Sarah C. M. Paine - WW2, Taiwan, Ukraine, & Maritime vs Continental Powers

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Found this to be fascinating listen.

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York, England - A Tour Through The Most Medieval City on Earth

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I thought this was rather nice video of the city where I live.  The capital of the north situated in Gods Own County   :)

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The last British VSTOL aircraft | Harrier Jump Jet GR9

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I used to be part of the support organisation for this fantastic aircraft, good times.  

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Battlegroup NORTHAG - INDEX + ERRATA FAQ & HOUSE RULES + Other Files & Interesting Links

For its Cold War period gaming, my gaming group has shifted from using the Battlefront 'Team Yankee' rules to using the 'Battlegroup NORTHAG' rules published by the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC).  On balance we prefer them to Team Yankee as they are more armour focused.

Below is a listing of files, some of which I have created, and some of which I have downloaded off the Battlegroup NorthAG Facebook group.  I hope you find them useful/interesting :) 
(The relevant authors permission has been obtained).

There are four sections:
-  Rules Related                      (files and links to videos)
-  Scenario and Campaigns     (files)
-  Army Lists & Unit Cards     (files)
-  After Action Reports            (files and links to videos)

I have created a Dropbox Folder (Link) from where the files can be downloaded.

Latest files added are: 
-  No 63 Dutch Unit Cards,
-  No 64 Bundeswehr Unit Cards.
-  No 65 Danish Unit Cards.
-  No 66 Unofficial Danish Force Listing (incomplete).

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RULES RELATED

01)  Official - Quick Reference Sheet.

01a)  Unofficial - Quick Reference Sheet - Printer Friendly  (Daniel William Lee)

02)  Official - Latest NorthAG Errata - (currently at v7)  (by Mark Greenwald)

03)  Official - Errata for the CentAG book, the missing column on page 66. 

04)  Unofficial - Northag Index - (currently at v19)   (by Ian Garbutt)

05)  Unofficial - Supplemental Quick Reference Sheet - (currently at v1-2) (by Ian Garbutt)

06)  Unofficial - Battle Quick Starter Sheet   (by Ewan Clerk)

07)  Unofficial - FAQ, Errata & House Rules - (currently at v3-2)  (by Ian Garbutt)

08)  YouTube video - Overview of the rules by 'Cold War Warrior' - Link

09)  YouTube video - The Future of Battlegroup NorthAG - Link

10)  YouTube video - Wargames Illustrated interview with Warwick Kinrade the NorthAG author - Link

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SCENARIOS AND CAMPAIGNS

30)  Unofficial - Introductory Scenarios (three of them) - (currently at v2-0)  (by Tom Egan).

31)  Unofficial - Mini-Campaign - 'Across The Elbe' (currently at v1)  (by Chris Hersey).  

32)  Unofficial - Mini-Campaign - 'The Guttenburg Crack'  (currently work in progress, yet to be uploaded)  (by Ian Garbutt)

33)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Exploitation' - (currently at v1-7 and still being refined)   (by Ian Garbutt)

34)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Bridgehead Breakout'  (currently at v1-1)  (by Terry Ollila)   

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ARMY LISTS & UNIT CARDS

50)  Unofficial - WARPAC Unit Cards - (currently at v6)  (by Ian Garbutt)   

51)  Unofficial - USA Unit Cards - (currently at v11)  (by Ian Garbutt)

52)  Unofficial - Canadian Unit Cards - (currently at v2-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)

53)  Unofficial - Swedish Army List - (currently at v2-8)  (by Ian Garbutt)

54)  Unofficial - Swedish Unit Cards - (currently at v1-7)  (by Ian Garbutt) 

55)  Unofficial - British Unit Cards - (currently at v1-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)

56)  Unofficial - Arab-Israeli 1967 Supplement by Gord Dyck.
(Waiting on the authors' permission to upload)

57)  Unofficial - 1967 Arab Unit Cards by Gord Dyck.
(Waiting on the authors' permission to upload)

58)  Unofficial - 1967 Israeli Unit Cards by Gord Dyck.
(Waiting on the authors' permission to upload)

59)  Unofficial - NVA (East German) Unit Cards - (currently at v4-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)

60)  Unofficial - French Army List -  (currently at v1-7)  (by Ian Garbutt and Mark Pullan)  

61)  Unofficial - French Unit Cards -  (currently at v1-7)  (by Ian Garbutt)  

62)  Unofficial - Listing of WARPAC Armour -  (currently at v9-2)   (by Ian Garbutt)

63)  Unofficial - Dutch Unit Cards - (currently at v1-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)

64)  Unofficial - Bundeswehr Unit Cards - (currently as v1-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)

65)  Unofficial - Danish Unit Cards - (currently as v1-1)  (by Ian Garbutt)   (Note: These match with the CentAG army list)

66)  Unofficial - Danish Force List - (Currently work-in-progress at v0.8 although available to download)  (by Poul Christian Secherv)

67)  Unofficial - VDV Soviet Airborne Unit Cards - (Currently work-in-progress) (by Ian Garbutt).

68)  Unofficial - Polish Unit Cards - (next on my 'to-do' list).

69)  Unofficial - Hungarian Army List - (on my 'to-do' list).

70)  Unofficial - Hungarian Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list).

71)  Unofficial - Finish Army List - (on my 'to-do' list).

72)  Unofficial - Finish Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list).

73)  Unofficial - Italian Army List - (on my 'to-do' list).

74)  Unofficial - Italian Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list).

Please note due to copyright issues I have been asked to password protect the Army Listing and Unit Cards I have done.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

80)   Unofficial - Army Builder - (currently at v2-3) by Chriss Pagan
Notes by the author:  
The password is the first word from page 2 Northag + first word from the second page CentAG.
So the password is h.......+t......
The makro is to be able to expand the groups.
If you don't want to allow it you can remove the protection from the work sheet.

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS

90)   AAR - 'The Crossing' by Roger Kidd.

91)   AAR -  BadLucken, West Germany, 1983.  (YouTube - Video - Link)

92)   AAR - 'Counter-Penetration' by Roger Kidd.

93)  AAR - A couple of excellent reports are on the 'Sound Officers Call' blog. Link 

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Filmdeg Miniatures Channel

Quite by accident I came across this U-Tube channel called the Filmdeg Miniatures channel.

The channel is run by Tom Evans who is a tabletop wargaming fan in Nottingham. He goes by the I go by the internet handle of "Filmdegminiatures" and plays Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition and Mordheim, among others.

On his channel you will find interviews with John Blanche and Tuomas Pirinen and Rick Priestly.  Well worth a look.

Tales From The Periphery - BattleTech Podcast

If you're interested in BattleTech I recommend you check out 'Tales From The Periphery'.  Link

It describes itself as, 'An audio podcast, news blog, events diary and resource covering the UK BattleTech scene'.

In Episode 1 Mike Whitaker is interviewing a friend of mine Andrew Dickinson who I play Alpha Strike  with at the Leeds Wargames Club once a month. 

BattleTech Alpha Strike - Hicks Hall Leeds

On Saturday joined with my regular BattleTech group at the Leeds Wargames Club in Hicks Hall in Leeds for a fun Alpha Strike game.

Click on the following Link to see a short video of it:  Link

The Keys Of Medokh - Play-By-Mail Game

Back in the early 1990s I used to play in the Play-By-Mail (PBM) game 'The Keys Of Medokh' (TKoM) whilst it was run by Rampage Games.  I was in a total of five games, numbers: 127, 144, 160, 166 and 169.

In its day TKoM was quite something !

Did you play in the game ?  If so please leave a comment  :)

Here's one of the original adverts  :)

I've set up a Facebook page for The Keys of Medokh as well -  Link.

The Basic rulebook can be downloaded here :)   Link

Board Games Are Good For You – The Science Behind It

There is an interesting article on this subject on the Tabletop Gaming site:  Link

 

Classic Battletech - The Battle Of Butternab Ridge - After Action Report

Scenario Name:  The Battle Of Butternab Ridge 
Side A:  House Liao
Side B:  House Steiner

Points Per Side:  3,200
Game Duration:  Eight turns
Map Hex Size:  34 x 22

Entry Points:  Short Edges.

Side A Forces:
Rifleman    RFL-3N 
Jenner    JR7-F   
Hunchback    HBK-4J

Side B Forces:
Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Javelin JVN-10F
Blackjack BJ-1

Scenario Background

The god fearing clean living peaceful traders of House Steiner have been provoked into raiding into the Liao holdings.  An operative embedded deep with the Liao military industrial complex (such that it is) has obtained info that the Liao forces are experimenting with a new revolutionary powerplant for the Manticore Heavy tank.  Field trials are underway but due to poor maintenance and lack of experience the prototype vehicle is breaking down almost daily.  Current intel indicates it is abandoned awaiting recovery in the small settlement of 'Butternab Ridge'.

Scenario Objective

House Steiner - Secure the abandoned Manticore Heavy Tank.  

House Liao - Deny House Steiner their objective. 

Victory Conditions
For each turn a player had an active Mech (not shut-down or dead) within three hexes of the tank, they received one point.  Player with the most points at the game is the winner.    

The Battle
Successful suppression of Liao planetary defences saw an unopposed Lyran Dropship landing.  Steiner forces entered the battlefield from the south at the same time as a hastily assembled scratch force of Liao mechs entered from the north to intercept them.

Turn 1 

Steiner win the initiative.  Initial moves onto the Battlefield by both sides (using Blips to represent Mechs) saw no shooting as line of sight was obscured by terrain.

Turn 2
Steiner win the initiative.  The Steiner Blackjack secures a good vantage point on top of a building and commences firing with its twin ACss.   An aggressive run forward by the Steiner Javelin towards the Manticore ended in disaster when the Pilot failed his Piloting Skill Roll (PSR) when he tried to make a turn.  Skidding forward he damaged his head armour in the fall and knocked himself unconscious !  WTF !   The Capellan's making the most of this disaster rush their Jenna forward to close the range and pound the rear of the immobile prone mech.  In all the excitement their Rifleman unloaded with both AC5s and both Heavy Lasers (which with only 10 Heat Sinks gave him a Heat problem).  The screaming over the radio from the rest of his team fortunately brought the Javelin pilot out of his slumber at the end of the round !      

Turn 3

Steiner win the initiative.  The Javelin gets up and seeks cover behind the nearby tree, and the Thunderbolts runs up the junction and the Blackjack jumps down.  The Hunchback starts loosening off with its LRMs as he gets a bead on the Blackjack.

Turn 4

Steiner win the initiative.  The Jenner takes the safest option and jumps to cover its rear, the Thunderbolt and Blackjack rush forward, all three Steiner mechs are within 3 hexes of the objective now.  The Blackjack takes some damage as again does the Jenna.  The Hunchback is out of position and doesn't have line of sight to a target, so doesn't fire.

Turn 5

Steiner win the initiative again !  The Jenna ends up behind the Blackjack and then the Javelin jumps behind that.  The Rifleman takes some punishment and the Javelin almost has a Torso blown off now the Hunchback is making its firepower felt!

Turn 6

Liao win the initiative for the first time.  The Javelin receives yet more damage and takes a Medium Laser to the head which goes critical and takes out a Heat Sink, the pilot managing to keep conscious despite this blow.  Further damage takes the other torso down to just one piece of internal.  The Rifleman has lots of eternal armour blown away now and loses an upper arm actuator.  

Game End

The game was meant to go onto Turn 8 but we had run out of time at the end of Turn 6, so we called it at that point.  The Steiner forces had more victory points at that time and so were determined to have secured the objective.   A very very close game, the Javelin as you can see from the record sheet was virtually scrap.  Overall a really entertaining game with my opponent Steve M :)  I'm looking forward to the return match with the same forces when we plan to switch sides.