"How do you game an ambush?" Topic

Suppose you want to game Tom Barry's flying column ambush at Kilmichael in the Irish War of Independence.

It's easy enough to set up. Make a guess of the terrain from the movie or a book, get as many Irish fighters on one side, and a couple of Crossley tenders from Matchbox.
Let the British drive down the road, and VOILA! you spring the ambush, and fight it out with your favorite rules.

The problem is that in an ambush, only one side knows it's an ambush. What do you tell the "British" player before the game? "Oh, just drive from this end of the table to the other. It's a fine day and nothing is going to happen." Where do you get players to swallow that?
Do you advertise on your club Yahoo group "Saturday, April 20, Tom Barry's Flying Column ambushes a British patrol."
Then at the game, "All right, who wants to be British?" Silence…

So, how do you set up an ambush game, without… errr… giving away that it's an ambush?

Well, obviously, don't tell that that's what it is in advance, or even use the title, e.g. "Villers-Bocage", since that may give it away.

Give each side the usual scenario briefing.

If you are feeling generous, suggest that they might want to use "real-world tactics", and be on their guard, or consider a bit of scouting as they advance.

Of course, the latter always goes without saying, but still, that might lessen the hurt feelings when the poor bloke(s) get their unit(s) wiped out due to that.

Oh, the movie?
This clip will do.
YouTube link
There's a good description in the Osprey book too.

Oh, and please. Can we confine this to the GAMING question?

Set up the table and put an objective at the far end. Then brief something like…….The enemy are in that location but preparing to move out. You need to get there in X turns and block the exit from the location. Speed is of the essence but make sure you are ready in case they come your way.

This should mean that they send out scouts but also push on to get there in time.

Just an idea…….

Have the ambushed force run by the umpire who will essentially react to the ambush. The players on the attacking side should have various and competing agendas. Place a secret weapon or treasure in a vehicle and you get points for capturing it. Someone wants prisoners taken alive the others don't care. Give points for who kills the most of the enemy.

I like Mapleleaf's idea. To expand on it I might give different objectives to the players in the ambushing party. Like he says some want prisoners taken alive some don't care. Also maybe there is some points to be won for firing the first shot but you don't want to fire too soon so there is some tension about who is going to shoot first and get all the credit, if the ambush is successful, or blame, if it is not.

Perhaps there is points for kills as well as initiative things like that.

If it is a historical ambush, then the initial deployment and moves of the ambushes are pre determined. The players only get to start making decisions once there is a contact.

They might have some discretion about March order, spacing etc. But yes, they basically drive down the road until someone shoots at them, then take it from there.

That is what 'advance to contact's means.

prepare for three or more different terrain settings. the exact number can be a function of whimsy, practical terrain restrictions, or, if doing something historical, perhaps an estimate of how much the target was expecting trouble.. more options means less expectation..

first let the ambushers choose their ambush sight. Then let the targets look at the terrain options and try to guess where the ambush is. they also set their marching formation. this could be done prior to game day

On game day set up the chosen terrain. Ambusher marks his deployment on the map. (I assume the game will require some kind of hidden movement.. I have ideas for that if the rule you use don't)

If the target player failed to chose the correct battle field, the attacker now designates where the column will be when they spring the trap, and the target uses his preset marching orders to set up. attacker has first move. target units are restricted to max 1/2 speed first round.

If the target player did choose correctly, he starts from his entry table edge and has first move. employ whatever spotting rules you are using. He may modify formation, but all units must move at least 1/3 speed first round.

As Martin R says, put together an Advance to Contact game. The attacker plans a route/routes to use. The defender decides how he is going to deploy, use of terrain, support etc. Hidden forces are put on a map.

If the attacker blunders into an ambush position they get ambushed! To make matters slightly more complex/realistic, the attacker is given a map/Air Photo maybe a little intelligence to produce his plan without seeing the table.

Tally Ho!

Guess it depends what you think happened at Kilmichael…

Well, that video got me to go watch the movie… then read for a while about the history. Lots of stuff I wasn't aware of… so thanks for that.

I wouldn't run it as a one-off game. The nature of the ambush didn't give those ambushed any choices: that's what a well executed ambush does, but it doesn't make it a good game, any more than the other 'ambushes' shown in the film clip would make a good game either.

I've tried to do this as part of a series of games with both sides choosing an objective randomly from a set of chits, one of which is 'ambush'; the others might be 'patrol', 'capture', 'maintain forward post', 'exit board edge' etc. with their own deployment rules. Some thought has to go into the various ioptions to prevent a 'non-game' from happening – both sides on the defensive for example. Each side plans their deployment/movement to contact then these actions are played out. Some of the games might not be 'fair' but that should balance out over a few games.

Andy Graingers scenario for Neuville-au-Plain started at the point the ambush was sprung, the German commanders took over the survivors.

As the US paras didn't deploy enough firepower to wipe out the entire German company, just the lead elements, it was a decent enough game.

Coincidentally, I was pondering a similar question, but about gaming convoys in, say, Vietnam. Mapleleaf's solution seems like a good one.

Alternatively, gaming the ambush as part of a campaign may provide some context for the ambushed player, even if there will not be much surprise or even balance on the table top – get what can survive off the table, to reduce the impact on the overall campaign situation.

As GM you have to lie a lot and do it really well.

This usually makes the players very mad and often not likely to come back, for basically, it IS unfair.

What I did once was a sort of ambush where the game was fought over somewhat rough country, a place called "The Gummibahrwald" and only one side knew the terrain. That side had a map of what the terrain REALLY was, while the other side, the person being more or less ambushed, had the tabletop to look at. That represented "their map" and what "they thought" the terrain was. Now I do my games on big hexagons 12" from edge to paralell edge and about 14 1/2" point to point. Whenever a unit of the side that didn't know the terrain moved into a hex that was different from what it was on the table top, I was able to swap out the hexes quickly, replacing what was once a road hex with a hex of tangled terrain, fallen trees and rocks (they were GOING to make a road through the hex but they never did.). The players took it in good grace, and did OK.

I did see an ambush game once. The players of one side were supposed to be "fleeing off the table top in front of an advancing column of pursuers. "All they had to do" was get off the opposite edge. What the "fleers" didn't know was that the "pursuers" had gotten around them and arranged an ambush. The "fleers" were attempting to move fast, so they took whatever options would do that and threw things like reconaissance, flank guards, and formation to the four winds and rushed on. They of course, were massacred. The GM lied shamelessly all through it to reinforce the false hopes of the column. The gamers took it in very bad grace.

The problem was that the GM had set the stage masterfully and EVERYTHING was perfect, realistic, and plausable. But the gamers had a terrible time and even the "ambushers" weren't very happy about it.

I think it's best to simply let this part of war drop.

The other way to do it is to for the initial deployment to happen at contact. You can add to the realism by placing casualties and destroyed vehicles (if appropriate). This would give the impression of a larger force having lost the initial firefight, now having to pull it together. The ambushed now have to extricate themselves and the ambushers need to close the deal. Balancing the game is delicate and would require playtesting.

Have around 12 counters for the ambush player and get him to place them on the board .4 or five are actual ambush sites 2 could be decoy troops that cause alarm or distraction and vanish after making noise (but mark this on the counters so british player knows that they are genuine when turned over).
Just tell the british player to get his force off the opposite table edge.

The cute thing about the counter is that the ambush player should be placing them so that any can be a good site and the british player will see these spots as potential danger so it kind of evens out.

Player on the Recieving end has to have some hope for support or rescue. and don't set up the ambush force for the player and don't tell him whats coming or when. I've seen it a few times where they postion troops on both sides of road. guess where those missed shots are going As a GM I'm there to make sure they have fun but I don't play the game for them and if they roll Like crap (which is why I run games and not play to much ) thats what gaming is about.

You could do it in reverse with the ambushees static and the ambushers moving to attack.
Put the British in two small sheds providing the same cover as cars and have the Irish attack the position.

If you start the game at the point when the ambush is sprung then the key element you need to represent is that the ambushed are not expecting combat and will be disorganised/disoriented for a period of time. How long that persists will depend on their training and level of alertness …

The other way to do it is to for the initial deployment to happen at contact.

This is one way I've done this.

I have also used gambit rules where players chose from 3-6 options like off-board artillery, reinforcements, forces hidden in ambush, etc. This makes both sides cautious and wary of ambushes whether a player has selected that gambit or not.

Use pebbles as part of the landscape. The pepples are marked (1,2,3) and prior to the game the unit ambushing is marked on a seperate sheet of paper. Player can use a turn to turn over the pebble (scouting if you will) or march past it.

Locally, we play multi-player historically based games all the time.

Players are used to expecting the unexpected – but still walk into ambushes all the time. I walked into one last week (Lol) …

Sometimes going too far to conceal it just alerts the player.

Additionally, players can sometimes get a bit grumpy if they think the Umpire has unduly tricked them.

It will depend on your players, of course – thankfully mostly ours are good chaps who will happily role play the commander/officer they've been given rather than just use the game as an excuse to try to win something. From what I read, I gather not all groups are like that …

Phil

We did an "Teutoburg Wald" scenario where the Roman players commanded a column moving east to west down a road, at the end of which there were a ragged group of German units blocking them – the Romans had orders to break thru the roadblock to get the column to safety

The bulk of the German forces were off-table at the north side of the table – and as soon as the lead elements of the Roman column engaged the roadblock the ambushing force emerged from the table's edge

Pretty good game – although the Germans did crush some Romans units the Romans were able to get a number of their units off-table

I like Mapleleaf's idea too.

The other way we play hidden units is like Militia Pete's idea. We actually use numbered wooden round counters and then corresponding numbered plastic cups that are upside down off the table. The hidden units are under the numbered cups, but the ambushee doesn't know which cups/counters have the actual units under them. Of course, there are far more cups (off the board) and wooden counters (on the board), than there are units, so some of the counters are "fakes." Obviously, the ambushee side knows that they will be ambushed, but we have spotting rules to allow the ambushees a fair chance to perhaps spot some of the ambushers. It balances the game a bit more.

This works really well. It's was used with Star Army but the mechanics can be used with any time period.

PDF link

Sorry, Feet Up Now, my post was the same idea as yours. I should've read all the posts.

NP peterx, shows it works .
Only done it twice though.
Just elves versus orcs in a forest and WW1 game with Brits being hunted down in trench terrain.

I was recently in a Ambush Valley game where we were told that the U.S. forces were to run down the river and assult the village. The crafty VC players set up at the river bank near the entry point. One ambush. We sank 3 PBRs before they even landed any troops. Suprised both the U.S. players and the game master.

Plenty of ways to do ambushes then. I can't see any way that the scenario you propose would make a good game though, or last long enough to make setting it up worthwhile.
17 men on a road with no cover ambushed by 36-100 men in cover. Not sure I'd have fun whichever side I was on.
Maybe change it that the British are on their way to assault Macroom instead of returning to it, with macroom at one end of the table (Far enough away for them to remain in the cars to get there , and Macroom full of visible IRA). Let the British have one move, then change the table ,remove Macroon and surround them with IRA.

Oh and don't tell the IRA players either, let them set up in Macroom. Then spring it on them too. Don't forget to tell them they have grenades.
If you really want to wargame Ireland in the early 20th C' then the following civil war between the IRA and the IFS is much less documented so would make for some good fictional ambush scenario's.

I am not big fan of the "If it takes you 6 turns to die when in the historical battle ithey were dead in 4, you win!" game.
I would reduce the IRA, maybe with fewer than the British, or give them a third truck, just to make it a game. (This would be limited to the number of figures I have, and I do not have 36-100 Irish. )
I like the idea of starting the game at the springing of the ambush.
I did something similar with my Wyoming Massacre game. No one in their right mind would come out to fight, so I start the game at the moment when the line breaks, and it's sauve qui peut all the way!

I would use the old "matchbox system" – a map divided into squares together with a set of matchboxes glued together. One box for each square on the map. Each unit has a paper counter placed into the appropriate matchbox. The ambushing force place his counters in the box where he will spring the ambush as well as spotters in other boxes but places no miniatures on the tabletop. The one to be ambushed move on the tabletop as well as in the boxes. When two counters come into the same box, its time for action.

Grab a guy walking past the table and say, "You're the Brits, and you've been ambushed! What do you do?"

Ought to be about as "realistic" as you could get. Especially if he sputters and says, "What?" while you inform him three of his units have just become casualties.

You could run the game twice with players alternating sides. Then compare results. This at least prevents the ambushed player feeling they got the dirty end of the stick.