FEATURE: BPRE 28MM

THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS DURING LOCKDOWNS, AND THE ACCOMPANYING LACK OF AIRSOFT GAMES HAVE SEEN MANY PLAYERS LOOK FOR OTHER WAYS TO ENJOY THEIR LOVE OF THINGS “TACTICOOL”, AND FOR SOME THAT HAS MEANT TURNING TO TABLETOP ADVENTURES! BILL TAKES A CLOSE LOOK AT THIS PHENOMENON, WHY IT SHOULD BE IMPORTANT TO US ALL, AND AT “BLACK POWDER RED EARTH 28MM”, A GAME THAT APPEARS ALMOST PERFECT FOR AISOFTERS THE WORLD OVER!

Every so often in AA we run an article on the crossover between airsoft games and tabletop games, as to us there is a real synergy between the two! What do I mean by a “tabletop game”? Simply put it’s what I grew up calling a wargame, something that you play with your mates on your kitchen or dining table with military models or miniature figures, some terrain, a rulebook, some dice and a tape measure. The “oh, we must not talk about WAR” fraternity have attempted to change the definition and make things “more inclusive”, and indeed there are now many, many excellent games out there that don’t involve shooting, but the bottom line to me is that I WANT A WAR game

where I can pit my heavily-armed and equipped operators against the bad guys and come out with a win!

I am unashamedly a fan of “proper” WAR games, and I will call them that if I wish, and I’m by no means alone in that. Wargames have a rich history, and it’s not all about old men reliving past glories, or schoolboys looking for battlefield adventures these days.

Wargames are mainstream, and there are some gaming behemoths out there, especially of the grimdark sci-fi genre that are thriving, moneymaking business machines… all power and fair play to them I say, and if the player enjoys what they create, then go for it. However, there’s another side to “wargaming” that we should acknowledge, and some say that the 19th-century Prussian military first adopted wargaming as a tool for training their officers and developing doctrine, and this continues to the present day in helping to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of conflicts past, present, and even future; I’ve read that wargames are now used down to squad level to look at small unit tactics and how chance can play a part in the battlespace. Simply put, an understanding of strategy and tactics, and how to

react when you get thrown a curveball can ultimately save lives, and many Defence Departments have wargaming units for a good reason!

So, how does this pertain to airsoft you may ask? Again, bottom line is that an awful lot of airsofters play on the tabletop as well as at their favourite sites, and I’m proudly one of them! Let’s be honest for a moment and admit to ourselves that even at the highest levels of MilSim in airsoft we are ultimately “playing soldier” and running around the woods with “toy guns”! Yes, I will be the first to admit that there is a growing fanbase for “6mm Training”, and it’s an effective addition to the training toolbox, but when we play airsoft games we are relying on a lot of “suspension of disbelief” to have our fun, and this applies equally to “Tabletop Ops”.

And oh boy, have things changed since I first built a 1:72 plastic tank when I was a kid! Now you can have your tiny operators totally as you would like them, dripping in the most cutting-edge kit and carrying miniscule versions of the very same shooting platforms that you love to skirmish with… fabulous!

I will be the first to admit that many are turned off by wargames due to the utter, mind-boggling complexity of some rulesets; rulesets are a fundamental part of the wargame scene, and I have played games where you are constantly having to go back and forth to rules and tables of statistics, or “stats”, and to be honest this (as a good friend and rule writer calls it) “crunchy” end of the spectrum is a real turnoff for me. My time is precious, and so is that of my friends as we all have IRL to deal with, so I personally want a game that is as rules free as possible whilst still maintaining a functional framework, and gets me straight into the action!

One of the games that I’ve come across recently that offers this is from Echelon Software, the guys behind the best-selling graphic novel series, “Black Powder Red Earth”, or BPRE. If you’ve not come across this series yet (doom on you!) then you should really check it out as it’s a series of stories that focuses on “Cold Harbor PMC” and their missions in a possible near-future, a trope that many, many airsofters love! The kit depicted is utterly righteous; Jon Chang, the author of BPRE is probably better known to you as Co-Founder of Haley Strategic Partners, and he’s also been both a creative consultant for BCM, as well as a special operations liaison and had input in product development as well! Jon also has amongst his many credits the creation, production and directorship of American Gunfighter, so I’ll say that when it comes to developing a wargame to the best of my knowledge there’s literally no one else making games with his background, and this is a real differentiator. The storylines are gritty, hyper-realistic, and in some cases utterly harrowing, although they do depict the modern dynamic style of warfighting perfectly.

And for us “tabletop operators” to enjoy, Echelon Software recently introduced “Black Powder Red Earth 28mm” (28mm denoting the physical size of the game figures used) which is set in that selfsame possible near-future and detailed with both a “conflict bible” in the Core Rules and in the pages of the ongoing graphic novel, “Black Powder Red Earth® Awbari”. It’s a close-quarter combat skirmish wargame built on a fast and fluid ruleset pitting player against player in tabletop miniatures battles. Built around a responsive combat system that is fast and easy to grasp, players direct their customised small unit teams in pitched battles through war-torn sprawls on the border between two failing states.

GETTING CRUNCHY

I’ve recently treated myself to the core BPRE 28mm Rulebook (which retails iro UK£25) and it’s a thing of absolute beauty in itself as the artwork closely follows the no-punches-pulled graphic style of the novels themselves; if you’re looking for some airsoft loadout inspiration then this is IT, and the emphasis here is on the “real deal”; there are even nods to BCM, Nigthforce Optics and Unity Tactical in the credits bar! This book contains the rules you need to set up and play games of Black Powder Red Earth 28mm, along with lore and character sheets for the factions involved. It’s actually a darn good read!

I’ve played through a few of the scenarios offered up in the rulebook already, and it is FAST… a simple “encounter game” can be done and dusted within half an hour… or even faster if the dice are unkind to you… as the creators say “survival is not guaranteed. Bloodshed is!” As I’ve only just begun my own “BPRE Missions” I spoke to a mate, fellow airsofter and game-player Michael who is an airsofter and the guy behind the impressive, enjoyable and informative “CHARGEBLOG – ADVENTURES IN WARGAMING” blog (hntdaab.co.uk/blog) to give you more of a lowdown on the game itself, and he tells us:

“Set in the Awbari storyline, BPRE 28mm is a skirmish wargame focused on one thing, night raids by the Cold Harbor Team Scorch against enemy positions in the border clades. Each mission lets you take a selection of Cold Harbor operators and send them against the local insurgents and their Hongbin mercenary handlers. The front of the book is a big chunk of lore describing the situation, giving anyone

who may have missed the first volume of the new graphic novel a lowdown on the situation. It’s very evocative, conjuring the images of the world and the forces into your mind. At the back of the book there is also the action (sequence) from Issue 1 of the Awbari arc, giving you some more inspiration for the games to come and just how your tabletop actions will look in your mind’s eye.

Once past the lore, the meat of the book is the rules. And let’s just cut to the chase: I am kind of amazed at just how slick the core of the rules is. Take for example the enemy of rules writers everywhere, character profiles. While most games include separate stats for combat, leadership and equipment options, BPRE cuts it down to four things: How fast can I move, How well can I hit the bad guys (the hit roll), how easily do I go down when shot (the save roll) and

what special things can I do (special rules)…. And yet, despite this dialing back of complexity, the character types still have a different feel to them…

The rest of the core fundamentals are pretty damn solid as well. Shooting is a two stage process (roll to hit, roll to save) with very few additional modifiers (at most maybe a single numerical one) with details for cover included in the attack roll. Rolling high on either of these is good, while 20’s give you either an unsavable kill (useful against S-Vest and body armour users) or ignores the staggering effect of being shot. Cover is also simple, it’s all done from the top down perspective you are either out of Line of Sight, Obstructed or in the open (with any additional line of sight rules covered with some handy diagrams). Doors on the battlefield, key in a CQB engagement, also play a part, blocking line of sight unless movement is spent to open them. Activating a character at any point drops an ACT (ACTion- Bill) chit on them, with specific rules for this varying during whatever stage you are in.

A final general rule element is facing – rather than 180 degrees or 90, BPRE goes with 135 degrees, or 90 degrees to their left and 45 degrees to the right. While at first puzzling, it made a little more sense when I thought back to my airsoft trips, during which your visibility to your right is usually filled with at least some element of your armament during a close quarters engagement.”

GETTING YOUR OPERATOR ON!

As Michael says, this is a very simple, yet slick and satisfying approach to a game, and the miniatures that go with it are equally as slick! I do love the modeling and painting side of wargames, although the painting is not strictly necessary if it’s not your idea of fun! The figures are multi-part resin that you need to assemble to a degree, but once together they are awesome with all the up-to-the-minute “battle rattle” you could dream of! The “Cold Harbor Crisis Troop Box One” is really a BPRE 28mm starter kit that gives you a full set of 10 28mm figures, designed, cast and manufactured in the USA, and you get 1 Advisor, 1 Automatic Rifleman (support gunner), 4 Assaulters, and 4 Recce operators… good to go!

To ensure the highest quality every game component, playing cards (integral to the overall “feel” of the game covering taskings, time/weather, and battlespace details, available as a standalone if you don’t want to reprint from the book), miniature figures, and the core Rules book are all made in the USA, with materials sourced in the US or other western nations. In the book you’ll find: • Full rules for playing Black Powder Red Earth 28mm, a small unit tactics close combat skirmish game • A comprehensive history of the proxy wars between the failing North African states of Awbari and Qasra • Sheets and stats for eight light infantry shock troops, with which to build your own team • 11 readyto-play combat scenarios

• Five battlespace layouts for campaign play.

FIX.FINISH.REPEAT.

As it says in the Rulebook... “One of the defining characteristics of war is chaos. Tactics, techniques, and procedures are the counterweight to this chaos. Establish positive control over the chaos. One body at a time. FIX.FINISH.REPEAT.” As you can probably tell I’m very excited about this game, but to keep things on track I spoke

directly to Jon Chang himself to get more of a feel for the process of creating BPRE 28mm, and what we can look forward to in the future! He was gracious enough to answer the questions I had, and this is what he had to tell me! AA: Given your real world experience with the likes of Haley Strategic Partners, BCM Rifle Company, and the AMERICAN GUNFIGHTER project what made you turn to the world of comic books and graphic novels to tell the

BPRE story? JC: I started reading comic books in 1986, when Eclipse published Kaoru Shintani’s manga, Area 88. Area 88 is the story of a mercenary air force fighting a Middle Eastern civil war for the reigning

monarchy against a Soviet backed revolution. While I would read other works like Akira, Judge Dredd, The Nam, and Bad Company, Area 88 had a profound impact on me.

When I began work on what would become BPRE

in 2002, I initially wanted to create something “real” based on the various people I was being introduced to through “networking” in what was a very small world. Ultimately, the medium that would afford me the most creative control was graphic novels. I had worked with Josh on an animated short in 2004, and when it came time to move forward with a production, we reached out to him and began work on Black Powder Red Earth Book 1.

AA: I see within the stories images of the team going through scrupulous drills along with weapon cleaning and kit maintenance post-op; has your own experience of working with cutting-edge tactical gear and firearms companies influenced the narrative arc of the stories?

JC: It was more the relationships with people I developed working with BCM, Haley Strategic, and Northern Red vs. the equipment. To design and optimize tools that enable real-world missions, you have to understand real-world needs. One of the first things you figure out is the equipment is just that, an enabler.

A group capable of manoeuvring as a coherent and coordinated element is by far more important than any weapon system, accessory, or PPE. Of course, modern weapon systems and optics make this easier, but no piece of equipment is going to win a battle. It’s the ability to coordinate movement that sets conditions for victory and the moral courage of the soldier to put the mission above themselves that wins.

AA: I watched with interest the panel discussion “Envisioning the Future of Urban Warfare”; do you feel that BPRE helps to inform on what modern urban conflict and the warriors that take part in such operations looks like?

JC: BPRE has always been a story of speculative conflicts versus heroic character arcs. Every series we have developed was built on the ground truth of a given region, projected forward (typically 7-10 years in our various series). Ultimately, this has made us more “Battle of Algiers” than Bruckheimer, but it has made BPRE very distinctly ultra-modern grimdark vs. hero’s journey.

AA: The world of the PMC is one that is very popular in airsoft circles; what made you choose “Cold Harbor PMC” as the protagonists rather than a military SF unit?

JC: Shortly after the Taliban and Al Qaeda had escaped into Pakistan, I was connected with an individual who was employed by Dyncorp. My relationship with that man was very much responsible for the entire road I went down with BPRE, and led me to my fateful meeting with Travis Haley and ultimately Kane Smith, whom I co-created the original series with.

While researching, developing, and creating these books, it became very clear to me that the conflicts of the time would continue, long after the American public and politicians had grown tired of them. Partners to the U.S. would continue to pursue objectives that aligned with U.S. interests and they would need to be supported. At the “end” of the war, I believed America would have a uniquely talented pool of warfighters with more combat experience than any other force in history.

It seemed natural that monarchies built on wealth beyond comprehension would want the best people to fight their wars, same as they brought in the best people to harvest/monetize their natural resources. Hence, BPRE.

AA: Do you feel that “BPRE 28mm” transfers that action to the tabletop in a meaningful way?

JC: Absolutely. BPRE 28mm is a unique offering that focuses on manoeuver, momentum, and the tempo of actual infantry fighting as informed by decades of combat experience.

During the development process, we required FM 3-21 (The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad manual – Bill) to be read and used as the basis for all balances, structure, settings, and units on the board. As a team, we are laser focused on the application of small unit tactics and decision making as it exists in actual battle which gives us a very different feel than anything out there IMO.

AA: What do you see in the future for BPRE, and especially “BPRE 28mm”?

JC: We are currently working towards an expansion for release in November 2022. Leveraging the existing rules, we’re expanding the battlespace and unit capabilities in ways that will give players new options for structuring their kill teams to address new missions and settings.

So, there you have it! As Michael says in his excellent blog review;

“Razor focused on delivering close quarters and gripping firefights without being bogged down in minutiae, the fact you can play a game in a lunch break is pretty fantastic… It’s easy to learn but still with plenty of depth. It’s also a game I’d be excited to see how it grows. With a powerful but simple core mechanic set, it would be pretty easy to add new units (perhaps local government forces) or even things like additional mechanics, adding things like stealth. Even after my first Night Raid, I was already thinking about how you might model other forces, always a good sign in a new system!”

CONTACT.WAIT.OUT.

I also asked Michael how he felt wargaming complemented his airsoft (and vice versa). And he told me:

“As an airsofter and a wargamer, I’ve found the two hobbies collide more often than I’d expect. Based on the fact many airsoft stores have gained a rack of tiny soldiers over the last few years, I doubt I’m alone in this! There are a few ways in which in which the two hobbies combine well.

The first up, the social aspect; between work, family events, the weather, having fully-working gear, herding your mates and THEIR gear together and then getting to a good site, you may find yourself struggling to actually go properly airsofting as much as you like. Wargames provide an alternative to your social get together, one that ends up with far less mud covered boots but the same level of hangout achieved.

The other benefit comes with learning things. Like many readers, I haven’t had to use firearms in combat or carry around my own body weight in armour, water and ammo. Airsoft provides a taste of this, a few hours to play soldier. Seeing as most wargaming rules come from a similar place, having some understanding of reality can help you understand some of the more intricate rules, improving how they flow. Little things like how body armour affects movement, or how much suppression fire can work, all can be seen in many small scale rules and learnt through actually running around airsofting.

And surprisingly, it goes the other way as well. Using wargames, you can easily explain tactics and concepts that can be reused on the airsoft field. Sometimes it’s easier to run through ideas like bounding overwatch on the gaming board than it is to attempt to talk through them after someone shouts “game on”. Now, I’m not saying you should go and make a layout based on your local airsoft site (although I’m not going to stop you, that sounds rad) but playing with toy soldiers can help out your planning and coordination.

Finally, wargaming can help airsoft site owners to up their game in setting the scene and writing objectives. After playing it out on the tabletop, and trying a few cunning mission plans from games, it helps to open up the toolbox to plan out scenarios to really grab the players on the airsoft field!”

I can only agree with Michael’s comments; this is a fast and furious ruleset that does let you get right into the action with very little “crunching”, and for this reason alone, quite apart from the superb storytelling and absolutely first-rate production values, it’s a game that I shall be embracing. It’s a game that is absolutely perfect for airsofters that requires only a minimal investment in figures and equipment, one I can see being played in an evening at a weekender around the firepits, and one that, in my opinion, that many will learn valuable lessons from in relation to working with small teams.

“Black Powder Red Earth 28mm” is quite literally a blast to play, and if you’ve never played a wargame in your life then it’s one that I can thoroughly recommend to you! My sincere thanks go to Jon Chang for so graciously answering my questions and for allowing me to reproduce some wonderful images for this article, and to Michael for letting me reproduce part of his review on the game; you can read his entire review HERE, and I’d thoroughly recommend that you take the time to so do.

I’ll certainly be bringing my own “Cold Harbor Team” to the National Airsoft Festival 2022… anyone fancy an evening game?

To find out more about the entire “Black Powder Red Earth” world simply head on over to www. blackpowderredearth.com where you’ll find all the very latest on the game, new graphic novels, merchandise, and even a video game version that’s available to play on STEAM..AA