Geordie's Big Battles: Matrix Games

Showing posts with label Matrix Games. Show all posts

Monday, 10 January 2022

Steel Panthers: World at War - Generals Edition (in Sale) - Nostalgia

Steel Panthers is an old friend of mine from the mid-nineties. Albeit in the modern 3D graphics department it is lacking, certainly in the photorealistic first person shooter sense, but it still has massive appeal for me by being effectively being "Squad Leader with working tank rules". Without the hassle of arguing (with yourself or another player) what you could and could not do in a specific circumstance [and when you really "wanted it" there always seemed to be an exception]! So ... I independently searched for it knowing it was last seen in the hands of Matrixgames to see that it was in a "Winter Sale" (see below, for old times sake I just had to get it):

https://www.matrixgames.com/game/steel-panthers-world-at-war-generals-edition

I have started playing the rule learning scenarios - and the same love/hate game mechanism is there ,, but I can see some mindless hours of fun being spent here :)

Sunday, 3 March 2019

Matrix Game: Thin Ice (PaxSims) Future Wars Game

For those of us who like looking int the dark future of "next wars" might just consider playing this free Matrix game with their friends and enemies:

https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2019/02/19/on-thin-ice-an-arctic-matrix-game/

As more natural resources are "freed up" in the Arctic, the Great Powers get interested!

Additional "background information" Arctic, Spy Communication, Fake News, Man Made Environmental Changes (WWII Bombing Effects), AI, Drone Warfare and Cyber references:

And much, much more could be pulled in - could not find references for robotic/autonomous vehicles but I am sure they are out there!

;)

Friday, 3 August 2018

WW2 German 'very soft' transport

While up in the attic I came across a "plastic mountain" of WW2 figures I had acquired. These seemed to be purchased under the auspicious title of 'other personal infantry transport'. Or: "How to make the German Landser go faster than his two legs". After all it is a long way to Moscow and Tunis (see below, left to right - motorcycle [Italeri], horse [HaT] to bicycle [HaT]):

These were obviously down the priority list to do but I like their eye-candy flavouring, particularly if I am trying to use my toys as higher level markers in Matrix Style (or "operational") games as opposed to 1-for-1 tactical representations (although that is still 'cool' but requires much more painting). I was really pleased with how the HaT plastics took to the "cheap £1 superglue" I used. In addition the riders came with alternate heads which I successfully used. The models above [green ones] are the basic 'out of the box variant' but I found the plastic was amenable to "cutting [like soft butter] and head swapping". The Italeri kit was very nice and fit together well (but as the plastic is much harder it would be a much more difficult [although not impossible] to use for conversions.

Note: I may be moving into an era of customisation of basic figures.

Tuesday, 24 July 2018

CoW 2018: D-Day+1 [Part 2b continued (Fighting my way Inland)]

Spectating on: Mission Command (by Alan Paull). Sauntering back through the passageways from watching the last twenty minutes of the England v Sweden game I came across a WWII (Normandy 1944 late war era) game. British Tankers and PBI advancing against a ad-hoc German defence backed up with a little armour. This had piqued my interest earlier on but I had to make the call on "A Gathering of Vultures" Matrix Game instead. I am an avid collector of WWII - lots of 20mm (Command Decision - Chain of Command), a tasty bit of early war and some late war 1/200-10mm (Skytrex:Pendraken: Spearhead), 1/300, some 15mm (inspired by CrossFire and "What a Tanker") and ahem some 28mm [a scale I said I would never do for WWII - eating my words here!] for an upcoming Chain of Command "Streets of Stalingrad" Campaign. So I hung around to see what mechanisms were at play. I saw them on sale and hung back from purchasing 'yet another' WW2 rules system (something I am kind of regretting now) but seeing the action unfold it seemed to be playing really well on table. An umpire - hidden movement and placement - a middle battle board (the tactical) that the umpire controls as the players roll across a bigger (operational) map. There seemed to be a certain intensity regarding the players which is always the sign of a good game. Hopefully I should get a chance at this one next year! It looked equally good for my 20mm or 1/200-1/300-10mm collections.

Dinner: First class yet again with a lovely pudding to follow (wow)! An d now for something completely different .. Colonials, virgin territory for me!

Playing: The Relief of Knustonpore (Peter Grizell, Ian Drury, Nigel Drury). This was certainly a "big battle" hoards (literally) of 28mm toys on the table and excellent scenery using Muskets and Tomahawks (extended and revised) rules. I turned up just in time to "acquire" my 'mutinous' (as in playing the side of the Indian Mutineers) command, a rag tag bag of no-hopers who were deemed Mercenary [2] (paid to be here), Mob [1] and Irregular [2], plus a clutch of European "woman" I could use as hostages (interesting). I was also, as per my brief, a reluctant (not monocled) mutineer and only here because my father, a village head-man, told me to do it.

My role was to protect the "stormers" (the better quality Indian troops) from the British relief column just entering the table. I duly positioned my troops with the help of a kindly bystander who I co-opted into helping me (apologies as I cannot remember the name [so many to remember and remembering names is not my best skill] but many thanks for helping me out, it was really appreciated). I manned the fixed defences I was told to and safely holes up with "the ladies" in a strong point. Three units faced towards the relief column and two faced the fort. However I did notice nobody had "joined up with me" and I had rather a "hanging left flank", but the other Mutineers seemed happy and the game started. Down the road cane the British, seeing how many there were and there seemed to be no threat of a breakout from the fort I shifted one unit (see below, red robes and white turbans) out of the inner fort watching to the cover of the corn (see below, the unit to watch out for is the Bengal Lancers, top left):

My small portion of the game. The quality and fire discipline of the British Regulars showed and my best troops were soon hunkered down in a "hiding" state (a bad morale roll). The gap to my left seemed to be all part of a cunning trap. As the first unit of British cavalry (from the second British relief column) moved into it there was a sudden counter move of the Indian Mutineers that resulted in both forces eventual mutual destruction. The first crisis point had passed and the relief expedition seemed to be stalled (for the time being). The sound of the attack on the fort seemed to betray an element of confused haphazardness (partly because of the card driven unit activation system), large booming cannon, staccato musketry and cheers as storming ladders were raised. For a closer description of the "storming" please see Trebian's blog post below:

Trebian;s Blog: The storming.

Meanwhile my wargaming nadir approached at the hands of the Bengal Lancers. My colleagues in the mutiny were forced back due to the prestigious efforts of the British Royal Artillery smashing through a column of our best mutineers. Moral failure and a push back revealed my hanging left flank again, this time the Bengal Lancers were into the gap. They swung a hard right and skewered my hunkering of hiding troops in their defences (see below, the empty redoubt is where my troops used to be) and ploughed next into my Red Robed Irregulars hiding in the corn. They had been forestalling the Regular British Infantry advance and an elite unit of Gurkha infantry (gulp). My troops were dutifully routed as the British spent two turns of [enjoyable?] combat where my only weapon left was to barter for my life, exchanging the European hostages and being called a "scandalous [but alive] rogue" (see below, the end of my command):

Having also lost my Green Robed irregulars in an ill-fated approach to the fort - the wall had appeared unmanned, but it wasn't or rather was quickly manned when I least wanted it, the road to the fort was open, but spiralling columns of smoke indicated that is might already be too late as the gates had been forced and the Mutineers were in fierce "hand-to-hand" combat. The Bengal Lancers and the Gurkha infantry but my "speed bump" had denied them relieving the garrison. Note: I did not personally see much of this as my character was literally running for the hills still clutching a governess's parasol umbrella, thinking what he was going to tell my father the headsman.

Conclusion: Having effectively lost 100% of my brave but badly lead mutineer Indians against the British Relief Force, I was left to beg and grovel for my pitiful skin. My survival depended on exchanging the European Ladies being kept hostage (and my few remaining working firearms) for a "I'll look the other way" moment from the officer commanding Bengal Lancers - It worked and I ran like the wind back to "my village" (see below, it was a wargaming "low achievement high" (nadir), that I had 'skilfully' deserved. An excellent game. What happened else where others will have to tell.

Next up: Part two of my Matrix Game education ... I have had the DSTL style now it was a 'retro' or 'pure' Matrix Game which relied less on tokens and counters on a clearly defined map, but more on player ingenuity and creativity. I could not wait!

Playing: Save Gordon (by Bob Cordery), What I thought I had learned and now knew from playing the morning's DSTL Matrix Game was nicely contrasted to the more narrative feel of Save Gordon in the evening. There was a strict historical back flavour to the "Save Gordon" (and I must confess mine historical knowledge was limited to a few faded memories of "the film" - please don't judge me) and an emphasis on more believable role play. The game mechanic premise was the same, intended action and three reasons why it could have happened, counter arguments raised by fellow players and the other side, then a judgement call by the Umpire which may or may not involve dice. All-in-all it was a lot more "free flow" which seemed to match the ebb and flow of history better. I was a British general (Sir Garnet Wolesley) trying to 'Save Gordon' by order of the Queen. Sailing from England I stopped in Gibraltar to pick up some extra Artillery and Infantry, the classic "anything but a 1" meant the local ladies of Gibraltar prolonged my embarkation schedule, but thankfully a "send two and four pence I am going to a dance, now!" from my Sudan placed co-rescuer Sir Evelyn Wood, worked a treat to "kick-start" me to the Sudan, Lower Egypt [huzzah]. Please refer to Bob's blog for extra bits and pieces, including photographs from the game.

Mean while "in historical player character" my brief said I had to acclimatise my European troops and insist on a river borne relief force which meant building specialised ships, while treating Sir Evelyn Wood (the in-situ commander I outranked) with contempt (probably something to do with a family feud or Bridge debt or something). I sent him my Lancers (so he could feed them and they were no use to me on the boats - I may have been wrong there?) and told him to get cracking and "Save Gordon", expecting him to take the desert route and not interfere with my (better?) efforts. Other characters had more challenging moments forgetting that they were not in the 'Twentieth First Century' and in the Nineteenth Century. In particular the Madhist player who was charged with spreading propaganda amongst the local inhabitants against the Foreign Infidel, she asked for the AV [Audio Visual] Team to knock something up; presumably a scribe and stonemason set to work - the distribution channel [pigeon?] was also in hot dispute. All-in-all the British seemed to get off to a faster start with Gordon building defences and local morale while two separate relief columns were dispatched: the "desert" one (to which I [Sir Garnet Wolesley] secretly referred to as the 'decoy') and the scientifically proven steam powered "paddle" mode of transport (to which Sir Evelyn Wood secretly referred to as "the Wolesley folly").

Sir Evelyn Wood's "Desert Column" fought its way through the desert to within sight of Khartoum but faced a huge dilemma. The Mahdist forces were far too strong for an open battle (a clever Mahdist player, the Mahdi himself incited them to have "religious fervour" a +1 DRM in this square) so sought a quick way into the city and via Gordon' improvised ingenious boat-bridge it was achieved .. but at the sore loss of Sir Evelyn Wood and the local Sudanese/Egyptian contingent [controversial as the soak-off was condemned by the Mahdist players as tantamount proof of European disrespect of the worth of locals] of troops (see below, Sir Evelyn Woods "relief force" as they forced an entry of sorts into Khartoum):

The good news was that Khartoum was now too well defended to be 'stormed' by the Madhist forces but it still had to be relieved. All eyes turned to my Nile bound river boat column. The Paddle Steamers having, by monumental feat of military engineering, had forced passage to Berber over the "cataracts" so were just outside Khartoum. We could see the city walls with Gordon and a lot of British Infantry waving from the battlements (see below, note I have hostiles to the front of me and hostiles to the rear! Nothing beats Colonial wargaming does it! I definitely think I may have been bitten by the bug!)

While commanding the river-bound Khartoum relief force, having successfully forced passage of the Nile cataracts (sorry have I already mentioned that, it was pretty impressive engineering though), against a fierce Mahdist skirmishing force all along the banks [must be some medals earned here], I was positioned fortuitously in the province of Berber south of Khartoum poised to "Save Gordon" (which if you remember happened to be the name of the game). Then with almost the last fling of the dice (and in the best tradition of Matrix-Games) an outrageously bold abduction plot was hatched to kidnap me (Wolesley) from the decks my Nile gunboat by Mahdist player "Lady C". Thus it was argued, the expedition would be thrown into chaos, dooming poor General Gordon. The 'project' was delivered with so much descriptive aplomb and creative ingenuity (to the point where the Umpire, a certain Bob Cordery from Wargames Miscellany, was seen therapeutically banging an empty plastic water-bottle off the top of his head repeatedly to help him make sense of the matter - I have to admit that was a wargaming first for me) was convinced that it 'might just work'. Knowing my wargaming fate was now in the hands of Lady Luck (if I lost this I might as well chose 'crochet as a hobby' - they too have weekend events at Knuston Hall) - Lady C was asked to throw "two sixes" (Christ that seemed all to achievable to my smind at this time of night [teh bewitching hour]!). The resulting slow motion tumble of the dice remains poised crazily forever in my mind's eye, but only(!) one six was thrown (too close a call for my liking) and my 'nadir' was turned to 'triumph', but complete and total respect for the "move of the game" Lady C - just glad it didn't work.

Another startling success of a CoW game (so much so I am thinking of what Colonial figures I should start collecting). In fact I would not object to another Matrix Game at CoW 2019 that focused more on the tactical breakthrough of "paddle force" to Khartoum as I think the game was nicely balanced at a "make or break" point IMHO, if that is Bob was up for it.

Time to retire for the night or not as I flowed into my second unexpected Wargaming Chat#2 with a chap called Graham (I think). We had shared the Cyber Security (Red Team/Blue Team) game and played on opposite sides at Knuestonpore, but were on the same side in Save Gordon (in fact he was 'Gordon'). Bob said he got to bed after 1pm because the conversation was so interesting, myself was after 2pm as the conversation strayed in the realms of WW2 ANZAC cruisers and German Raiders. The staff at Knuston Hall are saints for putting up with us lot.

Next: Day Three (Alcohol Free Gaming - but there is still a Full English Breakfast and cake!)

Sunday, 22 July 2018

CoW D-Day+1 [Part 2a - Saturday (up to dinner): Fighting my way off the beaches]

Saturday (morning, very early): I awoke with the birds, lots of them, that is of the feathered kind [they are always a noisy bunch when you are out camping]. The next experience with nature happened when I opened the tent flap and scattered a warren of rabbits that were seemingly taking unusual intense interest in my pitched tent strings. Thankfully the sun was up and it was such a beautiful day (no I didn't start singing [thankfuly]). However I found that I was not the earliest of the risers, as I approached the Hall I heard a "wargaming conversation" was already in progress between two old WD CoW die-hards sitting on the seats at the front of the hall (I think they had been to sleep). Meanwhile I showered, bimbled about [the 'bring and buy' is always a draw] and then followed the orderly queue into breakfast, a full-English is the best of starts to the day [again the food was simply first class, and none of the cereal stuff for me today].

Knuston Hall again (my tent was around the back on their vast 'sloping' lawns, though I did find a flat bit next to a picnic table to pitch up in):

Gametime: Now the first game intrigued me from a purely professional basis [I am in IT, please don't judge, I have to earn a living somehow] so the Red Team/Blue Team was a "must" and had been an early 'banker' on The Wall. Anybody who has been told to read a fifty page IT security document would really want to know if you could translate the process into a practical "active learning" exercise instead, even if for the sake of the amount of trees that had to be cut down to make the paper if nought else.

Playing: "Red Team/Blue Team" (by Mike Elliott). Mike controversially split the IT boys (and there were a few of us here) into one big baddie 'Red Hatter' Team ('V for Vendetta' Hackers). We were asked to play our natural opposites, to actively "hack" and "sin" which is always a good learning experience. Churlishly we met each others eyes and started grinning in naughty school boy fashion. We would get told off for doing this at work. Mike walked away knowingly - he had went through the exact same experience when he played it himself .. he knew we were going to have "fun" (and boy we did). The 'others' (Muggles?) had to protect a water treatment company from any invasive 'hacking' that stopped them functioning or caused distress. I guess they were told to 'be yourself' and go about your normal duties. The game was very realistic IMHO as we had what I call a 'man on the inside' (even though he didn't know it himself), the Finance Director (FD) who didn't want to spend any money on Cyber Security! After the Red Team had gotten over a "storming" phase of name dropping a multitude anecdotes of real-life cyber security "things" (the likes of Stuxnet and "Dancing Pigs") that we all had seen or heard happen, we did a clever thing and actually focused on the game. Our budget was 'our time spent' on what we wanted to do (we had 'three actions' to initiate per turn). The difficulty of these 'actions' progressed from 'Green' (easy, no prerequisites), 'Purple' (slightly harder needing a prerequisite Green action in play to achieve) and the deadly 'Black' (hard, which needs an appropriate 'Purple' action in play first, maybe even 'two' for the real nasty ones). We [Red Team] were hooked. Mike had put on a superb asymmetrical game - it was like watching the history of Vietnam play itself out - two different wars being fought. The 'Company' didn't see things until it was too or almost late and when they stopped one avenue of attack the focus simply shifted to another. One unsavoury finding was that the public perception of compromise was probably deadlier than physical destruction and knowledge (data) loss - you didn't have to do the crime to get the benefits of the crime. The plant was pumping clean water but Social Media was aflame with hacker activist scandal ["we managed to do this" - lists of passwords etc] and defamatory "Fake news" [cholera in the water] and slurs about the companies activities [CEO, MD, FD doing naughty things with company assets - all distractions from the data we were actually sucking out of the company]. In the end we were in through numerous 'open gates' but could also could in theory away to 'similar target' (another company) if the heat turned up too much. In fact we were given several 'blank cards' to devise new 'threat vectors' and ways of attack. That was fun! An unnamed academic (and there was a few of them about in the Red Team) at this point was spinning in a "I want to be able to break something physical" cycle for one last throw of the dice (too many Stuxnet seminars and case studies methinks). It had to be said that we fell short of that objective. Both sides were to be congratulated at the end of the game but I have to say that I felt somewhat 'professionally dirty' in how much fun I had at being 'bad', in doing so much 'pretend' damage 'just for the hell of it'. People will hack because they can. You can blame it on the tight-fisted FDs at the end of the day for simply making it all too easy IMHO.

Bob's Blog caught the game debrief on camera (but for the record I claim to be the 'one true hacker' as I am the only one positioned out of camera shot and so my identity is not revealed):
Read Team/Blue Team Participants - apart from me

End Note: Mike passed on these interesting resources (links) as the game was an extension of an existing Cyber Security game from the University of Lancaster (NOte: We did it without the Lego playing pieces):

https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/cyber-security-decisions/

http://www.decisions-disruptions.org/

Playing: "To Sail The Spanish Maine" (by Sue Laflin-Barker). This was a pleasurable CoW find of a game. One I can take home to the kids [the ship counters used in the game come from "The Battle for Britain - Wargame the Spanish Armada 1588 Peter Dennis" paper cut-out game - which I already have]. I also had the pleasure of meeting one-half of the Barkers and Sue was a delight as an umpire. A fleet (three players, twelve ships, four per player) of merchant ships make their way across the table (or rather Mediterranean) to seek cover of their home port after a long season of trading spices and exotic good for Spanish gold. A (bigger) dastardly Pirate fleet (four players, sixteen ships and again four players per ship) had other ideas, "booty be thar' me lubbers!" (See below, as the game unfolded the "fleets" intermingled and gunshot and cannonade was all heard in the 'minds eye [or should that be ear]"):

Thankfully tides and winds were factored into the game ingeniously, so it was no Napoleonic naval sailing course required before you could play (which is my pet hate of Napoleonic naval). All players had an arc of about 120 degrees in which they (randomly) could travel (1d6) and another (1d6) inches they would go. You could make tight turns but did not know exact;y where you were goinmg to end up. Bumping into somebody from your "own players fleet" (or rock) would mean "death" to you or the other. Line of battle formations it would not be, rather an unseemly scramble for safety. Combat was equally simple as a 1d6 roll higher wins sufficed. (See below, even if two ships "bumped" they fought):

With only one winner (see below):

It seemed we were 'tough' Merchants and they were 'poor' Pirates (just more of them). It also became apparent that the Merchants were up against a Pirate clan, as three out of four of the pirates were closely related (father, daughter) or married into (son-in-law) "the family". This was going to be interesting, either a slick oiled killing machine or internecine bloodshed? On the question of 'Tactics'? Everybody plotted a safe course, only to be confronted with other (friendly) players ships and dangerous reefs. The Merchants all laughed as a pirate ran aground and sank on a reef, but then cried as we "blue-on-blued" one of our own (time to call 'ship-insurance-claims are us!'). The Pirate patriarch reciprocated as he took out one of his son-in-laws (or possibly the 'unrelated' pirate's) ships. By the time the two fleets met four ships had been sunk by "geography" or "friendly bow-to-bow" action. All semblance of coordination had gone from the Merchants and it was "every man for himself". The Pirates were just "Out for booty!" Even stealing off other pirates if need be. By fortunate placement my ships were furthest away from the Pirates, so by fair winds and luck I managed to split the Pirate blockade-line and gain sanctuary of the harbour for the good ship "Henifer"(See below, a blurry picture due to the worsening sea-state, but the top smudge of 'blue' is the "Henifer" running safely to port betwixt and between angry [in the theatrical sense of the word] enemy pirates but under the safety of the harbour's land guns):

I had by the same fate lost my straggler, the little ship "Emma" and her treasure went to the 'Pirate Queen' who had ran a succession of successful boarding actions. The "Emma's" captain had a brave plan to take the action to the pirates, but fell in battle and handed the Pirates more gold. The "Henifer's"cargo of gold was safely delivered to the port and was counted as nine chests but the Pirates had plundered more than fourteen, with many more valuable merchant ships driven way from port, to be picked off another day or battered by hostile stormy seas. So the Pirates claimed the Seas. I did mention the prospect of a trade agreement to the Pirates at the end of the game, to which the now firmly established Pirate Queen said "Yes, we'll just take what you got! Like it or leave it!" which seemed to conclude matters nicely in time for lunch. Farming seems a much better career prospect in hindsight ;)

Lunch: simply first class (and three courses), by this point I know I am going to be gaining weight this weekend, but I don't care and the deserts were to die for. I did have qualms and a moral dilemma regarding the England v Sweden Quarter Final (betraying the national trust we were putting on the lads, but there seemed to be only three people who cared) but also I had nabbed a spot at the exclusive Tom Mouat DSTL Matrix Game "Reckoning of Vultures" which I simply felt I could not pass up - at exactly the same time as the game ... I went to the Matrix Game, I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do and the Swedish strikers had been pretty poor.

Playing: A Reckoning of Vultures (by Tom Mouat). Immediately upon entering "the room" I knew that I was in amongst hardened semi-professional players by the poker-faced demeanour and sparkling intensity of the eyes with everybody unconscious smiling in anticipation. Tom's light-hearted ambience was contrasted the seriousness implied by the setting-up a video camera to capture for posterity all the proceedings (I hope subtitles will be added to aid the understanding of my northern guttural accent!). Hmm, my playing field had suddenly been elevated from the Pirate-Merchant "fun" game. The unpacked "DSTL authorised" Matrix Game Kit had lots of bits ([and I mean lots] I could almost hear Rex Brynen's PaxSims voice speaking as the box was opened). We all stared at the rather daunting number of counters. Tom muttered to himself while reading the scenario description from what reminded me of the beloved Command Magazine zip-lock game instruction booklet. Next our roles were chosen at random (though Tom offered freely to let people have their psychological "preferences": Secret Police, Normal Police, Head of Armed Forces, Oligarch and last of all the Union [Toiler] representative - which is a good 'role playing' tip but no one stood up to be type cast). I was assigned "The Toilers" - and by my brief it was made clear to me that everybody thought I was the lowest of the low (fine - I am the newbie after all). Everybody not so much hated The Toilers (aka workers), but as is in this regime rather expected to be able to boss me around. The affront on these people wanting rights and an opinion on matters. Ho hum, I would be "idealistically" pure to the impoverished underclass as everybody else raced for money and power, then possibly sneak a win in through the back door.

At this point I made an "informal" player friend as the Head of the Secret Police informed me that his wife would be texting "goals" in the England v Sweden match with a wink (he cannot be all that bad after all, despite the uniform) . At least I had inner peace that I was not totally deserting my country in its hour of need. This game was a Matrix Games (DSTL style) and my first 'raw' in the flesh active (you suffer the consequences of your mistakes) Matrix Game. I had high expectations of Tom and he did not let me down, as what I got was a 'tour de force' of Matrix Game umpiring, seeing a master of his craft at play was enlightening. At first we (the players) jockeyed for power around the ailing dictator (whose health started at 10 and took a 1d6 "dive" per turn, until he flat-lines at zero) showing concern at the terminal signs of departure. The players were given tokens that represented their levers of power. A token was assumed to have "relative equality" those each with intrinsic properties [aka a "Tank" would expect to have strong fighting prowess in an 'open' fight]. You could also undermine other player's tokens by placing your influence tokens on them (a word in their ear, or cash in their back pocket so to speak). Something rather 'sneaky' that all the players liked, even if they would not openly admit it. You could see the players early on try to establish their power base without overt confrontation. The "map" had iconic representations of "power (VP) centres" that could change hands, many times, during the course of play. Trebian has two excellent photograph of the "Chief Toilers" (me) toiling over where to place them to make a mark on the map (the "Toilers" deployed last and their power-base was naturally away from the centre of political power and influence [the political "Ministries" and the like]). Note: In the game the Secret Policeman referred to me as "Mr Hopper" - I was obviously on "his list" of undesirables to get rid of.

The Photo-shoot: Please see Trebian's site for the pictures of the game in progress (click below to see the "Toiler" (me) placing me initial tokens to the 'folded armed disgust' of the Police Chief and the look of alarm on the Head of the Armed Force's face, the Secret Police Chief (Secret Policeman) is naturally out of picture and the Oligarch is taking the picture with a high spec jewel encrusted camera. Tom is to the far left knowing all will not end well [he's after all read the scenario brief in full] despite the players high-hopes, [Note: Only two 'player characters' will walk away from this one and there are five in the room]:
http://wargaming4grownups.blogspot.com/search/label/Conference%20of%20Wargamers

A better shot of the "Chief Toiler's" cranial dome, the Oligarch cheekily said he had to turn the flash setting off on this one for fear of "glare" (see below):
http://wargaming4grownups.blogspot.com/search/label/Conference%20of%20Wargamers

Back to the game: As stated the power play was 'subtle' (non overt) at first as players tried to consolidate their position quietly and clear out the "bad influences" of other players on their home patch. The Secret Policeman and the Oligarch obviously shared no love for each other and the "kit" of the Head of the Armed Forces had to be respected. The sequence of play went as follows: the active player stated the action/outcome they wished to achieve because of the "rule of three" (antecedent conditions) reasons why it "could" happen. Tom (as umpire) was arbitrator of this reason as the opponents raised objections to the validity of reasoning (ranging from the logical to far-fetched, including some whimsical arguments along the way with a DRM of +3 to -3). Assuming a normal distribution of likelihoods (unless it was a done deal) dice were thrown, following the two standard deviations rule, an unlikely event had to throw high, but even simple task could fail on a low outlier dice roll. Normally (or when possible) you 'stacked' the outcome by throwing in an asset like cash.

The pedestrian manner was abruptly broken by the Secret Policeman successfully poisoning the Head of the Armed Forces [Ugh? - Cheeky!] and "getting away with it" (very risky as this very overt action took place under the very nose of the ailing "Leader for Life"who liked smart uniforms, shiny medals and tanks). To the Secret Policeman's horror "another" Head of the Armed Forces" [this time the Air Force] took his place - he was hoping to remove the player, no such luck he had just rather annoyed him instead! "No holds barred play soon took over from this point" especially as the ailing Dictator "croaked" on the next turn. The "Toilers" meanwhile let the armed psychopaths "knife fight it in a telephone box" and appealed to God. Well actually we gave the Bishop money to buy influence (Napoleon said always treat the Pope as if he has 100,000 men and given the likely outcomes of this game my player character may need a good word in the afterlife). This stunned the gun totting gamers (does not compute), including Tom. It worked and I now had a direct line to the Matrixian Pope (which could earn an end of game VP according to my brief), the same line (without the money) subsequently worked for the Matrixian Muslim Cleric - will all this faith stuff stop the bullets though? Meanwhile there were tanks on bridges, gunfights in the Central Bank and circulation of corrupted Police away from sensitive areas (the Oligarch's money was a bane to the Chief of Police). The game ticker was also winding down as politicians from other parts of Matrixia headed to the capitol to decide the "Leader for Life" succession. The Head of the Armed forces was alarmed by my quiet seizure [I asked the Oligach's thugs guarding the refinery to go home and they did] of the important Oil Refinery (as well as the docks, road transport and power plant ["Workers of the World unite, our God(s) are with us!"]).

Enter the Head of the Armed Forces elite "Matrixian Marines (wearing nice berets) transported on the Matrixian Navy's (one) landing craft to conduct a text book amphibious landing - 'text book' because it was not opposed. The workers looked on, saw the guns and then went home (again to my delight the "soldiers" did not see that simple response coming - workers don't work under duress). Congratulations Mon General you now own one non-functioning, potentially very dangerous (aka read "ticking time bomb"), complex oil refinery with lots of flashing red lights and buzzers going off. To distract the General from this dilemma the Oligarch's elite ex-Spetnaz bully boys (although I likened them more to "night-club bouncers" in sun-glasses) attacked and were unceremoniously repulsed (see, I thought the Oligarch's boys were big sissies in sun-glasses wearing ill-fitting suits). It came to my turn and I played my blinder move [a I'm happy I can go home now move]. I had disposed of my tangible assets with donations to the church but turned to Tom and said "I am going to raise my reserve mob forces [something even Tom had forgotten about - he had to double check my brief], fuelled by anger at the disrespectful actions of the Army [sic Marines] and funded by the Oligarch [to which Trebian went "Eh, OK but only if you attack this turn" damn him, that was rather astute otherwise I would have the biggest private army on the board for next turn] and attack the Marines in the refinery." Even the Secret Policeman and Chief of Police were on my side. "The Battle of the Pipes and Oil Drums" was very short, the tactic of making a lot of noise by clanging pots and pans together and firing shots in air caused the Marines to run away [we've all seen Aliens II - no firing 'hot' ammunition in a refinery full of explosive gases, I can understand it from their perspective]. They even left their pretty "berets" behind in their rush to get away. I was at the height of my success then reports of cavalcades of black limousines full of regional politicians entering the capitol came in. The succession vote counting had already started, damn! [Was this hubris?] This was a turn or two, too early for me, as I had planned a popular uprising at the University and a Demonstration into Parliament on the following two turns as I planned to mobilise the last of my reserve. I had planned to sweep the streets with anarchy, I even had the pamphlets printed. Instead we all had a VP tot up and one of those awful 2D6 dice rolls to make .. unfortunately I rolled low and was eliminated. I held my head up high even when the Head of the Armed Force's (#1) and Oligarch's (#2 [his money saved him]) Death Squads came looking for the Secret Policeman, the Police Chief and the Toiler Chief that night. Another despot Leader for Life assumed power this time wearing an Air Force uniform plus peacock feathered hat.

Conclusion: It was a most satisfying game (I believe several resistance songs have already been written about "The Battle of the Pipes and Drums"), even though my player character was dumped unceremoniously from the dock-side into river in the dead of night, along with the Secret Policeman and the Chief of Police. It was a really, really good game and I felt I experienced a lot. In short a well run matrix game is definitely a strong educational tool as well as being fun. Matrix Games also link strongly to Confrontational Analysis and looking back to the Red Team/Blue Team game, some of its mechanics (a chain of Green, Purple and Black actions) could easily be transported into the Matrix Game framework if you are looking for a more formalised game definition (which I think DSTL are). England 2, Sweden 0: even better no need for penalties, bring on Croatia [Oh!].

Dinner beckoned ... to be continued.