Last week I got the chance to play in another Matrix game- this time a rerun of the Falklands War of 1982. Again it was with the group from the Sheffield Wargames club but with a suitable socially distanced format through Skype.
Matrix games are really all about structured discussion- state and action and an effect with three reasons why it will happen and then the umpire adjudicates and in this case tells you if you have succeded or not. You are not limited to just yourself and your forces you can try and have an effect on anything.
The game was for seven players, Thatcher and Admiral Woodward for the UK, President Reagan and General Haig for the US, Galtieri for the Argentinians, As well as Pinochet and the UN being played. Each player was given their own briefing in advance. I was given the role of President Reagan with the basic tasks of ensuring that the islands were returned to the UK and offering some support too.
I played quite aggressively; with the US as the preminent economic power house I made sure to funnel supplies to the Brits (I knew they’d need them) as well as trying to distract the Soviets with naval exercises in the Med, hopefully to stop them meddling. I also gave Pinochet some cash to run month long exercises with his armed forces to make sure the Argentines were distracted there too. Am pleased to say that the game followed the history fairly well with the Black Buck raids, Exocets and the eventual recapture of the Islands all happening in more or less the right order.
The game was great fun to play- a good chance to do a bit of roleplaying too. Can’t thank Tim enough for running the game and the other players for making it so much fun. The format of the game worked really well over Skype too. Tim just set the camera up at the representationmal map whilst we presented our arguements.
With a couple of matrix games under my belt I’mm eager to play another one.
You can find Tim’s reports on the game here and here. The scenario is considered a matrix game classic and has been well recieved by a wide vareity of players and organisations, it is available in this book.
Cheers,
Pete.
SP's Projects Blog 
Sounds fun. I think it’s cool that gamers have found a way to still play via use of Skype, Zoom etc. Do you prefer a historical game to play out accurately or do you like unexpected turns of events and outcomes?
Thanks. I think it depends. It is always interesting to see how the game reflects on reality. Often the decisions made in real life are also the optimal ones to be made in the game too. Sometimes that can give a bit of an understanding as to why certain decision were made. Especially on a high level strategic game like this as a opposed to a low level tactical ones. Really big departures from real life only seem to happen in games when the dice favour ones side more than the other. That is also fun to see too. I played a game of the invasion of Italy, It had started after Husky (Invsion of Scily) but the subsequent invasion that I made of mainland Italy were entirely different as the German players I was against did things that were don’t historically. I tried to nip of his retrteating units at the ‘ankle’ of the ‘boot’ so to speak. All good fuin though.
Cheers,
Pete.
I’m wondering how my Rorke’s Drift game will play out? I’m kind of hoping for a similar result to what history tells us but probably only a handful of Brits will survive hehe
That will be interesting to see. I guess a lot of that come down to player decisions as well as the rules that are used and their underlying assumptions. What will you be using?
Cheers,
Pete.
I have no idea yet mate. Probably my own weird and wonderful rules haha. Any suggestions though?
I’d look at Colonial Adventures by Two Hour Wargames. I’ve had some great Zulu war games with that. The difficulty is finding something that copes with small nmumbers of Brits but very large numbers of Zulus at the same time.
Cheers,
Pete.
Thanks man I’ll have a look.
Look at my old blogs posts- a search for Zulu should bring the old games up.
Cheers,
Pete.
I’ll do just that man
Let me know what you think of them. I’ve got the Portable Colonial Wargames rules by Bob Cordery- it reads well but I haven’t played it yet….
Cheers,
Pete.
Very cool Pete – and you have a Vulcan!
I remember when that was fought – I was at West Point and a guy from the class above me disagreed with me that the UK would fight the Argentines over the Falklands. I said emphatically that the UK would indeed fight, and we actually had some Brits who fought there debrief us months later on the battle which was fascinating.
Thought you might enjoy this supplement for Combat Patrol on that battle (on land anyways): http://www.bucksurdu.com/Personal/documents/CombatPatrol/Supplements/FalklandsSupplement.pdf
Thanks Mark. I bet hearing the debrief was interesting. With Thatcher in charge I don’t think there was any doubt that we would fight.
Thats for the link- some very useful info in it.
Cheers,
Pete.
I’m with IRO I think it is great that you can still play thanks to your resourcefulness.
Thanks. It was really good of Tim to invite me into the game. Got to make the best use of what you can use I think.
Cheers,
Pete.
Sounds good, Pete! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it! I can still remember watching the daily news briefings while it was going on!
Thanks John. I was only 4 at the time of the war but I do remember the reports on John Carven’s Newsround, the kids news show.
Cheers,
Pete.
IT is amazing when events you remember are now in the realm of history. Great format for a game!
Thanks. It is, I can just about remember it.
Cheers,
Pete.
My sisters boyfriend just missed being on the Sheffield before the ship got hit. Things like that just bring it home to you.
Definately- one of the players was ex RN and knew sailors on Sheffield. Does give you pause as these events seent simultaneously long ago but very near.
Cheers,
Pete.
My sister was home on leave and got a call to return to Sandhurst immediately. She came into our dining room and looked ashen, ” the Argentinians have just invaded Scotland!”….
I’m still not sure she knows where the Falklands are!
I don’t think many people in 1982 knew where they were. Probably less now though….
Cheers,
Pete.
Sounds like fun. Never heard of a matrix game before today!
Thanks Wayne- they are worth looking up- you can game scenarios with them that are hard to do in other ways.
Cheers,
Pete.
Sounds like it was good game. I often wonder what would have happen if President Carter won his 2nd term or if the pro-Argentine faction in the State Department won out over the argument if the US should support the UK to prevent the weakening of a very anti-Communism government that was pro-US too.
Thanks Joe. I think you raise some interesting points there. I often think that the ‘special relationship’ does mostly depend on the personal affection between the two leaders at any time. The inner works of the State Department at that time are not something I know of but given the general principles of the Monroe Doctrine I’m not surprised by any pro Latin American sentiment.
Cheers,
Pete.
Sounds a good game.
Thanks – It was really enjoyable.
Cheers,
Pete.
Hi Pete sounds like another fun game:) Always thought that War would be a fun miniature games as well as board game:) Keep up the cool reports.
God Bless
Stay safe my friend.
Dave In USA
Thanks Dave. There is a lot to game in the Falklands when you look at it. Stay safe and well.
Cheers,
Pete.
Nice! That’s great that you can still game and have fun in a safe social distancing way. 🙂
Thank you. It was two evening spent in a very enjoyable way.
Cheers,
Pete.