Monday, October 15, 2012

Unpainted 1/32 Army Men Take to the Table in Generic Capture Village Scenario

This weekend I managed to squeeze in a fun grid-based game using my 1/32 unpainted WWII Eastern Front forces. Rules were a Frankenstein's Monster of Bob Cordery's "Memoir of Modern Battle", Mike Crane's "Pacific Island Assault", Sacre Bleu and some house-rulings.

I ran the Russians and used dice to control the Germans. Both sides started with 1 platoon (3 figs), 1 HMG section (1 MG and 1 other figure), and a commander(single officer figure) on the table and could dice for reinforcements per my house-rules.

The randomized phases of the game, taken directly from Sacre Bleu (you can see this laid out in the Full Size Preview on the WargameVault site if you follow the link above) aided in creating tension - a much needed feature of solo games.

The objective for both sides was to capture and hold the village (the single building in the center).

The game was an overwhelming victory for Germany, as the Russian reinforcements never materialized.

Here's the scene just prior to the Russian surrender:




I did make the mistake of having only one victory objective, which focused the action in the middle of the board. Ideally, there would have been more objectives to spread the forces out.

Not that it would have helped the Russians - they needed a 4-6 to get reinforcements, and every time they rolled a 1, 2, or 3! 

Now, I know it doesn't look like much - but for a hastily thrown together game, it was a blast. If I use these rules again, I'll incorporate the ranges from the new Portable Wargame: Modern rules.

Importantly, I have conclusive evidence that I need a bigger grid surface if I'm going to use 1/32 figures on it.

Talk about cramped! The 24" x 27" surface I have now works well for 1/72, not so much for 1/32. Fear not, I've already acquired some large sheets of  $0.99 poster board for just such thing.

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