Count Thrashula posted:

Someone tell me what to do with all these 10/15mm Henry Turner HYW minis I have now

DBA? Something based on that? Maybe just base up a bunch in DBA format and figure out rules later? Something off the cuff like Days of Knights?

Endman posted:

Impress basing looks so much better than DBA basing imo

spectralent posted:

Aside from the Flames of War Vietnam rules and using general-purpose moderns stuff for Vietnam, what rulesets exist for the conflict? I'm mostly asking in the hunt for ones that do asymmetry well, but I'll take anything.

Count Thrashula posted:

Do you mean Impetus? If so I agree

spectralent posted:

Aside from the Flames of War Vietnam rules and using general-purpose moderns stuff for Vietnam, what rulesets exist for the conflict? I'm mostly asking in the hunt for ones that do asymmetry well, but I'll take anything.

NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:

Pendraken's "Cold War Commander" is pretty popular. I haven't played but I have read through the rules and it seems pretty decent.
https://www.pendraken.co.uk/cold-war-commander-1076-c.asp

Virtual Russian posted:

I'm due to play a game of this shortly, I'll report back. It should happen sometime next month. The guy I'm playing with seems to be a huge fan of those rules.

spectralent posted:

Aside from the Flames of War Vietnam rules and using general-purpose moderns stuff for Vietnam, what rulesets exist for the conflict? I'm mostly asking in the hunt for ones that do asymmetry well, but I'll take anything.

Luftwaffles posted:

Just finished my first mission in a Vietnam War campaign using "The 'Nam: The Way it Was" by Wayne Bollands.


The rules let you use a campaign system and take a platoon through a series of missions with the soldiers surviving from one mission to the next.

Here's the platoon roster:

Each soldier is numbered to randomize any hits while playing.

3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/503rd Infantry:

(Not pictured, Forward Observer team and Dog Team)

MISSION
UH-1D call sign "Lancer 11" was shot down vic An Loc Dong. 3rd Platoon, B Company will secure the crash site and rescue any survivors. Intel reports minimal VC / NVA presence in the area.




US Forces deploy - negative enemy contact.

From left to right, front row: 3rd Squad, M60 Team B, 2nd Squad, M60 team A, 1st Squad. Second row: PSG, Medic, Tiger, Dog Team, FO, PL

The rules as written use a card deck for activation where each side has an assigned suite and each unit an assigned card (ex: 1st Squad, A Team is a 4 of hearts). I instead made a token for each unit from extra 28mm round bases with a national flag on one side and the specific unit on the other.


The first pull:



drat.

Using a random number generator (1-47) I rolled a 44. SGT Currie and the dog team tripped a booby trap! (What kind of terrible nose does this dog have?!)


It was right now that I realized I clumped my platoon headquarters VERY closely, with the dog team, PL, and FO caught in the blast zone. (Within 3")


Rolling for hits, the dog gets knocked down and will miss its next turn (maybe it will get its head in the game now), SGT Currie is uninjured, the Lieutenant and his RTO are unscathed. Sadly, the good luck ends there and the FO team takes the brunt of the blast.

SGT Jones and PFC Ciesielski are both killed.

The next few turns are uneventful, with the US forces advancing across the rice paddies with negative contact.




Once 2nd Squad starts to cross the final rice paddy, the NVA make an appearance (of course Army Intel was wrong!).

A fireteam and MMG open up on 1st Squad from a paddy dyke and a log bunker.


PV2 Bracewell is wounded and out of the fight!


Luckily, the next token was for a US Mortar barrage. The platoon leader called it in and dropped some steel on target.




This killed 2 NVA and suppressed both teams.

On the next token one of the US M60 teams sprays the jungle and inflicts a lucky hit on the MMG gun team.



With the only NVA on the field suppressed. 2nd Squad advances into the paddy field towards Lancer 11's crash site.


But quickly trigger more of the ambush with 2 additional NVA fireteams deploying.



The incoming fire fails to cause any US casualties, but 2nd Squad is pinned down in the mud.

The next turn sees another US Mortar token pulled, and 2LT Shull adjusts fire on to the NVA fireteam occupying Lancer 11's crash site.


This kills one of the NVA infantrymen and suppresses the team (I would also assume this destroys Lancer 11 ... so mission failed?).


Just when 2nd Squad thinks they are safe, an NVA MMG bunker opens up from their left flank hitting the RTO, SPC Hodges, in the neck, inflicting a severe wound.



(Interestingly, SPC Hodges was the only out-of-uniform soldier in the squad, being shirtless under his flak jacket. He probably was wearing white socks and had his hands in his pockets too.)

On the US right flank, M60 Team A opens up on the original NVA MMG Bunker, gets another lucky hit, and takes the team out of action.


Trying to flank the bunker hammering away at 2nd Squad, 3rd Squad advances towards the jungle, and promptly triggers another NVA fireteam.



Things are looking grim for 2nd Squad - pinned down in a rice paddy with 3 fireteams and an MMG bunker firing at them, casualties are about to mount. Luckily, the next token pulled is for the A4-B Skyhawk.


The Skyhawk is on target, and drops a load of napalm on the bunker.


The napalm also catches 3 of the NVA infantrymen in the fireteam along the paddy dike. Napalm in this game is lethal, if you get hit you are dead. At this point, the surviving NVA infantrymen decide enough is enough and bug out to Cambodia.


No longer pinned down, 2nd Squad advances by fire towards Lancer 11's crash site.


They inflict a casualty on the NVA fireteam, but it is not enough to suppress the NVA. The NVA's return fire sees SPC Novak take an RPK burst in the neck, killing him and pinning 2nd Squad's Bravo Team.



However, after this exchange of fire the remaining NVA decide to call it a day and retreat into the jungle.



The final tally is:

US:
3 KIA (Jones, Ciesielski, Novak)
2 WIA (Bracewell, Hodges) - Bracewell's wound is severe enough to be sent back to the States, but Hodges will return after the next mission.

NVA:
10 KIA (5 to the Napalm strike!)
6 WIA

Naturally, the US forces report a body count of 10, with 276 probables. (Westmoreland math at its best)

Being the first mission, 3rd Platoon isn't eligible for any replacements. "Luckily", the FO team are not organic to the platoon and will be replaced by battalion, but we are down 2 permanently from the organic platoon structure, with 1 missing the next mission.


The new, reorganized platoon looks like this:


The PSG's RTO (Maxwell) will replace Hodges while he is recovering, while Allen and Ruiz from the Weapons Squad will fill in as riflemen.

Overall, this was a fun game and a great introduction to the rules. I would recommend the ruleset to anyone interested in a persistent Vietnam wargame, at least until Warwick Kinrade's 'Nam 68 comes out.

quote:

Cohorts: Experimented with before Marius, especially in Spain. Marius uses cohorts, but there’s no evidence he systematized or standardized this or was particularly new or unusual in doing so. Probably the actual breakpoint here is the Social War.
Poor Volunteers Instead of Conscripted Assidui: Marius does not represent a break in the normal function of the Roman dilectus but a continuation of the Roman tradition of taking volunteers or dipping into the capite censi in a crisis. The traditional Roman conscription system functions for decades after Marius and a full professional army doesn’t emerge until Augustus.
Discharge bonuses or land as a regular feature of Roman service: Once again, this isn’t Marius but Imperator Caesar Augustus who does this. Rewarding soldiers with loot and using conquered lands to form colonies wasn’t new and Marius doesn’t standardize it, Augustus does.
No More equites and velites: No reason in the source to suppose Marius does this and plenty of reasons to suppose he doesn’t. Both velites and equites seem to continue at least a little bit into the first century. Fully replacing these roles with auxilia is once again a job for our man, Imperator Caesar Augustus, divi filius, pater patriae, reformer of armies, gestae of res, and all the rest.
State-Supplied Equipment: No evidence in the sources. This shift is happening but is not associated with Marius. In any event, the conformity of imperial pay records with Polybius’ system of deductions for the second century BC suggests no major, clean break in the system.
A New Sort of Pilum: No evidence, probably didn’t exist, made up by Plutarch or his sources. Roman pilum design is shifting, but not in the ways Plutarch suggests. If a Marian pilum did exist, the idea didn’t stick.
Aquila Standards: Eagle standards pre-date Marius and non-eagle standards post-date him, but this may be one thing he actually does do, amplifying the importance of the eagle as the primary standard of the legion.
The sarcina and furca and making Roman soldiers carry things: By no means new to Marius. This is a topos of Roman commanders before and after Marius. There is no reason to suppose he was unusual in this regard.

Luftwaffles posted:

Just an FYI - the rules for "The Nam - the way it was" don't actually have a campaign system, it was more something I developed on my own. Same with the blind-draw tokens, I believe you are supposed to draw cards?

Still a fun set of rules, you just might want to add some additions to make it yours.

I played most of my games solo, but tried a few with some friends (and an accommodating wife) and even with the added campaign steps / platoon tracking it was a lot of fun!

If you wanted to check out some more missions I had a post on LAF here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=131466.0

Fearless posted:

So when do we see the triarii disappear or absorbed? It seems to me that they're gone before the augustan period

Class Warcraft posted:

While you're here, I have a question about these rules. How do you determine which particular model is hit when a unit is fired upon?

Luftwaffles posted:

I wrote a number on the bottom of each base, and the roster has each soldier with a matching number. When a fireteam is fired on I randomize the hit with a random number generator.

Say we have a US Army fireteam consisting of:

1 - SGT Smith
2 - PFC Walker
3 - PFC Adams
4 - PV2 Baker

An NVA fireteam shoots at the above and inflicts 1 hit. I use a random number generator to give a number 1-4, then check to see which soldier is hit.

It adds an extra layer of complexity, but I enjoy it

Southern Heel posted:

I got a free third rate ship from Wargames illustrated magazine while I was at salute 2023. I thought it was just a cool thing, but then I realised I could give it to my stepdad as a birthday gift. He is building a 1/64 HMS Victory, so this is never going to come close to that - but hopefully he appreciates the sentiment.

On one hand, I really enjoyed doing the rigging using EZ line, but on the other, I’m glad it’s finished, and I don’t know if I could cope with doing it all with thread and deadeyes!

Southern Heel posted:

Crosspost about a Black Seas miniature:

Springfield Fatts posted:

Nice, I had a game of Black Seas over the weekend. Never heard of EZ Line, looks way less of a hassle than thread or wire.

Southern Heel posted:

Thank you!

Yeah, it’s super easy! It’s very elastic so you anchor one end and simply dot a piece of glue, then stretch the line to reach that point. This is the 0.03 mm, which is “medium “, I think I should’ve gone thicker because you can’t see it unless it’s showing up against a white background.

Springfield Fatts posted:

Springfield Fatts posted:

It's the perfect game for doing exactly that. It handles small squadron action best, I think it falls apart when you try shoving ships of the line into it's system. My in-law wants to do a Quasi War campaign which will be an excellent fit since it was mostly frigate and smaller engagements.

I really should nut up and do the rigging, you guys' ships look so much more dynamic than mine. I would suggest doing basing, the flag system is ok but confusing and I find handling and maneuvering the ships a lot easier with one.
Edit: Also I found this guy's ship cards to be more useful than the ones in the box. https://kingtiger.co.uk/black-seas-ship-cards/

Drunkboxer posted:

I keep going back and forth on basing. I like the idea for the reasons you said plus I like being able to have historical ships names on there, but I kinda also like the look of the free ships.

edit: Also thanks for that card link, hopefully I’ll finish these things soon so I can actually play the game. I’m glad people itt seem to like it, I’ve seen some people online complaining about some mechanics, specifically the line of battle stuff.

NC Wyeth Death Cult posted:

Cold War Commander interest