""I Ain't Been Shot Mum!"" Topic

Well, I'm going to play Open Fire with my friend soon (hopefully), but I've decided not to move on to Flames of War. I've opted for "I Ain't Been Shot Mum!"

About the only reservation I have, is that I'm not sure how solo player friendly it is because of the 'Blinds' rule.

I would have gone with a 6mm army too if I hadn't spent so much time on the Open Fire 15mm

Can IABSM be played solo or does the 'Blinds' rule prevent that to some extent?

Get "Platoon Forward" at the same time. According to the website:

"This is the perfect addition to solo games as the dynamic system presents the player with a hidden enemy and provides a huge variety of potential outcomes, keeping the games interesting and allowing the unexpected to occur.

For full details see the interview with the author on the Lard Island News site: toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=351

Thanks for the tip 22ndFoot

Platoon Forward indeed.

You can play the base game solo but the opening phase does get a bit less exciting.

Anyone know where I can buy the cards?

Toofatlardies.co.uk

If they are not available from TFL then Artscow has cards for IABSM created by fans, but you can easily make your own by downloading one of the sets from the toofatlardies Yahoo group files or probably more accessibly from the download section of the Lard Island News Blog which is available from the TFL site at toofatlardies.co.uk

Another alternative is to draw labelled chips from a bag rather than use cards to get a more random result.

Platoon Forward is an excellent resource for solo gamers, but its primary focus is on platoon level games, such as those played with Chain of Command. However, its mechanics for handling blinds in solo games could be readily adapted for IABSM.

I do the labeled poker chips also. Works great!

Platoon Forward is easy to adapt for IABSM. Where it says to use a squad, just use a platoon instead. Heavy weapons might require some more work but not a lot. One warning: you will get attached to your little characters!
BWW

I do the labeled poker chips also. Works great!

At first inspection this may not seem like a big deal…but I have to say I spent a LONNNGGGGGG time making a card deck for this game only to find that the Poker Chips are so much handier.. No more shuffling and dealing just throw them all back in a bag and pick out the next one…simples

Great game- as is it's small brother TW&T by TFL's as well …really good also

Yeah, TW&T is fantastic. Still my favourite TFL game, I think.

TW&T deserves more love.

Each to their own, but we played TW&T a few times at the club and went back to Chris Peers Corner of Hell which we felt gave a much better depiction of fire and movement.

I bought a load of cheap as chips plastic counters and stick on labels. It's an easy thing to do – I think they give you a more random game as well. It always felt to me that cards would seem to stick together in pairs or threes from move to move even with careful shuffling. Chips in a bag just works better for me.

EM4 do counters red on one side and blue on the other and Smiths or Rymans do 19mm white stickers that are perfect for the EM4 plastic counters.

Yes, I've ordered mdf chips and sticky labels I can print out. Hopefully be here in a few days.

Troops, Weapons & Tactics ( TW&T) is an interesting game, but these days it has been superseded by Chain of Command in the TFL stable for platoon level action. By far my favourite set of TFL rules.

The one thing we didn't like was having so many initiative cards in the deck. In their Vietnam rules, you got more initiative points from the officer and there were just a couple bonus cards in the deck. That worked much smoother.

I've not tried the game solo, but I think it's great nonetheless. It feels more than just a game with dice, stats and results…you get a sense of narrative as you play it. Easy to understand with lots of twists and turns in the way it plays.

Many initiative cards bugged me a little too. I did not know that the other derivatives had it different. I may have to get Charlie Don't Surf do see how it is done in them.

Are you talking about initiative cards in IABSM?

If so, how are they are nuisance?

The standard deck should be one tea break card, one card per platoon and one for each Big Man. Every other type of card is optional although I don't find any of them annoying.

> although I don't find any of them annoying.

I do! When they are something bad for my troops…

Sparky, some people find that when you have a lot of units and bonus cards in the deck it becomes a bit awkward to handle and shuffle properly hence "nuisance".
Not a problem if you use chips instead.

@archdukek I'll be using 2mm mdf chips

Sparky – was referring to TW&T where there's two initiative cards per big man, making them the most common card.

In Charlie Don't Surf (and the ww1 rules too, I think), you just add a couple to the deck, most of the initiative points come from the big men themselves.

@Weasel Thanks for clarifying

One thing about IABSM is how easy it it to nuance the forces – you just alter the boundaries at when a unit goes from 'x' action points to 'y', or even vary the number of men in a section.

I actually prefer TW&T to CoC. The only thing is it gets very hard to move your troops, which is a pain if they get caught in the open. Rich has suggested a couple of tweaks, which unfortunately I can't remember. I think the easiest if the men are allowed to move on their card for the sole purpose of improving their level of cover. If no/few TI cards are out, it gets very difficult to move men once they come under fire.

Interesting CDS is what Rich was trying to write originally, but was having trouble with the asymmetrical warfare. This became IABSM, and then he returned to CDS some time after when he solved it. This is why they look so similar.

Wish I had gone for poker chips, but I had already made the cards, and was having problem finding sticky labels of the right size that stayed stuck!

However I do enjoy making the cards-

link

I made 4 packs, UK, US, USSR and Germany – each have their own Tea Break card.

That's what I like almost as much as the wargaming itself, the options to create your own stuff

It's my favorite set of Ww2 company rules and it works exceptionally well solitaire. I use the cards and use the blinds but in situations where deployments may not be obvious for the defender I randomize what is in each blind as they are spotted. Works very well.

I just finished work on my mdf tokens because I either couldn't get the cards or they were too expensive.

Allies (camera doesn't show it but the labels are a greenish colour)

Germans (labels are grey in colour)

Like I say, they aren't going to win any prizes, but they'll be serviceable I hope

Sparky – email me [nick]@gmail. I'll see if I can dig up the jpegs for mine. I think I can stick them on a A4 sheet (9 to a sheet). Colour print and laminate before cutting up. Mine are printed at ArtsCow.

What I do with some TFL games is write rules reminders/page reference on the cards, so we know what it actually means

For the card templates do you mean? I don't wish to sound ungrateful but I think I'd prefer to use the mdf tokens because they are more easily handled. Throw them in two opaque containers, shake them about and draw them out.

Thank you for the suggestion though, it's appreciated

No, that's fine, like I said above I sometimes I wish I'd gone the counter route

Just reading about the Big Men and Blinds and I have to say, IABSM sounds like a very good game. Proof is in the playing of course

If you're attacking, keep units on blinds as long as you can.
If you're defending, get the attackers off blinds a quick as possible.

Not only can revealed units be shot at, a platoon on blinds moves all together. Once deployed you have to roll per section. Also close assaulting on a blind means you don't take the penalty in combat for moving.

We play a 2 stage spot for Hidden defenders. Spotting an area containing a blind, a hidden unit moving or firing puts the blind on the table. If this is spotted, or fires, it goes from blind to revealed.

@Hussar – Thanks for the tips

Can I ask why you use a two stage spot for Blinds?

I'm not sure of the Big Man platoon orders to tanks

The example on page 17 says:

"Lott issues a Hunt Order and his platoon moves forward cautiously. On his next activation Lott's platoon advances with one Action per tank and then spots, identifying a force of Renault tanks.

Lott now issues an Engage order which halts his tanks and on their next activation will allow them to fire and spot more effectively."

The activation part is throwing me. Does it work like this (I've included the tank cards for completion sake):

(1) Lott's card is drawn (1st time), he orders the tanks to Hunt and they do just that…
(2) The tanks' card is drawn (1st time), so they hunt, spot the enemy, and fire on the enemy
(3) Lott's card is drawn (2nd time), so he orders the tanks to engage – this halts the tanks hunting and ends their turn
(4) The tanks card is drawn (2nd time), now they will fire and spot enemies more effectively due to the engage order

Is that how the timing of it works?

For those who play IABSM

When the Big Man gives a platoon order to tanks, I'm not sure of the timing of when those orders are given. The example on page 17 says:

"Lott issues a Hunt Order and his platoon moves forward cautiously. On his next activation Lott's platoon advances with one Action per tank and then spots, identifying a force of Renault tanks.

Lott now issues an Engage order which halts his tanks and on their next activation will allow them to fire and spot more effectively."

The activation part is throwing me. Does it work like this (I've included the tank cards for completion sake):

(1) Lott's card is drawn (1st time), he orders the tanks to Hunt and they do just that…
(2) The tanks' card is drawn (1st time), so they hunt, spot the enemy, and fire on the enemy
(3) Lott's card is drawn (2nd time), so he orders the tanks to engage – this halts the tanks hunting and ends their turn
(4) The tanks card is drawn (2nd time), now they will fire and spot enemies more effectively due to the engage order

Is that how the timing of it works?

Test

It is excellent. I look forward to seeing what you think.

Two opaque containers?
You only need one for playing IABSM. The counters for both sides should be mixed together.