Reply To: Hobby Weekender 19/10/2018 – The Directors Cut Limited Edition Box Set

[oriskany 60789xp 1]

Good morning, all ~

First, a few replies:

No worries, @horati0nosebl0wer – these games aren’t for everyone.  As 60-70% (measured by titles) of the actual wargaming hobby, though, I try to make sure they get at least some representation.    So Blue Max?  Isn’t that the Pour le Mérite medal, i.e., actually a World War I game?  Just asking because you mention B-17s.

It’s just a different way of wargaming.  Personally I feel it’s better because it suffers from none of the inherent problems of miniature wargaming – expense, time invested before play, unrealistic rules, wonky scales, screwed-up ranges, oversimplistic rules, no tactical realism, storage, etc.  All that said, you can’t beat a miniature game for its visual impact.  Since joining Beasts of War, I’ve learned to appreciate miniature wargaming, and do it quite a bit.  But definitely part-time, I still “have one boot” in the world of “scaled” wargaming (hex & counter, computer, etc).

@evilstu – Monash really doesn’t get enough credit (commander, Australian Corps, 4th Army, BEF, so four divisions or so … call it 100,000 men).  At his Battle of Hamel ( July 1918) he seems to have taken what he saw of German “stosstruppen” tactics in the Kaiserschlacht spring offensives and adapted it for use with is own forces.  He “wrote a new book” on how to assault WW1 positions, pretty much tossing what had been established procedure up until then.  He absolutely overwhelmed the German position at Hamel.  The results (and more recommendations) were passed up to his boss, (Lt. General Rawlinson, CG Fourth Army), and then to his boss, Field Marshall sir Douglas Haig (CinC, BEF), and then up to his boss (nominally), Generalissimo (later Marshall) Ferdinand Foch (Supreme Allied Commander, Western Front).

Anyway, Monash’s doctrines were adopted widely through the rest of the BEF for the subsequent battles that officially kicked off what history would eventually call the Hundred Days Offensive that wound up winning the war.  So Battles of Amiens, Arras, Cambrai (1918), St. Quentin Canal, Courtrai, etc.).  Even the parts that Australian Corps were not involved in (honestly only one quarter of Fourth Army, and one of four armies in BEF, so about 1/16 of the Allied Force), Monash’s influence helped toward a positive outcome.

Some people have gone so far as to call Monash the “Father of the Blitzkrieg,” which is frankly nonsense (these people don’t know what “blitzkrieg” actually means) but it can’t be denied that he had a massive impact on combined tank-artillery- infantry coordination in late World War I, one that exceeded even his command of the Australian Corps.

No coincidence at all with the 100th Anniversary of these Hundred Days battles and the eventual Armistice.  Stay tuned.  😀

@rayzryr – great link on the Operation Jaywick.  I confess I had heard of this command / special force but thought they operated mostly in New Guinea, I never realized they struck all the way into Singapore.

As far as the counters and maps go, it’s Photoshop 14 / CSS 5.5.  The actual project goes into a little of the procedure:

Oriskany’s Final Days of the Great War – Australians + British tanks vs. Germans at Hamel

The game is actually pretty quick.  This definitely is not the case with all  hex & counter games.  In fact, the game that Valor & Victory is based on, Advanced Squad Leader, is a true 1980s monster that yes, takes hours.  Many hours.  But Valor & Victory is kind of a “love letter” to ASL, written by a true fan of the game who wanted to bring that kind of gaming back, but with MUCH LESS work and heartache.  This game in Valor & Victory I’m expecting to take 2 hours or less, and it’s actually something of a big game.  Some V&V scenarios wrap up in 30 minutes.  😀