anyone interested in a pacific game?

Fact is, we usually lose, but that's besides the point.

QFT

We're shite at winning games, we're too busy comparing blanco.

We're shite at winning games, we're too busy comparing blanco.

And helmet rivet placements, don't forget the helmet rivets.

Or terrorising the local population. Thats meant to be our job!

What about serge colour?

Or beret angle?

Serge is important... for sure.

Yeah when 'wrong un' Warner executed the local populace that did blot the PBI war crimes record a bit....

Now beret angle... I have pictorial evidence that wearing it in 'bloody stupid' way was deriguer in the 40s..

The churchills revenge... playing in bloody freezing wet conditions.. put a lot of guys off and out the game. thats the weather to take into account. Bear in mind stuff like m42 jumpsuits are like a chocolate fireguard in cold and wet weather - you need wools for winter.

Agree with everything in that post except this little bit, as long as you're wearing a scalf with the 42's they're reasonably warm...so much so that at the game last December I had to strip off the greatcoat because it was just too bloody hot! Fair enough designed for fair weather not really not so bad in the cold...come to think of it was bloody roasting at the Hurtgen Forest game as well; again fingerless gloves and scalf.

My advice for organizing games (limited as it may be) is to take in to account historical fact but don't base your game too heavily on it. I've written a series of scenarios which I will hopefully be able to put on which cater to groups and units but may be slightly askew to the more historically accurate members of the demographic.
(Incidentally that doesn't mean I've written a scenario which says the 101st did everything and went and kicked Hitler in the balls and were in Arnhem and didn't lose etc. Just means I've bent the truth and moved units about to make the game more appealing and do-able for different people.)

I see what you mean but my point really was a more practical one in that wool will insulate you when you're wet or dry whereas items like denisons, m42's, peadot suits etc lose the ability to retain heat when wet.

Speaking as someone who had to put up with a lot of crap about hypothermia on a training course a while ago:

Damp cotton = no insulation value at all
Damp wool = reduced insulation value

One of the reasons that merino wool base layers are almosr de rigeur for serious mountaineering, and cotton is never, ever used.

"Germany
During the last days of the war the 101st Airborne Division was in Berchtesgaden, Adolph Hitler's vacation retreat. The airborne soldiers spent their days hunting members of the Nazi leadership that had gone into hiding. On 1 August the 42d Infantry Division relieved the 101st, which moved back to France to train for a possible airborne assault on Japan. These plans were canceled after the Japanese surrender, and the division was deactivated 30 November 1945 in France."

information from http://www.ww2-airborne.us/18corps/101a ... rview.html

i believe they only had to fight the few remaining fanatical SS troops that were left, from what i remember when they were advancing into germany, something like 150,000 or 300,000 german troops surrendered following hitler's death, pretty much bringing an end to the war.

"Germany
During the last days of the war the 101st Airborne Division was in Berchtesgaden, Adolph Hitler's vacation retreat. The airborne soldiers spent their days hunting members of the Nazi leadership that had gone into hiding. On 1 August the 42d Infantry Division relieved the 101st, which moved back to France to train for a possible airborne assault on Japan. These plans were canceled after the Japanese surrender, and the division was deactivated 30 November 1945 in France."

information from http://www.ww2-airborne.us/18corps/101a ... rview.html

So you want to spend a weekend rummaging through Bavarian cupboards for hiding Nazi's, and divvy'ing up Goering's underpants (or knickers, if you believe the rumours) between you?

no, i was just trying to make the point that the 101st went into germany...

Well maybe you could do something with hardcore WfSS renegades versus 101st but as Gadge says, it needs to be more than just a US Airborne turkey shoot if you want to find guys to play against.

Why dont you perhaps do a fictional engagement with the 101st? You could do something where they are dropped in and it goes badly....

Why not do a 'what if' that the 101st are tasked with tkaing Arnhem (and supposing the brits were given their bridge) and they are attacked by strong German forces. That way you get an original game featuring 10st but with the Germans having a strong motive to play and fight?

I'm not being sarky I'm just suggesting that like Spiers suggests, taking a real campaign but playing with historical possibilities is a great idea.

Like wise a similar twist could be doing for example a game where the 51st highland division (actually responsible for holding the line at the BotB when the US forces broke and ran en masse - this was hushed up though to stop the US turning against the war at a critical point) are the troops deployed in the bastogne area and cut off... that way you get a desperate defence by the Scots instead.

Stuff like that can be fun.

Another good 'what if' is that the Soviets dont stop in 1945 on there designated borders and have to be held back by US or British troops (this nearly happend btw as brit 6th airborne had to stop a soviet armoured regiment by bluffing them),the downside to a battle like that is you lose 50 per cent of the player base with not germans!

I'm sure the turkey's wouldn't be happy if u didn't do more, given the original month you were planning the event !! They would have thought they were safe-as-houses being January and all.

well, the new way in which im going to look about doing my games is just giving each team objectives, give each team a commander, and let them do what they want, but the objectives will be based on real events, and the teams must obey their commanders, it gives the player more freedom, but also gives the realism in which the even is based on, and we will be using props ect.

should i be strict on kit worn, EG no airborne for an infantry based game and no infantry for an airborne based game?

It depends on the scale you want.

The stricter your kit the less guys who can or want to do that impression you have to chose form

But the more detailed you are the closer you'll get to it 'looking' the part.

Its not hurt PBI to ask folk to dress and badge up as specific units (the great thing about uk and us airborne is that a needle and thread and ten minutes work can change unit quickly)

yeah, its not the badging up, its the kit, like infantry with airborne, unless the game's based on the airborne and infantry fighting together.

My point was that you get a million times more flexibility by swapping a badge than you do by mixing airborne and leg.

If you are able to do 101st, 82nd and 17th airborne you triple the amount of scenarios you can do accurately and all it costs if a about £8 for two new patches and a bit of time with a needle.

In PBI we do South Staffords and we're passionate about it but we changed cap badges and sewed on new backing to be the OBLI for Op Varsity as the division the Staffords were in had been decimated the previous autumn and were not there.

Mixing leg and jump is one of those things that in reality hardly ever happened. You might see it in the movies but in reality it open up a *massive* CCC, logistics and area of exploitation can of worms. It requires *Divisional level* co-ordination in a small area of frontage to avoid shelling your own men or walking into each others line of fire.

Equally unrealistic is mixed forces of brits and yanks... the only time i can realistically remember pics of US and UK troops figihting alongside in less than brigade strenght is Varsity where the US 17th Airborne landed on the wrong drop zones.

At the end of the day its about what you want, do you want a realistic scenario or a blatfest in WWII kit (or something in between), im not having a pop i'm just actually interested in what you want to get out of it.

I know for me i'd rather a low key event that was more realistic with say 10 - 20 a side but using accurate tactics and the right units being there (or a convincing 'what if) and revolving around objectives that capture the feel of the operations (as old uns quite puts very well).

Mixing units, having the wrong units there or having the wrong kit for the year (mkiii helmets in an early war brit game for example) are no terrible crimes, they all make it easier for more people to get involved and have fun... on the flip side they wil put some purists off in the same way that having a very 'precise' approach will deter new players form getting into it all.

What I'm trying to say is that whatever you chose it wont be 'wrong' unless it fails to fulfil your objectives so I'm really asking 'what do you want to get out of this game, what do you want to see?'.

BTW the scripted route of your original plan has its value too, its what many re-enactment battles have done for decades!'

Whatever you go for good luck with it and if I or PBI can be any help at all then please ask and I hope you dont mind me asking so many questions

I see what you mean but my point really was a more practical one in that wool will insulate you when you're wet or dry whereas items like denisons, m42's, peadot suits etc lose the ability to retain heat when wet.

Fair enough, HOWEVER, I did go in to that river up to my neck at Autumn Mist in 42's and was still reasonably warm for the rest of the day...nevertheless, I do agree that wool is warmer, that's why I don't wear it that often.