CANCON 2018 - Firestorm LANDJUT

This post is only six months late(!), however given how interested people were in the recent WINTERCON 2018 post, I thought I'd step back in time to the event we ran in January 2018 at CANCON 2018.

CANCON is Australia's largest wargames convention and with the popularity of Team Yankee being played in 6mm, we thought we could host an event for people to play in. The event was listed for CANCON as a tournament, however it really wasn't. Instead of a competitive tournament, we opted for more of a narrative campaign with the players fighting linked battles that influenced a higher level operational outcome. This would be five games, starting and finishing with a multi-player 'mega-game'; great fun!

The campaign map was in the style of Battlefront's Firestorm campaigns, although the rules are somewhat more detailed than one of those. Our campaign was set in Northern Germany and Denmark in 1985, and thus was born Firestorm LANDJUT. (LANDJUT was the NATO acronym for Land Forces Jutland, which were those allocated to northern Germany and Denmark.)

The original player pack for the event can be found here: Firestorm LANDJUT Player Pack.

Some photos from the event are below:

The Results?

Rules details can be found below, however the results of the narrative campaign battle resulted strategically in a minor victory to the WARPAC forces.

The battles in the initial three-pronged WARPAC thrust (turn 1 mega-game) all resulted in NATO blunting the attacks. No initial gains!

Turn 2 attacks (individual battles) went the way of five WARPAC victories and three to NATO. Some big territorial gains for WARPAC, over-running most of northern Germany, but with NATO still retaining some footholds, including a local counter attack back into East Germany.

Turns 3 & 4 saw attacks back and forth, with honours going both ways. WARPAC ended turn 4 with all of northern Germany and parts of Denmark over-run, including Copenhagen captured through WARPAC amphibious assault. NATO still retained its troublesome foothold in East Germany though.

Turn 5 (two multiplayer games) saw the NATO major counterattack capturing most of East Germany, however despite losing part of its home territory, WARPAC had held captured territory in Denmark and west Germany (including the VP critical Hamburg and Copenhagen).

Enough to finish with 28 VPs in our Firestorm style LANDJUT campaign, and a narrow WARPAC strategic victory. The finishing campaign map is below.

For those who can't be bothered going to the Player Pack link, the key parts of the campaign rules are below.

The Background

Overview:

Whilst it is listed as a tournament, this event is not a competitive competition. It is really a narrative campaign, with players trying to defeat their opponents in each game to advance the narrative and the common cause of their faction. If you want power gaming, this event is probably not for you!

Team Yankee in 6mm:

The rules are played as written. No changes are used, other than playing with smaller scale miniatures. Ranges, move and command distances, templates, etc. are all un-changed.

Background:

Firestorm: LANDJUT is a campaign that recreates the opening stages of the Battle for northern Germany and Denmark (the NATO Land Forces Jutland Peninsula, LANDJUT, area of operations) in August 1985. It is designed to fit within the Team Yankee background and complement other Firestorm: Team Yankee – WWIII campaigns.

The Soviet and supporting Warsaw Pact (WARPAC) forces launch a surprise offensive into Germany, seeking to push the NATO defenders back to and across the Rhine River. On the northern flank the WARPAC must gain control of the narrow gap between Sweden and Denmark, keeping the eastern Baltic Sea open for their Naval forces to exit to the Atlantic. A combined assault of WARPAC land, Naval, and Airborne forces in the LANDJUT sector supports this effort, and protects the northern flank of their thrust into Germany further south. Meanwhile the NATO forces attempt to stem the initial Soviet thrust and counterattack to regain lost ground and possibly liberate East Germany.

The campaign consists of a series of Team Yankee games played during CANCON 2018. Players attempt to capture areas from the enemy or recover those lost in earlier games.

The Rules:

Miniatures & Basing:

Miniatures:

All miniatures are to be 6mm (1:285 or 1:300 scale), fully painted and recognisable as the troops taken.

It is a player's responsibility to ensure opponents fully understand the components of their army if using proxy troops; any confusion will be resolved in their opponent’s favour.

Basing:

For those building forces for the campaign (or re-basing), the recommended basing system is as follows:

• Teams on medium bases (eg. Infantry teams): 20x20mm
• Teams on small bases (eg. Command teams): 15x20mm
• Teams on large bases, and Tank teams* (eg. Fliegerfaust, AFVs): 20x40mm (*very small tank teams such as Scorpions or BRDMs can be based on smaller bases)

Un-based AFVs are ok (but not encouraged), as are bases that are close to these dimensions. Any basing sizes that vary significantly from the above may cause play imbalance. If in doubt, email the TO to discuss.

Player forces:

Each player has an 85 point “Core list” which he uses for all his games. This can be augmented by Support Dice allocated by the C-in-C as described later.

The 85-point Core list is selected from Formations available in the Player’s Army list. Support units available to formations are allowed, however Divisional support units or Allies are not allowed as part of the Core List.

Available Lists:

Players can select from the following options available in the LANDJUT sector:

• Soviet Motor Rifle, Tank or Air Assault (Afgantsy) [from Red Thunder book]
• Soviet Naval Infantry [use Motor Rifle from VolksArmee book]
• E. German or Polish Motor Rifle or Tank, Polish Naval Infantry [from VolksArmee book]
• US Army Armored, Mech or Airborne, or USMC [from Stripes book]
• West German Panzer or Panzer Grenadier [from Leopard book]
• West German Reserve Panzer or Panzer Grenadier [from Panzertruppen book]
• Danish Mech Infantry or Armored [use Panzertruppen book]
• UK Armored, Recce, Mech Infantry, or Airmobile [from Iron Maiden book]
• UK Royal Marines [use Airmobile from Iron Maiden book]

Firestorm: LANDJUT campaign rules

The Campaign Map:

The Campaign Map represents the territory contested by the NATO LANDJUT forces, and the Northern Front of the WARPAC forces. The map is divided into a number of areas, which start controlled by either side and which can be captured by launching attacks via Attack Arrows (see below). 

Some areas contain campaign Victory Points (VPs), which indicate the two sides’ progress in capturing key strategic areas. Each time a player wins a game their side (NATO or WARPAC) captures (or retains) that area. At the end of the five games, tally up all the campaign VPs and determine which side won the Campaign (see the winning the campaign section).

The Commander in Chief:

Each side has a designated Commander in Chief (C-in-C). The C-in-C is a very important player as he determines the strategy for his side. He determines where and when to attack and controls the allocation of support troops (reinforcements and divisional support assets) to the priority areas of the map (the other players on his side). This is outlined within the relevant areas that follow.

Playing Games:

A number of attack arrows are available each campaign turn (corresponding to the five turns of play over the three days of CANCON ’18). Attack arrows represent the main thrusts or counter-thrusts by the high commands of both sides. The C-in-C of each side places the attack arrows. 

Placing Attack Arrows: 

Attack Arrows are placed from one area to another bordering area. 

Attacks are from an area controlled by the attacking side into an enemy-held area, unless noted otherwise below. Only one attack arrow can be active between two areas at the same time (note that multiple attackers can attack out of the same area into different objective areas).

Attack arrows are available as follows:

• Turn 1: Three WARPAC attack arrows (representing the initial WARPAC assault). These can be placed by the WARPAC C-in-C from any WARPAC controlled land area, and/or from the Ocean into any NATO area (the initial Amphibious and Airborne assaults). 
• Turn 2: One attack arrow for each WARPAC player, placed by the WARPAC C-in-C
• Turn 3: One attack arrow for each pair of players (NATO & WARPAC). Randomly determine whether WARPAC (3+) or NATO (1-2) is attacking. The attacking C-in-C places the attack arrow.
• Turn 4: One attack arrow for each pair of players (NATO & WARPAC). Randomly determine whether WARPAC (4+) or NATO (1-3) is attacking. The attacking C-in-C places the attack arrow.
• Turn 5: Three NATO attack arrows (representing a major NATO counterattack). These can be placed by the NATO C-in-C from any NATO controlled land area.
• In turns 2-4, a player with a Soviet air assault or US Airborne force (only) may attack into any area (ie. Does not need to border a friendly area. If using Soviet or Polish Naval Infantry, USMC or UK Royal Marines formation, any coastal area can be attacked. 

Allocate Support:

Each campaign turn, the NATO and WARPAC C-in-Cs generate two “Support Dice” for each player on their side. For example, if each side had 8 players, both C-in-Cs would generate sixteen Support Dice. 

• The C-in-Cs may also get additional Support Dice depending on the strategic posture of their side:
• In turn 1 & 2, the WARPAC C-in-C receives two additional Support Dice.
• In turn 4 & 5, the NATO C-in-C receives two additional Support Dice.

Support dice are allocated by the C-in-Cs to the players to support the C-in-C’s priority attacks (ie. Attack Arrows, or priority defended areas (for the defending C-in-C).

The C-in-C hands over a number of d6 Support Dice from his pool of available dice to the supported player. The C-in-C can allocate any number of dice to each player from within his available pool of Support Dice, up to a maximum of 10 Support Dice for any one player. He does not have to allocate dice to all his players (Support Dice are scarce resources and need to be allocated in sufficient quantities to make a difference to players in key attack/defence areas). 

The supported player rolls the d6 dice he is allocated and adds together their results. The total is the number of extra points the player receives for this game.

For example, a player receives three Support Dice from his C-in-C and rolls them, totaling 2+4+5=11. The player therefore receives 11 extra support points, which he can spend on any troops available to his Formation(s), including Divisional Support options. This is added to his 85 points Core Force (so in this example, the player would have 85+11=96 points for this game)

Note that Support Dice are the only way Divisional Support or Allies can be taken, so Support Dice are valuable for getting these rarer troop types.   

To field Support Troops, players must have the miniatures available. If the miniatures aren’t available the option can’t be fielded, so players will need to bring along whatever support options they may want to field.

UK Marines cannot spend Support Dice on armored troops unless adjacent to a NATO-held area.

Play a Game:

The players then play a game, with the side that placed the Attack Arrow as the attacking player.

Scenarios are determined as follows:

Game 1:

WARPAC attacks in “No Retreat” scenario. This will be a large multi-player battle. When the WARPAC C-in-C places his attack arrows at the start of this campaign turn, he can allocate multiple players to each attack arrow. This will determine which ‘sector’ of the large combined table the players start on. 

The scenario rules for reserves, ambushes, objectives, etc. apply to each 4’ table sector with a pair of players. Player’s troops and reserves must deploy or enter on their own sector of the table. After deployment or entry, however, players can maneuver their troops into other sectors if ordered by their C-in-C.

The winner in each sector determines how many of the Campaign Attack Arrows are successful (and therefore possession of the territories).

Games 2-4:

Games 2-4 are standard one-on-one battles on separate 6’x4’ tables. To determine the scenario, use the “Battle Plans” system in the “More Missions” download from the Battlefront website. 

When selecting the posture at the start, attacking players may only opt for “Attack” or “Maneuver” postures (ie. They cannot choose “Defend”). Defenders can choose any posture; Attack or Maneuver postures represent a more active or counterattacking local defense, whereas a Defend posture represents a more static local defense.

The winner of the game is the one that achieved the victory conditions for the mission. 

Game 5:

NATO attacks in a “Breakthrough” scenario. This will be a large multi-player battle. 

Where the scenario refers to ‘units’ held in reserve, each ‘unit’ is an entire player force. The C-in-Cs determine which of their players will start on-table and which will start in reserve

The scenario is modified so that there are three objectives placed (instead of two). The holder of each objective determines whether each of the three attack arrows placed by the NATO C-in-C is successful.

Capture Areas:

After the game, the winner may capture the enemy held areas being fought over.

• If the winner was the attacker, they capture the enemy held area, plus one other adjacent area to the target area.
• If the winner was the defender, not only was the area being attacked not captured, but the enemy may have been pushed back and the area they attacked from captured:
• If the defender opted for a “defend” or “maneuver” posture, they capture the enemy held area on a d6 roll of “6”. If the defender opted for an “attack” posture, they capture the enemy held area on a d6 roll of “4+”)

Mark the areas captured and/or controlled by each side at the end of each campaign turn.

Winning the Campaign

The side that won the campaign is determined at the end of campaign turn 5, by tallying up the number of VPs held by each side:

• If the WARPAC holds 24 VPs or more, it has won a minor victory.
• If the WARPAC holds 36 VPs or more, it has won a major victory.

Games:

Five games of 3 hours duration over three days (Day 1 – two games, Day 2 – two games; Day 3 - one game. See schedule).

Players can sign up for 1,2, or 3 days.

• Game 1 will be a large-table multi-player game with WARPAC attacking, including an Amphibious Assault, for the initial WARPAC invasion.
• Games 2,3,4 will be 1-vs-1 games between random players from each side. The Scenario is determined using the Expanded Mission Pack and Battle Plans. Players may be allocated Support Troops by their C-in-C (see campaign rules above).
• Game 5 will also be a large multi-player game NATO counter attack.  

Further details on each game round are in the campaign rules above.

Missions:

Missions will be a combination of set missions for multiplayer games (games 1&5) and one-on-one games using the battle plans system in the expanded “More Missions Pack” available as a download from the Battlefront website. Link to Battle Plans and Expanded Mission Pack:

http://flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/MoreMissions2017/TYMoreMissions.pdf

It is a player’s responsibility to bring a personal copy of the expanded missions pack, and to understand the system of Battle Plans.

WARPAC will attack in games 1 & 2. Player's battle plans will determine the attacker in games 3 & 4. NATO attacks in game 5.

Further details on each game round are in the campaign rules above.

Draw & Scoring:

Relative campaign map location for players in games 1 & 5 will determine where they are deployed on table (and therefore which players they face off against in their sector).

Draw for games 2,3,4 will be determined randomly and the games allocated by the attacking CinC to map areas.

Scoring will be win/loss for possession of campaign map sectors. Win/loss is determined as per the scenario victory conditions in the Expanded Mission Pack.