""Run & Gun": A "5 Men In Normandy" AAR"" Topic

Just played my first game of '5 Men In Normandy' and had a absolute blast!

The rules use a really well thought out activation system that is simplicity itself…perfect for trying with someone who hasn't gamed a lot ( I played against my 18 year old niece!) or have a limited time to prepare a game and play.

The game was played in approx 25mins. Personally we would have preferred it to go on longer as we were having a great time!

There are a few supplements available and I immediately bought 'A Rifleman's Guide' and I'd encourage the author (who could this genius be) to develop a game that has maybe more detail as I think the core of this system is brilliant and very unique and I'd like to employ it for longer games. Of course it would be very easy to add detail yourself as per your taste but I'd like to see the author who developed this delight to expand on it :)

Extremely quick game with no charts and practically no rifling through rules. Anything you need to know fits nicely on a QRS sheet. Will be playing lots of this in the future…

warpanda.blogspot.ca

WP, this is a brilliant AAR! I'm going to have to check out '5 Men In Normandy' now.

How much of the visual media (the maps & troop stat cards for example) that are on your blog report are of your creation, and how much comes with the rules/supplements?

Kudos to introducing a new player to wargaming as well :)

I do take requests though the project pipeline is veeery busy right now :)
The next "FiveCore" project isn't more details but bigger battles (platoon level, using squad-sized stands) but you never know what might happen. A D10 based version with a lot of chrome would be fun to do eventually.

The character cards he has there are his (very impressive) creation, as is the map. From the look of it, it looks like he rolled up character traits with the character-creation rules, then extrapolated them nicely.

Weasel, platoon battles would be the encounter level I'd be very interested in – this could facilitate multiplayer game scenarios too. (?)

In the meantime I'm going to get the core rules PDF and check it out.

Thanks guys :)

@Fly
Weasel (Ivan) bet me to it but the rules themselves give a very useful chapter on character generation …the graphic's were just to liven things up…hurts all the more too when a guy gets killed (I actually havent rolled to see how bad the injuries are yet…but I've vowed that whatever the die rolls stands…) I'm really worried about losing 'Gaffer' as he was the real leader of the group (he actually had a skill that prevented him from being effected by the first hit; but he was shot again straight after :( …so you can make your character's more heroic and talented but at the end of the day they're still flesh and blood …well you know what I mean ;)

Ron Goodwin wouldn't be a huge loss as a solider but he was one of the natural unpleasant types of the group; the other being 'Wild Jack' (no relation to Just Jack) who was killed in the last game…so we'd be a little light on nasties if he's down for good…

I should have mentioned but the small dice visible in the game are just status markers, the rules themselves don't require 'dice markers'

FlyXwire – I imagine you could do multiplayer without much fuss.

For the platoon project, the aim is to essentially still have 6-7 elements per player (commander, 3 squads, 3 support units would be a typical force.

So it'll be very manageable and play very fast. I've been missing a game that lets you knock out a platoon level battle in an hour or so and I am hoping that'll work.

There's tricks that can push Five Men up to platoon level but it gets a bit uncomfortable. I touched on it a bit in the Heavy Metal supplement but it's a stretch in any event.

Looking forward to seeing how the system evolves.

WP, do an AAR involving character media for a US Paratrooper team – I've figs for American Airborne! ;) :)))

@Fly
LoL …The funny thing is I was actually planning on doing so in the near future. My favourite allied force to use are my Screaming Eagles! :)

I also really wanted to do a German Fallschirmjäger too!

Exzellent……!!!

Carentan, here we come…… (reminds me, I need to paint up my Fallschirmjagers).

There's quite a few para vs para battles to pick from.

And of course, the mandatory sabaton song:

YouTube link

Ivan Is the video from a movie or of their own making?

They tend to make their own. I didn't recognize any scenes from movies I had seen but I'm sure sharper eyes might identify it :)

Weasel, I'm really interested in these rules. Do you think they'd be useable for the Italians in Ethiopia, or is that too far from the European focus?

War Panda, nice aar. Looks like a fun time and you provided the great type of narrative I love in a game report. Thanks.

When you get down to the scale of 5-8 guys fighting 5-8 other guys, I think the same principles are applicable most anywhere.

Tables are included for Italians and you could easily suss out something for Ethiopian forces.

Rules for stealth are included, if you need more guerilla actions.

So I think it'd work but it'd be incumbent on the gamer to add the specific chrome for that theatre of war. A lot may come from scenario design for sure.

I'd be concerned about very open battle areas but then, even a desert can have plenty of rocks, dunes and similar pieces.

So if you aren't afraid to do a little prep work, I think you'd be okay but what would you be looking for specifically to handle Ethiopia versus a more conventional ww2 patrol?

Paul you're very welcome; glad you enjoyed it :)

Well, I would like the ability to use cavalry, at least as mounted infantry. Also, I'm a little worried that if I were to play an Italian squad and roll for the Ethiopians, could I have an enemy with hand-to-hand weapons that stand a chance of overpowering the squad.

I realize that some of this can be adjusted through my scenario set up. I like what I've been reading about how these rules operate.

Cavalry isn't covered right now. I'll put it on a list for a future supplement but it's probably not an urgent matter in general. Nothing an enterprising player cant figure out though. :)

As far as melee types, the biggest concern is reaction fire. You can assign skills to negate that, so that wouldn't be too hard to figure out, or alternatively you could go the Stealth scenario route and have the Ethiopians sneak up on an Italian patrol.

Okay. Sounds good. Thanks, and good luck with your rules!

I think you'll like them Blue

Yeah don't get sucked in…I was really impressed with your Nam terrain from Sundays game…do nicely for Guadalcanal I'm sue

"I'm sue"….

I'm sure…
and I'm sure I'm not Sue

Excellent news and after all you do for the hobby Shirley you deserve it…sorry couldn't resist :)

Sorry, been busy pretending to work :)

Good to see Weasel still weaselling about the place but I hate to say it but I do miss Jester Jack… I miss his flea circus micro mini minis, his poorly maked bad grammar, his horrendous inability to locate Ireland (or Canada) on a global map, his fragile goat love life…but most of all I miss those majestic lush green carpet hills…made my stuff look like the Wicklow mountains by comparison but now my hills just look plain silly :(

Jack if you are out there…if you can somehow hear us…we forgive all your faults (your really stupid ones… and then all the really negative crap you come out with ….and even your general pain in the butt statements that truly reflect who you are…) we understand and we really want to laugh…ahem…see another wonderful AAR from you.

So heres hoping you haven't seriously injured yourself opening a packet of wet wipes (again)

John & Gang

Do we have a Jack-signal? It's like the bat signal from the movies but instead of a bat, it's a different animal more likely to call him into action :)

The Jack Signal

Yikes!

The Jack Signal! That's hilarious! But I still hate you ers. Conversely, look at how much Panda must love us to be willing to share his secret stash with us. You know he spent all night dressing that doll up and putting makeup on her.

I apologize, I did get some painting done in five minute blocks this weekend, but no gaming, turns out the wife had plans. And work has been ridiculous this week… I am ashamed, can't even look at myself. I haven't even read Ivan's rules (sorry).

I will leave you with another pic from Panda's stash:

I'll leave it to you to figure out which one is Panda-John.

V/R,
Jack

Hey the Jack Signal works perfect…turn it on and there he is…now all we have to do is think of a good reason why anyone would ever want to use it…hmmm…that to be honest just might be the end of the road for that idea…

Anyway Jack you're looking a lot better than the last photo I saw of you…when did you meet Ben Stiller…was that your prom?

At this rate, we'll have a panda-farmer pop along momentarily to sell us some pandas, which I'm pretty sure is probably illegal.

You want buy panda? Not illegal where I am. Many many good panda. Let me know. Just Jack ordered some goats and is happy with business

I know that can't be true; Jack never pays for his goats

BTW Weasel that had me in tears

Indeed, the Jack Signal worked like a champ, I'm on the scene.

"Anyway Jack you're looking a lot better than the last photo I saw of you…"

Actually, the photo I posted was me in my Ben Stiller costume, holding Panda-John. He keeps claiming to be an Irishman, nobody knew he was actually a leprechaun in a Panda-suit.

Now get to gaming, if I can't I need you guys to pick up the slack. I do need to post some pics of the stuff I've been working on, it's quite an eclectic mix.

V/R,
Jack

And BTW nobody spotted my "cow" panda in my first photo of the AAR…just checking does anyone actually look at the AAR's at all…

If it had been a goat "someone" would have noticed…

I looked for any goat, but found none. I did see the cow, but you have cows in all your AARs, some even alive!

I looked for any goat, but found none.

Yikes…Shaun not you too! When did this "problem" start? Regardless I don't think it's too late for you…abandon this destructive road that only leads to misery and guilt; a road that no doubt Jack has set you on; there is help out there if you need it: I think they call themselves "Escape Goat" and they specialize in this sort of thing:

Anyway onto something more serious…my panda "cow"

Those guys are 20mm…but "panda' would be quite large for 15mm (giant panda?!?)

It's a toy I got in a party store in Alberta here so not sure where you'd actually get one

I use mine for the kids to find the panda…like a "wheres Wally" except of course in this case it's "Where's Panda"

They love it…in fact I would have suggested it for Jack but I thought it might be a little complex for him

Shaun – "I looked for any goat, but found none." Panda's goats are not for the table, they're for a different kind of game.

Kyote – You can get those Pandas, and an assortment of other animals, at Hobby Lobby, but they are probably too big for 15mm.

My Dear Panda – Regarding your "Escape Goat" photo, that was nice of your family to photoshop you to the left a few inches. I saw the panda in your batrep; I had worse to say about that, but it is a family forum and all ;) And I don't get it: am I looking for the goat, the panda, or Waldo? Just another case of wargames rules being too complex…

Ivan – I downloaded the rules you sent me from Google this morning and gave them a decent read-through. It's different than I expected, I'd actually thought of essentially playing 5MIN with elements rather than individual troops. I need to think about the activation/action stuff some more because I don't think I'm totally understanding a few pieces there, but you do have some fantastic ideas in those rules that I love. I will send you a more detailed message soon.

Are these the same rules you sent out the playtest request for? Again, I'd love to, I just don't have much time right now.

Take care fellas. Maybe I can roll outta the rack early tomorrow morning and get a game in, but maybe not because I'm already up too late reading TMP…

V/R,
Jack

Just played half a game of Crossfire yesterday evening with Al and was great to try it out again after so may years….. Played with hidden deployment as per rules but was a little confused by them to be honest :o

Playing the second half tomorrow so hopefully will get in a AAR….

Those goats arrive from rWanda Pa yet Jack…such a silly name…wonder where he could have got it….

Re-invigorating playtesting my 2'x2' ancient rules – have spent the last few weeks streamlining them (again!) and yesterday started a game I have had setup for 4 months.

Just posted my Crossfire AAR (1st Part) Great game

Looking forward to seeing more of that project Shaun

Oh i get it now :)

And crossfire is fantastic. Such a unique experience.