Falkland Express: A Modern Naval Battles Global Warfare Scenario

(February 21, 2012)

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Scenario: "During the Falkland Islands war, the British Fleet ran desperately low on spare parts to keep their carrier-based Harrier jump-jets operational. A fleet supply ship was quickly loaded, met up with an escort, and sailed to the war zone at top speed." (Verssen, n.d. p.9)

Forces:

• United Kingdom Fleet - HMS Broadsword and Military Non-Combatant (supply ship)
• Argentina Fleet - ARA Hercules

Special Rules:

• Game lasts 3 rounds.
• Neither side can bring reinforcements.
• Neither side can use Air Strikes.

Victory Conditions:

• Argentina wins if it sinks the Military Non-Combatant.
• UK wins if the Military Non-Combatant remains afloat.

Game 1- This was the first time playing Modern Naval Battles Global Warfare, so this was a test game. I played it solo just to get used to the rules. It was an interesting, but the scenario rules really limited each side's actions. The Argentina Destroyer, ARA Hercules, only has the ability for gun combat.  In this game. it never got off an offensive shot because it didn't draw a Gun Combat action card. It did successfully fend off 3 SSM attacks by the UK Frigate HMS Broadsword. The merchant ship remained afloat after 3 turns so it was a UK victory.

Game 2- I decided to replay the scenario. Again, I played it solo. The Broadsword was the first to act and engaged the Hercules with a SSM attack. The Hercules failed to defend against the attack, was hit and sunk. A very quick game.

Game 3- I played this scenario again, only this time it was a two player game. I played Argentina and acted first. I played a gun combat card and the UK had no organic or defense through an action card. The Broadsword was damaged and took 2 hits. My son played the Broadsword and launched a SSM attack against the Hercules. The Hercules failed its roll for defense and took 3 hits of damage sinking the ship. Another bad result for Argentina!

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References:
Veressen, D. (2008). Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare Rulebook. DVG. Retrieved February 21, 2012 from
http://images.dvg.com/www.dvg.com/mnbrules.pdf

American Civil War by GASLIGHT Solo - The Scenario

I had a few spare minutes today after work (and before I started schoolwork) to look through "Programmed Wargames Scenarios".  I decided that Scenario 1 - Hill Line Defence would be a nice simple start point for my first solo wargame.  In this scenario, the defending force occupies a low ridge line while the attacking force has deployed off the line of march and is ready to begin the attack.  The attacking force mission is to take the hill and defeat the defending force within a day.  The attacking force knows the general location of the defenders, but has no detailed knowledge of their strength or disposition.  Also, the defending force has little knowledge of the attackers strength and intent.

The first decision is what side to play.  Neither seems to offer any significant advantage or disadvantage in terms of simplicity, so I'll play the attacking force for this game.  The defender will be the "programmed" force.

The setting for this game will be the American Civil War with VSF elements to make things interesting.  For whatever reason, my usual gaming partner (my son) always wants to play the Union force.  I'll stick with the usual and play the Confederates as the attacking force for this game

That's all for now.  More to follow soon.

American Civil War by GASLIGHT - Solo ideas

I picked up a used copy of Charles Stewart Grant's Programmed Wargames Scenarios a few years ago and it's sat on my bookshelf unused, collecting dust for tooooo long. A used copy on Amazon.com goes for $120!! I honestly don't remember where I found my copy and what I paid for it, but it was significantly less than Amazon's current price. So my mission now is to put it to good use. Life (work and school) have really limited my hobby time lately, but I was able to get a quick game in over the Labor Day holiday weekend. It was a Victorian Science Fiction American Civil War game using my favorite rule-set GASLIGHT. In fact, I received a copy of the GASLIGHT Compendium (by John R. Surdu, Christopher Palmer, Robert Beattie, and Chris Johnston) for my birthday and really like it. What I'm looking to do now is to combine these two great resources- build the scenario and play out a solo VSF American Civil War battle using Programmed Wargame Scenarios with GASLIGHT serving as the rule set (or mechanics) for fighting the battle. While this could be played out by two players, I'd really like to put Grant's ideas for solo wargaming to the test. More to follow.