Two if by Sea has launched

I have released Two if by Sea on my PayHip store. Two if by Sea is a set of scenarios to be used with the TwoFatLardies rules Kiss Me Hardy using the changes for ships under the rate from To Covet Glory. The book contains ship stats for a large number of vessels from large Ship Sloops to the smallest cutters and Bermuda Sloops used by the Royal Navy and the American Continental Navy and State Navies (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia).

The scenarios include twelve scenario sets. Each scenario set is one or more unique historical or fictional scenario from the American Revolution. The first scenario details the British Schooner Halifax in 1769 in an incident before the war started. The scenarios continue through July of 1781. There is also a guide on setting up convoy escorts or raids on the Atlantic, Caribbean, or Far East trade routes.

There are 59 pages of scenarios and 121 pages of ship lists. There is also a section noting the types of merchant vessels that were likely to be encountered on the waters of the Americas during the war. Lastly, there are notes on the available models in both 1/300 scale and 1/700th including links to the manufactures.

I will be releasing this on Wargame Vault as well and including it in the To Covet Glory bundle as well. I hope you will take a look.

Second Kharkov Supplement

Another quick update on this. I'm making decent progress. The supplement will have 3 campaigns. The first campaign covers the first day of the battle with the Soviet advance against Kampfgruppe Winkler's positions. The second campaign covers the German counter attack by Kampfgruppe Schmidt-Ott. Both of these are Chain of Command campaigns. The first has seven scenarios and the second has six. I have completed the first campaign and have done one of six of the second.

The third campaign is something a bit different. It is a What a Tanker campaign. I am currently play testing this to see if it will work. The campaign takes place as a map campaign using a period Soviet 1:50,000 scale map. Each player commands a company of armor. They move their platoons across the map until they encounter an enemy unit. Think of it as kriegspiel light up until a tabletop game occurs.

If anyone is interested in trying this out, please let me know. I can add you to the virtual campaign. I am interested to see if this can work as a play by email campaign. I just need a player or two to try this out. You can find one variant of this on RPOL.net. Look for Second Kharkov Campaign by cstoesen. You should be able to find me there. Or just send me a message via the blog here.

Now this could completely fail and I will have to strip it out of the supplement. But who knows, it could be great fun.

If you are interested in the map for the campaign, you can check it out here.

Second Kharkov Campaign - Part 1 Complete

I just finished with the first of two Pint Sized Campaigns for Chain of Command for the Second Battle of Kharkov. There are seven scenarios based around the Soviet assault on the positions of Kampfgruppe Winkler in May 1942. The follow the account from Federovka through Nepokrytaya. The campaign puts the Germans on the defensive and have a tough fight to hold the line as the Soviets attack with veteran infantry and green armored troops.

Unlike the first battle of Kharkov supplement, this supplement takes place in rural areas and in open terrain. The maps are based on period maps of the area supplemented by Google Earth views of the terrain today. I have included snippets of the historical maps for players to choose their own interesting location for the battles if their terrain availible would better match other areas. The game maps are done in Campaign Cartographer and are labeled as to what types of buildings and structures are on the table.

One of my favorite scenarios from the batch involves a 10.5cm gun that is fired over open sights at lend lease armor. The scenario features a hastily assembles German platoon brought forward from a rear collection point and the gun attempting to stave off a Soviet armored advance.

Why seven scenarios instead of a six half ladder campaign? Well, it fit with the flow of the battle. I began with the initial defensive line and ended with the fall back position in the woods to the rear of Nepokrytaya.

What else will be in it? I am working on the second pint sized campaign now. This one covers the counter attack of Gruppe Schmidt-Ott of the 3rd Panzer Division that was called out of reserves on the second day of the battle and moved from the south of Kharkov up to the northeast to retake Nepokrytaya and push beyond.

This action involved both armor and infantry from the German side and the accounts of the battle have the Germans engaging a wide variety of Soviet vehicles including T-34s, KV-1s and older tanks. What makes this interesting, is it opens up for the possibility of a What A Tanker campaign. Once the Chain of Command scenario set is complete, I am looking to have modifications to run it as a What A Tanker campaign as well.

I am still working on a number of East Front Terrain pieces to complete out my collection for these campaigns. I am currently working on my Wild Lands store terrain. I am close to completing the first of the set that I had purchased from them last year. It turned out rather well and I am really happy with the purchase. They sell off of Facebook and are based in the Ukraine. The purchase process is a bit different than most of the online stores I have dealt with but the product is outstanding.

What I really hope to build up is the scatter terrain to make the rural houses look like places people actually live in. This will include chicken coops, sheds, barns, storage huts and the like. I also need more garden plots as well.

I hope to run a few play tests soon and post some pictures. I am also waiting on some friends to finish reviewing it and letting me know what they think. Hopefully, I will be able to release this in the spring this year. (I may be a bit optimistic.)

Rocky Comfort Creek - March 22, 1779

Yesterday, I had a most enjoyable game of Sharp Practice. It was from the This Land Divided supplement that I am upgrading to version 2 of Sharp Practice. We made a few tweaks to it but they were minor. It was a three player game that was umpired by Mark Luther who provided the terrain and the figures. They were beautiful as always.

Following the disaster at Kettle Creek, the British attempted to raise the Creek nation to come to their aid. Taitt, the British Indian agent managed to raise a large force of six hundred Creek Warriors supported by a few Loyalist militia. As the force descended on Wilkes County, Georgia, the Rebel militia was again raised to counter this threat. In order to reach August, Georgia, the Indians separated into three separate bands. One of these bands, Headed by Alexander McGullivary, was checked near Rocky Comfort Creek. Historically, the Rebels stopped the Indians and sent them back to their homes. The Rebels had raised a large force of militia and destroyed each of the three bands in detail. Capturing several key leaders. Taitt would reach Augusta but with just 70 Creek warriors of the original six hundred he had raised.

Rocky Creek takes place after several other bands have been checked. The goals of the Indians are just to survive on the field for seven turns of the blank card then melt away into the woods.

---

Lieutenant Daniel Egan took another pull from the whiskey bottle before the surgeon dug into his arm to extract the musket ball. It was one of two wounds he had taken on the day. The clerk was taking his statement on the recent action to send out to Taitt, the indian agent to the Creek.

"We proceeded toward Augusta. We had a large party of Muskogee, Creeks under the command of Alexander McGullivary. One of the bands was commanded by one of Emistiguo's sons, Big Fellow. There were two other minor leaders as well. I accompanied them with a party of loyalists. Yesterday we had learned of the defeat of the other bands being sent down to Augusta and that the militia had been raised in Wilkes County.

"We advanced down toward Rocky Comfort Creek. Our scouts reached a hill in the forest that overlooked the river. It was here that we saw a large party of militia that we observed crossing the river. We were significantly outnumbered. They had cut off our path to Augusta and wouldn't be able to move around them.

"McGullivary issued orders to hold up their advance until we could get away by dark. Cloud and Moon moved forward to hold the hill top."

"The Rebel Militia were moving faster than we thought they could be. They pushed forward a body of skirmishers that came close to our position in the woods. Big Fellow lead his men down the hill to push back the skirmishers. I went forward with my Loyalists near the small dirt track. I observed a party of horsemen coming up the road and took my men further into the woods for cover.

"Big Fellow rushed his men forward and engaged the skirmishers. His large band of followers outnumbered the skirmishers. With thrown tomahawks they hacked their way into the Rebels who broke and fled. This was alarming for our force as Big Fellow had taken a wound and was knocked out. I was uncertain if our allies would remain in the field. They have broken when one of their leaders had been wounded or killed before. The skirmishers left their four dead behind and fled past their lines. I would later learn that they killed the skirmisher officer, a Captain Hatcher."

"From the cover of the trees, the mounted militia proceeded into the scrub across from my position. I had my men fire a volley into the horsemen which stymied their movement. We were to learn that their leader, Major Ross of the Rebel Fair Forest Militia was wounded and had his horse shot out from underneath him. Several other horses were hit as well. The militia then dismounted and attempted to form into a line.

"We exchanged fire with the militia line for a time but other rebel militia advanced through the forest. Our position was nearly in line with Big Fellows and Cloud and Moon's Creeks. My men began to take casualties. Over the course of the engagement, I was wounded twice. Eight of my men were killed and left in the field. My men would have to drag my unconcious form from the line of fire.

From what I learned, Big Fellow recovered from his wounds and started to pull his forced back from the Rebels. Cloud and Moon also pulled back and were able to slip away. I was the last to quit the field. I learned that our Indian Allies suffered only the injury to Big Fellow. Besides the four skirmishers that Big Fellow's men killed, I believe that my troops killed no more than a handful of the enemy but we still held them at bay."

"More Rebel militia continued to cross the river and arrive. The militia line that we were fighting remounted to prepare for pursuit. On the whole, our Allies performed well and my men fought bravely to the end. But I regret to inform you that Big Fellow and his Muskogee will be unable to reach Augusta."

Your Obedient Servant,
Lieutenant Daniel Egan

---

The game was fun. I enjoyed playing the Indian forced. The rebels moved up their deployment point and prevented my movable deployment point from going forward. I could only move it sideways. The Rebels had tons of militia and they had a very good force morale. With the destruction of the skirmishers, the loss of their leader and the wound of Major Ross, I was unable to move their force morale below 8. My force morale began at 11 and it dropped to 4 before I got away. The lone group of Loyalist Militia were badly beaten up. We had rated them as skirmishers for the game but should not have. They should have been just average militia but armed with rifles. The rifles made them much more deadly than they would have been otherwise.

The Heavy Going of the woods restricted the movement of the Militia. I had some unusually fortunate die rolls on movement with the Indians which allowed them to get into positions that I wished. I never deployed my last two groups Indians as I wasn't trying to fight it out. I just wanted to survive for seven turns of a blank card then fade away. This we did rather well.

Almost Finished in time

Well, I managed to finish the Sharp Practice scenario on time for the Summer Special. I also got a Bag the Hun scenario done in time as well. However, it was a Spanish Civil War scenario instead of one for North Africa. The Chain of Command scenario did not make it in time.

I did finish the first draft of it though. I will be trying this one out next week some. What I lack is the dense urban terrain that is needed for the scenario. Seeing pictures of the terrain in the refugee camps, it had to be a nightmare for the IDF to try to fight their way through such a sprawl.

So, what I have decided to do is post the scenario up here once I get a chance to tune it a bit. I am leaning heavily on Rock the Casbah for the stats and function of quite a bit of it. It should be interesting to see how this works out.

TooFatLardies Summer Special

I started to think about the Summer Special. I try to write something for each of the Specials but I have been in a bit of a funk lately and just was not motivated. That is until last night. I actually now have three ideas. The first is a Bag the Hun scenario for North Africa in December 1941. The second is a Chain of Command scenario featuring the pacification of the Ein el Hilweh refugee camp in June 1982. It presents an interesting command challenge with Israeli armored formations holding off swarms of small RPG armed teams. The third is a scenario covering Colonel Elijah Clarke's failed attack on Augusta Georgia in September 1780.

Let me know if any of these sound more interesting than the other. I will focus on that one to make sure it gets completed first. Hopefully the muse has not struck too late and something can make it before the cutoff.

Christmas is coming!

The call has gone forth for the TooFatLardies 2012 Christmas special. Looking around at what I had to offer, I found some work I had done on one of the predecessors of Dux Britannarium.

I put together three scenarios with some minor adaptions for Dux in the Viking age. Two of the scenarios are historical/legendary in nature. The first features a terrain element that I am sure everyone has laying around their garage - a beached whale. The scenario features combat on top of the beastie.

The second is the for the Battle of Heavenfield in the 600s AD. The last is a completely fictional encounter between two Viking bands on the high seas.

I love the TFL specials. Click here for past specials. It gives anyone a chance to be creative and get published. It also provides wargamers with a wealth of information, scenarios and in some cases whole rule sets. Always a fantastic value.

I must be slacking off. Last year I had 2 articles for the special. This summer, I did not submit anything. Oh well. I guess I am slowing down.

So come on. Dust off your pens. Contribute to the effort. Write something for the special.

A Task Completed

Well I finally finished with my East Front supplement for the TooFatLardies Mud & Blood. I sent it on to Rich this afternoon. The supplement has 15 scenarios. It also has information for both the Russian and Austro-Hungarian infantry and cavalry. There is also a small bit in there on German cavalry for the Great War. I managed to check on when I started this project. Turns out I had been working on this since 2008. Wow! Did not realize that this one had been cooking for close to 4 years.

Now on to the next project. I have two that are over half way done. The first is a IABSM supplement for the Italians on the East Front. The second is another Bag the Hun/Check Your Six supplement that covers the Western Desert for the first few months of the war. I am not sure which I will work on first. I can probably finish the Western Desert one quickly. The IABSM project is more interesting to me though. Decisions, decisions. Any opinions?