Sunday, December 4, 2016

Big Piles

Two terrain items that are iconic to The Division setting are large piles of uncollected trash and collections of dead bodies in body bags. 

To add to the ambience of my games, I created the following scatter terrain:



New Setting: The Division - Los Angeles

I like the setting for the video game The Division, a near future first person shooter that takes place in a wintery Manhattan following a devastating bioterror attack. While I've heard complaints about the game play, there is no denying that the design is darkly beautiful.

I've put together a co-existing setting that takes place in Los Angeles (the game clearly states that other cities around the world have also been attacked). I played a quick game in the world using Evil Bear Games OSC.

Turn 1, scavengers deployment point


Turn 2, Scavengers get into camp


Turn 1, California National Guard deployment

Turn 2, CNG squad takes cover and opens fire

Turn 2 end, Grenade hits police car and wipes out most Scavengers


Turn 3, CNG soldier gets behind but jams

End game, TPK for Scavengers

Friday, July 22, 2016

Done with European Intifada

I just checked the news and read of the shooting at Munich's Olympia-Einkaufszentrum mall. This follows on the horrific terror attack in Nice that took the lives of 84 people, including many children. The Nice attack, of course, followed other vicious and horrific terrorist atrocities in Paris and elsewhere in Europe.

I can only conclude that an ugly reality has merged with my ugly fantasy of the wargame setting of European Intifada. As a consequence, I am going to cease creating, playing, and posting scenarios for my European Intifada setting. It's just too close to home.

My goal when writing the European Intifada was to create a near-future setting for miniature wargames players that was marginally realistic and located in places they knew or at least knew of. While there has always been the possibility that this scenario could play out in real life, I did not believe that it would come to pass even in part. I always held out the hope that the fictional combatants would always remain fictional and that real life would be a brighter, more hopeful place. While reality hasn't caught up with the dark totality of what I envisioned as a playland, that is a small comfort in the face of the atrocities being committed now.

I would like to thank the readers and commenters of Small Plastic Warriors and I appreciate your thoughts and well wishes. I will continue to create, play, and post modern wargame scenarios, but I'm going to move other near-future settings and alternative histories.

And I'm going to hope like hell that these other imaginary wars and fighting don't come to pass as well.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Skirmish Sangin and Special Operations Mission Generation



Nations, corporations, and even wealthy or powerful individuals sometimes require services that a traditional military does not and cannot perform. This area of action is often in violation of local or international law and may require a degree of deniability. This is the arena of special operators, highly trained individuals with specialized skills, who conduct asymetric warfare and other missions.

Skirmish Sangin is an excellent rule set for simulating these Special Operations missions. The system for designing and skirmishing both traditional and asymetric forces allows players to pit operators from any side of a conflict in these situations.

This type of combat is fought between an aggressor and a defender. The aggressor is almost always a small team of Elite or Veteran figures, while the defender is usually a larger force of Novice and Average figures stiffened by a few Veterans in important locations. Players should decide beforehand who is going to take on what role, either by mutual agreement or by rolling off.

Creating a Special Operations mission is as simple as rolling 4d6. The first die determines the Mission Type for the aggressor. The second and third die, compared against the appropriate tables under Mission Details, determines the target and type of location, respectively. The fourth die determines the Specific Locations where the combat takes place.

Mission Type
D6 Roll
Mission
1
Assassination
2
Extraction
3
Espionage
4
Sabotage
5
Raid
6
Surveillance







Mission Details

Assassination
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is currently...
1
...an important politician.
...being moved out. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...a specialist or scientist.
...on the road. Roll on the Road table.
3
...an informer or spy..
...resting. Roll on the Compound table.
4
...a defector.
...at a safe house. Roll on the City table.
5
...a general.
...at a manufacturing site. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...a family member of one of the above (re-roll).
...hiding out in the boonies. Roll on the Rural table.

Extraction
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is currently...
1
...a politician.
...preparing to move out. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...a defecting specialist or scientist.
...in transit by convoy. Roll on the Road table.
3
...an informer.
...being held incommunicado. Roll on the Compound table.
4
...a defector.
...being held in a local hotel. Roll on the City table
5
...a captured spy.
...being held at a local manufacturing site. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...a family member of one of the above (re-roll).
...out in the boonies. Roll on the Rural table.

Espionage
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is currently...
1
...a communication or encryption device.
...being prepared to be transported away. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...an experimental weapon.
...in transit by convoy. Roll on the Road table.
3
...an experimental formula.
...being held at a local site. Roll on the Compound table.
4
...secret enemy plans.
...being held in an urban location. Roll on the City table.
5
...experimental materials.
...being reviewed at a local manufacturing site. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...incriminating financial records.
...being held out in the boonies. Roll on the Rural table.


Sabotage
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is currently...
1
...a communications hub.
...switching vehicles. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...a cache of weapons.
...stashed near a road. Roll on the Road table.
3
...a supply of drugs.
...being stored at a private location. Roll on the Compound table
4
...a mainframe or data storage.
...in a building. Roll on the City table.
5
...a surveillance device.
...in a local manufacturing facility. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...a shipment of chemicals.
...stashed away from prying eyes. Roll on the Rural table.

Raid
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is currently...

1
...an enemy force.
...preparing to leave the country. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...an enemy force.
...in a convoy. Roll on the Road table.
3
...an enemy force.
...holed up at a private site. Roll on the Compound table.
4
...an enemy force.
...in a local building. Roll on the City table.
5
...an enemy force.
...protecting a manufacturing site. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...an enemy force.
...hiding among the locals. Roll on the Rural table.

Surveillance
D6 Roll
The target is...
And is ...
1
...an area of interest.
...a transport hub. Roll on the Hub table.
2
...an area of interest.
...in transit by convoy. Roll on the Road table.
3
...an area of interest.
...a local residence or business. Roll on the Compound table.
4
...an area of interest.
...a safe house. Roll on the City table.
5
...an area of interest.
...an industrial center. Roll on the Industrial table.
6
...an area of interest.
...an out-of-the-way location. Roll on the Rural table.




Specific Locations
D6 Roll
City
Compound
Hub
Road
Industrial
Rural
1
Slum
Corporate Campus
Subway/Train Station
Cemetery
Office Building
Farming Coop
2
Suburb
Corporate Farm
Dock/Pier
National Preserve
Junkyard
Trailer Park
3
Shopping Mall
Private Estate
Rooftop Heliport
Construction Zone
Refinery
Amusement Park
4
Business District
Church
Private Airport
Highway Over/Underpass
Factory
Village
5
Museum
Motel
Truck Stop
Bridge
Warehouse
Ghost Town
6
College Campus
Private Clinic
Train Switching Yard
Tunnel
Mine
Housing Development Under Construction


Example Missions
Roll
Mission
Target
Location
3, 1, 1, 5
Espionage
Encryption device
Truck stop
6, 3, 3, 4
Surveillance
Area of Interest
Church
2, 1, 2, 5
Extraction
Friendly politician
Bridge
4, 1, 5, 6
Sabotage
Comms device
Mine
5, 1, 3, 3
Raid
Enemy
Private Estate
1, 6 (3), 6, 1
Assassination
Family member of informer
Farming Coop


Game Narrative        
Players should attempt to add as much of a narrative element to their game as possible. This not only adds to the fun, but allows players to determine victory conditions.

The first example mission is Espionage of an encryption device while at a truck stop.

The players agree that the device is in the back of a heavy truck and being transported across the country and is protected by a squad of soldiers travelling in a separate vehicle. The Aggressor’s victory condition is that one figure must next to the truck for at least one full turn allow it to get an image of the device. The Defender’s victory condition is to prevent this from happening.

Campaigns and Linked Scenarios
The small size and elite nature of the Aggressor in Special Operations missions makes for interesting and unique campaigns. One scenario can lead to another, depending on the interpretation of the die rolls and which player wants to take on the role of the Aggressor and the Defender.

Example Campaign
The easternmost province of the small central European nation of Moldova is a break-away state known as Transnistria. A group of Transnistrian ultra-nationalists (the Defenders) are attempting to reignite the conflict and establish themselves as heroes and leaders. They have financial backing in the form of a supply of narcotics from an international criminal organization that has been promised safe haven in the new country.

The surrounding nations wish to prevent the conflict but none desire to be part of a diplomatic embarrassment should their efforts come to light. Consequently, a team of operators (the Aggressors) is covertly inserted into the area to stop the ultra-nationalists.

·         Mission One: Extraction of a family member of a useful informant being held at a motel.
·         Mission Two: Sabotage of a cache of drugs located at an ultra-nationalist village.

·         Mission Three: With their plans revealed and their cache of drugs sabotaged, the ultra-nationalists prepare to flee the country from a private airport. The operators are to Raid the airport and kill or capture the ultra-nationalist leaders.