It's been some time since I did a major update to this site but now I have added a load more material. Enjoy!
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Watching the footage of the parade I thought I might have a look at a few items of hardware that appeared. These caught my eye. The Tigr (Tiger) has been seen a lot in the Ukraine but I haven't seen the turret configuration seen here before and couldn't find an references on my initial search. I'm guessing that the cannon is 23 or 30mm and is similar to the attempt to put a 25mm gun on the HMMWV (unsuccessfully). Compare to the normal Tigr turret with what appears to be the cannon from the new turret in the background. A good view of the turret of a BMP2M showing the 2 banks of 2 9M133 Kornet (AT14 Spriggan) missiles. 540 BMP2M/BMD2Ms were ordered in 2017. The infamous T14 Armata. Note that the commander is positioned in the hull (along with the driver who is visible and the gunner who is not). Interestingly all the artillery and missile units (whicj I'm not up enough on to identify) appear to be being lead by a BTR82 in the role of command vehicle. Looking superficially at first glance like a BTR50, these are airborne BTR-MDM Rakuskas an APC based on the BMD4M that can carry 3 crew and 12 troops (I am guessing replacing the troop carrying BMDs on a 1 per 2 basis as these carry only 5 dismounts). This one has me stumped. If anyone can help identify this I would be grateful. The BTR-7829 K-17 Bumerang IFV ordered in 2011/2 for delivery in 2013 to replace the BTR-80 and BTR-82. Delays resulted after initial in service trials and changes were made to the main body with final trials finishing in 2021. Unlike earlier Russian vehicles it has reversing mirrors!
Anthalonica Wargaming are producing a limited edition 28mm figure of Vitaly Skakun to help raise money for the Ukraine. Go to the link below to purchase the figure. https://www.anthalonicawargaming.com/product-page/limited-edition-ukraine-charity-figure-vitaly-skakun?fbclid=IwAR3_tH14bohTNq77PtRWaPiMhRo3B9Fu_zTjOIskMzCsr0wMzK32BErBpnk
Image used under the Creative Commons licence: <a href="http://www.vitalykuzmin.net/Military/Static-displays-IPCS-RWS2017/">http://www.vitalykuzmin.net/Military/Static-displays-IPCS-RWS2017/</a> The MTLB is a very old design originating in the 1960s. It is designed for use in deep snow such as the Arctic. Large numbers are used as missile and radar carriers by the Russians. I was very surprised while watching footage of the Ukraine as there appear to be large numbers of them in use in the APC role. Looking at the images there appear to be a number bearing the insignia of the 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade which is rolled for Arctic warfare. It is suggested that this unit also fought in 2014 in the Ukraine. Given the role of Arctic warfare it seems logical for the unit to be equipped with the MTLB as it has wide tracks for snow and is one of the few Russian vehicles with good heaters. Unfortunately for the Russians they appear to be taking heavy losses from the photos emerging.
Well, I left university in 1991 with a BA(Hons), 30 years later I'm going back to start an MA in Military History (part time) distance learning. Feels really strange! Thank you Chris Doyle and Frank Tank for the references, you must have lied very convincingly!
I'm starting to feel like a celebrity these days... I was recently interviewed by Jeff Jones of RPG Ramblings.
While I was at Games Expo this weekend I got chance to look at their Vietnam range that is due out in Q4. The figures look nice with loads of options (even including an XM148 grenade launcher!). The rules are due out in the next few weeks (but of course they are usable with plenty of other sets).
Thanks to all those who said "hi" to me (great to catch up with the guys from Free League. I'm glad some of you liked the shiny new T shirt of the channel page!
Pictured above is one of my new friends, Brian from Rubicon that they are using to showcase their new 28mm Vietnam range. Well given the interest in me doing a Q&A session live on YouTube I am grasping the nettle and setting it up. It will run at 18:00 (UK time) on the 3rd July. I plan to answer questions on anything that I cover on the channel (or wider if there is an interest). Topics could include:
* Twilight 2000 * Seven Days to the River Rhine * The Cold War in general * The British Army * World War Two * Rule writing * Fantasy and Sci-Fi Gaming * Roleplaying games in general * Books for gamers * Colonial and Steampunk gaming * Anything else you are interested in I will post a link to the event closer to the time but please post any questions you have below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4vNUbWQftmCjcpnuI80ZmQ I recently had a pleasant surprise when I was mentioned in a podcast - Effekt (21 June 2021 edition) - [link below] and they have asked me to be a guest on a later edition of the show.
A number of units have an ATGM on the vehicle which can be fired mounted or dismounted and carried by an infantry team. While many units can do this I suggest that it is restricted to those units who did this as doctrine, for example German Marders and Canadian M150 TOWs. I would suggest that the following rule for Seven Days to the River Rhine be used to reflect this. Dismount ATGM
The ATGM may be dismounted as if it were embarked, becoming the equivalent type of support stand and the carrier remains the same but does not generate a command point (in other words it becomes an APC with the same statistics but no ATGM attack). To remount the unit acts in the same way as a transport embarking infantry. If the mounted unit has morale markers these are duplicated on the dismounting team. If a team embarks with morale tokens then the higher of the two is used for the recombined unit. After some discussion last night, Tim Whitworth made an interesting point, namely that BMP2/BMD2s had a very high angle of elevation on the main weapon. The 30mm Rarden on the Scimitar/Fox had a similar function. Neither of these is represented in game terms. I think they would be pretty poor in the role but should be represented in Seven Days to the River Rhine, perhaps with an AA (8+) and AA (9+) respectively. No doubt other vehicles will need this rule. Before I start changing all my lists, what are people's thoughts on this?
I've been thinking about the degradation effect of wearing NBC suits. I'm thinking of adding some chemical warfare cards to the game (adding them to the random card deck). As a countermeasure troops can be ordered into NBC (or MOPP) suits PRIOR to the attack.
* Level 0 - no effect and have a 6+ save against chemical attacks * Level 1 - gain a 4+ save against chemical attacks but automatically count as having 1 activation before any command chits are placed. * Level 2 - as above but gain a 2+ save at the cost of having 2 activations * Shielded vehicles are treated as one level higher than they currently are. You could either track these separately or keeping it simple declare the level for the force at the start of each turn with the player who activates first declaring first. I'm thinking the chemical attack cards when played attack a random number of units (plus a smaller random number chosen by the player receiving it - this simulates drift, etc). Attacked units automatically take a morale token and unless they roll a save take a second. I've been thinking a bit about unit strengths and making them variable. It was prompted by a Facebook discussion in a Bolt Action group that discussed the best strength to make a British unit. A bit of reading showed that the official strength was 10 but that this allowed for detachments, leave, courses, injuries, etc. The battle strength was 8 and if the numbers available were above this any excess was pulled together as a reserve at platoon or company level.
Example: An early war British section has a base strength of 5 in the rules and can have 5 more added so we start with a strength of 10 (100pts). we add in a Bren at 20pts and anti tank grenades (2pts x 10 = 20pts). Total points = 140. We then roll for casualties, etc. We decide to make the unit regular and roll as follows: NCO: 4 Bren: 9 Rifles 3, 6, 7, 1, 9, 10, 3, 7 As a result we are down a the Bren and two riflemen. We can however try and replace the Bren gunner and roll a 7. As a result we can remove a rifleman instead of a Bren. Final section strength is: NCO Bren gun and loader 4 riflemen I will be looking at vehicles later as they will need costing slightly differently. Please let me know your thoughts. There's been an interesting discussion on FB recently regarding lulls in combat and how to simulate them. Most games sort of just build them into the turn sequence, averaging them out. While this is simple I got to thinking about when they occur. Generally the lulls will occur when both sides have had intense activity and now need to reorganise. I'm considering how to simulate this and part of my thinking is to give each side an aggression rating. At the start of each turn players decide how many dice to roll to gain the initiative. These are then rolled and the amount subtracted from the aggression rating. The player who rolls highest gains an advantage, perhaps extra movement or dice to hit. Once the aggression rating is reached the side has a penalty. if both sides bid low then a lull occurs and players regain some or all of their aggression. I would be interested in your thoughts.
I first played this many, many years ago when I was at university and thoroughly enjoyed it. A few days ago I saw a copy on eBay at a reasonable price and couldn't resist it. is it as good as I remembered? A retrospective review will follow soon.
Well, I have the first part of the rules ready for publication. This covers die rolling conventions (which will be at least vaguely familiar for Twilight 2000 V4 gamers) and the infantry movement rules. Let me know what you think.
Well I tried a test game of my new large combat rules for Twilight 2000.
Basic overview: * Units have a base move of 4" but may try and rapid move at the risk of not moving at all. * Terrain is split into area cover that slows movement to half and linear terrain that must be rolled to cross (simulating the difficulty of getting troops to move out of cover). * Units can stay stationary (no effect on shooting), move (firing at a -2 penalty) or rapid move (no firing). * Cover has two effects on firing, making it harder to hit (you need to see them) and harder to kill (it stops bullets) - these are rated differently by type. A wood gives -2/+1 while a stone wall is -1/+2. * Modifiers are by adding or removing steps on the die. For example a D10 with a -1 drops to a D8. * A roll of 6+ is a success and a roll of 10+ counts as two successes. * Firing is rated by unit with most units rolling two dice based on armament and training (usually D10). Each stand has a rate of fire rating that allows extra D6 to be added to simulate high rates of fire. * Rolling more than one 1 causes a bad effect to occur (if only a single die is rolled then a single 1 causes this). For example using extra ammo dice increases the chance of a hit but at a risk of dropping to low ammo (which if it drops again indicates out of ammo). * If hit troops roll their defence dice (usually 2D8 upped to 2D10 for body armour). Each success cancels a hit. * If hit and saved a unit is suppressed and must spend the next turn trying to recover. Leader stands give a bonus here based on distance and LOS. Conclusions from game 1: * Linear obstacles are great at messing up co-ordinated movements. * Area terrain makes you slow but safe. * Being caught in the open is deadly. * Ammo dice can really up the chance of suppression but a lot of units using this went low on ammo and one ran out just before the assault went in! * It plays fast, I completed a game of 2 platoons verses 1 in 45 minutes. * It can be heavy on dice rolling. Coming soon will be a simple conversion of a Battlefront BMP to make a model I never knew existed before some research today. I will also include stats for 7DTTRR, Team Yankee and Twilight 2000 versions 2 and 4 (none of which have ever had the statistics). No model of it exists by any manufacturer but every part is available in platic from Battlefront. No prize but kudos for anyone who can identify it from this (your names will feature in the video I'm making on it). Closing date - when I actually get the video completed probably around a week or so.
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