Tuesday 2 December 2014

Solo Wargaming-Myth or Magic?

Well,the car's in the garage,the decorating is finished(for now!) and the wife is out Christmas shopping,so what is a man to do?-Try solo wargaming,that's what!!
Over the last few nights I have been working on a very simple,but effective,set of solo rules for World War 2(a subject I know very little about!) If I know so little about WW2,why would I want to "game" it?-Well as many of you will know,I hang around "Pound" shops like a bad smell,but on a recent visit I couldn't help myself and "splashed out" an horrendous amount of cash on WW2 infantry and tanks-£5 bought me 10 tanks and 100 infantry-can you believe it?
So with this expenditure coming off my pension(I'm retired you know) I had to do something to justify it-and so the Solo rules,and game I'm about to describe.
The rules take the form of throwing a dice for each unit(tanks or infantry) and that score is the fighting points for the unit-this is reduced by losing a fire-fight,or being hit by something that you can not return fire to-ie bazooka on tanks,until your score is zero-then the unit is removed!
I set up the terrain as shown,then placed cards(some of them blank) in various locations on the terrain,marked up with either "TANK" or "INFANTRY" so that I didn't know what was where,when I attacked.

I had great fun deciding where to attack,and the options I had,using the Intelligence I had to hand,ie I knew where there might be troops,but not what kind-I eventually decided to launch a grand attack on the Southern field,whilst Pinning the defenders in the Northern field and Farm.


This is how the terrain looked on the board-pretty much as the drawing/map
I had given my attacking troops precise orders,as to where to move and what objectives they were to take etc.realistic,I thought(hell I sound like Yoda!!)


Move number one,and the attack begins-I had a nasty shock when I turned over the card in the Southern field to reveal a Tank,which proceeded to shoot my lead tank to bits!!I had ordered the tank in the centre to move onto the bridge and shoot at any troops defending the farm and hedges-this was a big mistake-for two reasons,one,it was out of range!!two I had not given it an alternative order,so it remained in situ for the whole of the game!!


In the Northern sector,I rolled forward,and found I was facing two infantry squads-no problem here then!


Move number three,and I have taken the Field,but another tank has been revealed behind the hedge,and it too shot my lead tank to bits!!-what other "nasties" are about to be revealed?


In the Northern sector,I have managed to destroy one unit of infantry,but the others have "dug in" and another infantry unit has been revealed in the woods-I am about to be out-flanked!!


My attacking tanks are making a bit of headway now,and the infantry are fire-fighting the troops in the farm,who are suffering badly.


This is move number nine,and job well done!although my Norther sector troops were forced to retire,I had captured the Farm which was the prime objective-hurrah!!
To answer my initial question,Myth or Magic? I really enjoyed this game,so it must be Magic!!
I will be trying more solo games over the next few weeks,maybe trying different periods too.



















































6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It was fun,David,I think the secret is to keep it as simple as possible-like all rules really!
      thanks for comment,keep them coming
      johnc(william)

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  2. Nice looking game. Are the figures larger ones, around 45mm? I don't think I've seen a couple of those poses, the marching ones, yet. They look pretty useful.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Doug,the figures are actually 30mm tall,and pretty "yucky" to be quite honest,but for the price,they suit their purpose,next game I'll try a couple of close up shots.
      thanks for the comment,keep them coming
      johnc(william)

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  3. My English it´s no good and i don´t understand a thing:
    Did you play with a rulebook for solo play or do you play with homemade rules made for you?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Hi Carlos-homemade rules!!_i have never,in 45 years of wargaming,used commercial rules,mainly because I don't understand them-I say,always make the rules to suit yourself.
      regards,
      johnc(william)

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