What a Fiasco

I work part time at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store), which is why my posts to this blog (and my other, political blog You Wouldn't Vote For Me) have fallen off precipitously over the past three years or so. I do really enjoy working at the FLGS, I'm DM'ing one of the two weekly D&D 5e Adventurers League games plus working two other days as a sales associate, and it's let me stretch my gamemaster muscles and hone my craft. Plus I get to talk to a ton of people about games every week, and get a little extra spending cash, so that's not all bad. But this post is not about why I have not posted recently, it is about a game I dislike. I dislike it's premise, I dislike that its creator calls it a game when I (and many others) deem it to be an activity at best, I dislike the frothing-at-the-mouth fanboys of this activity that will hear no ill words about their beloved activity and its creator, and I dislike that they charge anybody money for this product when you could write a better activity in a blog post and pass it around for free. Which is what I am doing right now. I am going to stop talking about the original not-a-game activity, and give you a better one, that does not pretend it is a game and does not cost you any money. No, I will not shame said activity by giving you the name... but you can figure out which one I'm talking about.

Okay, one last thing about the not-a-game activity and I will shut up about it - I had a run-in with the creator of said activity on the internet, which prompted this post. We got into an argument over if something was a game or not, and that ended when he made up a quote from Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury (one of those sci-fi author luminaries from the '60s) trying to prove that all of his works were, indeed, games. I could not find the source of that quote after an hour of searching the vast reaches of the internet, and I realized he was full of shit and blocked him. And yes, we carry his activity at the FLGS I work at, but we like making money and people still want to buy it, so I bite my tongue when someone asks for it by name, and avoid mentioning it if they don't.

If you are wondering what this activity thing is that I keep talking about, and the difference between an activity and a game, think about the board game Chutes and Ladders. This is actually an activity, not a game. Why? There is no strategy to it, no decisions to be made, you merely roll dice or spin the wheel or whatever your copy has, and whoever is the luckiest, wins. It's an activity meant to teach kids how to count or what colors are if you had the edition that used color cards. This is not a game, there are no tactics to it, there is no sport, there is merely waiting to see who got luckiest and "wins". Likewise, what I am about to share is also an activity, because there is no tactics, no strategy, no competition - you will be sharing an activity with your friends and enjoying yourselves. That's it. There will be no declared "winners" or "losers", you will simply be doing a non-game something with other people. Or by yourself. See, my activity is wide ranging! You can participate in it by yourself or do it with as many people as you can stomach.

Are you a Star Wars nerd? Do you think that the original trilogy (called capital "O" Original from here on out) was pretty good, the Prequels could really have used a rewrite, and the Sequel movies are an abomination that need to be killed with fire for the obvious cash grabs they are? Then have I got an activity for you and your like-minded friends! First, let's talk about what you'll be doing - you and your friends will write brand new scripts for Episodes 1, 2, and 3 of the Star Wars franchise. Not rewrite, but write, from scratch. Second, this can be a one time party activity kind of thing, or you can go to the deep end of the pool, and form a group of friends that will meet regularly until it's done. You go as deep or as shallow into this as you want. Third, you're not making money off of this, no one wants to buy your fanfic, so don't worry about IP... unless you do manage to write something so impressively awe inspiring, in which case I suggest changing all of the names, removing all of the fan-service, self referential bits, and never, I mean NEVER, mention it is a Star Wars knockoff to anyone else or face the wrath of a brigade's worth of Disney Attack Lawyers.

BASIC ACTIVITY

First thing I suggest you do is define how deep into the pool you want to go - will you splash around in the kiddie pool, brainstorming for a couple of hours, developing characters and plot outline for one of the movies? Or will you go all the way to the 15 meter dive tank and write complete scripts for all three of the Prequel Trilogy? I suggest going shallow at first, not really putting any pressure on any of your friends and scaring them off early, and just see who is really into it and who is only lukewarm on the idea. From there, if you and some of your friends really like it, you can expand the scope and go deeper into the project. But whatever you decide to do, go for it. Have at it and have some fun with it. Remember, not a game, but an activity you share with your friends. 

Great, we have a goal, whether temporary or not, short-term or long-term, we now know a rough estimate of what we want to be doing. Now we need to make sure we have an end point for the trilogy - what details need to be present at the end of our Prequels to flow nicely into the Originals? Let's make a list:

• Luke Skywalker is unknowingly a Force adept, and was given to his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen (possibly not related) to be kept hidden from his father.
• His father was Anakin Skywalker, a noted Force user and fighter pilot, who eventually becomes Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith.
• Anakin was friends with Obi-Wan Kenobi, another Force user and fighter pilot.
• Anakin and Obi-Wan fought together in the Clone Wars.
• The current Emperor, also a Force user and Sith Lord, brought about the fall of the Old Republic (called just The Republic at the time) to become Emperor. He is a supreme dictator and uses military might over diplomatic bargaining to get what he wants (power).
• The Jedi, a group of Force users, who Obi-Wan and supposedly Anakin belonged to, were much more prevalent in The Republic, and they were opposed by the Sith, and hunted to near extinction by the Imperial government.
• Yoda, another Force user and former member of the Jedi, is also now in hiding.

That's it for now. Right about this point, I hope you're yelling at your monitor, phone, or tablet that I've left out a TON of information, and I have, on purpose (I hope you're yelling because that means you're invested). No, I'm serious here, I have reasons for what I've included and what I haven't. This is the most barebones set of information and characters you need in place to make the Original trilogy happen. You may certainly throw in whatever other bit of trivia or fan-service that you want, but this is the most basic information we need to happen in the Prequels. Yes, I did not mention that Leia is Luke's sister and also a Force user, see below in the Advanced Activity section for more on that and other details you are probably gnashing your teeth and rending your hair over. Think about it for a second, the gap between the end of the 3rd Prequel and the 1st Original is, what? Twenty years or so? That is the gap between World War 1 and World War 2, and look how much changed in that period of time - Germany was a completely different country, Russia had become Soviet Russia, none of the big names in any army were still around, it is an entire new cast of characters, and the countries involved have completely different reasons for participating in the new war. I think this is a failing with the Prequels, too much dependence on old, fan-service characters that have no logical reason to stick around in what amounts practically to limbo for 20 years before showing back up in the Originals. So this is the list I'm providing you to start with. However, if you want to add or subtract to the list, or even toss it all and write a new one from scratch, this is your activity, do with it what you will.

Now you have your characters chosen, whether using my list or your own, time to at least generalize an outline. This could be your entire activity or just the beginning of it, but either way, it's a good idea to put down the major plot points on a piece of paper, typed into a computer document, or if you're really fancy, a great big whiteboard. (side note: I have this fantasy of putting whiteboards on every wall, like the UFC War Room where they plan all the fights, so my home office is almost wallpapered in them, but they are very expensive and I don't really have a use for them... but this would be a great use for those) If you need help about what type of plot points you should put in your Prequels, let me point to you some story/script writing tutorials - 7 Point Story Structure; Dan Harmon's Story Circle; and of course, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, which George Lucas used when writing the Originals. Or you can write down whatever springs to mind and sort it out later. Whatever work flow that, ahem, works for you and your friends.

As an example of how I would pursue this activity is I would go through and decide what to keep and what to completely throw out of plot, characters, and information from the Prequels. Here is my thought process:

• I think Lucas got one thing right, at least with Episodes 2 & 3, and that is the Prequels should be about Anakin, he should be the protagonist (quote Mr Plinkett with me, "pro-Tuh-Gone-ist").
• No, I'm not going to do Anakin as a very young boy, I think Anakin and Obi-Wan are much closer in age than what we are shown in Episode 1.
• I do not like the fan-service of including C-3PO or R2-D2, so they are out.
• I don't like the Gungans, they are insulting to everyone's intelligence, so goodbye JarJar.
• I do like that Luke's mom is a high ranking political figure of a planet and that's how she and Anakin meet (I'm also okay with the name Padme, we'll keep it), and thought I was against the soon to be Emperor being from the same planet as Padme, but now that I think about it more, that is a good excuse for the nigh-Emperor and Anakin to meet.
• I don't like that the Clone Wars are the Republic creating clones and using them on the Trade Federation, implying that all Stormtroopers are clones, a fact that never came up in the Originals, so I'll be changing that. Not sure how yet, but definitely changing it. The Clone Wars themself will still be the backdrop for the Prequels. "It is a time of galactic war..."

Just a small taste, I won't go thru the entire activity here for you, but just as an example. And you note that I haven't done anything that looks like a script, or what order these thoughts are in, this is just some notes that I am making as I ponder where I want to go in my script. So let's start on the outline. First, what is the broadest description of each movie, in your mind? Here's what my first Prequel looks like:

Obi-Wan and Anakin meet at the Jedi Academy. They are assigned to two older Jedi as their Padawans (it was a good enough name, I'll keep that too), and those Jedi are sent on a diplomatic mission to the Separatist Council. The Separatists are threatening the Republic Senate that they will secede as they do not want to pay the taxes levied by the Senate, and they do not want to give up their clones, who they are oppressing by making them do all the dangerous physical jobs in their sector of the Republic. The negotiations are occurring on the nearby planet of Naboo, where Senator Palpatine of Naboo and his young assistant, Padme, are hosting the negotiations. The Jedi arrive to help in the deliberations, but have to protect the Republic negotiating team as the Separatists attempt to kidnap them and hold them for ransom. Obi-Wan and Anakin perform brilliantly, but something about the whole thing seems off to the young Padawans. Palpatine takes Anakin under his wing, politically, and the Padme/Anakin romance begins. The Clone Wars officially begin as the Separatists bring overwhelming numbers of clones and capture Naboo. The movie ends with the negotiating team, plus the Naboo representatives fleeing the planet ahead of the Separatist invasion fleet.

You set up the barest bones in the description, and then expand on them further. Start adding in as many names as you can, but if you just don't have a name for a place, or a person, or an object, put a [PLACEHOLDER] down and come back to it later. This includes the names of each of the movies. Never liked that Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi suddenly became Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope, etcetera etcetera? Now you can change that shit to your heart's content. Once you feel like your description is good enough, you can stop there or you can start writing a script, whatever you or you and your friends have decided on. I won't bore you with a full tutorial on what screenplays look like, I'll let the YouTubers do that for me. And even if you decide to continue on, you don't have to write an entire screenplay, you could write/type the major scenes, whatever you or you and your friends feel like doing.

And that's it, the Basic Activity is complete and what happens next is up to you. You can call it done and never touch it again. You can pick it up at a later date and put some polish on it, or expand it. Bring in some new friends, different friends, and work on it some more, or even start from scratch and do it again. Without worrying about who won or lost or rolling unnecessary dice - I know, I'm a longtime D&D grognard, and NOT rolling dice feels like blasphemy, but if you're not playing a game, no need to roll any dice - you or you and your friends should have an enjoyable experience. If you did not get any enjoyment from my activity, my apologies, and I will send you your refund of the zero dollars you paid for this activity via carrier pigeon with haste. It's not like I held a gun to your head and forced you to do it, this is all voluntary, remember. 

ADVANCED ACTIVITY

Okay, so you've done as much of the Basic Activity as you have wanted to and are now thirsting for more. This time, instead of writing just the Prequel Trilogy, first you start off writing the 6th movie, Return of the Jedi, or as it was originally called, Revenge of the Jedi. Never liked the awkward almost-incest between Luke and Leia in Empire? Well, when they wrote that movie, the plan was there WAS going to be another Force user out there, it just wasn't going to be Leia, and Leia and Luke weren't going to be siblings. This other Force user was going to be the focus of the Sequels, but we got the movie we got at the end of the Original Trilogy, and thus the Sequels that we got, too. All of that info comes out in the final draft of Return, along with a lot of things, like where the climactic battle was going to take place and the Ewoks. That's why, of the Original Trilogy, older fans will really like the first two movies and think they are great and the third is merely passable, but the more impressionable youngsters like Return the best (and probably the original Prequels, too... feh) because of all the pretty space battles. So if you want to go the longer, more difficult route, take the Advanced path, rewrite Return/Revenge to your liking and then go write the Prequels with that information. If you like Return exactly the way it is, make sure to add to your list of facts up there that Luke and Leia are siblings, Leia is a Force user, and while Luke is given to Owen and Beru to raise, Leia is given to Bail Organa, now or future Imperial Senator from Alderaan. I would include Bail Organa as a character in my Prequels rewrite, because we never see him in the Originals, so you're not sullying anyone's image of him. But like Owen and Beru and the planet Tattoine, don't have Anakin interact with Bail very much. It makes no sense for Obi-Wan to give Anakin's kids, whether he knows they are alive or not at the end of the Prequels, to folks or places Anakin may interact with again, he is a strong Force user and will detect his kids, even from a distance.

You have battled thru some, part, or all of the above and are now looking for another activity - welcome to PHASE TWO ADVANCED! You now have your Prequels scripts, you might have a new Revenge of the Jedi (or whatever you called it), and you can probably guess where Phase 2 is going - write a new set of Sequels scripts. Do you want your Sequels to happen immediately after the Original Trilogy hit theaters, instead of the Prequels, so you can use the Original actors before they age too much? Do it! Do you think that Timothy Zahn's now non-canonical Heir to the Empire trilogy of books is the best piece of Star Wars fiction to come from the minds of anyone, and it's a crime it was never used to write a script? Write those scripts! Do you want to go in a completely new direction with new characters, new plots, just the same universe? Go for it!

DENOUEMENT

In the end, what was all this for? I could have saved myself a lot of trouble and work by telling everyone what a whiney little bastard the creator of the earlier activity is, by name, and why you should not spend your hard earned money on his "games", also dropping their names. But that part I only tangentially care about, as this exercise ties into role-playing games or more specifically, campaign story creation. Can you take apart a popular story, be it movie, book, TV show/streaming series, or comic book and manipulate it to keep the parts you like and add what you want and present it to your players so that they both enjoy it and don't realize you've committed Grand Theft Storyline? This activity is a sneaky exercise to both work on those skills AND to satisfy your inner fanfic nerd. And if you're perfectly fine with how all of the Star Wars movies have been written, pick another series that could use a polish and follow what I set out above to rewrite it. Please, dear Science, do not tell me how wrong I am about the Prequels (understandable if those movies came out when you were a kid, but for no other reason) and the Sequels (there you are just wrong as they suck) and that they are the best thing since sliced anything.

If you have made it this far and are interested in the exercise, but not a big enough fan of the Star Wars franchise to know where to begin or even what I am talking about, look around for other series that you think need a touch up.

• Disappointed that Hollywood, amongst all of the other remakes and reboots, still has not done anything with the The Last Starfighter? That one is actually a good choice if you don't want to dive into Star Wars, as there is very little lore and worldbuilding that exists for the movie, so you can go nuts to create your own expansion on what little is out there. 
• Are you saddened that they bloated The Hobbit into three live action movies, and wish they had kept it to a much slimmer two instead? Here is the encouragement you need to do an edit on the existing movies or rewrite your own!
• Are you horrified at what Michael Bay has done with the live action Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Write better stories than the folks who wrote those scripts (man, to do a live action TMNT movie that more closely followed the original Eastman & Laird comic series? that would be epic).
• You don't have to only look at movies, are there any TV shows/streaming series or seasons thereof that you wish happened differently? Did they introduce the Borg in Star Trek Enterprise way too early (my opinion was they should have just left them out entirely)? What would Falling Skies have looked like if they had just one or two more seasons to expand on the plots they had developed and were able to wrap them up? Did Brisco County, Jr. end tragically too soon (the answer is yes, yes it did)? Now that Joss Whedon is out the picture, what would you do with another couple of seasons of Firefly? 

No matter what you like, there are opportunities as a Gamemaster and as a player to borrow (outright steal) elements from those stories and use them yourself. What movie or TV show do you think you could have done a better job writing? What movie or TV show do you want to steal a plot from for your TT/VTT RPG group?

TY 6mm Lessons Learned 27

NOTE: We played this game in May of 2026, and I started typing up this BatRep at the time, but Life (a lot of Life, if I'm honest) happened and I didn't finish this out until August. Everyone responsible, especially the moose wranglers, have been fired from the production.

 A new month, another game of Teeny, Tiny Tanks! Also known as World War III: Team Yankee in 6mm scale. Much like last month, we only had the original Tres Amigos, myself, Brandon, and Uriah, so we decided to do it again, but this time at 52 points instead of 35. 

 When I set up the table this time, I pictured one end of it with a tight set of streets and lots of ruined buildings and the rest just completely a-jumble with hills and trees. After setting it up, I was pretty pleased with it, both areas of the board had lots of cover choices, but still allowed the crafty player some "linear danger areas" to get some decently long-ranged shots off. I still thoroughly love the acrylic streets I got from GCMini, but I definitely want to double or triple what I have so I can do up our entire six-foot by four-foot table with a dense urban sprawl. Also, I have run into an issue with our version of 6mm TY rules, and that is because we halve everything, to include infantry bases, our buildings (which are at 35% the size of 15mm scaled buildings) won't actually take infantry stands. The bases are too big to tuck them inside the buildings like we would if we just played the game at full scale like normal people. Le sigh. Oh well, there are downsides to everything.

THE GAME

 Much like our previous game, we played a three-way free-for-all (I know, already typed that), but we did move the center Objective away from the center of the table. I misunderstood the instructions and moved it 22.25" away from the edge of the central Deployment area, and it should have only been 22.25" away from the edge of the table. Ah well, we will do better next time. Like last time, no Reserves, Ambushes, or Minefields, each side had an Objective that was live from the start, and then there was a center Objective that went live on Turn 6. Whoever is holding an opponent's Objective or the center Objective at the end of their Turn, uncontested, wins. Usual restrictions apply - Objectives cannot be Held by Tank teams that are Bailed Out, Aircraft, Transports, or Independent teams. Nor can these teams, or any team that moved at Dash speed, prevent the enemy from Holding an Objective. Objectives can be Held or contested by Infantry that are Passengers in a Transport team. 

 Usually I have very in-depth lists of what each of us used, but as I picked this BatRep almost 3 months later and started back at this point, the lists are a little fuzzy. I will try my best to recreate them here, apologies for any discrepancies.

Soviet T-80s

 Since we were doing low points, much like last game, I decided to go for the most expensive WarPact option I could get - Soviet T-80s. Almost as many T-80s as I could fit in, but some leftover points that I could take more Units for greater Formation Morale depth.

• Battalion HQ - 1x T-80
• T-80 Tank Company - 3x T-80s
• T-80 Tank Company - 3x T-80s
• Recon Platoon - 4x BMP-1s
• AA Platoon - 4x Shilkas
• Divisional Support
• AT Platoon - 3x Storms (AT-6 Spiral)

British Chieftains

 Uriah, still not having an infantry analog (more on that in a second), also went vehicle heavy. Building the list here off of pictures, the best I can come up with is 49 points for this list. I will try next game to help make sure he has utilized the full points allowed. He could have left ROMOR upgrade off of one of his Chieftains and added in 2 Swingfires to get the 52 points, which would have helped him with their AT23 ATGMs against my Front Armor 20 T-80s. But Uriah's Brits look a lot like my Soviets - lots of big, scary tanks (lots for this point total) and some support elements, though he does have aircraft where I did not.

• Squadron HQ - 1x Chieftain Stillbrew
• Chieftain Troop - 2x Chieftain Stillbrews
• Chieftain Troop - 2x Chieftain Stillbrews
• Recce Troop - 2x Scorpions
• Divisional Support
• AA Battery - 3x Marksmen
• HELARM Flight - 2x TOW Lynx

 The infantry thing - infantry in 15mm scale are really small and hard to paint and make look good. This is further exasperated at 6mm scale, so while Brandon and I are masochistic enough to glue actual 6mm infantry onto bases and paint them (let me be honest, I haven't gotten past putting a base coat primer on any of my infantry, and most are unpainted "silver surfers"), Uriah refuses to mess with it. I don't know why it has taken us this many years, but we finally just told Uriah it was okay for him to have infantry that didn't have actual infantry on bases. Just use the regular metal bases everyone else uses (half-size from standard TY infantry bases), glue an upright piece of something to easily grab onto (cut up paperclips are easy to source and sturdy), paint it white, and write on it what the base represents (rifleman team, mortar, MANPAD, command team, ATGM team, etc). We hadn't made that decision when we had played that game, but have since purchased for Uriah all the bases he'll need, so we should see him using infantry (FINALLY!!) in future Lessons Learned posts. He could so have used a handful of AT21 (or AT24 for Milan 2s) ATGMs in this fight. If he had Milan 2 spammed me, I would have not been as successful as I was in this game.

American RDF/LT and M113 Armored Cavalry Troop

 Brandon did something I was toying with before we played the game, and that was to go all in on the American RDF/LT "fake tanks". Now, he split up and instead of doing two Formations of RDF/LTs, he went one of RDF/LT and made the second a M113 Armored Cavalry Troop. Now that I am building the list, I do see a discrepancy in his list building with the Cav Troop (he should have at least one platoon of either Abrams or M60 Pattons, but he doesn't), but I am sure he talked to us about it. We're a very friendly, not overly competitive group, and so we usually talk over foibles like not being 100% legal on our list compliance, that I'm sure that is what happened. I just can't remember because it happened over two months ago as I'm typing this.

• M113 Armored Cav Troop
• HQ - 1x M113
• Scout Section - 1x M113, 1x M901 ITV (TOW-2)
• Scout Section - 1x M113, 1x M901 ITV (TOW-2)
• Scout Section - 1x M113, 1x M901 ITV (TOW-2)
• Scout Section - 1x M113, 1x M901 ITV (TOW-2)
• Scout Section - 1x M113, 1x M901 ITV (TOW-2)
• Combined Arms (Heavy) Company
• HQ - 2x RDF/LTs
• Platoon - 3x RDF/LTs
• Platoon - 3x RDF/LTs
• Platoon - 3x RDF/LTs
• Divisional Support
• AA Platoon - 4x M163 VADS
• Air Attack Flight - 4x AV-8 Harriers

 This is a very interesting choice of some barely effective gear for the cheapest points possible. You've got 11 "tanks" (I use quotes because even if the RDF/LT had existed, it barely counts as a tank - tank gun, but definitely not the armor to back it up, the cantilevered cannon that uses the Hammerhead Special Ability is the biggest saving grace of the platform) with AT19 guns, five M901s with TOW-2 AT23 missiles (and Hammerhead again, so fantastic on the defensive, but poor in an offensive role), decent gun AA to defend yourself, and Harriers that come in on 3+ instead of 4+ like everything else. Both Uriah and I saw the number of shots against us and while his RDF/LTs were useless against both our Front Armor ratings (20 for my T-80s, and 19 for Uriah's Stillbrews), Side Armor shots are not to be discounted. Those backed up by five TOW-2 launchers made us both look at Brandon's Objective and say "not worth the headache". 

The Soviets, with Spearhead Deployment. Their Objective is just below the woods at the right edge of this picture's frame.

The British, with a more conservative Deployment, as even the Scorpions on the right are not Spearheaded.

The Americans, also Spearheaded out. Each of those dice were failed Cross Checks on the Spearhead Moves.

TURN ONE

Turn One, LET'S! GET! IT! ON!

 Two of the three of us utilized our Spearhead Special Ability to move as close to the center Objective as we could in Deployment. We then rolled to see who would go in what order. In the roll, I won, followed by Uriah, and then Brandon.

 My side of the Turn, I Dashed practically all of my Formation towards the center Objective. I did not move my Storms at all (ATGMs can be used as anti-helicopter AA, so I planned to fire on Uriah's Lynxes), and did use Tactical with one of my T-80 companies to slide them towards Uriah's threatening Scorpions. My plan was simple, "I have the biggest, scariest tanks, so I'm moving onto the center Objective ASAP and making everyone else dig me off of them". I fired what I could, but from pictorial evidence, hit nothing.

The Hammer of Soviet Socialism rolls forward.

The Storms eyeing the Lynxes in the distance, while everyone else moves.

 Uriah decides hunkering in and covering his Objective in the early game is the better part of valor, so except for his Scorpions, that is what he does. His Scorpions Dash down the flank, threatening the Soviet Objective. Uriah fires at and Bails one of my T-80s through one of those sneaky linear danger areas I mentioned earlier.

Scorpions rushing the flank.

Brits collapsing onto their Objective.

We double-checked, and he did have Line of Sight to that tank, and a Side Armor shot to boot. I'm lucky it was only a Bail.

 Brandon adopted a "wait and see" attitude and only moved up his Bogged tracks to their intended Deployment spots (except for one, lone M113 that Bogged, AGAIN!!). He did get his Harriers on the roll, but with both mine and Uriah's AA assets sitting very close to our Units, he decided to wave them off and not bring them onto the table this Turn. Yes, even the company of T-80s I peeled off to block Uriah's Scorpions, and those same Scorpions, were under cover of our various AA assets, and Brandon would be catching fire from two different Units for a large portion of the table. Harriers are nice, but they're also cheap because they don't have a long-range, AT missile (like the Soviet Kh-25 or American Maverick), only the 8" 30mm cannon or 6" Salvo-template cluster bomb. Nasty when you can bring them to bear, but keep them out of AA range as they are fragile. Brandon, like me, also took ATGM shots at Uriah's Lynxes, and also like me, had no effect.

Most of the Bogged vehicles make it now, but still not 100%.

"We going out there?" "Nope, we staying well away from that..."

ATGM pot-shots at the distant helicopters.

TURN TWO

Turn Two.

 Now stuff starts happening. I fail to Remount the one Bailed tank, but adjust everyone at Tactical speed to start shooting back at Uriah. I do Dash my BMP Recon element to the other side of the center Objective - it's not live yet, but I want to get in and lay claim to it early. The lone T-80s facing the Scorpion flank threat make their Blitz roll and then Tactically Move, shooting and killing one of the Scorpions. My Storms fire at the Lynxes again, joined by the Shilkas, and splash the whole flight. My other T-80s fire back at Uriah's Chieftains, but only manage to Bail his command track.

The Soviets adjust, enveloping the center Objective.

Going after the Scorpions.

Success!

This was taken in between the Storms and the Shilkas firing at the Lynxes.

 Uriah goes, and OH NO!! The remaining Scorpion fails its Morale check and flees the field. The command Chieftain Remounts, and he proceeds (with which mix of vehicles I can't remember, but most likely the command Chieftain and one of his Marksmen) to Destroy two Shilkas, and Bail a third. He also fires at the two T-80s charging directly at him but no effect there.

I didn't get it in frame, but the other Scorpion has left the building.

Chieftains and Marksmen, all that's left of the mighty British Force.

The Shilkas take a hard hit. Really should have adjusted them into Cover better this Turn.

 Brandon decides he has waited enough and wants to get himself a piece of the action. When he gets his Harriers on the Roll for Strike Aircraft, he brings them right into the fight, angling for my BMP Recon element. He starts moving everything up, some of it covering the approaches that Uriah could take towards Brandon's Objective, but mostly towards my Soviets and the center Objective. His Harriers go in for the kill on the BMPs... but for the cost of two of the four aircraft, only manage to Bail one of my BMPs. He then shoots a TOW-2 at my Bailed T-80, a sitting duck, right in the open! And only gets a one on the die. Brown Alert has been achieved by that T-80 crew.

The Americans just creeping forward. Yes, the M113 Bogged last Turn? Still Bogged.

Harriers about to drop on the BMPs.

"I just need a 3... and 1. Dammit..."

I don't think that was worth it.

TURN THREE

Turn Three.

 My side of the Turn, time to consolidate on the center Objective and GET. EVERYONE. INTO. COVER!!! (feh) I Remount everything - BMP-1, Shilka (and don't have to check Unit Morale), and T-80 - and then everything jumps into cover. Even the T-80s way off by themselves tuck behind the smallest hill I can find and start shooting at Uriah's Chieftains in the distance. The T-80s fire while everything else just stays behind hills, out of Line of Sight. I manage to Destroy one Chieftain on Uriah's extreme right flank.

Like I said, the tiniest of hills.

Get into Cover!!

Well, I got one.

 Uriah also decides that getting out of the line of fire is better than just letting me pick him off, one by one. His now lone Chieftain passes Morale and sticks around for more fight. He then maneuvers his Force slightly, puts a lot of shots downrange in my general direction, but to very little effect. I don't really blame him for being cautious at this point, as he is one failed Morale check and losing his command track (or the other Chieftain Troop) away from being Out of Good Spirits and off the table. He's taken the most damage so far (Lynx Flight, Scorpion Troop, and one Chieftain versus 2 Shilkas versus 2 Harriers), and he's hoping that I pivot to focus on Brandon's on-rushing Force and quit blowing up his tanks. Or show him some softer targets to take shots at.

The Brits, still hanging in there.

 Brandon decides that, even though he has built a fantastic Defensive force, someone is going to have to remove those pesky Russkis from the center Objective, otherwise it's time to concede the match. Everything drives forward, hoping to get some of that sweet, sweet flank steak of my Soviets. As he leaves the protection of the woods, RNGeezus leaves him once again with multiple failed Cross Checks, but does get enough through that, while he is not doing any shooting on this Turn (or if he did try with the few that got into Line of Sight, there was no effect, I just can't remember all these months later), but threatening a lot of pain coming in next Turn.

The Americans head towards the sounds of battle.

Cross Checks really don't like Brandon, he only needed to get a 3 to succeed.

Some tasty looking flanking shots from those RDF/LTs onto my BMP-1 scouts.

TURN FOUR

Turn Four.

 I already control the center Objective, but I have to survive until Turn Six for it to go live, so time to press the attack in some areas, and hew to cover in others. The T-80 company off by itself maneuvers to continue shooting at Uriah's right flank. The BMP scouts make their Blitz to crest the hill and use their Saggers on whatever British they can see. The other T-80s (all finally Remounted) move around the Objective to get better Cover and some shots on the just appeared American threat. The Storms fail their Blitz, so they just sit where they're at, and the Shilkas remain where they were at in case Brandon's remaining Harriers show up for another poke at me (and Uriah too, but all I really care about is me). I miss just about every shot on both the Brits and the Americans, and only manage to Bail one of Uriah's Chieftains. feh

T-80s moving up to shoot at the Brits.

Soviets rearranging to get better positions.

The result of all that rolling of dice.

 Uriah's lone Chieftain fails Morale and runs off the table (that was a YAY! from me, and a BOO! from Uriah, with a noncommittal shrug from Brandon). Discouraged that this is looking rather bleak, Uriah girds his loins and does what he can, Destroying one of my BMP scouts that so cheekily poked their heads out.

Note the British command track driving forward to do what he can to wipe out Communism.

 Brandon is still trying to get his Force to grips with mine, but is confounded by multiple failed Cross Checks and failed Blitz attempts. Even with all of that going against him, Brandon lands the biggest blow dealt to my Soviets so far, outright Destroying two of my T-80s, and Bailing another of my BMPs. This is impressive, as Brandon's Force really was designed to hunker in place and let the enemy come to them, dying in great swathes along the way, not maneuver towards the enemy and engage them on the enemy's ground of choice.

The Americans charge (stagger, really) forward to the fight.

The Soviets say "OUCH!!"

TURN FIVE

Turn Five.

This is it, the defining moment of the game, if I can last thru this Turn, I am in full possession of the Objective, there are some few Units/Teams of both my opponent's within Dashing distance of the Objective (remember, we halve all distances except weapon ranges, so you have to be within two inches of the Objective to Contest it), but not within Tactical Move distance. And as we stated earlier, Teams that Move at Dash speed cannot Contest an Objective. So if I survive into Turn Six, I've won. But first, I have to survive, and I don't need much to do that, as the only Divisional Support element I have are the Storms, so as long as the T-80s OR the Shilkas OR the BMPs make it to the beginning of Turn Six, as I also have a full company of T-80s across the board that will make it as no one is paying much attention to them.

To that end, I Dash in the Shilkas and Storms to put more bodies around the Objective (I could have Blitzed the Storms and used them to shoot, but I wasn't trusting their low Skill rating to deliver so just used them as extra bodies), and maneuver the remaining T-80s at the schwerpunkt into deeper Cover and still have shots back at the Americans and Brits. The only effect I had on either Force was Destroying one and Bailing one of Uriah's Marksmen, snuck the lone company of T-80s off by themselves into a decent firing position and let 'em rip. It was satisfying, but I was nervous - had I removed enough to survive to see Turn Six? Were my remaining Teams in deep enough Cover to weather the storm? And yes, I did Shoot with my BMPs and attempted a Shoot'n'Scoot to get them off the hill they were on, but failed the roll. feh

"Snuggle in tight!"

Shots from the flank.

The Brits are hemorrhaging Teams.

 Uriah rightly ignores the T-80s on his flank, as well as any thoughts of maneuvering at this point, and goes straight to blasting. As a result, I lose all of my remaining BMPs and one of my Storms. This is their one and only chance - remove enough of my integral Units to force a Morale check, which I'd fail as I'd already lost my command track, and would then run off the table.

Eesh, lots of carnage.

 Brandon recognizes his last chance to remove me from the game (and capture the center Objective in the following Turn to win the game, as well, if he is successful), so he throws everything at me. EVERYTHING. His Harriers make it back onto the board, and go right for the center Objective and the thinner-skinned MT-LBs of the Storms. Wisely, he removed my Shilkas first, and Uriah refrained from shooting at Brandon's Harriers with his last mounted Marksman. At the end of the carnage, I'd lost yet another Unit (both Shilkas down) and one of my remaining T-80s, leaving me with one T-80 company still whole (but way across the table), a lone T-80 (in need of making a Morale check at the beginning of the next Turn just to stay in the fight), and two out of three Storms (which were in Divisional Support and don't count towards Formation Morale).

That's a lot of Americans... glass cannons, to be sure, but still, that's a lot of Americans.

So many guns pointed at my Force in this shot.

And this shot.

Not that it matters, but I am proud I got one of the Harriers attacking me.

TURN SIX

Look at that, all the marbles!

 Here we are, the final Turn. It all comes down to one roll. If I make this Morale check with the last remaining T-80 on the Objective, I win. If I fail, I run off the board, and then Uriah gets one shot to stab Brandon in the flank before Brandon rolls forward and wins the game. So, without further ado...

IT'S A FIVE!!!

 Yup, five on the die is good enough to win me the game.

FINAL THOUGHTS AND LESSONS LEARNED

 I was lucky, this game, I was SSSOOOO lucky. First in getting the high roll to go first in the Turn order, and then that passed Morale check at the very end. I am happy that I won, but I look at that final picture and see how many Teams I lost to get to that point, and realize that if this had been part of a larger campaign where we tracked equipment and personnel losses, I couldn't afford many more "victories" like this one. I believe the word I am looking for in this situation is "pyrrhic", and aptly so. Even with Uriah on the cusp of Formation Morale checks himself, I definitely lost more Units, overall, than he did. That was also due to the cheaper costs of my Teams, but still, I did not do as good a job as I should have of hewing to Cover.

 For list building, I think all three of us did really well. Brandon's was very defensive, where I would have kept either the RDF/LTs or the M113/M901 scout sections, and gotten rid of the other for either M1 Abrams (a few) or M60 Pattons (more than a few). I still applaud his decision to pick a different theme in his Force structure and stick with it, I am just freely admitting I doubt I could have been that brave knowing what scenario we played. And yes, we all knew what the game was going to be before we created lists, so there was no hidden meta-gaming going on by anybody. Uriah did not succumb to my blandishments and build an all Scorpion/Scimitar recce force (which would have been HILARIOUS!!!... and also just as scary to play going up against T80s in this scenario as Brandon's glass cannons), but went with a tried and true list of Chieftains, Lynxes, Marksmen, and Scorpions, a mix he has utilized many times in the past. T80s are far more resilient than the T72s I tend to use (and T55/T62s Brandon tends to use), and are a far bigger problem for Chieftains. Again, I think his lists will expand with the addition of infantry into his Force choices.

 What could any of us done better? I think Brandon could have pushed toward the center Objective from the start of the game to get into semi-defensive positions near it instead of investing his own Objective (honestly, the personal Objectives are used more to distract each of us, the center Objective is the schwerpunkt in this mission) right at the start and not moving until Turn Three. Yes, he started moving at Turn Two, but only kind of adjusting forward, it wasn't until Three when he decided to go for it. Get closer to that center Objective sooner so that he could have been in position to fire on me, either from the front or the flanks, sooner. And for Brandon, avoid Cross Checks. Even with Americans and their 3+ Cross Checks, you see how many he failed just in this game, poor guy is cursed when it comes to Cross Checks. As for Uriah, I'm honestly not sure. Maybe sent the Lynxes ahead of the Scorpions to get some shots at the lone company of T80s I had sent after them. Or tried something desperate and abandoned his own Objective to charge down Brandon's or my Objective and tried to win the game before Turn Six when the center goes live. It's hard to say what would 100% guaranteed work in this game, as I had a solid plan and some good technology to back it up. 

 What could I have done better? Many things (like sticking to cover better and driving into woods instead of only going around them), but bigger picture I could have not driven quite so hard for the center Objective, maybe pulled a little to one flank or the other and tried to squeeze either Uriah or Brandon out of their initial Deployments and made them maneuver earlier. Or paused in better defensive positions just off that Objective and made them jump first toward the Objective, me, or each other. Let one of them jump on the Objective first (and come out of cover, too), so I could push them off of it for the win. Or I could have ignored the center Objective entirely and driven straight towards Uriah to veer off and head towards Brandon. That sounds like an awesome plan... but looking at the physical layout of the table, how to do it with our "halve everything" scale restrictions and without exposing my flank to Uriah and dying a horrible death? 

 Okay, enough typing for now. I believe I have overthought this game to death. I made the mistake of opening this post in the Blogger app, after having typed the majority of it in a desktop web browser, and that's why half of the pictures don't line up all nice and pretty. Remember, you get what you pay for... and we get this service for free. Hope you enjoyed this and possibly learned something from my mad ramblings. See you next time!