Most of my posts since I started this blog have been about painting and modelling. That's because I have not had a game in a while, a far longer interval than usual. I am starting to miss it very much. The past couple of days while at work I have been thinking about WWII gaming in general.
There are no statistics on it but WWII must be one of the most popular gaming periods out there. I know that because of the sheer amount of stuff in all scales available which increases all the time, not to mention hundreds of different rulesets. The two rulesets I have played are 'Look Sarge No Charts' (LSNC) and a homemade set written by Stephen Bainbridge who I have had the pleasure of gaming with twice. Both of these sets give a good game and I would describe them both as " Battalion level tactical". Each player has a battalion or so and the smallest unit is a platoon. LSNC was conceived as a 1/300 scale (6mm) game but we adapted it to play in 20mm. Tanks, mortars, off table artillery and air strikes are all included at this level (especially in Steve's rules) which makes it exciting and varied.
It has always been my intention though to game WWII at a couple of other levels:
"skirmish" at the Platoon level with the smallest unit being an individual soldier. I fancy doing this at 28mm scale but the number of figures to start gaming at this level is not excessive, about 40 on each side. Arguably tanks have little or no place in a platoon level game. I have no idea which ruleset I would use for this, but I have heard a lot of folks talk about "Nuts" by Two Hour Wargames.
Company level, that is 3 or 4 platoons and a coy HQ, with the smallest unit being a squad or section. I very much fancy the Crossfire rules for this. The good thing is that I could use my 20mm figures and models based as they are for this without modification, or by having a few more 28mm figures I could also do it in the larger scale as does Matakishi. Although basically an infantry set of rules the odd tank or two can be accomodated easily.
I have no interest in those rulesets (usually for 6mm) that simulate large scale battles with a single base representing a whole battalion of tanks or men. I think that is because I like to see my little men get shot up, run into trouble but eventually overcome it and win through. That to me is a satisfying game. Maybe that means I would be a Captain rather than a General?
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2 comments:
Crossfire is a good game - we used to play it a lot but not for a long time now.
Now I DO have the urge to play higher level games, but stopping at 1 base to a company. I think this would work well.
Yes, you could easily field a brigade or maybe a division and it would still FEEL like a bn game as you would have the same number of playing bases...the difference would be that your off table artillery would now be on the table and your game objectives would be bigger..plus you would have to have a huge table or go down in scale!
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