Battlegroup Clash: Baltics - Designer Diary #3

Playtesting, and how the game models EW and drone warfare

Hello, this is the third designer diary for Battlegroup Clash: Baltics. In this entry I cover a recent 6-player playtest, give a production timeline update, and delve into how the game models electronic warfare and drones.

Large playtest

Aside from running Sapper Studio, I co-organise PunchedCON, the largest wargame convention in the UK. That was mid-May, and I used the opportunity to playtest the big scenario in the Battlegroup Clash: Baltics, a two theatre (two-mapper) scenario called Battlegroup Clash in Pärnu.

I wanted to see how the scenario worked at six players, with four players new to the game. I think in a professional setting this is likely to be quite a popular way to play the game as it allows for two overall commanders per side, and two commanders per side per theatre. 

The playtest was a definite success. We completed the whole six turn scenario in just three and half hours, including an hour for preparation. And that was with new players. Participants commented on how smooth and intuitive the mechanics felt, and how interesting and challenging it was to have to draft the Sync Matrix and then follow the orders laid down in it.

From my perspective the test also highlighted some tweaks that need to be made to the line of sight rules and some terrain types, and more generally to some unit and support counters. But nothing major.

You can read an AAR of the session from one of the overall commanders here.

Production timeline

I get asked fairly frequently when the game will be coming out. The answer is… soon. I’m in an 80:20 moment; most of the work is done, but the final bits need proportionally more time. I don't want to start final layout of the rules until I get the scenarios drafted, and for that I need the final map from my artist etc etc. My current hope is that I can launch for pre-orders in July. There will be four weeks at the early bird price, then I’ll send the files for print. Then hopefully it should be back within 2-3 months. Hopefully.

Electronic and drone warfare in BC:B

In the last diary entry I discussed how the game handles one of the novel features of the game: Orders and the Sync Matrix. Another novel feature is the focus on tactical level electronic warfare and drones. As we have all seen via reports and video footage out of Ukraine; the modern battlefield has been revolutionised by drones. NATO armies are playing catch-up. 

One of the goals of BC:B is to allow players to experience, and experiment with, the effect of drones on the battlefield. To see why the war on the ground in Ukraine is as it is.

Drones

In each Scenario, each side has both First Person View (FPV) drones and Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) drones. The former represents kamikaze drones or those fitted with grenades that can be released over a target, the latter represents aerial reconnaissance drones. 

FPVs work like artillery. They are an off-board asset that can be activated each turn. They can target any individual force element or stack provided a friendly ISTAR asset has line of sight to it. Then they strike. 

They have less individual hitting power than artillery or mortars, but also several advantages. The first is that they do not suffer a penalty for targeting moving enemy units, after all, they are video-guided. The second is that they can do a ‘double-tap’, meaning that they can be activated immediately again to target the same target. This represents the potential for waves of drones to attack at once. The third is that they generate fewer electronic transmissions than artillery or mortars, especially if they are assigned to a target outside of the fire plan on the Sync Matrix. 

In the game's advanced mode - in recognition of the unfortunate superiority I believe Russian forces would have over NATO in drone warfare - the Red side gets significantly more fire missions with FPV drones (I use number of fire missions as a proxy for capability and experience, rather than developing separate results tables and modifiers for Red and Blue).

UAS drones provide ISTAR line of sight to the four grid squares adjacent to their position. Within these grids, nothing blocks the UAS’s line of sight. Even more than FPVs, this represents a game changer. There is nowhere to hide. If the UAS sees you, you can be hit. Interestingly, during playtesting people are questioning the point of Recce units given the presence and capability of these drones. I wonder about that too.

Electronic warfare

In the game, the only way you can counter the effect of drones is via electronic warfare. BC:B handles EW in two ways: by measuring the generation of electronic transmissions and punishing the side that generates more; and by the use of EW Chits.

Whenever a side takes an action that would generate activity of the ‘net’, for example re-directing a fire mission or issuing new orders, it generates electronic transmissions (ETX) in the game. These are represented by black ETX markers valued 0-2. For each ETX a side generates, the opponent draws (intercepts) an ETX marker, face-down. At the start of the subsequent turn these are revealed, and each ETX marker with a value of 1 or 2* is exchanged for a Target marker. Target markers give the opponent a boost to Direct or Indirect Fire actions. Talk on the net allows your opponent to better target you!

* A ‘0’ value marker represents a garbled interception of something you are unable to act on, it also provides a bit of unpredictability in the game 

Furthermore, the side that generated a lower value of ETX gets to draw two EW Chits, the opponent only one. 

EW Chits represent discrete EW effects that can boost you, or attack your enemy. For example the effect of one of the chit's is to scramble the opponent’s satellite navigation, meaning that all their force elements can only move at 75% that turn. Another can be used to boost your number of FPV fire missions, or to give a negative modifier against your opponent’s FPV attack. Perhaps the most powerful is the chit that gives you a 50% chance to jam your opponent’s UAS for the turn. 

Again reflecting Russian expertise in electronic warfare, in the advanced mode the Red player gets to select their EW Chit, while for Blue it is chosen at random.

It is my belief that the EW and drone warfare elements of BC:B - even more than Orders and the Sync Matrix - are really why anyone interested in modern warfare should order the game. Once you play it, you will begin to see why the war in Ukraine is as it is, and how NATO armies seem to me to be woefully under-prepared for a future drone-orientated war against Russia (or China).  

How Battlegroup Wargame System became Battlegroup Clash

Finally, if you are interested in the provenance of BC:B and its connection to Battlegroup Wargame System (BGWS), I did a presentation with Ivor Gardiner, designer of BGWS, at Connections Online recently. It covers what both games are about, and I explain the design decisions I made to adapt the system developed by Ivor for BGWS into a game fit for a commercial audience. You can watch it here.

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