Chris Kemp's Not Quite Mechanised

NQM Summer Holiday Toy Soldier Campaign

Phil Steele's and my Russians pour over the Steppes like Rats. The German Recce looks Worried.

                                     Bombastia                PTR

In 2006, I ran a largely solo refight of Stalingrad on one table. It worked well, so for 2007, I may try something like this again - a battle limited to one tabletop. This is handy, as I can leave my wargames table set up. It represents the border between the Empire of Bombastia, and the People's Tan Republic for control of Oilfields. This year the two armies have decided that the border is disputed, and worth fighting to a standstill over. 

My battles follow the spirit  of Lilliput and Brogdignab, but for a real example of a pointless war such as this, look at the Iran-Iraq war over the Shatt-Al_Arab. There might be scope for a whole fictional campaign set in the 1930s. I'm sure that the Italians and Germans would want to get involved in the area of Turkey, in support of Bombastia and that Persia and Syria would be fought over. If oil is involved, America would be in there somewhere too. 

The Border Incident at Hill 1  2007

An unruly bunch of Tan Peasants attack the Bombastian border post at Hill 1 - allegedly. Perhaps it was due to the unremitting shelling, and loud Oompah band music that they had suffered over Spring, perhaps oil prices were low. The Empire decided that It's dignity had been affronted, and war was declared. Imperial American Allies attacked over the border, to be met by the Tan Border Guard Regiment. The war had begun. 

What follows are a series of comments illustrating the way that the battle was fought, some variations to the rules to make a campaign in such a confined space work, and general comments as the mood dictates.

1. After every move, I roll 1d6 to see if a new box of troops can come on, on a roll of a 6. Boxes are forced off the table when they fall below half strength, and fail a morale test.

2. Ranges are much truncated. Infantry fire one Thumb (Tip to second joint at base of thumb, 3" in my case). Tanks fire one Finger Span (6"). Field Artillery , two (12"), and Medium Artillery , three (18"). Heavy Artillery fire  four spans (24").

3. Instead of ammunition dice, if any stand rolls a 1, they are out of ammunition until resupplied. I save ammunition dice for heavy Artillery, and mark stands that are out of ammunition with an ammo marker. I still use artillery dice for Fortress guns and Heavy Tanks (yes, I do own one!)

4. If you really want to get through a game quickly, you can play 1 pip kills a stand. Casualties mount up at three times the normal rate. Great if you have lots of toys waiting for their turn to play.

Usually this game is played solo, but if friends drop round, usually they are usually invited to play a turn or so, as time permits.

Have Fun!