Lone Warrior No.231

I recently resubscribed to the Solo Wargamers Association, and over the weekend a PDF of the association's journal, LONE WARRIOR arrived attached to an email. I read it with great interest, especially as two of the contributors are people I know; John Curry (who is a long-time member of Wargame Developments) and Carl Luxford (who is a regular reader of this blog)

John's article examines the various ways in which solo wargamers can use AI such as ChatGPT, including designing solo adventures for RPG and solo wargame rules.

Carl's article is entitled GAMING THE KELJA MOTTI (KELJA BRIDGEHEAD OR SALIENT) 1939 and contains a brief history of the events leading up to the outbreak of the Russo-Finnish War and the opening months of the war. It then describes the ten stages or phases of his refight.

1. The bombardment of the Russian 2nd wave of attackers.
2. The Finnish counter-attack on 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment by 8th company 29 Infantry Regiment.
3. The Finnish counter-attack on 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment by 2 further companies of 29 Infantry Regiment as well as 8th company 29 Infantry Regiment, the battalion’s HQ, and a heavy weapons company.
4. The Finnish counter-attack by 6th company 30 Infantry Regiment on the remnants of 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment.
5. The Finnish counter-attack by 9th and 7th companies, 3rd battalion 28 Infantry Regiment on the remnants of 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment.
6. The Finnish counter-attack by 8th company 3rd battalion 28 Infantry Regiment.
7. The bombardment of the Russian 3rd wave.
8. The Finnish counter-attack by 1st and 3rd companies 6th Independent Infantry Battalion.
9. The final Finnish assault led by a rifle company of 6th Independent Infantry Battalion.
10. Any surviving Russian forces capable of retreating try to escape from the Kelja Motti.

I was very pleased to read that he used the PORTABLE WARGAME to fight his solo mini-campaign. He adapted the rules to give each Finnish company and Russian company (or, in the earlier stages, each Russian battalion) its own Exhaustion Point.

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A one-year membership of the Solo Wargamers Association entitles you to four PDF issues of LONE WARRIOR. It costs $15 per year and payment must be made in US currency only via PayPal using the following email address: lonewarrior.editor.man@gmail.com.