"WWII Skirmish Rules" Topic

Sorry, I know this is a common topic. I have loads of singly based 28mm British and Germans for which I am yet to decide on a rules set for.

My favourite rules are Crossfire which I play at a different scale. My options at this scale are currently Disposable Heroes or Iron Cross plus any other suggestions that cater for fun, skirmish type games with elegant mechanics with individual figures.

What are your preferences for this scale and style of game?

Chain of Command by the Lardies.

Chain of Command

Otherwise search TMP for "WWII Skirmish." Lots of posts and suggestions.

Firefight Normandy is perfect for a single squad or fire team operation.

I didn't get on with CoC or Bolt Action. Should've mentioned that.

Check out Buck Surdu's "Combat Patrol". It was recently released and as ialready drawing a lot do positive feedback.

link

TMP link

Also, do a subject search here on TMP for some recent battle reports that have been posted.

My favorite systems lately have been TW&T (for overall accurate feel) and Battleground WWII (for more detail and cinematic/Hollywood games). I also like the 1st edition of Nuts!

Battleground WW2 was a lot of fun. If you have too much armor on the board the charts can slow you down.

I like Nuts! As well.

Disposable Heroes.

Before anyone recommends rules, please explain why don't you like chain of command or bolt action?
what is it that you are looking for?
then maybe a ruleset that fits your desires can be recommended.

Firefight Normandy is easy and fast. Play it with my 28mm figures but the rules says it's for 1/35 scale model figures. We just use the same measurements for the 28mm scale.

I found Chain of Command too focused on passing orders down the line and quite boring.

BA was better but still lacking. I remember not being able to give covering fire with part of the unit whilst not being able to advance with the other. The HMG rules were weak as I remember. Overall, they weren't my favourite for whatever reason.

Disposable Heroes and Iron Cross are at the right level for me, giving orders to units rather than individuals but still a 1:1 man representation.

Fun without getting bogged down in mechanics which don't add much to the experience but still with a historical feel.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far.

Five Men in Normandy for true skirmish

Men Under Fire for low level tactical (platoon level)

Men Under Fire, is that the same author as Volley and Bayonet?

Yes it is. But a very different feel due to the different level of command. It comes with a nice scenario generator as well.

Men under Fire look really good! Might just be what I am looking for and I really enjoy Frank Chadwick's other rules.

Yes, Frank Chadwick of GDW. I personally like Men Under Fire.

'Operation Squad' might be for you.

Another one worth looking at is 'Frontline Command WWII':

link

Nuts! or Combat patrol both great rule systems. I also love Battle Ground if you don't mind lots of charts.

I'd suggest you stick with Crossfire. It's probably the best WW2 infantry skirmish game ever.

My copy of Iron Cross came today and it looks very interesting, especially the inter-active activation system. I am just reading through the anti-armour Fire and the gun / armour values (plus variable) seem to be about right.

Someone described them as being similar to crossfire, they are a bit brief in parts and I think they are a set that you would either warm to or not, I doubt there is much a middle ground in that regard.

I like what I am seeing so far (I like their Sword and Spear). They are at the lower end of the complexity scale and don't have things like Line of Sight rules, but dare I say a common sense approach to LOS would seem quite adequate,….. For like minded players at least!

I like chain of command. It plays well, but it is for a platoon action, not a squad action. Bolt action was interesting, but I like the turn sequence in chain of command better. I also like the way chain of command handles what you can do with units based upon the die roll.

Re: Why I don't like CoC and Bolt Action… Well I haven't played either, to be honest… Just read the rulebook. I can say that Bolt Action games tend to look oddly unrealistic, with blobs of troops floating about the battlefield and running into each other. I can't say if this is a rules problem specifically or just the kind of players that GW-style professionalism draws in. Phil Yates put out a WW2 40k conversion a few years ago… Bolt Action kind of looks like it plays very similarly. A fun game, to be sure, but not something that will keep my interest in the long term.

Chain of Command reads like a good set of rules, but I cannot help but prefer its spiritual predecessor, TW&T, from which CoC borrows many of its best rules. What CoC adds, mostly in the clever dice mechanic for orders, is a bit too Euro-gamey for me. It feels like it is first and foremost trying to be a clever dice mechanic, and only second be a simulation tool. I think the Lardies took a good, hard look at the kinds of games that are popular today, and a good hard look at the kinds of games that they had made previously, and decided that their abilities were better suited in making a game that would appeal to recent trends and bigger, younger audiences. I cannot blame them for that one bit.

For me, I think CoC beats out Bolt Action by a hair (although Bolt Action has perhaps better extended material… Airplanes, unique weapons, lots of vehicles etc). That said, I'd sooner choose BGWWII, TW&T or Nuts! before I chose either Chain of Command or Bolt Action.

What you seek in a ruleset is tremendously subjective. I like older systems with a lot of detail (and charts up the wazoo), a great simulationist feel or both. I don't want to play a game that has only a dozen pages of rules or a clever mechanic… I want more rules, so that the gameplay has a real texture to it. Many people would want the opposite, which I can understand too… It's just not for me. I need to be able to sink my teeth into a ruleset!

Normally, I'd peddle my own games here, but if you like Crossfire, look for an older free game called "Red Poppy White Feather".

Its basically skirmish Crossfire with some tweaks and its damn good. Had campaign rules too.

As my vote for a game I would say "Combat Patrol". Second choice would be "Troops Weapons and Tactics."
Achtung,
Rich himself has told me, CoC is a great game and a good simulation; TW&T is a great simulation and a good game.

Cheers

Joe

I actually tend to prefer TW&T to CoC lately, though both are really good games.

tractics? only played it once
nuts or battleground wwii would be my choice.
cant you convert crossfire to man to man?

TW&T?

Sorry, "Troops, Weapons & Tactics" from Toofatlardies.

I like Battleground WWII for skirmish. Still my favorite rules set for that level. Good level of detail, but still rather easy to play.

I would recommend Rules of Engagement by Great Escape Games. Fast playing yet detailed. Allows squads to go "tactically flexible". Meaning, you can split the squad into a fire team and an assault team allowing them to support each other in the attack. I also play BGWWII which is great but for bigger games I would go with ROE. Just my two cents.

ROE has been on my "to buy" list forever, but I keep getting distracted. Is there a PDF version for sale or is it print only?

Print only, Weasel, but I hear that there will be a second edition in 2017/18…