"Rule Suggestions for Cold War 15mm Ptn to Coy Sized Games." Topic

To the Magi of TMP:

I'm looking for Cold War rules to fight platoon to combat-team level battles with singly mounted 15mm minis and vehicles using a 1:1 figure ratio. I have used WRG Modern Warfare 1950-1985 (for microarmour games), Challenger, Force on Force and I have attempted to adapt Battleground WW II (unsuccessfully) to play in this scale. I have read over Ivan's (Weasel's) Company Commander rules and will look at Saber Squadron as well. FFT-3 seems to be at too large a scale for my needs but I could be wrong about that. What other rules for this level of Cold War gaming should I look into. I will await the release of new games from Osprey and Too Fat Lardies but I am not likely to be inclined to TY since I have not been a fan of FOW for the most part (not that they're bad rules at all, they're just not my cup of tea). Any suggestions will be most appreciated and thanks in advance to all who can offer me guidance.

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

I'm waiting for the Lardies stuff too

Force on force. Change the rules for artillery and you have a great game.

Joe

What is coming from Osprey?

Hi Rod:

Like you TY left me cold. I like FoW but it just doesn't seem to work. YMMV

I really like FFT3. You can actually play it at 1:1 with pretty much no effort at all. I think in 15mm you'd want a good size table other wise an easy sell. Plus you can do Korea, WW2, etc with the same rule set. The data is included and is absolutely exhaustive. Frankly it;s worth the money just for the vehicle data and army lists.

Sabre Squadron assumes multi-based infantry and is aimed at a company per side so may be a bit higher level than you want. Otherwise it reads as being a competitor to TY and FFT3.

Both FFT3 and SS are a bit "marker" heavy. If chts bother you you'll need a way to replace them but that gets difficult at times. "Wait, is a twig a suppressed or a opp fire marker?" That sort of thing.

Weasel's Company Commander assumes an infantry base is 7-12 men, so again perhaps too high a level? It also treats many troop/vehicle types as interchangeable so may not have enough "grit" for some.

Modern Face of Battle is at your level – individual vehicles and infantry. Don't know much more about it.

Tac II from Game Craft Miniatures is higher level at 1" = 50 meters.

The Two Hour Wargames rules are some of my favorite skirmish rules but are pretyt infantry focused. They have a free version called Chain Reaction, but it is designed for a few squads a side, plau maybe 1 or 2 vehicles.

Hope that helps…..

EC

Try Battlefront WW2 rules they have modified them for moderns. They are very good. My group has used them for Vietnam, 1967 war, and now Cold War.

1-to-1 platoon level?

I did do something for that ;-)

link

I second no end in sight for smaller actions! Trust also in force on force , so easy to adapt them.

Also look Cold War rules by Dean Wilson and sabre squadron . All different and excellent!

I've some house rules to, which I'm play testing I like:) working on tarting them up

Jarrovian:
The wait is killing me! But Force on Force is sort of tiding me over. Have they settled on a title yet or will they stick with, "I Ain't Been Nuked Mum", which I sorta like?!

Joe Legan:
I use Force on Force for Ultramodern gaming but at levels over platoon size it begins to become difficult for me to manage. It is a great system for smaller actions though.

Centrino:
I hear persistent talk of modern rules based on Bolt Action.

Extra Crispy:
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look into Modern Face of Battle and also see if I can shoe-horn FFT-3 into a pseudo skirmish game.

Irish Marine:
I've played BF-WWII as a WWII game and it is at too high a level for my needs, ie. 1man is 1 figurine. But I agree, it is a very good game system and is very well supported.

Weasel:
I have used NEIS for Ultramodern skirmish and it is great fun. However, the mechanics begin to be overwhelming when fighting with more than a platoon per side and my games will often be more than that size.

ArmiesArmy:
Yup, I like Force on Force and it too is well supported by Shaun et al. I just find it difficult to manage bigger battles, but that may be down to me being a comparative neophyte to the rules. Since I've got you here (and I know you're on vacation so relax, but when you are back to the grind) when will you have cleared the decks from the kickstarter and be taking new orders for VDV infantry, support weapons, and Soviet Airborne vehicles? My BMD company and ASU-85's need support!

Cheers gents and thanks for the wise counsel. I will follow up your suggestions now. I really appreciate your help.
Rod Robertson

Ah, if the company-size side of things is that you want, I'd definitely go with the TFL rules. They're still the best thing I've seen for that level of play, and eminently playable.

Face of Battle is cool but its ultra-skirmish.

FEBA has rules for one man = one figure.

Got a copy second-hand, since I couldn't find mine, so am still looking at them. They also provide the option for fireteams as well, in addition to the above. One mini = one vehicle too.

Still interested in "I Ain't Been Nuked Mum" and love that title, but alas, I may get nuked by the Chinese, North Koreans, Iranians, Russians, or expire, before they are released.

As mentioned, the Battlefront rules look good too, but aren't man to man. Perhaps you could bolt a set of those on to them.

Tractics would work too. An oldie, but a goodie, so definitely worth considering, especially at least for their infantry skirmish rules.

FUBAR would work too, for the infantry side of things, and perhaps vehicles too. Just use my amended rules for activations, so poor troops don't sit out too long, e.g. use a D10 or D12 for activations, instead of the D6 (you still get the occasional unit freezing, but not as often). Activation by squads of infantry, and individual vehicles or platoons for the armor. Conduct firing combat individually.

I really like the idea of using a D10 for activations in FUBAR.

I saw someone else say they used a D8 which seems like it'd work as well. You could even fiddle with different dice depending on command&control.

FUBAR's vehicle rules are kinda junk but a lot of games have crap vehicle rules, my own included, so that's not a breaking point.

I like the D10, since poor units can still activate fairly regularly, but might fail at a critical time (of course, they might fail at a non-critical time too, but at least they're not abysmal troops).

Yea, D8, D10, D12, as desired – perhaps switching between them for various scenarios or forces, too.

Your force is surprised. Start at a D6, raise to a D8 after a turn or two, then to a D10 after another turn or two.

@ Rod
I think it's still 'I Ain't Been Nuked Mum', I haven't seen anything different.
There is 'Fighting Season' for Chain of Command for the 'Stans'
toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?cat=24

Jarrovian:
Oooh! I like the idea of that! Fighting Season, you say? Off to luck that up right now! Thanks for the link.
Cheers.
Rod Robertson.

FEBA's new one on me, but I really like the name. Where can I find them and FUBAR?
Bolt Action is very, very easy to 'historicise'; there's a link to a good set of Vietnam adjustments on Angus Kohnstam's 'Edinburgh wargames' site. We've been using something fairly similar for Vietnam with credible outcomes.

@ Rod
According to Lard Island Blog, the release date for Fighting Season' has been put back to Salute (April 2017), due to real life intervening.
Undecided yet if it will be a 'stand alone' set, or a supplement for original Chain of Command. Rich says he is leaning toward a supplement, so he can get lots of extra goodies in (army lists etc)

FEBA is/was available from QRF.

Not sure if they still have them for sale, but worth a look.

I depends what you want 0ut of a game. We wrote Mameouver Group
link

Certainly different. With the tanks you have to turn the turrets and note if they are buttoned up. Rules are not complex although its 100 pagers quite a lote is engineering which you can chose not to use.
There is no points system as the game is for real terrain senarios and real world formations.

I have to confess I have never used 15mm. We use 12mm troops at 1mmm = 1m ground scale and 25 mm troops at 1" = 10m. I guess you choose your own 1"=20m perhaps. Groundscale is a key issue. Tanks fair better in more open terrain. Infantry in the game work in teams but single figure can be used for the team' we do at 25mm.

If you look on our bit of the Wagrgames Vauly site there are a few free downloads. Bulletin 1 is a good one. If this sort of thing is not you, then the rules are not for you. A company battlegroup will take some time to master and its best to stick to tank heavey versions to keep the bit count dowm certainly to start with.

Have fun