monash1916 | 22 Sep 2014 4:18 a.m. PST |
I guess the title says it all, but I am looking for a WWII skirmish ruleset suitable for solo play. I want to do early war Dutch vs German skirmish games. Does anyone has a good suggestion for a ruleset? I have not done WWII games before so I would prefer rulesets with armylists or stats for early war Dutch and Germans. |
whoa Mohamed | 22 Sep 2014 4:28 a.m. PST |
Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command. Great game easily played solo ,squad up to platoon,Uses real tactics fast and historical results and lots of fun |
John de Terre Neuve | 22 Sep 2014 4:34 a.m. PST |
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Schogun | 22 Sep 2014 4:41 a.m. PST |
Yes, Chain of Command. Not sure there's a Dutch force list yet though. |
Joes Shop | 22 Sep 2014 4:45 a.m. PST |
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45thdiv | 22 Sep 2014 6:31 a.m. PST |
I like Chain of Command. They do have a forum the has a lot of additional army lists. |
MH Dee | 22 Sep 2014 6:57 a.m. PST |
NUTS! sounds like it would work well for solo play, indeed that's part of the intention. Don't think there's any Early War supplements available. |
advocate | 22 Sep 2014 6:58 a.m. PST |
Unnoficial Chain of Command Dutch List on page two of this thread. link And there are 'official' German lists available via that forum (free). Don't worry too much about 'unofficial' – that's the way TooFatLardies is meant to work :) But CoC works at platoon level, maybe up to a company for multi-player. Less than a platoon, not so much. I'd go with Nuts! from Two Hour Wargames for a Squad+ But the link above should help with organisation which would be suitable for any game. Both would work quite well as solo rules, as CoC restricts actions by cuse of command dice, while Nuts! uses a reaction system that takes a lot of your choices away once you get into a fireight. |
axabrax | 22 Sep 2014 7:51 a.m. PST |
I prefer a chain of command, but if you want to do solo your best choice is Nuts! The game was designed specifically for solo play and will be a lot more interesting in the long run than just playing both sides, which is what you'd have to do in COC. Nuts also has a better campaign system for solo play that will allow you you create a narrative. COC has map based campaigns, which aren't going to work out well solo. |
redbanner4145 | 22 Sep 2014 8:37 a.m. PST |
Nuts! is the only rules I know where you can really do solo skirmish. |
seldonH | 22 Sep 2014 8:53 a.m. PST |
5 men in Normandy is great for squad level solo play ! |
Weasel | 22 Sep 2014 11:15 a.m. PST |
I'd pimp my own game (5 men in Normandy) since it has a full blown campaign where you follow characters and whatnot. THAT BEING SAID, there's no explicit list for Dutch (though neither does anyone else). how many guys do you want on the table though and how complex do you want the rules to be?
5 Men in Normandy is super easy and is 5-10 guys (closer to the former) Nuts works well from a squad to a platoon. Chain of Command is aimed squarely at platoon level. Chain has a straight up "army list" system with support points. Nuts and 5 Men you roll for it and work with what you got.
Nuts and 5 men both have campaign rules right in the book. 5 Men does not include vehicles in the main rules. |
Tekawiz | 22 Sep 2014 12:18 p.m. PST |
Nuts! is man to man combat, unpredictable and fun game play solo. The big difference between Nuts! and other rules is that it is designed for solo play with solider reactions and AI tables for the enemy NPCs. For example there are tables for enemies on patrol, attacking, and defensive positions. |
Thorfin11 | 22 Sep 2014 1:23 p.m. PST |
Yes, Nuts would be my choice for the best solo challenge – it's written exactly for that. Chain of Command is a great set too but would need a bit of adaptation to genuinely surprise yourself. |
GrumpyOldMan | 22 Sep 2014 3:02 p.m. PST |
Hello monash1916 There is a Flames of War briefing for Dutch 1940 at link with a downloadable pdf if that's any help. Cheers GrumpyOldMan |
Weasel | 25 Sep 2014 12:53 p.m. PST |
Chain of Command is /fantastic/ but there's quite a bit of interplay between the two players, with some of the command dice stuff, that I think it'd be a bit tougher to solo. You should go buy it anyways though :) |
Joe Legan | 25 Sep 2014 5:15 p.m. PST |
Interesting in that I have never had trouble with CoC solo. Nuts certainly has it's advocates but it is too slow for me. To each his own. Joe |
Herkybird | 26 Sep 2014 12:29 p.m. PST |
Mine are solo skirmish rules, available at: link |
Weasel | 26 Sep 2014 2:41 p.m. PST |
Joe – Did you make any adaptions or just play both sides? I don't get to play it a ton since we usually don't have the time but I'd love to get more play out of it solo. |
Joe Legan | 26 Sep 2014 3:19 p.m. PST |
Weasel, [ rant coming not at you but in general ] I have never understood the idea that one can't play both sides with anytype of fog mechanism thrown in. It could be cards or dicing to move and some variable movement thrown in. Granted I play tactical games but normally what to do once the battle starts isn't that hard to figure out. Getting your troops to do it is. If there really is a big decision then dice for it like Grant says or use my All Knowing Odds table. The hard part to solo play is the recon of the table and how to set the enemy up. [ Once they are set up it is pretty obvious. ] It took me 3 years to figure out that part. [ whew I feel better now ] To answer your question yes I use Platoon Forward with CoC. I wrote an article on how to adapt PF to CoC in the last Christmas special I believe. If you just want the gist of it I will pull it out and tell you what you need. The other thing I do is once a leader has his orders he will try to fulfill them until told otherwise by you or a Leadership Check comes up as a random event. { same for the enemy ] I have modified the random event chart so 20% of the time that is what comes up. It is great fun. Sorry for the response but there was an accident on the HWY and it took my 70 minutes to get home today. Maybe I do need to go back to England!!! Joe |
Tekawiz | 26 Sep 2014 9:48 p.m. PST |
Joe, Among solo player's I believe there is a spectrum. There are the solo players like you who are able to play both sides and have fun. Then there are solo players like me who are on the opposite side of the spectrum that don't like playing the other side because of player bias when playing the enemy. For me there's too much thinking, "If I move here will it hurt my squad, If I move the enemy squad there am I setting them up to be mowed down…" Sure there is Mythic and the All Knowing Odds table, but to come up with questions to ask, for me, ruins the immersion factor. THW/Nuts has a large following because it caters to that particular solo gamer who wants to play one side and allow the system to play a challenging, unpredictable and replayable enemy. If there are gamers that are able to play both sides and have fun, that's great too. Kurt |
Joe Legan | 28 Sep 2014 2:02 p.m. PST |
Kurt, Fair enough. I guess I am not smart enough to overthink what needs to be done. Then again I really don't care too much about winning. I would rather have my guys trounced if it led to a better story. Lots of people like Nuts as I have stated. I found that having to stop and roll dice for everything broke up the immersion factor for me. As you say; to each his own. Weasel, Hope you are not ticked by my tirade. It was not directed at you. Joe |
Weasel | 29 Sep 2014 9:38 a.m. PST |
Oh, not at all :) Appreciate your perspectives but I think it is definitely a case of expectations. Some people want a "artificial intelligence", some want some vague guidelines and some don't want either. Personally, I mostly play solo to test mechanics, so most of the time, I am trying out things that are "interesting". "Those guys are a bit far away and would need to be really lucky to make it into contact, let's see what happens". |
monash1916 | 05 Oct 2014 11:59 a.m. PST |
Thanks all :-) I will take a closer look at all the rulesets mentioned and then I will see where I end up. I still have to paint some more troops, so I am in no hurry. I was very happy with the links to the different "army lists", they are very helpfull. |
Dobber | 06 Oct 2014 6:51 a.m. PST |
Depending on what you qualify as skirmish, Platoon level or Squad Level, here are my thoughts: Platoon forward: from too fat lardies, this is invaluable and can be used with pretty much any rules set. I would say "Must Have" for solo Gaming. Nuts!: by Two Hour Wargames, the current version I believe is set up for squad level actions, but the older one (The one that I have) is Platoon level. All Two Hour Wargames products are IDEAL for solo/same side games. out of the box they feature "Blinds" a force randomizer for the np enemy, and a sort of "AI" to assist the solo gamer running the other side. Also, the only figure on your side that you truly "control" is your squad/platoon leader. Again, I will say "Must Have" they are a little hard to read, but if you don't like the style of game, the concepts are still a great reference. Chair on Command: again by Two Fat Lardies, this has been talked about before, but I personally prefer the older set that I will talk about next, because CoC has no blinds. Troops Weapons and Tactics: Too Fat Lardies, the set that CoC "Replaced" this is platoon level again, but features blinds, and card drives turn order. A very good game that emphasizes "Friction in command" as they put it. A- these are by Iron Ivan Games, and they are pretty good: Disposable heroes and a coffin for 7 brothers: Platoon level, its a little more of a "Standard" war-game, but has solid mechanics. the upside is that it has a supplement for early war like you wanted. Point blank: squad level game, its the one that I'm currently infatuated with. the supplement for the above will work with it with no modifications. highly recommended. ~Joe |
Joe Legan | 06 Oct 2014 7:27 p.m. PST |
Joe Thanks for the kind words. As mentioned I wrote an article on how to use Platoon Forward with Chain of Command. If you would like the upshot I can give it to you. Despite that I actually like Troops Weapons and Tactics better than CoC as well. CoC seems too easy to coordinate your men for me. (Dutch squads should be easy to figure out for any games including Nuts ) Am currently using Donnybrook myself but will have to look at Point Blank. Cheers Joe |
Joe Legan | 06 Oct 2014 7:35 p.m. PST |
From Google-Fu "WaroverHolland.com" "The infantry companies – commanded by a Captain – were all formed in rifle- or light machinegun sections. A section – commanded by a Lieutenant, candidate officer or senior NCO – had three or four squads. These squads were usually 9 – 12 men strong and were commanded by a sergeant. Rifle squads all had a Steyr rifle, whereas light machinegun squads had one Lewis light machinegun operated by a gunner and assistant gunner [both with a pistol] and the balance of the squad armed with the Steyr rifle." So I would translate this into a 10 man squad with low morale and poor fire discipline. I would grade out the squad leader as 1-3 poor/ 4-5 average/ 6 good. For the company CO +1 to the die. Reasonable? Joe |
Bumbydad | 11 Oct 2014 3:19 p.m. PST |
For Dutch unit organization, see MicroMark's offerings on Wargamevault. They offer lists for an Active Infantry Division (DIA), Light Division (D2B), and Reserve Infantry Division (D4). And each list runs all of about $1.40 USD! |
brunet | 11 Jan 2015 2:23 p.m. PST |
monash which figures you will use? |
monash1916 | 11 Jan 2015 10:52 p.m. PST |
brunet, a mixture of SHQ and Early War Miniatures. |
brunet | 19 Jan 2015 10:54 a.m. PST |
I thought it would be 28mm, bur of course 20mm can be used also. Thanks |