Reply To: Sitrep Podcast: Historical Gaming (and Register for Upcoming Gaming Event)!

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Good evening everyone –

Okay, some updates and replies:

1) As @grimwolfuk says, we are hoping to have a live stream on Saturday for our Podcast, with Alex from Full Battle Rattle.

2) Ops Center Episode 03 is coming out on Friday – with a look at the Yom Kippur War.

3) Episode 04 is already started (finishing up Arab-Israeli Wars).  Not sure what Episode 05 will be, but we’re leaning heavily toward Falklands 1982.

@rastamann – Thanks for the kind words on the Vietnam Valor & Victory (V3, for short) counters and map.  Not sure what the “World at War” system is, but I draw up each map “custom” for my scenarios (at least for virtual gaming – I don’t print custom maps for each physical-play scenario).  I have plenty for Arab-Israeli Wars, Panzer Leader, and could even do GDW Assault, these would be more 1980s symmetrical WWIII which each hex being exactly 250 meters.  I agree, each hex could be a village, with several strung together into a small town.  GDW assualt also had what they called “urban strips,” basically “light towns”

Symmetrical 1980s+ combat is scarce, at least compared to asymmetrical counter-insurgency combat and the like.  Falklands may be one example.  Iran-Iraq 1980-88  is a big historical example just not very interesting from a tactical sense.  I guess you could call 1991 Gulf War “symmetrical” at least in the sense that it was two formal armies facing each other, but it’s definitely imbalanced.  In order to get a really big “showdown” between forces that are even close to equal you usually have to go into hypothetical Team Yankee territory – definitely fun and interesting but not really in the historical purview of the Ops Center series.

Or course, we could always fire up some TCME (Tactical Combat Middle East – Tosach Co’s attempt to bring Panzer Leader into 1991 Gulf War) – or I have researched, calculated, and drawn up Russian vs. Ukrainian in Panzer Leader if you wanted to try hypothetical full-scale war between these countries.

@suetoniuspaullinus – awesome work on the Ares PMCs.  If I ever really have a problem I need liquidated, I know who I can call (I hope I can afford them)!  I see what you mean about the heroic scales and poses, but the paint job is amazing.  Each one is distinct and I love the clean simplicity and epic realism of the bases.

@limburger – good ole’ Jesse Ventura with the absurd XM214 minigun.  That’s a real weapon, but never carried by a person, always on a vehicle or helicopter.  Friggin’ thing weighs 85 pounds with 1000 rounds of ammo – you’ll find internet references to a “man-portable” version but bear in mind this is for 2-3 men and fired from a tripod.  Even so, we’re looking at 1,000 rounds fired at a ROF of 6,000 rpm MINIMUM.  So that’s 10 seconds of ammo – not what we see in the movie.   Also – “get to da choppa” always bothered me a little.  No one in the military calls a helicopter a “chopper.”  It’s a Bird or a Helo or Ship or Helicopter.

Oh well.  😀  There I go looking for realism in an Arnold vs. Alien movie.  I deserve what I get, I suppose.

@elessar2590 – For Jesse’s roles in life, we can’t forget “Guardian of the Galaxy” in the movie Abraxas.  Truly the height of cinema masterpieces. 🙁