"New to WWII Gaming: Best rules for Beginners" Topic

kyotoblue wrote:

Oh and FOW are fun..

Almost all games are fun if you play them properly. So no unique selling point there.

Not unique perhaps, but certainly a selling point. I'm sure the OP isn't so interested in hearing about the duds.

- Bob

There are lots of good choices. And you'll play most of them before you die.

Blitzkrie commander. As a new wargamer to WWII started with these and never left!

There are lots of good choices. And you'll play most of them before you die.

Wish that were true! My local gaming group only wants to play one rules set.

Let me quess could it be Flames of War.

I would look at each set of World War II rules and see if one of them has what you are looking for.

While not a lover of FOW they are the biggest set of rules our there right now and it would be hard not finding someone to play with.

My suggestion, play the rules that fit your gaming style.
I am not a fan of FOW, as its too much like warhammer, buckets of dice, realism and reflectionism is tapered to the game mechanic too strongly. That said, in our club it is played by one or two people.
However, more of us play Rules of Engagement ( link ) For platoon sized games, in anything from 15mm to 28mm and possibley even larger scale figures. It gives me the games I enjoy and though every rule set is a compramise, these are rules I think give a good feel of the period.

I have also been looking recently at Final Combat, for more skirmish levels with say about 20 figures on a table and a slightly more roleplay feel with ammo counts etc.

FOW or Rapid Fire, or even Blitzkrieg Command II are all good, for their styles of games, and there are more ontop of those.

But for enjoyment sakes, RoE is my winner for me. : )

FOW: While widely played, it requires big investment in terms of $$$$ and to a lesser extent, time. FOW suffers from the old Warhammer -- you need to keep buying the latest updates in order to stay current.

I disagree, Quidveritas. The forces from Festung Europa are for the most part well-balanced against anything from one of the campaign books, and those that are NOT well-balanced have been fixed with the Fortress Europe printing.

The big discussion point to have with getting into Flames of War is do you want to play after D-Day or before? If you prefer commanding a company in the Med theater like I do, Flames is a great game. You only need a rulebook (still use my mini that I got from the 2e release!) and the North Africa book.

If you want to play D-Day or after, you have a lot more choices in which book to buy. First, pick the campaign or battle, then which type of force. That will determine which book or books you need to buy. I game with Easy Company, 2-16, 1st ID, so when they hit Omaha Beach, I use the Bloody Omaha book, but I also need to have the D-Day book for the actual landing rules. Once they're off the beach, and out of the Bocage, I can go back to using the list from Fortress Europe.

I am partial, since I'm one of the authors, but you might give Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII a look. There are some really innovative mechanics that allow players to enjoy managing a battalion and make battalion-commander choices. Some of the other choices mentioned on this post mix their level of abstraction and often include modifiers and rules not appropriate for their stated level of command. LSNC has been successfully used with experienced gamers and novice gamers. The reviews on TMP have been mixed. Most of the negative reviews were written when the rules were first released, mostly written by people who hadn't read or played them. You'll find some interesting battle reports on TMP as well.

Buck Surdu

If you like small unit games (up to perhaps a Company per side) Force on Force from Ambush Alley games is worth a look. It provides nicely for morale, troop quality, supply and equipment. Works with either single or multi-based figures. Best of all it provides the formulas for developing game stats for any vehicle, troops or equiment, and doing that fast.

The main Force on Force rule book contains both the rules for Moderns and WW2, and scenarios for both.

Certainly though, the best advice to pick a rule set that fits your style. Our local club has one strong advocate for Command Decision, a strong group of FoW players, and some who don't play WW2 at all. I have figures and rules I have picked up because "everybody" was playing them, only to find I didn't like the popular game. Figures can be used for other rules if you like the period, but rules are a bit of a sticking point.

Go with what you enjoy, be willing to be flexible, and you will likely find at least one oponent.

Doing both sides (at least enough to play a basic scenario) is never a wasted effort. It means you have the options of playing solitaire and of teaching new players.

Combat WW2 is an easy game to learn. Listed at Wargames Vault and at batcaveminis.blogspot.com

Pivado,

I'm late to the conversation but have been doing a few months of research myself on this very subject. I'm an old (hex and chit) wargamer from way back, going back to the early days of the 1970s playing Tactics II. I like tactical level wargaming and felt that hex and chit games, as an artist and geographer, were too limiting so am moving to miniatures.

The folks on the forums here btw are friendly, knowledgeable and really delighted to help. OK, to your question …

So, at a tactical level (that is, for me, from man-to-man up to fights involving two or three platoons) I read a lot of rules out there to determine what I wanted. Fast playing (but not simply a set them up and knock them down game), rules that made sense that didn't have too much chrome and fussy details, rules that resulted in real-world tactics working, a focus on fun and recreating small unit combat. I wanted to play the small engagements found in Band of Brothers.

I don't play with a group (although would like to), only with my sons.

After reviewing as many rules as I could (via previews, emails with authors/designers, and back and forths on numerous forums) I finally bought the following sets for further review:

- Troops, Weapons & Tactics
- NUTS! 2nd edition
- Baptism of Fire III
- CrossFire
- Disposable Heroes (this has not yet arrived … Keith?)

Although I really liked CrossFire at start … the innovative initiative mechanics (keep going until you fail to succeed at a task) and no rulers for movement (you move from terrain feature to terrain feature unless interrupted), I found just one or two too many abstractions in it.

Then I read through BoF III and liked it.

Then I read TW&T and *loved* it. It fit for me. A simple focus on "Big Men" who can get sections and fire teams moving (as well as helping them in their tasks), tactics that work, playable quickly, simple D6 mechanics, sections that can be broken into fire teams (rifle team plus LMG team), and just sensible rules. The stuff that I didn't quite get I was actually able to interpret my own way without any struggle. Love TW&T. My squad-platoon level ruleset.

For what I call skirmish level games (down to man-to-man) I have to admit that I'm waiting for DH. Ordered but not yet arrived, but gets excellent reviews.

NUTS! is what I really like at that level right now though. It has some very light RPG elements built into it and while some, I sense, dislike the whole Reaction system, for this level it works really well, providing realistic and fun tactical results when men come under fire.

Again, everyone seems to have their favourites. And like many, I did an initial buying spree to find what worked. The idea that you should go out and find a group to play with and see what they play is good. I'm *extraordinarily* happy with TW&T and NUTS! … hope you can find one that suits your needs.

I'm *extraordinarily* happy with TW&T and NUTS! …

So you are saying you go both ways….

Rats! Was that my out loud voice?

:-)

This is why I married an editor/writer and am supposed to get all of my postings vetted.

Flying Lead is an alternative for quick squad actions … I am an avid NUTS fan but wrote FL as an alternative for the people at my club who can't get on with the reaction system in THW stuff which I love … battle rep is here:

link

The immature teenager in me just laughed really loudly.

Thanks DaveyJJ.

BoF3 was never intended as a beginner set, it has concepts well above many of the other games listed. It was designed and formated in what is becoming the TFP Games style for ease of reading and understanding, so to be mentioned in a starting set list is rather nice.

Regards,

G