[Sticky] Operation Iskra

Spoke to Tony he is on site Sunday 13th and then two weeks later (which i wont make as am at Josh's IC game) let us know asap so I can set it up with Tony please.

Weekend of the 12th and 19th I'm busy.

Might be able to sort something on the way back from Zog though, which is the 19th?

Here is kit list required as I see it. This game is going to be more about the gameplay rather than abundance of props etc.

Also with regards site visit. Thinks its going to be a problem to get together on dates we can get on. We have all played on the site some of us more than once would we be able to all get down reasonably early on the Friday and have a walk through of the entire game instead? will all be fresh we can make any notes as we go round and we will be identifying issues as they sit rather than having to account for something that may not be an issue.

Not been the best of set up for this game but I know everyone is busy with other stuff so just have to make sure we all put the 100% in on game day.

Kit list:

General:
1 no. ammo tin and flag for each unit on each side.

Mission 1:
1 or 2 large crates for Russian re-enforcements to bring across line
2 smaller ammo tins for inside building with small amount of ammo and bandages in
3 smokes for Germans to set off in buildings

Mission 2 Water towers:
None

Mission 3 Bombardment:
Pak Stut said he would bring theirs.

Mission 4 Pilot:
Pilot dummy + parachute sheet
2 no. crates + parachute sheet – 1 filled with intel the other with grenades if we can afford them.
Stretcher

Mission 5 Breakout:
Russian flags for checkpoints

I'm away at the moment, will chip in when I'm back this weekend. Need a better device and some thinking time.

Cheers
Martin

I'm not going ot be able to manage a site visit on the dates suggested, so as Kie says, maybe we should try and get down fairly early on Friday and walk the site together. I can only take a half day, but if I get off from work at lunchtime I should be down by 3 and it will be light for a good few hours. The revised game plans give a very good idea of starting points and routes, and I think it would also help in terms of not getting lost if we designated the radial roads from the safe zone/railhead as 1-8 (main route in is 1, then 2, 3 to the farmhouse 4 to point 4 etc.

Had a go at a rough outline of times, I was thinking we'd tell people we'd go for a 9am briefing as daylight is short, move out at 0930, but allow some time for the inevitable delays etc. I've allowed for 15 minutes moving/forming up times between missions. I hope we can just edit this post if details change, or it will get confusing.

I reckon some of the missions will be longer than others, estimated times in brackets.

0900 briefing
0930 move out
0945 to 1045 The Pocket (1 hour)
1100 to 1145 Water Towers (45 mins)
1200 to 1300 Bombardment (1 hour)
1300 to 1345 lunch back at the safe zone or in game
1400 to 1445 Pilot Retrieval (45 mins)
1500 to 1615 Breakout (1 hour 15 mins)
1615 Endex
1630 Debrief back in the safe zone

I reckon we could use whistles to mark the start and end of phases if the radios are dodgy.

Comments/thoughts? Obviously we could dump a specific lunch break in the day, but all that happened last time was that both sides took a break anyway, but an hour apart so our timings got buggered up...

Cheers
Martin

Right all other games done know before ours.

Like to get best foot forward now! Could everyone look over props/equipment list and confirm anything they are able to supply.

Martin time line looks bang on to be honest at the moment think we will only be running one unit per side anyway but still need to plan for more.

I will be chasing all people who said they are coming to get booked.

At the moment what are people thoughts as to cut off? think we need to have 10 a side minimum to make it work.

If we don't hit that I don't think I will be carrying on with the events as obviously no support for it and there is possibility of both Porta and Josh doing eastern front next year so would rather support them as they have a player base for there games which obviously isn't interested in supporting anyone else.

Will check the spare room today to see which props I can cross of list

Regarding numbers the Soviets are a bit slow, but fingers crossed

I think we'll just have to wait and see with the Russian bookings, although we had seven a side at the weekend and it was fine, although we had Portas small group of partisans too.

We can tweak the timings on the run though, but it is the best I could come up with. Still not sure if leaving an explicit gap between missions is a good idea or not.

Cheers
Martin

From feedback I have had so far today after chasing people is I don't think there will be any problem getting the German numbers as we are up to ten now and have Stut and his lads still to come in its going to be Russian numbers but we may have to think of a 2 on 1 unit scenario. Could we have a think of what we can do with this? Will it be a case for a lot of smaller ambush style missions for the Russians. either that or will have to put in a mechanic to allow the Russians to revive a bit quicker. I know it completely in keeping that there is a German steam roller but think people will get a bit pissed with it.
Make plans now and hope its not an issue

Right to be honest not looking good.

Have had feedback from Chris and it looks like they have another commitment which will rule out most of the 34th guys and therefore most of the Russians

I have asked Stut to see if he and his lads can put together some kind of partisan look and jump onto the Russian side, I hate having to do it to have to ask someone to come to an event where they might not be totally happy with what they have come with but have asked and to be honest with the shortfall of the 34th guys I don't see where the make up for the Russians is going to come from.

Guys if we all can push putting the word out to whatever groups we can not just on this site but general, Me and Gareth have been trying on various groups over on Facebook but need a concerted push otherwise we will have to pull it.

That is very disappointing. I'l drop Porta a line and see if his 'Albanian Partisans' want to come along, they put on a really good show at the weekend. I'll maybe drop Craig a line too and see if they'll consider coming but they may have a re-enactment event instead.

If we don't get the numbers to run an actual game, we could always resurrect the training day stuff we had lined up for last October and run that on Saturday instead. Won't get huge numbers, but at least it will be something.

Cheers
Martin

Really only need 4 more Russians and then we can run it as a game, just have to be combat missions instead of trying to roll it on but we have pretty much times it to be that anyway. Just have to have a walkthrough on the Friday and nail it all down at least by that time it will be totally clear for the numbers.

OK, fair enough. Porta can't come, but his two mates are looking at work commitments to see if they can make it.

Cheers
Martin

We have ten a side, Chris and three other 34th have decided now to come bit of a weight off!

Tim did you get to check the stockpile see what we need props wise?

Hooray, that is good news.

Cheers
Martin

Ok have the following

General:
1 no. ammo tin and flag for each unit on each side. 2 regen flags in bags and 1 ammo tin

Mission 1:
1 or 2 large crates for Russian re-enforcements to bring across line 1 Large crate
2 smaller ammo tins for inside building with small amount of ammo and bandages in
3 smokes for Germans to set off in buildings 2 smokes

Mission 2 Water towers:
None

Mission 3 Bombardment:
Pak Stut said he would bring theirs.

Mission 4 Pilot:
Pilot dummy + parachute sheet3 dustsheets that I can add cord to for hanging in trees, I will ask gav to bring one of his dummies
2 no. crates + parachute sheet – 1 filled with intel the other with grenades if we can afford them.
Stretcher

Mission 5 Breakout:
Russian flags for checkpoints

I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of props. I've got a large smoke I can donate (so we'll have three then).

If we are short of ammo crates (and we seem to be) perhaps we could use those big heavyweight cardboard box things the 34th use sometimes.

Dust sheets for parachutes is a good idea.

Do we just need one Russian flag (for charging), or several (to mark the way)?

Cheers
Martin

For mission 4 one of the crates could just be a map case with some intell in, I have a spare map case

Map case is a great idea, as I said, if push comes to shove we could use boxes for crates.

I was just looking through the rules, i tmentions we will be issuing bandages in the ammo crates. Are we actually going to do this? If so we'll need a bunch of bandages too. If we aren't (and just run it as a one bandage game) then we probably need to change the rules.

We don't mention bleedout time, personally I'd go with 5 mins (or even 20 mins!) but maybe we should just stick with 2 minutes as a minimum. This should apply to both wounds and KIA, nothing more silly than dead people wandering off in the middle of a firefight.

Cheers
Martin