warning order 03 - wo3rd

7/30/2019 Warning Order 03 - WO3RD

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Having played in manyskirmish games over theyears and having a few

25mm Poles and Mongolslaying around, I startedlooking for a suitable set ofrules. There are well over ahundred, ranging from thecomplex, Battlelust, to thesimple, Chainmail. I wantedsomething that was fast andfurious that would be likeSword and the Flame for

medieval s.

After having read aglowing review of PigWars in MWAN, andhaving some of theauthors other sets of

rules I ordered a set.Pig Wars is 40 pageslong, including a lot ofsketches, with severalscenarios and twocards with the charts

printed on them. Therules themselves takeup only about 13

pages and arefairly easy tounderstand.

There are notes forsample units, optionalrules, and three sce-

narios, ranging fromRomans vs. Gauls to

Normans vs. Saxons.

Units can be of anysize, but usually are20 foot or 10mounted. Mixedunits are allowed, usu-ally a leader and his

body-guards can bemounted. Re-member, theseare raiding par-

ties and are usu-ally of mixedcomposition,such as tenspearmen, threearmed with axes,a standard

bearer, a leader,and five archerswould be a sampleunit.

All combat is done with adeck of playing cards witheach unit using one deck.Depending on range, armor,terrain, etc., you needcertain cards to inflict hitsand save with your armor.

Leaders get three hits whileeveryone else is killed onthe first hit. Combat isfairly simpleand you cancome up with all sorts ofhome rules to deal with elitetroops, bodyguards, specialtypes of terrain, and the vari-

ous armies.

The good thing is that theaction is fast and furiouswithout having to wadethrough weapons tables andarmor values as in somerules. It may be a little toosimplistic for some, but itseems to work fine and youcan customize the game asstated above. In fact, on theegroup many clubs haveconverted the cards over to adice rolling system.

Continued on page 13

WITH AXE and SWORDReview of PIG WARS

By Matt Irsik

SPECIAL POINTS OF

INTEREST:

How to make buildings

with scrap material.

N.U.T.S. group joins

Warning Order with their

first update.

Two battle reports with

photos.

Book and movie reviews.

Naval History at Ports-

mouth, England

Review of Civil War sce-

nario books.

Part 2 of scenario design.

VOLUME1, ISSUE3

SPRING 2001WARNING ORDERWASATCH FRONT HISTORICAL GAMING SOCIETY

Modelling Workshop 2,3

N.U.T.S. Update 4,5

AOR Replay 6,7

CD3 Replay 8

Scenario Design 9

Movies-Portsmouth 10,1

ACW Review 12

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

ASSEGAI!Special Supplement for

this issue!

A complete boardgameand miniatures campaignbased on the 1879 ZuluWar has been includuedwith this issue.

25mm Poles from Old Gloryawait the Mongols. Painted by

Matt Irsik.

Teutonic knight leads a unit of

sergeants out from a keep. 25mm

Old Glory painted by Matt Irsik.


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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3PAG E 2

Modeling Workshop with Jim Cornell

Well-painted troops fighting over a nicely

crafted battlefield are enough to set anygamers heart to racing. When I make te r-rain I really want it to WOW my opponentand anyone who might be wandering by.When making terrain I try to keep costsdown by using things I have lying aroundor can scavenge from the garbage. Fortu-nately, I had just finished putting in asprinkling system and had some PVC oddsand ends.

Here is how I made the 10mmKeep in the pictureyou will need:3 lengths of tubing of varying d i-ameter (I used PVC pipe)PlasticardCardstock (I used old businesscards)Heavy card (I used an empty Coke

carton)Very heavy card (I used a scrap ofillustration board)Modeling clay (I used green stuff)Glue (I used White Glue and SuperGlue Gel)

Before digging into a project I like to do a rough sketch of what the fin-ished piece will look like. This helps keep the project under control andprevents it from taking on a mind of its own.

For the body of the tower I cut the PVC to the lengths and cut a round mid -joint out of plasticard so I could attach the smaller PVC base of the towerto the larger PVC body and glued the structure to a large plasticard base. Ithen ground a notch in the small tower with a Dremel tool and glued the

piece to the larger body. I then sculpted the rounded bottom of the smalltower out of green stuff.

For the roofs I cut circles out of a Coke carton and removed a pie -shapedwedge so they could be glued into a cone shape and attached to the tops ofthe small tower and the main body.

For the front doorway and the rock out front I sculpted green stuff and let itharden over night. I scribed wood slats into a small piece of plasticard andglued it to bridge the gap between two rocks.


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WARNING ORDER PAG E 3

Modeling Workshop(cont.)

For the balcony railing and deck floor I cut two pieces of illustra-tion board and glued them into place.

For the details I segmented strips of card stock and glued the indi-vidual shingles to the roofs. I then cut the balcony doors, arrow slitsand windows out of Coke carton and glued them into place. I thencut and segmented three widths (each one thicker than the other) ofcard and nicked the corners off the two larger types (to give them arounded look) and glued them to the PVC.

I primed the entire piece black and applied a heavy dry-brushing ofdark gray, a medium dry-brushing of gray, and a light dry -brushingof light gray. I then painted the doors, small bridge out front andwindow frames brown (adding a touch of brass for the door knob). Ifinished the piece by flocking the ground.

The whole project took about 16 hours and cost about $1.50 tomake. There are some shortcuts that could be taken to cut down onthe time. Instead of cutting them individually, the shingles could bemade by cutting notches into long strips of card. Also, instead ofcompletely covering the tower in rock, small clumps of rock can bestrategically placed around the tower to give the look of stucco androck.

I enjoy making terrain as much as collecting figs, painting or play-ing. It is amazing how a little patience and imagination can turnscraps from the garbage into a nice terrain piece.

All of the terrain in these photos has been scratch built, including

the terrain boards. It is even more remarkable when you considerthat this is all in 10mm. Even though it is designed for Warmaster, it

could easily be used to game any historical period. Each building has

its own unique features and many have had hundreds of tiny card

stones cut out and applied to their walls. When we do a Warmaster

game at the local hobby store, the terrain is usually what draws peo-

ple to the game.

Jim Cornell is a master craftsman and besides thesebuildings has created many other scratchbuilt gamingitems. One of his recent works was a 25mm oil drilling

platform for Warhammer 40K which has to be seen to be

believed. It was a monster gaming piece and completely

dominated the game board. The attention to detail was so

great that Jim spent days making the walkways and vari-

ous areas on the platform look like real wire grating. If

you have any questions for Jim on building terrain or fi g-

ure sculpting, contact me at my email and I will find him.


4/14


N.U.T.S. Colonial Campaign /Update by Jim Morgan

For the past year we NUTS

have been much engaged inthe search for King Solomon'smines, A Colonial ConflictSimulation in Central AfricaUsing Bart Wood's "BattlefieldAfrica" Colonial Rules. Set inc.1870, five colonial powers(Great Britain, France, Ger-many, Italy, and the UnitedStates) send expeditionaryforces to vie for the honor,glory, and wealth of claiming

and exploiting the hiddentreasures of the dark conti-nent. The goal of each com-mander is to find the lost mineof King Solomon in deepestAfrica and bring back asmuch treasure as possible tothe coastal fortress, thusclaiming that part of Africa forhis country and getting him-self promoted to a cushy deskjob at Supreme Headquar-

ters.

The full text and a map areavailable on Tom Dickson'sSolo Colonial website athttp://members.spree.com/funngames/solocolonial/

Each participant started witha mobile force of about ninetyinfantry, twenty cavalry, threeartillery pieces and two ma-

chine gun teams, plus ahandful of native scouts, aswell as all-important supplywagons. Encountered alongthe way are friendly (boring)and not-so-friendly native(exciting) villages, bandit-infested mountain passes,and the Lost World-type hid-den valley of the reputed

mines.

The campaign started withthe peace-loving Germansbeing ambushed by nativesnear Momba village. Theattack was beaten off andthe village was burnt to theground as a warning toother potential adversaries.The same night, after a no-table failure in diplomacy,the French Foreign Legion

was attacked by irate tribes-men. Once again, the su-premacy of modern fire-power was amply demon-strated. A third village, nearBubba Lake, was decimatedby the British, who built fieldfortifications and left a garri-son.

After being held to a bloodystand-still by Arabs a moun-

tain pass, the Germansshifted over to Bubba Lake,where the British garrisonrefused to welcome them.In a three pronged attack,over land on each flank, andover the crocodile-infestedwaters of the lake, the teu-tons quickly overwhelmedthe green garrison troopsand captured their artillery.(see picture)

The lagging Americans cut

their way through the weak-ened Arab bandits andmoved on Katmandu vil-lage, where another Britishgarrison was stationed. Thevillagers did not rally to theirwhite overseers cause, sothe garrison fled to rejointheir main force at themouth of Kudnot Pass.There, the British andFrench had combined

forces to defeat the Arabforces guarding the ap-proach to the hidden valley.Wave after wave of attack-ing bandits was broken onthe reef of Anglo-French en-trenchments. (see picture)

Those field fortificationswere less successful inholding off the Italians andGermans who combined

forces after reading a proc-lamation of an Anglo-Frenchalliance. Ignoring the criesfor help from their French'allies' the British aban-doned them to the tendermercies of the Italians andGermans, and headed upthe pass.


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N.U.T.S. Colonial Campaign/Update

The French suffered griev-ous losses (see picture) andwere perhaps only saved bythe on-set of night. Thecompeting expeditionaryforces then called a truceand set-off in pursuit of theBritish and the mines.

The hidden valley in the

Magic Mountains was ateaming jungle. Each forcewas left to its own devicesin questing for the mines.Some made much morerapid progress than others.The French wisely followedin the Germans' trails, let-ting them bear the brunt ofattacks by denizens of thevalley. (see picture)

The NUTS group is about to embark

on a concurrent Command Decisioncampaign, masterminded by CraigTyrell, starting with a scenario called"Rommels Assault on Marsa Brega,March 31, 1941"

The British faced similar ter-rors, (see picture).

As night fell, they seemed tohave found the motherlodeand attempted to abscondwith it, but earning the wrath

of the Italians and Ger-

mans as well. (see pic-ture)The campaign con-tinues.

NUTS is a very act ive group in the

Northern Utah atrea and has been in exis-

tence for several years. Their exploits can

also be found in various issues of MWAN

from time to time. The group meets regu-

larly in Layton and Sandy on Saturday

nights. They game primarily in 25mm, butdo WW2 in 15mm. Besides Colonials, they

do American Revolution, ACW, Napoleon-

ics, Ancients, Full Thrust sci-fi, and almostanything else you can think of.

All future issues of Warning Order

will have an update from the group and as

many articles as they can send us. We are

still working on a joint battle sometime and

possibly setting up a one day mini-con in

the near future.

NORHTERN UTAH

TACTICIANS &STRATEGISTS


6/14


This was one of the battles duringour Sport of Kings campaign game.

The Russians had finally invaded Aus-trian territories seeing them engaged onthe Western Front with France. It was afair sized game, involving about 15units a side and the terrain roll producedan interesting twist.

A large river ran down one side ofthe board, flanked by heavy woods on

both sides. Then, inthe middle therewere a number offields which wereenclosed with wallsand hedgerows.

The Austriansdecided to hold inthe center and attackover the river on the

left. The Russians de-cided to advance in the

center and try to crushthe Austrians beforehelp could arrive fromthe flank.

What followed wasa very exciting Age ofReason scenario.

The Austrians, seeing the danger tothe center as the Russian army moves tothe attack, begin to deploy on the left

bank of the river. The Austrian cavalrymoves to hold up a force of Russiansmoving along the far road. The rest ofthe Austrians take up defensive posi-

tions, determined to delay the Russiansuntil help arrives.

The Russians move quickly, withtwo brigades of infantry in the center,supported by their cavalry. The fieldsare already having their effect, creatingtraffic jams as the Russian artillery can-not move across the enclosures. With-out the artillery the infantry pressesahead to the end of the fields, takingartillery fire from the Austrian GrandBattery guarding the road and first

bridge. The Russian artillery continuesto struggle forward, finally gaining ac-cess to the fields.

Meanwhile, the only thing slowingup the Austrian flanking force on theleft bank was the terrain. With a singleroad leading to each bridge and heavy

woods surrounding the roads and river,the Austrians had difficulty deploying.

Finally, the Austrian cavalryemerged from the forest and was readyto move over the bridge. The Austrianskirmishers began to engage the Rus-sians holding the road while Russiancavalry moved to intercept the Austri-ans crossing the bridges. Russian artil-lery came into play on the road, tryingto engage the Austrian artillery andcoming out the worst for it.

The Battlefield

Age of Reason Scenario Replay: Russians vs. Austrians

The Battle Begins

The view as seen from the Aus-

trian side with all of the enclosedfields.

The Austrians getting ready tocross the two bridges and come up on

the flank of the Russians. With no op-

position on the left bank, the Austrians

were able to quickly deploy and by the

6th turn were ready to make their

move.

The Russian army rolls forward


7/14

WARNING ORDER P AGE 7The Russians now moved against thecenter, trying to punch through before

the Austrians crossed the river in force.The Austrian cavalry on the extremeright flank got tangled up in a meleethat would last five turns! This contrib-uted to the Russians being unable tomove forces around that flank.

Finally , the Austrian flanking forcecrosses the river and is immediately hit

by a cavalry charge as the Russians des-perately try to block the bridges. TheRussian cavalry is forced back while theAustrian infantry begins to deploy.

In the center the Russians have nowmoved into firefights with the Austrian

infantry. The Russian artillery begins tocome into play on the center, but time

is quickly running out. The Austrianinfantry is holding its groundand without direct, closerange artillery support, theAustrian infantry refuses to

be forced back.

The Austrian cavalry hasnow reorganized and getsready for another series ofcharges. The Russian infan-try guarding the road is beingforced back and the artilleryalong the road has been hithard. The Austrian cavalry

tory for the Austrians and gave them aray of hope during the campaign. The

random terrain roll produced an inter-esting set up. If we had all of our ter-rain that night itcould have beenworse as their wereactually several morefields called for inthe set up.

Both sides hadpretty good deploy-ments and plans forthe battle. The Rus-sians had several

The Austrian cavalry in the flankingforce charges whats left of the Russian

artillery on the road and seizes the guns.It is met by the remains of the Russiancavalry and cuts through them as well.The Russian infantry has made little

progress in the center and during thewithdrawal phase they fail their die roll.

The Russians are forced to withdraw,losing 4 SPs to the Austrian 2 SP loss.The Austrian pursuit roll is very good,however, and the Russian force loses anadditional 2SPs during the pursuit.

The game ended up as a major vic-

Austrians Hold the Center

End of the Battle

unforeseen events work against them.First, the fields slowed down their artil-

lery support and it arrived too late. Sec-ond, the cavalry battle on the right wenton for a very long time,

blocking a flankingattempt. Finally, thecrossings could not beheld in strength and theAustrians deployedquicker than they

planned. All in all, avery enjoyable andexciting scenario.

on the extreme right finally gives way,but time has run out on the Russians asthe flanking force makes its move.

The Final Moves

The inability of the

Russians to deploy their

artillery quickly because

of the fields led to their

infantry attacks going in

unsupported. If the artil-

lery had not had to strug-

gle over the numerous

enclosures they may havehad a good chance at

smashing the Austriancenter, then turning to

meet the flank ing force.

As it was, time ran out on

the Russian attack on the

center.


8/14


CD3 Scenario Replay: Holding Back The Red Tide

The game board looking out from the Soviet

side. The Germans are entrenched on the hill

in the foreground and around the village.

Fearing the German heavy armorup ahead, the Soviets wait for

more of their own armor to ar-rive.

Having not played CD3 in awhile and needing a break from the

Sport of Kings campaign, we decided to go back to the Eastern Front.The scenario is set in the fall of 1944 and Army Group Center is fallingapart. Veteran German formations are trying to stem the tide and coverfor the withdrawal of the army group. In our scenario there is a smallGerman force consisting of an infantry battalion, two King Tiger pla-toons that are refueling, and a company of panzergrenadiers backed upby a battalion of 105mm artillery. This force was chosen at randomfrom a list and told to hold the highway for a random amount of turns,before withdrawing to the west. Reinforcements (also random) wouldcontinue to enter from the far side of the board and could aid in the bat-tle or go straight off the exit. The German side earned so many pointsfor each surviving stand which translated into a percentage whichwould be rolled on a D100 at the end of the game to see if they weresuccessful.

The Soviets would be entering from a pre-determined list and wouldgrow stronger every turn. The Germans would not be able to stop all

The first Soviet attack goes in. Although

supported by armor and artillery it was

thrown back with horrendous losses.

Mikes Soviet horde of armor

makes its move. The wave of ar-

mor surged forward right as the

Germans began pulling out and

got into several firefights with

German forces that were left tosacrifice themselves. While it su c-

ceeded in punching a hole in the

German lines, it was too late.

of it, but they only had to hold fora few turns.

The Soviets moved on board,cautiously looking for ambushesand German armor. Meanwhile,the Germans raced to take upblocking positions. Spotting twoKing Tigers in a forest up ahead,Mike chose wisely to wait formheavy support. After four turns of

accumulating forces, the Sovietslaunched their first attack on thehill, but were thrown back. Mikeand Matt then decided to wait forthe assault guns and SU-100sbefore going further into ever

stiffening German resistance. Artillery began to pound the hill for the next attack.The Su-100s began a long range firefight with some hull down PZIVs on the

hill while the SU-122s moved in to pound the entrenchments. Finally, resistanceslackened and the second infantry attack went in. The Germans then received theirwithdrawal signal and began to pull back, right as the Soviets launched a massiveattack involving at least two brigades and support.

The German rear guard gave as good as it got for a few turns, then was over-whelmed by firepower. However, Gary and Justen had succeeded in getting away51 points which enable them to survive the die roll at the end of the game. TheGermans had won in a close fought battle which was very enjoyable and recon-firmed our faith in the CD3 system.

It did show that random reinforcements and making do with what you have arepretty realistic and stresses the importance of planning. Both sides had no idea ofwhat was coming, if anything at all, and had to act upon what they had in front ofthem.


9/14


Scenario Design Pt. 2 by Mark Daymont

Some time ago one of myother hobbies was WW2 reen-acting. A local group wasforming and recruiting newmembers. A couple of myfriends and I decided to join,anxious to use the collectiblemilitary uniforms and gear wehad been collecting and dis-playing for years before. Wedecided to participate with theGerman side. I was surprised atfirst to discoverthat the German unit consisted

of 4 SS, 3 panzertroopers (no tanks available), and 2elite mountaintroops. All elite unit portrayals. There were noportrayals for the average Wehrmacht soldier.

Over many years, Ive seen a similar effect inwargaming (but not in WFHGS, of course!). A typi-cal wargamer tends to seek the use of the best andmost elite troops and equipment, in whatever periodbeing played! I cant really blame them for it, theyare flashy, brave, and wonderful at helping your oddsof winning. But I hope I can make a case here for thealternative - raising the militia!

I also mean more than militia. I mean the lower

morale class, the inexperienced troops, the troopslacking the best in equipment. The troops most likelyto pee their pants during an assault. The troops forwhich an actual advance would make oohs and awwsescape the lips of those who belittle their meanachievements.

Back when Command Decision came out, thegroup I was with decided to leap into it with microarmor. Immediately the Tigers and Panthers wereprimed and painted, the US airborne and Pattons ar-mored began to be assembled, and the dreaded SSwere called to battle. The first German troops I mod-eled were the opposite. I had bought some battlepacks

from GHQ, and many of us were dismayed at howGHQ had created the infantry figures- in blocks of tenall at attention as if on parade. I planned on using He-roics and Ross thereafter. But what to do with the pa-rade troops? Well, they were perfect for my project -a Luftwaffe Fortress Battalion! Those troops are welldrilled in military formations, so the modeling wasappropriate. I enjoyed researching and discoveringhow many late war formations were made of these

rear-area troops. I was surprised at how many. And, theypainted up well in Luftwaffe blue.

Those troops were used often -more than the Tigers! Your basictroops are essential. Next in line arethe less than average troops. Elitetroops arenecessarily rare in armies. SO weneed to see moreless-than-perfect troops. These LWtroops havenecessarily been used at times forother averageGerman troops, because thats whatoften was available

in scenarios. But why use these troops iftheyrelikely to lose?

A good example of the answer occurred recently in anAge of Reason Seven Years War game. Turks versusAustrians. Most of the Turks were morale grade 1 andwe didnt expect much against the larger, highermorale Austrians. The enemy was to proceed from thefar end of the terrain to relieve a smallercontingent. The fastest troops we had were 2 morale 1skirmish horse units and a morale 1 lance, shield andarmored horse unit. My job was to rush to the far endand slow down the advancing enemy. I thought I mightnot last long. However, I had great success. The

reason is, I played to the poorer troops s trengths.As skirmishers, I avoided combat whenever I couldexcept when attacking a flank or rear. BUT, theystill presented a threat, forcing the enemy to deploy,and therefore, delay their march. The tactics workedwell until sufficient enemy cavalry could buy enoughtime for enemy infantry to form a flank-protected linefor the advance.

The key then, is to use these troops as they wereused historically. No, the LW Fortress battalionwould not be in the van of an assault against Sovietarmored troops (OK, maybe against the British). Butthey ARE very tough to dig out of prepared defenses in

bombed-out towns and fortif ications. In Age ofReason, Napoleonics etc., back them up with a secondline and reserves and stiffen them with good leadersand artillery, and they will account well enough. Usethem as a distraction, decoy, or hidden surprise.Enough! Get busy. Lets see more landwehr, militiaand support troops. Up with Hungarian militia! Herecome the Spanish musketeer battalions! Victory isours

Austrians and Ottomans square

off in a recent AOR battle.


10/14


tion to come outsomeday.

For those who have-nt seen the film, it wasone of Michael Cainesfirst films and is greatfor anyone interested incolonial warfare. Ittells of the defense ofRorkes Drift by acompany of Britishsoldiers after the open-ing of the Zulu war.The defense is fairly

accurate and the Zulu attacksare well done. The acting isabove average and the show iswell worth the effort.

As I stated above, I dontunderstand why they wouldrerelease a version on DVDthat hasnt been cleaned up.With just a little effort theycould have made what is al-ready a classic war movie intosomething truly spectacular.

I have been waiting almost two yearsfor Zulu to be released on DVD, hopingit would be digitally remastered withextra features. I was sadly mistaken.The DVD version does have the entirefilm, including the Zulu dance at theKings kraal, but that is about as far as it

goes.Now, it does beat watching the

grainy versions on VHS that have beenavailable for sale over the last fewyears. The picture is clear and thesound is acceptable, but it looks like wewill have to wait for a collectors edi-

Cavalry: A History of a Fight-ing Elite Available at Ama-zon.com or fine bookstores.

First, you must buy thisbook! If you are a wargamer ormilitary history buff, this shoulddefinitely be on your must havelist. Far better than any Osprey

produced so far, it features al-most 100 color plates!

There is a brief, but very well

done history of cavalry, pointingout the historical basis for some

of the illustrations. Itis not to be an all en-compassing treatise onthe history of cavalry,as the span of the bookwould take volumes todo correctly.

What it does do,however, is give yousome of ht e finest fullcolor plates of cavalry through-out military history. The platesare a full 11 inches high and are

of very high quality.From ancient times to the

renaissance, from theSeven Years war to the

beginning of WWI,there is usually a plateto go along with each

period of military his-tory. Both parade dressand campaign dress arerepresented, giving thereader a good look atunits both on and off the

field.

For $29.95(retail price) you

definitely get your moneysworth.

The DVD version isavailable in widescreen,

which is the only way towatch the many battlescenes. The soundtrack iscd quality and the menuformat is done very wellwith scenes from he film.

One of the best featuresis the history of the battleand maps of the battlefieldincluded on the cd. It alsocontains interviews with theactors, Shelby Foote, andKen Burns about aspects of

It took awhile, but the DVD versionfinally came out and its more than

worth it. For those who havent seenthis, it is a very realistic portrayal of thethree day epic battle of Gettysburg.

While many historians and gamershad a few complaints about actors,

beards, etc, you cannot complainabout the battle scenes which are spec-tacular. The uniforms, sets, scenery,and action in the movie is about as his-torically accurate as it gets. If only allmovies based on history took the effortthat the producers of this show did, wewould have many more accurate films.

the battle which are then shownfrom the film. This extra feature

was very welcome and for thosewho dont know much abouteither the Civil War or the Battleof Gettysburg it could be veryinformative.

All in all, the DVD version iswell worth the money. Hop e-fully, more DVD versions ofhistorical films will include thesekinds of features.

ZULU DVD

CAVALRY

GETTYSBURG DVD


11/14


NAVAL HISTORY: PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND

Portsmouth, while generally being uninspiring as far

as cities go, has several attractions worth the timeof any wargamer or historian.The town has traditionally been one of the mainbasesfor the English warships which have kept control ofthe channel for the last several centuries. It is anideal location, with a deep, sheltered (and verylarge) bay. It is large enough that a large Frenchbattle fleet once went head to head against theEnglish inside the harbor, with room to spare!It was from here that the Mary Rose (considered thelargest and best-built ship in the English fleet)sailed to its doom in the 1500's. Ironically it wasnot sunk by French attack, but rather by its own

design, for sallying forth at the head of the Englishfleet, it attempted to turn into the wind, andcapsized, dragging almost its entire crew to thebottom of the channel in front of the rest of thehorrified English Fleet. What is left of the Mary Rosehas been salvaged, and is now housed along thePortsmouth waterfront in a specially designedbuilding.Among other naval heirlooms kept in the harbor are HMSVictory, of Trafalgar fame, and still kept in verygood condition, and the HMS Warrior, which contrary topopular belief, was the first ironclad warship theworld saw, having been launched in 1860.

As with the rest of Britain, Portsmouth enjoys apeculiar mixture of old (even ancient) and newexisting side by side, sometimes separated only by afew feet. A hundred yards or so from where HMS Vic-toryreposes in her 200 year-old splendor, 4 new destroyersare sitting in drydocks in various stages ofConstruction.To counter the threat of Portsmouth ever being takenfrom the landward side by an ambitious French attack,a ring of huge brick forts where built there in theearly 1800's. They were strategically sited on thesurrounding hills to be able to place cannon fire onany point between them. The garrisons manned

an impressive array of mounted artillery, and perhapsin tribute to this one of the forts, Fort Nelson, whendecommissioned, was turned into an artillery museum.Here much of the vast array of artillery of allmakes, descriptions and calibers captured from variousenemies all across the world has been sent. There arehundreds of pieces kept there, including lion anddragon encrusted bronze cannon from India and China.

There are also numerous under-

ground galleries toexplore, including an impressivewinding collection ofdrafty tunnels, used by the Brit-ish as an intelligencepost in WW2. On a good dayyou might even catch (asthe author did) an impressivelive- fire display by atroop of uniformed reenactors

manning a still-working9 lb gun used by the British in the Peninsular war inSpain to such effect. The smoke ejected by this onecannon was enough to engulf the entire watching crowd

in a thick, stinking smoke. One can see why theBattlefield of that age was so confusing, withhundreds of these cannon and hundreds of thousands ofmuskets firing the same smoke.Portsmouth offers several other attractions whichspace does not permit discussion of, but if you areplanning a vis it to England (or live there already),it is an excellent stopover for a day, and is onlyabout an hour down the motorway from Londons Gatwickairport. It is well worth the time.

By Mike Marchant


12/14


REVIEW: Civil War Scenario Books by Gary Sapp

Like everyone else who wargames, I am con-stantly searching for sources of inspiration forgames. I can always throw something to-gether, but if I have something to start with,even if I have to modify it for the troops thegroup actually has, a better game usually re-sults. Thats why I really enjoy the set ofAmerican Civil War Scenario books from Po-tomac Publications.

The books, seven in all, contain10-14 scenarios each. All of the

scenario books are based on realbattles or portions of battles.The scenarios in six of thebooks are set at the regimentallevel and are generally designedto be played with Johnny RebII. They are easily adaptable toJR III and have enough detail tobe changed to work with anyrule set. The seventh book is done at the bri-gade level and is designed to be used with Fire

and Fury or other rule sets in the same scale.The books in the series and what they containare:

Bullets & Dirt, 14 scenarios, all theatres, regi-mental level. Contains two pure cavalry sce-narios.

Rebel Yell, Yankee Hurrah, 12 scenarios,western theatre, regimental level.

Across a Deadly Space, 12 scenarios, easterntheatre, regimental level, one pure cavalry sce-nario (Eastern Cavalry Field at Gettysburg).

Kirby Smiths Confederacy, 13 scenarios,western theatre, regimental level, one pure cav-alry scenario.

A Clash of Sabers, 11 cavalry scenarios, alltheatres, regimental level.

Bayonets, Shells & Balls, 10 scenarios,eastern theatre, brigade level.

Forward the Colors, 12 scenarios, all thea-tres, regimental level.

Each scenario is well pre-sented with great detail. A

background history puttingthe battle in its proper his-torical prospective and ex-plaining the how the battletook place, the major per-sonalities involved and thehistorical result. The sce-nario notes describe whatportion of the battle is being

modeled, how the forces are deployed atthe start of the scenario, general terrain de-

scriptions and victory conditions. A de-tailed order of battle is presented, withcommanders at army, corps, division, andbrigade identified along with their com-mand level given. The individual regi-ments are listed with their strength in men,weapons, and morale level given. Eachscenario is also provided with a very de-tailed map showing fence lines, structures,


13/14


With Axe and Sword(cont.) Review of PIG WARS

REVIEW(cont.)

Potomac Publications has

also produced an additionalvolume in the series thatprovide two campaigns forthe ACW gamer. The firstpart is set up around the PeaRidge / Elkhorn Tavern bat-tles in Missouri and Arkan-sas during early 1862. Thesecond portion covers theBermuda Hundred cam-paign to assault Richmondin May 1864. It also con-tains wonderfully detailedmaps and orders of battle

and provides the campaign

referee with everything toconduct an interesting andbalanced campaign for bothsides.

These eight booklets are anyinvaluable resource for anyACW gamer and providevaluable historical informa-tion even if you never useone. I, personally, was in-spired to study Jubal Earlyscampaign against Washing-ton in 1864 after playing the

Monocacy scenario in the

first book. All of the book-lets are available directlyfrom the Last Square gam-ing shop (http://www.lastsquare.com) online or toll-

Morale is influ-enced by leadersand the presenceof banners. Units

can fall back orrout depending onthe circumstance.Once again it isquick and easy,but seems to workwell during thegame.

Of course theobject of most sce-narios is getting asmuch booty as possible. There is aprize table on the back of the refe r-ence card that details the value ingold of what each item is worth.This will form the focal point formost scenarios and gamers can addor increase/decrease the value ofitems per scenario.

The game system lends itself tomulti-player scenarios as in the sce-nario Landwaster Cometh. Here,everyone has a unit with separate

objectives andyou could haveseveral playersall on the same

side fighting fordifferent things.These scenarioswould take a lotof time to setup, but would

be well worth theresult.

The game is de-signed for 25mmfigures and thereare too many avai l-able periods andranges to list here.You could convert itto 15mm, but I thinkit would lose much ofthe appeal of small unit skirmish

gaming. Although the rules arefor the Dark Ages, they are easilyadaptable to any period up to theadvent of firearms.

What is needed are scenariobooks, army lists, supplementalrules for heroes, civilians, navalcombat, fires, and other unusualthings that may happen or be in-cluded in a scenario. The more

things thereare added inwill open upnew avenuesfor scenariodesign.

All in all,if you likedthe Swordand theFlame, youwill like this

set of rules.Simple, buteffective is thebest way to

sum them up.

25mm Old Glory Mongol auxiliaries

attacking a farm in Western Europe.

Figures painted by Matt Irsik.

More Old Glory 25mm Mongols

looking for plunder.


14/14

This is the third issue of Warning Order and probably the last in a paper format. Work

is already underway on a website to hold future issues, back issues, and any campaign

material the group produces. The problems of printing, keeping it in full color, and be-

ing able to publish enough copies for everyone who wants one without charging over

$10 a copy are pushing us to a web magazine format.

We would also like to welcome Bart Woods and his group NUTS(Northern Utqh Tacti-

cians and Strategists) to our journal. They will be contributing articles, reviews, and

battle reports to this and all future i ssues.

Boardgames, EmpireV, Ageof Reason, SwordandtheFlame,CommandDecision3, Johnny Reb3, Ageof Discovery,

Harpoon, fantasy andsci-fi gaming, PigWars, FromValmytoWaterloo

WasatchFront Historical GamingSociety

ner was the onealive at the end.From one

wargamers standpoint, this was agreat movie. Theacting was be-lievable and the storywas exciting to fol-low. The battlescenes and special

effects werewonderful. Iwould rate themup there with the

effects fromSaving PrivateRyan. When Iwalked out of

the theatre, I feltdown, depressed, andhad a sickening feel-ing in my stomach,as if for a moment I

Vassili Zaitsev was afamous Russiansniper was responsi-

ble shooting dozensof German soldiers.When his actions be-gan to effect Germanmorale, the Germanssent expert Germansniper Major Koenigto Stalingrad to kill

Zaitsev. The twosnipers began a dan-gerous game ofchess, but in thischess game, the win-

was on the easternfront during the terri-ble battle of Stalin-grad. Which madethis one of the mostbelievable and bestmovies about WorldWar II on the Eastern

Front.

Enemy At The Gates by Justen Huff

Email: [email protected]

The Best in Historical

Simulations

Visit us on the Web

WWW.WFHGS.COM

W F H G S

15mm Austrians enter a village.Figures painted by Mike Mar-chant.

15mm Old Glory Ottomanspainted by Jeff Miner and MikeMarchant.

warning order 03 - wo3rd

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