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
Miniature Game Video - Marines at Al-Khafji - 29 Jan 1991 (Modified Battlegroup) Part Two
For this week’s Wednesday show, we’re completing our 15mm miniature game recreating part of the Battle of Al-Khafji.
This action was fought between US Marines of Delta Company / Reconnaissance Battalion and Task Force Shepard (1st Marine Division) and elements of 6th Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Armored Division on January 29, 1991.
This battle was instigated when Iraqi spearheads invaded out of occupied Kuwait and into northern Saudi Arabia, thus taking place before the outbreak of the Desert Storm ground war on 24 February.
The system we’re using is a modification of Plastic Soldier Company’s “Battlegroup.”
Skirmish Wargame: 22nd SAS “Scud Hunters” vs. Iraqi Army – January 1991
Good morning, everyone. Join us Sunday as we continue our 30th Anniversary commemorative wargames and review of the Persian Gulf War of 1991. This live community game of the growing “Sitrep Skirmish” system pits elite operators of the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment against the Iraqi Army in a mission to track and eliminate a mobile launch site of the dreaded “SCUD” missile.
7PM UK / 2PM East US
Building materials for the SCUD-Hunter game later today. Here's the zoom-out map of the general area.
Some of the counters for the "A" Squadron, 22 SAS Regiment, with their WMIK Land Rovers and M240 GPMGs. Grenade launchers, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and LMGs.
Quite a few Iraqi regulars are awaiting them ... a 3-officer command team, four 2-man crews (truck, SCUD crew, two ZU-23-4 AAA crews). Platoon leader, and two eight-man squads.
Overall game map. We'll see how it goes later today!Miniature Game Video - Marines at Al-Khafji - 29 January 1991 (Modified Battlegroup)
Did someone say an actual miniature gameplay video? (remember those?)
For this week’s Wednesday show, we’re presenting a miniature game video for a 15mm recreation of part of the Battle of Al-Khafji, fought between US Marines Delta Company, Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment and elements of 6th Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Armored Division on January 29, 1991.
This battle was instigated when Iraqi spearheads invaded out of occupied Kuwait and into northern Saudi Arabia, thus taking place before the outbreak of the Desert Storm ground war on 24 February.
The system we’re using is a “shorthand modification” of Iron Fist Publishing’s Battlegroup.
AirWar C21 Game: USAF F-15Cs vs. IQAF MiG-29As (Desert Storm 30th Anniversary)
Today’s game pits F-15 Eagles of the US Air Force up against MiG-29s of the Iraqi Air Force over the skies of western Iraq.
This dogfight took place in the early morning hours of 17 January 1991 (local time) over the H-3 airfield in the deep desert wastes of western Iraq, part of the opening hours of the Desert Storm Air War.
We’re using a “virtual adaptation” of AirWar C21 by Wessex Games.
Come by and check out how we take to the skies and game even when locked down in quarantine and thousands of miles apart!
4PM ET / 9PM GMT
Possible actions and outcomes we might see in today's game. Ops Center Episode 18: Desert Storm - The Air War
In this episode, presented on the 30th Anniversary of the opening of the Gulf War, we see Operation “Desert Shield” explode into “Desert Storm” with a gigantic air campaign unleashed against the armed forces of Iraq.
We look at the air forces of the opposing sides, look at what aircraft were contributed by the nations of the Allied Coalition, and what happened starting on January 16 (early morning hours of January 17, local time) when the air phase of this war kicked off.
We also look at some gaming options and suggestions for recreating dogfights of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
I thought I would include a few screen shots from this episode. This is from a segment that discusses how the coalition disassembled Iraqi air defense networks from the inside out. This might provide gamers with ideas for OBJECTIVES and SCENARIOS - describing WHY given fighter planes are fighting over a certain stretch of sky. Gaps in enemy radar coverage have to be opened for those initial strikes to blind and hobble the command and constrol systems that keep the whole network operational.
AirWar C21 is the system I use for modern air combat. Data annexes are available to exand the game all the way from "right now" 2021 or even near future theoreticals all the way back to 1950s "MiG Alley" in Korea. The rules are simple, sensible, and bring a surprising level of "managed realism" to jet combat. 
A few screen shots ...
Title card
The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars make their initial advance onto the table. First up, an Iraqi spoiling position in an oil refinery ... one BTR-60 motorized infantry company out of their battalion ... note the burning oil wells ... these DO block line of sight on the table. 
The UK envelops the forward Iraqi spoiling position, with a series of Challenger 1 overruns against Iraqi BTR-60s, while the dismounted infantry make a desperate close assault against the British battalion command group to the south ... they were annihilated by British opportunity fire, even as the Iraqis JUST miss killing a Challenger 1 troop under fire of a whole Type-69 battalion on a far ridge off to the northeast.
"D" Squadron, Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, makes a shove at the northern ridge, occupied by a full battalion of Type-69 tanks. The Iraqis are also backed up by BTR-60 troops carriers, and BRDM-2s with AT-5 ATGWs (off the right side of the screen). I finally scored a kill on the command element of the Challenger squadon (knocking out the Squadron CO and 2-in-c). So yes, two Challengers have been hit and are burning ...
Final state of the battle ... Queens Royal Irish Hussars vs. Iraqi 52nd Division - 27 Feb 1991
Hello everyone!
Tomorrow afternoon and evening, @Elessar2590 and I will be playing a little Tactical Combat Middle East (modern expansion of PanzerBlitz by Toshach Miniatures) on a Sitrep Podcast Live Stream. In this game we’ll be pitting some of the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars (7th Armoured Brigade, 1st UK Armoured Division, US VII Corps) against elements of Iraqi 52nd Division.
The Iraqi 52nd was a major opponent of the British in Desert Storm (British participation code-named Operation Granby), engaged by the British several times during the “Battle of Norfolk” on February 27, 1991.
This game will be part of our ongoing 30th Anniversary Commemorative content for Desert Storm, rolling out on the Sitrep Podcast through January and February.
We hope to see some of you there!
4PM ET / 9PM GMT
The map for today's game, complete with burning oil wells that block LOS.
British forces (a mixed task force of 1st UK Armoured Division, built around Queen's Royal Irish Hussars).
Iraqi forces ... including some air defense to at least give those Tornados something to think about. New Ops Center Series Kicks Off
In this new series of the Ops Center, we’ll be taking a look at the the 30th Anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War.
This episode kicks off the new series with a review of the regional background and causes for the conflict, some of the battles during Iraq’s initial invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, and how the largest international coalition since World War II came together against this invasion.
Stay tuned for:
• Episode 18: Desert Storm – The Air War
• Episode 19: Desert Storm – The Ground War Erupts
• Episode 20: Desert Storm – Conclusion
