"Normandy Firefight" Topic

Bought these rules at Salute and tried them out at the local club last night and I have to say we had a great couple of games! The rules are easy to learn (and teach) and give a good game with a lot of tention. We used 28mm figures on a 4' x 4' table but used the inch ranges rather than the recommened doubling ranges and converting to cm as there isn't a huge amount of difference…

I'm now planning on doing a Starlingrad game, a Burmese jungle game and also trying them for VBCW. We even talked about using them for Wild West shoot outs!

If you want a good, fun game that doesn't get bogged down with lots of tables and dice throws (a single percentile dice roll decides if you hit, where you hit and how much damage you do) then give them a go!

Mick

Never heard of them. Scale? I mean a squad each, platoon each etc. Sounds small if it has hit locations.

AAR from the authors blog;

link

Having spoken to Warwick about them when he was over for a KGN game they are aimed at the real 'sharp end', section engagements and the like.

Sorry, originally written for 54mm figures (with conversion rules for 28mm and 20mm) and with around five figures per side. Its suggested to use three seperate figures representing the same man (standing, kneeling and prone) but we just used small markers.

Mick

Sounds like they could be used for my 15mms, with minor adaptation. I do the several-poses-for-each-man thing for small-scale skirmish as well.

Anyone selling these in the States?

On Military Matters have stock in the USA.

We have them at an introductory price of £10.00 GBP, they go up to £12.00 GBP 1st of May.

link

I picked up a copy from Northstar and, aside from some typos, they look really good..so much so that I now haave a pile of 1/35th scale plastic figures to glue together.

Everything is ready to go..just waiting for the book to wing it's way over the Pond.

Hey NickNorthStar do I get a discount on my next order for this…? lol :o)

Mick

Anyone have any further info on this game? I've seen the one AAR but would like some more info on mechanics, given this (sadly) is unavailable as a PDF.

The game is based on ~2 second turns. Models (representing one man per figure) can move, take an action, and change stance in a turn. Who goes when is based on initiative.

Actions include things like slinging/unslinging a weapon, getting a grenade ready, reloading, etc.

Shooting is based on a D100 system. Hits are determined using a base percentage based on the stance of the target modified by the usual things. There are slightly different rules for automatic fire.

Damage is based on the delta between the two D10s rolled to hit (i.e. if you roll a 95 to hit with a 9 and a 5, the base damage is 9-5 = 4 or 40%) which is then modified by hit location (more damage for getting shot in the face, for example).

Cover is handled by whether a hit location is covered or not (i.e. if the figures legs are behind a stone wall, hits on the legs don't hit). There is hard cover and soft cover, the latter only providing a chance at protection vs. always stopping the shot in the case of the former.

Getting shot at at all (whether hit or not) can cause pinning (the figure has to take a pinning test before starting its next turn), which prevents that figure from moving or acting except to change stance.

There are also rules for medics, grenades, and other details. Individuals soldiers can also have traits that slightly modify their abilities (quicker movement, better shooting accuracy, higher or lower tendency to get pinned, etc.). There are rules for including a single tank (i.e. no tank vs. tank, and the tank cannot use its main gun) so you can have "assault the tank" missions.

The game really comes down to maneuvering, effective use of suppressive fires to pin the enemy's figures, and then getting into position to finish them off (or accomplish the objective if it's something other than just kill each other).

It's enjoyable, but I don't know that I'm going to start buying 54mm for it. My 1/72 guys will do, though, as there are conversions for different scales in the book. As has been said previously, there are typos and errors in the manual, but nothing that will kill the game.

just ordered a copy… I have a platoon each of 1942 Russians & Germans (plus other bits) by swapping heads on Blacktree figures & other conversions I have prone & standing versions of some figures, unfortunately the majority are LMG team figures which is not ideal for this game…

I like the idea that you need few figures, there are all sorts of WWII periods I'd like to play but would struggle to do on a large scale, my mate has mentioned liking Japs, I like the small range of Chinese that Brigade Games do, then there's things like Winter War, Korea, Arab-Israeli…

Timed that right… they're back up to full price today!

This is applicable to my interests. How does it compare to something like Face of Battle?

Interview with the author in latest issue of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy

link

These 1/18 poseable figures are interesting at £8.00 GBP a time. You have a figure you can lie, kneel or stand, swap weapons etc & you could easily landscape a waste corner of the garden as a playing 'board'. US & Germans available…

I have to say the scale of the fight seems rather odd to me. What exactly are they trying to replicate, aside from *very* small patrols? Two groups got lost trying to find their way to the loo?

I guess at such a small turn scale (1 turn being 2 seconds) it can represent very small elements of a bigger engagement, but it doesn't appeal to my gut really. Not tried it though, so I can't say whether it is any good.

I'll let you know…

Looking at Warwick Kinrade's blog he's into real ale & the folk band Show of Hands so clearly a fine chap!

'doing a Starlingrad game'

This is Worm War, involving panzer-birds?

My copy arrived. Very pretty ruleset, full colour throughout. Looks promising.

Yeah his grasp of bolt-action rifle clips seems a bit on the wonk, easy enough rule to ignore though.

I reckon these would work really well for Irish civil war?

42 page 'magazine' format, the proofreading is pretty shocking… makes a RFCM rulebook look quite well checked-over, pre-publication…

But that aside I'm impressed with how he makes micro-detailed rules so very simple. Looks a lot of fun.

borithan – think of situations like Russian scouts, or paras landing scattered out & trying to join up while dealing with a small detail of local troops who happen to be on the scene…

Incidentally the 3-5 a side is not strictly accurate. Some scenarios start with 6 on a side or have possibility of reinforcements rolling up.

Another pick – no roster sheets are provided (in spite of a blank page before the back cover)

Hmmm dug my Germans & Russians out looking for pose ranges… I've ordered Crusader's 4 kneeling German riflemen today to help with this.

Hmmm muzzle-loading skirmish (French-Indian Wars?) would be interesting with this, work out the whole sequence of actions needed to load a musket, would be really interesting to see when people got to actually pop off shots…