First, I want to express my apologies for the lack of content over the last year and change. In May 2017, I moved to Mandan, North Dakota to take a job as an archivist with the State Archives that is under the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Further, complications related to surgeries to repair a retinal detachment in my right eye have caused me to lose much of the sight in that eye, so my desire to post decreased, as reading and working with computers is a bit more difficult when seeing from only one eye. That said, I am hoping to get back into the swing of posting, as I have found a great group of fellow historical gamers in my new community, so I have some motivations to add content now.
The group usually gets together roughly twice a week on Wednesday and either Saturday or Sunday. Over the months we have played Bolt Action, the new second edition of SAGA, and I was able to get a few games of Flames of War in as well. Recently, we have been playing the World War II company-level miniature game I Ain’t Been Shot Mum (IABSM) by Too Fat Lardies. So far, we are enjoying our matches.
The game is more scenario-based than points-based. It is a company-based game, but its mechanics is vastly different from games like Flames of War. We do use our miniatures that we have for Flames for playing IABSM, as while the book has minis usually individually based for infantry, we find it’s just as easy to use our Flames-based infantry stands to play.
Where Flames involves an I go, you go format of play, IABSM employs a random activation of units, similar to Bolt Action. We use poker chips with each platoon and command team (referred to as “big men”) denoted on them in differing colors for the to opposing armies. In addition, several other chips appropriate to the scenario and forces are employed.
In addition to the activation, the fog of war is quite prominent in the game, as at the beginning of the games we have played, our scenarios employed blinds, including potential dummy blinds. Further, some scenarios allow for hidden blinds, which can greatly impact a deployment plan. That said, I do love the blinds, as you can move your blinds up rapidly and potentially throw off your opponent, but also must be cautious too, as their blinds can come back to bite you. I learned this the hard way in a recent game, when I crested a hill with four Panzer III’s trying to get close to an objective, only to face a surprise hidden Soviet blind that deployed as a section of four anti-tank guns. Needless to say, my Panzers were soon destroyed.
Unlike Flames, where an entire platoon works as one, in IABSM, each section or squad has its own activation options and can act independently. For instance, an infantry platoon has three sections of eight men, each group of eight men has (depending on skill level) a set number of actions based on how many men are in the section, with casualties reducing the number of actions, including move, shoot, spot (more on this in a moment), or charging into assault to name a few.
As blinds and units deploy on to the table, they also attempt to spot enemy units or blinds in order to be able to engage them. Spotting is one of the actions a section, or “big man,” can do and the roll needed on two D6’s is determined by distance, intervening terrain, and how many actions the section wants to use. Once spotted, a unit is able to be shot at. When dealing with blinds or units, you are spotting just that unit or blind, but if dealing with a scenario that involves hidden troops, spotting then is along a nine inch section of the terrain area you are trying to spot in, so you can potentially uncover multiple blinds within that nine inch zone.
When combat commences, you roll on a firing chart based on your actions and any modifiers and the total rolled then gives you the damage, including if you pin, or suppress a unit, and how many D6 you roll to kill and inflict shock on that unit. Shocked units are then at a disadvantage on their die rolls, and, units with reduced numbers from kills also face fewer actions, with greatly reduced units not having any actions. Usually, sections reduced to three or fewer have no actions available. Multiple points of shock can also cause a section to “lose its bottle” if the shock is above the number of men in the section, thus forcing the unit to fall back X number of inches for X number of shock over the number of men. While not like the morale test in Flames, where a failed roll can cause an entire platoon to flee the board, units can be broken in IABSM.
What I do like is that the scenarios are quite clever with forces including equipment and vehicles that one would not necessarily see in Flames. It is not as tank heavy as Flames and has a much greater diversity in force structure. Further, the scenarios provide a complexity and thought that is enjoyable. We are currently in the midst of an early war Eastern Front campaign and the broader campaign scenario takes the results of the various battle scenarios into consideration, so in our campaign, a German victory leads to one subsequent battle, while a Soviet one would lead to a potentially vastly different one.
My one slight criticism of the game is that I am not aware as of yet of a points system. Now, while the scenarios are likely balanced in terms of the forces used, I would love to see how the various units are valued in terms of points. While I have played several games, I will concede that I do not have a personal copy of the rules yet, but it is on my wish list, but I would like to know if you can play a static game on a non-specific tabletop with opposing forces built of your own choosing. If I am able to determine that this is currently possible, I will withdraw my criticism.
Overall, I definitely like the game, despite the occasional frustrations that my dice rolling can sometimes cause. It is certainly a very intellectually driven wargame that places a high priority on the fog of war and small-unit tactics while being a company-level game. The best thing I love is that my Flames of War miniatures get use, as the group here is not as interested in that game and the transition to Version 4 has caused discord within the Flames of War player community, if the Facebook chatter is any indication.
If you are looking for a challenging, but good historical miniature wargame for your group, give I Ain’t Been Shot Mum a try. Also check out some of the other titles on Too Fat Lardies website, especially What a Tanker (more on that in a future post). With that I will leave you with some pictures from our IABSM games. Until next time, keep your brushes clean and your dice rolling sixes.
Parva Bella 