Downtown - New Terrain Boards

My "20 minute challenge" time has been spent on doing a quarter of the new terrain boards for Downtown.  I have started off in the Northwest corner and will work westwards initially.  Once these 20 are done, I will then add additional southern rows in for the Thanh Hoa extension.

By starting in the NW means that I could add some extra room around Yen Bai for the CSAR scenario.  As I will also have some spare hexes at the western edge as well it means I can extend the routing for Phantom Ridge and also try some USN CSAR missions into the Hon Gai port area.  Not much extra terrain but just gives that extra bit of maneuvre room and means things dont hug the edges as much.

The broken terrain is being added first and then the whole board will be painted before I go back and add the ridge lines, roads, rivers and built up areas. I Ideally I would like to have done the BUA first but as I am going to use household paint on the surfaces I was a bit worried about it all getting lost in the gloop.  

Will need some new game markers as well as these are 1 1/2" hexes and the orginal mat had 2" ones.  That wont take long and I am more tempted to go square or circular bases this time around rather than hexes.

5Core Brigade Commander - 4 CMBG

The 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group always makes an attractive wargames unit. I have fielded this unit on and off over the years. My Leopard C1s have been subsumed into my WG Pz Gr brigade and the M113s and M150s have joined the Israelis.  With the advent of 5Core Brigade Commander could be time for them to reappear. A trip into the spares box reveals a clutch of GHQ M113s and a M577 together with 3 Leopard 1A3/4 models. Enough to represent 3 RCR BG in terms of "First Clash".  NATO doctrine in the early 1980s precluded concentration to counter the nuclear threat so a typical Battalion frontage covered approximately 4km. Exactly the distance that a 3x3 5Core table provides.  

As I found with the Arab Israeli games you do need a certain mass for the system to work.  Stats for 4 CMBG units are already in existence so I will use those as a start point but TOW needs to be looked at to give Mech Infantry any chance. As does vehicle movement, possibly drop movement to 9" which is consistent with Company commander as I feel that 12" is too much on a small table. This of course depends on how much terrain can be placed.  The attack defence style scenario needs to have things like the obstacle belt in place as well.

WOTR - Current Composition

Stocktake as of today

104 Bases of Retinue Archers - 312 figures

20 Bases of Levy Archers - 40 Figures

24 Bases of Spearmen - 72 Figures

37 Bases of Billmen - 111 Figures

8 Bases of Crossbow - 24 Figures

5 Bases of Pikemen - 15 Figures

28 Bases of Men at Arms - 84 Figures

30 Bases of Captains - 80 Figures

44 Bases of Nobles - 132 Figures

21 Bases of Cavalry - 42 Figures

2 Bases of Gonnes - 8 Figures

8 Bases of Handgunners - 16 Figures

39 Bases of game markers - 52 Figures

936/988 painted figures

5Core - Arab Israeli Stats

Next up will be the work to check on the stats needed for the 1973 conflict.  As far as I know this is what I am probably looking at.  The level of abstraction in 5Core means I don't need to go too far with it.

3mm Micro Armour - Israeli

I bought, according to the post mark, in August 2011 some 3mm Oddzial Osmy Arab israeli armour from Fighting 15s.  As 5Core Brigade Commander is now out, I thought this would be a good time to crack on and get them onto the table.

5Core Brigade Commander uses a company as the tactical unit with platoon level attachments. So by using two MSH Platoon stands to represent a company and single stands as attachments I don't need to make anything that can't be re-used in other systems.

The beauty of 3mm is that you can almost go 1:1 on the representation. Massed armour does look good in this scale. Israeli and ARAB units were using 3 vehicle platoons in the '67 and '73 conflicts so that is what I shall be making up,

So looking in the box I found enough to do:

4 stands of M48 MBT

5 stands of M60 MBT

1 HQ stand M48/M3 HT

2 Recce stands M48/M113

2 stands of M150 ATGW

20 minute challenge

As part of my efforts to keep on top of my hobby, my best mate set me a challenge of completing 20 minutes of hobby effort every day. This can be painting or preparing models, touching up some damaged paint work or just reading a set of rules or an article. It doesn't include internet browsing or buying more models. That isn't productive :)

5Core Brigade Commander

I liked the look of the 5Core rule systems so was very interested in their Brigade level rules.  Anything which gets the toys out on the table in quick time gets my vote.  I threw some terrain down on the table and tried out the basic mechanisms using a Warsaw Pact Advanced Guard MR Battalion moving across a 3' x 3' table.  The defenders were isolated pockets of West Germans.  They would appear on a 5 or 6 roll on a D6 and the first time a unit appeared I would roll for type of unit.

As it turned out, a WG Panzer Grenadier unit, but only a company appeared on the table, which was dealt with in short shrift by the FSE.

For my forces I am using the standard MSH bases (30mm x 30mm) with two units making up a company. This means that I can use a single MSH base as an attachment without having to do any remodelling.

I followed this up with playing out a Soviet MRR vs a British 1,3 Mech Inf BG.  And bogged myself down a bit.  The 5Core rules are very elegant but I need to get my head around whether attachments should be present or not (ie accept the level of abstract) and also how to handle artillery support.  The ability to have "packets" of support is good and means that I can simulate the WP Artillery Doctrine as well as spreading the NATO jam around thinly.

More to follow on these.  As I don't have to paint anything up you might actually get to see some games :)

Some shots from Today's game while I am sat here convalescing.

Birds eye view of the 3' x 3' table with my home made terrain and Timecast buildings. Tthe D8 Markers indicate where a WG might be placed.

Large town using a 6" x 6" MSH Town sector

Road signs to add the period flavour

Terrain looking Eastwards

Another large town made up of two 3" x 3" sectors and a 6" x 3" Petrol station, again all by Timecast

Last of the road network

FSE and Regt Recce Coy manouvre.  The D8 are the possible locations for WG units.  I rolled a D6 whenever a unit moved within 12" to check if it activated.

A company of Marders deployed on the woodline

The FSE Firepower sent them bailing for cover, which then allowed the FSE to start flanking while the Recce Coy maintained a watch

Battalion main body moves up in support.  Again just getting to grips with the make up so for the time being trying to keep things doctrinal :)