We’re back!

Yes, we’re back! Maff and I are kicking in the Winter of ‘79 door once again!  So grab yer kit and join us in the back of the armoured Lannie!

If Lockdown is cramping your gaming, let me recommend the Mini-Series of gamettes by Decision Games. They have a low learning threshold and can be fun to play in under an hour. They generally follow the same format so do check out user reviews on BoardGameGeek before purchasing any you might be tempted by.

https://decisiongames.com/wpsite/e-rules/mini-series-e-rules/

Here you see a quick and dirty Winter of ‘79 conversion of Congo Merc by Decision Games set somewhere in the Welsh Borders. Congo Merc is fun and heartily recommended by me. In the standard game you ‘conduct breakneck advances into the heart of enemy territory to seize critical objectives’. The game uses a small deck of cards for generating both events and OPFOR. It wasn’t hard to create a table to replicate these with more of a W’79 theme.

In the photo above, you can see that the Authorities have deployed Armed Police plus an Undercover Asset to a riot at Clannogg. The CI5 team have identified civilians before they might have been shot, which would look bad on News at Ten.

An SAS team plus Undercover Asset are ready to deploy from Mandrake to Wrex once MI5 Sue spends an Op Move and flies in to join them.

This game was played directly on the ‘barely altered’ Congo Merc map - i just changed place names -using miniatures in place of tokens. I had wanted to play on a 1979 AA road map of the UK but couldn’t find the copy I have and it still remains AWOL to this day. 

You can of course use the game as a mini-campaign, as I have done, generating incidents that can be transferred to the tabletop, Role-played or played out on a map, as you see fit.

Note that I’m currently in the process of updating the links on this blog but it’s a real pain doing this using my phone. I hope to be finished by end of this week.

New Lannies from S&S Models

The Saturday morning post brought a clutch of Land Rovers I ordered from S&S Models two weeks ago. There's a 1/2 ton 'Airportable' Recce, 1/2 ton FFR (Fitted For Radio), 1/2 ton with cnvas tilt and finally a Land Rover Ambulance.

Forgot I'd ordered the 1/2 ton with tilt to be honest. Nevertheless It's the sort of 'kit' I like. Body and 4 wheels, job done! Looking at it in my hand I'm wondering about turning it into an armoured Lannie. Not too hard to do

And the Ambulance? It's joining the resistance!

Cheers
Mark

Is this where I get the No.13 to Luxton?

The dus depot arrived safely from eBayland. My Wessex Rangers took up residence immediately in a show of force with the intention of turning the depot into a temporay base of operations.

Army Land Rovers eh? Wait for one

and then three come along all at once!

Shown in urban context

Just wondering about the viability of security screens, gates, sandbagged sangers etc. More about effort put in vs actual tabletop use? Anyway the bus depot is a welome addition to my 20mm urban collection.


Cheers
Mark

Olivers Army: Part 1 'Our Kid'

I admit it, I got carried away and spent all of last week writing new rules and games and all things Winter of '79.

What had started out as a short and sweet 1970's British Army career generator has turned into a sprawling Character Generator in no less than 4 parts! Not quite finished but who cares....

 So, here is Part 1. 'Our Kid'. I'll be updating it with a few more tables but thought you might like to start rolling up a character of two for Winter of '79 and taking them through their school years, ready to join the Army or the revolution.

Click here for the free pdf hosted on Dropbox Oliver's Army: Part 1 'Our Kid' 

 I ordered a clutch of 1/2 ton Land Rovers from Shaun at S&S Models last week and picked up this Bus Station at a very reasonable price from eBay.

Cheers
Mark

Sandbaggers - The Game

Civil Servants for the working day, these men and women carried out their assignments in a world of departmental squabbling, uncomprehending superiors, complicated approval processes and penny pinching. Knowing that if they are caught they will be either imprisoned or put against a wall and shot. HM Government will then deny all knowledge of them. Missions matter only as part of the ongoing Cold War chess game. Welcome to Sandbaggers the game.

Click on the link for pdf version of the free Sandbaggers gamette hosted on Dropbox - Sandbaggers


This is the first of several sets of free rules and mini gamettes we will be sharing on Winter of '79 throughout February.

Cheers
Mark 

Don't forget the downloads from Wargames Illustrated

 

Click this link to Wargames Illustrated

Winter of '79 Goes Loud in Wargames Illustrated!

This month Winter of '79 comes of age, appearing in February's issue of Wargames Illustrated WI340. 

Photo: 28mm Winter of '79 action

courtesy of Wargames Illustrated

Over the course of our gaming project Maff and I have had many great games. My favourite remains Mae pont yn rhybyell from Feb 2014. A cluth of Free Taff militia, a reduced platoon of around 16 Welsh Territorials with a small cadre of Royal Marines and a 120mm Wombat from the Welsh Guards, hold a river crossing against the Emergency Government's strike force, '5 Para' supported by armoured recce elements.

It was one of those games which becomes a legend and is laid down in your wargaming psyche.  The engagement should have been a cakewalk for the Paras, but instead they got a bloody nose and the Free Taffs fought a grudging withdrawal. They may have lost the battle but won our respect. The game itself  swung back and forth, and looked like it was all over when the Paras put in a helicopter coup de main, but a plucky 'Charlie G gunner' in the post office scored a direct hit as the Wessex disgorged it's troops.

But of course the action takes place in the streets as well.  Streets created from card buildings by Metcalfe, Scalescenes, Kingsway and others. I like the any street, anywhere, aspect of Winter of '79. Is this a scene outside your mum's or grans house? The Corporal calling up a Saracen to help support the close quarter gun fight.

With a lot of new 28mm figures suitable for Winter of '79 appearing just now we will be upscaling in 2016 to 28mm adding Gripping Beast, Mike Bravo, Copplestone and Crooked Dice amongst others, though 20mm will remain our main focus.

Right, those Airfix Scorpions wont build themselves and the rear brakes on my 1:1 scale Lannie need looking at.....

Cheers
Mark