Greetings,
My sons were scanning YouTube for their usual nonsense the other day when they somehow came across the old WWII movie "Gung Ho!" If you're not familiar, it's an old black and white movie shot in 1943 about the US Marine Raiders striking Makin on Tarawa Atoll in August 1942. It's the standard, old-fashioned fare: a brief training segment to introduce us to the stereotypical grunts, then it's off for a bunch of rootin' shootin' action. And, I'm not ashamed to say, it's fun.
And it got me to thinking about wargaming; I'd like to play some tabletop battles in that fashion: quick, easy, with lots of Hollywood-style drama, so what I'm asking for help with are tabletop missions. I'm asking for you guys to think about all the old WWII movies and comic books you loved, and tell me the missions you can think of that might play out well on the tabletop at approximately platoon level.
You know the sort: "Hey Sarge, what's the word?" says the Private, wiping his brow and lighting a cigarette, a smile crossing his grimy face. "Word from the Old Man is that the (bad guys) have got our boys pinned down up around the bend, and we gotta get through or it's curtains. So here's what we're gonna do..." And he give a plan very light on details, doesn't coordinate it with anyone, and then they set off.
That's what I'm looking for, and here is what I've already come up with (and they don't have to be US Marines vs Japanese, of course):
"Hit the Beach!" Straight up attack/defense with Good Guys coming ashore.
"Destroy the Radio Tower!" Infiltrate the village/base and knock out the Bad Guy communications station.
"Ambush!" Your Good Guy patrol is ambushed by Bad Guys on each flank.
"Got'em In Our Crosshairs!" The Good Guys spot a Bad Guy unit double-timing up the road to flank us, but we saw'em first and are set to bushwack'em. *This is a tough one; the Good Guys really don't stoop to ambushing the Bad Guys, do they? ;)
"Take out the (Guns/Mortars/MGs)!" Bad Guy heavy weapons are pounding an adjacent friendly unit, we gotta flank'em and take'em out (usually by scaling some cliffs, wading through a swamp, or otherwise crossing some presumed impassable terrain).
"Knock out the Pillbox!" A Bad Guy bunker is holding up the advance, we must make a frontal assault to knock it out with a Satchel Charge/Flamethrower.
"Spoiling Attack!" The Bad Guys are staging across the river for an attack, lets hit'em first.
"Here They Come!" The Bad Guys are attacking in force, hold the line.
"Counterattack!" The Bad Guys just punched a hole in our lines, round up as many men as you can and go throw'em back.
"Prisoner Snatch!" Take a patrol out to capture a Bad Guy soldier for intelligence.
"Clean'em Out!" Escort a pair of tanks forward to mop up a Bad Guy unit.
"They're Cut Off!" Help a team fight through Bad Guy lines to deliver a message.
"Bring'em In!" A Good Guy patrol was ambushed down by the river, go find'em and bring'em home.
"Tank Hunt!" Bad Guy tanks have broken through our lines, rush over and knock'em out!
"Demonstrate Before the Enemy!" Create a diversion by advancing aggressively, then falling back just as aggressively in order to avoid becoming decisively engaged.
"Down to Their Last Round!" A Good Guy unit is almost out of ammo, fight your way through to resupply them.
"Squeeze'em In the Middle!" Divide your forces to attack the Bad Guys from two sides.
"Leave No One Behind!" Conduct a fighting withdrawal, bringing everyone with you, dead or alive.
"Sabotage!" Infiltrate village/base to destroy a fuel or ammunition dump.
"Drop that Bridge!" Bad Guy forces are heading towards the bridge, if they get across they'll wipe us out, so we gotta blow the bridge.
"Hold the Bridge!" Defend the bridge against a determined Bad Guy assault, the whole Division is countin' on us.
"Grab the Bridge!" We found a way around the Bad Guy defenses, now we just need to exploit it! Make a dash for the bridge, and hold it until reinforcements can get across.
So, perhaps it's already an exhaustive list, but I'd love to hear any recommendations you guys have for WWII Hollywood-style missions for platoon-level games. Thanks in advance for the help!
V/R,
Jack
"Medic!" Someone very special is lying wounded and needs to be saved from the nasty sniper.
"There's an OP here somewhere" Platoon is taking artillery fire, and needs to eliminate the OP
"Minefield!" The platoon has to navigate a minefield in order to reach the wine shop.
"Capture the General" Have to ambush a General in his staff car ... with escort. For fun, you don't know what that escort is going to be.
The resistance needs some help (destroying a bridge/ tunnel/prison) drop behind enemy line to find that the resistance is led by a highly attractive and sexy single woman.
You can then make keeping the woman alive part of the plot as the leader of the soldiers has fallen in love.-Your sons depending on their age will either try ever so hard keeping her alive or, thinking 'being in love' is vomit inducing will try to get her killed.
"Take the bank" aka Kelly's Heros....
Like it!
Also from a film
"Get over that bridge" as in "The Bridge At Remagen" or "A Bridge too Far".
Just watched a Mark Felton about Churchill nearly being killed ...
How about a 'Danger Close' scenario - a dug-in platoon of infantry (maybe with a stand or to of HMGs) is attacked by an endless enemy horde* (could be Finns or Germans on Eastern Front v Soviet infantry) and they have a couple of FAOs and some off table artillery. The attacker is all infantry - with only a couple on-table mortars & a couple of HMGs to support them
*each time an enemy unit is KO'd it is brought back on next go using mobile deployment.
The game is won or lost based on the number of turns the dug-in platoon can survive - supported by its off-table artillery.
Each player has to guess how long it will take and the one closest to the other players guess wins.
NB: "SPOILER ALERT" ... this is a potential Korean War supplement scenario :D :D :D
It's also possible in Normandy, 2 sections from 6th Airbourne, a combat ddog handeler and a Naval Gun Fire Observer, attatched to HMS Belfast? (or similar).
All,
Thanks everyone, I greatly appreciate your thoughts on the matter! It's very helpful, I see several more missions to add to the menu, great stuff!
Yeah, I don't know about the love interest aspect, my painting skills aren't that good! ;) I need to think about the 'never-ending horde' concept; it's cool, but I'm supposed to be following the platoon through the entire Pacific War, and I can't do that if they're all dead! ;)
V/R,
Jack
"Downed Pilot"
"Night action"
"Trench raid"
"Running out of ammo"
"House clearing"
"Policing the crossroads" (who's that coming down the road ... is it a M10, or a Panther?)
"Tank Recovery"
Good point.
An alternative is that you dice for a relief element to the scenario. So that overwhelming support arrives to the rescue of the platoon at some random point.
We have played this by getting the defending player to roll a pair of d:6 and totalling the score, ahead of the 1st move.
Then the attacker rolls 2 x d:6 every one of their game turns after the 1st - when the two dice scores match, the relief force comes on the following game turn.
Once the relief force reaches the defending platoon intact (& it can break if it receives 50% casualties) the enemy withdraw.
What I didn't say previously is where you position your defending platoon
If you want a nail-biting game you position them bang-smack in the centre of the game table (maybe on a hill or in a village etc.) or if you want an 'easy ride' game you position them 1/3rd of the way in from the side the relief force comes on.
You can even play it a bit like 'Saving Private Ryan' ... in that all the relief force are classified as Expendable - it is only the defending platoons loses that matter :D
Of course the Japanese hordes are only interested in how many of the defending platoon they can knock-out.
Also remember that a unit knocked-out is not necessarily dead ... it might be injured, shell-shocked, out of ammo, ran away etc. so could be reincarnated at another juncture (& another game).
The alternative rules medical resources rule might help with that - by getting your wounded boys back to a MASH type unit in the relief force transports maybe.
lots of options
As a variant on "Danger Close" I offer "Fighting Girlfriend".
An immobilised tank is place centre table. It can fire but not move. The tank commander is outside the tank, effecting repairs.
Small groups of infantry, friendly and enemy, arrive randomly. 1-3 enemy, 4-6 friendly.
Enemy groups have satchel charges but no ranged AT weapons.
Units entering or re-entering the table on an edge decided by a single die roll. 1- Enemy chooses, 2-5 numbered edge, 6 - tank crew decides.
Enemy units eliminated start on a table edge, decided by die roll, in their next turn.
Friendly units are lost.
At game start roll 12+1D6
The tank commander can't be killed but can be suppressed. Every tank side turn that they are unsuppressed they roll 1D6 which is totalled turn to turn. Once the total reaches the 12+1D6 roll, or higher, the tank is mobile. It may move in the next turn.
If the tank exits the table by any edge it wins. If it is destroyed or immobilised a second time it loses.
Quote from: Ithoriel on 27 January 2021, 07:23:53 PM
As a variant on "Danger Close" I offer "Fighting Girlfriend".
An immobilised tank is place centre table. It can fire but not move. The tank commander is outside the tank, effecting repairs.
Small groups of infantry, friendly and enemy, arrive randomly. 1-3 enemy, 4-6 friendly.
Enemy groups have satchel charges but no ranged AT weapons.
Units entering or re-entering the table on an edge decided by a single die roll. 1- Enemy chooses, 2-5 numbered edge, 6 - tank crew decides.
Enemy units eliminated start on a table edge, decided by die roll, in their next turn.
Friendly units are lost.
At game start roll 12+1D6
The tank commander can't be killed but can be suppressed. Every tank side turn that they are unsuppressed they roll 1D6 which is totalled turn to turn. Once the total reaches the 12+1D6 roll, or higher, the tank is mobile. It may move in the next turn.
If the tank exits the table by any edge it wins. If it is destroyed or immobilised a second time it loses.
A clever take on FRAY BENTOS.
https://tank100.com/tankmen/fray-bentos/
Based partly on Mariya Vasilyevna Oktyabrskaya and her various "Fighting Girlfriend" T-34s. Some of which she fixed under fire. Leading eventually to her death in combat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariya_Oktyabrskaya
Very interesting, thanks for the discussion guys! And I like it; instead of a 'Last Stand," more of a "Cavalry's on the Way!"
V/R,
Jack
The Last Case of Beer (get it back to your own barracks).
The Search for the Colonel's Cat.
Formal enemy forces not needed for these two. The latter scenario could be a lot more dangerous in east Asia and earlier times, where the cat might be a danger to local villagers.
Note that a major issue with the peace settlement after the War of the Austrian Succession was that Frederick wanted his dog back, and the Hungarian who had captured it had presented it to his wife, who refused to give it up.