Neil Thomas Wargaming An Introduction: WWII Returns!

"Putting the Fun back into WWII Gaming!"

"Sound Officer's Call" Steve used his executive authority to summon me to his game bunker for another round of work with the brillient "Wargaming: An Introduction" WWII rules. These rules have always been a darling for us as they achieve that which from today's vantage point seems impossible:

1) They create a strong, cinama-graphic narrative using 1:1 skirmish level representation and effects-based results,

2) The simple mechanics quickly create similar results to long, laborious multi-stage processes, using one die roll,

3) By concentrating on the essential aspects, and using a few large modifiers / penalties, the game itself teaches you the better tactical choices to use to achieve plans and win.

A simple set up, with three squads of British Red Devil paras attacking a German town held by average troops and a Panther tank.  British on right, Germans on left and top.

The British have three elite para squads and a mortar, the Germans three average squads, an HMG and a Panther tank. The HMG is on the second floor of the far left house.

A couple turns into the game, the Para squad that dared cross the walled field has lost a couple of casualties, while those who crept around the wall are still advancing. They include the PL, a squad, the PIAT team, and the FO.

The Brits called for fire and got 10 mortar rounds on target - rolling an average of three Hits, the Germans save all three!

Part way through, a cache of lager is discovered, just the thing to quench the thirst of Soldiers on the go!

Old German Premium Lager: "The World Knows No Finer!"

Another turn or so later, one Para squad at top right has cautiously advanced through a field and is hiding beyond a small wood.  Their job "to keep the enemy distracted".

Below, the squad that advanced across the field got hosed by the HMG and the Panther and a German squad that repositioned into the near buildings. They are Out Of Action.

Still, the German squad that tried to hold the woods is also wiped out, and the Para main effort is advancing through the woods. The battle line is being drawn, and the Germans have a lot of firepower there: HMG, Panther, Squad.

With inadequate firepower to break into the town, the Paras concede. The critical choice on our part was to make the stone buildings hard cover, which significantly reduces the Hit dice, from 4+ to 6+.  The Paras would need at least a Barrage or two to equalize the situation, plus an additional squad to pressure the front of the town a bit more.

Overall, a fun narrative game that also "feels right" for WWII.  In other words, it is fun but historical.

One thing we found fiddly was using our Flames of War based infantry.  As NT intends each figure to be 20mm [1:72] and mounted individually, it is relatively easy to use the figures themselves to monitor both Firepower Dice and Casualties.

With multi-fig bases in 15mm, the figs get a bit small and hard to see.  I was thinking about how to address this with a modified basing system, having more 15mm at my disposal than I could ever use in one game or game system.

Also, I wanted to explore how squads "through the modern era" armed in various ways might be on the table.

First, a Rifle Squad, 10 rifles, one an NCO. Suitable for almost any era where the Bolt Action rifle is the basic weapon.

This unit fields 10 Fire Dice, one per figure.

Next, a "Late War WWI squad" where the NCO now has an SMG of some sort. This has 10 Fire Dice of rifles, plus 2 more dice at short range for the SMG.

Next is a WWII squad, where 6 rifles and an LMG provide 9 Fire Dice, plus the SMG toting NCO adds 2 more.

The reason to mark the various weapons is that the LMG only fires on the move if one moves half. The SMG always fires at full effect [moving or not] but only at close range.

A theoretical German WWII squad, with the 6 rifles providing 6 Fire Dice, the MG34 / 42 providing 6 Fire Dice itself, and the SMG providing 2 more dice. This has 12 dice at Range, 14 up close.  

Finally, an attrited German squad, 11 Fire Dice total, 9 at long range, 11 up close. Good to represent Germans late war.

With some re-basing from spare figures by Steve, our next session was an official scenario, Frontal Assault. Buncha Sovs slamming into a German defense, 14 Units to 7.

4 Rifle squads advancing through Broken Terrain at top, right to left. Closely supporting them, 4 76mm Assault Guns. Bottom left 2 KV-1s with Tank Riding SMG-toting squads advance across the open.  Behind them off camera to left, is their HMG, the FO, the PL, and a mortar in a field.

Germans had two MkIV with Schurzen, three Rifle squads in the town, ruined town, and central woods [in the pic, two have been wiped out, the woods being held only by the PzSchrek and PL]. They also have a mortar and an elite PzGren squad mounted in a halftrack that are heading towards the woods to try and hold some objectives there.

Another view, halftrack dashing across the open, German squad in the town [with mortar, FO, HMG]. PzIV distracting the KV-1 while an ATR sneaks thru the walled field.

At bottom, clockwise from top, Russian HMG, FO, Mortar, PL.

Soon, the KV-1s Bailed the MkIV with point-blank Fire. Artillery suppressed the German Rifle Squad. The Tank Riders are poised to enter the first building of the town.

View from the German side. Russians slowly advancing on the ruined town [which is an objective]. Knocked-out PzIV facing a Bailed Russian Assault Gun.

PL and PzSchreck in woods with PzGren moving up in halftrack.  Their goal is to hold that woods, which is an objective, the 2nd of the three.

Russians plaster the woods objective with massive amounts of Artillery fire.  The woods is obscured with smoke and dust of destruction, the PL and 'schreck can't be seen.

After another turn, it is clear that there won't be enough Germans to hold any of the objectives, and there's no time limit so the preponderance of Russian Armor makes it inevitable that gun fire will reduce the remaining German squads.

Overall, the game went well, our blind-playtest-victim playing the Russians [with Steve the Germans and me moderating the rules] offered some very useful criticisms:

- There needs to be a time limit, or distant gun fire [Tanks, field guns] dominates the game, not infantry.

- Artillery is very easy to move around on the battlefield.  True, sometimes it doesn't arrive at all [rolling low you get "zero" rounds on target] but it has no bearing to previous fire at that target / spot.  Suggested we add a penalty for the first barraged called on a spot.

- Our Line of Sight through terrain was too easy, again empowering distant gun / artillery fire.

- 15mm is a bit small for the details this game presents with infantry, e.g. weapons, etc. 20mm / 1:72 doesn't just make figures taller, it makes them significantly bulkier and easy to see what they are and armed with.

- There was a bit too much math with how we interpreted mechanics, e.g. pro-rating movement.  

Overall, a great playtest and we will continue to explore ways to keep the flavor and fun of the rules while working out Terrain and Line of Sight especially.