Jack Ryan - Amazon TV Show

One of them most anticipated television shows of the year and one that Amazon were so confident about that they commissioned a second season prior to the first being aired, Jack Ryan arrived with a fair amount of hype and it was something I was looking forward to. Is it worthy of the hype? Well...

I have been a Tom Clancy fan since the late 1980's, first reading a paperback copy of The Hunt for Red October at the tender age of 11 and enjoying each of the subsequent Jack Ryan-verse novels, pretty much up to The Bear and The Dragon which, although not bad, wasn't up to the author's usual standards and felt like it was ghost written.

The cinema adaptations of Clancy's books were mostly entertaining, starting off with the Alec Baldwin-leading The Hunt for Red October. This was slickly made and aimed to be an intelligent Cold War thriller. It certainly had the requisite tension and technological accuracy (mostly), but the character of Ryan took a back seat to the more seasoned and recognisable Captain Marko Ramius, played by Sean Connery. Still, it's my favourite Clancy film and works well even today. The Harrison Ford follow ups (Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger) each had their strong points and portrayed a more mature and scholarly Ryan. That style made me want them to make more of the Ford-starring films but that was not to be. What we ended up with was the Ben Affleck led The Sum of All Fears, again well made but that suffered a change of villains (to neo-Nazi's of all people) and a quite bland Ryan. The most recent film, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, was a play for a new franchise starring Chris Pine but this didn't find the success it needed and to be honest, Pine didn't fit the Ryan character as envisaged by Clancy. This brings me to the Amazon financed TV show with John Krasinski, better known for starring the the US version of The Office, as Ryan. We're once again at the beginning of his CIA career so we're getting another origin story too.

Surprisingly for a modern limited run TV show, Jack Ryan runs for a mere eight episodes which, when you consider the likes of Netflix's bloated Marvel TV shows, is a blessing. Episode length varies from around 44 minutes to an hour and each feels about right in length, never dragging but also never feeling overly stuffed. Nope, they got this just about right. Having the Middle East as a focus, there is a great deal of location filming and, in general, the production values are high. A bit of a side trip to Paris (Montreal in reality) and you have a show that portrays a global reach very well, something that older shows (with greater episode counts per season) such as The Unit, Scorpion and NCIS often failed at as they were reduced to backlot filming and the same Californian orchards time and time again. Kudos must also be given for having non-English characters speak in their native language with added subtitles. It does get more than a little wearing that all foreigners speak with "British" accented English (as Americans would put it. As a native of the UK, I have never heard what a "British" accent sounds like).

The casting is excellent too. Krasinski is a rather good fit as Ryan, playing a former US Marine recovering from a traumatic incident and trying to settle into an office job at the CIA. He gives off the sense of being slightly out of his depth rather well but is also capable when forced to wing it as the situation demands. If there is a downside then it comes from the shows inability to completely convince about how clever Ryan is. That and the "by accident" meeting with Cathy Mueller, a contagious disease expert that fits in too neatly into the over-arching plot. Quite what they can do with Abbey Cornish's character is season two remains to be seen because there is the risk that a handy plot device in season one will just lead to a one-dimensional background character in season two and that would be a great injustice to all concerned.

Wendell Pierce plays James Greer, recently dumped in to Ryan's department to lead it after a fall from grace. Some reviewers have been a bit unkind to the actor for his bulk but that fits in with the desk-based role the character has and it works for me. However, the character's religion, Islam, feels like another easy plot device and again, I can't see what relevancy it will have an the next season. He does, however, work well with Ryan and the sarcastic banter between the two is a highlight of the show.

Ali Suliman as Mousa Bin Suleiman gives a cracking performance as the villain of the piece, as does Dina Shihabi as his wife who is put through the wringer by his actions and her conscience. Both emerge as well rounded and sympathetic characters, even though Suleiman is callous beyond redemption. Indeed, character building is a strong point through episodes one to six and it is only in the final two that this, as well as the pacing, falters and the show degenerates into the standard "catch the bad guy tale". It also demonstrates that the show is not as intelligent as it wants you to think it is. There is still enough drama, both with the primary storyline and the different secondary strands to keep you hooked and those strands are tied up reasonably neatly by the closing credits of the final episode.

Jack Ryan is not without its faults, as noted above, but it does enough to not only establish the main characters but also the TV-universe that those characters inhabit. Certainly, it succeeds in bringing to life the titular character and hopefully the second season can build in the foundations of the first and improve on its weaknesses. If you have access to Amazon Prime, I highly recommend Jack Ryan and await with anticipation the follow up season in 2019.

Team Yankee - Amendments

I have had a couple of requests to share the amendments that I have made to the Team Yankee rules, so here they are. A couple of points to note first. These are amendments that we have play-tested. There are more on the way, some of which are fully formed, some which are just thoughts at the moment, but in any case, until they have been used in a live game, I'm not going to detail them here. That can be for a future post. Secondly, the amendments were made so that the game played in what I believed to be a more nuanced manner. As such, you may (should, and indeed, will) disagree with some of the changes made. That's a good thing and I welcome comments, suggestions and points of view.

Playing Team Yankee for the first time was an enlightening experience. Very different from our usual moderns rule set (Combined Arms), TY was a fast paced and rather bloody game and this raised some questions. Undoubtedly, it filled an afternoon, but what it lacked was a sense of satisfaction. It was too lightweight, too gamesy. So here we are.

Can't fault the production values...

The first thing that I changed was the hit values on the main battle tanks. This was to counter the "BANG, You're dead!" style of game play and to bring a dose of reality to the table. Modern MBT's can take some punishment and I wanted to reflect that in the game. Once a hit was scored, I made the player roll for hull or turret. If the hit was on the hull, another dice roll decided if the tracks were hit (1 or a 6) or the main body (2 to 5). A hit to the tracks created a mobility kill which meant the tank could still fight but not move. If a turret hit, then a roll decided if it was main armour (1-2 and 5-6) or mantlet (3 and 4). Take the Leopard 2 for example: the sighting system carves out a great chunk of the turret front. For tanks with Chobham type armour, their values were inflated too. Again, with the Leopard 2, the frontal armour went from a flat 18 to 24/18/24 (right panel/mantlet/left panel). This meant that a T-72 hit (with a value of 22) could kill with one shot but it wasn't a certainty. I also added a rule that if one section of the armour was hit and the tank survived, that section was now rated down to the weakest level on the front of the tank (18 in this instance), meaning a second shot on the same area had more of a chance of destroying the tank but allowed the game to reflect that the armour was doing what it does in the real world. In the same vein, Soviet vehicles fitted with Explosive Reactive Armour resulted in a temporarily higher defense value, but if hit and the armour saves the tank, the original armour value comes into play as that panel has now been used.

After the armour came the bailing out rules. A previous comment on the Durham post tried to clarify that the rules don't necessarily mean bailing out, just a possibly short term effect that can be recovered from. Me, I take the direct English here and the rules say bailing out and re-mounting. I changed this by asking if the crew wanted to bail and if they did, and the enemy were in MG or small arms range, they would have to deal with incoming fire. Any hits rendered the crew out of action.

The assault rules were also looked at. No more bouncing back. If you failed to pass over an obstacle, you got stuck, effectively giving yourself a mobility kill. Speaking of obstacles, if fording, Soviet crews had to roll a D6 and if they got a 1, their engine stalled. Rolling another D6 and another 1 led to the engine compartment flooding. This was, apparently, quite common and river obstacles were only traversed during exercises by vehicles equipped with radios in case such events happened. Probably not the same possibility as the two D6 roll gives but it adds a bit of flavour.

Ranges were next examined after the Durham game and the following were put in place for the most recent one:

Allies

L30 120 mm = 60 inches – 3000m

7.62mm MG = 16 inches – 800m

30mm Rarden = 30 inches – 1500m

SA80 = 8 inches – 400m

MBT LAW = 1 to 20 inches – 50 to 1000m

Hellfire = 10 to 160 inches (500m to 8000m)

Javelin = up to 50 inches – 2500m

30mm Avenger – 24 inches = 1200m

Maverick = off the table

H’aarqui

T72 125mm = 50 inches – 2500m

12.7mm = 20 inches – 1000m

AK47 = 7 inches – 350m

73mm cannon = 10 inches – 500m

30mm cannon = 30 inches (armour) 80 inches (ground 1500m and 4000m

AT3 Sagger = 10 to 60 inches – 500m to 3000m

AT5 Spanderl = 2 to 80 inches – 100 to 4000m

SA-9 = up to 84 inches – 4200m

Whilst not 100% accurate, they are close enough and now fit in relation to each other. Additional calculations were used for the effect of 30mm Avenger fire, based on the A-10 travelling at 400 knots, covering 175m/s (so 3 inches). A one second burst when used for strafing would cover 3 inches, a two second burst covering 6 inches and so on. This led to ammunition rules so the A-10 was limited to 5 one second bursts. In the same vein, armoured vehicles firing MG's had a maximum of three consecutive turns before rolling for heat-related jams (1-3 jammed, 4-6 ok).

Aircraft were also changed and can loiter for as long as five turns before fuel becomes an issue and removes them from the table. Naturally, if you have weapons that can shoot at them, if the aircraft is on the table, they are a target.

Finally, artillery. Well, mortars so far. Instead of an over-priced piece of plastic, I used the ground scale. One mortar with observed fire could accurately hit a 50 x 50m square (1 inch by 1 inch). Hit rules remain the same and I'll look at battery fire later on. This makes mortar fire more of the pin-point weapon it should be and forces the player to think about target selection.

It may seem that this puts a heavy responsibility on the game umpire to keep track of things and yes, you'd be right. Our group uses the umpire system as it fits in well with our outlook of the hobby and , for one, quite enjoy umpiring now and again as it's something different.

As I have said above, any comments, queries and suggestions are most welcome and I'll try and reply to each in turn.

Sarge! This f***ing f***er's f***ing f***ed!

So rang out the cry from "Wor Lass", the lead Challenger 2 of the Prince Regent's Own Heavy Hussars as its crew took stock after an IED forced them off the main causeway to the Harraqui provincial capital of Q'uon-Shett. The British advance had been halted and recovery crews had taken heavy fire from Harraqui militia forces positioned in the nearby marshes. It was now a race against time. Could the British re-group and rescue the beleaguered tank and its crew, or would they be taken by the fanatical defenders?

So lonely, oh so lonely...

Such was the scenario last Saturday when a trio of TWATS converged on the Commercial pub for a game. I was running it (using Team Yankee again, with not only the revisions added for the Durham show but also revised ranges and artillery rules), Andy played the hapless British and Shaun took on the Harraqui's. Now, being the umpire (and a twat), I chose to make things difficult for both players. Andy had the disabled Charlie 2 and a single Snatch Landrover, the rest of the British forces re-organising for a recovery attempt, whilst Shaun had two groups of militia, a group of tooled up Technicals and a quartet of T-55's. The issue he had was that the Technicals and T-55's needed to be told of the British plight and a pair of motorcycle dispatchers were required. Oh, and there were some victory rules - Andy had to get the tank crew (and the tank if possible as they only have 226 left) out of trouble. Shaun had to capture the tank crew alive for propaganda purposes, so he couldn't shoot "Wor Lass", however tempted he might have been. With the scenario set, off we went.

Shaun started off with dispatching the motorcyclists to get help. Andy brought up his Landrover and laid suppressing fire on the western militia group to the rear of "Wor Lass". The crew of "Wor Lass" were no less busy laying down accurate fire from both co-ax and cupola MG's on the eastern group, causing the first militia casualties. A roll for the appearance of the A-10 failed.

In no way endorsed by the Consett Ale Company

Turn two saw a kill for the Landrover crew with their .50-cal and another dead militiaman on the  east. The motorcyclists continued their weekend ride towards Q'uon-Shett. Still no A-10.

Still lonely, oh so f***ing lonely...

Turn three, and still no air support. Another casualty either side of the causeway on the militia and things were looking a tad brighter for the British - until your humble Umpire made them roll for their MG's jamming. After sustained fire, it might be expected that some of the guns would be running hot. A simple 1-3 fail/4-6 pass saw Andy roll well and the MG fire continued. Also at this point, the first of the British support appeared, (the British having superior comms) - three Scimitars of the North West Durham Yeomanry (The Commercials) alongside a pair of REME support vehicles.

The AA, REME style (other roadside assistance organisations are available...)

At the start of the fourth turn, the A-10 finally showed up, which was fortunate, as the first rider had reached the Harraqui support forces and the Technicals rolled out. Andy ordered the Scimitar Troop to race up the road; he needed more firepower alongside "Wor Lass" since he now couldn't trust his MG's. He could, however, trust his 120mm L30A1 main gun, so lobbed a HESH round towards the eastern militia group. This killed two, forcing a morale check, which they passed, but were left suppressed. 30mm RARDEN fire from The Commercials killed another militiaman to the west and the A-10, feeling left out, spotted the T-55's and decided a Maverick was called for. Cue one dead T-55.

As close as you'll get to a money shot (special effects courtesy of Flash Gordon).

They look pretty. But pretty is as pretty does...

As the fifth turn started, things quietened down a bit, with another HESH round dispatching two more militia and the A-10's second (and final) Maverick destroying another T-55. You may wonder why only two missiles? That's all the model had, so that's all they could fire. There were still two cluster bombs, two dumb 500lb-ers and two Paveway laser guided bombs plus the internal cannon though, so the A-10 was still in the fight. Renewed MG fire caused no further casualties.

This is not going to end well...

As is always the case in our games, the Umpire can do pretty much what they want as long as it suits the style and period of the game, and as turn six began, the message had gotten through to the regular Harraqui army so they started piling onto the table, looking for a piece of the glory. Three AT-5 equipped BRDM's with an SA-9 SAM launcher in support were the beginning, though the British had also managed to get three Warriors with elements of 69 Commando on the road too. The A-10 was being helpful, dropping a 500-pounder and a cluster bomb on the approaching Technicals, two of which were hit and destroyed. Then things got messy.

Andy had placed The Commercials in front of "Wor Lass", screening her from traffic coming down the causeway. Shaun thought that was a bit cheeky and rolled his two surviving T-55's right up to them. All but one of the remaining Technicals were also jammed in there. Like I said, messy.

Our Eye in the Sky reports heavy traffic on Highway 8

So this is what they call CQB...

The Commercials fired first, the first Scimitar getting two hits on the right-hand T-55 and causing a mobility kill. Second Scimitar was aiming for a Technical and at close range, the 30mm rounds had no issues at all. The third Scimitar engaged the last T-55 and although scoring two good hits on the turret, didn't penetrate the armour. Then came the T-55 reply. Or not, as the case may be. Poor dice rolling saw one Scimitar obliterated but the other shot was a miss. Overall, not as bad as it could have been for The Commercials.

The Aftermath (part one)

Shaun also used this opportunity to fire off his rocket pod equipped Technical. Using a bit of Umpire knowledge and know-how (i.e. making stuff up as I went along - albeit having read and seen how these things have worked in real life and knowing the established ground scale), I let him rip, the effect of which was a lovely piece of churned up causeway, a possibly very relieved Technical operator and not much else.

Turn seven saw more of the British response, with the 69 Commando-laden Warriors advancing further along the causeway and a gaggle of "Wor Lass's" mates (three more Challenger 2's) now on table. The A-10 was once more useful with a 30mm gun run against the two T-55's. This took a little bit of maths and realism. Working out the distance traveled in one second at 400 knots, then the burst length that an A-10 would normally have, then fitting that into the ground scale and finally offering Andy a selection of burst lengths (fire longer, less bursts, fire shorter, more bursts), Andy decided upon an aim point and a one second burst. The T-55's died quickly. The SA-9 was not happy about this and decided the A-10 should leave, but poor dice rolling saw a miss. Not that this was entirely a bad thing as Andy retired the air support out of missile range (effectively off-table).

The Aftermath (part two)

Turn eight and the final one as it transpired. The AT-5 BRDM's came into action and the rest of The Commercial troop died quickly, though not before replying with cannon fire that killed two of their attackers. "Wor Lass" stepped up and finished the last one off. And that was it.

At last...

Why? Well, the British now had enough on the table to support the recovery operation and the surviving Harraqui forces were in no fit state to oppose them. True, there were a nearly a dozen T-72's in a box that could have been put on the table. However, they didn't fit in the scenario (and the Harraqui forces were not in that much of a fighting mood) and it would have devolved into a dice rolling contest for the sake of it. What would be the point of that (apart from "the game, innit" mentality)? As such, a British victory, but a Pyrrhic one. Yes, they saved their tank crew, but lost the Scimitar troop in the process. Honour, however, was maintained.

So, the game organisation. I wanted this to be another example of asymmetric warfare, where both sides have to think carefully. As Andy pointed out at the end of the game, it was effectively over by turn three but neither side realised this. And that is kind of the point. He also commented that if he had made a mistake at any point, it would have been game over for him. That was what I was aiming for, not just a gung-ho "Bang! You're dead" style shoot-em up. No, a bit of finesse here and there does wonders.

As for the rules, the Durham amendments were in place and both artillery and ranges were tweaked, setting a hard 1 inch to 50m scale so that everything worked on that level. Weapons were changed to fit that too, so whilst it meant that missiles could rule the table, it added a dash of realism that TY normally lacks because they want pretty models on the table (so you need to buy them) and you won't get upset when said pretty models are blown away the second they pop their head up (nullifying the reason for buying them in the first place). Should there be more amendments? Yeah, a probability dice could smooth out the decision making process a bit more, and movement ranges need a bit of refining but then what started off as a bit of tinkering is starting to seem like more of a major revision. The point I am making here is that the core mechanics of TY are pretty basic (and have been seen many times in the past) yet they can be fit for purpose depending upon what you want to put on the table. If it's dice rolling a-go-go hour long games then, out of the box, TY will  suit you. If you want something more in line with the real world where you get to choose your tactics and actions (I really don't like how the game mechanics are set up to replicate tactics - surely that is the job of the player???), then it is a decent framework to hang your own amendments off. All it takes is a bit of thought. Speaking of which, the values for vehicles not currently listed in TY were made up by me, using existing values as a guide.

This is the third game I've ran using these rules within the last twelve months and I think they are developing quite well. Certainly there have been no complaints about the changes made and more than a few suggestions which have been, and will be, acted upon. They are turning into something quite respectable for modern wargaming. Then again, I would say that.