"Would you game civil disorder?" Topic

Is this link the sort of thing we are talking about. If so I used to play it a lot with irregularminiatures.co.uk 's rules.

x42

I own B'hoys, Riot, and Gangland rules for riots through the ages. I have also used a set that appeared in The Courier long ago. One of these sets even had rules for competing news teams trying to get interviews during the riots to score points. This doesn't count the rules that I own for gang v gang fights. Any riots that make it to the table are usually confined to ImagiNations in the more modern eras, however.

No.

Many years ago I started an alternate history banana republic campaign; stoked by some incendiary reportage and a lethargic response by the local military leader a good bit of civil disorder ensued. Other officers eventually "encouraged" him to take more aggressive action (probably was a bad idea to issue live ammunition to the troops assigned to recapture the primary national civilian airfield). The actions were played out more as a narrative game using a lot of Tony Bath's mechanisms rather than on the tabletop.

Yes, I've run scenarios with rival criminal gangs fighting over a brewery, Black & Tans vs IRA, & a set to between Montagues & Capulets ala "Romeo & Juliet". Also, Survivalists vs Bikers fighting over control of a trailer park during the Zombie Apocalypse.

I have.

Back in the early 80s, I cut down several Airfix 1/32 'soft plastics' for 'crime' or 'spy' scenarios… TV 'The Sweeney' / 'The Professionals'. My Own 'rules'. Figs worked quite well… you can turn a rifle into a reasonable SG. Just I got older! :(

Excellent comment from Bill,
"I have the opposite problem – the modern fighting often pits groups against each other where I like neither side! Tactically interesting, but somewhat repugnant…"

This is exactly how I feel about World War 2 Eastern Front.

I don't know if I would game a riot, but I would play a game using irregulars and insurgents. The Russians used them in the Ukraine as auxiliaries to support their more conventional troops and that seems to be a tactic that is finding more traction these days. Even the US uses them to some degree in Syria.

Captain Nicholas Fiore makes note of the Russian's use of them in his article on US brigades facing Russian Battalion Tactical Groups. He points out that that the BTG's biggest weakness is its lack of boots on the ground and that one solution to this was to use a sort of sword/shield operation where the insurgents manned the line and occupied territory while the BTGs stayed in mass and operated as shock units. Sort of like the German Heer in WWII where the panzers (the BTGs) stayed massed together and maneuvered around the mass of Heer infantry (the insurgents).

Here's a link to his article- it's a small gold mine of ultra-modern ideas.

PDF link

I'm taking advantage of the GHQ sale to build some 6mm ultra-modern forces. Part of my purchase was to build a Russian force. I bought conventional Russian forces (mostly the latest T72 and BMP 2), but I also got a pack of ISIS infantry. I plan to mix the ISIS fighters with some old Russian figures and build pro Russian "insurgent" forces to face my Baltics/NATO troops.

In that respect, I'll game "civil disorder", but really only as it has an impact on my conventional gaming. Otherwise that is part of the fluff of the scenario.

only in sci-fi
* not modern, only historical
etc.

I have gamed the 1871 Paris Commune and the Attack on the Tuileries in 1792. But that is as far as I will go.

The "Battle of Athens" would be interesting. It's only about 30 miles from me. All WWII weapons.

link

Wolfhag