The Battle of Mugwump Village

 

The Battle of Mugwump Village

 

The president of the city council in the Big City ran into the Mayor’s office.  “Mr. Mayor,” she shouted, “we have Mugwumps in our state!”  The Mayor scratched his head.  “What is a Mugwump?” he asked.  “A Mugwump is a person who is an independent thinker,” she responded.  “Someone who does not join a political party.  They are not in Our Party and they are not in the Other Party.  They are crazy!”  The Mayor called up the Governor.  “Governor,” he said, “Call out the Guard.” The Governor scratched her head.  “Why?  What is the emergency?” asked the Governor.  “Because we have Mugwumps,“ said the Mayor. “They are independent thinkers.  They could be thinking anything.  Their thoughts might be Politically Incorrect.”  The Governor was outraged. She frothed at the mouth.  “The Enemy is inside our state. We must Root them Out with Tooth and Nail.  Independent thinking is Hate Thinking,” she announced.  “It is illegal in California and it should be illegal here.”  She ordered the Guard to march on the Mugwump Village to Impose Order.

Round 1. The first picture shows the Guard column leaving the Big City and their objective, the Mugwump Village.

The Guard unit had a tank and two lighter vehicles.  Twelve infantry squads were in the Guard force.  The Mugwump Village had six squads, a tank, a jeep and a half-track.  The villagers were in their mughuts watching the Packers lose in the playoffs when the Guard force left the Big City, headed for Mugwump Village.  The Packers kicked a field goal instead of going for broke on the fourth down, so Mugwumps were in a bad mood already, spoiling for a fight.  The Big City picked the wrong day to Impose Order in the Mugwump Village.

Round 2. The second picture shows the arrival of the Guard in Mugwump Village.

When the Guard arrived in the village, the Mugwumps slammed down their beers, ran out of their mughuts and took cover.  The Packer game was over anyway.

Round 3.  The Guard tank commander spotted the Mugwump tank under cover, so he quickly reversed down the street.  The Guard infantry squads saw the Mugwumps run for cover, so they took cover also.

The Mugwumps started moving west.  The jeep was north of the street and the halftrack was south of the street.  Seeing the Guard infantry, the halftrack fired. 

By the time the Guard Humvees had pulled into position to confront the halftrack, one infantry squad was down.  Meanwhile, north of the street, the Mugwump jeep advanced toward the six Guard infantry squads.

 

 

 

Firefights north and south of the street were intense.  After a few rounds, both Humvees were disabled as were the halftrack and the jeep.  The two remaining vehicles were both tanks.  Several infantry squads had been eliminated on both sides.

Mugwump infantry retreated to cover beside their tank and, on the south side of the street, in a stand of trees.  The Guard infantry advanced in pursuit.

 

 

With no place left to fall back to, the surviving Mugwumps put up a valiant defense.  One by one, they took out Guard infantry squads while taking some losses themselves.  The two tanks fired away but neither could score a decisive hit. The Mugwump tank was under cover, which gave it an advantage.

  

Finally, after a few rounds, the Guard tank and the last of the Guard infantry squads were destroyed.  The Mugwumps were left with four infantry squads and a battered tank.

The Mugwumps had achieved a pyrrhic victory.  In retrospect, they should have pulled up stakes as soon as they sighted the oncoming Guard unit.  If only they had not been so engrossed in the Packer playoff game!  Well, it was time to move their mughuts to a safer location. 

 

 

 

 

Take the Church: A WWII Scenario

 

A aerial view of the battlefield appears in the first picture. The miniatures are 1/72 Airfix figures. Each mini represents a combat team.  Germans enter from the NE and NW corners.  They have six units in each corner plus one Tiger tank.   The Germans will advance directly toward their objective, the church.  They will seek to overpower any opposition directly.

The US forces are equal in size to the Germans.  They have a halftrack instead of a tank.  They will advance in skirmish order and will seek cover whenever possible. 

Closer shots of the opposing forces are shown below.

Units advanced at six inches per turn.  Three turns were used during the advance.  The next pictures show either side of the church from the US perspective where the units were close enough to fire on each other. Hits were determined by cards (3 or higher was a hit).  Each hit was followed by a save card.  1 or 2 was a kill.  3 or 4 was disabled.  5 or 6 was uninjured.  The tank and halftrack hit hard (plus 2) so 1-4 was a kill.  They also were hard to kill.  They were only destroyed with an ace on the save card. Being under cover also added 1 to the save card. 

Initially, the shooting caused about equal damage to both sides.  However, some of the US troops were shooting from cover while the Germans were not.  Eventually, the US took out the Tiger by drawing an ace on a save card and moved up to use it as cover.  

I lost count of the rounds, but the battle was fast and enjoyable.  The cards worked as well as dice.  The battle was closer than expected, given the automated rules for the enemy forces. Drawing an ace against the Tiger was a lucky break for the Americans.  If the Germans had sought cover, and if the Tiger was not destroyed, the result could have been different.   

The battle took place on a card table.  This proved to be a large enough space.  Better terrain might be nice.  The church was made with foam board and the stone walls were chunks of wood painted white. I guess it is time to go internet shopping for terrain.  

What Do You Like About Miniature Wargaming?

 For most people, miniature wargaming seems to involve focusing on an historical era that they like, learning about the uniforms and weapons, collecting and painting figures, obtaining relevant terrain features, and playing with rule sets that take into account the advantages and disadvantages of different weapons.  Many players will name the leaders of different units and give them certain personality characteristics that affect their dice rolls. 

That is ok for them.  Whatever floats your boat.  As a solo wargamer, I do not not have to worry about what other players regard as good wargaming practice. 

The miniature is mostly just a game marker. If you use your imagination, any figure can represent anything you want it to represent.  For the last few months, I have been buying 1/72 Airfix soldiers.  They are incredibly cheap.  You can field an army for $12.  As you can see in the pictures, they come in a variety of poses.  I tried painting them but soon realized they look better unpainted.  The bases are not for appearances; they keep the minis from tipping over. 

My soldiers do not have names or personalities.  The infantry units all have the same capabilities, for my purposes.  They shoot and they move and that is about all there is to it.  I have some cavalry and some mortars and some vehicles, but ho hum they are sitting on the shelf. 

The era that interests me in post-Victorian: about 1870 to before WWI.  The smarter commanders learned from the ACW that troops should not advance in formation and fire in volleys.  Instead, they should advance in skirmish order, hiding behind trees and firing when they have a target. They avoid hand to hand combat.  

Some of my minis were from WWI sets and some from WWII sets. They are supposed to be British, German, Prussian, French or American.   In my battles, they are fighting in Europe around 1900, even though their uniforms are not correct and none of those countries fought in Europe at that time.   Too bad.  The scenario can be historically grounded (sort of) but still fictional.  Throw it into a Steampunk universe and you can do anything you want.  The sky is the limit. 

Wargaming in Context

 The article in Wikipedia on miniature wargaming is a useful overview that can help clarify what we are about when we do it.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miniature_wargaming

The author points out that chess came first and in many ways miniature wargaming is an elaboration of the ideas found in chess.  Chess pieces tend to be historical or, in newer sets, might be fantasy figures. Chess has a few basic figures each with specific capabilities (pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, king).  Having just six unit types in a wargame is common. 

The use of physical models distinguishes miniature wargaming from board games or computer games.  The benefit of using physical models mainly is aesthetic.  Each figure represents a unit or a soldier;  a marker would accomplish the same purpose but would not be as much fun. The model itself may not be relevant to the rules.  However, the size of the base could affect movement.   A player who has a set of WWI figures could pit them against a set of WWII figures.  Mentally, he just decides that they all have the weaponry of one era or the other. Investing in miniatures from every interesting era is collecting not gaming.  Collecting is enjoyable but there is no need to rush into it. Instead, set a budget and slowly expand the collection.

Miniature wargaming is either skirmish-level or tactical level but not strategic, for obvious reasons.  Skirmish games use one figure to represent one soldier.  Tactical games may place several figures on a base and treat it as a unit, such as a squad, platoon, company, brigade or division.  

Boards should not be wider than 4 feet, since you need to be able to reach across.  Photos of games played at conventions appear to be use large boards but for most players a smaller surface is more practical.  A card table is small but still works.  The dining room table is better but set up must be temporary.  This is why most players rely on modular terrain kits instead of the permanent setups used by model train enthusiasts. 

Photographs in gaming magazine and online show detailed realistic terrain and beautifully painted figures.  These are discouraging to the regular player who has neither the interest nor the aptitude for artistry.  Take heart; most hobbyists have dabbled with a paint brush but do not spend much of their time on that side of the hobby. 

Historical wargaming is the mainstay of the hobby.  However, exact reproductions of historical battles are not possible.  Games are more interesting if you start with an historical battle then simplify the order of battle and perhaps even-up the sides instead of trying to set it up exactly as it actually occurred. Scenarios that are entirely fictional are more common than replays of historical battles.  The player sets his scenario in an historical era, studies the armament and tactics of the era, chooses rules that apply to the era and sets up terrain that conforms to the era.  

Not everyone is limited to historical wargaming.  Some prefer science fiction or fantasy scenarios.  Some combine the two, perhaps adding magical characters to a medieval scenario. While land-based wargaming is more common, naval, air and space battles also have large followings. 

Most battlefields are rural rather than urban.  Moving small figures through a city is difficult because the structures impede lines of sight.  A small village is a nice feature of a battlefield.  However, open spaces are necessary for some of the action.  

Miniature wargamers might be somewhat older than computer wargamers.  They have favored World War II.  However, as time marches on, more recent conflicts gain popularity. 

The Vietnam War

 Wargames Soldiers and Strategy Magazine No 111 (Dec/Jan 2021) contains a few articles about the Vietnam War.  The editor expressed some reservations about this theme, since some readers may feel it is too soon to game a conflict when so many survivors are still living.  Still, 45 years have passed since the end of the war, so it is (perhaps) less sensitive than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The articles contain some useful perspective and background information.  One obvious point is that while US forces were technologically superior, they may not have been as motivated as the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.  Napoleon used conscripts with great success but draftees cannot be expected to be as enthusiastic and committed as local combatants.  Lessons can be learned by governments; rumor has it that private armies of professional soldiers are widely used today, just as they were before conscription came along.  Using citizen armies for defense and mercenaries for offense has a certain pragmatic logic to it. 

The article about the Battle of Long Tan. 18 August 1966, "The Kangaroo Shoot" begins on page 46.  Paul Eaglestone has written a nice essay about the ANZAC units involved.  He strikes a nice balance between necessary detail and sparse writing to produce a fast-moving and enjoyable story.  The game was designed for solo play but the rules also work for multiple players, if each takes control of one or two Aussie platoons. 

Eaglestone says many Vietnam war games work well for solo play because one side can be automatically controlled. Both sides are hidden in jungle terrain.  Cards can be used to allow sudden action on any part of the board.  Eaglestone observes that Vietnam is similar to colonial games because often a small beleaguered force faces long odds of survival. 

Rules were  based on Danger Close with some modifications. Eaglestone played it as a large skirmish game with 28 mm figures. The Australian army was 'D' company with HQ and three platoons.  Reinforcements could arrive (if the card is turned) in the form of a squadron of M113 APCs.  This was composed of four vehicles, each armed with a 50-cal and able to carry one platoon. Artillery was off-table.  Requests were sent by radio via a forward observer.   They also had fixed wing air support called in the same way.  A Huey brings ammo resupply.

The other side had a North Vietnamese  regiment and a VC battalion.  In total they may have had seven battalions, an overwhelming force of well-trained, well-equipped veterans who knew the terrain well.  The NVA units arrive in random groups. 

The game was played in 20 turns on a 8' x 6' table covered with rugged terrain.  Much of the action takes place on a rubber plantation.  Only one building was present.  The terrain was flat.

Chance cards were used.  He applied labels to standard playing cards, which is a nice idea.  Nine cards were labeled as No Effect. Other cards were Rain Starts, Rain Stops, NVA Sniper, Ammunition Running Low, Ammo Huey Arrives. ANZAC Radio Knocked out, Fixed Wing Card, and M113s Arrive. Other cards can be included, such as delays in APC arrival and NVA mortar rounds. 

I enjoyed the article and recommend it to others.  The magazine was priced at $10 US.