Ultramodern Wargaming – Ukraine 2024

Oriskany Jim and Elessar2590 are back to finish their Kokoda Trail game of Valor & Victory.

Jim’s Japanese own most of the table, but have been horriby mauled by Australiuan defenses. Dylan now takes his surviving Australians and Papuans on the offensive, hoping to steal back a little of the key terrain. There aren’t many Japanese infantry left to stop them, but the Australians must be wary of the deadly Japanese mountain gun.

Can a desperate Australian counter-charge clow out a smoking, blood-soaked victory?  Find out!

Might make for a fun listen while hobbying or painting! Enjoy!

Oriskany Jim and Elessar2590 are back for Part 2 of their Kokoda Trail game of Valor & Victory.

So far, Jim’s assaulting Japanese have been ably supported by their Type 41 mountain gun and Type 89 “knee mortars”, and Australian losses have been heavy.

The Japanese “banzai” charge, however, has been slowed by thick mountain jungle, and heavily mauled by determined Australian defensive fire. Japanese numbers, however, may yet crack the thin (and bloodied) Australian defenses.

Might make for a fun listen while hobbying or painting! Enjoy!

Australians meet Japanese in this desperate 1942 battle in the jungle-smothered mountains of New Guinea in the South Pacific.

The Japanese wanted Port Moresby on the far side of New Guinea, which would have given them deadly air and sea access to much of Australia.  Denied a seaborne invasion route by the Americans in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were forced to do things the hard way and push overland to Port Moresby via the Kokoda Track.

Here they met determined Australian and Papuan resistance in a legendary battle against impossible odds and withering mountain jungle conditions.

Oriskany Jim and Elessar2590 sit down for an all-out, no holds barred game of Barry Doyle’s Valor & Victory, in a scenario recreating part of one of the initial defensive battles along the vital jungle route.

Piotr and Arek are back for another 15mm tabletop game, this time trying Seven Days to the River Rhine by Great Escape Games. Once again it’s the late 1980s, the Soviets have invaded West Germany, and the French have committed their forces to help stop the incursion.

The game on the table is a “Capture” scenario, where the attacking Soviets get double points available of the Defending French. But the Soviets have to assault and take all the objectives from the French, who are able to hide the deployment of some of their forces.

Wow, what a game! Here is the replay of Sunday’s live stream, where myself and Rasmus had an absolute killer deathmatch of Avalon Hill’s PanzerBlitz.

It literally comes down to the last die roll!

The scenario is a small part of Manstein’s Backhand Blow, a series of German counterattacks that miraculously stabilized the Eastern Front in the wake of Stalingrad.

We’ve got Tigers crunching through the snow, mass T-34 charges, desperate close-quarters battle in the ruins of a Soviet town, everything that has made PanzerBlitz the classic that it is!

Join Oriskany, Piotr, and Marty for another episode of the Sitrep Podcast, where we discuss what’s new in the world of Historical Military Wargaming, go over what we’ve been doing in the hobby, and review some great hobby contributions from the Sitrep Podcast Community!

Our topic today is Private Military Contractors and other “irregular” forces in wargaming.

There’s been some talk on our Discord lately – Looks like HK Ops might make a limited comeback.  Maybe four-episode run or some such.  This again brings up the idea of Military Role-Playing and the specific obstacles that sub-genre tends to present.  One potential way around these issues: the PMC.

Partisans, insurgents, and militia are other possible routes, presenting opportunities where people can be involved in a conflict no matter their age, nationality or even gender.

Now … how does that work in wargaming?

How does it work when your toy soldiers don’t necessarily have to do what you tell them to?

Might make for a fun listen while hobbying or painting.  Hope you enjoy!

Piotr and Arek return for another 75-point game of Team Yankee. This time Piotr’s French square off against Arek’s Syrians, perhaps in a theoretical 1980s engagement where France attempts to tame her former “mandate” colony.

The French are heavily outgunned, with a smaller high-tech armored recon force facing off against a heavy spearhead of Syrian armor and motorized infantry. But the Syrians are on the assault, charged with aggressive “breakthrough” objectives on a tight timeline, and must contend with French artillery and air support.

Have you tried Team Yankee scenarios beyond the traditional “1980s Germany” setting?