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
Tank Clash in Normandy: British vs. Germans in the Bocage (July 1944) Community Panzer Leader Game
Join @brucelea and I as we return to Panzer Leader, this time for a recreation of the “bocage hell” in the summer of 1944. The D-Day landings at Normandy were all well and good, but what followed was almost two solid months of some of the worst fighting ever seen on the Western Front.
German defenders, determined and well-equipped, made expert use of the “bocage” agricultural fields in the area, turning all of Normandy into a semi-flooded, channelized, fortified honeycomb of point-blank defense. Often the Allies had no choice but to drive straight into such defenses with frontal assaults.
Conversely, the Germans had to contend with a foe that outnumbered them sometimes ten-to-one and had total dominance of the air.
Sunday, July 18 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Okay, so here is the background area for today's battle - a small flanking action connection to Operation Goodwood, the 77th Anniversary takes place today (July 18, 1944). The red rectangle shows the 3600-meter scaled battlefield contained in our game (24 hex board, 150 meters per hex).
Here is the map for our game. Again, 150 meter hexes (about 5 feet in 15mm). British (predominantly elements of 11th Armored Division) will be coming on from the north. Germans (1st SS "LAH" Panzer Division, sPzAbtg 503) will be coming on from the south in a local counterattack that took place about 11:00 hours at Cagny, 18 July 1944.
My forces as the German player. With units of 1st SS "Leibstandarte" Panzer Division and Heavy Tank Detachment 503, I have some of the best toys in the business. If only I wasn't outnumbered over 2:1 ...
The British (elements of 11th Armored Division, VIII Corps), with plenty of air support. All these units were there except for possibly 7th RTR / 31st Tank Brigade. They WERE attached to VIII Corps, so they were in the general AREA, but I included them to get some heavier British armor on the table.Video Replay: AirWar C21: Britain vs. Argentina over the Falklands - May 1982
Greetings, OTT: Here is the video replay of the AirWar C21 game between myself and @hegemongary, where we recreated one of the initial fighter sweeps at the onset of the 1982 Falklands War.
We buzz through a very brief overview of the conflict’s background, and then launch aircraft and get into the dogfight (Royal Navy FRS1 Sea Harriers vs. Argentininian Mirage IIIEA interceptors).
Might be a fun listen while working on some hobby or painting.
It’s maneuverability and electronics vs. speed and numbers! Who will prevail?
Check out our Discord if this kind of gaming interests you.
https://discord.gg/k6AMchYCSE
AirWar C21: Britain vs. Argentina over the Falklands - May 1982
In April 1982, the ruling military regime of Argentina invaded the British Falkland Islands, 400 kilometers off the Argentinian coast. The British quickly mounted Operation Corporate to retake these remote South Atlantic Islands.
As their naval task force approached the occupied Falklands, the British knew they had to clear the skies of Argentinian aircraft, which enjoyed big advantages in numbers, combat-experienced pilots, and the ability to mount larger, faster aircraft off nearby land bases. The British, meanwhile, had advantages of their own in the form of the Harrier “jump-jet” and the American-made AIM-9L “Sidewinder” air-to-air missile.
Join us for a game of AirWar C21, where we will recreate one of the first engagements between Mirage IIIEA interceptors of the AFA and FRS1-variant “Sea Harriers” of the Royal Navy, launched off the British flagship HMS Hermes.
Sunday, July 11 – 2PM East US Time, 7PM UK Time
Campaign area for the Falklands War, immediately before the onset of "real" hostilities with the sinking of the light cruiser ARA Belgrano.
immediate strikes of 1 May, 1982
Argentinian aircraft in today's game.
British aircraft in today's game.
Map for today's game.Oriskany Jim vs. Piotr - "The Arab-Israeli Wars" Scenario B1 (Bir Gifgaga, Nov 1956) - PART TWO
Join us as Oriskany Jim and Yavasa finish up their discussion of their recent game of Avalon Hill’s “The Arab-Israeli Wars” – where they recreated the largest armored engagement of the 1956 Sinai War between Israeli and Egypt.
This was the tank clash at Bir Gifgafa, a key pass leading out of the Sinai Mountains toward the startegic Suez Canal to the west.
Interested in this higher-level “command tactical” wargaming?
Check out our Discord:
https://discord.gg/k6AMchYCSE
Oriskany Jim vs. Piotr - "The Arab-Israeli Wars" Scenario B1 (Bir Gifgaga, Nov 1956) - PART ONE
Join us as Oriskany Jim and Yavasa sit down to discuss a recent game of Avalon Hill’s “The Arab-Israeli Wars” – where they recreated the largest armored engagement of the 1956 Sinai War between Israeli and Egypt.
This was the tank clash at Bir Gifgafa, a key pass leading out of the Sinai Mountains toward the startegic Suez Canal to the west.
Interested in this higher-level “command tactical” wargaming?
Check out our Discord: https://discord.gg/k6AMchYCSE
American Revolution (July 4 Special) - Hobby, Painting, 20mm Wargaming
Happy Fourth of July, Sitrep Operators! Here is a quick video to commemorate American Independence Day, with some Hobby, Painting, and 20mm Wargaming with a battlefield set in the American Revolution of 1775-1781
Thank You So Much (Mid-Year Platform Benchmarks)
Here is the replay from Last Night’s bonus stream. A quick little discussion (26 minutes) just to say thank you, review the first half of 2021, and look at where we’re going from here.
Video Replay: Cbenner vs. Oriskany - PanzerBlitz (Battle of Dubno)
Good morning, all. Here is a video replay of our Sunday Stream, where @cbrenner and I take a swing at Avalon Hill’s PanzerBlitz system. Our subject is the part of the Battle of Dubno, which took place eighty years ago this week.
At the time this was the largest tank battle in history, where the spearhead of “Panzergruppe Kleist” (probably the largest single field formation of armor ever mounted by the German war machine) was struck from four directions by five Soviet mechanized corps. Here we see the counterattacking spearhead of 8th Mechanized Corps (12th and 34th Tank Divisions) hitting the flank of the German 16th Panzer Division, XLVIII Panzer Corps.
Might be a fun listen while painting for hobbying.
