Innholdsfortegnelse for WSS 126 i Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

We can run wild for six months or maybe a year, but after that, I have utterly no confidence. — Vice Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto Following the Mukden Incident and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Chinese and Japanese forces occasionally skirmished along the new border, until Japan invaded in 1937, causing the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands to impose crippling sanctions. With the European powers distracted by the war with Nazi Germany, the Japanese government, guided by Osami Nagano and Isoroku Yamamoto, came up with a plan. If the US fleet could be crippled in Pearl Harbor, then they could take large areas of land, including the vital oil fields of the Dutch East Indies, and fight a defensive war of attrition that would (in their minds) lead the…

The group enjoys using Bolt Action to tell cinematic stories and was keen to string these together into a campaign, so a plan was hatched to open up a new theatre of war to explore by means of a simple map-based system based on the fall of France in 1940, which was then broadened out slightly to a sense of Fall Gelb, or ‘Case Yellow’ – the Nazi plan for the invasion of the Low Countries. What follows is a general account of how the campaign played out, with a view that readers may consider trying to do something similar themselves within differing periods or genres, and certainly with the hope that readers may be able to learn from the mistakes we made! PICKING TEAMS The first thing to do…

Allied forces, mainly consisting of American troops, had landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942 in order to deny the Japanese the use of the Solomon Islands as a base. Very early in the campaign, the US forces had captured an airfield which was under construction near Lunga Point. This airfield would later be renamed Henderson Field. The Japanese responded to the landings on Guadalcanal by moving many regiments into the Solomon Islands. The following weeks saw many Japanese attacks on the US defences attempting to recapture the airfield and destroy the bridgehead. These were bloodily repulsed and Japanese troops were forced to retreat back into the jungle to the west of Lunga Point, withdrawing to a small village called Matanikau. American forces began to strengthen their defensive perimeter around Lunga…

Tales of Men, Myths & Monsters Rules for Adventures in Greek Mythology By Chris Swan (Partizan Press, 2023) £35.00 D10, Initiative-based alternate turn I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology and so I was very interested when this rules set landed in front of me. The rules are a skirmishlevel system that allows players to lead their band of heroes (or villains) in a heroic adventure. You will need a deck of cards including jokers, six D10s, and suitable figures and terrain. A player's band will consist of a group of figures, and these represent various characters. These will be a mix of: • Heroes, • Main Characters, • Supporting Characters, • Minor Characters • Extras Depending on the level of the characters, they will have a certain number…

By Chris McDowall (Osprey Wargames, 2023) £25.00 (hardback) or £17.50 (PDF) D6, Initiative-based alternate turn In a grimdark future, monsters and demons run rampant and roam the land. Bands of brave warriors seek out these abominations to destroy them, gaining honour and glory with each new deed or the cold dark earth should they fail. Welcome to The Doomed! The game is designed to be a fastplay skirmish system for up to eight individuals per side. It is quite unusual in the fact that it is sold as a narrative wargame; gamers are encouraged play to find out what happens in the unfolding story, not to win. Kit-bashing models for the warband is also positively encouraged. The essence of The Doomed is two factions fighting cooperatively (well, most of the…

By Simon Elliott ISBN: 978-1399090926 (Pen and Sword Books, 2023) - £15.00 With its enticing title I was expecting tales of Roman derring-do. The reality is that the approach is academic with lots of reference to source material (both ancient and modern) and a scholarly feel. A basic knowledge of the Roman Empire is presumed, in particular the change from principate to dominate. The author's approach is to start by defining what he means by special forces in a modern context, then to examine Roman specialist and elite forces. Elliot concludes his introduction by looking at intelligence gathering in the Roman world, where military and civilian administration often overlapped. Having set out his definitions, Elliott then considers the four troop types mentioned: Speculatores, Exploratores, Protectores, and Areani – although sometimes…

This campaign links with my article “Mistletoe and Oak” from WS&S 123. The games are designed to be played in order and the results from each will feed into later games in the campaign. In addition, the players will track the relative ratings of the Romans and Britons on the campaign ladder. If the Romans win a victory, move the campaign tracker to the right. If the Britons win, move the campaign tracker to the left. At the end of the campaign, see how you performed against history! For anyone looking to try to refight the whole campaign on a strategic level, you could do worse than tracking down a copy of the 1984 boardgame from West End Games, Druid. This did not really give me what I wanted. As…

Rangoon was not only the Burmese capital, but also the country's principal port, and therefore its recapture was vital as it would enable the Anglo-Indian forces to land supplies and reinforcements and prevent the Japanese forces from doing the same. The operation was planned as an airborne and amphibious assault to retake the city and port. Crucially, the city needed to be taken before the onset of the monsoon season in May, as once that set in, roads would be rendered useless and overflowing fields and rivers would make cross-country travel impossible. After the failure of Japan's attempt to invade India in 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army found itself in a muchweakened state and with severely battered morale. Conversely, Indian troops in British service had received a huge boost to…

While the 3D printing debate encompasses a vast number of avenues of discussion, some notable claims have been made of its value to wargamers. The more vocal 3D printing advocates believe that 3D printing is the holy grail of hobby solutions, holding the promise of being able to print an infinite variety of miniatures for mere pennies (if we exclude the cost of buying the machine), simultaneously making the hobby more affordable and more appealing. They suggest it will allow modellers to indulge in creating armies in any scale that they wish, their imagination ultimately being the only limit to fulfilling their vision. At the other extreme are those who believe 3D printing is damaging the very foundations of the hobby by putting out of business suppliers of many of…

By Barry Hilton (Wordtwister Publishing, 2022) £35.00 Special D6, D8, D10, and D12, Initiativebased alternate turn Finally! A set of naval rules for the era of fighting sail that is not entirely focused on the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. This rules set is an impressive publication in just about every aspect. The rules are primarily aimed at 1/1200 and 1/2400-scale models, but the author states that the rules will work well with a scale as large as 1/600. I'm sure that with adjustments, other scales would work too. The period covered involves a surprising number of conflicts, a huge variety of ship types, and many nations who were naval powers at the time. Players will need (apart from ships) to have various dice: D6, D8, D10, and D12. In addition,…

French Light Infantry 1784–1815 From the Chasseurs of Louis XVI to Napoleon's Grande Armée By Terry Crowdy ISBN: 978-1914059780 (Helion & Company Ltd, 2021) - £29.95 Terry Crowdy, author of various Osprey books has now expanded on the theme of French light infantry in this new work intended to be a definitive history of this troop type. In this engaging study, Crowdy examines the origins of the French light infantryman, exploring the development of their tactical doctrine, their history, uniform, and equipment. Made famous by their massed deployment during the Revolutionary Wars at battles such as Valmy, this book broadens and deepens our understanding of these troops and the part they played in the wars of the Republic and Empire. Beginning his analysis with the Wars of Religion, the author…

PRETTY POLY Once you find a thin enough piece of wire to unblock your poly cement or superglue nozzle, tuck it into the bottle's label so that you always have it to hand. Also, you can clear stubborn blockages by taking the nozzle out, grasping it firmly with pliers, and holding it carefully over a small flame. While paperclips are my ‘go to’ for many DIY wargames fixes, on this occasion they are generally too thick. You are best using 0.5 mm narrow gauge brass wire, which is good. Otherwise you can be very inventive with some household supplies. Do you remember sandwich bag ties? The ones with a strand of wire in plastic/paper? Those are a good thickness for clearing jams. The same is true of the coated wires…

COLUMN UP FRONT There are many types of campaigns and to describe them all here is probably to rehearse a list that we are all well aware of. In this instance, what was being attempted was a campaign for Chain of Command where the established structure is more or less linear. Side A is looking to go from Y to Z and the route there is largely predetermined with, typically, five or six scenarios being played as the action progresses, both geographically and in campaign terms. Completing a campaign is as important as starting it, and I've always felt that less is more and eight or nine games maximum seems to be the sweet spot in terms of giving the players an enjoyable experience without them losing interest. A good historical…

The 1st Cambridgeshires arrived on the afternoon of 12 February and started to dig in, but the soil and sporadic Japanese shelling made digging hard work and the foxholes and trenches were not really adequate for what lay ahead. The spearhead of the attacks on Water Tower Hill was made by the veteran Japanese 41st Regiment from the Fukuyama region. The troops in this unit were battle hardened and confident, but also exhausted and running short of supplies. The 11th Regiment (used in scenarios 2 and 4) was also a veteran unit who had conducted much of the hard fighting across Singapore in the previous days. THE CAMPAIGN This mini campaign has been designed for use with Chain of Command (CoC) and the At the Sharp End supplement, although it…

We have chosen to primarily look at the Japanese, but we have included other soldiers when samples have been sent to us. We were going to include vehicles as well, but then that'd have taken quite a few more pages in the magazine! So for this issue, we had to tame our ambitions. As usual, space and time prohibits us from covering every manufacturer, so we are limited to giving a small selection, using what has been supplied in time for our deadline. There are a few we've missed: Brigade Games has a good range of WWII Japanese and SHQ wasn't available. What follows should provide gamers with inspiration as to what is available in different sizes/scales. Ranges are classified as follows: Basic (basic infantry only); Standard (has the essential…

Before we start, here's a few words about my background. I've been a wargamer for over 30 years and a commission painter for over five years. I am passionate about the hobby and keen to learn new tricks, as well as pass on my experience and knowledge. What I have to say here holds true for most contrast paints on the market, though the ones used in this article come primarily from the Citadel Contrast range. Any of their equivalents from other manufacturers could easily be used: Scale75 Instant Color, Army Painter Speedpaints, or Vallejo Xpress Color. Instant Color tends to be the thinnest of the paints, while Xpress Color tends to be the thickest. I generally use a Winsor & Newton Series 7 No. 2 paint brush. You can…

One of the most striking things about What a Cowboy! is that it's really easy to make this game look cool. The Western genre can merrily accommodate the majority of terrain collections, from prairie land through lush, verdant woodland to snowy valleys, so a quick scrabble around in the terrain and scenery cupboard enabled us to knock up a small frontier town in one game and some Arizona-style rocky outcrops around a mine head for another. And it looked great. What a Cowboy! is a low model-count game too, so even as complete newbies it took us only about ten minutes to choose some likely-looking models for our gangs and to outfit them with a few toys from the ‘General Store’ and the ‘Gunsmith’, so they were ready to face…

By Robert Vela (Osprey/Warlord Games, 2023) £20.00 D6, Dice-based initiative Reviewing a new campaign supplement for Bolt Action always occasions a mix of excitement and wariness within me: excitement because it is by far the most popular historical wargame where I get to play and is consequently my usual ‘go-to’ game; wariness because the campaign supplements always seem to add a number of new heads to a sprawling hydra that's already – frankly – starting to run out of hats. Here's the thing – a review of a new Bolt Action campaign book should follow this broad pattern: “Hey! Warlord is breathing new life into a theatre! There's a brief potted history, some interesting scenarios (some achievable, some bafflingly niche), some new unit rules, new ‘theatre selectors’, and a bunch…

By Henry Hyde ISBN: 979-8386916558 (Gladys Publications, 2023) - £25.00 For those of you who do not know of the “Tabletop Tactics” series of articles written by Henry Hyde in WS&S, this will be a fascinating book (although if you are reading this review I can't believe you haven't read many of them already!); if you are aware of them then this is still a treat. In my personal opinion the author is one of the more influential figures within our hobby, having published wargaming magazines as well as contributing many articles and thoughts to our world – which are always worth reading. This volume is an enhanced collection of his Tabletop Tactics articles, collated into a coherent and wellpresented volume. His aim is to help players bore down into…

I've recently bought and printed out some STL files. These generally come with a number of supports, which have to be carefully removed. However, there is a danger of removing too much support. In the past I have become too zealous and ripped the supports off without thinking. This has on occasion also removed some fine detailing on the model. Things such as entrenching tools or bayonets can end up being pulled off with the supports if you're not careful. Now I always refer to the original STL file to work out what is STL and what is support. I then carefully remove the supports around the more delicate parts of the model before peeling the rest off. It pays to take your time. Do you have modeling tips or…

I spend too much time rummaging through my stack of paints trying to find the colour I'm looking for. Some people use paint racks and look at the bottom of the bottle, but I generally store my paints vertically in a four-litre Really Useful Box or similar. So I've come up with a simple technique so I can find the paint I want quickly and easily: colour coding! I start by putting some white paint on the lid of the pot. Once this is dry, I take a small amount of the paint and coat the lid with it. Once dry, a little varnish keeps the paint from rubbing off. You only have to do this once, as when the paint runs out, simply transfer the old lid to the…