TooFatLardies Xmas Special Out!

When do you know that Christmas is around the corner' When TooFatLardies issues its bi-annual Special magazine. This year is even better for two reasons: you have 126 pages of content and (more important) includes our Spanish Civil War campaign for Chain of Command!!... and all this stuff at the princely sum of 6 bucks!!

Jokes aside, the issue this year is spectacular, with wide variety of articles covering most of the popular TFL rule sets (CoC, IABSM, Dux, Sharp Practice). And some important headline news: the main project for 2015 is a Coc ultra-modern covering the most recent conflicts in the War Against Terrorism. Clearly not a favourite period of mine at all... but I also said the same about Vietnam, until Charlie Don't Surf convinced me about the contrary.

Among the articles, two very interesting variants:  WWI  with Chain of Command; and cowboys vs Indians with Sharp Practice

See the full content below:

TFL Summer Special Available

Probably you know already (I've been travelling these days, so I'm arriving late to the party) but the biannual TFL Special (summer issue) is now available to buy at the unbeatable price of GBP 6!!

This year's content is one of the best I've seen and if you (like me) are a CoC fan, it is calling you loud indeed:

•  Introduction. Nick says hello.

• Westwind. A complete Chain of Command mini-campaign set in East Prussia 1945
   
• Seven Spears. A truly magical conversion for using Samurai with Dux Britanniarum.
   
• Do Some Dinging C Company. A Charlie Don’t Surf scenario from Operation Colorado in 1966.
   
• Robin Hood’s Black Gold Home Guard versus Fallschirmjager mini campaign for Chain of Command based on original defence plans for Nottinghamshire.
   
• The Siege of Augusta. A multi-player scenario for Sharp Practice in the American War of Independence.
   
• Big CoC in Africa. A fantastic report of a post-colonial Africa adaptation for Chain of Command which has been impressing the Australian show circuit.
   
• Carribean Broadsides. A squadron action for Kiss Me Hardy.
   

Tropical Forest Experience

Last week I had the opportunity to visit a tropical forest in Latin America as a result of a week-long business trip to Colombia. It was quite an interesting experience in itself  but it also made me more aware of the simplifications and short cuts that we (as wargamers) take when playing games in Vietnam or WW II-era theaters in the Asian jungles.

Although not in Asia, the climatic and vegetation conditions I presume are more or less similar across the tropics. As I was walking along the forest, I discovered myself in deep thinking about some of the games I umpired with Charlie Don't Surf, specially the discussions we had  on LOS, movement rates, ambushes or type of cover when firing.

To illustrate some of these points, here are some photos as an image is worth 1000 words.

1. Line of sight? What line of sight?

My recon team slightly distracted

Charlie in Chez Barrage Miniatures: A Vietnam Riverine AAR

What a wonderful way to end my year of wargaming! I was invited by the owners (...and good friends too) of Barrage Miniatures to umpire a riverine game in Vietnam with Charlie Don't Surf and had the privilege to preview the new US 28mm transport boats to be released for sale in a few days.

We used the advanced riverine rules published in the 2011 Summer Special, that I did not have the opportunity to play before because of lack of materials, and one of the specific scenarios included in the same publication.  I must say that the advanced rules are really good and I only regret not having played before one of these games

What's the monk on the right doing with a lighter?

This morning's scenario was a HUGE one involving four VC regular platoons reinforced with a weapons section (mortars+ HMGs) and two AA machine guns sections vs 3 US infantry platoons riding in ASPB Alpha Boats, 3 patrol support boats, one AVRN Rangers platoon riding in Hueys and two attack helicopters.

The small delta fishing hamlet is being transformed in a key VC base-depot where food and weapons were stored for the incoming offensive. In the meantime, the US command had decided to launch a combined arms operation aiming to preempt the enemy attack and to destroy their offensive capacity.

Villagers attending their peaceful(?) trade

Back to Vietnam: Rawhide replayed

After a very looooooong spell (our last ganme was in March this year) we decided to take a short break  with Chain of Command and to play a Vietnam game with Charlie Don't Surf this weekend. I chose to replay Rawhide, scenario 9 of the companion book to CDS called Surf's Up, following the disaster outcome to the Free World Forces of the last time. This time they played much more cautious and that payed off in the end with a double military/ political victory awarded.

In this scenario an US armoured infantry platoon riding M 113s should escort 3 ARVN infantry platoons to the fishing village of Mi-Sac, with orders to put it under the control of the Republic of South Vietnam authorities. The Viet Cong mission is to frustrate the plans of the imperialist Yankees and their puppet forces, ambushing them at least twice (main military objective) and destroying as many APCs as possible (secondary military objective).

The VC forces are made of a platoon of local cadre forces armed with obsolete rifles, supported by an HMG, a RPG and a recoilless rifle fire teams. The VC also has two mines available to deploy any place on the table.

TooFatLardies Special is Out

An early-bird issue this time, TooFatLadies released yesterday its biannual publication Special. I can agree on the "special" but hardly on the "summer" in the title, as the bloody winter has decided to stay for much more longer than usual in Spain (still below 20ºC!!).

And what do you get? Well for 6 bucks (less than a breakfast at Starbucks in the UK) a total 130 pages of really good and high-quality content (see below) for your games with the TFL rule sets,

Two articles that I read last night were outstanding: a campaign with the British XXX Corps in the race to Arnhem (suitable for IABSM)  and a wonderful analysis of the British tactics in the last year of the Great War (for Mud & Blood).

The detailed index is as follows:

Vietnam Battle Report: Rawhide

US Army 1st Lt Comps woke early that morning with a bad feeling... the briefing last night left him unease. He had to help an ARVN company to reach the hamlet of Mi Sac, reportedly to be a major centre of recruitment for Charlie, to interrogate the population and gather intelligence about the enemy forces operating in the valley.

"This is not looking good, definitely..." he told to himself while boarding his M 113 ACAV and leading his armoured platoon out of the safety of the American base.

Mi Sac was at the end of route 19 in theory under control of the Free World Forces but the last track was located between two dense masses of jungle, and dominated by a steep hill looking into the road... "Charlie's favourite terrain to play cat and mouse... even if  we are mouses clad in steel" Comps found himself thinking.

The road to Mi Sac village

The trip was incident-free when the armoured and lorry column reached the dreaded area. An air recon mission early in the morning indicated no sign of enemies and the only visible activity that of the peaceful villagers tending the rice fields to the east of the village.

Natives attending their own business

Vietnam Battle Report: A County Fair

After a late email crossing last night, I found enough interest to play another Vietnam game today in the morning with our favourite rules Charlie Don't Surf.  As a new player was to be introduced to the game and some of the other gamers have been in the dry dock for several months, I decided to play a simple scenario to refresh the game mechanics, only involving  infantry. Browsing Surf's Up (CDS's companion book), I found scenario #7 "County Fair" interesting enough, on top of not having played it yet.

The context is 1967, the operations leading to win the minds and hearts of the population living in areas suspected to be controlled by the Vietcong. The Free World Forces mission is to secure militarily the hamlet of Rang Dong, only to be followed by a civic group with food and medicine supplies.

The map above shows the area of operations. A former French rubber plantation in the north east side, including two colonial brick buildings; typical local hooches are scattered around the rice paddies, at the edge of a thick jungle area.

The FWF comprised two US infantry platoons reinforced with one ARVN regular platoon of three rifle squads and a weapons section. The primary objective is to clean Rang Dong of suspected VC elements (20 points) and avoid any civil casualties (10 points). Given the nature of the mission no artillery or aerial support would be available except in the most dire conditions.

Gaming table from the south

Vietnam Battle Report: Sniper!

After a long spell, we played today Sniper! the second scneario of  Surf's Up, the companion book to Charlie Don't Surf, the TooFatLardies Vietnam-era rules for company size actions. The game was a total disaster for the Vietcong player (...who by the way, it was me), losing the game on both fronts, the military and the political.

This scenario sees a local VC force (1 platoon) vs a full US Infantry company. The VC is on a security mission in a village defending some rice and weapons caches, and owning a small tunnel network, The objective was to maintain the tunnel network intact (20 points) and as a secondary objective to keep at least 1 cache safe (10 points)

The US orders (main objective with 20 points) were to round up and relocate the villagers and to destroy the hamlet; a secondary objective was to find and destroy any food or weapons stored in the area.

Vietnam Ford Mutt and Update

As you know from the previous post, our family life made a nasty turn last Christmas, disrupting our normal routine and curtailing my time (and appetite) for wargaming activities. Not that the situation is now solved (the doctors remain cautious about my father in law illness) but we are slowly adapting our lives at home to the new environment.

Vietnam Battle Report: Fix and Destroy... and 90,000 visits!!!

Another excellent weekend full of wargaming fun fro me!!!. While on Friday (local holiday in Madrid) we played another  WWII scenario  of the "Vyazma or Bust" campaign,  today Sunday we returned to the rainforests of Vietnam, playing a new scenario of Surf's Up, the companion book to the TooFatLardies Viertnam-era rules Charlie Don't Surf.

This time we undertook scenario number 5 called "Fix and Destroy": an aggressive US drive on the village of Gok Wan, a firm and well-known stronghold of the Vietcong forces.

"Firebase" - Another Vietnam batrep

Today Sunday we played our third Vietnam game this month (....breaking records!!),  as usual with Charlie Don´t Surf, the era rules  from the TooFatLardies factory. The scenario selected was "Firebase" included in the companion book Surf's Up.

Background

The US army has been surveying an area next to a road to build an artillery firebase, sending for several days in a row a helicopter with some engineer surveyors to find a suitable spot. The VC has been observing the US forces work with growing suspicion and has finally decided  to strike a blow, planning to ambush the surveyors party and hopefully to shooting down the helicopter too. However and unkown to them, the surveyors work ended a fortnight ago; and before sending the seabees with the bulldozers to prepare the site, a force consisiting of an infantry platoon supported by an armoured platoon in M 113 ACAVs has been detached to secure the area.

Ooops!

More Vietnam games: "Combat Engineer"

October 12th is a national holiday in Spain and what best to celebrate than playing another game in Vietnam. As usual, we used Charlie Don`t Surf from the TooFatLardies factory and its companion scenarios book Surf's Up.

The scenario chosen was  "Combat Engineer" and involved an engineer squad supplied with mine detectors with the mission  to clear a major road traversing the table west to east. The squad was escorted by two light US infantry platoons (only the rifle sections but not  the weapon support section)  under command of a relatively newly arrived in-country Captain ("hesitant commander" class).

 A rutine mission in principle, unkown to the US  there was a major VC force lurking in the area, traveling to a major concentration of troops for a surprise offensive on the Free World Forces camped nearby. Their orders were to cross the table in a north-east to south-west direction and whether possible, to mine the metallic road.

Back to Vietnam - "The Great Rice Hunt" Battle Report

Last Sunday we  started our eagerly anticipated Vietnam autumn-winter game season at the club. As frequent readers of this blog know, we play with Charlie Don't Surf  rules from the TooFatLardies factory.

Most of the players gathering yesterday were already familiar with the rules; but as it's been a long time since our last game, I decided to go for a "warm up" exercise before moving into a more complex level of simulation.  For that reason I decided to use the first scenario of CDS' companion book Surf's Up, which makes a truly nice introductory game.

Charlie Don't Surf Gaming Materials

As will TooFatLardies sets, to play Charlie Don't Surf you will need to main gaming means: a set of blinds and card deck. I present here our home made materials that you can download as a free pdf just clicking on the right hand column of this blog in the "RESOUCES SECTION" are. True you will need to invest sometime in printing, cutting and working out the cards but at least I will have provided you with 50% of the task done for free.

M113 ACAV Model

A short stop at Madrid (due to school pre-return logistics) is a good opportunity to show the progress in some of my holiday plans. I finished a second M 113 (the ACAV model) and I'm quite pleased  with the results. Using some contemporary photos as inspiration, I decided to name it "Peace Maker"

M 113 in Vietnam WIP (2)

I've been working on the model in my spare time and it is almost ready. The final step will be to attach the 0.5 cal HMG (and apply the varnish), but as far as I'm concerned it is ready to roll in the jungle. My only doubt is if I should base it or not. Next is to attack the second model, a M 113 ACAV.

 

Oooo Shiny....

What a pleasent surprise this afternoon on arriving home: my new toys from The Assault Group finally reached destination!! Forget the office, forget the bloody heat wave!!!

M 113 in Vietnam - WIP

A very inspiring post in the TooFatLardies Yahoo Group a few days ago prompted me to rescue from the painting mountain a couple of M 113 models in 28mm acquired sometime ago to play with Charlie Don't Surf: one of the group's regular contributors posted this link to a fabulous collection of original photos mainly of M 113 in action in Vietnam.

So I put aside some of my increasingly scarce free time to paint the models, looking to put them on the table at the autumn-winter playing season at the club. A few photos from the first model, still in a "work in progres" status.

AIRCAV - A Vietnam game battle report

This Sunday we played AIRCAV, the scenario 9 of  Surf's Up, the companion book to the Vietnam-era rules Charlie Don't Surf of the TooFatLardies factory. This is probably a most typical wargame scenario for this period, where an heliborne US platoon must land in a village in an enemy-held area to evacuate the civilian population, depriving the Vietcong forces of new cadres as well as much needed food and other staple supplies.

The US player has some strong pre-game fire in the form of an aerial napalm attack, an artillery battery barrage and a smoke curtain laid out by a helicopter to protect the landing zone. In the map below I have marked all these actions.