Phil Sabin's Combined Arms Game - Boardgame Geek AAR Run Through

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3325686/combined-arms-on-a-big-table

This game is a development, or next thoughts from his Fire and Movement game in his Simulating War Book. The rules are FREE and available through the link above. Shame on me I have yet to play this.

Looking back at Connections UK 2019 Sabin - Punic War

While on the subject of things dating back to 2019, I found a couple of photos from the first day of Connections UK 2019 which as I remember was was packed full of "other" games. I took full advantage of this and joined a morning gaming session of Phil Sabin's multi-player Second Punic War game (I had read it from the book [Simulating War] but had never assembled a critical mass of interested people to actually get down to play it). Wargaming the strategic level of the Punic War board/wargame was a first for me, I only partially knew the background (Cannae to Zama), so I was not going to pass up a session with the author of the game. It was memorable. In the first run through, playing as the Leader of  Carthage I was beautifully stitched up by the Numidians and lost to Rome (even before the arrival of Scipio Africanus) .. so ho hum (see below, the state of the Cyber game board says it all, lots of Romans in North Africa - it did beautifully show the dynamic behaviour of the campaign and shows how a game can help unravel historical elements hidden by the text book - the importance of alliances and keeping  allies in check in particular - one of those Carthage "C"s in Africa [the Numidian] turns to a "R" [infamy] and the fat lady sings for Carthage):

The second run-through (where I played as Rome, but as a junior general) had a strange fratricidal "re-cock" [nothing I hasten to add to do with me] as internal Roman politics proved to be more dangerous than the Armies of Carthage - leading to a stupendous case of petulant "bad play" that let Carthage have an easy victory. After a 'group discussion' a decision to re-cock was made and the Romans got their act together so Carthage fell again (see below, "R" for Roman and "C" for Carthage - Africa has fallen to Rome, end-game for Carthage): 

Individual player scores are kept (so you can be the winner of the winning team and/or loser of the losing team), but this part of the game seems to be more of avoiding a "race to the bottom" - no good seems to come from going to war when you lose (see below, presumably the Roman winners will now celebrate in the traditional Roman way by plotting against each other in internal Senate politics, probably with as equally fatal consequences): 

The other point to note is the really effective way the game was presented by using" minimal computer power". Professor Sabin used a simple Cyberboard display (akin to a PowerPoint or Google Docs electronic document) with the Mediterranean game board & counters. He acted as control by moving the simple tokens about the board as directed by the players. All-in-all it was an obvious evolution of his "chalk and talk" KCL seminar sessions associated with his MA courses. The Cyberboard way of hosting will doubtless have saved him a fair bit of chalk by not having to continuously redraw the map of the Mediterranean. 

Connections UK 2019 Fire-Move Game 2

The afternoon/early evening Connections UK 2019 game was played with one defender and three attackers. The attackers being a mixture of old wargaming Grognards (from Wargames Developments) and a newbie DSTL wargamer C-in-C, with the defender being a newly civilianised DSTL military man who clearly knew his way around wargames. You may have guessed that with his astute interlocking defence [without clumping two units adjacent to each other] and good deployment in rather problematic terrain set-up for the defender (see below, the defender it always made to think hard about whether to occupy exposed hills [with the disadvantage of potentially defending too far forward] or sit back in the "lee" [defending on the baseline] risking being overrun, it is always a compromise of sorts. Another sensible choice was a simplicity of choice in that the two German infantry companies defended separate areas of the board and were not "layered" in a confusing manner [that did not help the defender in the first game Connections UK 2019 game]):  

The British came in "across the board", using three out of four companies represented from the get go, plus sticking the Vickers HMG platoon in the first turn [the middle seemed to be a safe bet]. Of note is the use of the cover afforded by the wood on the second row in. The Green company commander was able to place his full company in its "protective lee" outside of German LOS. However, the notion of an overall "plan" seemed to be missing for this set-up, but all players "were on the board," great for playability but the consequences could be somewhat fatal for the troops involved (see below, the question the British player should ask is where do I use my support assets - the Vickers HMG and 3" mortar - to best effect? It looks like they will continuously be "haggled" over, too many cooks perhaps will spoil this broth): 

Turn 2: The British Grognards see Blue company advance unsupported by the Vickers HMG because of LOS problems and the mortar was "haggled over" and taken to the other end of the table, to what purpose I am still not exactly sure. The Blue attack looks promising as there is a local British superiority of 3:1 and the potential of an additional 3" mortar support on later rounds that means there is a very good chance of suppressing the defender and getting a close assault in (see below, Red company at the top of table has a covered approach [it will take some long range fire initially], then there is an awful "show yourself over the top" moment at the end): 

Turn 3: The British make a big push or rather two big pushes at two separate ends of the table. The British re-sight their mortar (taking precious time and still leaving Blue company unsupported in its continued attack) and provide the German Purple Company some  "target practice" on Green company's platoon as it enters the woods. Blue company has moved a platoon to a close assault position but has rather rashly has opened itself up to more defensive fire than is healthy for the British assaulting troops liking! All depends on Lady Luck and the dice (see below, Blue company has missed a classic fire-fire-move tactic, with a 50% and 33.3% chance of suppressing the defender - one thing the British have forgotten about LOS is that you don't block LOS if you are in the same friendly hex firing, they have swung their assaulting platoon too far left and got into trouble): 

Turn 4: There is a withering hail of German defensive fire with seven "fire for effects" being rolled for. The German defending platoon in peril of being close assaulted is opting to fire for a single hit on two British platoons to make them both "spent" and inactive until their rally phase rather than hurting one with three hits. As it stands with accumulated casualties the British player is very near to withdrawing one for platoon with KIAs and also one platoon for ammunition expenditure (see below, the dice rolls will be "make or break" for the southern British attack):  

To the horror of the British players, Blue Company evaporates under withering fire and logistic depletion (loosing two platoons, but the Germans gaining only 1 VP  for the KIA platoon). The reserve Yellow company is now thrown on - in the middle of the battlefield, which is literally the teeth of the German defence presenting themselves as bunches targets (a German platoon firing can hit two adjacent hexes, remember also the Germans do not have to worry about ammunition depletion and the only way you can cause hits on an entrenched German platoon is to close assault them). This looks an increasingly hard task for the British players to pull off and now depends on the main attack in the North going well for them - but again it is into well sited German entrenched platoons (see below, the surviving Blue platoon it providing distant covering fire for the Yellow company, which really should have been following like avenging demons in the tracks of their brave Blue infantry compatriots [route one down the middle is "not open"]): 

The British again have to pay the butcher's bill from the German defensive fire and again, because they fired so many units - the ammunition depletion rule hurts them. Blue company is no more (ammunition depletion) and both Yellow and Green company have removed KIA platoons. What also does not seem to help the British is the fact that the supporting mortar and Vickers HMG seem to be supporting in the wrong places (see below, the British are now looking very thin on the ground thanks to some costly human wave tactics against entrenched Germans): 

The German defensive fire has left the Northern attack "pinned under the guns" and they are likely to be stuck there for some time. The British Green company loses another assaulting British infantry platoon and the attrition is going to be only one way from point in (see below, the battle is called at this point, the British will not be able to destroy a single German platoon, let alone get to the baseline [therefore zero VPs, whereas the German player has at least 4VP]): 

The British have attacked in what amounted to piecemeal "Human Waves" (I don't think alternative "all-in-charge" would have done any better though) and have been comprehensively beaten. I believe in the South they did have an "in" [an isolated German platoon] with Blue company but mismanaged it, but could have reworked it with Yellow following it up, In the North there was a terrain problem to work out, domination of the ridgeline which would have been a protracted firefight (with correct positioning of "supports" - keeping a company off table would have pinned the German platoons "in position" in the middle as the flanks were attacked. This one was a hard nut to crack, in fact a win in VP terms needed very patient play (see below, the Grognards did use it very much as a "learning the rules2 experience and game away thinking how they would do it next time, after many games the nuisances of the rules only come out after several play-throughs): 

The laurels for this play-test definitely lay with the defender, but with terrain generated randomly it means that any two games are highly unlikely to ever play the same. 

Connections UK 2019 Fire-Move Game 1

The Connections UK 2019 Conference allowed me the opportunity to run two games of Fire Move, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning game had one defender and two attacking players, all of which had never played the game before. Interestingly this meant that a few new wrinkles came to light as the players discovered important aspects of the rules, which as we all know is an invaluable and the critical part of playing the game in the first place (see below, we are several turns into the game - the German player has elected to keep a platoon in reserve off table [a sound tactic], but he has "stacked heavy" [concentrated] in the centre in order to try and dominate the centre and the German right flank. However the terrain to the German also left disrupts "his line of sight" which has isolated his far left platoon. In the centre a single British platoon firing can hit two German platoons simultaneously, so note the positioning of the Vickers HMG platoon allows the British a good chance to suppress two German platoons each turn):  

The problem on the German left is an awkward hill that lies three rows in from the British side, which means the German cannot set up on it. Three waves of British infantry are now in the process of assaulting the German left flank [8:3 in the British favour ], so the German player hastily calls forth his platoon out of reserve and ponders the use of his valuable mortar ammunition (see below, the yellow "sun" marker is the landing point for the British 3" mortar, note also the British players have pounced on this avenue of attack, to the almost the point of ignoring attacking the German right flank. remember the black cocktail sticks denote movement - the blue coffee stirrer denotes firing): 

The British player starts to crowd and concentrate multiple platoons into single hexes [a potentially dangerous tactic if in clear LOS to an enemy "fresh/active" platoon or if the German player can conduct a mortar attack on the hex in question - however it could pay off in close assault and allows a better chance of supporting fire by clearing LOS hexes]. The key thing here is to suppress the Germans in the British "fire phase" so they cannot return fire in their "fire turn" - it is all a balance of risk and probabilities (see below, suppression and poor LOS are very frustrating to the German player):  

The British "Yellow Company" conducts a classic and very successful close combat that destroys a German platoon, note "close assault" being the only way in the rules an entrenched infantry platoon can take damage (all other hits simply supress and is a design feature of the rules). The platoon in question takes six hits and is removed from play - excess hits would not carry over to other platoon, they are simply lost (see below, the risk in this case payed off with handsome rewards - the barn door is now swinging open, the deployed reserve platoon is looking very vulnerable in the "open"): 

The Fire/Move battlefield looks very good from a British point of view, fifty percent of the German forces are effectively "out of play" because they cannot interfere with the streams of British infantry flanking to their left threatening to roll up the German baseline. The Vickers HMG is causing extra pain by consistently pinning them in place to stop the German platoons reinforcing the German left (see below, the British have performed a very good attack exploiting the weaknesses of the German set-up): 

Despite the outstanding success the British players were hit by the "cunningly clever" logistics rule of Fire-Move, again a purposely designed subsystem in the game which means that after a certain amount of firing [set IIRC at eight or nine fires - note this is a factor that can be calibrated as a game parameter] the British have a "depleted ammunition platoon removal". No victory points awarded to the Germans but there is one less manoeuvre element for the British Battalion Commander to use (see below, if you look closely there are now only two not three "yellow company" British infantry platoons - and note to fulfil this logistics requirement you have to take a platoon off that has been actively firing that turn [cheesy play is always possible - which platoon you take, but the temperament of the players is arbitrated by the umpire's oversight (or overrule - aka final word) to be "simulation" and not "competition" play (aka avoid unrealism's)]): 

 

The German reserve platoon (in the open) was mercilessly gunned down. The Germans had suffered 50% casualties and could not stop the British advance. The game was called as a comprehensive British victory, well played to the two young players from DSTL who had not played a wargame before! The German player took away some valuable lessons learned. 

Connections 2019 Fire/Move Components

In hindsight perhaps I should have showed this post first as this was in preparation for the 2019 Connection UK Fire-Move games. I decided to take the same terrain as I did for Connections UK 2016 when I first did Fire-Move, but upgrade the infantry models from Skytrex Action 200 to Pendrakon 10mm figures (see below, the basic British OoB for the game [as per the book], comprising of an infantry battalion, four companies [red, yellow, green, blue] of three infantry platoons, plus a Vickers HMG support platoon [white] and a 3" mortar platoon [top right hand corner, off-table left with basic flocking]): 

The similarity to a Spearhead or Command Decision order of battle (OoB) is somewhat striking (and reassuring) - so I now can field a British infantry battalion for those rulesets too, which is a bonus. These are also the playing pieces that can appear on table top - note the Vickers HMG can support all the other companies with direct fire, but once placed on the baseline cannot move other than to retire out of the game for good. The other thing to remember about the Vickers is a -1 DRM applies when danger close, as in a friendly unit is adjacent to an enemy unit it is firing at. The distinct colour banding is also to act as a aide memoir to help supporting direct fire and close assault respect the "same" company restriction (see below, I have also colour coded fire and assault markers [painted cocktail stick and coffee stirrers] for the combat phase, so a simple "same colour" visual check can be applied): 

The Germans can in theory operate in two modes, the common static defence position, as shown below with a colour coded company (as per the British because the same fire restrictions apply to the Germans)  and a crude "barbed wire" representation to their front (X-X-X). This slip of paper could be detached or folded under the figure base if it was moved in the course of the game (see below, a simple system that worked well in practice, although it is noted that the Germans hardly ever elected to move .. note in the London Exiles game, the only German movement was to move [retreat] off table): 

With that the game components were complete ready to "meet the players". Going back to reference the Spearhead and Command Decision rulesets again, in Fire-Move there is no reference to a Battalion Command Stand, so there is no limitation to the number of orders that could be given in a turn, either in the number of or distance from the battalion. Command Decision drops a level further down to Company Command Infantry stands [Nationalities like the Americans and German can actually elect to have a separate Company Command Stand]. One last difference is the provision of the Battalion Carrier Platoon, often used in a fighting Reece function or a very valuable Admin helper moving munitions and stores around, even evacuating casualties. That element is ignored for Fire-Move and assumed to be on "other duties".

Phil Sabin's Wargame Website

 https://sites.google.com/view/sabinwargames/home

Lots of Good stuff there! Old favourites like Lost Battles, Simulating War (Fire and Movement), his air war stuff and newer games he has been working on!

Board Game Geek (BBG) discussion on Phil's "Horse and Musket" rules

Take That Hill - A Simple WW2 Wargame

Looking through old conference material from Connections UK I came across this little gem of a game from the Phil Sabin stable called "Take That Hill". A chronological forerunner to his later Fire and Movement game in his Simulating War book (often called Fire-Move in abbreviation by me) it captures the dilemmas a Modern British Army section attack on an entrenched position on a hill has, whether to emphasise the Fire and suppress element of the doctrine or the Move element of the doctrine. Thus the choice between Fire and Move is done on a turn by turn basis dependant on context. There are three phases: Move Fire and then Rally. A unit moves from "fresh" to "spent" after using a Fire or Move action, returning to "fresh" if it "Rallies". The chance of rallying is dependant on the distance from the commander [not a separate counter but a counter assigned to a unit] and an un-rallied "spent" unit cannot do anything. The defender is assumed to stay put and pour fire down on the advancing troops (in a two hex fire spread) if left un-suppressed (aka "fresh"). There are no indirect fire missions available as it a job for the PBI (see below, the initial set-up, three British ("blue") Sections concealed in the woods, with a "red" defender on the hilltop, but what strategy should the attacker adopt? "Blue" goes first!):

Victory Point Trackers, or rather "How to win the game". Of mild interest is "how fast" (as in the number of turns the hill can be taken), but more importantly is how many casualties are inflicted on "Blue" by "Red" in the process. The 'Hill' will always be taken as no "Blue" forces are ever removed. If Blue takes nine or less hits then Blue has won. Between ten and fourteen the battle is considered a 'bloody draw', but casualties of fifteen and over are considered "Phyric" and "Red" wins (see below, a game in progress with the advancing Brits suppressed [but about to rally] in their attempt to "Take the Hill" needing a good dose of "rallying" [anything but a one as the troops are adjacent to their leader]):

End game, the Blue team are about to assault the Red trenches with guts, grenades and cold steel. The final close combat is considered an automatic win for Blue (See below, note the white counter denotes the position of the Blue Commander, in this case on the rearmost Blue unit, he has successfully suppressed the defender with withering fire from two sections so that the third can go in):

Movement: The only thing you really now need to know is that movement is limited to "one hex" forward, backwards or side ways [the Red player not being able to move] and stacking was allowed up to three units (handy as that was the maximum number of units Blue had. Note: The Commander "stacks" for free and was deemed 'indestructible'.

Firing: The "to hit" on a d6 is the range to the target plus one. That means being adjacent to the target is "anything but a one" (those dreaded wargame words) and the maximum shooting distance is five hexes away needing six, aka the Blue tree to the hill defence. Note: When we played the Red player was not allowed to shoot anything in the woods.

Casualties: all units in the hex(es) [up to two adjacent hexes remember] were possible casualties and rolled for separately. When we played we counted a hit on the Blue Commander as counting to the VP tracker. Therefore the worse roll could be all three units and Commander were hit causing four casualties.

Rallying: Units stacked with the Commander "auto-rally", other must make a rally roll akin to the Firing rule. Adjacent units rally on anything but a one, then an increasing chance of failure for every additional hex away. (Keep It Simple [KIS])!

Although it didn't matter in the context of game VPs we liked counting the number of hits on Red too and the number of turns it took to "take the hill"! Last "notes" the Blue Commander could not "move on his own" but had to be attached to a unit, but he could slip between adjacent units (technically potentially moving two hexes in one go - this may have been a bit of a "house rule" we made up).

Despite its simplicity the game is eminently playable and places emphasis on the development of a strategy as opposed to "winging it turn by turn". It is frustratingly good at making you want to tease out a "perfect assault" [zero Blue casualties] which remains depressingly illusive.

Please see these links for the original game details:
http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/TakeThatHill-Sabin.pdf

A colour Map version with embedded rules (recommended):
http://professionalwargaming.co.uk/TakeThatHill(RMASVersion).pdf

Please also see the "Introduction to Wargaming" material at:
http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/ITW.html

10mm Late WW2 British Infantry .. Shades and Highlights (4) Labelling and Game Aids

The final bit of the figure basing puzzle is how to label the bases clearly as to "what" a counter is in respect to the Order of Battle. The cunning 10mm gap at the rear of the bases was left so a clear label could be placed. As I was specifically painting these up for FireMove (see Simulating War by Prof Phil Sabin) and denoting which company a platoon belongs to is the most important factor I decided to go for a simple colour band (see below, not really that generic for other game systems and I may peel the labels off later, but it is a good cognitive helper in FireMove):

Let us not forger the Germans too. I was going to use six existing German infantry bases (without cunning space for labels at the back) so I created a sheath with compant colour at the back and a white marker at the front to denote they were "dug-in". If they "moved out" I would simply detach the white marker (see below, note the British Infantry does not have the option of starting FireMove as dug-in as they have already moved up some 500m to get to the baseline):

All miniatures now ready for their FireMove run-out at Connections UK 2019. Next I thought time to pay some thought and attention for gaming aids. To help ease the cognitive loading during the game with some simple rule reminding devices. I am thinking colour coded firing sticks [coffee stirrers] to help the players visualise and arrange 'valid' fire patterns - particularly as in FireMove different companies cannot combine in the same "fire attack" and I wanted an easy way to show this - hence the coloured coffee stirrers, coloured cocktail sticks to indicate spread of fire and/or close combat (see below, serrated disc for Victory Point hexes and the yellow one for the British Mortar spotting):

All good stuff, the photograph above is post Connections UK 2019 where I am looking to restock on the bits and pieces that inevitably go missing. Looking ahead (past FireMove) I might well make up some urban terrain for Block Busting, the next game in Phil Sabin's book.

Connections UK 2019 Conference was a Good One

There were plenty of games to be had and interesting people to mix with, I can highly recommend it.

In depth details with be eventually updated here, but you can at least see the itinerary:

http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/2019.html

Highlight: It is very nice to play a game under the auspices of a game's designer and I had the privilege of playing a Pol-Mil '2nd Punic War', from Simulating War umpired by Professor Phil Sabin (this was a well oiled game, played many times in his MA Course).

10mm Late WW2 British Infantry .. Starting Point (1) Preparation

Back to more usual hobby posts. I need a force of 10mm Pendrakon British Infantry to represent an infantry battalion for a WWII Fire and Movement game (see Phil Sabin from Simulating War) so out with the "silver legions" and time to paint some of the little beggars!

Step One: Remove flash by filing down, wash figures and then PVA glue them to a wooden strip, aka coffee stirrer (see below, although during the course of painting some figures dropped off, I used cheap super glue to reattach them):

Step Two: Undercoat in Airfix acrylic primer (see below, I stocked up on the Airfix primer once it came back into the shops):

Step Three: Added a Vallejo Brown Wash to act as a dark base which I can highlight over (see below,  for the basic force I need four infantry companies of three platoons each [12 stands], a mortar and HMG platoon as supports - plus a command base and PIAT base - although each infantry platoon had an integral PIAT, this was just an extra):

Getting started - often that's the hardest bit! Figures out of the loft and primed ready for painting and basing.

Simulating War: FireMove - What (terrain) is in a Square?

I posted the AAR of my latest FireMove AAR along with my to the Simulating War Yahoo Forum and received a very insightful and stimulating response from Bob MacKenzie (see full text below):

Hi Mark

I don't have access to the rules set but I will venture some comments on the terrain

Unless the rules have some way of abstracting it the terrain looks too open.  http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/b004383.pdf has some interesting graphs on maximum spotting ranges and maximum shoot in ranges. Theoretically  max LOS from any given defensive position is 300m or less (ie two of your hexes) 63% of the time. However that doesn't translate into shooting distances. 66% of engagements take place at 100m or less and 85% less than 300m. Of course it may be that the rules limit shooting to 2 hexes so take this into account?

I assume you are familiar with Army Operational Research Group report 17/52, An Analysis of Infantry Advance Rates in Battle (WO291/1159)? If not there is some info in:http://www.testofbattle.com/upload/bob/Benchmarks.htm That piece of reserch would apper to be very relevant t your game.

Cheers

Bob

Yahoo Forum: Simulating War

The research article links are interesting in themselves. From the Yahoo Discussion Forum posts I have been set to musing more on terrain. Looking back at some Squad Leader boards you can see how much low level details contained even in an "open" FireMove hex. A four hex by four hex quadrant is roughly equivalent to a one FireMove hex. Even something with predominantly "Open" terrain has a Wood, Building, Connecting Path, Hill as well as plenty of  Open  (see below):

A "Hill" hex contains Hills (naturally) of several heights, Woods, Open and even a Building plus there would even be paths linking terrain features together (see below):

A "Woods" hex has yes "Woods" but also a road/trail through the woods, a feature slope leading up rather than a hill per se, another inking of a building and clear (see below): 

Ultimately the terrain cost would be different and cover benefit would be different depending on the "side" you entered from.

US Colonel David Schroeder presented at Connections UK 2014 an interesting keynote address where he explained part of his WWI game design which took the Hexagon and broke it down into six triangles, each with their own terrain type. So the cost to enter and combat terrain benefits depended on which direction you came in from (see slide 57).

http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/ConnectionsKeynote.pdf http://www.professionalwargaming.co.uk/ConnectionsKeynote.pdf 

Food for thought! I am thinking that the core Hex should have a terrain type (the predominant terrain type) but each Hex has its LOS and movement cost.

Simulating War: Fire and Movement - Closing Time - Extended AmmoVariant (Part 4)

It is the German player phase but "with a twist", as he can perform no actions. All the German platoons were "spent" from effective British fire so there is no movement, no firing, the dreaded mortar is silent, as even though there still is potentially 'one left in the tube' [if the German rolls a six calling fire in] the German Commander needs a "fresh" platoon to call it in (see below, this will be quick):

The end of the German phase of Turn 9 the British Battalion Commander has seven infantry platoons active (three removed from play by enemy fire and two from ammunition expenditure), plus a Vickers HMG and mortar barrage to call in - nine actions all told. With only two possible moves left it is a priority for the British units breaking through on the German left flank to reach the baseline, capture the hexes and claim British VPs. The remaining four platoons plus HMG/mortar supports have to focus on suppressing (or killing) the last three German platoons as the German will be able to claim a VP for every remaining platoon at the end of the game - potentially three more VPs, so the game is by no means over (see below):     

The British player succeeds in his objectives. Two German baseline hexes are now under his control and three casualties are accrued via a successful close assault on the right hand flank German platoon, so not yet removed but close to it! (see below, Germans 3 (with a possible 6 if the last three German platoons survive ): 5 (with a possible 7 up for grabs [an additional German baseline hex plus a German platoon KIA])):

Again nothing for the German player to do on Turn 11 except wait to recover his "spent" units (see below, another quick time):

The last active turn for the British Battalion Commander (as the Germans player gets one last defensive phase on Turn 12). It looks bleak for the Germans as two British platoons are stacked up against the German right flank bastion. The last German baseline hex is also within easy exploitation so it looks like it is heading towards a British win (see below):

The British player elects to mortar the central German platoon, fire the Vickers HMG against the "last redoubt" along with a rifle fire from the nearest German baseline unit and close assault the right hand German flank bastion with two platoons. The extra firepower from the British rifle platoon is put in as insurance just in case of "jamming" problems with the Vickers, which as it turned out was well it (any ammunition platoon withdrawals could be made from British infantry in non-German baseline hexes). If the German player made a British unit "spent" on the German baseline hex, then it would no longer count towards a VP. The close assaults are successful and another German platoon is removed and the Germans (see below, German 3 (soon to be 5):7 British VPs):

All done now by the British player, Turn 12 and the German player can just remove the "spent" status (see below, German 5:7 British VPs):

The end of game situation, a British breakthrough, deemed a 'marginal' tactical win (5:7) although on the board it looked far better. As only light-to-medium casualties were struck on the British battalion it still has some fighting potential, depending what it will run into. The Germans however suffering over 50% withdraws shattered for consolidation with its Regiment base and possible sister battalion or into reserve. The Germans did however delay the British for several hours so the German higher command would have enough warning to react,perhaps with a local counterattack, with maybe even a tank or two! (see below, the final state of play):

As mentioned earlier one of the hardest things to do is keep track of all the details as they happen. For a long time I have meant to put together an "easy to fill in" log sheet of "all possible actions and states" that can happen in the game. Akin to my software background training, a state table for all the variables was used (which turned out to be harder than you think) and allowing a possible replay/re-cock of positions. A computer system would have a database or at least text diagnostic dump to analyse (see below, bottom of the sheet is my 'back of the cigarette packet' thoughts on the bidding system for artillery - increasing the barrage should cost you a VP for every level of +1 to kill from the base value of 2) :

The audit function is slightly easier for the German platoons as they tend to be static (and I also didn't not the "killed" and by whom statistics which could be interesting). Never the less the motto should be "leave yourself plenty of scribble room for unexpected things you didn't think would be important but were" (see below, the German side - note they still had "one mortar barrage in the barrel" that they didn't manage to use):

Well this was a turn up for the books, a "British Win" (my first)! The lucky streak of wins also continues for the "oldest" newbie in town, first leading the Spartans over Argos, then travelling forwards in time to the blood soaked battlefields of WWII France with the British Army fighting the weary legions of the Reich! It was good to get a FireMove game played where I thought the rules were played correctly (bar one mistake which I don'r think adversely affected the outcome). More worryingly it that it is "hard" to win as the attacker and that is something I would like to explore with alternate rules sets across the same scenario. Yes the Portable Wargame beckons, but more so Command Decision, Spearhead, Great Canadian Battles of WWII, Battlefront and even Advanced or Basic Squad Leader. A comparison of weapon effects at distance between the rules would be interesting. Watch this space.

Another interesting exercise would be running through the scenario using the British Army (modern) "Seven Question Estimate" to see if slightly better planning could assist the attacker in a more formalised approach to the battle (see below, the British Army's Seven Questions):

1. What is the adversary doing and why and/or what situation do I face and why, and what effect do they have on me? 
2. What have I been told to do and why? 
3. What effects do I need to have on the adversary or situation and what direction must I give to develop the plan? 
4. Where and how can I best accomplish each action or effect? 
5. What resources are needed to accomplish each action or effect?
6. When and where do the actions take place in relation to each other?
7. What control measures to I need to impose?

Simulating War: Fire and Movement - The Crux of Battle - Extended Ammo Variant (Part 3)

Game Rules Note: A quick note on te extended ammo variant rules. As the game is described in Phil Sabin's book, every sixth British infantry fire a platoon is removed. As a result of discussions with various members of the Wargames Development group, quick addendum to exclude the British 3" Mortar and Vickers HMG from the equation and concentrate of "rifle ammunition" . However after play testing further even this restriction still seemed to penalise the British unduly. So in this game the ammo parameter is raised from every six to every nine. This still removes the temptation of the British Player to "blaze away" without restrain but gives a logistics factor nevertheless. The original value of "six" was chosen for ease of use, something to count "up to" on a spare dice. In this particular game, at this point there have been relatively few British infantry attacks so the rule has only now to come into play and a "C Coy" platoon [that had fired the previous turn] is removed from play. This is good for the British as they need every spare platoon they can get their hands on to press home their advantage.

Situation Review: The German left flank if of concern for the German Commander as it is only a matter of time before it unravels (see below):

Turn Eight's German defensive fire is particularly effective, bleeding the British troops attacking the German right flank. A combination of effective mortar fire and rifle fire "silences" the attack, even subduing the dangerous British Vickers HMG platoon (again). In fact the British lose anther platoon through casualty attrition (see below, success on the left but painful casualties to the British on the right):

The British player chooses to lose a baseline British infantry platoon to keep the momentum of the attack going forward (see below, Germans 3:1 British VPs):

That leaves the British Battalion Commander with the imperative need to attack the German left flank with his active troops. The German platoon in the wood is the target. One platoon from (lucky) "B Coy" flanks the position, another from "C Coy" moves behind in breakthrough support. The two remaining platoons attack striking hard with six causalities. [Note: Here as player/umpire I made a mistake as the British platoons are from two separate companies and should not have been able to support each other .. my bad (although being the German Commander I hurt myself). Instead of six it should have only been three casualties. Some form of "Computer Aided Assistant" would have been helpful here!] The German Commander knows he is really in trouble on his left flank (see below):

The German platoon in the wood is removed [Erroneously, probably a turn too early .. but it would have been suppressed for the next turn because of the combat results] from play (see below, Germans 3:2 British with respect to VPs):

The overall position for the Germans is of growing concern verging on disaster, looking particularly bad because of the British breakthrough on the German left flank. "Night may fall" ["Give me night or give me Blucher" seems unhistorical but appropriate] and yet save the German Commander. The German certainly needs to pin down the British on his right flank and contain the incursion (if at all possible) on his left flank from gaining German baseline hexes and thus attaining vital VPs  (see below, just before the British remove their "spent white counters"):

The German defensive phase on turn nine is key, but calamity strikes. No mortars are called in  and the German platoons can only suppress one British platoon (albeit the one about to close assault the far right German platoon. The German Commander chose not to close assault and inflict three casualties and suppress one British Platoon, but rather attack two and try and cause two casualties and make two British platoons spent and therefore inactive). This again leaves the British player with a mass of potential, having nine active platoons, including the Vickers HMG, plus a mortar attack (see below, that means a lot of "incoming" for the German defenders to face):

The British mercilessly advance on the German left flank [Note: In all probability this turn would have seen the demise of the German platoon and the lead British platoon would still be as advanced due to the overwhelming local superiority of the British on the German left flank .. so therefore I think the 'rule mistake' did not matter in the mix]. The three German platoons on the German front line have all been successfully suppressed which means it will be a very short turn for the German Commander next go. The British Battalion Commander certainly has the Germans within his OODA loop" (Observe Orientate Decide and Act). This is the critical point of the battle as the German player only has the "last redoubt" far away on the German baseline in play (see below): 

The long range German rifle fire from the "last redoubt" fails to suppress the British infantry attacking the central [red company] German platoon (distance and the hill cover saved it, the fact that the German was supporting his company [no negative adjacent minus] and the target was on a hill thus not stopping LOS made it possible). Worse still the German Commander failed to get the last of his mortar barrages in, thus meaning the British player has eight active platoons, two of which will be performing close assaults and the Vickers HMG and 3" mortar in play (see below):

For some reason (and I must confess not to be entirely sure of "why") another "C Coy" platoon was removed from play. I don't this was due to casualties taken but more probably because of the ammo rules for logistics as the British platoon did not end up in the "dead pile" counting for German VPs, and to be fair the British have been doing much more "rifle firing" in the preceding turns. All I know for sure is that I recorded the event in this sequence (see below, three British platoons "sniffing" as German Baseline hexes and possible VPs become tantalisingly close):

The British Commander chose to keep mortaring the last remaining German platoon from their "Blue" company and HMG the German "last redoubt", close assault the other two German platoons and move everybody else up, eyeing up those German baseline VPs (see below):

A spectacular result. All German platoons are spent, one German baseline hex captures, six more casualties on the Germans means they will lose another infantry platoon and most importantly of all all they can do is remove the spent status from their troops - effectively "missing a go" (see below, Germans 3:4 British VPs): 

The important thing now for the British Commander is to ensure the German player's platoons all  remains "spent" and he can then roll-up their position, if time permits.

Next: Hard Rain To Keep on Falling