New books.....

fasands of em!

Well, maybe not quite thousands but certainly some.

I recently mentioned the paper soldiers book for the ECW by Peter Dennis and that it is part of a series. I'm glad that it is because I saw a copy of the book in the Ian Allen shop in Birmingham last week and it is really very nice. The other two books in the series are:

Very cool. We just need one for the Jacobite Rebellions and we are away!

Also on my book list at the moment are the next Osprey Wargames books including The Men Who Would be Kings, Chosen Men and The Pikeman's Lament (in chronological order). But look what else I have found.....

Due out in September. I'm pre-ordering mine. Check it out here.

More stuff...

than you can shake a stick at!

1. FiveCore hex grid conversion 

Norm was quick off the mark last night to worry with me his comments on whether the frontal arc is too generous. 

Where is our frontal arc?

What concerns me about this design decision is the point that Norm made a lot earlier around most tactical gamers thinking of "front" as a vertex not a hex side. In fact, when I was playing with photos to illustrate the conversion rules I found myself in some trouble as my mental map is firmly vertex orientated. Also, my hexes don't fit the table if I turn them round (and that's the clincher). Rather than faff about it over the next couple of days I'll have a calm think and get back to it later.

2. Paper soldiers etc

A new book from Peter Dennis and Andy Callan with paper soldiers. Helion & Co £11.65. I understand this is a series, hurrah!

3. Hold the Line: Remastered!!!!

The big one, HTL revisited plus PSC miniatures!

With the FiW expansion as well. I understand that all of the HTL games will be redone in this format. It looks very good. Kickstartering now.  

FiveCore hex grid conversion.......

the next version!

Well, I have had another go and here it is. 

Successful flanking shot on a Tiger, well done!

So far, the Duc has most influenced my thinking on facing. Let's see what people think. I'm still a little uncomfortable and may have to think again.

Quatre Bras.....

its quite good!

It is nice to get feedback on the stuff that I do. Paul Leeson has been playing Quatre Bras a la Carte and has very kindly said:

First complete play through last night and it worked very well, almost as it did in history! A great little game - the limited Action Points for the French side work very well and really make you think about what you need to do next AND what can wait!!!

I'm very chuffed. Paul also spotted a glitch in the counter sheet and reinforcement schedule which I have now fixed. Version 2 of both can be found here.

Next job is to revisit the FiveCore hex grid conversion. I have realised that having more than one vehicle per hex is an issue! I have an idea to sort that out. I'll have a go around the Sarries game tomorrow and the usual chores.

Face front.....

Pointing in the right direction!

Shoot that way boys....USMC in Afghanistan

Further feedback on the FiveCore hex grid conversion has raised an interesting point about facing. Ivan's view is that:

On facing, I'd be inclined to use the Battletech method: Vehicles face a hex side (which as mentioned fits many hex map roads). The two facings on either side of the front are also (front), the one opposite the front is rear and the two adjacent to the rear is left and right (if that makes sense?)

Norm's view is a little more traditional:

The only thing about using hexsides rather than a vertex to establish the front facing is that flat edges create a forward arc of 3 hexes, which in turn on a small board makes flanking shots and positions harder to achieve.

At the moment, my view is that facing is important for tanks because they have different armoured strengths depending on which part of the tank you may be firing at. This is really important for Panthers because of their relatively weak side armour. Also, tanks with turrets have a 360 degree field of fire for their main armament, but assault guns and similar vehicles have a very limited arc of fire. Use of facing helps to differentiate these capabilities. Therefore, I like the idea of facing but it is not yet in the hex grid conversion.

In the base Company Command rules: 

• Infantry squads do not have a fixed facing and may turn to face any desired target.
• For speed of play, we are not concerned with exact vehicle facing. Players who prefer a more detailed game may upgrade weapons one step when firing at the rear of a vehicle (for example a kill shot becomes overkill when targeted against the rear of the vehicle).

So, including facing is a good thing for vehicles but not, so far, for any other units. I may worry about anti-tank guns at a later date however!

Hex side or vertex? I am going for hex side at the moment as suggested by Ivan. I'm not a Battletech player so I don't have any practical experience in this approach. Like Norm, I usually prefer the vertex solution. My decision here is based on the practicalities of managing more than one tank per hex (max two in the current draft). 

Looking at this picture you can see that a vertex solution with two tanks looks a bit odd. Turn the picture round (in your own mind is ok!) a hex side solution looks a little more usable. I think I can cover off Norm's point about giving a chance to get in flank shots by deciding on how to play LoS. 

Facing and LoS are critical factors in small unit fighting. I don't think civilians appreciate the complexities. As a civvie myself I often turn to US manuals for insight. I have just been reading MCRP 3-11.2 Marine Rifle Squad because I'm interested in what facing looks like for a squad. Looking at direct fire issues:

1. A sector of fire is an area that is required to be covered by fire by an individual, a fire unit (squad or fire team), or a crew-served weapon. It is a pie-shaped area enclosed by two lateral limits and a forward limit (i.e. a vertex solution).

2. A principal direction of fire is a specific direction within the sector of fire given to a flat trajectory weapon and which is designated as its primary fire mission. Within a rifle squad, a principal direction of fire is assigned to automatic rifles. Units are not assigned principal directions of fire.

The sector is assigned if possible but where it is not possible, weapons are assigned PDFs. Although this looks like a vertex solution, if we have multiple squads in a hex my feeling is that a hex side solution becomes easier.

At the end of the day we just need to make a decision now and test it out, so lets go.......

FiveCore Hex grid conversion.......

Even more feedback!

Guys, thanks for your contributions. It is really great to get so much informed feedback. As last time, I'll try to carefully pick through the comments and see where we need to go next. The full comments are at the foot of the last post on this subject so these are edited highlights. Once I have got things straight in my own head I'll have a go at revising the conversion guide. 

Conversion guide or new rules: Duc suggested the guide might be evolving into a new rule set. Longer term this might be a way forward. My concern at the moment is to build on what Ivan is doing already and not to repeat in the guide any of the main rules. I do wonder whether, in future, there might be scope for a "SixCore" version (five core principles and six hex sides!), effectively a simplified, hex based and more gamey version of the main rules. Worth a ponder I think and a discussion with Ivan.

Platoon orders: Ivan's view is that units near each other can activate on the same activation point "So on a hex-map, 3 squads strung out in adjacent hexes could move together, but if you start spreading them out (or they get pushed back), your command/control starts faltering."

Movement rates: Everyone seems cool with the proposed movement rates. Ivan says: "I agree with dropping "slow" tanks to 1 hex. Seems them crawling along at the same speed as the infantry would make sense. (and for things like the Valentine is probably about as fast as they'd go anyways)." Duc's view is: "Spot on with movement - tactical movement is the order of the day. Perhaps allow move x2 when outside enemy range." 

Peter has suggested: "1) all movement where the moving unit can be spotted by enemy units is one hex. This would represent caution forward movement or short stop start sprints between cover. Where unit cannot be spotted then infantry move one hex and tanks, etc move two hexes." I like this, it comes from Tigers at Minsk and relates also to the hesitation roll used in Minden's Retro rules (really obscure Squad Leader territory here). "2) slow units just move or fire, and faster units can move and fire. This way you differentiate between unit movement capabilities." Brilliant!

Obstacles: For obstacles, Ivan's view is that: "if they fail a "crawl' test to cross, leave the die next to them and next turn they cross automatically. Normally, I would be against tracking that but we only have 8-10 squads to deal with, so its not too bad. Alternatively, use the positioning inside the hex to signify it. Place the squad in the middle normally and at the edge when they are half way through." Norm's thoughts are: "I am glad we have had the discussion about rolling to enter a hex, with the issue of repeatedly failing to pass and in effect being stuck. the obvious solution is to automatically allow the movement on the following turn ......... I will now go and apply the 'obvious' rule to my own Tigers design, as my vehicles have to dice to enter woods." Duc suggests: "Perhaps roll for units to 'leave' terrain - meaning they can tend to 'hug' the cover if poorly commanded."

Facing: Not in the original rules but this has now come up. Norm, being very tactical, has told me: "I am just going through my Tigers at Minsk rules and having previously had all vehicles always facing a vertex, I am now dealing with the reality that roads cross hexsides, so a vehicle using the road will actually be facing a hexside and not a vertex. accepting this rather than by attempting to fudge it actually helps, because the new facings generated by hexside facing (only 1 front hex but now 4 flank hexes) makes the vehicle following a road more vulnerable to flank shot and less effective in their own front arc - this feels right." Norm's latest version of Tigers at Minsk can be found here. Duc thinks that: "I always thought facing a corner was simplest and could allow clear flank and rear facings."  For me, the jury is currently out since facing adds complexity but, on the other hand, allows nice side shots at Panthers.

Excellent. I have one more day of the Easter holidays tomorrow and may have time to have another crack at the guide, Further suggestions and feedback very welcome. Cheers.

More Airfix Battles stuff.........

Cool or what?

A flyer has gone out to retailers:

And a PDF of the rules can be picked up from here.

The rules will demo at Salute and orders will ship first week in June. Top, I'll get mine for Fathers' Day!

By the way, I'm really pleased with all of the helpful comments on the FiveCore hex grid conversion. Lots of good ideas which I will ponder today. Thanks everyone!