Jay's Wargaming Madness: May 2017

KublaCon 2017 has come and gone. The group put together one hell of a lineup of games. I signed up to run all three of my Gettysburg games (McPherson's Ridge, Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge), Roy Scaife ran his Napoleonic game for Roncevaux Pass, John Lantz ran his Radio Zambia modern game, Dan Kerrick ran his Shevardino Redoubt Napoleonic game, and Matt Hilzendrager ran his modern game using Spectre Ops for a small unit action in Afghanistan.

If you include the Thursday play test of Little Round Top, that is 7 big wargames in 4 days!! Needless to say, when I returned home on Sunday evening I was wiped out!

Lots of pictures below, in order of appearance:

Radio Zambia (Modern Bolt Action)
Pickett's Charge (This Hallowed Ground ACW)
McPherson's Ridge (This Hallowed Ground ACW)
Little Round Top (This Hallowed Ground ACW)
Shevardino Redoubt (Empires at War Napoleonic)
Battle of Roncevaux Pass (Empires at War Napoleonic)
Black Op Dawn Removal (Spectre Ops Modern)
Other pictures from around the convention

Radio Zambia

This game was put together by John Lantz. Anti-globalization rebels have captured Radio ZCCZ in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Government forces have shut down communications but it will only be a short time before the rebels are able to restore power and broadcast a revolutionary message to like-minded groups across the country.

Can rebels hold onto the radio station and send a message that will set the Zambia-China Cooperation Zone on fire or will a rapid deployment of PLA expeditionary forces be able to retake critical assets and maintain regional stability?

I played part of the PLA forces and had an absolute blast (no pun intended)!

Pickett's Charge

Lots of pictures of this game in previous posts ... so just a couple of shots here from the convention.

McPherson's Ridge

Another great game with this one turning out different from the play test games. Always great to see how other random generals will develop their strategies for the game. 3.5 hours start to finish is not to bad considering the delayed arrivals, manoeuvre elements and two phases of the battle.

Little Round Top

Again this was another surprise as the Confederate generals decided to fight a delaying action against Little Round Top while focusing forces to take the orchard and Devil's Den (which was successful). The Union forces on Little Round Top counter-attacked and secured Big Round Top by games end.

Little Round Top Play Test Pictures ...

Shevardino Redoubt

This game was put together by Dan Kerrick. The year is 1812 and Napoleons Grand Armee is marching towards Moscow to finalize his conquest of Russia. After his many advances and small battles Napoleon finally meets Tsar Alaxander I Army at the town of Borodino. The two armies are poised to face off near the small town of Utisa where Napoleon has fixed his main advance on the left flank of the Russian army which is protected by the Shevardino Redoubt. Will Napoleon's army crush the Russian left flank and finally destroy the Russian army or can Tsar Alaxander's forces put a stranglehold on Napoleons advance through Russia.

I played part of the Russian force, which was successful (barely) in holding off the French wave. A couple of French infantry units managed to punch into the redoubt and bitter fighting was had trying to push them back out. A great game!

Battle at Roncevaux Pass - July, 1813

Roy Scaife put this game together. In late July of 1813 the British army, under the command of Marquis Arthur Wellesley, has numerous forces engaged to assault San Sebastian and besiege Pamplona. Protecting his northeastern flank is a thin line of troops spread over a wide front. On July 25th, the French army led by Marshall Soult, launched a surprise offensive through the Pyrenees at Roncevaux Pass to breakthrough and relieve the siege at Pamplona.

I played on the French side and we decided to push three brigades hard into the allied side with mixed British and Spanish units, using a single brigade to hold off the rest of the allied army. The strategy worked and the French managed to carry the day.

Black Op Dawn Removal

Matt Hilzendrager put together this game. Kandahar Province-Afghanistan. In May of 2007, a Coalition Joint Operation was conducted between U.S. Navy SEAL and the British equivalent known as the SBS (Special Boat Service) which resulted in a raid that eliminated the Taliban's top insurgent leader, Mullah Dadullah.

This game is a loose historical replay of that raid. Players each commanded a small unit of SEAL, SBS or Taliban in a skirmish firefight whilst trying to avoid civilian casualties and also rescuing two captured photo journalist from the Associated Press!