It's Official - Bolt Action Rules, OK?

In a recent pseudo-scientific poll of blog readers, fifty-one of you voted on your favourite WW2 skirmish ruleset... the winner, with 27% of the votes cast, was Warlord's new "Bolt Action" rules.

Other favourites were IABSM (7%), Rules of Engagement (11%), Disposable Heroes (13%), Nuts! (1%), and Something Else (17%, a pretty popular ruleset!). Nineteen percent of you say you don't play WW2 skirmish games. Or perhaps you just won't admit to it, which is OK too.

In any event, congratulations Warlord Games!

Battle off Ulsan, August 14, 1904

('Sinking of the "Leulic", 14 Aug.'

Sinking of the Russian cruiser Rurik in the Battle off Ulsan
during the Russo-Japanese War, 1904,

from a contemporary propaganda postcard.)

Taking a bit of a break from my recent near-total immersion into 40K 6th edition, last Thursday I ran a pre-dreadnought era naval scenario, re-creating the Battle off Ulsan, during the Russo-Japanese War.

Historical Background:
The Vladivostok Cruiser Unit of the Russian fleet (made up of the armoured cruisers Rossia, Gromoboi and Rurik and the protected cruiser Bogatyr) raided Japanese sea commerce in the first stages of the war. On August 14, 1904, after failing to rendezvous with the main Russian fleet in the Straits of Korea, Rear Admiral Iessen was heading back to Vladivostok with his squadron (less Bogatyr, which was damaged due to a grounding) when at 0500 he encountered Japanese Navy cruisers blocking his path off Ulsan, Korea. Vice Admiral Kamimura's squadron consisted of four armoured cruisers (the Idzumo, Azuma, Tokiwa, and Iwate), and two older, protected cruisers (the Naniwa and Takachiho).

The three Russian armoured cruisers were of an out-dated design, whose 8" main guns were mounted on the broadside. The Japanese armoured cruisers had their main armament mounted in twin turrets fore and aft, doubling the number of 8" guns able to fire on each side. However, the Russian armoured cruisers were larger ships, displacing approximately 1/3 more tonnage (~12-13,000+ tons vs. ~9,000+ tons). Playing ahistorically, I added back in the lighter ship Bogatyr (whose stats were included in the printed scenario), to add more balance to the engagement.

Models:
All the ships are crisp 1/2400 scale resin models from Panzerschiffe. The ships' 1.5mm thick plywood bases, the splash markers, smokescreens, and the laser-cut compass wind gauge all came from LITKO Game Accessories.

Rules:
I used Coaling Stations, a set of pre-dreadnought naval rules by Rob Heath, available for $6.19 USD as a PDF download from Wargame Vault.

The main feature of the rules is the use of command and orders. Each turn the commander of a division chose a hand of order cards, each one representing an action such as "Fire Main Guns". They had to roll equal to or less than their Command Rate on two dice, to succeed in carrying out an order (here, all division commanders had a Command Rating of 8). For each number rolled less than their Command Rate, an extra order could be carried out; so, with a Command Rate of 8 and a roll of "6", three of the orders chosen could be completed.

Objectives:
The Russian squadron is to escape off the northern table edge. If all four Russian ships escaped, it would be a Russian victory. Loss of one or two Russian ships would be a draw; loss of three or more Russian ships would be a Japanese victory.

The Game:
The 10 cruisers were divided into five divisions of two ships each. The action started as the Russians spotted the Japanese forces at a distance of four nautical miles (40 cm. at this scale). Below, from left to right, can be seen Conscripts Brian (running the two Japanese protected cruisers), Greg and Bill (both running the four Russian ships). Not pictured are Sylvain (visiting from points west) and Dallas, who both ran the balance of the Japanese forces. The photo looks east; the four Russian ships are to the south, steaming north and east, the Japanese ships are located further to the east, steaming towards the camera.



I had the Russians set up first. The Japanese set up in response. The Japanese protected cruisers, having lighter armour, are at the bottom of the screen, in a position to hopefully block anything that got past the armoured cruisers. The Russians got first turn.



Greg, running the lead Russian division (Rossia and Gromoboi) commenced with a long-range bombardment of Sylvain's Asama, causing no damage (Sylvain rolled hot with his saving throws). The Russians laid smoke, to protect from the inevitable counter fire. Below is an ocean-level view of the action.



Below, I can be seen contemplating the Japanese ships after their initial move, the armoured cruisers turning to the north and the protected cruisers laying smoke. Brian had moved his protected cruisers at flank speed, but they rolled a "6" and suffered engine damage, reducing their speed until repairs to the boilers could be made.



Bill's Rurik, unprotected by smoke, received damage from the combined fire of the Japanese squadron.



Brian rolled boxcars for his Command roll. Not only did this result in an uncontrolled move straight ahead, under the rules this also led to a change in weather. Rolling randomly on a table, fog descended, reducing visibility by 80%!



Below, Sylvain points at the lead Russian ship as he brings his Japanese ships into knife-fighting range, in an attempt to bring their guns to bear through the thick fog.



Unexpectedly, the Russians also rolled boxcars for command, and the fog dissipated to a light haze. The Japanese took this opportunity to rain 8- and 6-inch shells onto the Rossia. (The amount of "12's" rolled was truly staggering; the weather changed at least three more times during the course of the game.)



Below, Greg maneuvers the Rossia in an attempt to break through the Japanese battle line.



The Japanese commanders, Dallas, Brian, and Sylvain, contemplate the impending close action.



Sylvain failed his command roll, causing a collision that sank both the Rossia and the Asama!



As all the ships moved in and out of fog banks, the Tokiwa came under fire from the Russian squadron.







Greg failed yet another command roll...



...resulting in a second collision which sank the Tokiwa and damaged the Gromoboi.



Brian turned the Naniwa and the Takachiho south to try and engage the lead Russian ship, Gromoboi, while Dallas continued to steam east and placed more hits on the following Rurik.



As the Gromoboi slipped through the Japanese cordon, the Rurik was hammered by repeated hits, eventually sinking.



Below, Dallas contemplates his next move while Sylvain (whose crews had taken to their ships' lifeboats) looks on.



Brian and Dallas look on in amusement as all the ships moved out of control - everyone had failed their command rolls! Notice the near-collision as the Gromoboi sailed past the Japanese line of battle; she eventually escaped off the table to the north.



The surviving Japanese cruisers switched their fire to the Russian Bogatyr. Torpedoes were launched at, respectively, the Idzumo and the Bogatyr.



A single torpedo hit on the Bogatyr crippled her, fatally slowing her movement.



The Bogatyr's surviving crew kept on fighting and trying to repair their sinking ship, damaging the Japanese flagship, Idzumo. However, the lighter ship could not stand up to the combined fire of the four remaining Japanese cruisers, and finally sank beneath the waves.



Result: Japanese victory

[Historically the forces never moved to such close range, the Japanese commander continually turning away instead of toward the enemy. The Rurik's rudder was jammed by Japanese fire; it could not evade and was damaged to such an extent that it was scuttled by its own crew. The other two Russian ships (Rossia and Gromoboi) escaped, but were severely damaged.]

All the participants said they had fun. The game played very quickly. The action came down to the wire, being decided just as the last Russian ship was about to escape off the northern table edge.

Thanks to everybody for coming out to play! Special thanks go to Sylvain, who provided sake (Japanese rice wine) for the evening's refreshment.

Note: I was able to obtain a copy of the following, which contains a very detailed account of all stages of the battle (the author had access to early 20th century sources):
Brook, Peter, Armoured Cruiser versus Armoured Cruiser, Ulsan, 14 August 1904, in Warship 2000-2001, Conway's Maritime Press, ISBN 0-85177-791-0

Warhammer 40K 25th Anniversary

This past weekend was the 25th anniversary of the game that I play the most, Warhammer 40,000.

The local Games Workshop store participated in the anniversary, hosting events such as a speed painting contest and an Apocalypse game. It was a good day to catch up with fellow hobbysists, meet new people, talk modeling and gaming, and reminisce.

As reported on several blogs, GW released a limited edition model, the central figure of the original Rogue Trader cover by John Sibbick - a Crimson Fists Space Marine Captain sculpted by Juan Diaz (see above).

Conscript KevinH and myself each pre-ordered the fig. I think that it's a beautiful sculpt, capturing the lines of the classic models. It will make a great objective marker for my games. Kevin also painted a very cool Crimson Fists Terminator test model, a photo of which is located here.

Kevin and I have both been playing 40K since the beginning. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the years, what with the various editions of the game and some, shall we say, uninspired game design choices. Does anyone remember the RT-era Vehicle Manual with its clear targeting grid? Talk about stopping the game and bringing you "out of the moment".

Admittedly, the 40K rules mechanism itself is somewhat old-fashioned. IGO-UGO? Rulers and tape measures are good things? Seriously? IIRC, games like Crossfire did away with such impedimentia back in the mid-90's. Still and all, 40K provides a fun, cinematic tabletop experience for gamers throughout the world. This is due partly to the interesting background fluff provided in the game materials and the Black Library fiction. Also, it is due in no small part to the various communities that have grown up and matured over the last quarter century, supporting the 40K hobby in its various incarnations: tournament play (like 40Kegger, Astronomi-con, Mechani-Kon, and AdeptiCon), miniature painting sites (CoolMiniOrNot), online community forums (Bolter & Chainsword, Warseer), numerous 40K related blogs, and a multitude of small, unheralded gaming groups that constitute maybe the bulk of the gaming populace.

Rumour has it that the 6th(!) edition of the 40K rules will be coming out sometime in the summer. Time will tell whether this is a good thing or not. I have actually liked the codices that have come out in the last few years, so here's hoping for some more balanced armies and clean rules.

Apocalypse Game

As I indicated above, MarkG, the manager of the local GW store, had organized an Apocalypse game. There's no real balance to such an affair, what with the appearance of super-heavy vehicles and gargantuan creatures. The theme of the day's scrap was "Good" versus "Evil", with a 1500-point limit per participant. Accordingly, I brought my modified 1000-point 40Kegger list, with the addition of a Scorpion Super-Heavy Grav Tank.



The Scorpion was proxied by my old Armorcast Tempest. There's no longer any rules for the Tempest, which is a close fit to the Scorpion, since both are armed with turreted TL-Pulsars.



The factions that played were as follows:
- Good = Blood Angels, Eldar, Imperial Guard, and Space Wolves
- Evil = Chaos Space Marines, Orks, more Orks, and Tyranids

It was an objective game on a 6' x 12' table, with objectives located as follows:
- 2 in the southwest third
- 1 in the northwest third
- 2 in the middle third
- 1 in the southeast third

Both sides bid the maximum time, to try and go second. The Good side lost the resulting tiebreaker die roll and set up first, deploying about half our forces in a shallow line from west to east, both flanks anchored with pairs of Blood Angels Dreadnoughts, with heavy weapons teams and two super-heavy tanks in the southeast third of the table, along with the Wraithlord, some Marine characters, and a Predator tank. We also spread out lots of barbed wire and minefields throughout No-Man's Land, to try and channel the enemy infantry.

The photo below is taken from the western table edge, looking east.



The forces to the southeast:



Three loaded IG Valkyries, a SW Land Raider full of troops, BA Terminators, and the bulk of the Eldar skimmers were held in strategic reserve.

The Evil side set up, from west to east, some Chaos Marines in the bunker and in the ruined buildings, a big Ork mob of Kans led by a Stompa, and a Heirophant Bio-Titan. A couple of Tyranid Zoenthropes anchored each end of the line. Various Daemons, Chaos Marines, the Doom of Malantai, and a 120+ strong Green Tide of Orks were left in reserve.



The Heirophant is a 10-wound, Toughness 9 monster that's larger than a building. Yikes!



The Good side fired at the Heirophant and the Stompa, infliting 1 wound and a drive hit, respectively.

The Evil side made a general advance, killing the Wraithlord with fire.

Hilariously, the Edmonton GW store telephoned in a random orbital strike onto the center of the table, inflicting some damage on the Kans. Below, Mark takes a photo commemorating the strike. The Winnipeg store subsequently returned the favour...



Some Daemons had teleported within the southeast corner. They were gunned down by close range firepower and a Rune Priest's psychic ability. The two Zoenthropes also fell to Marine missile launchers.





A dying Daemon managed to drop a Vortex Grenade, which stayed on the table to cause havoc. It was scary, but didn't end up doing anything of significance.



The Blood Angels Terminators teleported in the middle of the cluster of buildings in the northwest, setting up a next turn charge against the Chaos troops holding an objective.

In the centre, the Stompa was immobilized by the Scorpion, halting the advance of the Kans if they wanted to stay inside its Force Field.

To the far west, the platoon of infantry mounted in three Valkyries can be seen to have arrived onto the table, trying to control the westernmost objective.



In response, the Doom of Malantai deep struck and the Ork Green Tide used a Flank March to come in on the whole western half of the table, destroying some Guardsmen, some Marines, a Rhino, and a couple of Dreadnoughts. Things were starting to look bad for the side of Good.

That's a lot of Orks...



To the east, the bug Bio-Titan kept moving, unperturbed by the volume of fire directed at it.



Concentrated Evil fire ended up immobilizing the Scorpion and blowing off its main guns.

More Edmonton hijinks ensued, as another strike damaged the Guard's Stormlord Super-Heavy.



The rest of the Good reserves were finally committed, with three of the Eldar skimmers coming on in the southeast, taking control of the objective there, as a BA Dreadnought finished off a small squad of flank-marching Chaos Marines. To the west, the Warp Hunter and Fire Dragons supported an assault by the Space Wolves from their Land Raider.

The Doom of Malantai was killed by the Dragons, the Terminators cleaned out the buildings to the northwest, and a LOT of casualties were inflicted on the Green Tide (the Warp Hunter alone killed 17 Orks with an Aether Rift). That STILL left over 70 Orks in the mob...

...who proceeded to kill off the Space Wolves assault squad, pull the gun off the Warp Hunter, and wipe out the Fire Dragons, leaving the Autarch to yell defiance from the wreckage of her destoyed Wave Serpent. Nearby, some allied Blood Angels wish her "good luck".



The game had started at 1:30 PM; time was called at 5PM.

Surprisingly, the Evil side's steady advance was not enough; they had lost control of the one objective they held in the northwest. In the southwest, the objective nearest the Ork Green Tide was contested by Good forces. The Valkyrie-borne Imperial Guard controlled an objective to the far west.



In the southeast, despite taking a lot of hits from the Bio-Titan, Good forces managed to retain control of another objective.



Final Score: Good = 2 objectives, Evil = 0

All in all, it was a fun game, only slowed down by the enormous close combat in the southwest half of the table. I also liked the random orbital artillery strikes. Those were something no-one could really plan for, adding a certain fog of war to the affair.

Some Random Thoughts

When 40K first came out, I would have never guessed at its present level of popularity. To me it was just another game for me and my friends to play, like the classic versions of Traveller or Dungeons & Dragons. (Yes, I am that old.)

The current state of 40K is interesting. It is the most played game GW makes. GW is the dominant company in the miniature wargaming hobby. You can generally find an opponent to play in many major centres in the world. However, 40K and GW have competitors for our hard earned dollars. Companies like Privateer Press and Battlefront Miniatures make competing miniatures games that are well-supported by their own communities. Various homebrew rules are still written and played, since it is in the nature of a lot of gamers to tinker, and the possibilities of miniatures gaming are many and varied.

GW's business, and mini-gaming in general, is dwarfed by more generally accepted activities like computer console gaming. Despite its recent success, mini-gaming is still a relatively niche pastime. It will be interesting to watch the future changes in both GW and 40K.

Fun With Shako Rules

During last week's game, we rekindled our 3/4 love - 1/4 hate relationship with the Shako 2 rules (or, more like Shako 1.5). Leaving aside the rather unfortunate production values - the book quality is disappointing for the price, but then, maybe I should publish my own book or shut up - Shako 2 still has a lot going for it, namely the ability to play out a reasonably sized battle at the battalion level without needing a whole weekend just to play one turn.

Well, of course I'm exaggerating. Not a whole weekend for a turn. But some of those other battalion rules can take a long while, meaning a whole weekend for a battle. And, unlike General de Brigade, you can actually hope to assemble enough painted figures to play a game in one lifetime.

Alright - I'm ranting again! Obviously, if you wanted to play one of those General de Brigade scenarios, you could do it in 15mm, and maybe paint enough figures in your own lifetime to play a game....but I'm digressing. Back to Shako.

Shako is nice and reliable, and relatively simple. And yet, and yet....one topic that came up for debate was the penalty for a failed volley inflicted on a unit that is being charged. Is a unit compelled to always fire? You would think that would work out - generally, I would want to try and shoot anyone, or any group of people, running at me with a bayonet and shouting. But in Shako 2, it's a real roullette if your unit is "staggered" (disorganized slightly from the effect of previous musket fire or artillery). Basically, you will be a disadvantage already in the melee because you are staggered. If you miss the volley (which you will be likely to miss, because you are staggered) your disadvantage becomes even greater, so much so that it was often worth it NOT to shoot the people charging at you with bayonets fixed.

Following some research and email discussion, over the weekend, Brian provided the clarity that alluded us last Thursday. Basically, in a firefight situation (i.e. nobody is charging), units must shoot. In a melee situation (i.e. you are getting charged) you have the option to shoot.

I think for house rule purposes though, we will find some way to pants the failed volley modifier. You should, generally, always want to shoot people who want to stab you. Any rules mechanism that perverts that for some sense of "reality" (when so much else is abstracted - after all, that one cannon is representing something like 10 guns) I think is a bad one. As if getting stabbed in the face isn't enough of a penalty already!

Thanks to Brian for sorting it all out for us. Too bad he was not able to make it out last week!

Meanwhile, I am waiting to peruse a copy of some new rules - "LaSalle", by Sam Mustafa (creator of the incredibly awesome Grande Armee rules) and "Black Powder" (I forget who wrote those).

On the down side, if I want to use these rules for 25mm, I might have to rebase the stuff I have already painted (OR do Austrian units with 36 figures!). On the upside, I really like Grande Armee, so I hope "LaSalle" will live up to the high expectations.

Spearhead CR* - 6mm That Doesn't Suck

* - Contliffe Removed

"Listen - I know there is a Russian tank brigade out there and our 88mm guns could deal with them, but I'm just saying the command arrow is moving toward Orel. If we don't move at least half, we'll be out of Command, and Manstein will need to make a morale check to keep our battalion in the game..."


Actually, I shouldn't be hard on Arty - after all, Spearhead and Shako (to name just two sets) are excellent, well thought out rules that have been published. I have had the pleasure of working with Dallas to tweak his excellent 25mm skirmish rules. Rules actually created by Greg? Zero.

Still, just imagine how great Spearhead and Shako would be if they had put some time into an editor for the books (or in the case of Shako II, a buck or two on making the book at least appear to not have been a photocopy).

All the same, in terms of ease of use for the lads, Spearhead is tough - needing a map, writing orders etc. It achieves so much in terms of compensating for the players' helicopter battlefield view, and creating situations where order changes are easier for some than others, allowing a differentiation to be created among national doctrines without resorting to lame-o 40K-style special rules like "British Bulldog" and "Tiger Aces" (Battlefront, take a bow).

The Blitzkreig/Cold War/Future War Commander tried to compensate by essentially re-purposing Warmaster. But as we have covered elsewhere in this blog, the results can be unsatisfying.

I have been playing around with my own possible versions of some new 6mm, platoon based rules. But in the end, I think it's just a modification to the Spearhead engine that is needed. I have managed to put my time sitting in planes and airports to good use this week, and have just about developed a new movement system for Spearhead, where the battalions (the basic Spearhead unit) are activated with a command roll that combines a command rating attribute of the Battalion Command and the higher-level command of the given formation.

You roll 2d6, trying to roll below the combined number, and if you succeed, you move.

All the firing etc. is resolved as normal as per Spearhead, except that a formation that tried to move and fails still fires as though it moved. Why reinvent the wheel? And no rolling just to fire, and no endless volleys of fire from hot-rolling, high-morale units.

Hopefully we can try this out soon. And if it sucks? Back to the drawing board...