As mentioned in my previous post, I begun working on a new game system. I say game system rather than rule set because it really has more in common with a Live Action Roleplay or Re-enactment system than a standard wargame.
The idea came from last months issue of Wargames Illustrated
(Issue 329), which I must say is one of the best issues they have printed to date. Tons of inspirational articles and none more so than the "High Adventure and Low Tricks in the Back and Beyond"
(What a mouthful!) by Wayne Bollands. In this article he talks about his experiences with The League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers and a report from his involvement of their back and beyond big game - Referendum, if you wish to know more about this game -
click here.
What astonished me was the amount of imagination and creativity in this groups campaign, reminded me of the good ol days of the Great Crusade Campaign, where a bit of hobby knowledge and access to a good library of source material let you create truly unique pieces of gaming art. What too pulled me was the historical context, nothing better to ground you into a setting than real history.
So after reading the article I hopped over to
Lead Adventure to learn as much as I can about the Kriegspielers and there 192X campaign, after literally spending an entire week devouring as much info as I could I came to conclusion that is was the type of gaming that I was yearning for; a social gaming campaign, where me and my gaming buddies at IFG come together to carve out a series of adventures where the only restraint is our imagination. This in turn reminded me of days when I used to be a LARPer/ LARP organiser
(Live Action Roleplay - not a fisherman), where we used to create our own characters with backstory and come together, bouncing narrative ideas to create a ensemble storyline.
So back to wargaming - I have been increasingly been getting more and more bored of the competitive, one to one battles that is the mainstay of most our wargames. I wanted to create something more akin to the gentleman's wargaming of old, where the aim was not to be the best rules lawyer in the west but rather to a immersive and fun game where both parties can feel equally satisfied.
So an idea popped into my head, instead of writing a rule set that is written, published and torn apart by the greater masses. How about create a game system where players meet for a event, organised by a Umpire who controls the stats side of things, so players must play out by issuing orders like Kriegspiel and getting a more realistic and immersive experience. This also has the added bonus of the Umpire shielding the rules so that cannot be manipulated/ exploited. Crazy eh?
So this is the rough gist of Hi-Jinks - a pseudo LARP/Wargame/RPG with a lil sprinkling of Living History
(Who can't resist the excuse to dress up lol). And to get the ball rolling and see if I was capable of running such a monster, I decided to take the principles of Hi-Jinks and apply it to a Umpire led game of Bolt Action
(The true setting of Hi-jinks will be a "what if" 1930s setting which I will go into more detail in a later post).
The stage was set in Germany 1945, the fictional town of Gross-Schuh was occupied by Allied force until a few days ago when the people of the town, secretly in communication with a Axis platoon secretly posted a few miles away staged a revolt and managed to push out the Allies.
A week later Allied HQ demands the town to be re-taken and the non-corporation of its residents to be made a example of.
Before deployment - each player rolled to see the "personality" of their command groups - this would help me determine they react when command and morale began to break down. the results where:
Jay: Bully
Ray: Professional
Phil: Patriot
John: Headstrong
Leigh: Humanist
The Axis side consisted of Jay and Faction Ray. Jay controlled a couple of squads of Heer Infantry and a sniper team, while Ray controlled two infanty units of Fallshirmjager, a medium mortar team, a detached LMG team and a MMG team. They also had 2 Panzer IVs and a unit of Panzer Grenadiers in halftrack in reserve to be (hopefully) called upon when needed.
The Allies where a union of Johnno, Leigh and Phil. Johnno controlled a British force; 2 units of infantry, a MMG universal carrier, a sniper team, HMG team and a Cromwell. Leigh was the US; 2 infantry teams, a sniper team, a bazooka team and a Sherman while Phil played French Resistance
(In Germany?) ; 2 units of infantry and 2 experimental tankettes.
The Axis side was to deploy first and sneakily while the Allied players where off discussing tactics they deployed units inside the cottage and two town houses closet to the Allied entry edge (
Buildings closet to foreground in the picture above) - to represent units that have seek shelter with the locals. The rest of the Axis forces except those kept in reserve where positioned in the far top area of the board. They also asked if they could have off-board artillery zero-ed in on the pile of rubble between the barn and the boccage - since they where meant to be only a few miles from a Divisional HQ, it was granted.
The Allies discussed there plan of attack and decided to send in the two sniper teams and a unit of French in first to recon while the rest of the army pushed in. While Leigh's US sniper team made good progress and successfully sneaked there way in to the corn field along the left flank, Johnnos team went to check the closet cottage only to find a unit of Fallshirmjager inside - luckily they hadn't spotted them. More of the allied forces began to move in, Phil's french and Johnno's HMG team quickly positioned themselves into the barn on the right flank.
But suddenly Ray's fallshirmjager, the ones in the cottage had spotted Leigh's sniper team - they fired wildly into the corn field, failing to hit them. Meanwhile Jay's platoon command, upon hearing the gunfire immediately called for armoured assistance from Divisional HQ which he was quickly denied, being notified to correctly assess and identify the threat before demanding such valuable a asset.
While the Fallshirmjagers in the cottage where being distracted by the snipers, the Allies poured more force onto the board, with Johns and Leigh's armour moving along the right flank. To assist the pinned US snipers, a US infantry team moved to the cottage and fuzzed a grenade through the door, unfortunately the grenade thrower was shot down via panicked shots from the unit inside but the blast killed three fallshirmjagers and forced the unit to flee into the next room, clearly shaken.
From up high, Ray's MMG team spotted the Allied armour, relaying their finds to Jay's commander he quickly got back on the radio to Divisional HQ, while his finds where vague in description and failed to notify the location and movement of the armoured advance, Divisional sent a Panzer IV which entered via the main road on the Axis Deployment zone, it slowly advanced as it had no idea the location of the enemy armour.
Meanwhile the Allies where pushing forward strong, having secured the southern most edge of Gross-Schuh, this put the Fallshirmjager in a dire situation, been surrounded from all sides and taking serious fire, even some of the civilians whose cottage it belonged to have become casualties. They radioed in to Ray's commander, wishing permission to retire and escort the civilians to safety. Ray accepted and making a break from the far window, they fled the cottage. Even though the Allied forces could see their retreat, they held their fire for the sake of the civilians.
But the ceasefire was broken by the snap crack of a marksmen in the towns house nearest the right flank. The fire startled the Allies who immediately poured fire into the building. The retiring fallshirmjager, thinking the fire was intended for them dived into the building to the left of the marksman and began attacking Leigh's US. Leigh's men, startled and outraged by the fallshirmjagers dishonourable betrayal of the rules of engagement unleashed their full wrath into the building - turning it into a blood bath.
Seeing the intensity of the conflict escalating and hearing of the loss of his infantry in the town house, Ray called in the final reserves, a Half track filled with Jay's Panzer Grenadiers. At the same time the Panzer IVs had moved to the far right flank, on the right hand side of the ruined industrial building and began trading fire with the Johnno's Cromwell and Leigh's Sherman. While the engagement was intense, neither managed to make in significant damage on the other.
Across the field on the left, Johnno's infantry supported by Phil's tankettes made a significant push up on the left flank while Leigh's infantry moved in the cottage that was once held by the fallshirmjager. As the tankettes and infantry pushed forward, they came under fire from the half track and some of Ray's infantry who held position behind a boccage. They quickly darted into the town house which they knew held the marksman. But what they didn't know is that it also held a german infantry unit was hiding in the floor above as Johnno's Brits entered the building. Without warning the Germans descended upon them - killing them to a man.
At the same time a Panzerfaust from the same German unit launched from the 2nd floor of the building, reducing one of the tankettes to smouldering metal. Boiled into a fury the rest of Johnno's forces, against his wishes pushed towards the German unit, blood lust with vengeance. Ray's medium mortar also had began its barrage, landing some solid hits on the right flank around the old barn, pinning the British and French forces around it.
Back to the tank engagement, a lucky shot turned one of the Panzer IVs into a fireball. Sensing they where losing the right flank, Ray's commander fired the flare and called in the Division Artillery
bombardment. The Allies heard the distant guns firing but reacted too slowly, the bombardment landed just south of the boccage lined field, heavily suppressing Leigh's and Phil's infantry. Phil sent his men into the cover of the building the fallshirmjager and civilians made their last stand. They wasn't expecting the carnage that they found while safe from the barrage they were still in shock.
Back on the left flank, Johnno's and Leigh's infantry poured fire into the town house where the Brit and tankettes got ambushed. The marksman and long been killed and the German infantry unit inside was heavily suppressed and called aid from Jay's commander, who had been hurling abuse at his tank commander for his supposed incompetence. In response to their plea, The half track hurtled itself to the town house and fired into the British Infantry who where pushed back. After pushing back the Brit infantry they poured into the town house held by the battered French who outraged by their allies conduct had lost their taste for battle, Phil's commander surrendered but before he could be escorted back into the half track , Leigh's infantry in the cottage who by now seemed to gain the taste for killing in cold blood, fired onto the German unit but only managing to kill Phil's captured commander!
With the allies command in absolute disarray and not managing to even push halfway into the town and because the Axis forces where still very much intact
(Every unit on the allied side was heavily suppressed and suffering from fatigue) it was deemed a solid victory for the Axis!
As my first go at Umpiring, I felt it went pretty well, I clearly had to wing it at times but the players never grumbled and seemed very satisfied with the game, specially liking the aspects of protecting civilians, the psychology of their commanders and having to really think about the context of their orders.
Sometimes though I felt I had to battle with the Bolt Action rules as if I did not follow them, the players would feel that I was not being impartial and would of spoilt the game, while that was averted, I will be writing my own set of rules, that are looser, more guideline like thus giving me the freedom needed to add more drama to game.
Playing
(And running) a Umpire led game has been a real breath of fresh air and If anyone reading this has been considering such a style of play - please give it a go, it is a little more work but its is really worth it :)
Thanks for your time, cya soon.
