Historicon 2019 Live Blog – Part One!

Some games are built from the ground up to be for the kitchen table, but if your at Historicon this is your training ground before the game gets taken to epic proportions.

Lets find out what happens when Romans decide its a good idea to invade Ireland, this is the second engagement played here at Historicon, how do you think this fight will go?

I was very fortunate to attend the seminar presented by Colonels Mike Pappal (ret) and Bob Hatcher (ret) where they discussed their command experiences, insights, methodologies, and tactics during the Battle and Siege of Sadr City in Iraq during the spring and early summer of 2008. These gentlemen aren’t just “I was there and have some war stories to tell” veterans, but two of the actual commanders who planned and executed full spectrum combat operations at the battalion level.

Colonel Hatcher (Commander, 64th Brigade Support Battalion) had key insights into his formation’s role in forward battlefield support of their parent brigade. These force support functions included recovery of armoured vehicles damaged by enemy fire, engineering / logistics ops while under fire (these aren’t “supply poags” who sit in the rear), and building a wall along “hot spot” sections of Sadr City and to seal off enemy neighbourhoods … while under direct enemy sniper and RPG attack. He also discussed the critical importance of live fire training, “training for your worst day,” particularly at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California.

Colonel Pappal (Commander, 1-68 Armour Battalion) discussed force makeup down to the platoon level (use of Abrams, Bradley, HMMVW, and other vehicles within the same mission-tailored manoeuvre element). The factors that have to be balanced in the use of support weapons (combat aviation support, indirect fire weapons like battalion 120mm mortars) was discussed, as well as the use of canister and proximity-fused main rounds in from Abrams main battle tanks in insurgency suppression.

I was also able to get some time with Colonel Pappal afterwards and ask about his observations and opinions of the combat effectiveness of various Iraqi government forces that fought alongside his unit, namely 44th Brigade / 11th Infantry Division and the 9th Iraqi Armoured Division. This leads into a question I’ve been interested in pursuing on the Sitrep Podcast Channel: how First World / Free World forces can best transition responsibility of ongoing combat and pacification operations in a given conflict to friendly local forces. Sometimes this has not worked at all, as in Vietnamization in the 1960s and 70s, and sometimes we’ve had “hot and cold” success in places like Iraq (where some units performed well, others very poorly).

Summary answer: the officers in command of unit forces is a vital factor, not only their competence, experience, and training, but personal loyalty and corruptibility. Speaking only for myself, I feel this is the kind of insight that would apply not only in Iraq, but Afghanistan, and ongoing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, and the Caucasus.

Justin Takes a moment to have a chat with one of the team from Little Wars TV about what they are covering and the games they are running at Historicon.

Gerry gets a look at the Battle of Plataea, with a Greek alliance facing off against a huge Persian force

Time for some Napoleonic’s, To Catch A King is another historical what if scenario, this time looking at what would have happened if Napoleon had invaded England.

And that will close out day 2 of Historicon, join us tomorrow for even more historical gaming coverage.

Day Two may be over, but the team never sleeps!  Here are some shots of community members Gerry, John, and our friend Andrew engaged in some furious Austrian vs. French 10mm Napoleonics.  The system was simply “Napoleonic Convention” – a four-page home rule set designed to allow massive Napoleonic games to run in 3-4 hours.

John was holding the buildings on the French team’s left flank, withstanding furious assaults by Austrians under the command of Andrew and Gerry!