Hell's Highway Scenario Special Rules & Updates

With the upcoming play test of my Bolt Action Hell's Highway game this Saturday I've finally figured out the special rules that will be used for the scenario.  If you have not seen it, my original post detailing this scenario can be found here.

Updated Scenario Map

First up, I've made some modifications to the original scenario (I've also updated the original post to reflect both the special rules detailed here and the changes).  Here is a summary of the changes to the original scenario:

• Updated Map:  A few minor changes to the location of victory points and added indications as to which German units deploy in which sections of the table.  You can see the updated map picture above.
• British OOB:  I removed the tank hunter troop (consisting of the M10 Wolverine and Achilles tank hunters), otherwise all other forces are as originally specified.
• German OOB:  I removed the '88 gun team from the SS forces.  I also removed the Panzerbuchse 41 AT gun team and medium mortar team from the Fallschirmjager forces.  I added a German Heer 120mm heavy mortar team that is attached to the SS forces.

The special rules, deployment and objectives are detailed below.

Special Rules

Preparatory bombardment:  The British forces get a preparatory bombardment against all German Heer positions located at the first defensive line.  Resolve prior to pulling the first activation dice.  This is conducted as per the normal scenario rules for Bolt Action.

Mass Activation:  To account for the large number of units on each side and the number of players involved, the normal activation process is replaced by this "mass activation" process.  Create your activation dice pools as normal (one for each unit, team and so on).  Put those dice off to the side - they are now your army dice pool.  Determine the activation dice that will be used for determining the activation sequence.  For each side divide the number of dice in your army dice pool by the number of players on that side - rounding up.  These dice are now your activation dice (I recommend using different coloured dice for these so you don't mix them up with your army dice pool).  Put these dice in your activation bag, cup or whatever you normally use to "pull" dice.  Each time you pull a dice from your side, each player takes a dice from their army dice pool and activates a unit normally.  It is possible the final activation dice pulled results in not every player receiving a dice from the army dice pool, in this case dice are distributed to those players who have units remaining that have not activated yet this turn.

Allied Air Support:  The British may call for air support up to two times during the game.  Calling air support does not follow the normal rules.  Instead, to call air support, any British vehicle with a main gun can fire a "purple smoke" round at a designated point on the table (a building cannot be targeted).  Roll "to-hit" with no modifiers, hitting on a 3+.  If you miss, scatter the round D6" in a random direction.  Mark the location using a purple smoke marker (you can make your own, see my recent blog post on making them here).  Resolving the air strike is determined based on if the location of the purple smoke marker is within the first 10 feet of the British side of the table or the last 10 feet of the table.  If it is in the first 10 feet, resolve the air strike at the start of the next British activation.  If it is in the last 10 feet, add a different coloured dice to the activation pool for the next turn.  When that dice is pulled resolve the air strike before pulling another activation dice.  This is meant to represent that the further the allies moved the longer it took for air support to show up (if it showed up) - whereas sir support was readily on hand during the initial advance.

My purple smoke markers.

Deployment

British:  Units deploy up to 30" in on the road (as marked on the map) and up to 4" either side of the road itself.  At least one tank troop must be in the lead, otherwise units can be placed on the road in any order, with unit unable to fit moving on the table as they are activated (and can fit).  British vehicles cannot move be farther than 4" from the road until they are past the first 30" of road (passing the deployment zone) - this does not apply to infantry/dismounted teams.  This remains in effect throughout the game and represents the constricted space the British had to work with.

US Airborne:  Units deploy within the farm complex.

German Heer Force: Units deploy in defensive positions 42" from the left edge (see map) of the table and on the left side of the bridge.

German Fallschirmjager Force:  Units deploy anywhere in the area of the central town.

German SS Force:  Units must deploy within 48" of the right side (exit point) of the table and no closer than 18" to the farm complex.

Victory Points

Victory points are awarded as follows:

• Each infantry section or vehicle destroyed = 2 points.
• Each team (includes weapon teams, officers, medics and so on) destroyed = 1 point.
• Each British tank that moves off the table via the "exit point" (far end of the table)  =1 point.
• Each controlled objective = 10 points.

There are four VP objectives marked on the map: the farm complex, hotel complex, chateau and bridge.

To control an objective there must be no enemy units present within the physical feature of the terrain/building the last unit to occupy the position was friendly (if no friendly unit is present, mark control of the objective using an appropriate marker).

The allies start in control of the farm complex while the Germans are in control of the bridge, chateau and hotel objectives.

Building My Desert Tabletop: Part 1

In support of my North Africa WW2 and modern Iraq projects I need a 4x4 foot and 4x6 foot option for a desert/middle eastern table top.  I therefore set off to build three 2 foot by 4 foot sections that interlock using bolts.

This is part 1 that covers the basic construction of the table.  Part 2 will complete the project with the sanding and painting of the tabletop.

The basic plan for the table is below.

Basic table plan.
Three sections that interlock using bolts.

For the frame I used "1 by 2" and for the actual table top I used 1/2" particle board.  The interlocking holes are 1/4" holes.  The "long side" frame I cut at 48" whereas the "short side" frame I cut at 22 9/16ths to account for the width of the 1 by 2's on the long side.

Materials:

• 8 x 1x2x8 boards for framing.
• 3 x pre-cut 2 foot by 4 foot 1/2 inch thick particle board.
• Wood screws for framing (1 1/2").
• Wood screws for table top (1").
• 1/4" bolts, washers and nuts for interlocking sections.

Tools:

• Power mitre saw.
• 18v drill.
• Tape measure.
• Pencil.
• Squaring ruler.

Pictures below of the construction with descriptions in the captions.

Cutting the framing sections.

Getting all the framing cut
for the "outside" frame of
each section.

Assembly complete for the
outside frame for all three sections.

Center support in for all three
sections (running the length
of the table top).

Two cross supports for each
half of each section complete.  This
finished the frame assembly.

I used scrap sections of the framing wood to build a
template for drilling the 1/4" interconnection holes.

Table top attached using screws "counter sunk" into wood.

All three sections built and ready for sanding.

Now it is on to sanding the table top and painting.  As I already have my 6 foot by 8 foot table (with legs) setup, this will just sit on top of that existing table.  Also, this will travel well for conventions and such.  This part took about 3 hours to complete with the right tools and experience - if you are newer to wood working projects you should budget a little more time.

"Start the purple!" - Smoke Markers For "Hell's Highway"

For my upcoming Hell's Highway game the British will be able to call in an allied air strike by marking their target with purple smoke.  I've also expanded my collection of telegraph/telephone poles to account for the longer table (14 more to add to my existing 7).  Pictures and a walk through of how I created my purple smoke markers below.

Two purple smoke markers all done!

This is a classic scene from A Bridge Too Far when the Irish Guards start the long drive up Hell's Highway as an epic rolling barrage from British 25pdr artillery precedes the advance.  When the German defensive positions open fire, the commander orders the tanks to "start the purple" (which he has to repeat as there is a lot of noise), after which the allied aircraft show up a drop some serious explosives on the Germans.

"Start the purple!"
(Image:  A Bridge Too Far)

Purple smoke fired to mark the location for the
allied air attack against German defensive positions.
(Image:  A Bridge Too Far)

So, I figured I'd make two purple smoke markers for the game.  A walk through of what I did to make them is below.  Comments on in the picture captions.

Step 1:  I used two washers as the hole in the middle (1/4")
allowed me to make the crater where the shell hit a
little deeper into the base.  I used a section of a
skewer stick to represent the smoke shell.  Green
stuff created the raised impact area around the shell.

Step 2:  I used a small hand drill to make a hole in
one end of the "shell" (where the smoke is coming out).

Step 3:  I used brass wire in the previously drilled
hole.  This wire provides an armature to
affix the "smoke" to.

Step 4:  I use clump foliage from Woodland Scenics to
create the smoke.  A small diameter when the smoke
is coming from the shell that expands as it goes up
into the air (you can bend the brass wire slightly
to represent wind pushing the smoke).

Step 5:  I apply a thick spray coat of black primer.  This
provides the shadows in the smoke cloud.

Step 6:  I use white spray paint at a distance (start far
and move closer until you are getting just the
raised parts of the clump foliage).  I use white
as I want the purple to "pop" - it you apply the
purple straight over the black the color will be dull.

Step 7:  I use purple spray paint (Army Painter Alien Purple)
to spray the whole smoke cloud.

Step 8:  I use white glue and sand to finish the base.

Step 9:  I prime the sand black to prepare for drybrushing.

Step 9:  I drybrush three layers - first is GW Rhinox Hide
(heavy drybrush), followed by lighter drybrushing of
GW Steel Legion Drab and GW Zandri Dust.  I also
paint the "shell" brass to make it stand out.

Step 10:  Add some tufts and you are all done!

I'm happy with how they came out ... this didn't take long at all ... I was basing my telephone poles in between steps that needed some drying time.  14 new telephone poles based and ready for gaming!

4Ground telephone poles based and ready to go.

I'm looking forward to the play test of Hell's Highway next weekend.  All of my buildings I had to add to my collection of 4Ground buildings are built and in the process of getting their roofs tiled (thanks to help from Mr. Roy Scaife who is pitching in for the greater good!).  I have to paint up a 6pdr gun in the "towing" configuration.  Good progress on vehicles as well ... they should be "playable" (basic colours and shading done) by the game ... I'll still have to do the mickey mouse camo and decals afterwards though (before giving them back to Mr. Seth to do the weathering).  So all is on track so far.

So You Want To Play 28mm Modern?

This is a long post ... but lots of cover ... hopefully you all find it interesting if not straight out helpful in some way :-)

Note:  I'll be following up with another post to cover rule sets (Force-on-Force, Some Corner of a Foreign Field, Skirmish Sangin and such) - this post is focused on figures, vehicles and terrain.

Ahhh modern.  Or as I've seen in recent years modern and ultra modern --- what's the difference you ask?  Well, when I was growing up there was just modern which was really anything post-Vietnam to me as the Korean War and Vietnam have generally been given there own space in history.  Others I've seen draw the line as any conflict post-WW2 ... you choose what it means to you.  Now there is ultra modern, which I guess is anything 2001 and later ... or to some maybe even later than that but to me it is anything from that fateful day in September, 2001 and later.

An inspiring image of what a well executed
modern game (20mm) and setup can look like.
Image: Small Scale Operations Wargame Blog

Certainly there is an abundance of micro armour, 15mm and 20mm (or 1/72) out there for modern wars, but 28mm is what I've standardized on for my wargaming so is what I'll play.  I've dabbled over the years with 28mm modern primarily because of Empress Miniatures and there beautiful range of miniatures.  That being said, I always encountered some challenge with sourcing a vehicle or miniatures for a specific type of troop, but no longer.

A stunning game and setup for 28mm Afghanistan.
Image:  Musings from the warp blog

Now, for me I was specifically looking to do the second Iraq war (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and specifically the push to Baghdad and the key battles in the "early years" of the war such as Fallujah and Ramadi.  I'll expand on this below, but I figured I'd share my "finds" for miniatures and vehicles that I've discovered along the way.

A recent game I played - 28mm Afghanistan
with my gaming buddy Dan Kerrick.
You can see the full battle report here.

Before I get into the specifics around my acquisition of models for Operation Iraqi Freedom, I'd like to quickly list the companies in one place that I've sourced 28mm models from (figures and vehicles) as they generally have much more than what I've just touched on below:

• Empress Miniatures - A large range of both figures and vehicles for "ultra modern" conflicts covering Afghanistan, Iraq and any Russia versus NATO or Russian minor conflicts (such as Chechnya or Georgia - I'd list the Ukraine but apparently the Russians are not there ... tisk tisk).
• Eureka Miniatures - An impressive range covering Afghanistan, some "classic Cold War" periods, African bush wars and ultra modern French Foreign Legion, Germans and USMC.
• Spectre Miniatures - A newer company that has a great range covering Africa, middle east and special operations forces.  They also have there own rules available for use with their figures.
• Sloppy Jalopy - A large range of vehicles covering "classic Cold War" Russian, NATO and Israeli vehicles.
• Chieftain Models - A range of vehicles covering "classic Cold War" and NATO (including Israeli vehicles).
• Ebay - There are lots of great finds on Ebay for die cast models in the 28mm compatible range.  I've used this for the T-55 tank (link), AH-1Z Viper (Cobra) helicopter (link) and so on.

For terrain there are many options.  This year saw Crescent Root Studio release their Series 1 update that is perfect for portraying a middle eastern city setup.  I've order a large amount of buildings (they should be arriving in the next week or two), enough to cover a 4x4 foot table.  I'll be doing a separate post on that setup once everything arrives.

Prepainted buildings for the middle east and north Africa.
Crescent Root Studio, 28mm Series 1

I'm supplementing the city type terrain I'm getting with desert kits from Architects of War.  Specifically from their middle eastern range:

UPDATE:  Sadly, Architects of War has gone out of business.  Another casualty of the Kickstarter system.

• Palm tree plates
• Desert oasis
• Desert well

Desert well
Image:  Architects of War

Oasis
Image:  Architects of War

Palm tree plates
Image:  Architects of War

I already have these kits so just need to paint them up and get them on the table.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

This is what I'm focusing on, but one of my largest road blocks in the past was really finding good miniatures that could represent Iraqi regular army or Republican Guard.  Well, I resolved that issue as you'll see below.

Okay, so you've seen the list above of the companies I've ordered from, but what miniatures and vehicles did I use for which purposes?

Iraqi Regular Army & Republican Guard

For Iraqi Army and Republican Guard fighting against the coalition forces early in the war (prior to the formations being destroyed or scattering into irregular units), I used the Soviet Mechanized Infantry in helmets (not ultra modern, equipment around the 80's and 90's).  I pulled together 2 x six man sections and a leader using the following:

• 2 x Mechanized Infantry in helmet with AK47
• 2 x Mechanized Infantry in helmet with RPD LMG
• 2 x Mechanized Infantry in helmet with RPG
• 1 x Mechanized Infantry NCO in helmet with AK47

Mechanized Infantry in helmets.
Image: Eureka Miniatures

Mechanized Infantry in helmets.
Image: Eureka Miniatures

Mechanized Infantry in helmets.
Image: Eureka Miniatures

For Iraqi Army that are reformed and fighting with the coalition forces I decided that the Afghan National Police in helmets from Eureka Miniatures.  Picture below.

Afghan National Police in helmets but
they also work well for reformed Iraqi
Army fighting with the coalition forces.
Image:  Eureka Miniatures

Next up is vehicles.  Specifically I wanted to track down three tanks the Iraqi's used, the T-72, T-62 and T-55.  It seemed reasonable I could track these down, but it was a little harder than I thought.  For the T-72 I used the one available from Empress Miniatures (link).  For the T-62 I've looked to Chieftain Models (link).  Lastly, I went to Ebay for the T-55 based on some forum recommendations to get a 1/43 die cast model that everyone indicates is actually 1/50 in size (link).

T-72 from Empress Miniatures.

T-62 from Chieftain Models.

T-55 from Ebay.

UPDATED:  Thanks to a comment posted below I was put on to HLBS (link) which has a great range of Russian cold war vehicles that are more compatible size-wise with the Empress and other 1/50th vehicles I have.  I've just ordered the vehicles I was going to get from Sloppy Jalopy from HLBS (along with an MTLB ... awesome!).

BRDM 2
(Image: HLBS)

BTR 70
(Image: HLBS)

BMP-1
(Image: HLBS)

BMP-2
(Image: HLBS)

You can get a number of other Russian "cold war" vehicles appropriate for the Iraq conflict from Sloppy Jalopy (link) - notably a BMP-1, BMP-2, BTR 70, BTR 60, BRDM and Gaz 66.  Currently I only have my Empress Miniatures vehicles but I've ordered vehicles from Chieftain Models and Sloppy Jalopy that I'm waiting to get.  Once all the vehicles are in I'll post some size comparisons but note that Sloppy Jalopy will be smaller as they are 1/56th scale whereas Empress and others are 1/50th scale - but if you keep them separated things should be ok (fingers crossed). 

BMP-2
Image:  Sloppy Jalopy

BRDM 2
Image:  Sloppy Jalopy

BTR 70
Image: Sloppy Jalopy

Iraqi Insurgents & Fedayeen Fighters

Iraqi insurgents and Fedayeen fighters have a distinctly different look about them as compared to say the Taliban or insurgents in Afghanistan.  Certainly in some cases they look similar, but when looking around for miniatures you'll find a lot of options for Taliban/Afghanistan.  I've leverage some of those options, but there are also less Taliban/Afghanistan looking insurgents that are available on the market today.

I sourced miniatures from three companies for my insurgents:  Empress Miniatures, Eureka and Spectre Miniatures.  From Empress Miniatures I order all of there core packs from their insurgent range (link):

Insurgents
Image:  Empress Miniatures

Insurgents with support weapons.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

Insurgent characters
Image:  Empress Miniatures

Insurgent characters and support weapons.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

Insurgents
Image:  Empress Miniatures

From Spectre Miniatures I ordered from their Insurgents and Middle East/North Africa Militia ranges as well (link and link).  This is an impressive range of options for bad guys here and I highly recommend you check it out (all images are sourced from Spectre Miniatures):

For technicals I'm using the vehicles available from Empress Miniatures (link).

Technical with ZU-23 AA gun.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

United States Marine Corps

I've used Empress Miniatures and Eureka to fill out my USMC figures.  One slight issue I had was that with the Empress Miniatures packs they are more geared for later Afghanistan as each fire team has an M27 infantry automatic rifle instead of the classic M249 squad automatic weapon (SAW) which was used in Iraq.  The good news in that Empress Miniatures has a pack with an M249 SAW so it was a matter of getting three of them to cover the three fire teams in the squad.  For the Eureka USMC squad, all fire teams are using M249's so no issue for me there.  I decided to do a squad from Empress Miniatures and a squad from Eureka.  I was also able to get a SMAW team from Eureka as you can see below.  Eureka Miniatures packs:

• USMC SMAW Team
• USMC Squad Deal

USMC Squad Deal
Image:  Eureka Miniatures

USMC SMAW Team
Image: Eureka Miniatures

For Empress Miniatures I ordered nearly all the packs from their USMC range (link).

USMC fire team.
Image: Empress Miniatures

USMC fire team.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

USMC fire team.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

USMC support weapons.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

USMC command.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

I also ordered a fire team of SEAL/DEVGRU figures ...

SEAL/DEVGRU fire team.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

For USMC vehicles I looked to get the following from Empress Miniatures (link):

• 2 x M1A2 Abrams
• 1 x HUMVEE with TOW
• 1 x HUMVEE with Mk19 Grenade Launcher
• 1 x HUMVEE with .50 cal HMG
• 1 x HUMVEE with .50 cal HMG Weapons Station
• 2 x AAVP-7A1
• 2 x Bradley M2/M3

AAVP-7A1
Image:  Empress Miniatures

Bradley M2/M3
Image:  Empress Miniatures

HUMVEEs - from front to back: TOW, Mk19 grenade
launcher and .50 cal HMG.
Image:  Empress Miniatures

M1A2 Abrams
Image:  Empress Miniatures

HUMVEE with .50 cal HMG weapons station
Image:  Empress Miniatures

There you have it ... another project on my plate but all very doable even with everything else going on.  I hope this has been helpful in some way ... even if not for Iraq for some other modern conflict.

Next Saturday I'm play testing the Hell's Highway scenario I'll be running at the Pacificon Game Expo in September (pictures will be taken and a post to follow).