TSSD US Soldier to Lead W. Britains into Battle

On Sunday, I had the brilliant idea to test the use of white glue as a primer on plastic figures, and what better place to try it than with my TSSD US infantry. I was smart and chose just one.

The undiluted glue went on easily enough, although it was a little bit of effort to get it into all of the cracks and crevices. When dry (nope, sorry, no pictures), it gave the figure a sheen of protective PVA. 

Monday night, I decided to paint the figure, start to finish. The paint went on easily and, once dry, seems to stick well. When it's wet, well, it definitely came off more easily - every time I accidentally brushed against a wet part, the paint came off right down to the PVA. 

It only took the bulk of the night to learn that lesson. But he's done now, and I'm rather happy with him. I think a protective PVA top coat is probably in order.

Here he is, with a Britain:

Are you sure this is Utah beach?

A more "serious" composition:

Only tangentially related: about two weeks ago now, I decided to switch up my setup once again. 

It will be hard to be more low budget than this: the surface is a 3' x 4' Elmer's brand tri-fold display board (corrugated cardboard), the forests are construction paper and the hills are scrap cardboard. 

Don't worry, I'm not giving up on my Seussian trees (although I may try a new paper tree), I just didn't feel like carrying them downstairs when I played this game of Nuts! 2.0:

My squad in the foreground. Russian PEFs clumped to the left. 

OK, that Russian horde looks a touch ludicrous in that little patch of forest, but it was still fun!

I realize this is very much a love it or hate it affair. 

Me? I love it!

This actually looks a lot like I had been picturing my ideal setup in my head. Not a thing realistic about it - it screams "game with toys." And that's pretty much what I've been striving for. 

The hills are what make it for me I think; they are completely absurd. I think when the trees are in place, it'll be even better.

It took me awhile to get here, but I got here!

The Dungeon Beneath Trelleborg : Session 1

The party consisted of a halfling, elf, magic-user, cleric and fighter.

The magic-user attempted to recruit some street urchins for the role of torch bearer or porter, but the offer he made was abysmal (his below average charisma didn't help) and the result was that the urchin spread the message to avoid working for this guy. 

This would prove to be unnecessary.

The party left Gorgoroth in the pre-dawn hours to make the half-day journey to Trelleborg. 

Upon arriving and doing a brief reconaissance of the only standing structure remaining, the party entered the old tower - and the magic-user promptly fell into a covered pit trap and died. (Malieger T. Borias, we hardly knew ye) The party learned a valuable lesson in caution. And then looted his body by lowering the halfling into the pit several times, leaving the body for the rats.

He was replaced by a promising fighter.

They explored much of the tower and found a trap door down into the dungeon, but opted to postpone a descent, until they had secured the tower. This lead to a brief encounter with some goblinoids, who looked a lot like this:

http://necr0w.deviantart.com/art/corpsepaint-II-129752482

The aforementioned promising fighter was run through with a yari and died before the elf had a chance to cast Sleep and take out the entire group of goblin-y creatures.

A debate ensued as to whether or not to burn them all alive while they slept wake them all and then burn one while forcing the others to watch, and other such tactical considerations. In the end, they decided to go Reservoir Dogs, sort of, and cut the ear off one of the underlings, to try and get the leader to talk, but really, he couldn't have cared less and he just laughed.

Still, he had been shamed by the encounter, and so, requested permission to die honorably by his own hand (sepuku). The party agreed, in exchange for information, and then, the information obtained, promptly left the ruins, leaving the goblinoid leader (and underlings) bound and alive, to face his shame, and whatever should come along and find them.

On the return trip, the party spotted a procession of creatures in hooded black robes headed toward the ruins. They smartly avoided any contact and made it back to the village later in the evening.

A Player's Guide to Gorgoroth

Tonight, I kick off my B/X mini-mega-dungeon campaign at a local game shop, so nearly every spare minute the past few weeks has been dedicated to preparing for it (the problem with creating a dungeon with multiple connections between different levels is that you never know where the players might end up, even in the first session, so there's a LOT of prep to do up front. Basically it's a small-scale sandbox.)

Below is the contents of a document I prepared for the players, to introduce them to the base town, located a stone's throw from the dungeon. I thought a travel guide style would be fun to attempt - I didn't want to eliminate the need for some exploration of the town/village but at the same time, i thought there were some basics the characters would have already become familiar with.

Gorgoroth

Population: 500ish

Government Officials: Sheriff Arnax and Deputy Gygenson,  by appointment of the town council

Background

Located just south of the foothills of the Towering Mountains of the Thunder Wrestler, and east of the Tanaelva River, is the quiet town of Gorgoroth. Despite being the northernmost settlement in the region, Gorgoroth regularly welcomes outsiders, who come to purchase or barter for its quality wood, sustainably harvested from the surrounding forests, and for casks of the finely crafted beers of the Haunted Keep Brewery.

Surrounded by a wooden palisade, Gorgoroth’s wattle and daub construction is supplemented by exquisite stone buildings, like Draka’s tower, the Shrine of the Punishing Ox, and the renowned Haunted Keep Brewery.

Visitors used to a certain level of sophisticated quality will find their needs best met at the Shining Sparrow bed & breakfast, in Upper Gorgoroth, while for the more budget conscious traveler, The Mournful Phoenix in lower Gorgoroth is the place to go. Your host, Burzum, and his wife Gertrude will make your stay a delight as they serve you some of the most amazing meals for little coin.

Sights to see:

Gar Draka’s tower - The beautiful stone work alone is worth the visit, but it is also home to a sage of some renown, Gar Draka. Known for his work in botanical studies, his time is quite valuable, so appointments are required and should be made with his assistants.

Shrine of the Punishing Ox - Sanctioned by the Bishop of the Cathedral of the Iron Tiger in Hedeby, the shrine is maintained by Sister Ingrid, by permanent appointment. The massive white granite statue of Lord Ox is said to grant blessings to all who pray at it.

The Ruins of Trelleborg  - Located on a rocky crag in the foothills about half-a-day away, we advise all visitors to Gorgoroth to avoid the ruins of this borderland fort at all cost, given its history of evil and the tragedy of The Last Garrison. The ruins are best viewed from a distance in bright daylight.

The Haunted Keep Brewery -Open for business year round, visitors can sample Black Dougal Stout, Gary Sent Us Pale Ale, and Silverleaf Pilsner. Nestled in a woods on Morgan’s Creek, the brewery is one of the oldest buildings in Gorgoroth.

One of those Revelations That Happen Every So Often

I posted this picture yesterday on G+ - noting that I might have a small addiction now to W. Britain figures.

Other awesomeness in the picture: a d20 stamper, Wally Simon's Solo Secrets of Wargame Design and Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad #1.

In addition to the soldiers pictured (all birthday presents), I have a US MG crew and 3 more infantry en route (also b-day gifts).

I think I am most surprised by how much I love playing even the simplest scenarios with them (I've played a few tests of some rules I'm tinkering with). 

Maybe because they were gifts? Maybe because they're Britains? Maybe because it feels like I'm tapping into the same inspiration that brought forth Little Wars?

When I began miniature gaming some 7 or so years ago, I used unpainted plastic cheap army men. This was followed by home-made 1" counters (for Adventures in Jimland), and  finally unpainted 54mm plastic cowboys and Native Americans for some 1st ed. Six Gun Sound action.

I had a blast with all of that, but I kept seeing the pictures in blogs, and TMP and other places of painted forces, so when I moved into WWII, I decided to go to 1/72, and slighlty later, for Victorian Sci-Fi, 15mm, painting the figures seemed the obvious choice,  in both cases.

It's been a love-hate relationship with painting ever since. It is, mostly, relaxing. I find it enjoyable to research uniform colors and try to come up with something close. It's satisfying to paint a complete unit and see them arrayed before me on the table. 

But it is not quick, not for me.

If miniature painting was my hobby, this would be of no concern. After all, if painting is why you are doing it, then if it takes a long time, who cares? That's the most enjoyable, fulfilling and satisfying part. When you are finished, you admire it, and then paint the next figure that strikes your fancy. 

But painting has at best only been half of the equation. For me, it's the game that matters, at least equally, and generally, more so.

(to be sure, I could break "the game" into at least three components: research, rules tinkering, and playing, but let's keep this on point)

The inevitable delay between inspiration and the time the force takes the table means a waning enthusiasm , which makes the continued painting necessary a chore, not an enjoyable respite from chores, until the enthusiasm returns. But who is to say when or if it will return?

Witness so many gamers with partially completed forces tucked away in shoeboxes for projects that might never see the light of day.

I don't know why pre-painted figures (either from the manufacturer or others) never really occurred to me. But now that I have experienced the joy of getting the mail and being able to field a painted unit that night, I will expand my pre-painted forces.

Put down your pitch forks, please, I'm not abandoning painting. 

For one, I don't want my other 1/32 figures to feel badly about themselves when fielded with the Britains! 

Second, even painted plastic isn't cheap - this is not a grand scale approach, but rather, something to increase my enjoyment of the hobby when I can take advantage of it.

And, I do enjoy painting, for all of the reasons I listed above.

But, I can field units easily this way (we only have so much time to do the things we want to, do we not?), thus allowing me to spend that time on other things - like scenery construction, rules tinkering, research, painting figures (wait? what? Yes, but I can paint less of them!) and of course, actual gaming.

How to Host a Dungeon Changed My Life

photo "borrowed" from Planet Thirteen Games.

The other day (week), I had a life-changing experience.

That sounds a little dramatic.

What I mean is, I had a paradigmatic shift in my approach to thinking about dungeon design, all thanks to How to Host a Dungeon, from Planet Thirteen.

I picked this up when I ordered The Purple Worm Graveyard because 1)it's about dungeons (duh, do you need a better reason?) and 2)it's a solitaire game. I was powerless to resist it.

In brief: the game starts with the land in a pre-dungeon state and takes it through several ages, from construction to manipulation to the arrival of The Big Bad and beyond if you desire. The resulting map and history can then be used to create a dungeon for use with your favorite RPG.

So, what exactly was so great about it?

For one, I rarely draw dungeons from the side-view (like the example of the Haunted Keep's levels in Moldvay Basic) but there is an obvious benefit for starting there - it's easy to see how the levels physically relate to each other and where the connections might be.

Second, it reaffirmed the benefit of something I've been doing lately: drawing maps on blank paper. The lines aren't perfect and the dimensions aren't precise(that can be hand waived as "settling" and such) but, importantly, it frees you from the stiff linear nature of graph paper. The resulting look can be more organic or in my case, it looks like the levels were constructed by drunken dwarves.

Finally, the game gave me a real sense of the history of the place. This is the part that really gets me excited.

Knowing why each level was constructed, it's easier for me to produce a traditional top-down map: I know what features to include on each level. I also know what may have survived from the earliest days of the dungeon, and what has likely been overlaid/built-upon/destroyed by successive generations of inhabitants. When I felt like sketching a few additional levels, i found it easy to justify their existence into the whole story.

The best part? I only completed the first two "Ages" of the dungeon and my brain was off and running! This is absolutely worth checking out if you're into solitaire games and/or dungeon settings.

Will this have any benefits at the table? I'll find out soon enough, as I'm going to be running a dungeon-based campaign (I'm calling it a "mini mega-dungeon campaign", an idea taken from Dyson's Delve) in this dungeon in less than 2 weeks.

Friday Night Tank Ambush

In an effort to bring my new panzerfaust team into the action again, I decided to play a variation of Scenario 2 from the Nuts! 2.0 rulebook:

The Soviets had to get across the board and I, playing the Germans, had orders to stop them.

I looked at the options for the original scenario and decided the Soviets would field one T-34/76 with tank riders, and then roll on the reinforcements table for their other unit - and they got a second tank.

Tank riders.

I used the small playing area again and changed movement to multiples of 5". I also couldn't find the stone walls for the farm house, so I made do with dungeon tiles:

I had my infantry laying in wait to flank the armor.

The Soviets were cautious and it took a long time for them to move up. When it came time for the first In-Sight, I decided to use the CR3 In-Sight test, rather than the Nuts! 2.0 method.

I don't know if it was me or  what, but the game never felt right. I really like CR3, so I think the mechanism is pretty sound.

In large part, i think, it was because I hadn't played the rules in awhile and had to look so many things up - especially for the armor.

There was one high point. My panzerfaust took out a tank! :

I played for well over an hour before I finally called the game - things were not going well for the Germans - what you can't see below is that the bottom T-34 had wiped out my LMG team with it's co-ax MG. A few more turns and the Soviets would make it off the table, or reinforcements could arrive, prolonging the conflict and I was out of time:

The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything : W. Britain's Toy Soldiers!

Today, I turn 42, hence the post title. Hard to believe - in fact, it's probable that I actively resit believing it!

My girlfriend surprised me with the Wehrmacht Panzerfaust Team from W. Britain - a birthday present I was allowed to open on Friday:

I couldn't let their arrival go unheralded, but I had no scenario in mind, nor did I have any idea what rules I'd use. So, I basically played this scenario, but this time, I controlled the Germans and brought some more toys into the mix.

For rules, I used Featherstone's simple WWII rules from War Games: Battles and Manoeuvres with Model Soldiers (I have the John Curry reprint), rather than DHC7B, because I'm rusty with the latter, while the former is brain-dead simple. 

Feathersone uses 10-figure companies in the book, so, you could say that it was 1 company per side. In my head this was a platoon or company as much as it was individuals - something I think Featherstone's, and other old-school individual figure rules support, even if unintentionally.

The German OOB:
1 Kublewagen w/MG
1 Sd.Kfz. 251 w/MG + carrying one Anti-tank squad
1 10 figure unit of infantry

The Soviet OOB:
2 x T-34/76
1 10 figure unit of infantry

The kitchen table was off limits, and since the arrival of a puppy in our household a few months ago, my cat, Pumpkin, has been taking her meals on my table, so space was at a premium. I broke out two sheets of squared green poster board and squeezed it onto my table between the cat-food and the hobby supplies.

I modified the measurements in the rules to be multiples of 5" so I could use the grid to speed measuring.

Here are some pics of the battle:

This is after turn 1 I think - both sides made it onto the table.

The new guys ride in style. Jake the Dog is photo-bombing!

If it wasn't for those damn woods, the Sdk's MGs could have wiped those Ruskies from the table.

Fire fight in the Seussian Forest!

The triumph and tragedy of war.

Don't ask what my plan was with the kubelwagen was, it was't a good one. Clearly.

A rather ignominious debut for the panzerfaust crew. The grey dice represent the saving throws for the two Germans. A 5 or 6 was needed.

End of game.

It was not a good day for the Germans, to say the least.

 My plan to have the panzerfaust team flank the tanks behind a screen of infantry was an epic failure. That screen was decimated and the crew raced back to the road to disembark the transporter in hopes of getting at least one shot at the lead tank, at which point they were mowed down by some Soviet SMG-armed troops. 

In retrospect, I'm not sure why they I didn't just have them shoot from the Sd.Kfz.

On the last turn played, the transporter was the only thing in the way of the Soviet's exit - I had one infantryman left, and a lot of good he'd do me without any anti-tank weapons, so, I conceded the battle to my worthy opponent: myself.

Black Streams : Solo Heroes : A Review

Scarlet Heroes RPG by Kevin Crawford seems to be the darling Kickstarter of the OSR at the moment. And with good reason, I think: it addresses an issue that is not at all uncommon, 1 player with 1 GM.

At least, it's not all that uncommon for me; most of my RPG-life I have GM'd for one or two players. Indeed, in March, I will be running a game for one PC, and my most recent home game was just two PCs.

Now, I haven't pledged my support yet, but I've checked out Black Streams : Solo Heroes, a freebie from Mr. Crawford, and, as I understand it the concepts from it appear in Scarlet Heroes. And what concepts they are!

As promised in the copy, no change is needed to the character sheet, no change of the basic mechanics of your favorite rules set. What he changes is how you use the numbers and how damage is delivered to PCs vs how it is delivered to NPCs/Monsters - and the result is staying power for your 1st level PC even when outnumbered or the victim of poor dungeon delving skills that result in setting off traps.

I can see how this would be useful for using pre-published adventures, where adjusting the size or strength of the encounter would weaken its impact (as opposed to a GM-created adventure that takes the lone PC into account from the very beginning). It also allows for the creation of a different kind of low-level adventure.

If you are committed to the idea that the game is one of nobodies struggling and dying on their way to fame, fortune and hero status, Solo Heroes might cause you some shock.

Why?

Because, now, your 1st level PC can take on 4 skeletons at once and make a good showing of it. The PC isn't a nobody in armor, but an individual better suited to the adventuring life than that. They are a hero of sorts at the outset, in the sense that they are able to withstand blows that would kill another quite easily. For some, this is blasphemy of the highest order.

But, in a one PC game, I'm not sure this is all bad.

While I don't particularly care if a PC I'm playing bites it, character frailty at low-levels does make extended campaign play with a single PC difficult. It also makes playing a Conan or other solitary hero almost impossible. And I know that not everyone is so flippant about their character's survival.

The real benefit to using Solo Heroes, is that it doesn't increase the class abilities of the PC in any way as a side-effect of increasing PC longevity.

Your 1st level Magic-User STILL has just one first-level spell to work with that adventuring day and no more than 7 HP (in the unlikely event they get the  +3 CON bonus). Your 1st level thief is still barely more competent than the average street urchin. Your 1st level cleric has no spells (assuming you're playing B/X as written).

So, you still have the fun of leveling up and gaining power but your risk of dying before you ever see any kind of growth is mitigated. Compare that to the experience you might have if you start your PC at 4th level in order to ensure their survival in a low-level dungeon.

From a solitaire player's perspective, it allows the player to run/identify with a single character instead of having to play an entire party. In essence, it increases the opportunity for deeper role-play in a solitaire game , if that's something you desire.

So, yes, I'll be backing the Kickstarter. If you're unsure it's for you, I highly recommend downloading Solo Heroes though - it's free and usable right away.

Say What? Alignment Languages.

I've been thinking about whether or not to use alignment languages in my upcoming B/X mini mega-dungeon campaign. I mean, let's face it, they aren't listed as an optional rule, but they are among the first things dropped or forgotten.

Without doing any actual research, other than reading other blogs, it seems the alignments arise from the assumption that the game world is one that is embroiled in a struggle between the forces of Law and Chaos. All are soldiers in this great war, with the Neutral folks either being wishy-washy, fence sitters or universal harmony types. 

Alignment languages, therefore, allow those on the same side to communicate despite language barriers that arise from differences in geography, species or even plane of existence.

This is rather important when coordinating a war effort on such a grand scale.

If you're playing a fantasy war game with a little bit of role-playing, it's a nice way to justify how you can have a crazy mix of races in a single coordinated army. If you drop the war game aspect, but maintain the existence of this conflict as an important aspect of the world player characters operate in, then it is still important for the same reason.

But what if your focus is the rags-to-riches by-the-blood-on-your-sword story of individuals? There's no universal conflict in which the PCs are actors.  There is no epic struggle of Law vs. Chaos, just survival in the face of an uncaring universe.

This raises the question, why have alignments at all?

Perhaps they are residue of a previous conflict? Or maybe, more likely, as someone somewhere suggested, they are an out-of-game mechanism for a character's in-game conscience (personally, I love that justification of the alignments).

However, I suspect that most GMs don't drop alignments, only the languages.

But, the alignment languages can still be useful for the very same reason they're useful in a grand war of ideology: they remove linguistic barriers. A party of humans with average intelligence scores who know no other additional languages but have a member of each alignment can communicate with just about any intelligent (as defined in a humanocentric way) creature they meet!

Unfortunately, the details of the languages seem absurd. In particular, if you change alignments, you immediately forget the old language and know the new one. The only justification I can come up with for this is a divine intervention of some kind. And that works if your world is a battleground for the forces of Law and Chaos, because the gods probably care one way or another. 

But I'm pretty sure the gods in my game world don't give a rats butt, because the conflict ISN'T a great war, but a personal struggle. They exist, they occasionally reward their followers, but mostly they're concerned with their own goals and interests.

So, i'm torn: 

I can reject the languages wholesale, which I think takes away an opportunity for players (even if it's one they might not miss) or I can try to come up with a better mechanism to handle the effect an alignment change has on the language, because you know if I don't, it'll surely come up.

Paint Table Saturday (#2): Late Again

I didn't actually DO any painting on Saturday, although I did take this photo of what's on my table and awaiting cleanup/prep:

Zvezda Dragoons of Peter I

I plan to complete the two riders and horses on the right before the end of February, but we'll see.

On Friday night, I finished up the six Swedish infantry that were in the background last week: 

Zvezda Swedish infantry of Charles XII

FYI, my definition of "finished" does not include basing!

January 2014 Updates

This is one of those updates where I just lump everything together: role-playing, wargaming, zine-ing, etc.

A scene from a favorite song on Adventure Time
It has nothing to do with this post.

• Of late, I've been working on issue #2 of 6 Iron Spikes & a Small Hammer as often as possible. I'm deep in editing and revising - I seriously feel that I have to step up my game to accompany the amazing artwork I received.

• The majority of my hobby time not spend on the zine has been spent on finishing a mere six Swedish infantry for the Great Northern War by 11:59 PM tonight. Clearly, there's no consequence if I don't, it's just something I want to do. As it is, I've had to revise my original painting plan, and allot 3 months for every 2 months of GNW painting goals.

• Inking in of the Ever Expanding Dungeon map continues. It's tedious, not difficult. Once done, I'll scan it and post it with each session summary and indicate where the action is taking place.

• I've tentatively scheduled the first game of an ongoing open table dungeon crawl campaign for my local meetup group for later in February. The dungeon is not one of my own design, but I still have prep work to do.

• Finally, the budget tally:

January Budget: $15.00

YTD Budget: $15.00

January Actual:  $37.35

• BMC Iwo-Jima 32 Piece Set 
• Britain's Kublewagen

YTD Actual: $37.35

So, as you can see, not a great start on the budget .On the other hand, if I don't buy anything in February (not counting any birthday funds I might receive), I'll be back on pace in March.

It looks like I have 28 really long days coming up!

Paint Table Saturday (just a day late)

So there's this community on over on G+ where people share what's on their painting table on Saturdays. 

I painted last night but then forgot to take a picture, so without further ado, here's what's on my painting table:

Most of my painting time last night was spent on the officer's sash - so frustrating! But he's done now.

I also slopped yellow paint on the Swedes in the background, and today I took a brief moment to touch up the three left-most of those figures - mostly adding the black lining for the yellow. They "just" need their coats, pistols, pikes, ammo pouch, straps, belts, and hat lace.

You may have noticed the primer flaking on the Russians. Don't even get me started on that.

Rising Sun: Operation Watchtower: The Goettge Patrol

Last night, I played the first scenario from Britton Publishers' "Rising Sun: Operation Watchtower", The Goettge Patrol.

***** Historical Background *****

The historical action took place on August 12, 1942. A small patrol consisting of Lt. Col. Frank Goettge, some 24 marines and a surgeon set out to land west of Matanikau where, according to a Japanese prisoner, there were soldiers in dire straights and willing to surrender. Originally intended as a combat patrol, Goettge had changed the mission to a humanitarian one - and this change caused excessive delay; the patrol did not depart until night had fallen.

Things went to Hell, thereafter. 

The Marines landed at the wrong spot. Their amtrac which had gotten stuck on a sandbar, had, according to some sources, alerted the Japanese to their presence. 

http://guadalcanal.homestead.com/

When Goettge and 2 marines made a reconnaissance patrol down a path into the jungle, they encountered Japanese soldiers, Goettge was shot and killed. 

The two Marines managed to escape back to the beach to join the main body of the patrol which would spend the rest of the moonless night being picked off one by one by the Japanese. 

http://guadalcanal.homestead.com/

Three men survived - two who had tried to reach the American lines to bring reinforcements (it was too late to save the patrol), and one who retreated into ocean to swim (4 miles!) back to the American lines, when he was the last man left.

***** The Set Up *****

The Britton Publishers scenario begins with the 2 squads of marines and a platoon HQ on the beach and a company of Japanese in the jungle making their way towards the marine position. The Japanese have 4 turns to eliminate the marines.

One key point, 4 turns is in terms of Britton's MicroMelee game for company level actions, which allows units 1-6 actions per "phase." Having no idea what this means, I decided on a 12 turn limit for David Newport's Tactical Combat WWII rules, which are my preferred company-level rules.

Tactical Combat, like, from what I have gathered, MicroMelee, uses 1 base per squad. However, it seems to me that, if you have the figures for it, you could play this 1:1 with Nuts! or Disposable Heroes or any other 1:1 set of rules. 

Britton provides a handy map of the table, which I duplicated to the best of my ability - although I reduced the table size to 3' x approximately 2' 33"  (the water is craft foam sheets that are 9" x 12").

I deployed my Marines in the center of the beach near the water's edge per the historical situation and then placed the Japanese by platoon, using a d6 1-2 = left, 3-4 = center, 5-6 = right. I placed the mortar squad with the company HQ in the same way.

Rather surprisingly, I ended up with the Japanese in a line from end to end - which almost never happens when I distribute forces by die roll.

MicroMelee has some sort of quality rating for each squad, so I translated that into Tactical Combat WWII terms.

The rifle squads range from TQR2-4 in MicroMelee, so, I interpreted that as Green to Elite in Tactical Combat WWII and then rolled a d6: 1-2 Green, 3-4 Average, 5-6 = Elite.

• Platoon A (right): 1st Squad: Elite, 2nd Squad: Average, 3rd Squad: Average
• Platoon B (center): 1st Squad : Green, 2nd Squad: Elite, 3rd Squad: Average
• Platoon C (left): 1st Squad: Average, 2nd Squad Elite, 3rd Squad: Green
• The mortar squad is Green.

The USMC squads are both Average.

The marines would start with fox holes dug, which would give them soft cover and force a +1 on the Japanese attack rolls  (in Tactical Combat WWII, the higher the number the worse the result when attacking).

Because the scenario is set at night, I decided that long range fire was at +2, normal to long range was at +1, and within one move was at +/- 0.

The marines couldn't see into the jungle and thus I wouldn't allow them to fire at the Japanese until the Japanese had moved onto the beach (if they did).

To control the Japanese, I set up the following:

• If they are out of range or no line of site, move up to range/LOS.
• At t long range, roll 1d6:
• 1-2 Fire
• 3-4 Light Mortars fire, all others advance 1 move
• 5-6 Advance 1 move
• In normal range but more than 1 move, roll 1d6:
• 1-2 Fire
• 3-4 Light Mortars fire, all others advance 1 move
• 5-6 Advance if Marines in cover, else Fire
• Within 1 move, roll 1d6:
• 1-2 Fire
• 3-4 Advance to close combat if enemy is paralyzed or suppressed, otherwise Fire
• 5-6 Advance to close combat

Although historically the Japanese didn't swarm the beach until the marines had been, to their knowledge, completely eliminated, that seemed really boring from a wargame perspective, hence why there's so much movement on those tables. 

Also, before the game started, I had decided that the Marines would sit tight and try to use their limited cover to increase their chance of survival, so I did not include an option where the Japanese would hold their action in order to use Opportunity Fire (only squads that do not activate/attempt activation can fire during their opponent's Movement phase).

The Japanese were the attackers, and so they would go first each turn. 

***** The Game *****

Turns 1 and 2 were simply advances made by the Japanese. The first move got them to the edge of cover, the 2nd allowed them to break out onto the beach. Marine rifle fire from the squad on the right managed to suppress a Japanese squad (B1, right most squad, center platoon).


Turn 3 saw more rifle fire exchanges.

In Turn 4 the first Japanese squads charged in for close combat. The marines made a strong showing and beat back the attacker with minor injury. Turn 5, they continued the close assaults, supported by fire from some of the squads.

Unable to hold out against the continued onslaught, by the end of Turn 5, the USMC squad on the left is driven back into the shallows of the water.

Still, they fought on despite having 2 hits (3 eliminates the stand), and in Turn 6, they took out the 1st Japanese squad.

The Marine squad on the right, which started the turn in perfect health was completely destroyed by the close assaults.

On into Turn 7, the Marine squad defended against attack after attack - eliminating THREE Japanese squads before finally succumbing to the superior numbers.

***** Thoughts on the Battle *****

I made it past the half-way point, and took out 4 Japanese rifle squads and 1 Japanese platoon HQ, so I don't feel too badly about my performance here.

If I were to play this again, with the same distribution of Japanese platoons evenly across the table, I would hold my Marines until the Japanese had committed, and then sweep out to one or the other side, to flank them. 

The idea would be to buy time by distancing my squads from the bulk of the Japanese force and limit the number of enemy squads that could engage them. Continued motion, rather than staying in any one spot, might increase the chance of survival.

Close combat, with the fox hole defensive advantage, slight as it was, may have extended the life of the Marines. That advantage would be lost if I used the fight-move-fight method above. But, the right Marine squad had two hits and won 3 rounds of close combat in turn 7 before being eliminated, so I'm not convinced that cover advantage meant all that much.

I lucked out that the Japanese mortar stand was useless - I rolled 9s and 10s every time it attacked.

Had it struck home it would have been disastrous for the Marines. 

Before I remembered it was night, I had planned to use it to lay down smoke, to give the advancing infantry some cover, but that was of no advantage at night and even if it had been day, it would only provided limited cover as it was just one single mortar stand. A handful of stands might make a big difference however in a daylight battle.