  And in that respect, it accomplishes its goals well. In others, it falls a bit short. But to be fair, the old Forces book had generic lists as well.  This book was never intended as a points fixing cure-all for LW issues. It was meant to give new players a simplified system for list building, to provide force diagrams, and to give a look at the command cards for LW forces BF is working to put out.

By Benny Christiansen

The typical Dane. Happy-go-lucky with a positive look at almost everything. Giving you a glimpse of the way the Danes do it.

In the first article, I focused on the Fog Of War cards in the game. In this article, I try to give you examples of how we play with the Flames of War (FOW) V4 rules. 

The Third Game of the day

Notice the minefields in the middle of the table. I wanted to ignore them

In the final game, I had the privilege to play against two of my dear friends, Helge and Lynge, who some of the ETC community may know. Helge is the Captain of the Danish FOW team and also a person who is involved in the ETC community for FOW. Lynge is a regular on the Danish ETC Team, and I see him as one of the best players in a tournament, as he never knows how to give up or give in.

Our games were to be two vs two players. In order to keep the number of players even and an equal number of Axis vs Allies, I had agreed to run two forces at a time. Against these two, I knew I was in for a challenge. I rarely win in games against Helge, and to play against Lynge and Helge at the same time… well… I decided that I would do my best, at least to give them as good a challenge as possible.

By Troy A. Hill
Photos by the Author

This is the first of a series looking at the Battlegroup wargaming rules. This piece originally appeared on WWPD.net and is being reprinted here as part of an ongoing look at the Battlegroup game system.

Battlegroup is The Plastic Soldier Company’s entry into the WWII gaming system. Written by Warwick Kinrade, the rules system is a tight, fairly historical approach to gaming at a variety of force sizes, in either 15mm or 20mm scales.

They have published a core rulebook, and a variety of Theatre of Operations books, including (as of now): Kursk, Barbarosa, Blitzkrieg, Tobruk, Overlord, Bulge (Wacht Am Rhein), Market Garden, and Fall of the Reich.

I’ve had a chance to read the rules and begin some skirmish games at our local gaming club. The rules are different, much different than what I’m used to with other systems. But, they’re not complicated. The biggest challenge I’ve faced has been trying to think inside of the Battlegroup rules, and not applying rules from another game set.

This article will look at the Battlegroup main rulebook, its layout, and how it presents the core of the Battlegroup system. The rules themselves will be covered in later write-ups.

The Rule Book

Battlegroup is published by  and is distributed by Plastic Soldier Company (PSC).  The rules were written by Warwick Kinrade, with assistance from Piers Brand. The rulebook was originally published as a small paperback book distributed with the Battlegroup Kursk theatre book. It now exists as a hardcover, stand-alone product.

By: Benny Christiansen

The typical Dane. Happy-go-lucky with a positive look upon almost everything. Giving you a glimpse of the way the Danes do it.

In these two articles I would like to present the Fog Of War cards used at the event and also, by going through the last game in detail, I try to give you examples of how we play with the V4 rules. 

In Denmark we have a concept called “Hygge.” Try to look it up, as the closest translation is probably “Cosy”, but that does not fully cover the meaning.

We try to keep the gaming community active by hosting one-day events, where the main focus is on meeting each other and playing. For this event, the guys in Aarhus (Denmark) had arranged one of those one-day events. The games were two vs two, with 1000 pts lists for each participant. Each game would be determined by Battle Plan Cards and then a dice to see which of the missions in the Battle Plan we would play.

Originally, I was paired with my friend Stephan. We agreed that we would field some fun lists. However, due to last-minute sign-ups,  I played as a solo-player with two lists of 1000 points alone. This way we had an equal number of teams on Axis and Allied side.

By No-dice-Dane

In November, WWPD published an excellent article by Tom Burgess on “Fight Outnumbered and Win – The U.S. Army in Team Yankee’s Stripes,” which can

Building on that foundation, I would like to start highlighting each element of the Air – Land – Battle, Combined Arms Team. Let’s start by taking a look at the Air Defense umbrella, doctrinally known as Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD).

Avenues of Approach

If the enemy has air superiority, the avenue should provide concealment from the air. Air avenues for attack helicopters airmobile forces and close air support have different characteristics.
Analyzing avenues of approach is as important to the defender as to the attacker. The defender must accurately determine the main approaches to his sector and identify the internal avenues which will permit him to maneuver against the attacker.

By Dennis Campbell AKA Matt Varnish

Photos by the Author

Here we have the 2nd game using the Italians out of AVANTI, this time versus the British ‘Desert Rats,’ Encounter, 71 points. Nothing like playing Desert armies when it is -40 something degrees outside! Chris Caron once again obliged me in being my opponent and hosting, this time playing the British, and he opted for a Combined Arms approach, as he usually does, with an Infantry formation, an Armoured formation, and some Artillery support.

Brit 25 pdrs, 2 on the hill, 2 off for maximum visibility, he had no OP

By Troy A. Hill

Piers (left) and Warwick (right) performing historical research for a period other than WWII.

With Warwick Kinrade. All photos courtesy of Ironfist Publishing.

This piece originally appeared on WWPD.net and is being reprinted here as part of an ongoing look at the Battlegroup game system.

I recently had a chance to correspond with Warwick Kinrade, primary author of the , published by  and The .

He’s had help along the way from Piers Brand, the other half of the Ironfist Publishing force. In what I’ve learned is true “Piers Fashion” he deferred all of my questions about the game design of Battlegroup to Warwick.