{"id":27493,"date":"2023-10-14T15:58:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T14:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/?p=27493"},"modified":"2023-10-14T16:04:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T15:04:03","slug":"sitrep-bpre-28mm-work-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/10\/14\/sitrep-bpre-28mm-work-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"SITREP: BPRE 28mm: Work Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Little programming note – sorry if you received some emails this morning re-releasing the board of Shadowy figures post. Basically, there is an issue that is causing a featured image to display improperly and I’ve been trying to fix it. Sadly Jetpack by WordPress kind of sucks so it hammered out a few new post emails it shouldn’t have. Anyway, back to the content.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BPRE 28mm – it’s a game I like a lot (to put it mildly). One of the main advantages of BPRE is that the games don’t take a year to play, meaning that you can quite easily fit them in on a lunch break. I’m very lucky that I work alongside someone who suffered through the same university as me and has a similar taste in wargaming and airsoft. As well as giving me a buddy to sample the lunch delights of Leeds, my suggestion we play a wargame over our break on a Thursday was answered with a certain amount of excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, before we jumped in hard, I decided to make an investment and get hold of a playmat for the Raid size of game to make setup slightly quicker (rather than having to measure specific positioning for the structures). This design is by Breezy on the BPRE Patreon Discord and is available for free (along with a larger mat designed for the larger Phaseline board). To get it printed though, that involved using DeepCut Studio’s custom mat builder<\/a>. I went for the neoprene and stitched borders (seeing as I’ll be taking this to and from work once a week) and the total cost wasn’t actually that bad overall. I’m also super happy with the quality of the printing, especially around the iconography of BPRE. It’s lovely and crisp, definitely making the game feel even better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With a professional-looking playmat together, how have the games been?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not going into turn-by-turn blows (the games play too fast and I’m too focused on playing\/eating lunch to take photos) but I can cover some overall things I’ve spotted from playing BPRE once a week for a couple of months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first thing up was something we noticed from getting the mat – we had been playing the game with a slightly larger area when placing buildings, using the outer border rather than the walls for positioning. This sounds like a minor thing, but this is a game of inches (pun not intended) and every inch counts for movement. Since putting the buildings closer together, we’ve definitely found the game to be much tighter, with smaller open spaces meaning more focused firing lines and more people able to make the frantic rushes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also drives home that this isn’t a game to play haphazardly or in a relaxed way. There is a lot of incentives to check the angles, to find mistakes your opponents make and to then punish them brutally for it. Finding those gaps is a game in itself, really rewarding players who know what you can do with your force and when to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Speaking of being tighter, let’s talk about how close these games have been. Something we really love with BPRE is how you basically need to play every turn until the battle is either won or lost (a situation we’ve had to miss out on sadly due to the pressures of a limited game time). Over the years I’ve played several games where things have been technically won in round one but then play has continued grinding away until the objectives were technically achieved. This occurs much less with BPRE, with battle usually having definitive finishes early on, or pushing right up to the turn counter – even a single remaining figure plus an intervention card played well can REALLY screw up your opponent’s turn and turn an inevitable loss into a narrow win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My opponent is a big fan of using a mass of troops so he’s mostly been playing Shurta with minimal higher-tier element. This is in part because he’s a big fan of maximising the action economy – having more troops means he’ll have more activation per turn than the smaller Cold Harbor team. This is something that is especially deadly as you can’t choose to pass a single activation when passing back and forth – declaring you have no more activations means the enemy can start hammering in moves, operating without giving you a chance to relocate, only responding with intermediate actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After playing the first few games as the OPFOR, the last two games have seen my opponent playing Scorch instead, utilising the smaller number of Cold Harbor employees against the Aayari. His first game wasn’t too far away from the Shurta Swarm (instead utilising the cheaper Assaulters rather than relying on the specialists) but a second game using more recce troops I think has helped to reveal how Scorch deals with the larger number of activations that Aayari usually end up with. Pretty much every Scorch figure (from the humbler Assaulter to the high-cost Advisor) has a method of dealing with multiple enemies per turn – machine guns can target multiple enemies, grenadiers and frags perform area denial, Advisors dropping large-scale templates to wipe out vast numbers of enemies while the Recce’s skills allow them to attack twice in a turn at any range. Using these skills, mixed with suitable intervention cards, are kind of vital for the Scorch team to get the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I also got a chance to run a set of games with the Regular Opponents for the Dastardly One’s birthday. We decided to play one mission twice (swapping each way) giving both players a go at playing the two teams. After an earlier game of Chain of Command (more on that later) this game definitely had both players leaning forward in their seats to check angles and work out tactics. Safe to say, both of them did enjoy it (even if they admitted they wanted to re-read the rules to get the basics lodged in the brain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may notice I have three pictures up there rather than just one per game. Well, that’s because the first time we swapped around, we had a turn 1-action 1 victory. Bunching up a team in a single room with a door in line with a window meant that turn 1 a 40mm grenade came curving through the window, blew the door in and shredded a whole stack of Scorch team guys. Grenade launchers definitely work well to lock down angles – launching in the direct fire phase means ending a turn exposed to one is a very bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overall, BPRE continues to be the game I’m putting to the table the most. In part because of how quick it is to play but also because of how pretty much every game plays differently – no matter what force I pull out of the box, minor changes to tactics, intervention cards and dice rolls keep it interesting and thinking on your feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still heartily recommend giving the game a go – although the boxes from Echelon are the best way to play<\/a> (and the best way to support further development and keep the team making stuff), for $5 you can jump into the Patreon<\/a>, grab the PDFs for everything you need<\/a> (terrain, tiles and standee figures) and start playing pretty sharpish. This way you can see if you like it and then decide if you want to pick up the boxes with the lovely models, well-made terrain temples and hard-wearing cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I need to get back to video making and also thinking about what force I’m running next week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Little programming note – sorry if you received some emails this morning re-releasing the board of Shadowy figures post. Basically, there is an issue that is causing a featured image to display improperly and I’ve been trying to fix it. Sadly Jetpack by WordPress kind of sucks so it hammered out a few new post […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":27499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1106,1093,1069,903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-powder-red-earth","category-features","category-sitrep","category-wargaming"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Michael Charge","author_link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/author\/chargedog\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SITREP1.jpg","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/SITREP1.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Black Powder Red Earth<\/a>","Features<\/a>","SITREP<\/a>","Wargaming<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Black Powder Red Earth<\/span>","Features<\/span>","SITREP<\/span>","Wargaming<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 14\/10\/2023","modified":"Updated on 14\/10\/2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 14\/10\/2023 3:58 pm","modified":"Updated on 14\/10\/2023 4:04 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pvEn5-79r","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25224,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2022\/02\/15\/sitrep-writing-for-other-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":0},"title":"SITREP – Writing For Other People","author":"Michael Charge","date":"15\/02\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/issuu.com\/airsoftaction\/docs\/airsoft-action-issue-135-march-2022\/74 Surprise, I've been writing for other people again. A friend of mine, Bill, is the editor for Airsoft Action and a keen wargamer. In the latest issue, he wrote up a piece on Black Powder Red Earth 28mm, extolling the virtues to the 6mm Soldiers crowd (no, not the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/issu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/issu.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/issu.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24516,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/11\/14\/sitrep-initial-play-of-black-powder-red-earth-28mm\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":1},"title":"SITREP – Initial Play of Black Powder Red Earth 28mm","author":"Michael Charge","date":"14\/11\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In shocking news, I'm reporting on a monthly game against my Dastardly Regular Opponent without going into a full battle report (you'll have to wait until the end of the month for that). Instead, we were giving Black Powder Red Earth 28mm a go. Not going to go into too\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Black Powder Red Earth"","block_context":{"text":"Black Powder Red Earth","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/wargaming\/black-powder-red-earth\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/PXL_20211113_214818078.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26241,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/01\/04\/sitrep-a-sequel-sitrep\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":2},"title":"SITREP: A Sequel Sitrep","author":"Michael Charge","date":"04\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After Sunday's post, I managed to talk to the team at Echelon and reported my findings, including firing over some photos. After that evening, I posted my Sitrep, went to bed and then went up north for a day of wargaming (post on that fun coming soon). When I got\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-04-002145.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-04-002145.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-04-002145.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screenshot-2023-01-04-002145.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26481,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/04\/12\/sitrep-baptism-of-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":3},"title":"SITREP: Baptism of Fire","author":"Michael Charge","date":"12\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After moving in, I haven't yet had a chance to hit the gaming table in my own house, instead going off to the Dastardly Regular Opponent's house for Chain of Command or BattleTech. However, having finished decorating my dining room I am now ready to begin hosting games for my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/PXL_20230411_205526699.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24514,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2021\/11\/30\/impressions-black-powder-red-earth-28mm\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":4},"title":"Impressions: Black Powder Red Earth 28mm","author":"Michael Charge","date":"30\/11\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh boy. It's been a long time since I've looked at rulesets, even longer since I've written my impressions on them. So why not kick it off with something that has been eagerly awaited? For a long time, there has been a lot of discussion about a tabletop game from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Black Powder Red Earth"","block_context":{"text":"Black Powder Red Earth","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/wargaming\/black-powder-red-earth\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/253765505_10158692936781317_2043116476542258248_n-120x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/253765505_10158692936781317_2043116476542258248_n-120x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/253765505_10158692936781317_2043116476542258248_n-120x150.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/253765505_10158692936781317_2043116476542258248_n-120x150.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/253765505_10158692936781317_2043116476542258248_n-120x150.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26237,"url":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/2023\/01\/02\/sitrep-not-much-fun-with-siocast\/","url_meta":{"origin":27493,"position":5},"title":"SITREP: (Not Much) Fun with SiOCAST","author":"Michael Charge","date":"02\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the new year and I trust Twitter to work correctly as much as I trust myself in a Greggs not to buy a steak bake so I'm going back to using my blog for all the little posts and updates. Enjoy! After my New Year's celebration in Middlesbrough, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Features"","block_context":{"text":"Features","link":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/category\/features\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/PXL_20230102_005724276.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hntdaab.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}