British 1st Armoured Division vs. Soviet 9th Guards
Recommendations: 4085
About the Project
Lately, I've been running war games every weekend with members of the community via web conference. Players log on and play wargames with each other in real time, regardless of location, and we usually have at least a couple spectators as well. Many times it’s been Darkstar, but we’re also running wargames in Panzer Leader, Arab-Israeli Wars, and now Valor & Victory.
BoW/OTT community members @brucelea, @damon, @davehawes, and @rasmus have taken the plunge, leading battalions across thousands of meters of desert, starfleets in pitched battles across the heavens, or vicious firefights in the jungles of Vietnam, all without leaving the comfort of their home.
Hard-core, old-school command-tactical wargames can now be run (complete with spectators and recordings) in real time, with BOTH PLAYERS moving pieces across THE SAME virtual game board, thus maintaining player agency, speedy and instant results (no play by e-mail), interwoven turn sequences, any questions / feedback instantly received and addressed, and with the game being virtually recorded as it goes, a ready-made battle report can actually be created as we go.
All of this without the players having to install any new software on their computer, on any platform (PC or Mac). All that's needed is to agree on a time, a handful of dice, and a bellyful of courage!
Every weekend can now be a boot camp! All without costing me thousands of dollars in airfare, too!
Related Game: PanzerBlitz
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
Gameplay Video British 1st Armoured Division (NORTHAG) vs. 9th Guards Tank Division (1st Guards Tank Army)
Good afternoon, all. Here is the slightly-edited stream replay of last night’s game of People’s General, where we imagined a scenario in the early 1990s where the “Fall of the Soviet Union” was much more violent than took place historically.
Long story short, Communist Party and Soviet Army hard-liners won out in the power grab after the the fall of Gorbachev, and the Soviet Union made a last desperate play against NATO in Europe, preferring to “die fighting.”
The scenario was built to roughly represent two of the top units that would have faced off on the norther German plain: 1st UK Armored Division and 9th Guards Tank Division.
Forces engaged:
9th Guards Tanks Division (1st Guards Tank Army, GSFG)
1,2,3 Battalion, 7th Guards Tank Regiment (T-90A)
1,2,3 Battalion, 40th Guards Tank Regiment (T-80U)
1,2,3 Battalion, 44th Guards Tank Regiment (T-80U)
1,2,3 Battalion, 9th Guards Independent Rifle Regiment (BMP-2)
1,2,3 Battalion, 249th Guards Rifle Regiment (BMP-2)
1,2 Battalion, 841st Guards Artillery Regiment (2S3 155mm)
1,2 Battalion, 1018 Antiaircraft Missile Regiment (2S6M Tunguska)
638th Guards Missile Battalion (BM-21 Grad)
+1 unit of Mi-24D Helicopter Gunship
1st UK Armoured Division
(data combined from 1988 NORTHAG OOB, Op Granby/Desert Storm, partially updated with newer equipment)
1/Royal Irish Rangers, 12th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
1/Royal Green Jackets, 12th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
4th RTR, 12th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
Queen’s Own Hussars, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
1st RTR, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
1/Scots Guards, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
2nd RTR, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
1/Staffordshire, 7th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
1/3rd Regiment, Army Air Corps (AH-64D “Longbow” Apache)
40th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (M109A6 Paladin)
1,2/39 Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery (MLRS)
10th Air Defense Battery (Rapier SAM)
Live Stream, British Army of the Rhine vs. Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
Join us for a live stream tonight as we pit British Army of the Rhine forces against invading spearheads of the GSFG (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany) in a theoretical early 1990s war in Western Europe.
Suppose the collapse of the Soviet regime had not gone as quietly as it did in 1992? Suppose the hardliners won out over Yeltsin after the capitulation of Mikhail Gorbechev, suppose the dying Soviet empire had elected against a peaceful transition, prefering to die fighting?
We’ll be using the People’s General Cold War 2001 Expansion to play out a possible advance against the British Army of the Rhine, toward the Weser River in northern Germany.
Wednesday, September 22 – 7PM East US Time, Midnight UK Time
American Revolution Demo Game in 20mm Miniature
After two and a half months, I suppose it’s finally time for me to finish that American Revolution demo game I started for our July 4 special. 🙂
In this video we complete that game, discuss a few tactical features of typical American Revolution units, and what distinguishes them and their battles from other aspects of black powder wargaming like American Civil War, Napoleonics, or English Civil War. If you’re interested in more detailed discussion of the rules or the first turn of this game, the original video can be found here:
Rasmus vs. Bill - Battlecarry Sabot (Tank Duel in Future Korean War)
Okay, everyone – Here is the video replay from the Sunday game between Rasmus and Bill – pitting North Korean Sungun-915 MBTs of 105th Guards Armored Division against South Korean K-2 “Black Panther” MBTs of 2nd Armored Brigade in a badass, hard-fought game of Battlecarry Sabot.
It’s ultra-modern tanks in a near-future war, up close and personal! Might be a fun “background listen” while hobbying or painting. 🙂
Battle Carry Sabot: North vs. South Korea Tank Duel
Join us while Oriskany Jim runs a heads-up match between Bill (Sitrep 6) and community member Rasmus for game of Battle Carry Sabot.
Our battle for the week imagines North Korean battle tanks invading into South Korea sometimes in the near future. In our scenario, a spearhead of North Korean “Seon’gun-915” main battle tanks of the 105th Guards Armored Division has just broken through Republic of Korea infantry defensive positions, and is then counterattacked by responding South Korean K-2 “Black Panther” MBTs.
Sunday, September 12 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Work continues on today's game of Battle Carry Sabot. First, the general disposition of real-life forces (not including reservists) for the ROK, DPRK, USA, and USMC in the Korean Peninsula. Some of this is a little incomplete. Unsurprisingly, reliable data on real-life North Korean forces and where they are deployed is a little tough to get on short notice. One key unit is the KPA 105th Guards Armored Division. Notice where they have broken across the DMZ through a gap where there are no major rivers along the Intra-Korean Border. I have this picked as kind of a "Fulda Gap" of our scenario, a major breakthrough here will allow the North Korean KPA to flank Seoul from the east. In our imaginary "tomorrow war" they have just been met by lead elements of 2nd and 30th Armored Brigades, II ROK Corps.
Here is the map for the game. A one-inch grid = 50 meters (scale 1/2000). To the west of the map, along that highway and among those buildings, the main body of KPA 105th Guards Armored Division's lead regiment has just collided with 2nd Battalion, ROK 2nd Armored Brigade. Losses are heavy. The commander of KPA's 1st Battalion has detached a company of his Songun-915 tanks eastward to try to find a way through those mountains around the flank. This company is @rasmus' force. Rasmus' North Koreans have hit a single ROK APC staged out here on defensive reconnaissance. They destroyed the vehicle, but not before it issued a fragmentory warning report to 2/2 ROK Armored Brigade's HQ. The commander of 2/2's Delta Company has just tapped his XO ( @SITREP 6), sending him eastward with one detached platoon of K-2 "Black Panther" MBTs to meet the flanking KPA armor and secure the battalion's east flank. It's five ROK tanks against 13 KPA tanks. Whoever wins turns the east flank of the enemy force's main body, and probably tips the balance of the main battle taking place to the west.
Here are some photos, my playing pieces, and some technical data for the two types of tanks we will see pitted against each other tomorrow.
Here are the game values for today's tanks. Note the Songun-915 deploys ATGW s ... Bulsae (Firebird)-3 missiles reverse-engineered from Russian AT-14 Spriggans. They also have two SA-16 MANPADS bolted to the turret, not that they will come into play this game. Meanwhile, the K-2s deploy an Active Protection System, a radar detector that tracks incoming rockets and missiles and explodes an armor projectile out to intercept the the threat before it even hits the tank. These are new features we'll be playtesting tomorrow for the first time.
A sample of what part of tomorrow's game might look like.American Revolution in 20mm
The American Revolution continues to rage anew in my dining room. 🙂
The scale is 20mm.
Battlesystem 2nd Edition.
1 figure = 20 men (except for commanders and artillery pieces).
1 Inch = 20 yards.
About 120 figures on the table in all = 2400 men
This is no battle in particular, just a wrap up of the demo game originally staged for Stirep Podcast‘s demo game staged for July 4 (Independence Day) content.
Here we see the British right wing, which the Patriots are trying to turn with concentrated rifle (sharpshooters) fire. The range is getting close, perhaps close enough for the British to turn with a bayonet charge.
The British left, where Light Infantry companies of three regiments (about 120 men effective strength) are pushing across the creek, while line companies push over the bridge and try to provide fire support from the friendly bank.
The Patriot left, which is trying to shoot up the Crown right.
The American brigade command group. There will be more to come. Stay tuned for photos and also a full video battle report in the coming days.Video Replay: Naval Command (Jenn vs. Oriskany Jim) PLA Navy vs. US Navy Seventh Fleet
Here is the replay video from Sunday’s stream, where @gladesrunner and I played our game of Naval Command by Rory Crabb. The scenario pits a US cruiser/destroyer group (with strike support from USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76) against a destroyer/frigate battle group of the Chinese PLA Navy.
The Chinese have limited air suppotrt from land bases and a smaller Chinese carrier (PLN Shandong) but also massive support from ground-based cruise missiles.
The Chinese mission is to defend a convoy of Type 072A LHA troops transports trying to reinforce the Kaoshing Bridgehead in southern Taiwan.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying or painting. 😀
The initial set up areas, the whole map, opening moves and helicopter launches, detection phases, and missile launches. Both sides get good news and bad news on Turn 01. Jenn's Americans detect all my ground-based missile bases, launched Tomahawks cruise missiles, and destroyed one base outright before it can even fire. Meanwhile, my aircraft activate, and six J-15 (SU-30 naval variants) are coming in hot next attack phase. Her F-35Cs do NOT. So I will own the sky for at least one turn ...
If I'm ever going to sink an American warship, it has to be now on Turn 2. I'vbe already lost my second cruise missile base (big mistake on my end by not launching from there FIRST in the fire sequence). But bad dice mean that the six missile strikes from my aircraft, two more cruise missiles from my remaining base, and eight more YJ-18 cruiser missiles from my warships only score ONE HIT on the Ticonderoga class missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG-65). It disables the Chosin's helicopter landing deck (that will be two helos that will probably crash later in the game) but the crew repairs the damage (to some extent) during the damage control phase.
Turn 3 is really rough for me. While I damned near sink the Arleigh Burke class destroyer McCampbell, my fleet is devastated by returning American Harpoon SSMs and the arrival of the F-35Cs from the USS Reagan. I engage two of her F-35Cs with ALL SIX of my J-15s, but two are shot down by American SM-2 SAMs and another is shot down as I LOOSE THE DOGFIGHT against the F-35Cs which costs me ANOTHER J-15. So it looks pretty bad for the Chinese now ... but one American ship is now out of action and NOT A SINGLE HIT has been scored against that transport fleet (I get victory points for each transport that survives ... and there are six of them). So this game isn't QUITE over yet ...Red Dragon 2028: Chinese Invade Taiwan (Gladesrunner v. Oriskany in Naval Command)
Join us as we wrap up our Red Dragon 2028 series, imagining a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the near future.
So far we’ve done ground combat in Modern Era Panzer Leader, and air combat in AirWar C21. Now we’re going to look at a naval operations with Rory Crabb’s Naval Command – pitting the PLA Navy against the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
Will the US Navy be able to shut down the pipeline of men, machines, and supplies the Chinese are struggling to set up across the Taiwan Strait? Tune in and find out!
Sunday, September 5 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
The situation at the end of our fictional campaign. While the Chinese Air Force has held its own over the southern reaches of the Taiwan Strait, ground victories by the US and her Western Pacific Allies have pretty much collapsed the Chinese bridgehead on northern Taiwan. The Chinese are sending across a massive landing force to reinforce their southern bridgehead, which they hope can hold on long enough to force a favorable peace terms.
The four classes of surface warship that will appear in today's game. Of course, both sides will have one carrier off table as well, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76, flagship US 7th Fleet) and PLN Shandong (Type 002 class carrier)
Here is our virtual miniatures table, with each 1" grid measuring 1 nautical mile of ocean. Thus, we have 108 x 60 miles of battle area here, an area roughly the size of Northern Ireland.
A close up of most of the American forces we'll see in today's game. The idea is to defeat Chinese surface ships, suppress enemy air strikes and land-based cruise missile attacks, and finally get to grips with the Chinese transport fleet (six Type 072A amphibious warfare transports). If the Americans can do enough damage to the Chinese landing fleet, their surviving bridgehead in southern Taiwan will be cut off and doomed to defeat.Hobby Video: Quick and Easy Chain Link Fences for Urban Terrain
Chain link fence is a great “scatter terrain” way to update buildings, streets, and other urban terrain from earlier periods to a more modern look – quick “hobby hack” to expand the utility of your WW2 terrain as you expand into Modern Era wargaming.
Replay Video - Damon vs. Oriskany (Conclusion)
Here is the replay video from Sunday’s stream, where @damon and I completed our game of modern-era Panzer Leader. The scenario sets a joint task force of US and Japanese armor and infantry to assist beleaguered Taiwanese forces trying to hold out against an onslaught of Chinese PLA armor and PLAN Marine mechanized infantry.
The video starts off with the battle in mid-swing (Turn 6 out of 10), so there is no set up, displosition or deployment moves, etc … just straight into combat already in progress.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying or painting.
Red Dragon 2028: Chinese Invade Taiwan (Damon v. Oriskany Panzer Leader - Conclusion)
Please join us as we continue our explorations of a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the near future. This will be a continuation of the Panzer Leader Modern Era game begun between myself and community member Damon on August 8. In this game, we saw elements of a US Army Stryker Battalion, reinforced by a tank-heavy armor team and joined by elements of a Japanese Rapid Deployment Brigade, rush to the rescue of overwhelmed Taiwanese units crumbling before an onslaught of Chinese People’s Liberation Army armor and Marine mechanized infantry.
The game is currently halfway through its planned ten turns. The set up, deployment, background, and opening “posturing and disposition moves” are all complete, the two forces are well and truly locked up in fiery combat. Now it’s gut-check time, so see who wins, and by what degree!
Sunday, August 22 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
So just to set the stage for today’s stream, here is a brief, partial battle report outlining the highlights of the engagement so far. Again, only half the battle has been played out, today’s stream will finish out the game and decide the winner.
For those just joining us, here is an expanded and more detailed situation sketch of the invasion so far. The Chinese have thrown two “Group Armies” across the Taiwan Strait (about 120,000 men total), attacking Taiwan in two basic waves. The first was an airborne wave (largely a sacrificial feint), the second was a seaborne wave, spearheaded by high-speed Marine assault hovercraft. After forty-eight hours, only the amphibious assault in the north has managed any kind of toehold, as well as (against all odds) one of the “sacrificial” airborne landings in the south. These positions have been rapidly expanded into semi-viable bridgeheads on X-Day+2, but they remain widely separated, vulnerable to counterattack IF Western Pacific allies can must enough of a counterattack in time. Now, on X+3, the Americans are launching their first sizable counterattack in the north, assisted by elements of a JSDF Rapid Deployment Brigade. Their mission: to head off Chinese armor threatening to break out of the Hsinchu Bridgehead before they smash northeast along the Lung Tan Highway and threaten Taipei from the southwest. 
The shattered remains of the Taiwanese 234th Brigade sets up on the table, clearly showing the Lung Tan highway interchange. Outnumbered between eight- and twelve-to one, their higher command and communications infrastructure has now been taken out by cruise missiles launched from Chinese submarines. They hold the objective hexes marked in yellow. The Americans and Japanese will be entering from the east. The Chinese will be entering from the west. Whoever controls at least three objective hexes at the end of the game is the winner. 
The battle jumps off on Turn One with neither side wasting any time. People’s Liberation Army tanks (ZTZ-99As of 10th Armored Brigade) swiftly overrun the first Taiwanese objective at the highway interchange (“Cloud Leopard” APCs and infantry). One tank platoon is disordered in the attack, but they will swiftly recover. To the south, Chinese Marines of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) swing around the left flank of the Taiwanese 234th Mech Brigade, setting up for one hell of an infantry assault into the town of Lung Tan itself. American and Japanese forces arrive minutes later, and when Damon’s communications officer ask the beleaguered Taiwanese who is in command, the frantic reply comes back: “You are!” American Predator drones and tanks of Team Whiskey (1/35th Armor, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Mechanized), swing north around the PLA 10th Armored threatening the northern objective hex, AH-64D Apaches using their chain guns to chew up some Type 89A APCs with their infantry still aboard. The Predator drones sling out their Hellfire missiles, but a combination of Chinese cover, laminate armor, and bad luck saves the Chinese for now. 
Pressing their advantage in the north, Team Whiskey comes down off the high ground overlooking this road junction and objective hex, with two platoons of M1A2C battle tanks (formerly M1A2 SEP v3), along with Type 10 Japanese MBTs and MCV combat vehicles. The first platoon of PLA ZTZ-99A battle tanks goes up in a series of fiery explosions (goon Abrams gunnery there) while the Japanese, despite being outnumbered in tank 3:1, use the MCV and heavy weapons infantry platoon to the southeast to pin down PLA 10th Armored Brigade’s right wing (note units set at an angle, this indicates they are “disordered”). 
In the south, the Chinese commit to their assault into Lung Tan. Their ASN-205 drones spot Taiwanese and newly-arrived American units of “Task Force Rapier” (1/17th Infantry, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division). The Chinese 3rd Marine Brigade then move their Type 05 amphibious APCs into the streets of the town, perhaps getting too close to American and Taiwanese guns, but the alternative is to leave their two heavy urban hexes open for t he American to occupy. Rather than pay for such costly hexes twice, the Chinese get aggressive. The risk largely pays off, they only suffer two APC platoons disordered, and now some 350 Chinese PLAN Marines are within assault range of the defenders of Lung Tan. 
In the north, the PLA 10th Armored quickly finds itself in real trouble. As their powerful ZTZ-99A tanks keep getting pinned down, they can never really release a coordinated, close-range gunnery salvo against the Americans and Japanese bearing down on their front and right wing. Apaches start slinging out Hellfire missiles, picking them off, once they are spotted by Predator drones (even after the Predator Drones have fired their missiles, they remain valuable as spotting and targeting tools). It’s an uneven cycle of fire superiority, with the Chinese tanks always just 30 seconds behind their opponents, taking losses that leave them pinned down, unable to return effective fire, and unable to even withdraw safely under this crossfire of American and Japanese shells and missiles (TOWs, Hellfires, infantry AT weapons, and 120mm sabot rounds). 
In the south, however, Chinese Marines split the allied position wide open. A pair of J-16 Flanker strike aircraft scream in, and despite one being damaged by a near miss from an American Stinger team, American and Taiwanese forces are pinned down as a massive PLAN infantry close assault comes in. The issue is never in doubt. Platoons of Taiwanese Cloud Leopard APCs and American MGS Strykers are lost, along with most of the 234th Brigade’s infantry. The Chinese have firmly taken Lung Tan, and a second objective hex. Taiwanese survivors withdraw to the northeast, Americans fall back straight down that eastern highway.
To the north, meanwhile, the Chinese advance largely collapses. Pointblank American and Japanese tank fire (120mm and 105mm from that Japanese MCV platoon) shatter most of what’s left of 10th PLA Armored’s tanks. Furthermore, these allied forces are soon gearing up for a counter-advance to the southwest to retake that highway overpass objective in the lower left corner. While this didn’t work out well for the Chinese at all, it showcases how the Panzer Leader system can really capture the essence of fire superiority. To be honest, as the Chinese player, I should have run two turns ago, and at least mouthed a decent defense from those tree lines to the southwest. There are only two full platoons of Abrams tanks on the table, I came DAMNED close to taking one of them out. But with most of my tank force now wrecked, I stand virtually no chance of slowing them down. 
So here is the situation at the end of Turn 5, the halfway point of the game. Long story short, the Allies are winning in the north, losing to the south. Given the overall balance of what is left, I’m pretty sure the Allies will win this one, taking the highway overpass objective. I will probably hold Lung Tan to the south and maybe take that smaller road junction and ton to the southeast, leaving me with two objective hexes, and Damon with three. We’ll see what happens in today’s stream as we finish out this battle. Oriskany vs. Damon: China Invades Taiwan (Panzer Leader TCME)
Good afternoon, folks. Here is the replay video from the recent Panzer Leader Modern Expansion game between myself and @damon. I an playing the leading elements of two Chinese brigades (one PLA armor, the other PLAN Marine Mechanized Infantry), and he’s got a western Pacific task force built around:
Team Whiskey (1/37th Armor, 2nd ABCT, 1st US Infantry Division / Mechanized): A US tank-heavy armor team
1/17th Infantry, 2nd SBCT / 2 US Infantry Division (elements)
Task Force Kumamoto: (42nd Japanese Rapid Deployment Brigade, 8th JSDF Division
Survivors of decimated Taiwanese 234th Mech Brigade.
We’ve got ultramodern MBTs, five variants of Strykers, Apaches, Flankers, Predator drones, Javelins, Stingers, high-tech combined arms weapons and units of FOUR friggin’ armies on the table at once.
This game is resuming to its shattering finish LIVE later this weekend.
Meanwhile, the replay is offered here in case you might find it a pleasant listenwhile painting or hobbying.
Gameplay Stream Playback - China vs. US - AirWar C21 - 2028 Taiwan
Good afternoon: Here is the gameplay stream playback video, where myself and Bernhard sat down for a game of AirWar C21 by Wessex Games. The scenario was another chapter in our ongoing “Red Dragon” setting, where we imagine a Chinese conventional forces invasion of Taiwan in 2028.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying for painting. We breeze over the setting, set up is already complete, and first movement is already resolved. We get right into the thick of it with some point-blank gunplay and missile launches.
The game includes F-22A Raptors of teh USAF, F-35C Lightnings of the US Navy, pitted against J-20 “Mighty Dragons” amd J-11 “Flanker Ls” of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
Hope you like it!
Ultra-Modern Fighter Combat: Live Community Wargame (PLAAF vs. USAF/USN)
The year is 2028. After nearly a decade of continual escalations of tensions in the Straits of Formosa, the unthinkable has finally happened. The People’s Republic of China has committed to a conventional-forces invasion of Taiwan, and as the United States and her allies respond, full scale war erupts throughout the battlefields, skies, and seas across the western Pacific.
Join Bernhard and I as we imagine the opening air clashes of such a war, wargaming a scenario “AirWar C21” by Wessex Games. We’ll be looking at some of the most advanced fifth-generation, stealth-capable fighters that could participate in such a conflict, like the Chengdu J-20 “Mighty Dragon of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force and the Lockheed Martin F-35 “Lightning II” of the United States.
Sunday, August 15 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
An expanded and more detailed overview of our hypothetical war, showing the situation on Day 5 of the imagined invasion. We certainly hope this kind of war never actually takes place, but (God forbid) if it did, these really are some of the units that would almost certainly be involved. Note the initial airborne drops (blue) have mostly failed, per design. These were diversions to spring Allied reponses prematurely, the real assaults were Army and Navy/Marine landings in red. Supporting landings are shown in yellow. Again, even most of THESE have failed, but two lodgements have been secured by invading PLA/PLAN forces.
The four types of aircraft that will feature in today's game. There are widely-varying levels of capability here, and each of these types have their own strengths and weaknesses. Well, except those poor J-11s... they're based on a 30-year old former Soviet design, but trust me ... given the updated missiles they carry, they still pack a deadly little punch.
Here's the map for today's game. It's an 8-foot by 5-foot table, with each grid measuring about 1 nautical mile.
The combatants for today's game. The Chinese certainly have an edge in numbers, but those J-11s are not fifth-generation stealth-capable craft like the J-20s, the F-22s, or the F-35s.Model Kit Rescue: Revell "Snap-Tite" 1:72 A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog)
Sometimes we don’t have access to the best, or most advanced, model kits. Sometimes we don’t have our airbrushes, the best paints, or a lot of time. Sometimes we just want to crush out some hobby, and make the best of what is on hand.
Oh, and sometimes the model is a RE-PACK … where some poor kid chopped the pieces out of the model with a chainsaw, put the model half-way together, gave up, and his mom threw the mangled ruins back in the box and returned it to the store …
And then I buy it … get home, take it out … and realize its time for a “model kit rescue!”
RED DRAGON 2028: Live Stream "What-If" Community Wargame
The year is 2028. After nearly a decade of continual escalations of tensions in the Straits of Formosa, the unthinkable has finally happened. The People’s Republic of China has committed to a conventional-forces invasion of Taiwan, and as the United States and her allies respond, full scale war erupts throughout the battlefields, skies, and seas across the western Pacific.
Join @Damon and I as we imagine the opening ground battles of such a war, wargaming a Modern Era Panzer Leader scenario with a joint task force of US Army and JSDF forces – rushing to relieve beleaguered Taiwanese defense troops. The Taiwanese battalion doesn’t have long, crumbling beneath a gigantic armored spearhead of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
Sunday, August 8 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Here is the scenario, at least on the northern coast of Taiwan. The Chinese are Taiwanese forces involved are actual units that would almost certainly participate in a propsective conflict like the one we are imagining. The US Forces are also real, 2nd Striker Brigade Combat Team / 2nd US Infantry would almost certainly be involved (2nd US Infantry is earmarked for defense of South Korea), the deployment of 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team / 1st US Infantry (Mechanized) is a little more speculative. Most speculative is the Japanese 42nd Rapid Deployment Brigade / 8th Division. As an RDB deployed in the southernmost part of Japan, it's a solid guess ... but Japanese troops deployed into other nations presents significant Constitutional issues for the Japanese government.
Here is the map for today's game (Panzer Leader / Tactical Combat Middle East - with new units created by myself)
The American forces, two reinforced companies, basically, with some additional support assets. Note the heavy deployment of the "Stryker" combat vehicle in a wide array of variants. These are largely replacing the traditional idea of the "tank" or "APC" in many mission profiles of the US Army since 2007.
The Japanese and Taiwanese allies ... Again, small numbers, but the JSDF is a pretty advanced force.
The invading Chinese, part PLA (People's Liberation Army) - and some Marines of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). J-16 fighter-bombers (Chinese version of the SU-27 Flanker) for tactical air support. Notice both sides also have drones for additional air capability. The scenario:
The date is August 8, 2028. After a series of escalating incidents, a disastrous trade war, and diplomatic failures, the People’s Republic of China sees no choice in launching a conventional-forces war into Taiwan.
American intelligence, along with their allies throughout the Western Pacific, have some warning against the impending onslaught, but not nearly enough to stop it in its tracks. Still, the initial Chinese assault and lodgement across the Straits of Taiwan is one of the costliest maritime military operations since the Seconde World War.
The initial phase of the Chinese assault comes as a series of gargantual airlifts, striking at three points up and down the eastern Taiwan, coming at Kaohsiung in the south, T’aichung in the center, and near the capital Taipei in the north. These are, for the most part, costly failures, resulting in a catastrophic loss of aicraft and paratroopers for the PLAAF and airmobile forces.
However, these were largely feints, sacrifical openers to trigger response protocols for the Taiwanese military and the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet. The real shove comes just hours later, a massive sealift operation by enormous fleets of PLAN and PLA amphibious assault and Marine forces, largely spearheaded by heavy-lift hovercraft.
Even these assaultys run into serious trouble, hammered by the American and Taiwanese … and later Japanese … naval airstrikes. However, the northern lodgement at Hsinchu secures a viable (if embattled) beachhead.
Meanwhile, surviving PLA airborne units have secured a tenuous foothold at Kaohsiung in the south. And here is the one lucky break the Americans and her western Pacific allies have caught so far … while the Chinese have indeed landed two solid and growing lodgements on Taiwan … they are spaced far apart, and thus remain vulnerable if a counterattack can be mustered quickly enough.
Forces, however, remain scare, and even for the US military, air- and sealift capability across the vast Pacific remains limited. Nor can the allies send all the forces they would want to … South Korean forces (and many American units in South Korea as well) are cannot freely deploy to Taiwan … given the threat still posed by North Korea. Suffice it say that as the invasion of Taiwan gathers steam, the situation along the 38th Parallel is … tense. Also, Japan’s constitution strictly limits the degree to which the JSDF can deploy combat assets to other countries, and the Japan’s Diet remains locked in furious debate over expanding their response to the crisis.
In this scenario, we find ourselves entering the fourth day of the war. Leading elements of two American Brigade Combat Teams (TF 1/35 of the 2nd Armored BCT / 1st US Infantry Mechanized) and 1/17 of the 2nd Stryker BCT 2nd US Infantry) have been formed into Task Force Rapier, which you command. Having landed in Taiwan, orders are to push west with all possible speed to head off gathering PLA armored spearheads breaking out of the Hsinchu beachhead, threaten the southwestern approaches to Taipei. From the north, you are joined by Task Force Kumomoto of the JSDF.
Ahead of you, somewhere in the chaos of the battlefield, the crumbling remnants of the Taiwanese 234th Mechanized Brigade is sacrificing itself in a desperate delaying action againt unbelievable odds. Your communications officer reports they have been screaming for help for the past two hours …
… And for the last few minutes, they have been screaming for orders.
Just then, your XO delivers the report from Brigade, Chinese “heavy rocket regiments” (IRBMs – with conventional warheads thank God), have annihilated most of the Taiwanese command and control network. Their military is now effectively leaderless.
As your lead units draw close to the survivors 234th Mechanized, still locked in a death grapple against far superior units, your communication officer manages to raise them on an allied frequency. You ask who is in command up there.
In frantic but perfect English, the reply comes back:
“You are, sir.”
Good luck.
HK Ops: Modern Military Role-Playing Demo Video
Here is the replay from Sunday’s stream, where we ran a quick refresher, overview, and intro for HK Ops, the modern military RPG developed for virtual on-line play for the Sitrep Podcast. Myself and @gladesrunner went through the basic premise of the game, how to create a character, how to spend XP, and a sample couple of turns in a typical firefight.
Might be a fun listen while painting or hobbying!
A blank character sheet. Note the formatting is LANDSCAPE for best on-screen play (as opposed to A4 / 8.5 x 11 portrait for print-out).
Completed new character, with a little "start up XP" to join a more experienced party. Note the equipment list, filled in "automatically" with some simple drop downs to reduce bookkeeping to an absolute minimum.
A sample background map.
A sample "campaign" map of the actual operational area where the mission takes place. 
A tactical map, where a firefight is playing out. Jenn, playing a vehicle expert formerly from South African special tactics and rescue police, has just run over two ISIS terrorists in her JTLV. 
That BMP-2 just missed us, but Jenn spun us around the building (taking loads of fire along the way) We're both wounded, but I'm out with my M4 assault carbine and grenade launcher to at least pin down those incoming insurgents, while she clambers into the turret of the JTLV and puts a 20mm burst in to the back of the BMP-2. That BMP is damaged ... but not out by any means ...HK Ops: Desert Strike Mini-Mission
Join me as I take a player through a very quick, very small mini-mission in HK Ops, our Modern Military RPG system, custom-made for Sitrep Streaming and online play.
Sunday, August 1 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Video Replay - Colombian Jungle Raid (Policia Nacional de Colombia / DEA vs. Medellin Cartel) - 1989
Good afternoon: Here is the game playback video from yesterday’s live stream, where Oriskany Jim and Sitrep 6 faced off in a jungle raid during the height of the “Escobar Era” of the Colombian Drug War.
In summary, the Polica Nacional de Colombia’s “Seach Bloc” has found a network of Medellin drug labs and processing centers in the jungles of the Zaragosa Highlands, northeast of Medellin. Mounting up in an American DEA-supplied UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, Colonel Carillo gets a squad of his Colombian assault troops and a criminal informant (Jorge Noreña) and heads off to wipe out the target. Two US DEA agents are along on the op. The primary tango is Talabera, a prominent Medellin lieutenant running this local lab network.
Can Bill conduct the raid and capture /destroy all the drug labs in time, while keeping his own losses down and capturing / killing Talabera? WIll other cartels get involved? AUC right-wing paramilitaries? FARC Marxist rebels? It’s a free-for-all in the Colombian Jungle, listen in to see how it plays out.
Might be a fun listen whil hobbying or painting.
Hope you like it!
Colombia Jungle Raid 1989: Sitrep 6 vs. Oriskany Jim (Community Wargame - Sitrep Skirmish system)
Join Bill (Sitrep 6) and Oriskany Jim as they head into the Colombian highlands circa 1989. It’s the height of the “Escobar Era” drug war against the Medellin Cartel, and law enforcement is headed into the jungle to root out another of the Cartel’s labs. Government forces will include troops of Policía Nacional de Colombia’s “Search Bloc” – backed up by Americans in the DEA.
But will they be facing Cartel thugs? AUC right-wing militia? Marxist guerrillas of the FARC movement? Innocent farmers? All of the above? Tune in and find out as the Sitrep Podcast pivots back to our “Modern Warfare” roots.
Sunday, July 25 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
The main foci of the 1980s-1990s phase of the Colombian Drug War. All factions were heavily active in the country's capital Bogata, while the Medellin and the Cali Cartels were the most powerful narco factions at the time. Other factions include the Colombian government, the United States, smaller cartel factions, ultra-right wing paramilitaries like the AUC, and remnants of Marxist groups like FARC. Yeah, it's a free-for-all.
The map for today's game, in the Zargosa Highlands northeast of Medellin. Drug labs, processing stations, and trucking depots are marked as government objectives.
The assault squad of Nacional Policia Colombia's "Search Bloc". They also have two American DEA agents with them and a criminal informant who may be able to convince cartel members not to resist, surrender, or even turn against their former bosses. In modern "non-kinetic" warfare, you rarely know who your friends or enemies truly are.
The Cartel "troops" assigned to protect this part of Escobar's narco-empire. Talabera is the kingpin here, the government player gets additional points for capturing him alive.
