Blood and Sand, and VSQL Production Notes
(downloads at bottom of page)
Blood and Sand is a third-party Pacific variant for G.I.: Anvil of Victory designed by Wild Bill’s Raiders and published in 1983. It’s purpose was to plug the gap that existed in the Squad Leader system pertaining to the Pacific theatre of operations in World War Two and allow a peek into the unique and well known aspect of the conflict. The Variant is twenty scenarios based on various historical actions in the Pacific presented in three series containing rule sets, scenarios, counters, boards and overlays. Each of the series covers an aspect of the Pacific as follows...
“Series I - Against the Rising Sun”, seven scenarios portraying the Allied forces in a defensive roll, even if strategically on the offensive.
“Series II - Island Ordeal”, six scenarios on combat in the Pacific on the many islands.
“Series III - Do or Die”, seven scenarios portray the uniqueness of the Pacific Theater including Russian troops, Merrill’s Marauders and besieged Marines.
Bill Wilder first solicited readers interested in playtesting ten Pacific Theatre scenarios in On All Fronts’ second issue published November 1982. Series I was first offered for sale in April 1983, followed by Series II in July 1983 and finally Series III in Nov 1983. Additionally published were scenarios and other materials including ‘Jungle Fight’ (Apr 1983), ‘Take Suribachi’ (May 1983), ‘The Missing Counters’ (June 1983) and ‘The City’ (Sep 1983) which covered the Vietnam war.
The rules and a sample of the scenarios and boards were published in the Wargamer magazine Number 30, published March 1984.
Wild Bill’s Raiders was a playtest group including Bill Wilder, Bob Safin, Ed Walker, Lee Skillin, Jeff Shaw, Ross Towle, Mike Fredericks, Rick Walton, Norm Benjamin, Chip Merton, Geff Hinds, Kurt Manglos and others. They published Blood and Sand, the PTO campaign Gung Ho! and modern variants Troubled Times I and II and other scenarios and materials.
Components
Rule book
Scenarios
Quick Reference Data Chart
Countersheets
Board P-16 “Tarawa”
Board P-17 “Iwo Jima”
Board P-18 “Jungle”
Overlay OP-A “River”
Overlay OP-B “Hill 40”
Overlay OP-C “Buildings”
Overlay OP-C “Hill”
Overlay Palm Trees
Orange colored unmounted Japanese counters*
* advertised in On All Fronts, February 1984
Nationalities and Infantry units
Japanese
Chinese
Malayan
Filipinos
Islanders
Merrill’s Marauders
Hospital Patients
Whole and Holes
Blood and Sand places at our disposal the materials necessary to play in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The Rules provide for the uniqueness of fighting in the Pacific by introducing the Japanese, Starshells, Air Support - Napalm, Caves, Special Invasion Rules, Tunnels, Dogs, Special Infiltration Rules, Weather - Climate, Booby Traps and Dated Japanese Play. The Japanese TO&E provides for common support weapons, ordnance and armor. The boards provide beaches for landing and jungle for fighting. The Scenarios are well researched and encompass the participating nationalities, cover the Japanese operations from Mongolia to Singapore to Guadalcanal to the amphibious landings on Iwo Jima. Taken as a whole, they paint a broad landscape of the Pacific Theater of Operations and are a worth-while read in and of themselves. The interested G.I.: Anvil of Victory player finally has access to the Pacific Theater of Operations.
That is not to say there are no weakness; being produced by Squad Leader enthusiasts means the quality of the rules and components are not up to the high standards of The Avalon Hill Game Company. The issues we encountered are documented below, no doubt these are incomplete and game play will reveal more. Critics will be quick to point out these imperfections but minor rules issues never kept a game from being fun, just look at the original Squad Leader. John Hill would tell players to tailor the rules to their liking and keep the big picture in mind to ensure an enjoyable game. If players adhere to his advice and don’t mind resolving an ambiguity or two then they will find a worth-while addition to their collection.
VSQL Design Notes
We attempted to reproduce the original materials of Blood and Sand in VSQL as authentically as possible. Ours was obtained from an original playtester and we believe it complete except as noted above. We have not manipulated or compressed the PDF files in an effort to provide the reader with the feel of the original material. At times we used judgment in resolving ambiguity or contradiction and have provided the basis for our decisions below. Players should substitute German counters from the G.I.: Anvil of Victory counter set when their judgment differs from ours.
The player should use the infantry counters called for by the Scenario in play. Some nationalities are represented by existing counters found in the Squad Leader system, others have counters provided by Blood and Sand and still others have both. For example, Scenario P-05 “The Tiger Strikes” calls for the use of Allied Neutral (104.3) counters for the Chinese. Later, Scenario P-17 “On To Mytyikina” calls for the use of Blood and Sand counters for the Chinese. The player should simply follow the direction of the Scenario in play. We have included Blood and Sand infantry counters in their appropriate nationality folder in a Blood and Sand tab.
Japanese Unit Composition and Squad Deployments are provided in the rules published in the Wargamer.
Other counters were added to existing VSQL folder by function. For example, Destroyed Bunkers, Breaches and Caves are located in Fortifications. The ⅝ OBA Starshell counter is located alongside its smaller brother in the OBA/Night folder. The US flag is in the General folder. The Corsair FB is located in the Transport folder along side his Stuka and IL-2 brethren. The U.S. Dog counters are included in the SMC folder, “Man’s best friend” is close enough.
A Bunker can not be destroyed per Squad Leader rule 56.51. However, Wild Bill’s Raiders modified this rule in ‘The Case of the Missing Counters’ published in On All Fronts issue 7. “Any bunker attacked by a Demo Charge, Flamethrower, or any HE weapon of above 40mm with a dice roll of ‘2’ on the IFT or the ‘to hit’ table before modifications causes the bunker to explode. I then eliminate all units and equipment within the bunker, and replace it with a smoker bunker (Burn, baby, burn!).” This special bunker destruction rule was not included in the Blood and Sand rules and is provided here for the edification of the reader.
We omitted the counter if its functionality was already included in VSQL. Omitted counters include Berserk, Close Combat, Crew Exposed, Wounded Leaders, Chits and Malfunctioning MGs.
The use of Support Weapons and Ordnance counters was, at times, ambiguous and contradictory. The scenario cards use text (ie “LMG”) and not the usual graphic counter so the capabilities of the support weapon and ordnance counters are ambiguous. The ruleset contained in the Wargamer states French support weapons and ordnance are used (1a.27). However the Blood and Sand ruleset suggests using German counters and finally, Series I contains countersheets with Russian and French support weapons.
We decided to populate the VSQL Japanese Support Weapons and Ordnance counters from first the Blood and Sand countersheets then from available French counters and finally from German counters. We believed the strongest indication of the designer’s intent was the countersheets and these were our first choice. We also noted the Japanese designed many of their support weapons and ordnance based on the corresponding French piece and in the absence of a Blood and Sand counter, a French one was used. Finally, the German counters fill any missing support weapons and ordnance not found in either the counter sheets nor the French Ordinance Listings, notably the Flamethrower and ATR.
Many of the Japanese machine guns were based on the equivalent French piece and modified for Japanese use. For example, the Type 11 light machine gun was based on a modification of the French Hotchkiss machine gun which fed a cartridge clip that was interchangeable with the Type 38 rifle. This open feeding mechanism caused frequent jams in muddy or dirty conditions and gave it a bad reputation with Japanese troops. We believe Blood and Sand’s use of Russian LMG and MMG counters is a reasonable representation of Japanese machine guns.
Japanese ordinance was adopted from both French, German and Russian designs although in many cases simplified to meet lower manufacturing tolerances. Using red To Hit numbers and a reduced break number is probably a reasonable treatment, more so than nationality of the counter. To reflect Japanese material shortages and lower production quality, we selected the lowest quality weapon when a Gun Type (63.13) had several guns of the same caliber. Should the player feel the Range Modifier (64.2) of a particular Japanese ordinance is too high, he should use the corresponding German counter instead.
The Blood and Sand rulebook states the 37mm IG's rate of fire is two, however the it’s counter depicts a rate of fire of one and an IFE of four. Comparatively, the Ordnance Listing in Crescendo of Doom for the French 37IG also does not agree with the corresponding counter. The French counter is missing a ROF of 2 and a * Range Modifier (64.2) as state in the rulebook. Players should agree on which capabilities to use prior to commencing play.
The T-2 Light Tank lacks an IFE value for the 37mm main armament which is inconsistent with the 37mm IG and T-95 Light Tank IFE of four. Comparatively, French AFVs with main armor of 37mm and one man turrets are allowed an IFE of four. For consistency, Players may wish to allow an IFE of four for the T-2 Light Tank.
The LVCP’s Armor To Kill DRM (64.3) is listed as -2/-3 in the Blood and Sand rulebook and -4/-5 on the counter. We used -4/-5 for consistency with the LVT4 craft in the Vehicle Listing of the G.I.: Anvil of Victory rulebook.
The T27 Multiple Rocket Launcher truck’s gun size should be overscored, it can only fire HE rockets. The vehicle characteristics are a composite of the T27 RL and the 2 ½ truck found in G.I.: Anvil of Victory’s U.S. Ordnance Listing and Vehicle Listing, respectively.
The Series III countersheet indicates Japanese counters should be colored orange. An orange Japanese countersheet may have been offered at a later date and was not included in our materials. We have used German blue for consistency with the published rules, Series I and Series II.
VSQL Extension
The reader should be aware more than one VSQL Extension for the Pacific Theater of Operations may exist. We recommend activating only one Extension at a time. See VASSAL help for instructions on activating and deactivating an Extension. Additionally, the Extension for Crescendo of Doom and G.I.: Anvil of Victory must also be installed and active in order have the full counter set available for Blood and Sand.
Missing In Action
Wild Bill's Raiders produced other materials we would like to add to the database.
“Gung Ho, A Test of Courage” is five short scenarios of the Second Marine Raiding Battalion in its march across Guadalcanal. $5.00
“Troubled Times” covers significant battles of the twentieth century. Indochina, Korea and the Near East including Dien Bien Phu, Israeli and Jordanian armor and the rescue of the “Mayaguez” crew. $5.00
“Troubled Times #2” covers Entebbe Raid, the Bay of Pigs invasion, Grenada and the ‘56 Arab-Israeli war.
We don’t believe these are KIA and any donated materials will be shared with the Squad Leader community. Please note we do have Bill Wilder’s Scenarios published by On All Fronts.
Eternal Gratitude
We would like to thank Vincent Maresca for his efforts in finding and donating the Blood and Sand materials to the Squad Leader community. It was through his initiative we have these materials today. We especially thank Kurt Manglos, an original Blood and Sand playtester, for not only for sharing his original materials with the community but also for the playtest work so many years ago. Bill and I feel this fills a missing piece of the Squad Leader story and we hope your find it a worthy addition to your collection.
We hope you enjoy Blood and Sand,
Bill Soz and Scott ‘2IFT+3’ B
Downloads
Series I - Against the Rising Sun part A here and part B here
Series II - Island Ordeal here
Series III - Do or Die here
Counters here (donated by Pete P.)
Boards and Overlays here (contains Blood and Sand and non-Blood and Sand materials)
Ordnance Listing, Armor Listing and Counter Inventory here
VSQL Module (Coming soon)
VSQL Boards, under 'Custom and Special Boards' here
“The Case of the Missing Counters”, On All Fronts, issue 7 here (Destroyed Bunker Rules)
“Japanese Strategy in Bloody Betio”, On All Fronts, issue 18 here
"Wild Bill Wilder and his Raiders - A Personal Gaming Autobiography", in Internet Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20030422151006/http://www.militarygameronline.com:80/boots_tracks/index.php?page=articles/WBRaiders
Scenarios
Scenarios Map