"Battalion & Company Battles Only....6MM: 1/285" Topic

Hey fellas,

New to the hobby so here is a question of mine. When playing a 1/285 miniature game with "Company or Battalion" size battles how do you figure out your infantry and Tanks on a stand and when killed do you give step losses? I'm asking this question because Company=100 to 250 infantry men, and Battalion= 400 to 1000 infantry men.

I'm trying to figure out do i just put 3 to 4 figures on a stand and that is considered a "Company" (100-250 men), but when it gets hit/killed are all 100-250 men dead on one shot or is there a rule where they take a step loss or a die is put by the figures and counts down the stand? To me it doesn't make sense that if a company stand get hit that all 100-250 men are eliminated.

Just trying to get a better grasp of the game. I like larger battles that don't have to deal with "Squads, or platoons" if i can avoid it.

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Depends on the rules you are using!

Most rules use some type of mechanism that allows a unit to take losses until it reaches a point where it is no longer effective.

Do you have rules in mind?
I have played the odd game of Spearhead, which is a divisional level game, with battalions made up of company stands and, as far as I remember, stands are eliminated. I think the rationale is not so much that all men in the company are dead, rather that it has lost its effectiveness as a cohesive fighting force, perhaps as a result of loss of commanders, casualties, situation it finds itself in etc.
With 1/285 (6mm) scale games, you are looking at the broad picture, so do not want to get bogged down with recording casualties etc. You also do not want the hassle of individual figure removal. Make company stands with enough figures to look right ( I use 30 mm square bases with one tank, one gun or 4 to 6 infantry figures).
If you are playing at company level, let each base equal a squad or individual vehicle.
It really does all depend on the rules.

I'm reading up on GHQ Rules. I've also ordered the "Spearhead" rules as well.

Hi Steamingdave,

That make sense.

I'm just use to Hex & Counters where a battalion or division takes a hit they get a step loss so i figure each stand can be given 3 step loss chances before they are eliminated which record keeping would not be that hard. Figure (stand) can have a very small dice next to them with it set to "3" or even "2" and each time it takes a kill reduce it by one. Division can be "3" step loss, battalion can have only 2 step losses. Company will have "1" step loss.

Thanks for the help

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I play with 3mm figures and I tend to want to play bigger actions. My infantry are mounted with their APC. I am playing around with different rules and ideas.

I am sure Ivan will come along and mention his 5 Core rules. But I do play the Brigade Commander rules and your unit can get hit and be wiped out but it also can go to ground or retreat. If it is destroyed not everyone is killed or wounded, they just become ineffective. I am working up a home grown set that will also have a unit be temporarily dispersed.

With the small scale I don't like tracking a ton of hit or morale info…so simplicity is what I am looking for. But tracking hits doesn't have to be obtrusive either.

Hey Creativeguy,

The way i would do it would be to have (3) figures on a stand to represent a division so when it gets hit it would lose a step loss. By showing this you would replace them with a stand now with (2) figures on it which would now represent a battalion. If that battalion gets hit you can replace that stand with a stand that has (1) figure that represents a company. If that gets hit all is eliminated completely.

Now with every hit/loss they can also become ineffective until you rally them again.

Just an idea on how to keep track of losses.

That would work, a lot of extra figures needed!

I don't have a regular gaming group so I base to be flexible. My troops are on poker chips. I attached a paper disk on the bottom that acts as a sleeve so when I do want to track info (or hits) I can track it easily enough.

Here is an image on my blog which I have woefully neglected.

Very nice

Since i came from Hex & Counter I have these large "Monster" games with 5 to 7 maps (example Case Blue) that i like to use with Armor Mini's. It would be great for Division and Battalion game battles.

The problem I'm having is that these game maps, the hexes = 1,250 yard per hex to 21,000 yards per hex. It would screw up the gameplay where "Range" of guns come in. I would have to be right up next to the hex to be able to have combat. Trying to figure this one out.

The only solution would be to take "Range" out of the rules.Meaning Tanks and infantry must be adjacent to a hex to fire upon.

Over the holidays I am running a game that the unit is a battalion and it can be killed, dispersed, pinned or retreated. As it will be a multi day battle I may put in some sort of recovery mechanism to possibly rally 'dead' units at night. Dispersed units can come back during the day on a die roll.

The game will probably be about 4 Soviet divisions vs. WG and BAOR brigades.

I will have friends over and there will be beer…so, the game mechanics are an added bonus.

Large scale games require trade offs…. it will look odd for tanks to be right up on top of each other. But I tend to like huge battles so it doesn't bother me. You could give them a little range to look right and just justify it by saying the stand is in the area of the fighting and units could be scattered within a radius of where the stand is actually at.

My holiday game is going to be hex based and 3 miles a hex… so, you have to be on each other for most fighting.

The question is which i need to look up. How far can a WWII tank fire? Of course there is terrain to block but in general how far can it fire and that can give an idea of at least a tank being 1 hex away, but infantry has to be adjacent.

Try this thread.

TMP link

Thanks very helpful link

Makes sense that 500 to 600 yards would be about where everyone shot their tanks at. They can shoot from further (2,000) but not many did.

I guess i can use that as a penalty, meaning you can shoot at a longer ranger but you will receive a huge modifier for trying to do so.

I do have a couple of monster games where the HEX = 110 yard. This would work well.

Approaches to ranged fire vary from one boardgame to the next. Some are ultra detailed (like AHGCs Firepower, one hex per 10m) some are intermediate (Panzerblitz et al with 1 hex = 250m) but really once you are up to level of battalion sized stands, any concepts of 'ranged combat' go out of the window apart from artillery.

VGs 'Hells Highway' (company and battalion counters, 1250m hex grid) did have a concept of ranged fire between adjacent hexes, but assault was far more effective. The 1956 British Army Tactical Wargame uses a 2km grid, company and battalion stands and has no ranged combat whatsoever apart from artillery and a genral concept of 'pinning' whne adjacent a.k.a. zones of control, during daylight anyway, all else is factored into the various combat tables. As it was based on operational experience in WW2 and Korea, I am inclined to believe it.

The 1978 tactical wargame does have ranged combat, but it is aimed at a lower level (platoon and company elements) and includes more lethal weapons systems like ATGMs, Chieftans etc.

wrt step reduction, som egames have it, some don't and some (like Spearhead) essentially treat the platoon stands as strength point markers as the manouvre elements are battalions. Some rules (e.g. Command Decision)) let you reorganise 'destroyed' stands but in the vast majority of cases, no-one imagines that a removed element is completely wiped out.

irl 10% losses suffered over a few hours is quite sufficient to render a battalion temporarily combat ineffective.