Em vs Scott: Modern play-by-post miniatures game!

[josta59]

This is a very exciting moment for our little forum. I think it's been about six years since any of us played a head-to-head, play-by-post game with real miniatures. Well, we're finally gonna try one again!

Em and I will be trying out the recently published modern rules called Wars of Insurgency, by my neighbor Mike Demana for First Command Wargames, here in the Columbus area. (I was already really excited about these rules before I realized the author lives near me.) I'll be running the game out of my basement, and I'll be as fair as I know how to be.

I've picked a scenario from the book One-Hour Wargames, by Neil Thomas. It's scenario 10, called "Late Arrivals." There's nothing historic about this scenario. Think of it like our Tank on Tank games, which aren't based on any actual actions in WWII.

Here's the scenario, and Em, I'm happy to let you decide which army you'd like to play:

Situation
A portion of the Blue army is making a stand against the advancing Red force. The Blue general hopes that reinforcements will arrive in time to repel the enemy.

Army sizes
Both armies have 6 units. [I plan to make them teams of 5, + 1 leader, for a total of 31 soldiers per side. All troops will be of regular quality.]

Deployment
The Blue army deploys 2 units in the southern 2/3 of the table and/or in the wood.
No Red units are deployed at the start of the game.

Reinforcements
Turn 1: Red army: all 6 units enter via the road on the northern table edge.
Turn 5: Blue army: 2 units arrive from the southern table edge.
Turn 10: Blue army: 2 units arrive from the southern table edge.

Special rules
The hill is impassable.
Add 2" for movement along the road.
10mm figure conversion: Subtract 1" for all distances mentioned in the rules.

Game length and turn order
This scenario lasts 15 game turns. The Red player goes first in each turn.

Victory conditions
Victory is secured by occupying the town at the end of the game.

Scenario map

The town is in the southeast corner. The northeast section is woods. The hill is on the west side.

[josta59]

Already got the table set up. Gotta love this modular table.

[Whiterook]

Excellent!!! I'm very excited about this and thanks for GMing

I'll play Blue (...thank you for allowing me first choice of sides)

Please set up one unit in the woods...edge facing road; and the other unit and leader in the town, behind left most small building.


....I'm curious....what's the dimensions of the fill dio?

[josta59]

Awesome. It's 24" x 30".

[josta59]

Deployment phase complete. Em's patrol team looks out from the edge of the open woods (light concealment, medium cover)...



...while his commander confers with another team in someone's back yard (no LoS to the road).



One of the trickiest things about playing a skirmish game long distance, especially with single-based figures, is guessing how you want your formations to line up. I'll always try to allow as many figures as possible to have line of sight to a target, unless you tell me differently.

Turn 1 coming up next. Remember that I always have initiative in this scenario. This would be a good time to decide which team you want to activate first, but be sure to keep it a secret until it's time. Also remember that your leader can change the activation order when his team activates.

[Whiterook]

Got'chya!

NOTE: If you want to start a thread in the Logistics area, I can delete and post the following there, so as not to clog up this game thread. I have other questions, too

Hey, I am on page 16 of the rules....Combat. I am totally confused with something:

Fourth paragraph; talks about when AD fall below 1 (e.g., 0, or -1) after modifiers are applied. The examples make no sense to me. Keep in mind that I suck at math, even simple math, so that doesn't help....so speak to me like I'm a near-idiot.

I think part of the confusion is with the wording, '....additional AD' for each pip below an actual 1AD. That implies it's added to a given number. So if "0" is one less that 1AD: You are really just rolling one die; or you are adding one die to *something* else (...if it's the latter, what is that 'something'?)

So in example one in the rules: If a Regular Infantry with small arms, that normally rolls 2 AD with no modifiers....but with a -2 modifier applied, that would result in a roll of "0". That '0' is -1 below a 1 AD. How does that equate to rolling 2 AD dice now?

.....did they use the minimum you could possibly roll for 1 AD (totally discounting type of figure) and add the negative result (see bold, previously)? That's the only way I can figure it by the example given. I have noted the designer doesn't use the most precise verbiage throughout the book, so maybe it's just not the way I look at it

The other example is totally FUBAR to me, as well....but I'll get to that after.

[josta59]

Oh yes, in my copy I underlined the phrase "beyond effective range." I suspect the author had originally intended to allow non-professional figures to fire beyond effective range, with a penalty. See the range table, which lists effective and professional ranges. But the rules as published never say that non-professionals can fire beyond effective range. I think that was removed, but they forgot to remove or modify the paragraph you indicated.

Also, that paragraph comes right after the one about spreading fire with a machine gun. And in that situation, you actually would subtract attack dice, which could cause your attack to fall below 1 AD.

So I think that paragraph would only apply when attacking with a machine gun, and maybe also if a moderator decides to allow firing beyond effective range. For our game, we can ignore that whole paragraph.

No need to start a new thread. I prefer to have this all in one place.

[Whiterook]

I think I understand that....but my question was on how in the first example, the designer comes up with 2.

My question was: 'So in example one in the rules: If a Regular Infantry with small arms, that normally rolls 2 AD with no modifiers....but with a -2 modifier applied, that would result in a roll of "0". That '0' is -1 below a 1 AD. How does that equate to rolling 2 AD dice now? Wouldn't that mean 1 die to be rolled, since '0' is one below one attack die?

[Whiterook]

I think I understand that....but my question was on how in the first example, the designer comes up with 2.

My question was: 'So in example one in the rules: If a Regular Infantry with small arms, that normally rolls 2 AD with no modifiers....but with a -2 modifier applied, that would result in a roll of "0". That '0' is -1 below a 1 AD. How does that equate to rolling 2 AD dice now? Wouldn't that mean 1 die to be rolled, since '0' is one below one attack die?

Re-reading this for the ump-teenth time, I think the second example clarifies it (but badly):

• Militia with small arms normally rolls 1;
• The modifiers applied bring you down to -1, which is 2 less than one AD;
• ...so you add 1 actual, and the 2 additional dice, to equal 3 dice rolled.

That would mean he had a typo in the first example, which should have been three dice rolled, not two.


....oh, and I got the effective range thing....that wasn't the crux of my confusion; it was the modifier resulting and how that added up to the result. The lynchpin word I am seeing now is, 'additional'. I think the designer adds the modifier's result to the original AD designation (2 AD for Regular Infantry with small arms)

[josta59]

Turn 1 begins with my first team arriving and moving 9" on the road. They nearly pass Em's team in the woods when they finally realize they're being watched.

I fire 5 shots using 2 AD each.

1st attack: 2d6 = 3,4 for 1 hit.

Em's save roll: 4d6 = 2,2,2,3, man down.

2nd attack: 2d6 = 1,3, no hits.

3rd attack: 3,5 for 1 hit.

Save roll: 1,4,1,5, saved.

4th attack: 2,5 for 1 hit.

Save roll: 2,4,6,4, saved.

5th attack: 5,1 for 1 hit.

Save roll: 1,5,5,5, saved.