Vland in the Can

This scenario is adapted from Jason W.'s  excellent "Panzer Canning" scenario in Sierra Foxtrot One-Five, the fanzine dedicated to 15mm Sci-Fi Wargaming.

The scenario was tweaked to reflect a Traveller: Interstellar Wars setting.  The Vilani 1^st Imperium was laying siege to Mikanek, the capital city of planet Agidda.  After months of bombardments and probing attacks, the Terran Confederation defensive lines were beginning to strain.

In the quiet (until the past few months) suburb of Soos, a heavy Vilani bombardment with a coordinated push by armored elements has caused the Terran lines to buckle, and for a change, a local Vilani general has taken the initiative and pressed the attack.  The word is given all along the line – break through to Mikanek Downport and seize the Terran supply depot.

The Imperials were attacking with three GEV MBTs, plus an armoured recon section of two hover medium utility vehicles (MUGEVs). They were to exit three vehicles on the opposite side of the 4’ x 4’ playing area by the end of the sixth turn to win. 

The Terrans were defending with a platoon of the Planetary Defense Regiment (three squads plus a command post section) reinforced with a squad of Terran ConFed Marines and a section of Planetary Constabulary Special Weapons Team.  The Constables were given high movement to reflect local knowledge of the area, and a mucking big LAG anti-material weapon. 

Each Terran squad was given an ID counter and two “dummy” chits to deploy on the table for “Fog of War” purposes. The idea was to slow the Imperials down with active use of the dummy chits.  For how well this worked, you will soon read.

A Drive Through the Park

To win, the Terrans simply had to keep the Imperials from achieving their objective.

We used the StarGrunt II rules, with modifications improving armoured vehicles' survivability. To reflect the effects of a prolonged siege, all units tested morale under the Low Motivation column of the quality test chart. Additionally, the PD Regiment began the game with a lowered morale level (Steady).

The Terran players (Brecht and Kenzie) were allowed to set up well forward, with only a 12” band on the Imperial entry area off limits to their squads.  The Imperials set up within this 12" band, in the park.

A Jittery Main-gunner examines a crater

The scenario began with the Imperial MUGEVs scanning the nearest bomb craters to see if they could spot the chits that had been placed there. After two failures, the Imperial player (DeeJay) decided he’d had enough of Terran duplicity and began the recon by fire.  I ruled that if the fire was fully effective, a dummy would be revealed, if the fire was partially effective, the chit would be “suppressed” (and therefore remain a hidden “threat”)  and an ineffective fire would simply be ignored. Firing two VRF gauss guns on the two chits, he rolled fully effective fire.  

Two Dummies.

The Tanks eased forward.

A quick word about the personalities playing this scenario.  Kenzie is a scientist-techie sort, Brecht is a former Marine NCO, and DeeJay is a former tank Junior Officer. In giving out the forces, I did a bit of typecasting.

Launching Smoke

Turn 2: Contact

Beginning of Turn 2, the leading hover tank took an IAVR (Infantry Anti-Vehicle Rocket) in the top turret from an upper floor of a nearby building - the Planetary Defense squad there wasn’t waiting to be discovered by a recon by fire.  I’ve modified SGII by giving armour “quality”. The Imperial tanks were 4:10 armour, meaning that four d10 (instead of 4d12) are used when testing for damage.  This is to help emulate the different tech levels in the Traveller Universe.

The rocket bounced off the armor.  I don’t check for a systems hit unless there is a penetration (finding the rule to contrary in SGII infantryman-written nonsense) The tank replied and fired their Direct Fire Plasma Gun into the upper floor. Partial success suppressed the PDR squad.

Someone's knocking

This was to be the pattern for the next two turns.  As the tanks advanced, they would take a rocket hit and the Terran would roll terribly on the result. The Terran Marines had a longer-ranged missile version with a similar result (though in retrospect, I think I missed a minor penetration on one of the tanks. A hull hit should have resulted in the crew “de-bussing”).

Police Bring One Down

The Constabulary unit was having greater success dealing with the Imperial “soft skins”.  Using a 20mm LAG Anti-Material Weapon, the Police surprised one of the MUGEVs and put a round through the engine block (or plenum chamber, Winchester Drive, What Have You).  The following turn, the coppers took out the other soft target.  Two vehicles down, one to go.   

(Segue to….)

What a Plasma Main Gun does...

Turn 5:  Things were not going well for those squads tasked with stopping the tanks. Many buildings
were now burning. Three PDR squads were either dead or out of action. A squad essentially had to trade itself for two chances to take out one tank, and the dice were distinctly unsympathetic to the Terran Cause (all of the Vilani House Deities were guiding the rolls).

The lead Imperial Tank was inches from the exit point. As the Terran Marines were falling back to the questionable safety of a blast crater, they fired their last anti-tank missile... 

The tank brewed up.

OOOH-RAH! We Dunnit!

The Terrans won.

The stunned silence was deafening....which is rather an awesome result.

Post Game Thoughts:

General discussion was that this was one mother-tough scenario, for both sides. DeeJay said it was every tanker’s dream scenario – the kind of dream from which “you wake up screaming!”  Brecht said the infantry really needed some heavier anti-tank weapons. I think that is the point of Jason’s scenario – it’s good to play a scenario that’s a bit unbalanced.

Around turn three, the Terran players woke up and began to “play hard”.  The dummy counters began to move around more aggressively (distracting at least one tank for a round or two). The Command Post began to reactivate squads with better coordination.  I suspect that the defenders realised the scenario wasn’t a “Tank Canning” game, but a nasty situation where “expendable infantry” meant exactly that.

Disciplined Maneuvres

The armour modifications I've made have made tanks in my SGII games much more dangerous, which, IMO, is how it should be.
There is a “prevailing wisdom” on the internet (an undoubtable oxymoron) in which tanks in an urban fighting area are doomed to fail.  This may not be supported by every infantryman alive, just the ones I talk to.  Tankers believe the opposite.  I suspect the reality lies somewhere between.

By the way, the title of this article provoked a joke: How is Vilani Armour different from Spam?  They're still canned meat, just "Bilander".  

Gotta love Traveller humour. Ω

 

End of an Era - The Brig Passes On

Very sad news of the death of Nicholas Courtney - the actor who played Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the classic Doctor Who series. He will be greatly missed, especially as he was playing the delightful Detective Lionheart in the Cosmic Hobo audio series - the Scaryfiers. God Speed Ye, Nick!

Doctor Who: Addendum

This week's Friday Pal's Night featured a Doctor Who battle which took a fatalistic turn - our boy Eljay was controlling the Earth Federation crew when he found himself surrounded, with a primed self-destruct mechanism, and being rapidly cut down by Dalek forces.

The result?

SURPRISE!

This brought the game to a surprising and rather abrupt end. Several of the other players were a bit put out, as the Loyalist Daleks were making great progress and had the Doctor and his faction fleeing before them.

Davros had just exterminated the last of the Movellans. We were looking forward to the great Dalek vs. Davros faction fight.

And then Eljay found the jolly, candy-like button and decided on "Boom Today".

I will have to add a scenario rule that the Earth crew must make a morale check before terminating the station and all onboard it.

Post-Game Thought:

In this pic alone there are 15 doors - can you find them all?

The big surprise was the effect 50+ doors have on a firefight. Players would position their figures to open a door, blast away with the rest of the faction, and use another figure to close the door at the end of their activation - cutting off the line-of-sight.  We'll be adopting a rule that a doorway must remain either open or closed for an entire turn.

And we're resolved to keep Eljay away from the Scenario-Eraser button. Ω

Death to Davros!

As previously mentioned, I’ve been painting up 28mm Doctor Who miniatures and having quite a bit of fun with them.

Back in July, I ran a scenario based on the 1984 Doctor Who episode “Resurrection of the Daleks”, where the Daleks rescue their creator, Davros, from an Earth Federation prison-station so that he can help them develop a defence for an anti-Dalek bio-weapon, developed by their android opponents, the Movellans.

Davros Faction

There were four players, including me (not an optimal solution, as I’m needed to referee all of the little “gotchas” that litter the scenario like so many discarded pop bottles) so I had to “NPC” the Earth Federation and the Loyalist Daleks. This was accomplished by playing both factions very straight in their actions and motivations – the Daleks want to capture Davros and the Federation wants to keep him; the rest of the factions must act around these drivers.

Dalek Loyalists

I gave the Davros Faction to "Inferno" Mark, who hadn’t watched the TV show, calculating that this faction was the easiest to game with fairly straightforward motivations (survive). I might have erred slightly in this judgment, as the other factions proceeded to dogpile him, though frankly, if you grew up glued to the TV and NEVER watched Doctor Who, you deserve whatever you get.

Movellan Faction - Stayin Aliiiive!

Two of the other players were familiar with the Doctor Who TV programme: to the evil Dr. Goldwyrm (Mike L.) I gave the Movellan Hottie Hit Squad.. These are the spoiler faction, and he used them to great effect, all events considered. 

To Rich J. (of Rattrap Games) I gave the Doctor Faction, being fairly confidant that Rich would do the Doctor justice, and he did not disappoint.

We were using Graeme Dawson’s Doctor Who Miniature Rules. These are fast playing and use simple ID cards, removing the need for rosters. Most figures are eliminated if they take a wound (hi-tech Zap-O-Tronic rays) with a few of the tougher models taking two or even three hits to eliminate.

The Doctor and Companions

Another neat rule in Graeme’s set is the ability of certain models (Davros, the Doctor, scientists) to “invent” a weapon to use against their foes. This might result in a +1 to hit the enemy or a weapon proficient at wiping out an opposing side’s ordinary, jobbing warriors. This creates a sense of urgency when an opposing side is inventing, and you begin to understand just WHY the Daleks soil their trollies when the Doctor looks at them cross-eyed.

The game itself played well – Davros was immediately put on the spot when the Movellans raced toward his laboratory and the Loyalist Daleks trundled (slowly) in the same direction; attacking the station’s control room in the process.

The Doctor’s faction left the area of the TARDIS and beat the Dalek Troopers to the control room. The Doctor convinced the Earth Federation crew that he was there to help, and a stunningly high roll didn’t hurt either.

While the crew hunkered down behind the control consoles, Dalek Troopers rushed the control room. In the general firefight, a Dalek trooper and a crewman went down. The Doctor took cover, and that is when the Dalek agent, Stien, who had been traveling with the Doctor, decided to break his cover and capture the Doctor (Cue cliffhanger end theme)...

EXTERMINATE!

Meanwhile, the Movellans had been squaring off with two of Davros’ daleks. The Davros player was suitably impressed when a Movellam shugged off a Dalek gunstick blast (not often seen, you know). The Movellan leader, Agella, lobbed a dose of Mad Dalek Disease but the Dalek resisted and moved away from the blast area. A second Dalek was dispatched to deal with the Movellans, and was able to drop both of the sexy androids.

This triggered a Movellan morale test, as they had just taken 50% casualties. Nothing beats a badly rolled die, and the two surviving Movellans, having failed the test, had to withdraw their spandex-clad bottoms to the transmat. 

However, hope springs eternal in the cold, black heart of Dr. Goldwyrm, and he was able to “retreat” past the boot cupboard where Davros was hiding. Dropping the last virus grenade at the base of Davros’ wheelie-bin, they gave the traditional Movellan farewell (“Toodles!”) and fled toward the transmat.

Once again, Fate just can’t stand disco androids - Davros was able to make his saving roll and back away from the virus grenade blast radius, pinning him against the wall. 

Stien Attacks!

In the Control Room, the Dalek Troopers were battling against the crew while Sgt. Stien attacked the Doctor, who was able to fend off the attack using his sonic screwdriver. Stien was naturally caught off guard that the Davison Doctor was using his Sonic Screwdriver, since it was absent from the series between The Visitation and the TV Movie. This confusion in Stien’s mind was critical in breaking the Dalek Mind Conditioning (Thank you, Rev. Nice of FROTHERS…)

As Stien fought against the confusion in his mind, the main Dalek assault force with Commander Lytton burst into the Control Room. By now, the Doctor was coordinating with the Earth Federation crew and adding Turlough and Stien to the mix, was able to mount a serious defence of the control room. A Loyalist Dalek blew up, causing a morale check on the Dalek side.

Where is Davros?

The Loyalist Daleks withdrew, allowing the Doctor and Federation factions to concentrate on recapturing Davros. The companion Tegan was sent forward to add an extra activation at the right moment - certain feminine companions may “scream” which, if successful, allows a nearby friendly figure an additional activation, even if the figure has already moved. This is a handy quality and gives the Doctor’s side an added degree of unpredictability.

So, we meet again, DOCTOR!

With the station crew supporting him, the Doctor was able to cause the Davros Dalek Troopers to fail morale, and using the Doctor’s intrinsic extra activation, was able to burst into Davros’ boot cupboard and capture the evil genius. I ruled the Doctor/Earth Federation had won, with Davros scoring a minor victory (survival, albeit still incarcerated) with a Dalek and Movellan loss. Good dramatic stuff that – the ratings bean-counters will be pleased.

Post Game Thoughts:

I really like the Graeme Dawson rules. The entire game was fought to a satisfactory conclusion in about 2 hours. I do like a game that plays quickly, and Graeme’s rules deliver.

Play can be further sped up using initiative cards, just five will cover all the factions. Excellent idea, and thank you Dr. Goldwyrm.

Each faction should have a “unique” figure/model, to mitigate the dreaded “wiped out” morale check that occurs when a faction reaches 50% casualties. This keeps everyone in the fight and promotes further dramatic action as the sole faction survivor stumbles towards the self-destruct switch. 

We'll be trying this scenario again eventually. It will be interesting to see how these small tweaks affect the overall scenario. Ω

SFX TidBit: From a Recent Doctor Who Mini Game

Next Time: A Dalek gets the drop on a Movellan:

Down the 28mm Rabbit Hole

After slogging away at my 15mm African terrorists for Rhodesia, and working on a new mini scenario for Travellercon, I decided to paint a few 28mm Doctor Who miniatures. This began as a response to a request for articles for Ragnarok magazine and has now blossomed into a mini-spree.

I’m surprised these painted as fast as they did. After struggling with 15mm, these were the proverbial breeze. It’s handy to have a painting guide on line – the various episodes of Doctor Who are available on You Tube. The miniatures are available from Black Tree Design, and I’ve been having nothing but good service from Black Tree, USA.

Ragnarok is the magazine of the Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers, and Doctor Who seemed to fit the beer and crisps approach that the SFSFW seem to prefer.

First off the blocks are some Dalek Troopers, led by Commander Lytton, a mercenary from Rifton IV. When the Daleks began to lose their war against the Movellans, they were required to hire human mercs.



Next is Davros, creator of the Daleks. Crippled by a dirty shell during the Kaled-Thal War.


The Daleks are actually figures I painted some years ago to torture my Traveller and Star Wars rpg players. They were from the Citadel plastics line.


Plans are to post some pictures of the Movellans, the #1 enemy of the Daleks, next. They're painted, but first I need to go back and detail their exotic eye make up.
Ω

Blame it on Clambo

This past Cold Wars I had the opportunity to play in Mark K.’s (of Daddy's Little Men fame) Saturday FireForce game, using 15mm figures and a modified StarGrunt II rules system.

As a result, I am now consumed with a desire to start a new period - 15mm Africa Wars, and yes, my sympathies are firmly with the colonial powers.

Actually, it was my objection to the phrase "Colonial Power" when applied to Rhodesia during Mark’s game briefing that saw me "assigned" to the Rhodesian Light Infantry command, with Megz (and another player) getting saddled with the ZANLA forces. The short end of the stick, indeed.

There were two other players on the side of the elected government: a father/son team that for once were neither annoying nor incompetent - a violation of the HMGS charter , I’m sure, judging on past experiences.

The scenario was pretty basic - ZANLA was interloping Rhodesian territory, intent on burning a church, and the Rhodesians wanted to kill them.

Mark did a fine job of combining GZG’s StarGrunt II with Too Fat Lardies’ B’Maso!. Both sides moved about using "blinds" to represent hidden movement.

The game was fairly low-key as far as action goes, though colonial warefare tends to bring out the worst in gamer trash talking; epithets like "savage", "pimp" and "honkey" flew like 7.62mm ammo, and this continued on the drive home.

Up to that morning, I had successfully evaded spending much on wargame goodies - the two sci-fi purchases on the top of my list either didn’t come to the convention or had not brought enough stock.

This changed after the game, when I began to search On Military Matters shelves for books on modern Africa as well as buying a Rhodesian Light Infantry shirt.

The last two weeks have seen me hunting down reprints of the Osprey Africa Wars books, digging out a book read two years ago on the South African 32 Battalion, acquiring Chris Cocks’ Rhodesian memoir Fireforce and roundly cursing Mark K. (aka Clambo) for starting this little landslide in my gaming world.

Thanks buddy.

And now, if you will excuse me, I have an order of AK47 miniatures going in to Peter Pig. Ω