Thoughts On Operation Squad, or: Last Post Before Pics

Right, so I don't forget, here are my current thoughts on modifying Operation Squad for 1/35 and general play:

1/35 modifications:
Ranges: all ranges increase by 50%. Area effect of grenades and mortars increases by 5cm each.
Movement: 10cm becomes 15cm, 15cm becomes 20cm, 20cm becomes 30cm.
MGs and Assistants: Assistants must be within 3cm of the gunner, rather than in base contact.
Table size: 6' x 4' rather than 4' by 4' is preferred.

General modifications:
Motivation: This is scenario dependent. Squads can be classed as having LOW, NORMAL, or HIGH motivation. A squad with LOW motivation reduces its Break Point by 1, while a HIGH motivation squad increases it by 1. Note this does not affect the number of figures in the squad.
Shoulder-launched AT Weapons: E.g. Bazooka, Panzerfaust. They act as direct-fire weapons as follows:

SHORT: +2d6 NORMAL: +1d6 LONG: N/A EXTREME: N/A
Characteristics: Single Shot, Support Weapon, A(10)

Multi-Player Games: 4-8 players. I recommend that each player takes a Squad, with one player taking a Platoon Command Squad, or acting as the force commander. Each Squad should have an objective, which should in turn act towards the force objective(s). Platoon Commanders should issue orders before the game starts, and if they wish to alter these orders may only do so if either:
1) Their figure is within 20cm (28mm) or 30cm (1/35) of the squad leader he is giving new orders to, and with a clear LOS; the Platoon Commander must also be visible to the Squad Leader (i.e. in his 180 degree field of vision).
2) Send a runner from his squad to the other; the runner must use RUN actions where possible to get to the Squad Leader in question as quickly as possible. Once within 5 (or 10) cm of the Squad Leader, the orders may be relayed as a single Action on the runner's part.

What do you think? I reckon those mods will be easy to use and improve play, at least for me. Next post - pics. Promise!

A New Obsession (Oh Help! Oh No! It's A Wargamerlo!)

Thanks to my commission work, I have rediscovered the joys of 1/35th military figures. So much so, in fact, that I have purchased a copy of Torriani and Del Castello's Operation Squad WWII rules (from work, ahahaha) and some 1/35 Dragon late war Germans to start with. I have on order (from work) a few sets of Russians to oppose the Fascist Vipers, and I intend to do them all with winter bases for games set in the winter of '44-'45. Which allows me access to all the funky toys like StG-44s and Russians with body armour. And, of course, old men and young girls fighting to defend the Vaterland!

Not to mention, of course, the Lithuanians, Spaniards, French, Latvians, Danes, Belgians, Italians, Dutch, Estonians, Russians, Ukranians... etc etc. I'd gleefully paint their national shields but, sadly, all my Panzergrenadiers are in thick winter gear or camo tunics.

Terrain will be fun, too, and I think that I may have to make a few alterations to the rules. Chiefly, increasing all the weapon ranges by 50% and removing the bloody stupid tournament-based points system. Frankly I don't give a damn about points in historical games; I'd much rather do it by scenario requirements.

Should be fun, especially as my dad is going to have his shed wargames-room-ified by the end of the year.

My current thoughts on my German squad org are something as follows:

1iC with StG-44
2iC with MP-40
2 PzGrn with MG42 and G43
8 PzGrn with a mix of K98, G43, MP-40 and StG-44

Leaven with a couple of panzerfausts, stick grenades, etc... job's a good 'un!

Oh - and there'll be another post tonight: WITH PICTURES

IT LIIIIIIIVES!!

Aha! I have a power cable! I am going to spend the next umpteen million man-hours uploading the hundreds and thousands of pictures that I have to post. Then I will post them. Then I will write more... and so on!

I have mostly been doing commission work, most recently a zillion Romans leavened by ANZACS, Turks, and 1/35th Waffen-SS Grenadiers. So expect a lot of Ancients.

Oh - yes - I have just started a new blog over at Parallel Futures, discussing SF in all its forms. Pop across, have a read, and help me formulate a new analysis of SF! Or just laugh at my ramblings. Either way... go! Read! COMMENT!

Of Superquick and Metcalfe...

Fairly recently, my Dad and I engaged in a spot of WW2 gaming (as is our wont) with a Fallschirmjager assault on the sleepy village of Lower Bimble, defended by a company of Home Guard. A report from the jackboot side of things can be found here on the Gentleman's Wargames Parlour. I will be putting in a report as soon as I can get a replacement power cable...!

Anyway, what I was really going to be talking about was Superquick and Metcalfe. For the uninitiated, they are two companies that make cardboard kits of houses, factories, pubs and so on for model railways and, yes, wargamers, in 1/72 scale. We used their stuff for Lower Bimble. It works remarkably well with 28mm, and perfectly with 20-25mm too.

The amount of kits they do is incredible - between the two of them there's enough stuff to produce a whole town with industrial estate, railway station(s) by the dozen and an airfield. And I've got a load of them at work. They look at me, tempting me to get them and make them so that, next time, we can have urban warfare in the streets of Upper Bimble as the Field Army and its Home Guard comrades try to fend off the fanatical Nazi paratroops and their Whermacht chums.

Should I give in, or stay firm? Help!

Disasters

Well, I'm excusing my lack of photo-updates and two missing battle reports with the following joyous bit of info:

My multi-adaptor which powers my laptops has died, spectacularly. So now I can't use either of them! Arrrgh!

On top of that, I have discovered the hard way that my shed (garage) leaks. I lost three books to water damage on Friday. One is easily replaced, one can be either picked up 2nd hand as a book or printed off as a PDF...

...and one is now only availiable second hand for upwards of £100!

For the interested, they are Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), Mordheim: Empire in Flames, and Tactica Imperialis: A History of the Later Imperial Crusades.

So, in all, woe and misery. Expect reguar updates to begin again once I can reliably power my laptops. Bloody hell! What a saga!

Lego and Other, Stranger Things

A quick post - almost a placeholder for another one tonight.

Lego is a good thing to use for wargaming, particularly skirmishes. SF and F are very easy to do, while my introduction to wargaming came in the form of Lego ironclads battling it out on a carpet Potomac...!

I am also going to plunge back into the Guard and Dark Eldar armies that have been simmering for some time; with the upcoming release of things like the Venom, Talos, Cronos

JOOLS HOLLAND IS IN THE SHOP RIGHT NOW whee

My First Army List

Having yesterday completed the task (well, almost) of moving my stuff from my parent's house to my own, a mere six years after leaving there, I was rummaging through papers and found a small notebook marked 'IMPERIAL CODEX' in my own handwriting. Intrigued, I flipped it open and found an army list dated 15/12/97 (for the hard of counting, that's over 13 years ago) and entitled ULTRAMARINES Army List. It laid out, in my then 11 year-old self's childish handwriting, my ideal 2nd Edition Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarine army. I will reproduce it here for your delight, complete with spellnig erors.

1 squad of terminators. (seargent is V. and has 'Photon Searchlight') trooper 2 has 'Auto Launcher with Frag G.' and 'Plasma Blaster') P.T.S. Value: (inc wargear): 356

1 close combat tactical squad in rhino (saergent is V.) P.T.S Value (inc Rhino and V.S.): 355

1 Techmarine. ('Servo Arm') P.T.S. Value (inc. servo arm): 43

1 Tactical squad (1 trooper is a dev., other is spec.) P.T.S. Value: 300

1 Scout Squad (S. is vetran + infiltrate rules) PT.S. value (inc. V.S): 105

1 Captain (second co., Army Commander) P.T.S. Value: 96

1 Landspeeder. P.T.S. Value: 145

1 Bike Squad (S. is V. + 1 Attack Bike) P.T.S. Value (inc. V.S. + Attack Bike): 298

TOTAL P.T.S. Value: 1698

This is followed by a more detailed and expanded army list for the same lot, this time with names and extra characters, dated 26/12/97. It is this force that I am currently replicating with modern models painted in the style of 2nd Edition and, in keeping with the way I painted back then, to the best of my ability. At the moment I have the Captain, 2 of the 5 Terminators, the Scout Squad, and a Tac Squad. I still need a Rhino, Bike Squad, another Tac Squad, a Landspeeder, Command Squad, Librarian... a few figures!

Right, now I'm off to paint Romans by the dozen for money. Ta-ra for now, chaps and chapettes!

Victory At Last

Last night I engaged my friend A in a 1,500 point 'Prepared Assault' mission from the 40K Battle Missions book. I took my heroic bad guys, the Karaboudjani Kataphraktoi, in a manner that I've never taken a Guard-based army before. He took his Blood Angel Successors (with some proxies) in a list designed to kill horde armies.

Good job I had a few tanks then!

My list looked like this:

Lord Commissar with Carapace Armour and power sword in Chimera
Primaris Psyker
Priest with Eviscerator

Platoon 1:
Lt with Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
4 Veterans with Flamers

Sgt with Bolt Pistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team, Commissar with power sword
Sgt with Plasma Pistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team
Sgt with Laspistol, Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter team

Platoon 2:
Lt with Power fist and laspistol
4 Veterans with Meltas

Sgt with Bolt Pistol, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team, Commissar with Power Sword
Sgt with Power Sword, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team
Sgt with Laspistol, Plasma Gun, Lascannon team

Armoured Sentinel with Autocannon and Smoke
Armoured Sentinel with Autocannon, Smoke and Searchlight

Devil Dog with hull Multi-Melta, turret Melta Cannon and pintle Heavy Stubber

Demolisher with Plasma Cannons, Lascannon and Storm Bolter

He took:

Reclusiarch
5 Assault Terminators with twin lightning claws
10 Assault Marines with twin lightning claws, flamer, plasma pistol
10 Tac Marines with Heavy Bolter and flamer in a Rhino
10 Devastators with Signum, 2 plasma cannon, multi-melta, rocket launcher
2 Baal Predators with Inferno Cannons and hull Heavy Flamers
Furioso Dreadnought with Blood Talons and Magna-Grapple

I went first, and had a dismal round of shooting. But, despite the fact that he caused 23 casualties on 1 Platoon in his Turn One AND destroyed my Demolisher... I still won! Mainly because his teleporting Terminators scattered onto his Dreadnought, suffered a mishap, and died in the warp. I ended the game with all three objectives in my possession and only one Space Marine left on the table - a Devastator with Rocket Launcher.

A had some bad luck - for example, at least one Plasma Cannon 'Got Hot' every turn (although he did pass every save) - and I had some good luck; particularly the tank commander of the Devil Dog who, with his heavy stubber, headshotted a Devastator Marine through a wall, and killed the Reclusiarch. His crew, on the other hand, were utterly dismal, hitting only once and killing a mere three marines from five hits.

All in all, a great game and one from which I have taken a lot - namely, playing Guard in accordance with the background means YOU LOSE. Time to ditch most of my fetish regarding the background and start playing to win a bit more... but not at all costs.

Pictures, by the way, will come when I get my other laptop back from the repair shop this coming week. This one is too unreliable to use for picture uploads &c &c.

Aetherspace Connection Established: Void-Tansference Initiated

Or, in other words, I have internet access at home for the first time since December last year. Hurray!

In painting and modelling news, I have finished Da Ard Nutz and am currently working on a (very large) commission for a chap who appears to have decided to want to collect a couple of 1:1 ratio Roman Legions. Cue about a thousand or so 28mm Ancients to paint...!

GorkaMorka and the Gran Chaco War continue to infest my mind, so much so that I have declared an intention to run a GorkaMorka campaign at my local club, and am trying to save enough to purchase a second hand copy of Arthur English's Green Hell.

Now, before I bore you all with too many words, I will sign off and not return until I bring back photographs of Da Ard Nutz and some various other things I've painted since my hiatus began last year. Hopefully that'll be tonight or tomorrow morning.

Onwards - the future awaits!

Of Gork And Mork, Or: GORKA GORKA GORKA

Hail, devoted fans and fellow lunatics!

Recently I have been (re)inspired by that classic Games Workshop 'specialist' game: GORKAMORKA. A true fusion of brilliant games design, madness and comedy, Gorkamorka pits gangs of Orks, Grots, 'Oomie skum and Mutie terrors against each other on the blasted desert world of Angelis in the far distant and violent future.

It was the second Games Workshop game I played, in GW Oxford in the heady summer of 1997, aged 10. I had an absolute blast pushing my (then) Morka trukk around and yelling "DAKKA DAKKA" at the top of my lungs. My friend Tais and I also spent several weeks pretending we were the driver and gunner of a trukk, running about shouting things like "Oh no! We skid!" and crashing into walls, trees, each other, and parked cars.

So, in the spirit of my yoof, I bought a box of Grots and dug out some spare Orks, and am now in the process of painting two mobs: the dangerous and fearsome Grot Revolooshunaries 'Da Green Menace' and the well 'ard Gorka headcases known as 'Da Ard Nuts' because they wear helmets.

Now all I need are some vehicles... expect pictures of both Grots and Gorkas in the coming week.
Oh, and before I sign off, if you're interested in kikkin' 'eadz an' applyin' sum boot levva, try these links:

The Rulebook
The Other Book (mob lists, campaign rules etc)
The Unnamed Gorkamorka Site
Mektown