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
American Revolution in 20mm
The American Revolution continues to rage anew in my dining room. 🙂
The scale is 20mm.
Battlesystem 2nd Edition.
1 figure = 20 men (except for commanders and artillery pieces).
1 Inch = 20 yards.
About 120 figures on the table in all = 2400 men
This is no battle in particular, just a wrap up of the demo game originally staged for Stirep Podcast‘s demo game staged for July 4 (Independence Day) content.
Here we see the British right wing, which the Patriots are trying to turn with concentrated rifle (sharpshooters) fire. The range is getting close, perhaps close enough for the British to turn with a bayonet charge.
The British left, where Light Infantry companies of three regiments (about 120 men effective strength) are pushing across the creek, while line companies push over the bridge and try to provide fire support from the friendly bank.
The Patriot left, which is trying to shoot up the Crown right.
The American brigade command group. There will be more to come. Stay tuned for photos and also a full video battle report in the coming days.Video Replay: Naval Command (Jenn vs. Oriskany Jim) PLA Navy vs. US Navy Seventh Fleet
Here is the replay video from Sunday’s stream, where @gladesrunner and I played our game of Naval Command by Rory Crabb. The scenario pits a US cruiser/destroyer group (with strike support from USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76) against a destroyer/frigate battle group of the Chinese PLA Navy.
The Chinese have limited air suppotrt from land bases and a smaller Chinese carrier (PLN Shandong) but also massive support from ground-based cruise missiles.
The Chinese mission is to defend a convoy of Type 072A LHA troops transports trying to reinforce the Kaoshing Bridgehead in southern Taiwan.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying or painting. 😀
The initial set up areas, the whole map, opening moves and helicopter launches, detection phases, and missile launches. Both sides get good news and bad news on Turn 01. Jenn's Americans detect all my ground-based missile bases, launched Tomahawks cruise missiles, and destroyed one base outright before it can even fire. Meanwhile, my aircraft activate, and six J-15 (SU-30 naval variants) are coming in hot next attack phase. Her F-35Cs do NOT. So I will own the sky for at least one turn ...
If I'm ever going to sink an American warship, it has to be now on Turn 2. I'vbe already lost my second cruise missile base (big mistake on my end by not launching from there FIRST in the fire sequence). But bad dice mean that the six missile strikes from my aircraft, two more cruise missiles from my remaining base, and eight more YJ-18 cruiser missiles from my warships only score ONE HIT on the Ticonderoga class missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG-65). It disables the Chosin's helicopter landing deck (that will be two helos that will probably crash later in the game) but the crew repairs the damage (to some extent) during the damage control phase.
Turn 3 is really rough for me. While I damned near sink the Arleigh Burke class destroyer McCampbell, my fleet is devastated by returning American Harpoon SSMs and the arrival of the F-35Cs from the USS Reagan. I engage two of her F-35Cs with ALL SIX of my J-15s, but two are shot down by American SM-2 SAMs and another is shot down as I LOOSE THE DOGFIGHT against the F-35Cs which costs me ANOTHER J-15. So it looks pretty bad for the Chinese now ... but one American ship is now out of action and NOT A SINGLE HIT has been scored against that transport fleet (I get victory points for each transport that survives ... and there are six of them). So this game isn't QUITE over yet ...Red Dragon 2028: Chinese Invade Taiwan (Gladesrunner v. Oriskany in Naval Command)
Join us as we wrap up our Red Dragon 2028 series, imagining a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the near future.
So far we’ve done ground combat in Modern Era Panzer Leader, and air combat in AirWar C21. Now we’re going to look at a naval operations with Rory Crabb’s Naval Command – pitting the PLA Navy against the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet.
Will the US Navy be able to shut down the pipeline of men, machines, and supplies the Chinese are struggling to set up across the Taiwan Strait? Tune in and find out!
Sunday, September 5 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
The situation at the end of our fictional campaign. While the Chinese Air Force has held its own over the southern reaches of the Taiwan Strait, ground victories by the US and her Western Pacific Allies have pretty much collapsed the Chinese bridgehead on northern Taiwan. The Chinese are sending across a massive landing force to reinforce their southern bridgehead, which they hope can hold on long enough to force a favorable peace terms.
The four classes of surface warship that will appear in today's game. Of course, both sides will have one carrier off table as well, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76, flagship US 7th Fleet) and PLN Shandong (Type 002 class carrier)
Here is our virtual miniatures table, with each 1" grid measuring 1 nautical mile of ocean. Thus, we have 108 x 60 miles of battle area here, an area roughly the size of Northern Ireland.
A close up of most of the American forces we'll see in today's game. The idea is to defeat Chinese surface ships, suppress enemy air strikes and land-based cruise missile attacks, and finally get to grips with the Chinese transport fleet (six Type 072A amphibious warfare transports). If the Americans can do enough damage to the Chinese landing fleet, their surviving bridgehead in southern Taiwan will be cut off and doomed to defeat.Hobby Video: Quick and Easy Chain Link Fences for Urban Terrain
Chain link fence is a great “scatter terrain” way to update buildings, streets, and other urban terrain from earlier periods to a more modern look – quick “hobby hack” to expand the utility of your WW2 terrain as you expand into Modern Era wargaming.
Replay Video - Damon vs. Oriskany (Conclusion)
Here is the replay video from Sunday’s stream, where @damon and I completed our game of modern-era Panzer Leader. The scenario sets a joint task force of US and Japanese armor and infantry to assist beleaguered Taiwanese forces trying to hold out against an onslaught of Chinese PLA armor and PLAN Marine mechanized infantry.
The video starts off with the battle in mid-swing (Turn 6 out of 10), so there is no set up, displosition or deployment moves, etc … just straight into combat already in progress.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying or painting.
Red Dragon 2028: Chinese Invade Taiwan (Damon v. Oriskany Panzer Leader - Conclusion)
Please join us as we continue our explorations of a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the near future. This will be a continuation of the Panzer Leader Modern Era game begun between myself and community member Damon on August 8. In this game, we saw elements of a US Army Stryker Battalion, reinforced by a tank-heavy armor team and joined by elements of a Japanese Rapid Deployment Brigade, rush to the rescue of overwhelmed Taiwanese units crumbling before an onslaught of Chinese People’s Liberation Army armor and Marine mechanized infantry.
The game is currently halfway through its planned ten turns. The set up, deployment, background, and opening “posturing and disposition moves” are all complete, the two forces are well and truly locked up in fiery combat. Now it’s gut-check time, so see who wins, and by what degree!
Sunday, August 22 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
So just to set the stage for today’s stream, here is a brief, partial battle report outlining the highlights of the engagement so far. Again, only half the battle has been played out, today’s stream will finish out the game and decide the winner.
For those just joining us, here is an expanded and more detailed situation sketch of the invasion so far. The Chinese have thrown two “Group Armies” across the Taiwan Strait (about 120,000 men total), attacking Taiwan in two basic waves. The first was an airborne wave (largely a sacrificial feint), the second was a seaborne wave, spearheaded by high-speed Marine assault hovercraft. After forty-eight hours, only the amphibious assault in the north has managed any kind of toehold, as well as (against all odds) one of the “sacrificial” airborne landings in the south. These positions have been rapidly expanded into semi-viable bridgeheads on X-Day+2, but they remain widely separated, vulnerable to counterattack IF Western Pacific allies can must enough of a counterattack in time. Now, on X+3, the Americans are launching their first sizable counterattack in the north, assisted by elements of a JSDF Rapid Deployment Brigade. Their mission: to head off Chinese armor threatening to break out of the Hsinchu Bridgehead before they smash northeast along the Lung Tan Highway and threaten Taipei from the southwest. 
The shattered remains of the Taiwanese 234th Brigade sets up on the table, clearly showing the Lung Tan highway interchange. Outnumbered between eight- and twelve-to one, their higher command and communications infrastructure has now been taken out by cruise missiles launched from Chinese submarines. They hold the objective hexes marked in yellow. The Americans and Japanese will be entering from the east. The Chinese will be entering from the west. Whoever controls at least three objective hexes at the end of the game is the winner. 
The battle jumps off on Turn One with neither side wasting any time. People’s Liberation Army tanks (ZTZ-99As of 10th Armored Brigade) swiftly overrun the first Taiwanese objective at the highway interchange (“Cloud Leopard” APCs and infantry). One tank platoon is disordered in the attack, but they will swiftly recover. To the south, Chinese Marines of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) swing around the left flank of the Taiwanese 234th Mech Brigade, setting up for one hell of an infantry assault into the town of Lung Tan itself. American and Japanese forces arrive minutes later, and when Damon’s communications officer ask the beleaguered Taiwanese who is in command, the frantic reply comes back: “You are!” American Predator drones and tanks of Team Whiskey (1/35th Armor, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Mechanized), swing north around the PLA 10th Armored threatening the northern objective hex, AH-64D Apaches using their chain guns to chew up some Type 89A APCs with their infantry still aboard. The Predator drones sling out their Hellfire missiles, but a combination of Chinese cover, laminate armor, and bad luck saves the Chinese for now. 
Pressing their advantage in the north, Team Whiskey comes down off the high ground overlooking this road junction and objective hex, with two platoons of M1A2C battle tanks (formerly M1A2 SEP v3), along with Type 10 Japanese MBTs and MCV combat vehicles. The first platoon of PLA ZTZ-99A battle tanks goes up in a series of fiery explosions (goon Abrams gunnery there) while the Japanese, despite being outnumbered in tank 3:1, use the MCV and heavy weapons infantry platoon to the southeast to pin down PLA 10th Armored Brigade’s right wing (note units set at an angle, this indicates they are “disordered”). 
In the south, the Chinese commit to their assault into Lung Tan. Their ASN-205 drones spot Taiwanese and newly-arrived American units of “Task Force Rapier” (1/17th Infantry, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division). The Chinese 3rd Marine Brigade then move their Type 05 amphibious APCs into the streets of the town, perhaps getting too close to American and Taiwanese guns, but the alternative is to leave their two heavy urban hexes open for t he American to occupy. Rather than pay for such costly hexes twice, the Chinese get aggressive. The risk largely pays off, they only suffer two APC platoons disordered, and now some 350 Chinese PLAN Marines are within assault range of the defenders of Lung Tan. 
In the north, the PLA 10th Armored quickly finds itself in real trouble. As their powerful ZTZ-99A tanks keep getting pinned down, they can never really release a coordinated, close-range gunnery salvo against the Americans and Japanese bearing down on their front and right wing. Apaches start slinging out Hellfire missiles, picking them off, once they are spotted by Predator drones (even after the Predator Drones have fired their missiles, they remain valuable as spotting and targeting tools). It’s an uneven cycle of fire superiority, with the Chinese tanks always just 30 seconds behind their opponents, taking losses that leave them pinned down, unable to return effective fire, and unable to even withdraw safely under this crossfire of American and Japanese shells and missiles (TOWs, Hellfires, infantry AT weapons, and 120mm sabot rounds). 
In the south, however, Chinese Marines split the allied position wide open. A pair of J-16 Flanker strike aircraft scream in, and despite one being damaged by a near miss from an American Stinger team, American and Taiwanese forces are pinned down as a massive PLAN infantry close assault comes in. The issue is never in doubt. Platoons of Taiwanese Cloud Leopard APCs and American MGS Strykers are lost, along with most of the 234th Brigade’s infantry. The Chinese have firmly taken Lung Tan, and a second objective hex. Taiwanese survivors withdraw to the northeast, Americans fall back straight down that eastern highway.
To the north, meanwhile, the Chinese advance largely collapses. Pointblank American and Japanese tank fire (120mm and 105mm from that Japanese MCV platoon) shatter most of what’s left of 10th PLA Armored’s tanks. Furthermore, these allied forces are soon gearing up for a counter-advance to the southwest to retake that highway overpass objective in the lower left corner. While this didn’t work out well for the Chinese at all, it showcases how the Panzer Leader system can really capture the essence of fire superiority. To be honest, as the Chinese player, I should have run two turns ago, and at least mouthed a decent defense from those tree lines to the southwest. There are only two full platoons of Abrams tanks on the table, I came DAMNED close to taking one of them out. But with most of my tank force now wrecked, I stand virtually no chance of slowing them down. 
So here is the situation at the end of Turn 5, the halfway point of the game. Long story short, the Allies are winning in the north, losing to the south. Given the overall balance of what is left, I’m pretty sure the Allies will win this one, taking the highway overpass objective. I will probably hold Lung Tan to the south and maybe take that smaller road junction and ton to the southeast, leaving me with two objective hexes, and Damon with three. We’ll see what happens in today’s stream as we finish out this battle. Oriskany vs. Damon: China Invades Taiwan (Panzer Leader TCME)
Good afternoon, folks. Here is the replay video from the recent Panzer Leader Modern Expansion game between myself and @damon. I an playing the leading elements of two Chinese brigades (one PLA armor, the other PLAN Marine Mechanized Infantry), and he’s got a western Pacific task force built around:
Team Whiskey (1/37th Armor, 2nd ABCT, 1st US Infantry Division / Mechanized): A US tank-heavy armor team
1/17th Infantry, 2nd SBCT / 2 US Infantry Division (elements)
Task Force Kumamoto: (42nd Japanese Rapid Deployment Brigade, 8th JSDF Division
Survivors of decimated Taiwanese 234th Mech Brigade.
We’ve got ultramodern MBTs, five variants of Strykers, Apaches, Flankers, Predator drones, Javelins, Stingers, high-tech combined arms weapons and units of FOUR friggin’ armies on the table at once.
This game is resuming to its shattering finish LIVE later this weekend.
Meanwhile, the replay is offered here in case you might find it a pleasant listenwhile painting or hobbying.
Gameplay Stream Playback - China vs. US - AirWar C21 - 2028 Taiwan
Good afternoon: Here is the gameplay stream playback video, where myself and Bernhard sat down for a game of AirWar C21 by Wessex Games. The scenario was another chapter in our ongoing “Red Dragon” setting, where we imagine a Chinese conventional forces invasion of Taiwan in 2028.
Might be a fun listen while hobbying for painting. We breeze over the setting, set up is already complete, and first movement is already resolved. We get right into the thick of it with some point-blank gunplay and missile launches.
The game includes F-22A Raptors of teh USAF, F-35C Lightnings of the US Navy, pitted against J-20 “Mighty Dragons” amd J-11 “Flanker Ls” of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
Hope you like it!
