Classic Squad Leader Training #1: "Forced March"

Was directed to these scenarios [CLICK] by the helpful guys at the Classic Squad Leader Fb page. This first one teaches maneuver and establishing a base of fire, using Leaders, Squads and Support Weapon rules.  The simplicity allows players to focus on these key elements of tactical CSL play.

Disclaimer: I am not a CSL expert!  That's why my avatar is...

...so this post should be considered more of an interesting exploration of this scenario, and hopefully encourages you to play it and perhaps find out things I have not!  so...

**Reader Beware!!**

After some initial problems figuring out the scenario [resulting in some very lop-sided games] I got enough experience to make a few conclusions of how to approach it. It does have one flaw, that a fast end-run by the Russkies will usually result in overwhelming force at the exit point, so using the - many - options available - is essential to have an interesting game. 

First, I can't figure out any way to win at the Alpha-0 level for the Germans.  They simply won't have enough firepower to stop the Russkies exiting the board at J0, and will likely get blown away.  Below, one of my first games, all the Germans [with no support weapons] are rushing to try to stop the Russkies from exiting at J0. But they aren't fast enough. Below, the end of Game Turn 1:

This will result in Game Turn 2, Sov Player Turn, with the 8-0 stack able to exit J0 in their Advance Phase [Advancing the 8-0 Leader to I1 to rally Squads], stack G6 Advancing to J0, stack F6 Advancing to Road I2, and E6 to I3 or H2. With 8 Squads sitting in wait for 5 German [and needing only 2 more Squads to exit for a win] the results are fairly predictable with 8 Russkie Squads fighting 5 German *moving* Squads.

Below, the Russians wiped out 4 Squads and both Leaders, then exited 9 Squads.

The last-ditch effort made by one German squad resulted in a Berserk Sov squad headed its way! The Leader stayed behind to Rally Squad 11.

Alpha-0 with Alpha-3 Option

This can be partially remedied by using the Alpha-3 option to have the Germans take the first player turn, however, resulting in a closer game. Below, Germans have occupied the L-M board edge woods first, enabling them to shoot at Russians advancing down the road. Russians still massed more fire and broke a German stack, killing one squad. 

The last two Russkies on the board managed to break the 8-1 stack.  With 7 Squads off the board, and another Berserk Russkie headed their way, the Germans again lost Alpha-0/3 version.

Alpha-1 Level.

With lots of Sov wins using Alpha-0, I went to the Alpha-1 level, which gives the Germans support weapons and the Sovs a 9-1 Leader and 6 more Squads. Below, the Germans have an HMG under the 8-1 Leader, and its Line of Fire [LoF] can be seen 16 hexes away:

This can definitely trash the Russians in one lucky Phase of Firing, so they must 

establish a base of [infantry] fire at the manor house in O6. This will hopefully distract or destroy enough units in the German base of fire to allow their forces to cut across the "line of death" at the end of the board:

I began assigning one leader to each force, the 9-1 with several squads to head to the manor house, where his -1 can help affect Sov shooting:

And the 8-0 to the East board side, where he can hurry squads along and rally them as they get broken trying to cross the LoF of German MGs.  As their job involves more movement and less shooting, I figure they can get by with the 8-0 Leader while the 9-1 Leader works to suppress the Germans.

As for the Germans, I found that they could exactly make it to the below positions, within the setup restrictions.  This resulted in the house at T3 having the 8-1 Leader, two Squads and the HMG. This is the weapon interdicting the Russian movement South at the East edge of the board. With up to -3 [-4 if they swap Leaders] on every shot at Russkies Moving in the open, there's a good chance of eliminating them all with a good roll!

The other stack has the 9-2 Leader, 3 Squads, MMG and 2 LMGs, all of which is needed to confront the Russian force moving towards J0. There's a firefight about to happen across the fields at K1, J0-J1, and the I1-2 Road. Without all the firepower, I found that the Russians could sweep them aside and walk off the board Turn 4 perhaps 5.  Of course, some hot dice can make a big difference with such small forces. 

First play with this plan, the Russians managed to get 8 Squads to the closest exit hex, the half-hex J0, and the Germans had to concede.

Another play was more complicated, and as it was one of the most engaging right off the bat, I tried to document it thoroughly.  

I figured out the safest routes for the Russkies and they moved, then the Germans moved, and thus was the situation end of T1:

On Soviet PT2, they continued to race one stack quickly to G4, but the rest had to go around the woods. The Leader then back-tracked to aid the stacks behind, while the first stack of 3 exited the board.

End of German PT2, at the base of Fire v. Manor House, they'd managed to drive off 2 Squads, which Routed a hex to Rally with the 9-1 Leader...

...and at the objective, they'd managed to contest it with the 9-2 stack but not preventing Sov Squads from positioning themselves to exit the board. 

End of Sov PT3, they began diverting squads South, while exchanging fire with the German base of fire. This forced the Germans to spread their fire, resulting in some Squads making it South - 2 in the center...

 

...and several more in the East.

End of German PT3. Russkies have managed to stack up some Squads well positioned to get off board at J0. Germans have Advanced the 9-2 stack to Defensive Fire at J0:

Sov PT4. They advance out into the road, as they have a turn to spare.  In the ensuing firefight, with Sov M2 and I1 exchanging with L0, the Germans broke, had nowhere to run, and were ultimately destroyed.  I was too discouraged to take pics, sorry!  I had hoped to finally stop the Russkies, but was again defeated.

Ultimately, a game with small numbers of units has to be played carefully, as one or two dice rolls can determine the game.  So far, the Germans haven't done really well in this scenario, but I'm hoping I will figure out something, and stop the Russians from exiting half their victory points T2.  We'll see!

Classic Squad Leader Day!

There's No Business Like OLD Business!

About ten days ago, we had the first of what I hope will be many Classic Squad Leader Meetings.  This was driven partially to generate more *active* players locally [I say "active" because is seems like everyone I know has played CSL at some time or other], and to indulge in some nostalgia.  It seems for many, the original CSL box was a sort of breakthrough game, the one that got us hooked onto historical gaming, often leading to miniatures as well as more board gaming.

I personally have some fond memories of trying to figure out the demanding rules and secure the Tractor Works as well as Hill 621.  But for me back then it never grew into a passion for the game itself, and I never played all the scenarios.  I certainly pushed through a bunch of them with a few friends, but overall the rules were a lot for a high schooler like me [then there's sports and girls, too...].

When I impulse-bought my CSL box at the FLGS [reported HERE] I figured I now had the gaming experience to actually get through and appreciate the rules and play all 12 of the scenarios.  But it is much better with opponents, of course.  they have tactics and tricks up their sleeves, so you always learn a few new things. I started to check around at every gaming email list I knew, mostly miniature gamers.  I got a lot of responses, many of which were along the lines of "wow!  haven't played in 20 years, would love to give CSL a shot.  I got lost with GI Anvil of Victory / ASL and haven't played since".  

Given this, I figured a clear-cut commitment to play the original CSL rules and structure gaming sessions so that people could ease back into *Classic* Squad Leader, the game they loved, instead of getting lost in the many supplements and developments that came later. 

The stars aligned, and at my American Legion post on a Sunday afternoon, I had no less than nine players, half of whom were "returning" players, and half were people who had stuck with the system and still played, plus there was one person who had always wanted to play but never did.  We quickly agreed to restrict ourselves to CSL 4th ed [conveniently in the Files section of the CSL Fb page] and the first two scenarios.  

We played two setups of "The Guards Counterattack" / "The Tractor Works" each with four players who stuck mostly to their half of the board. These early scenarios are intense, with lots of close-in action, and you will get a lot of practice managing infantry, leaders and support weapons!

I had the Germans in "The Guards Counterattack" and got wiped out completely by a very experienced player, Bill.  I had thought perhaps having played several times would have helped me fare better, but Bill had perfect timing on his attacks. My partner Walt at the Tractor Works fared better but still didn't take the Tractor works from Keith.  At the other board, some hot dice by Kevin pushed veteran player Fred pretty hard, and overall it was a tough game [altho I don't know who won].

We agreed to meet again as a great time was had by all, and it is definitely easier to play cooperatively with a large group as it is likely someone knows the rule that you are trying to remember / figure out, and this speeds up play.

My biggest takeaway from organizing this is that CSL is a game that will draw people back in, as long as it is going to be manageable. Having a pdf of the 4th ed. rules was a big help, as new people needed to look things up while experienced players needed to remember how to go back to 4th ed CSL from Cross of Iron, et al.

Hope this encourages you to get some people together live wherever you are.  It is unlikely that any gaming group is going to be without some CSL fans, and starting small and progressing slowly forward seems to work for most of us.

Until next time, stay strong and go *Classical*!

Classic Squad Leader #2: The Tractor Works!

Oh yeah! Iconic Cover, here we come!

This is a direct follow on from my previous post - it just took a *lot* longer for me to continue moving forward than I thought.  No excuses... just real life stuff.  But once I got a chance to set it up, I was *salivating* to get back into it with "The Tractor Works"!  Took a while to trim the counters, also. To show my dedication, I did take them on vacation and DID manage to trim a bunch of them, altho not actually play any of the game.

For you poor unfortunate unknowing, Scenario #2 is another classic, with the Germans trying to clear out a large building "The Tractor Works" while the Russians try to relieve the German siege of said building, breaking through the perimeter the Germans have made. For this, the Russkies have a whopping 40 squads, and the Germans have only 20, but 6 are Assault Engineers with flamethrowers and demo charges!

Obviously, the building in the center is the Tractor Works.  Germans must clear and hold 2/3 of it, or 6 hexes. The real tractor works was a massive, sprawling complex bigger than most towns!

SOLO BONUS! To add some spice to my gaming, I took the role of the Engineers making the assault, and the Russkies relieving the building. Therefore their opponents, the Russkies in the building and the Germans on the perimeter, I put into stacks with Concealment Counters, made some likely selections, and then randomly deployed them.  This made it harder to know what and where everything was.  In my mind, I was the Russkie relievers and the German engineers.  Builds some suspense, eh?

This scenario features rules for Concealment, as well as flamethrowers and demo charges.  On the right and left are elements of the 389 Inf Div: the Co A Engineers and Kampfgruppe Tienham to the right and to the left Kampfgruppe Stahler under a lot of "?" Concealment Counters.  At center are the Russkie 308 Rifle Div fanatics in the Tractor Works under "?" also. The relieving Russkies from the 295th ID on the left.

My initial process to decrease total knowledge about the Concealed units worked well, so altho I had some good ideas what was where, I had to do some preliminary attacking to get the Concealment counters [?] removed. As they did so, it became clear that some of the units should fight back rather than keep the Concealed benefits.

The Engineer attack on the Tractor Works cleared two hexes and whacked several squads on the edge. Most importantly, I double-broke the 9-1 Leader, the only Sov Leader in the Tractor Works!  Now, no Sov squad could rally, and I hadn't broken through from the West yet. 

Despite this great start, I couldn't see any 'good' way to attack the cleared building hexes and avoid nasty close range fire, so I eventually compromised and did a flank attack from the north, which was initially successful. Through the Smoke, the Engineers attacked a corner in close combat, and [I thought very clever] a mobile force with a 9-2 Leader, 2 Squads and 2 LMGs occupied the North side. This left just one stack to deal with, so I felt I was eating the elephant a bite at a time.  Unfortunately, the Sovs got a good shot on the Regular Squads, and broke them all.  This put the clever flanking maneuver in doubt!

Clearly, I had to turn the heat up from the south, and managed to trash a Sov stack with an HMG, clearing an avenue of approach from the South.  To the West, the Sovs made some progress and occupied part of the T4 building and threatened the T7 building with significant numbers.  Russkie Prep Fire whittled away at the Germans who had to Rout to safety and look for a leader.

End of German Turn 3, most of the Works was in German hands, with a Berserk squad in Close Combat with the German regulars in the north, and several Broken squads to the West - these unable to rally without a Leader.  German building U2 was proving very solid, and T4 was holding out against a larger force led by the Russkie 9-1 Leader.  Shaky, but still accomplishing their mission.

In the south, building T7 wilted under 20 Firepower Factors of Russians, despite cause a few of them to Break. The Germans retreated with their only Leader farther back, hoping to rally before it was too late!

End of Russkie Turn 4. To the West, a mutual hammering resulted in U2 holding out and breaking most of the opposing Russians [at a cost].  The Sovs secured T4.

To the south The Germans successfully diverted a 10-2 leader and a few squads, which completely turn the tide, killing and Routing enough Russkies to not only hold T7, but set up an HMG to block the road completely in Row U, preventing the Russians from even attempting a relief of the Tractor Works.

In the works themselves, the Germans forced all the Broken Russkies to Rout out of the building to their doom, as there was no way to do so without crossing German lanes of fire - about 5 squads were removed this way. There being no Sovs in the building, and the relief force having no push left, This was a clear win for the Germans.

Overall, I may have been able to play the Russkies in the Tractor Works a bit better if I checked what they had under the ? counters, but the doubt was interesting and did waste several attacks by the Germas, including some 2 and 3 Morale Checks in stacks that had nothing or nearly nothing under them.  This delayed the German assault. However, I think the Tractor Works themselves need a second leader of any quality, even a 7-0, just so they can rally. Losing the 9-1 early on permanently handicapped the Russians.

As an alternative to the blind setup, I could - knowingly - place the 9-1 in the center of the building, and randomly spread the rest of the Russian stacks out, thus insuring more prolonged resistance to the German attack.

A tense, exciting game that I can't wait to play again!

"InCountry" Western Contractor Team

"Get ready to fly your final Blue Sky, Buddy!"

Blue Sky Protection

Known for their distinct runway attire with "Blue Sky Trim", they are sometimes derisively called "Skycaps" as many have a background in Air Force or Space Force Security Forces.  But it takes special knowledge and equipment to work safely around aviation, and BSP has what it takes!  This includes special low-velocity rounds that won't penetrate airframes, especially their fuel tanks.

Sure, some may have POG tans and yes, they do sleep in hotel rooms and dine well; but, their quick reaction times and commitment to intervene against any odds has been recognized by corporations dependent on commercial or military aviation for their profits and effectiveness, making BSP a leader in airfield security.

For this Team of InCountry [click] Legacy Pod Figs, I wanted a simple scheme that would paint up quickly. I also planned to time it and get an idea of how fast I could paint a Team:

1. Key Points for best results:
• Paint for a few strong color contrasts, even with neutral tones;
• Paint in contrast several small 'widgets' and 'pouches'
• Paint 1 feature different in 1 of the 4 from the others, e.g. 1 brown shoes, 3 black shoes. 
2. Prime in main color; probably a neutral tone,
3. Block paint the flesh and other garments,
4. Pick out the small details you want noticed,
5. Use a sepia wash over browns, a black/grey wash over blacks and greys.
6. Base and flock, using both to emphasize the Figs.

First, they were primed in a desert tan that eerily matches Vallejo's 70.821 German Camouflage WWII Beige. 

It is very convenient having a close paint match from a bottle to you primer. 

Then they were mounted on wooden Litko 3mm bases with super glue [this isn't the best way...as will be seen]

I used Calthan Brown foundation paint, thinned with water, to quickly paint up all the web gear. Overall, this looks a lot like Coyote Brown to me!

I also painted the boots as the present use suede Coyote Browns.

Next, I painted the guns and belts black. I also painted a few of the pouches in a medium olive, just to make them different. The knee pads were either olive or Calthan Brown.

This is about when I noticed that the guy on the right reminds me of a sergeant I knew a few years back. Hmmm...

While working with the advancing fellow w' shades, his glue gave way. I didn't want to have to mess with him any more, so I drilled his feet / legs...

...super-glued piano wire pins in [gluing them *then* snipping them off]...

...and then drilled matching holes in the base.  This I managed by matching the feet to the former glue pattern, pushing down, leaving two little marks which I drilled out.

From now on, I'm going to just go ahead and pin all these models to the bases. For the ones I already did, I'll just wait and see if they fall off then pin them.

Around this point, I jostled the table and bald guy fell off at a perfectly [bad] angle for him to snap at the ankles!  And it was only about 12" [30cm] or so:

I tried superglue, but it just wouldn't match up and hold right.  Instead, I cleaned it all off with a cloth, then drilled out all four feet / legs, again putting in piano wire pins:

...this still didn't look great, but it was "good enough" to let dry.

Later, I applied some paint, and the little gaps basically disappeared; ta-daaaa!

After all these trials, I finished the fine details, including the Blue Sky piping on the clothing, differentiating a few more pieces of equipment, etc.  Just little quick paint dabs on various small things, mostly. The piping I used a fine 0/0 brush. Then, I applied matte finish - two coats for the upper body / head which will get handled the most - and painted the bases. Next day, I did all the flocking in stages thru the day, allowing it to dry in between. I used the same Real Dirt and a little bit of railroad flock, just like my previous teams [click]. To make this team a bit different, I used a fall maroon / brown foliage for desert plants instead of the yellow.

Not 100% pleased with the blue hat - may need a bit more work...

but overall I like the tan, brown and sky blue scheme. It's "just right"!

This is the dude who always wears his wrap-arounds, but not always his sunscreen, there's one in every platoon!  He looks a lot like an actual sunburn from NTC that a certain sergeant got. Memorable, and funny looking at the time.

This guy, from this angle, looks like my cousin in the face.  Weird!

This guy I figure is Hispanic, so hasn't been sunburned. Digs his shades, however!

Red here did use his sunscreen... he needs stronger sunscreen!

Another amazing finished product. I lost track of the timing due to the repairs and pinning I had to do.  Also,I admit, the amazing details of these figs suck me in and have me trying some new techniques, blends, etc.  One experiments was with "sunburn" effects. Another was coming up with my own uniform scheme and "back story" for this team, who I intend to protect runways and freight storage areas.

Overall, I think if I had just pressed on with "getting them done" and had no breakage and pinning needs, they would have been about 8 Hours, not bad.

I hope this post inspires you to up your painting game with more detailed figs, more detailed painting, and new effects and schemes that push your painting forward.

Next, up... some of the opposition needs to get painted, and by a totally different manufacturer... so stay tuned and become a follower!

"InCountry" Russkie Advisors

Coming soon to an Army surplus retailer near you!

This was the look I was going for, EMR camo, the new Russian "Ratnik" camo pattern. I thought it would be easy to do, and distinct on the table. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out that way.  Below, the base coat of Vallejo green with some lighter green splotches:

and with brown splotches:

Splotches courtesy of my old, battered brushes I save for these purposes:

This wasn't coming along the way I wanted, so I tried a wash of Nuln Oil, to see if it would "blend" better, and look more like the above. This improved the look, but not to the EMR camo I was striving for, at the top.  This also darkened the colors a bit:

...and they didn't look good at gaming distance.  

This could be discouraging, and I was, a bit.  But, I figured, as long as they look good - in the end - I'll have another shot at Ratnick camo later.  So, now, let's just concentrate on making them look COOL!  This is part of the fun of "near-future" wargaming... no one can tell you that they don't look like that!

So...I went back and highlighted them a bit, which brightened them: 

This made them pop a bit more at gaming distance, about 2 feet [look COOL!]:

Satisfied with that, I started the final painting of details - it's the little things that make these figures look a lot more realistic, just a dab of paint here and there to differentiate small objects that don't match the surroundings:

Trying for a yellow lens eye-pro look, not sure it's succeeding...but it's interesting.

As the final details get painted in, the figs look better and better. This gives more momentum to finishing them up.  A few early morning and late evening sessions, and they progressed quite a bit, often with a 0/0 brush [just a few bristles on that VERY fine brush]. 

One thing I got answers on, was a strange object hanging from some of their belts - looked like an old keychain [with large keys].  Turns out they are chem-lights, some infra-red, for marking LZs, etc.  The IR ones are a dark purplish look, and to bring up the colors I did a quick dry brush in white with a small brush, to give something light for the colors to stand out on:

yellow glos on the left, IR on the right:

Altho there's a few more little details I may pick out, for now, these guys are done, so gave them a matte coating and then flocked them in a matching arid dirt like the other InCountry figs.

Close up of the two trigger-pullers:

and the leader with a female Soldier:

Anyway, this is them for now!

Have been playing a bunch of solo games of InCountry 2.0, getting some questions answered at the Discord and Fb pages, etc.  Will have to post on this, soon, so stay tuned as we go deeper "InCountry"!