"Miniatures in search of rules." Topic

I have a variety of GHQ WWII miniatures. They run the gamut for 20 or so T-34s and Sherman's, 15 or so of a variety of other tanks such as Panzer IIIs and IVs, and a number of groups of 5 of all sorts of vehicles Hertzers, 88s, Wolverines….. You get the idea.

My problem is that I don't know what I can do with them. I likely don't have enough of anything to get a proper battalion on the table, and I'd like one miniature tank to represent one tank. I do think I have the variety to put some great battles on e table, but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions?

Tigers & Stalins rules. Throw them on a table and start the shooting!

You do not need a full battalion for a good battle. Real battles were fought with what was available.

In practice battle groups were formed in the field based on the mission.

Sounds like you are pretty well set, for some good company sized skirmish games, or larger.

German companies generally had 14 tanks in them (sometimes 17 if an SS unit), e.g. HQ of 2 vehicles, and then either 3 platoons of 4 or 5 tanks.

American tank companies were generally 17 tanks, as above (IIRC – tank destroyer companies were of 14 tanks, as above).

Soviets generally fielded units of 10, or 20 vehicles.

If you don't have enough to make up a unit, just assume they've lost some vehicles in battle. If too few in number, have a unit of Panzer IIIs, and a unit of Panzer IVs, etc., for your forces.

Not sure on the rules, other than the old "Firefly" set, but I'm sure others will be along with suggestions for that.

The Battlefront rules seem well-supported, but the ratio isn't 1:1 (although I could put vehicles on flats and scoot them around that way). The Jagdpanzer 2nd ed. rules also look interesting, but I cannot find much written about them.

Fistful of TOWs can be played in one-to-one scale for the tanks (and I feel it kinda works better that way) and runs fine for huge amounts of vehicles.
Its pricey but it does give you stats for pretty much any fighting vehicle of the 20th century.

Fireball Forward. Best WW2 rules I have played.

It depends what you want. There is us:-

link

We have run 6mm but its not my personal favorite scale. HOWEVER a big issue is that you must be able/be prepared, to turn the turrets of the tanks. Its intrinsic to the rule mechanism. If you want fixed base fixed turret vehicles with all the attendent rules issues then we are not for you.

Its IGOUGO to get the fexibility of responce and you need terrain to play on or its just another game of LUDO.

I think the most we have played is a battalion of Shermans vs a couple of platoons of Tigers. This was LUDO as thre was minimal terrain but it was an interesting test case. Shermans won at a loss ratio of about 5:1, so an interesting and potentialy credible result. It was still playable at that size. It will play with infantry if you want but again at fire team level the troops are very fiddley. However real terrain is complex and you need that granuality if its not to become sheer abstraction. To my mind urban is impossible at 6mm as the houses are too close to be got between with fingers and too wide roads make urban have sight lines that are clearly far too un-representative.

Sorry no points scheme as they don't work in the real world, too much variation in real world terrain.

Oh and we are relativly cheap and you can make your own vehicle stats. As usual read the free bulletin. If that does not appeal to you then its not for you.

Most of all pick the sort of game you want. Perhaps list your preferences so then folk can comment on how their favorite game matches your own requirements.

Large enough numbers to play a brigade sized game using Blitzkrieg Commander (BKC) or BKCII.

Mein Panzer is a good set originally designed for micro-armor. One model equals one vehicle, while infantry are based as squads, you can get more info here: odgw.com.