Strike Force One

 Recently on the Wargames Developments WhatsApp group the subject of Strike Force One came up. This was first produced in 1975 by SPI as an introduction to (board) wargaming and they used to give it away free at conventions etc. Hilariously it is still in use today on professional (as in DoD etc) wargaming courses in the USA, where the students are introduced to the basic game and then modify it for Cyber, drones, chem etc. One of my WD colleagues was involved in some of the chat about modelling chemical weapons, and some of the others were a bit disparaging about how simple it was etc. 

Anyway, I'd completely forgotten I own it, but of course it was given away free with Nicky Palmers 1977 book "Comprehensive Introduction to Board Wargaming", a book I read cover to cover at the time. Nicky Palmer also took part in the definitive two part series replay of 'Third Reich' in the AHGC General along with Marcus Watney, from which I learned a few more interesting strategies. I was fortunate enough to play a few games with Marcus in later years.

Anyway, I digress. I did play Strike Force One a few times in the 1970s and then forgot about it. After the chat on the group, I just had to give it another go.

It really is pretty minimal, ten counters, four turns but a surprisingly comprehensive set of rules as it has to explain in some detail concepts like CRTs, 'moving adjacent' (aka Zones of Control) etc. There is a page or so of advanced rules which include things like stacking and more advanced terrain effects.

The game is set in  a hypothetical WW3 invasion of West Germany with four US companies facing six Soviet ones. The Russians have four turns to capture two of the three towns.

The initial setup is fixed. ZOCs are sticky and in the basic games woods are impassable - lets assume everyone is mechanised and these are dense forests. Units can only stack one per hex, movement is four hexes and every unit has the same combat value. The CRT is pretty brutal, a 2:1 only gives a 50% chance of success and most results are retreats. A single 'Defender Eliminated' appears at 3:1, so most eliminations will be by forcing retreats on units which cant - due to ZOC, stacking or blocking terrain.

The Russians swarm unit X at 3:1 and push it back. This exposes unit Y to encirclements next turn if it doesn't do something. Combat between adjacent units isn't mandatory btw, but ZOC stop all movement and retreat.

The US try a 1:1 counterattack and manage to roll AE! that isn't good. They push Z forward to protect Y southern flank (it is on an objective).

The defence collapses spectacularly in concentric attacks. One Russian pins A in the village at the top.

By turn 4 it is a complete wipeout. 

OK, that was good to remind myself of the rules. I need to be much more canny with the US and make use of the blocking terrain to channel attacks so they are only at 2:1 or worse. Unfortunately the initial setup is fixed so X is always going to get attacked at 3:1.

On the next run the US did a bit better, and ended the game losing but with half their units and one village in hand.

Next game ended up much the same. I seem to recall the attacker having a much easier time of it when I used to play, but some of the people on BGG seem to think it is more balanced game, so I'm either a brilliant Russian or useless US player.

I thought I'd give it a go with the advanced rules. Woods cost 2MP but combat strength defending is doubled in them. Units can also stack two per hex. The US weathered the first attack, abandoned the centre and then occupied a lot of woods. The ZOCs block access to the villages and the defending units are doubled in the woods, and they all have open retreat routes. This is a much tougher position for the Sovs to attack. 

The Russians focussed on the north and managed to drive the US out of the woods (at 2:1 with four units) and then the village.

I'm not quite sure how the US managed to both lose a unit and get another surrounded! I must have made another mistake.

With two villages in the bag, the Sovs just put ZOC on the last US units to keep them bottled up.

That was actually kind of fun and an interesting blast from the past. I think it is very funny that serious people are still playing this, but I can see how it is a simple framework you could add chrome to - rather like the Neil Thomas One Hour rules.

There is plenty of stuff about it on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5960/strike-force-one-the-cold-war-heats-up-1975 and you can always download it from the SPI games archive should you feel the inclination.

Chickamauga September 1863

 Time to try out my minor revisions to my version of Neil Thomas's ACW rules with the Zoom gang. This time we are off to Tennessee in 1863. After being forced out of Chattanooga, Braggs Army of Tennessee retreated across the mountains towards Atlanta.  Rosencrans pursued with the Army of the Cumberland, but became dispersed crossing the mountain passes. Bragg laid a trap and concentrated his forces to defeat Rosencrans in detail. The Union rushed to concentrate their forces along the Chickamauga Creek as Bragg struck.

This scenario is based on the one in the excellent Volley and Bayonet ACW scenario book. I've played it solo before but never with actual players.

Battlefield from the south, you can see the Chickamauga meandering through the woods. The woods are dense but the creek is fordable. There is a mill (Gordons Mill) in the southwest, which is presumably why the woodland peters out down there.

The CSA are coming on from the east and need to capture all the roads leading west and north as well as exhaust the Union army. The game lasts two days, six turns per day with an overnight segment.

Here is the table with the troops deployed. This is a BIG battle, and is using almost my entire collection of ACW infantry. The Union only start with four infantry divisions deployed and a couple of cavalry brigades, while most of Braggs army is already approaching the creek like a coiled spring.

Here is Braggs centre and right. I've colour coded the bases with dots for each corps and also marked the veteran and green units. Bragg didn't seem to believe in Corps integrity as the individual divisions are scattered all over the place. These are Hoods division (Longstreets Corps), Cheatham (Polks Corps), Forest and Walker. Bragg himself is just visible in the middle of his units.

John B is Bragg and also commands Hills and Walkers Corps. Tim has Polk and Buckners Corps while Jim has Longstreet and Forests Corps. Simon is joining on Wednesday and will take over Walker and Forest.

Cleburnes division (Hill) will enter during the day, while the other two arrive on the night of the 19th. Breckenridge (Hill) and Johnson (Longstreet).

Braggs left, heading towards the mill and the road exit at I1. This is Buckners Corps (Stewart and Preston) plus Hindman from Polks Corps. There are bridges and fords all over place. There are also quite a few hills, which can see over the woods, to a certain extent anyway.

Rosencrans left. You can just see Mintys cavalry brigade in the far distance, and on the nearby wooded ridge are 1 and 3 Division from XXIV Corps (Thomas). John A is Bragg and commands the overall Army and the cavalry. Micheal commands XIV Corps and XX Corps with Ian taking XX Corps on Wednesday.

Down at the mill we have Wilders mounted infantry brigade armed with Spencer repeaters! There are also 2 and 3 Div from XXI Corps (Crittenden). These are commanded by John for now with Mark taking over on Wednesday.

Marching to the rescue is this lot. No less than five more divisions. 2 and 4 Div from XIV Corps, 2 and 3 Div from XX Corps (McCook) and finally 1 Div from the Reserve Corps (Granger). Most of this lot march on along the southern road, but Granger will enter on the 20th in the north. Rosencrans is just visible on the end of the ridge at the top of the screen. From here he can see most of his army which will help with C3. 

Union traffic management could be interesting, but the horrible terrain in the north will delay the CSA.

The Union breakpoint is a mere 11 bases, rising to 21 as the various reinforcements turn up. The much bigger CSA Army starts with a BP of 19, rising to 25 as their reinforcements arrive. Bragg needs to strike hard and fast while he has the advantage. 

Right, to battle....

The action opened with Buckner and Polk (Tim) trying to sort themselves out a bit. The CSA pushed forward in the south, covered by their artillery on the hill as Polks stray division marched southeast to join them.  Stewart got as far as the hill behind the stream while Hindman took position in the treeline further south.

Hoods Texans moved aggressively west down the main road to keep Thomas's Corps busy, while Forest very appropriately moved into the middle of the woods. Braggs plan was to hit hard in the south, pin the centre and largely ignore the north until reinforcements arrived.  

Sadly this came unstuck when Stewart came under a storm of very accurate (lucky) fire which managed to knock a base off in one salvo, and they retired back behind the hill to recover. Rosencrans took the opportunity to push Wilders cavalry up onto the hill,  while Palmer marched up the road to hold the cavalry's vacated position.

Thomas' Corps in the north just took Hood under fire, but at long range and against cover, it was largely ineffective. The CSA responded with fire and managed to knock a few hits off various exposed Union units and Stewart rallied. Sadly Forest managed to dither, presumably lost in the forest.

In the northeast, Walkers reserve division marched north, presumably to clear away the Union cavalry. You can see the green dither marker on Forest. The players all seemed to find this very funny. Bragg had moved south to better control the southern attack, so Forest was no longer in immediate command distance and hidden in the trees.

The Union hung on tenaciously at Gordons Mill as reinforcements moved up the road from the southeast. Thomas was trying to unite the four divisions of his Corps, but unfortunately the road was blocked by Palmer, who chose this moment to dither. The firepower of the Wilders Spencer rifles came as a horrible surprise to the Confederates. Polk and Buckner seemed content to stand and shoot at long range in the south, whereas ideally they would have been closing in while the Union army was still deploying. 

Thomas (XIV Corps) by now had all four of his divisions in roughly the right place, but Jim was doing a great job of keeping them pinned with Hood and Forest. The latter had finally made his way to the treeline. Polk made a devastating attack on Wilder, inflicting no less than seven hits on the cavalry. Van Cleve had also had enough at Gibsons Mill and fell back, so Preston pushed west once again.

Both Gibson and Wilder fell as far back as they were able, and by now XX Corps (McCook) was able to support the defence of the mill, although there was a great traffic jam on the road behind. 2 Div (Johnson) involuntarily took up position behind the hill north of the mill as it dithered, although in fact the reverse slope was quite a good spot. Van Cleve failed to rally however.

Up in the north, Forest and Hood kept skirmishing with Thomas, neither side inflicting decisive losses, but the Confederates were tying up four divisions with two of their own!

Walker closed with Mintys cavalry who loosed off an ineffective volley into the forest.

With that we had to close for the night going into turn five. Unfortunately it was all taking longer than I'd hoped. A combination of the number of moving parts and player unfamiliarity with the rules which led to discussions on the various options. Maybe it will speed up tomorrow but I suspect not as we are into the 'dogfighting' stage of attrition, as Montgomery put it. 

Afternoon of the 19th saw more heavy fighting around the mill as Polk and Buckner threw their divisions forwards. The fresh XX Corps was in a decent position but still took heavy losses. Cheathams veterans hung on in the ccentre and combined with Hoods Texans, drove back Palmers inexperienced division in the centre.

In the north as night fell, the Confederates began to gain the upper hand. Although Thomas secured his right flank on the ridge, the left flank began to collapse as Palmer fell back and then Baird as the fire became too much. A dangerous hole opened up in the Union centre just as Walker finally finished off Mintys cavalry brigade after a successful bayonet charge which overran them.

Overnight, two more CSA divisions arrived and Polk assumed command of the southern wing of the Confederate Army and either dug rifle pits in place or extended the line. The Union just dug in, but Wilders cavalry finally rallied and moved back into line behind the stream. Palmer could have moved back into his old position but chose to dig in instead.

In the north Longstreet took over but both sides largely consolidated in place. Thomas rallied his Corps and dug in along and behind the ridge. You can just see the two CSA reserve divisions on the right, Breckenridge and Johnsons divisions.  Cleburne had already been allocated to Polk.

Hindman charged in the south and finally took Gibsons Mill, driving back the Union and capturing their artillery. In turn his division was destroyed by concentric fire by the Union troops entrenched in depth behind the bridge, but Breckenridge was now in place to exploit the bridghead. The entrenched CSA troops on the hill north of the mill held their positions and along with Cheatham, poured fire into the Union positions.

In the north Cleburne advanced due west and occupied the wood south of the ridge but was driven out again by fire. Walker cleared the road in the north and joined the extreme flank of the Confederate army. Thomas' Corps just hung on as best it could.

Breckenridge occupied the bridgehead again in the south while Longstreet pushed divisions forwards aggressively in the centre to exploit the gap in the Union lines.

Walker crossed the stream in the extreme north to flank Thomas, while Cleburne and Johnson held on to their foothold on an south of the ridge despite heavy fire.

In the south XX Corps was forced back from the river line, but Cleburne was also repulsed. This looked pretty much like the Confederate high water mark as losses were disproportionately mounting on the CSA side.

We were running short of of time and called it at that point. Although the Confederates had dented the Union line and inflicted heavy losses, I couldn't see them achieving their objectives in the time remaining but both sides declared honours even.

After a slow start, that actually went pretty well. I was very pleased with the rules tweaks as they all worked fine although there are still a lot of moving parts to manage. Actually running a game with people clarified some bits where I'd been unclear or made mistakes - in particular I got the sequence of morale tests in the charge sequence wrong, for which I apologise to the Union. Im minded to tone down the cover effect of dense woods, making them soft cover if you will, compared to Rifle pits etc. A break from Neil Thomas cover/not cover, but necessary I think. 

There was a certain desire expressed to try some more ACW battles, so I'll add the clarifications and tweaks to the rules and put on another game in due course.

A few more ACW bits

 With my recent re-visit to the ACW I reviewed some possible scenarios and the stuff I've currently got. I've basically got enough for most of the things I'm likely to want to do, but looking at the Volley and Bayonet 'Brandywine Creek' scenario it requires rather more cavalry than I currently have. Generally you don't need masses of cavalry for ACW battles, but this one is primarily a cavalry engagement, with a few infantry tagging along.

A couple of quick painting sessions produced these. This is still stuff left over from the Baccus ACW army set I picked up second hand some years ago. There are a few bits left in the bags now, but not much, so if I want to add anything else, I may have to actually buy something new!

First up we have some dismounted Confederate cavalry. I find these stands useful for both dismounted cavalry and also to add to infantry units to make up the numbers for larger sized units. I do have some more horse holder figures and horses too, but I didn't paint those up as I have enough.

These guys are in a mixture of kepis and broad hats, predominantly grey although I mixed in some browns too as I'm envisaging this unit being a bit raggedy.

And then another Confederate cavalry unit with four bases. Like the dismounted troops, also a mix of kepis and bigger hats, and I also did these in grey with some brown variations. I also added some yellow tops to some of the caps, which adds a spot of colour.

When I was putting them away, I  noticed that the grey on all these unis was a darker shade than on the existing ones, so I must have used a different shade before, but I'm not sure what. Sadly I'm not disciplined enough to write down the colours I use for everything. For Confederate ACW troops I don't think it matters too much.  

A couple of stands of Union dismounted cavalry. These are all in kepis and are more uniform than the CSA, with the usual dark blue jackets and sky blue trousers.

And another unit of Union cavalry, again all in kepis.

I've got enough stuff left for a few more bases of dismounts and another regiment of mounted, but tbh I think that is plenty of cavalry to be going on with. While I was in the box of ACW stuff, I also brightened up the Zouave stands as some of the them don't stand out that well on the tabletop. The miracle of Posca Paint Pens let me easily add some extra waist sashes, highlights on their caps and even some stripey trousers! If only I could make the Iron Brigade stand out more. The best I could manage was big brass badges on their hats, but they are largely invisible at normal gaming ranges. 

Invasion of the Balkans, April/May 1941

 After doing the 1940 French campaign, the next Unconditional Surrender scenario was the invasion of the Balkans and Greece in 1941. Not something I've gamed before at an operational level. This is another short campaign, rather like the the invasion of Denmark and Norway, with just two turns, but an awful lot of real estate to cover!

The starting setup. To win the Axis have to conquer both Yugoslavia and Greece by May 1941. The Yugoslav army is quite large and deployed to defend their key cities with three field armies and three garrison armies. Zagreb in particular is strongly defended and the critical rail route south via Belgrade and Nis is also directly defended.

The Greeks have a field army in Salonika and a garrison army facing the Italians on the Albanian border, while the 'BEF' start in central Greece barring the route to Athens. As usual, the very sticky ZOC do a lot of heavy lifting, the alternative would be three times as many counters.

The Axis are a mixed bunch, there are weak contingents of Hungarians and Bulgarians, while the best Italian units are in Albania, seriously handicapped by the awful terrain. The Italian unit in Trieste is just a garrison unit.

The Germans have four ground armies, two infantry and two panzer, plus a single Luftwaffe air fleet. One each of the panzer and infantry armies are in Bulgaria down on the Greek border, while the others are up in Hungary and Austria.

The Axis get lucky and roll fair weather (poor weather being rather more likely), so focus on trying to knock Yugoslavia out in April. The German infantry near the Brenner Pass attack Zagreb with air support and with multiple mobile attacks manage to push out and then destroy the Yugoslav defenders. 2WP to the Axis (they need six to conquer Yugoslavia). The Germans use the last of their movement to move down the valley but run out of steam.

The focus then shifts to Belgrade where 1st Panzer Group makes a frontal attack across the river with air support.

Both sides throw in a ground support unit, but it isn't enough and the Yugoslavs are forced out. Losing Belgrade is another 4WP so Yugoslavia surrenders and all the remaining combat units are removed. Despite surrendering the cities still count as Allied controlled and need to be occupied however, so 1st Panzer motors down the rail route and takes Nis although it doesn't have enough movement to reach Greece. Sarajevo and Split are still allied controlled at this point. 

The focus then shifts rapidly south to take advantage of the good weather. The Luftwaffe stages south to Bulgaria (leaving three sorties for operations). I don't even bother trying to attack the Greeks in the mountains along the Albanian border, as I think there is an opportunity to encircle them instead.

The German infantry attack Salonika with air support and force the Greeks there back into the peninsular as ZOCs preclude an escape westwards. A subsequent mobile attack forces them into the sea and they surrender. 3WP to the Axis, it takes 4WP for Greece to surrender - the only option is to take Athens.

Hard to spot, but the Hungarian and Italian units in the north have mopped up the Yugoslav cities, you can just see Sarajevo is in Axis control now. 2nd Panzer Group attacks the British near Thermopylae, but in the rugged terrain the attack is repulsed! The Germans attack again with the last of their air support and only succeed in forcing the British back. The Greeks on the the Albanian border can still (just) trace a supply line back to the road to Athens as ZOCS don't extend into friendly units for supply purposes. 

Apart from shuffling the Bulgarians around, the Axis have finished now. That would have been a very different proposition in bad weather, with more negative dice modifiers and no mobile attacks. I cant see Yugoslavia surviving, even in bad weather though, barring some good dice throws.

Due to the failure of 2nd Panzer Group in the mountains, the Allies have freedom of movement and set up a defence in depth of Athens with the Greeks holding the mountain passes and the BEF in Athens itself. I thought quite long and hard about that, the other obvious action would be to swap places, and looking at it now, possibly just put one unit in Athens and another on the single hex causeway to restrict the attack channel. Choices, choices.

The weather in May is clear too, this is the best possible set of weather results for the Axis. Given the very restricted front and distances involved, the attack on Athens will be undertaken by the Germans. 1st Panzer Group moves down from Yugoslavia to take on the Greeks - I want to save 2nd Panzer Group for Athens. The rough terrain imposes a heavy movement point cost on all these attacks.

1st Panzer manages to push back and destroy the Greeks (garrison units only have one step and out flanked and  unable to retreat, it is overrun). 1st Panzer could move next to Athens but doesn't have the MP left to attack it, so instead it leaves the approach hex open for 2nd Panzer. 

2nd Panzer goes in with the last German aircraft, plus ground support plus a paradrop (which gives another -2 on the defenders).

The British are driven out of Athens, pursued through Corinth and driven into the sea. Greece surrenders and the Axis win.

I wanted to try some different configurations of the defence of Athens. In this one the BEF defend in front of Athens, which gives them an extra retreat route. This leaves the city open to a paradrop, which has a 50% chance of taking the city. On my first try, the Axis paras took Athens.

On the second they didn't, and the Germans managed to push the BEF back into the city instead.

Their subsequent attacks were too weak however, and despite pulling out the panzers and throwing in the infantry, it was not enough to push the British out, so on this occasion the Allies won. So there is definitely something in that narrow approach to Athens from a defensive pov.

I enjoyed that, it was another thought provoking scenario although obviously much of the running was made by the Axis. It is a similar puzzle to invading Norway in that the Axis have a great deal to do with limited forces and a great deal of space. I can't imagine it being much fun as a two player game and I didn't feel any great desire to play it again, but it is quite quick to play and  I'd like to try it with the historical weather at some point.