Ultramodern Wargaming – Ukraine 2024
Recommendations: 13004
About the Project
Lately, I've been running war games every weekend with members of the community via web conference. Players log on and play wargames with each other in real time, regardless of location, and we usually have at least a couple spectators as well. Many times it’s been Darkstar, but we’re also running wargames in Panzer Leader, Arab-Israeli Wars, and now Valor & Victory.
BoW/OTT community members @brucelea, @damon, @davehawes, and @rasmus have taken the plunge, leading battalions across thousands of meters of desert, starfleets in pitched battles across the heavens, or vicious firefights in the jungles of Vietnam, all without leaving the comfort of their home.
Hard-core, old-school command-tactical wargames can now be run (complete with spectators and recordings) in real time, with BOTH PLAYERS moving pieces across THE SAME virtual game board, thus maintaining player agency, speedy and instant results (no play by e-mail), interwoven turn sequences, any questions / feedback instantly received and addressed, and with the game being virtually recorded as it goes, a ready-made battle report can actually be created as we go.
All of this without the players having to install any new software on their computer, on any platform (PC or Mac). All that's needed is to agree on a time, a handful of dice, and a bellyful of courage!
Every weekend can now be a boot camp! All without costing me thousands of dollars in airfare, too!
Related Game: PanzerBlitz
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
Video Replay - Slaughter of "Pavlov's House"
Good morning one and all:
Here is a video replay of yesterday’s great live game with @brucelea, where we recreated part of the fighting over “Pavlov’s House.” In this shell-shattered four-floor apartment building, a platoon of 3rd Battalion / 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment / 13th Guards Rifle Division under the command of Sr. Sgt Jakob Pavlov held key routes through Central Stalingrad against overwhelming German attacks for an astonishing 58 days.
@Brucelea command ths Soviets on defense, I take the Germans (Inf Rgt 518 / 29th Infantry Division, plus tanks of 24th Panzer Division, LI Corps) on the attack.
This is Stalingrad, so it’s not a game for the faint of heart. Casualties are immaterial. It’s all about who hold these key buildings at the end of the game.
The system we’re using is Barry Doyle’s Valor & Victory. Might be a fun listen while painting or hobbying. The tide swings back and forth several times, I can promise you that. Lady Luck was a fickle b***h in this one! 😀
Map and available forces - Pavlov's House (Stalingrad: Valor & Victory)
Map is complete and playtesting has begun! This will not be the run-through I’m doing with Brucelea, that will be hiis own game starting in less than one hour!
Live at 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Valor & Victory – Stalingrad 1942 Scenario (Pavlov’s House)
Oriskany Jim and community member Andrew “Brucelea” go head-to-head in a scenario of Barry Doyle’s “Valor & Victory” system, set in one of the most brutal and savage battles in the annals of warfare.
This is Stalingrad in late 1942, a truly apocalyptic struggle that would ultimately prove the most important event in turning the tide of Word War II. Yet even in a fight this massive, small unit actions could still make a crucial difference.
Once of these was Pavlov’s House, where a lone platoon of 42nd Guards Rifle Regiment (13th Guards Rifle Division) blocked part of the German advance toward the Volga River for an unbelievable 58 days
Come see the game live and be part of the show!
Sunday, September 26 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Here are some of the Stalingrad scenarios I have designed / playtested I've done so far. First one depicts part of 16th Panzer Divisions breakout from the Vertyachi Bridgehead (24 August 1942), where crumbling remnants of the 87th Rifle Division (furture 13th Guards Rifle) is supported by elements of the 1257th AA Regiment, made up of female reservists. 
The battle at Vertyachi gets desperate, with German PzKpfw IIIs and halftracks blasting out of the tall corn and sunflower fields to overrun Soviet mortar crews ... trying to get to those breakthrough objective hexes on time.
Scenario 02, the first German assualts into Stalingrad proper (13 and 14 September 1942), with elements of 14th Panzer Division smashing into the Yelshanka suburbs along Stalingrad's southern shoulder.
A close up of the first furious German assualt, supposed by close air strike of Stukas and gunfire suppression from StuG-IIIB assualt guns.
Scenario 3, the Railroad Station (16 September 1942). As Soviet commander General Chuikov finally gets permission to bring some of his reinforcements across the river, he hurriedly ferries across the newly re-built 13th Guards Rifle Division. With no vehicles and short on heavy equipment, 10,500 men cross the river and are immediately hurled into the worst of the fighting, right at the gargantual Soviet train station.
Desperate fighting in the Railroad Station between 13th Guards and elements of 24th Panzer and 71st Infantry Division. Historically, parts of the train station will change hands 14 times in six hours, and within three days, the 13th Guards is down to less than 4,000 survivors.Gameplay Video British 1st Armoured Division (NORTHAG) vs. 9th Guards Tank Division (1st Guards Tank Army)
Good afternoon, all. Here is the slightly-edited stream replay of last night’s game of People’s General, where we imagined a scenario in the early 1990s where the “Fall of the Soviet Union” was much more violent than took place historically.
Long story short, Communist Party and Soviet Army hard-liners won out in the power grab after the the fall of Gorbachev, and the Soviet Union made a last desperate play against NATO in Europe, preferring to “die fighting.”
The scenario was built to roughly represent two of the top units that would have faced off on the norther German plain: 1st UK Armored Division and 9th Guards Tank Division.
Forces engaged:
9th Guards Tanks Division (1st Guards Tank Army, GSFG)
1,2,3 Battalion, 7th Guards Tank Regiment (T-90A)
1,2,3 Battalion, 40th Guards Tank Regiment (T-80U)
1,2,3 Battalion, 44th Guards Tank Regiment (T-80U)
1,2,3 Battalion, 9th Guards Independent Rifle Regiment (BMP-2)
1,2,3 Battalion, 249th Guards Rifle Regiment (BMP-2)
1,2 Battalion, 841st Guards Artillery Regiment (2S3 155mm)
1,2 Battalion, 1018 Antiaircraft Missile Regiment (2S6M Tunguska)
638th Guards Missile Battalion (BM-21 Grad)
+1 unit of Mi-24D Helicopter Gunship
1st UK Armoured Division
(data combined from 1988 NORTHAG OOB, Op Granby/Desert Storm, partially updated with newer equipment)
1/Royal Irish Rangers, 12th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
1/Royal Green Jackets, 12th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
4th RTR, 12th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
Queen’s Own Hussars, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
1st RTR, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Challenger 1)
1/Scots Guards, 22nd Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
2nd RTR, 7th Armoured Brigade (Challenger 2)
1/Staffordshire, 7th Armoured Brigade (Warrior)
1/3rd Regiment, Army Air Corps (AH-64D “Longbow” Apache)
40th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (M109A6 Paladin)
1,2/39 Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery (MLRS)
10th Air Defense Battery (Rapier SAM)
Live Stream, British Army of the Rhine vs. Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
Join us for a live stream tonight as we pit British Army of the Rhine forces against invading spearheads of the GSFG (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany) in a theoretical early 1990s war in Western Europe.
Suppose the collapse of the Soviet regime had not gone as quietly as it did in 1992? Suppose the hardliners won out over Yeltsin after the capitulation of Mikhail Gorbechev, suppose the dying Soviet empire had elected against a peaceful transition, prefering to die fighting?
We’ll be using the People’s General Cold War 2001 Expansion to play out a possible advance against the British Army of the Rhine, toward the Weser River in northern Germany.
Wednesday, September 22 – 7PM East US Time, Midnight UK Time
American Revolution Demo Game in 20mm Miniature
After two and a half months, I suppose it’s finally time for me to finish that American Revolution demo game I started for our July 4 special. 🙂
In this video we complete that game, discuss a few tactical features of typical American Revolution units, and what distinguishes them and their battles from other aspects of black powder wargaming like American Civil War, Napoleonics, or English Civil War. If you’re interested in more detailed discussion of the rules or the first turn of this game, the original video can be found here:
Rasmus vs. Bill - Battlecarry Sabot (Tank Duel in Future Korean War)
Okay, everyone – Here is the video replay from the Sunday game between Rasmus and Bill – pitting North Korean Sungun-915 MBTs of 105th Guards Armored Division against South Korean K-2 “Black Panther” MBTs of 2nd Armored Brigade in a badass, hard-fought game of Battlecarry Sabot.
It’s ultra-modern tanks in a near-future war, up close and personal! Might be a fun “background listen” while hobbying or painting. 🙂
Battle Carry Sabot: North vs. South Korea Tank Duel
Join us while Oriskany Jim runs a heads-up match between Bill (Sitrep 6) and community member Rasmus for game of Battle Carry Sabot.
Our battle for the week imagines North Korean battle tanks invading into South Korea sometimes in the near future. In our scenario, a spearhead of North Korean “Seon’gun-915” main battle tanks of the 105th Guards Armored Division has just broken through Republic of Korea infantry defensive positions, and is then counterattacked by responding South Korean K-2 “Black Panther” MBTs.
Sunday, September 12 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Work continues on today's game of Battle Carry Sabot. First, the general disposition of real-life forces (not including reservists) for the ROK, DPRK, USA, and USMC in the Korean Peninsula. Some of this is a little incomplete. Unsurprisingly, reliable data on real-life North Korean forces and where they are deployed is a little tough to get on short notice. One key unit is the KPA 105th Guards Armored Division. Notice where they have broken across the DMZ through a gap where there are no major rivers along the Intra-Korean Border. I have this picked as kind of a "Fulda Gap" of our scenario, a major breakthrough here will allow the North Korean KPA to flank Seoul from the east. In our imaginary "tomorrow war" they have just been met by lead elements of 2nd and 30th Armored Brigades, II ROK Corps.
Here is the map for the game. A one-inch grid = 50 meters (scale 1/2000). To the west of the map, along that highway and among those buildings, the main body of KPA 105th Guards Armored Division's lead regiment has just collided with 2nd Battalion, ROK 2nd Armored Brigade. Losses are heavy. The commander of KPA's 1st Battalion has detached a company of his Songun-915 tanks eastward to try to find a way through those mountains around the flank. This company is @rasmus' force. Rasmus' North Koreans have hit a single ROK APC staged out here on defensive reconnaissance. They destroyed the vehicle, but not before it issued a fragmentory warning report to 2/2 ROK Armored Brigade's HQ. The commander of 2/2's Delta Company has just tapped his XO ( @SITREP 6), sending him eastward with one detached platoon of K-2 "Black Panther" MBTs to meet the flanking KPA armor and secure the battalion's east flank. It's five ROK tanks against 13 KPA tanks. Whoever wins turns the east flank of the enemy force's main body, and probably tips the balance of the main battle taking place to the west.
Here are some photos, my playing pieces, and some technical data for the two types of tanks we will see pitted against each other tomorrow.
Here are the game values for today's tanks. Note the Songun-915 deploys ATGW s ... Bulsae (Firebird)-3 missiles reverse-engineered from Russian AT-14 Spriggans. They also have two SA-16 MANPADS bolted to the turret, not that they will come into play this game. Meanwhile, the K-2s deploy an Active Protection System, a radar detector that tracks incoming rockets and missiles and explodes an armor projectile out to intercept the the threat before it even hits the tank. These are new features we'll be playtesting tomorrow for the first time.
A sample of what part of tomorrow's game might look like.
