I have been thinking about how I could incorporate tanks into my development of Joseph Morschauser's FRONTIER wargames rules ... and have come up with the following ideas.
Tanks will:
With luck I should be able to see whether or not these ideas work in a play-test at some time over the weekend.
Tanks will:
- Move 2 grid squares;
- Fire at a range of 4 grid squares as if they are light field artillery (i.e. they will be able to be stationary for a move to fire, but may not move during the same move);
- Have a Battle Power of 7.
With luck I should be able to see whether or not these ideas work in a play-test at some time over the weekend.
I've been following the developments with interest and enjoyed the battle report.
ReplyDeleteI am now about to display my lack of knowledge of inter war tank warfare. Did many of them carry big enough guns with enough he/shrapnel ammo to count as artillery? I was under the impression that most had MG's or very small caliber guns firing shot or else small shells with minimal HE, smaller than light artillery. Would they have the optics etc for indirect fire yet? Were they used as artillery already to bombard positions from a distance or were they primarily used as a sort of mobile MG bunkers in which case they might just have the high combat factor? perhaps with a terrain restriction?
As I said, not an era that I have studied.
-Ross
Ross Mac,
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of setting the play-test in 1945, when most of the things you mention were possible.
My plan is to pit three or four Shermans plus a self-propelled gun and some infantry against a self-propelled anti-tank gun, a StuG III, and some Landsturm. The latter will count as Native troops except for the first turn of battle that they have with the tanks, when the will have a Battle Power of 6. This is to reflect the fact that the Landsturm were equipped with Panzerfausts.
I will certainly be 'pushing the envelope' with this play-test, but I think that my proposed changes should work.
All the best,
Bob
Ah, that makes perfect sense Bob. I would think it will work.
ReplyDeleteAt some future point you could probably differentiate between afv by tweaking the speed, class of artillery and combat factor. But one thing at a time.
Ross Mac,
ReplyDeleteI have learned over the years to make small, incremental changes whenever and wherever possible rather than to make massive leaps into the unknown. I think that the proposed changes fit in with the existing framework and design philosophy of the original rules ... but I won't know if they do or not until I have fought a play-test battle.
If the changes do work, I will give serious thought to differentiating between types of armoured fighting vehicles.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteRoss's and your comments, as always, do set one's mental gears into motion. Perhaps an interwar conflict in Strackenz would be interesting. Perhaps the Left was able to put down the Freikorps after all, but it was only temporary: the reactionaries and proto-fascists were still worried about a possible Communist takeover, and thus staged a new revolt. The Soviets (and sometimes the Western Allies) assisted the Government, while the you-know-who aided the Right-wingers...
Chris
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI must admit that your proposed inter-war history of Strackenz makes a lot of sense ... and such a civil war would be an interesting one to fight. I will certainly consider it ... unless, of course, you are going to do it yourself! If you do, please let me know how you get on.
All the best,
Bob
No, I'm afraid I'm in no position to proceed with this right now: I have a few Pz I's and some Italian armor, but no early tanks or tankettes from the UK, Russia, or anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI rather suspect you would do it better anyway, so go for it!
Best regards,
Chris
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI may well give the idea a try if I get the time ... but first I need to test the rules changes that I have made.
All the best,
Bob