It Is a Flag That Is Not a Flag

The Matchbox Battle Kings sets I have been purchasing have a little flag with each set. At first I was annoyed that the little bunkers had an indentation for the flag. That looked like a big sidewalk sale with all those bunkers and flags. I also remembered the movie Starship Troopers.

In the movie, the troopers are shown several times waving flags. So okay, what can I do with the flag. Finally, I remembered one of the big problems of the first Gulf War was friendly fire inflicting causalities on our own troops. They solved the problem by placing a special reflector on the vehicles to enable the friendly aircraft to recognize our vehicles.

So why not use the flags for the same purpose? I have modified my ruleset to use the flags as a type of beacon. The flag will work as an IFF beacon and will prevent friendly artillery fire from landing within five inches of the beacon. My artillery templates have markings where each shell hit location is at and that spot must be at least five inches, or in my ruleset, fifty yards from the flagpole.

This will prevent some friendly causalities from friendly artillery fire. Of course, some of my artillery has a large bursting radius and may still do damage if it is too close.

These little bunkers when placed next to one another side by side make a neat little fortress. I am using these troops and vehicles for near future and space wargaming. Again, thinking about Starship Troopers the Mobile Infantry made small forts to protect the soldiers from the bugs. These small bunkers can be used for such protection. Each little bunker has three places for weapons mounting. The TOW launcher from the Humvee fits in these mountings too. I have been trading off the Humvees, but keeping the TOW launchers. An interesting diversion from strictly historical gaming here in The Bunker.