[JozisTinMan]

Meanwhile, a shipment of ex-US M103 Heavy Tanks have been reportedly seen unloading from cargo ships at the main port of Bassanova… The United States Secretary of State would neither confirm nor deny.

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[JozisTinMan]

Given the heightened tensions, and vitriolic posturing by the warmongers in Bassanova, Constinaprore would probably upgrade it’s military slightly (paid for by their patron).  Maybe a battalion’s worth of AMX-13’s have been purchased from France, although maintenance is a problem.  They have also purchased some OT-64’s from Poland to keep their Warsaw Pact neighbors happy.

Also, a squadron of pilots are reportedly training on Mystère IV French fighters purchased surplus from India.

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Please, go right ahead!  Going to experiment with sandpaper cut into strips and work my way up from there. Not sure if it will have enough weight.

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[JozisTinMan]

Thanks, all!  I just made cards for the assets I thought I would use frequently, please go crazy adding more.

Next up is redoing my forests onto hex shaped floor tiles so the units will actually fit inside them and I need to figure out how I want to do roads.

 

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[JozisTinMan]

Weird, I’ll chalk it up to a blogger issue.  Mrs. Tin Man likes Comic MS, but I may fiddle with it to enhance readability.

Thanks for letting me know!

Just converted the asset acres from .docx to .pdf, will try to get it up tonight.

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Good morning!  Thank for all the feedback!

@Thaddeus: I did not think I changed anything on the blog, were you viewing it on a mobile device the first time?  If so, I can fiddle with the template to make it more readable.  Glad you cans ee it ok now.

@Jack: I played these solo while my wife worked on lesson plans (she is a teacher), an don’t worry, game 2 turned out very differently…  I’ll try to get it posted tonight. Just a small spoiler, 1/44 Armor gets hammered. Hard.

And don’t worry, I have West German Territorials painted and ready to go and a Leopard 2 Panzer Brigade on the painting table.  I am running this in a fairly narrative manner, so don;t be surprised if they make an appearance or if it spills over into a dozen games.  If I hit a stopping point I will either have the West German Government collapse (a la Red Army) or a breakup of the Warsaw Pact and a coup in the Kremlin before nukes are launched (a la every other WW3 book written in the 80’s)

Yes, I will share the cards, I knocked them out last week, printed them, and mounted them on my favorite material, peel and stick vinyl floor tiles.  Thanks for the compliments all.  I will get them posted up tonight when I get home!

 

 

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[JozisTinMan]

Looks great!  Thank you for sharing!

I like the asymmetrical street layout by the way.  I wind up doing that too every time I set up an urban board, it help break up the line of sight a bit.

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[JozisTinMan]

Quaker, not sure if you saw the post from 3-4 weeks ago, but as Ivan can attest I went through a lot of soul searching over ATGM’s too.  A company of Bradley’s are throwing out a lot more missiles than a company mounted in M113’s with Dragon’s alone.

I finally came around in alignment with the rules as they finally landed, as while modern ATGM’s like TOW, Milan, AT-5 etc are pretty accurate on the firing range, in combat a tank company will start popping smoke, suppression fire, and fall back instead of sitting in the kill zone and waiting for the missiles.  Plus, IFV’s and ATGM carriers have a limited number of shots. (Seven I think for a Bradley), so will probably not fire them off as fast as they can.

In practice I am finding that maneuvering a tank company in front of more than 1 ATGM equipped company to be fairly fruitless as the tanks keep getting driven off, and either need reinforcements or to call in artillery.  It goes the other way as well, the ATGM’s hold of the tanks and then the tanks get nailed by artillery or air strikes.

That being said, I like the idea of a re-roll of the shock die.  I might apply that to dedicated Anti-Tank units, like a Mech Battalion ITV company, or MRR Regimental Anti-Tank Company.  Will use that in my next game and let oyu guys know.

 

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[JozisTinMan]

Great looking stuff, now play! (Although I like your air games too, so keep them up!)

I especially like how you did the infantry bases.

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[JozisTinMan]

Of course they are using T-72’s because they intend to model Czech Category A Tank Divisions!  Or Divisions based in the Western USSR.  Or they read Team Yankee one too many times, like me.

I’ll probably pick up a platoons worth of Infantry for each with vehicles for No End in Sight.

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[JozisTinMan]

Heresy already abounds! 

Just to add to that…  Here is a house rule I will be using this weekend:

Small Squads:  Some IFV’s have significantly smaller number of dismounts than contemporary APC’s, a good example is the M2 Bradley.  These types of units receive a -1 in assault combat with infantry units.  No degradation in company firepower, as they still bristled with heavy weapons, MG’s, etc.

So, a company of BFV infantry will have a little less UMPH in close combat.  I will apply this to BMP’s as well, but not BTR / M-113.

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[JozisTinMan]

@Richard Lee: VERY nice looking table!  When I can get my head out of the 1980’s cold war and then the WSS, I plan on pulling out my 6mm ancients again and playing on a similarly sized table.

Inspirational, thanks!

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[JozisTinMan]

Thanks, Quaker!  Not trying to make a sad Ivan, but…

That all sounds very reasonable.  As an aside, while I was in high school I of course read Red Storm Rising, Team Yankee, and Red Army (like all of us of a certain age…), so I recently bought the scenario book The Bear Marches West on my kindle. (worth the purchase, by the way)

One thing I notice now with the benefit of hindsight and experience in the army is that Tom Clancy seemed to have a MUCH rosier view of NATO technological superiority than the other authors (which makes sense as the other two guys were serving officers.) For example, and I had forgotten this, he has a company of M1A1’a from 11ACR backed up by a company of FRG Territorials and a flight of A-10’s successfully defend against not one but TWO Soviet Category A Tank Regiments with the newest T-80’s and BMP-2’s.  Sure they would be attrited, but I suspect they would roll right passed what they would report as a blocking position.

I hope to start a campaign soon, circa 1984.  Will pit an armor heavy brigade (2 x M-1 Battalions, 1 x M-113 Battalion) against a Soviet Motor Rifle Division, with the regiments attacking in turn in echelon.  So 4 games, game 1 will be against a MRR (BMP) with the Tank Regiment coming in last or next to last.  Will include all the Division bells and whistles I can, even if they are not on the table at once, like the Division forward detachment, reserve Tank Battalion, AT Battalion, etc.

 

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[JozisTinMan]

My brain just melted, that 6mm table is amazing!  Inspirational, thank you so much for sharing this.

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[JozisTinMan]

Ack!  My apologies on the TR with 3 Motor Rifle Battalions.

What do you guys think about the suggested tank ratings?  All completely open to interpretation I know.

Just got my latest envelope of goodies from Picoarmor, so a Panzer Brigade (Leopard 2) is in the hopper as well as Close Air Support.

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[JozisTinMan]

Just got my copy, will be eagerly digesting it in between working this morning.  WHOOOOHOOOO!!!  Was reading a bridge demolition scenario in WS&S and the wife wants to play Brigade Commander again, so will be back on the table soon.

Will let you know if I spot any typos, but GREAT work Ivan!

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[JozisTinMan]

Great looking stuff!  Don’t let them give you flak about your hills.  Of course, I think it is just a con by Jack to get free terrain from Kyote… Crazy like a fox.

Now push some lead!

 

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[JozisTinMan]

I feel your pain Kyote, I really do.  If I could do it all over again, I would ditch my 28mm SciFi and Colonials and do them both in 15mm, but I am too invested in terrain, painting, and lead to make the switch.

Of course that did not stop me from starting a 6mm Colonials project…  Madness I tell you!

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[JozisTinMan]

Great looking stuff!  And while I support KG Klink’s further adventures, I am eager to see what you think of the rules.   I have not painted up or used any Engineers yet, and I’d like to see how you employ them.

Also, are you going to run Battalion 120mm mortars as attachments?  I ignored them for my Motor Rifle Battalions, assuming they were factored in, but I have the figures and you know how that goes…

Keep it up and get some lead on the table!

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[JozisTinMan]

@kyoteblue: I wish I could do 15mm, but space, time,  and expense are limiting factors.  Your stuff always looks amazing!  When you get the rules out on the table, send us pictures.

@JustJack: Thank you!  My thinking on the T-72 versus M-1 match up is at typical engagement ranges in Germany (what 800 – 1200 meters?) a company of T-72’s could render a company of M-1’s combat ineffective.  I don’t use Desert Storm as a yardstick for this, as the Iraqi’s had inferior locally produced ammunition and export model T-72’s.  Plus M1A1 (and M1IP’s) are up armored from the first generation of Abrams.

I prefer to give NATO an advantage with more activation’s, so that while they have fewer shooters, they will fire more often.  Also, maybe give them shoot and scoot.

Just to make things interesting, I am painting up a batch of T-55’s, which I will count as lower tech versus the M-1’s all around.  Will let you guys know how that goes.  My FRG Territorials will have M-48’s with 105mm guns, so they will be lower tech when shot at by our T-72’s but equal tech when firing.

What I really like about the way Ivan writes rules is the ratings are relative.

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[JozisTinMan]

Fyi- I posted pictures from my playtest on my blog.

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[JozisTinMan]

Outstanding! We eagerly await you to emerge from the depths of the Weasel Lair, bearing the tome of enlightenment!

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[JozisTinMan]

No issue with the larger table, played better as there was room to maneuver and the troop density felt right.  I’ll get the pictures up tonight so you can see what it looked like.  I think 3×3 is good for Cold War.  I think 2 x 2 would work well for WW2 Infantry heavy battles.

A MRR should attack on a 3-5 KM frontage and it works perfectly.  There was enough room that the attacker could weigh the attack on one flank and it was deep enough that the recon units mattered.  The attacker became strung out as he advanced, having to decide each turn to either push forward or slow down the overall advance and regroup.  A couple of fortunate scurry turns helped the attacker.

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[JozisTinMan]

I ran a playtest last night with 0.05, took pictures but wanted to get my feedback to you as rapidly as possible.  I played all the rules as written, will get pics on the blog tonight.

I did a larger table, 3′ x 4′ attacking down the length.  The Warsaw Pact had a Motorized Rifle Regiment (BMP)  with the trimmings (full strength, air defense company, Recon company, Regimental Artillery group) with persistent off board artillery stonks available (152mm battalion attached from division)  I also gave them 1 activation for every 4 units

The Americans had a small Brigade with an armor battalion (4 x m-1 with 1 x recon attachment) and a mechanized infantry battalion (3 x M113 Infantry, 1 x recon attachment, and 1 x M901 ITV.) Also had a platoon of AH-1 gunships attached from division and a persistent off board stonk (155mm guns from DIVARTY) and I gave them 1 activation for every 3 units.

Bottom line, I liked all the rules I tested:

• Recon:  Continues to look good, the light / heavy split is good and the ability for heavies to roll 1S when withdrawing makes them a useful screening force that can delay an enemy.
• Gunships / Air Defense: Also looks good to me.  The gunships were useful as a highly mobile firepower platform, but I was reluctant to close with the Soviet air defense elements.  I think this worked well, as air defense was mostly a deterrent.  Also, in the attack, I did have the quandry of when should I move my air defense forward, which was good.
• SP Artillery on table: I deployed these on table as attachments like assault guns, with 6″, +1K versus infantry and really worked well.  They were very useful in an assault on a town on the table, and I feel did not need any other special rules.  I’ll give players in this instance the option to field the regimental artillery like this or as an off board stonk.
• Artillery:  I did not have the figures to try the “packet” rules and it did not feel appropriate for this period, so I used off board, persistent stonks.  I think it worked very well and I would not change a thing.  It was powerful, but not overly so.
• ATGM’s: I am now 100% on board with the rules as written after having played them a few times.
• Close assaults: Did several and they worked well, I now know I want to keep my M-1’s away from ready infantry and standoff and shoot at them or get soem friendly infantry in to handle them.

My only suggestion is:

Close Air Support: I know this is rolled into bombardments, but maybe as an optional rule:

• Limited asset
• Can hit targets anywhere on the board, not just in LOS
• Must be called, roll d6: 1 = unavailable this turn, may try again, 6 = Aircraft tasked to another mission by higher HQ, lose the airstrike
• Hits like Bombardment (1K/1S)
• Air Defense within 6″ of the target roll 1S before the airstrike hits, 1= mission aborted but you may try to call it again in future turns, 6 = Aircraft damaged / destroyed and you lose the airstrike.

My only questions are:

• If a target of a close assault is “Man Down” should it be a -1 or -2? I treated it like routed at -2, but how should it play?
• A unit that is “Man Down” is hit by fire in a following turn and gets a bail on the shock die, what happens?  Bail and keep the “Man Down” status to check next time it is activated?  Or check it immediately and if it survives then bail?  I played it as the latter.

Cannot wait to see the next iteration and I love the cover!

 

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[JozisTinMan]

Henry, I have been going through a similar down scaling process, I guess technically for 10 years as that was when I sold all my 15mm ancients for Baccus 6mm.

When I get my head extracted from my modern project, I plan on using my already painted and based 6mm ancients with ‘To The Strongest.’  It gives you a lot of flexibility as to what base sizes you want to use, number of figures, etc.  I personally am going to use 2 inch squares, as my figures were originally base on 40mm frontages for Warmaster Ancients.  That will give me a lot of maneuver space and room from drinks on my 4×4 table.

If space were not an issue for me, I’d do 3 or 4 inch squares with big bases full of a ridiculous number of figures.

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[JozisTinMan]

I concur with Shelldrake, I really like that feature.

I find the atmosphere here much more pleasant and full of more congenial spirits than other hobby forums I could haunt.  Frankly, I have quit visiting other forums, just post on them to drum up interest in Ivan’s 5 Core games.

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[JozisTinMan]

Jack, I have been running the M1’s and T-72’s as equivalent tech, but giving NATO an extra activation, so they tend to shoot more often.  Going to rate T-62/55 as low tech versus the M1, and maybe count 120mm armed M1A1’s and Leopard 2’s as higher tech versus T-64/72/80.

Currently working on some FRG Territorial M-48’s with 105mm and am going to count them as lower tech when shot at by T-64/72/80 but equal tech when they are shooting.

 

Will let you know how it works.

 

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Love the cover, and I am smacking my forehead… You are correct just using them as direct fire infantry support is even better and less fiddly.

Ok will do that for the set up and run through.

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[JozisTinMan]

Ivan, preparing for the next game and read through the artillery rules and the discussion here.  Going to add a couple of SP artillery batteries to the Soviets, but as written they will not be able to use them as doctrine calls for in the offensive.  So, I propose modifying the rules slightly…

Self Propelled Artillery:

Many armies use self propelled artillery for observed direct or indirect fire.  The Soviets in WW2 and during the Cold War were particularly fond of this and would attach batteries directly to maneuver units to help overcome defenders and suppress anti-tank defenses.  To represent this:

• SP Artillery activates and moves with it’s parent unit, but must stay within 12″ of the unit is is attached to and must stay closer to the friendly unit it is attached to than it is to enemy units.
• Like regular independent batteries, it is removed if any enemy combat unit comes within 3″

Also, the restriction of only having them fire at non-mechanized infantry, makes it pretty useless in the Cold War, so allow them to fire with 1S against dismounted infantry or Ready mechanized infantry.

Will try this and let you guys know how it works.

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

All my markers come from Litko, worth every dime: http://www.litko.net/categories/Tokens-%26-Markers/Blast-Burn-Smoke/

Will add the MRR arty battlion and let you know ho ot goes

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Ok guys, tried 0.05 this morning with the wife, you can see the results here.

I am getting over my ATGM hangup and played the rules as written, worked well I think.  Also took it back to basics, so just direct fire units.  My only recommendation is to add the -1/-2 for pinned, damaged units as in Company Commander.  Also, I forgot several times about guard fire and we had to rewind, but that is just my fault.

She is up for playing again, going to go with a full MRR and add Recon and see how it goes.

I like the direction the rules are going, finishing some AH-1’s to add to the mix soon.

Thanks!

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Will do.  I think I will start with Black Powder and go from there.  In the meantime, 5Core Brigade Commander has seen me shift focus to the 1980’s cold war, but I will come back to this.  I can use the same terrain pieces for the Fulda Gap, WSS, or the 1809 Danube campaign, and Bavarian Currasiers are sitting on my desk.

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[JozisTinMan]

Another variation based on cards you could use is this:

1. Create a deck with 1 card for each turn you roughly anticipate the game to last + ~25%
2. Add 2 Blizzard cards to the desk and shuffle
3. The first one drawn starts the blizzard, the second ends it.

Presto, once it starts, it will not start again and the duration is variable.

Let us know how it goes!

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Ivan, I will let you know how atgm’s go. I suspect you are correct and i am compulsively overthinking this.

I will go out of the box for this next game, just recruited my wife to play tomorrow!

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[JozisTinMan]

If you are doing 1/600, I have stopped using spray primer on my O8 stuff, I brush on black paint to undercoat.  May work for you, of course I do a final step where I use army painted quick shade and matte spray sealer to seal everything up so it is virtually armored, your mileage may vary.

Working on my reference sheet for next game, going to play it out of the box version 0.04, but keep the ATGM optional rule.  Here’re the stats I wrote up for late Cold War:

[EDIT: Having trouble pasting them in, will add Google Doc link tonight]

 

 

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[JozisTinMan]

Awesome!  Our snow day did not materialize, it is just slushy, but I will give these a spin as written and give you feedback here.

Get your toys out, guys, I want to see pictures of your stuff (so I can steal your paint schemes!)

http://jozistinman.blogspot.com/

[JozisTinMan]

Yes, I like that!  It is very much a Brigade / Regimental commander decision, do you put a battalion in reserve to rest/refit versus keep shoving them into the firing line.

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[JozisTinMan]

I like that, will fiddle with my quick and dirty monopoly town sectors to do that, each sector big enough to hold a company.  I may do that to my forests, the ones I am using now I made for 6mm Napoleonics and the units do not quit fit in them all the time.

Other than that, something modular, tiny buildings are a pain to move around.

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[JozisTinMan]

I think modify the NATO / Warpac one from NEIS for WW3, but I think in all the stuff you have written already, what you have could be used for WW2 through now.

One thing I would recommend is have some sort of recovery mechanism for destroyed units, as they are combat ineffective but not necessarily all dead.  Factor in if the player is possession of the field at the end of the battle, maintenance capability of the force, etc.

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[JozisTinMan]

Hey guys, I am behind on this thread and need to get caught up!  Will do some reading.

In the meantime, I realized I have been play testing in correctly as I do not have a grip on Company Commander yet.  Can anyone spot check me here?  I also tried the optional ATGM rules and rather like them.

Thanks!

 

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