WW2 6mm game on A4 page on the blog – mission 1

[Shaun Travers]

This is mission 1 in a campaign following a British company through 1944 France.  I am using 6mm forces and playing on a 3×4 grid on a A4 page. Yes , 12 squares on an page.  I did this before in 2017.

It was fun and I have since revised the rules to be smoother to run and a lot clearer. I played this in March and I have already played four games of the campaign so there will be more to come when I can find the time to write them up.

The British company has to attempt to destroy a German listening post. A full battle report is on the blog here:

https://shaun-wargaming-minis.blogspot.com/2021/06/ww2-west-front-1944-campaign-game-01-on.html

A link to the rules I used and also the 2017 campaign is in the blog report.

A picture of the British forces advancing:

[Deleted User]

I jhad jsut skimmed over your rules and have a few questions

How do you keep track of the special characteristic, or are tehy applied for the whole units like ratngs.
You have a single based mini in a few squares, are those attachments or somethign else?
You mentioned 6×6 rules and sounded like its different, in what way are they different, seems to me 3×4 rules can be used on 6×6 just as well.

[Shaun Travers]

Special characteristics like Recce and Engineering are per stand.  I just have a different looking stand to represent these.  I haven’t used them in any missions yet 9i think I did use them in my last campaign in 2017.  Attachments like panzerfausts or extra LMG I use a different stand as well.  The single based mini is a leader attachment.

When I mentioned 6×6 I was thinking of some 6×6 ancient rules I played around with a few years ago and played some One Hour Wargames scenarios with them.  I also have some 12×12 WW2 rules that I played a few times (with each square only holding one stand).  I was thinking of just jiggling the 12×12 ww2 rules to be 6×6 with 3 stands per square and then remembered about my 3×4 rules.  So I dug them out.  3×4 is a bit different sizing from 6×6.  6×6 is 3 times to area.  With 3×4 one row (the entry row) is really only there for the attacker to have somewhere to deploy without being fired on immediately (as the defender is normally deployed in the other side’s 2 rows).  And activation is normally only one square a side that works very well when there is probably only 2-3 squares with your sides forces in them.  6×6 would work fine with the 3×4 rules but you would need to double the forces, possibly redo activation, may need to rejig movement and firing distances and also it would make a larger and longer game.  The 3×4 has the melee phase that really seems to work with each square being a150m and only a few squares with occupied forces..  If I did play 6×6 I think I would take my 12×12 rules and scale them down and each square is 75m.   most interesting question and thanks for asking!

[Deleted User]

A Follow up
Is there a list of legal attachments?
Can I attach MG to a stand? What about AT guns or a tank?

“Attachments like panzerfausts or extra LMG I use a different stand as well.”
Do you mean extra stands or differnt looking stand?

Can a unit have more than one leader attachments like US paratroop platoons? If so does the modifier cumulate?

[Shaun Travers]

I haven’t a list of lethal attachments. The list in the rules are the ones I have come across in other rumours or thought might be needed.  But going by the list in the rules would be a good start on what is legal or not. So no MGs or tanks. Attachments are really for one to three soldiers with extra weaponry or a section with extra equipment then normal.

By different stand I meant different looking, not extra.

Platoons could have more than one leader as a platoon is usually three stands. But I suppose a single stand could have more than one leader but I would not make any modifiers cumulative.

[Deleted User]

Yet more questions.

If I have 2 activations can I use it all on the same unit?
Is spotting limited to one square per activation? It’s not clear.
What happens if spotted unit moves out of square or out of line of sight?
Are there any effect to damaged vehicles like can’t move or can’t shoot?

[Shaun Travers]

If I have 2 activations can I use it all on the same unit?

Good question, I thought it was in the rules but it isn’t 🙁  If you get two activations, the second activation must be a different square and cannot use any units/stands that were activated in the first activation.  And example of the latter: Square 01 contains stand A, Square 02 contains stand B. On first activation stand A moves from square 01 to square 02.  For a second activation can activate square 02 but only stand B can do an action.

Is spotting limited to one square per activation? It’s not clear.

It is supposed to be once per activation you can select one square to spot at.

What happens if spotted unit moves out of square or out of line of sight?

Page 4 under Spotting:  Figures out of line of sight of all enemy units become unspotted.

So if you move to a square that has no LOS to an enemy unit you are now unspotted.  Or the enemy moves out of LOS then you are unspotted.

Are there any effect to damaged vehicles like can’t move or can’t shoot?

Damaged vehicles can move or shoot if not suppressed.  On a hit result of 4 they are only damaged so can move or shoot, on a hit result of 5 they are damaged and suppressed so cannot move or shoot until rallied (although they will still be damaged).  Damaged is not great though, a -1 to be hit and one more damage result to be destroyed.

 

Hope this all helps.  Thankyou again for the questions, it does help.  I have updated the rules based on my answers to make them clearer.

 

-shuan

 

 

 

[Deleted User]

Thanks for clearing up the rules.
One last one, how are tractors handled? Do they count towards stand limit or are they attachments? I can’t see them as a separate stand since it could easily block movement due to square restriction.

PzII should have same AT value as SdKfz 222, they use the same 20mm gun.

I found the section for spotting and the lsit of attachments after I asked the questions.
I’s like to recommend putting Spotting and Force Morale on the Table of contents.
Also maybe move Attachments table up to where Force rating and types of stand are.

I like the rules so far, reminds me of Lightning Wars by David Child-Denis but with a single shooting mechanics. I thought the spotting rules would be a hassel, but it really drove the game for me.

Can you direct me to your 6×6 rules? I want to see if I can use to to replace ym fantasy rules as well.

[Shaun Travers]

One last one, how are tractors handled? Do they count towards stand limit or are they attachments? I can’t see them as a separate stand since it could easily block movement due to square restriction.

Good catch- there are no rules for them.  Tractors should be treated as attachments.

PzII should have same AT value as SdKfz 222, they use the same 20mm gun.

Fixed.

I’s like to recommend putting Spotting and Force Morale on the Table of contents.

Also maybe move Attachments table up to where Force rating and types of stand are.

Done. Your suggestions make sense.

Can you direct me to your 6×6 rules? I want to see if I can use to to replace ym fantasy rules as well.

They are at this post where I have a bunch of game reports with them –

https://shaun-wargaming-minis.blogspot.com/2020/04/ten-one-hour-wargames-scenarios-played.html

Or go here directly for the rules:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11ar4fJX0IYn7dC1LvcXQtLz4bPpehi_g/view?usp=sharing

The combat mechanism is based on Bill Banks Ancients rules that used a CRT based on ratios.  I changed it to be a die roll that includes modifiers for ratios.  If I was to use these rules again, I think I would simply use the original CRT or use a more newer die roll system I am tinkering with at the moment.  Still very much early playtest for the latter though.

 

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