"fast play rules for large 28mm engagements" Topic

I would like to organize a large Stalingrad battle using 28mm figs on a 12'x4' table. I plan on having approx. 150 troops per side with various support weapons and about 6-10 tanks per side.

If I use bolt action this game will likely take several days. Is there a fun ruleset that would allow this to play more quickly? Someone suggested Iron Cross but I don't have any experience with that ruleset.
Thanks.

Charch,
you can still use Bolt Action.
What you need to do is adjust the
pulling of order die mechanism.
1)If you have 4 players per side then for every red order die
pulled allow all the soviet players to activate a unit
and visa versa.
Option 2) pull an order die and then roll a d6, allow that side to move the amount of units on the d6
Option 3) forget pulling order die and simply do an I go you go for each side, ie each side moving firing everything then alternate
We've done all three at various times.

Rapid Fire?

I used Arc Of Fire (which has some similarities to BA)to run my Stalingrad game at historicon a couple of yeas ago. While it was on a 6x8 table I had a train running down the middle that actually split it into two separate battles. I pulled activations for each side of the table and set a strict time limit to react and finished the game in under three hours.
Here are some photos and a write up in Wargamer's Illustrated
link

link
link

The scale of the game would suit "I ain't been shot, mum" or (for a multi-player game) Big Chain of Command , both from Too Fat Lardies.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum is fantastic for that size of game and I'd hazard it'd move quicker than big CoC too, if only by a little bit.

We played a game of our (Piquet) soon to be released new set of rules "Nothing Less Than Victory" that had approximately 170 infantry castings and 10 vehicles in the game, 5x9 foot table – in 2 hours.

I use Disposable Heroes for games of that size.

What you need in any rules system is someone who really knows the rules and has a lot of experience playing them, and has the ability to convey that to run a game. A good system of "I go – You go" would work fine.

You can hear all the plugs from different people here promoting their favorite rules, which I'm sure will all work well. I would have to fall back to what said before, its that one or two people in your group who really know the rules well, which will make the game flow at a good pace.

I'm sure we've all been in games where someone is running a game but maybe know about 20% of the rules, thus causing delays in looking up stuff in the rules for clarification.

So my two cents would be as mentioned already would try out "I Ain't been shot mum" and/or Chain of Command".

Now I would be no good running a I Ain't been shot game, as I only played a few games, but for Chain of Command, I've ran many of a BIG CoC games at the company level in one evening with no delays…

Good luck.

P.

Another vote for Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire.

You could try Crossfire.

I did something similar a few years ago and found Rapid Fire worked really well for this type of gamew

You sound like your looking for a 1-1 skirmish type game but with lots of players.

If so while Rapid Fire plays fast it supposed to be a platoon level (atomic unit).

A big convention game with players just learning the rules is a bit different than playing at home with people who already (supposedly) know the rules. It depends a lot on how much work you as a game master want to expend.

I've tried many of the 1-1 games mentioned and would hesitate to recommend any for this type of game. Your correct about Bolt – with out major modification it does not work well for multi-player. If you do modify make sure to try it out before running at con – snags and play balance problems may well arise.

A good rule set (meaning both a decent simulation and fun game play) for 1-1 multi-player is a market niche that needs to be filled for WWII.

TomT

My rules Skirmish Action work well for large numbers of players. I've run games with as many as 12 players at Fall In and routinely play 4-6 player games. Even new players can pick it up quickly. I will be the first to admit that 150-200 minis per side is a lot but 12 players each having a squad and an AFV is doable. Fall In games took about 3 hours to finish. Cheers! Lee

Charch7

On the Bolt Action Blogs over a year ago, we had a discussion about this very thing.

Limiting the amount of order dice to 20, but allow a Platoon level command to give orders to lower levels as long as they all do the same thing.

Wasn't there a discussion of this is the rulebooks?

For instance, a Russian infantry Platoon wants to swarm a building, allow for the platoon leader to give an order and all the infantry squads and command stand move together. It saves commands, and incorporates leadership. As long as they are in command distance.

Another example could be a armor platoon, acting together.

Bolt Action but make all the platoon commanders 'captains' so they can do a 'snap to it' order for their whole platoon so long a s they say what they are going to do first, as in…..'No 1 sec and No 2 sections fire and No 2 3 section charge in'. We've done masses of games with this approach right up to battalion in attack on 20 foot (or more) of table. Mail me if you want more chit-chat….. thathistorybloke@btinternet.com

Any of the rule sets mentioned would probably work, just make sure you have an umpire to move it along.

Agreed; an umpire is crucial. Some players will dither to an unacceptable degree which is frustrating for the others so you might try having an egg-timer – if someone won't get on with it stick the time in front of them.
Alternatively (and I'm very confident that this would work effectively) take a revolver and make sure that everyone knows that ditherers will be shot. Apparently in most countries there are laws against that sort of thing, which is quite incomprehensible.

Iron Cross would work well for that number of figures. It is designed for a company of troops per side. I have played a few games and am quite impressed with them. A section will fight as a whole not a bunch of individual figures firing. Command and control is interesting and works well. IMHO.

I've done a big Bolt Action game that played to completion in a 4 hour time slot. The field was divided into 3 sectors that each ran on their own time with separate dice-pulls for each sector. When units changed sectors, they moved across whenever their unti was activate, then their die was moved to the new sector's bag at the start of that sector's next turn. Terrain largely prevented fire across different sectors. But if it happened, it just happened whenever the firing unit was activated.

My Skirmish Action Rules can accommodate large battles once you know the rules. I've gamed for over 50 years and agree with the previous posts that said success in large games is proportional to how well the players understand the rules. Skirmish Action can be learned very quickly. At Cold Wars and Fall In players at games I ran could play on their own by the 2nd turn. Some games had 12 players. So a large group of players can learn to play large battles very quickly. Best of luck with your search! Cheers! Lee