"Operation Warboard" Topic

Anyone ever play with these?

They seem to give rise to fast and violent games. I have written an Excel version of the tank combat, but modified almost all the inputs to give what I consider more accurate results (eg a Churchill does not have thinner armour than a Tiger I, whatever the writers think). With that done, it plays rather well.

They can almost be understood as using a logarithmic ground scale.

Yep played them back in the late '70's and thought about revisiting them again since. Never too happy with the old MG grid though I must confess.

They seem to be in the Tarr tradition, which of course is still with us. I couldn't understand the MG grid either, or at least why it wasn't fan-shaped.

The fun quirks are that there is no worthwhile organisation information given, no ground scale although 1mm = 1 metre is implied, no modelling of the effects of Shermans firing phosphorus at a Tiger and HE versus tanks is mechanically plotted. With anti-tank there are only three outcomes, no effect, immobilised and destroyed.

Here is the output from my Excel sheet with a Stuart exchanging shots with a Puma.

Allies fire resolution
Unit name Recon
Asset type Stuart; Tank; M6 37mm L/53
Weapon M6 37mm L/53
Target
Unit name Puma 1
Description SdKfz 234/2; AC; KwK 39 50mm L/60
Asset type SdKfz 234/2
Range etc
Range 75
Aspect Front
Target moving? No
Target in cover? No
Armour 9
Resolution
Firer AF 5
Target DF 9
Die Roll 6
AF total 11
Recon result: Puma 1 DESTROYED by Recon

Axis fire resolution
Unit name Puma 1
Asset type SdKfz 234/2; AC; KwK 39 50mm L/60
Weapon KwK 39 50mm L/60
Target
Unit name Recon
Description Stuart; Tank; M6 37mm L/53
Asset type Stuart
Range etc
Range 75
Aspect Front
Target moving? Yes
Target in cover? No
Armour 12
Resolution
Firer AF 8
Target DF 13
Die Roll 5
AF total 13
Puma 1 result: Recon immobilised by Puma 1

I'm now working on the bit where the results are saved move by move and ammunition tallied in some sort of log.

Can you keep me updated 4th C?

rgminshaw "Hat" aol.com

I have a copy, and tried a couple solo games back in the '70s and '80s. It was not geared for early war, which is what I had back then. I thought it had possibilities, though.

Grelber

First rules I played back in the 70's – very fond memories. Especialily of some mega games (not desparately historical forces – more "bring what you've got!) lasting all day across the who;e back garden with Arfix 1/72.

I have the book but never tried the rules.

Played the decades ago, loved them, getting back into them now. Having done a number of trials and analyses of fall of shot distributions from machine guns I see where the Lyalls were coming from

Likewise my first ruleset, very battered and stuck together with sticky tape they are now. The morale rules were rather rudimentary but apart from that they worked quite well I thought. The rulebook was very entertainingly written as Gavin Lyall was a thriller writer, and well organised with all the rules at the back and all the chat and pictures at the front.

When I got hold of the book originally I went straight to the tank / anti-tank action to see how it handled things like Tiger versus T-34, and I was underwhelmed. A Tiger II has a frontal defence value of 19, a Tiger I, Panther or Churchill is 18, a T-34 is 17, a Sherman 16. These made no sense to me. Trigometrically speaking a Tiger II has 230mm of armour to a T34's 90mm, so why wasn't one defence factor 2.5x higher than the other, I wondered?

In fact, there is a bit more to it than I was giving the rules credit for. The lowest attack value of any gun is 5 (2-pounder at 50 to 75cm range). If you rebased the guns and armour table so that this 5 became 0, and reduced all the other values by 5 as well, you get the same results, but the Tiger's armour would now be 14 and the T34's 12. The T-34's 85mm would now have an attack factor of 9 at close range, to which you add a d6 roll. If the Tiger's moving, even rolling a 6 would only immobilise it. So with a single shot the T34 could not destroy the Tiger II outright from the front at any range. If it were hit twice, then two immobilising hits remove any vehicle from the game. This seems reasonable – if the tracks have been blown off you would abandon your Tiger II.

So the results were not as cockeyed as they appeared. With that said I have still edited them.

Revised DFs (front / top / side / rear; cf: originals, in brackets)

Armour: Front / Side / Rear / Top
Brummbär*: 17 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 14)
Hetzer*: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
Hummel*: 13 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 13 / 11 / 11 / 10)
Jagdpanther: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17 (cf: 19 / 16 / 16 / 18)
Jagdpanzer IV: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 17 / 14 / 14 / 16)
Jagdtiger: 19 / 16 / 16 / 18 (cf: 20 / 17 / 17 / 19)
Nashorn*: 13 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 13 / 11 / 11 / 10)
Ostwind*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 10)
Panther: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17 (cf: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17)
Panzer II: 13 / 12 / 12 / 13 (cf: 13 / 12 / 12 / 13)
Panzer III …G: 14 / 11 / 11 / 10 (cf: 14 / 12 / 12 / 14)
Panzer III H…: 15 / 12 / 11 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15)
Panzer IVH / J: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15)
SdKfz 222: 7 / 5 / 5 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 231/2: 8 / 6 / 8 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 233: 8 / 6 / 8 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 234/1: 9 / 7 / 9 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 234/2: 9 / 7 / 9 / 9 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 234/3: 9 / 7 / 9 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 234/4: 9 / 7 / 9 / 5 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 250*: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 250/10*: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 250/11*: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 250/8*: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 251: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 251/10: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 251/22: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
SdKfz 251/9: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
StuG III: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 13 / 11 / 11 / 13)
StuG III: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 14 / 11 / 11 / 14)
StuG III: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 14 / 11 / 11 / 14)
StuG III: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 14 / 11 / 11 / 14)
StuG IV*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 14)
Tiger I: 18 / 16 / 16 / 17 (cf: 18 / 16 / 16 / 17)
Tiger II: 19 / 16 / 16 / 18 (cf: 19 / 16 / 16 / 18)
Wespe*: 13 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 10)
Wirbelwind*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 10)
M4A1/A2/A3/A4 Sherman: 13 / 10 / 10 / 12 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15)
M4A1/A2/A3 Sherman: 13 / 10 / 10 / 12 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15)
M4A3 Sherman: 13 / 10 / 10 / 12 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15)
Sherman Firefly: 13 / 10 / 10 / 12 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 16)
M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo*: 15 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 17 / 13 / 13 / 17)
Churchill Mk IV*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 16 (cf: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17)
Churchill Mk VII: 20 / 15 / 15 / 17 (cf: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17)
Churchill Mk VIII*: 20 / 15 / 15 / 17 (cf: 18 / 15 / 15 / 17)
Cromwell: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15)
Centaur*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15)
Comet*: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15 (cf: 16 / 13 / 13 / 15)
Tetrarch*: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10
Stuart*: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10
Chaffee*: 15 / 12 / 12 / 12
Pershing*: 17 / 14 / 14 / 16
M7B1 Priest: 14 / 11 / 11 / 11 (cf: 14 / 11 / 11 / 10)
Sexton: 14 / 11 / 11 / 11 (cf: 14 / 11 / 11 / 10)
Archer*: 14 / 11 / 11 / 11 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 10)
M10 Achilles: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15)
M18 Hellcat*: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 16)
M36: 15 / 12 / 12 / 15 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 17)
M12*: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 18)
M40 GMC*: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 19)
M41*: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 20)
Ram Kangaroo: 12 / 10 / 10 / 10 (cf: 15 / 12 / 12 / 10)
M3 Half-track: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 10 / 10 / 10 / 12)
Humber Mk IV: 9 / 7 / 9 / 9 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
Daimler Mk II: 9 / 7 / 9 / 9 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
AEC Mk III: 9 / 7 / 9 / 9 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
Daimler Scout: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
M8 Greyhound: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)
M3A1 Scout Car: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 10 / 10 / 10 / 12)
Staghound: 7 / 4 / 4 / 4 (cf: 12 / 11 / 11 / 12)

Gun attack values
Range in cm: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100; cf: originals, in brackets)

D-5T 85mm L/52: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 (cf: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8)
FlaK 38 20mm L/112.5*: 6 / 4 / – / –
Flak 43 37mm L/89*: 8 / 7 / 5 / –
KwK 30 20mm L/55*: 5 / 3 / – / –
KwK 36 88mm L/56: 14 / 12 / 11 / 10 (cf: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9)
KwK 38 50mm L/42: 10 / 8 / 6 / – (cf: 10 / 8 / 6 / -)
KwK 39 50mm L/60: 11 / 10 / 8 / – (cf: 11 / 9 / 7 / -)
KwK 40 75mm L/43*: 13 / 11 / 8 / 6
KwK 40 75mm L/48*: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7
KwK 42 75mm L/70: 15 / 12 / 11 / 10 (cf: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8)
KwK 43 88mm L/71: 16 / 14 / 12 / 9 (cf: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9)
leFH 18M 105mm L/28: 13 / 10 / – / – (cf: 13 / 10 / – / -)
M1 76mm L/55*: 13 / 12 / 11 / 8
M1/M2 105 mm: 13 / 10 / – / – (cf: 13 / 10 / – / -)
M1/M2/M1918M1 155mm : 14 / 11 / – / – (cf: 14 / 11 / – / – )
M3 75mm L/40: 10 / 9 / 8 / 6 (cf: 12 / 10 / 8 / -)
M3 90mm L/55: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9 (cf: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9)
M35 47mm L/32*: 10 / 8 / 6 / –
M6 37mm L/53*: 8 / 7 / 5 / –
PaK 36 37mm L/45*: 8 / 6 / 4 / –
PaK 38 50mm L/60: 11 / 10 / 8 / – (cf: 11 / 9 / 7 / -)
PaK 40 75mm L/46*: 13 / 11 / 9 / 7
Pak 43 88mm L/71: 21 / 20 / 19 / 18 (cf: 15 / 13 / 11 / 9)
PaK 44 128mm L/55: 23 / 22 / 21 / 20 (cf: 16 / 14 / 12 / 10)
PaK 97/38 75mm L35/6*: 10 / 8 / 6 / –
QF 17pdr 76.2mm L/58: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 (cf: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8)
QF 25pdr : 10 / 8 / – / – (cf: 10 / 8 / – / -)
QF 2pdr 40mm L/50: 9 / 7 / 5 / – (cf: 9 / 7 / 5 / -)
QF 75mm L/38*: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7
QF 95mm L/18.7*: 10 / 8 / – / –
QF Mk V 6pdr L/50: 11 / 9 / 7 / – (cf: 11 / 9 / 7 / -)
QF2 77mm L/50*: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8
sFH 18/1 150mm L/30: 14 / 11 / – / – (cf: 14 / 11 / – / -)
sPzB41 28mm*: 7 / 5 / – / –
StuH 42 105mm L/28.3: 13 / 10 / – / – (cf: 13 / 10 / / )
StuH 43 150mm L/12: 14 / 11 / – / – (cf: 14 / 11 / – / -)
StuK 75mm L/24: 11 / 9 / 7 / – (cf: 11 / 9 / 7 / -)

* no value given in the book.

What is really required is some playtesting of these…

Bit surprised your Sherman armour is so much lower than Cromwell and pz iv , and priest.

I did the same once, will have to dig out the file and post,

Wasn't the Sherman armour angled whereas the Pz IV was vertical?

Due to recent health issues I may be thinning out my book collection, many of them 'Old School'.

This will include Operation War board.

Any interest?

OK bear in mind this was from a long time ago, and formatting will go weird.

I think the armour values below are perhaps a little high as I was experimenting with a system where instead of adding d6 to the attack values I added d8.

Gun attack values
gun range 25 50 75 100 125
15/20mm auto 6 4 3 3
Ger 37mm 6 5 4
Ger 37mm APCR 7 5 5
US 37mm, 75mmL16/24 7 7 6
37/40mm auto 8 6 6 3 3
Sov 45mm 8 7 6 6 5
2 pdr 8 7 7
Sov 76mm L31/40 8 7 7 7 7
HEAT 70-85mm 8 8 8 8 8
2 pdr APCBC 9 7 7
Ger 50mm L42 9 8 7
US 75mm M2 9 8 8
Ger 50mm L60 9 8 8 7 6
Ger 50mm L42 APCR 10 8 7
25 pdr 10 9 8 7 6
Sov 76mm L31/40 APCR 10 9 8 7 7
US 75mm L40/M3 10 9 8 7 7
US 57mm 10 10 9 9 9
US 75mm M2 APCBC 11 10 9
Ger 75mm L43/48 11 10 10 9 8
6 pdr 11 11 10 10 9
2pdr / Littlejohn 12 10 10
Ger 50mm L60 APCR 12 10 9 7 6
Sov 57mm 12 11 10 9 8
Ger 75mm L46 (Pak 40) 12 11 10 10 9
US 76mm/75mm L40 APCBC 12 11 11 11 10
Sov 76mm L54 13 12 11 11 10
Brit 75mmL40 APCBC 13 12 11 11 11
Sov 85mm L53 13 12 12 11 11
Ger 88mm L56 13 13 13 12 12
HEAT 86-105mm 13 13 13 13 13
Sov 76mm L54 APCR 14 13 12 11 10
Sov 85mm L53 APCR 14 13 12 12 10
Brit 77mm L50 APCBC 14 14 13 13 12
US 90mm L53 / HEAT 106mm+ 14 14 14 14 14
Ger 75mm L43/46/48 APCR 15 13 11 10 9
6 pdr APDS 15 14 14 13 13
100mm / 17 pdr 15 14 14 14 13
Ger 75mm L70 15 15 14 14 13
Sov 122mm L46 15 15 15 14 14
Ger 88mm L56 APCR 16 14 13 12 11
100mm APCR/US 76mm APCR 16 16 15 15 14
Ger 75mm L70 APCR 17 16 15 15 14
Sov 122mm L46 APCR 17 16 16 15 14
17 pdr / 77mm APDS 17 17 16 16 16
Ger 88mm L71 18 16 16 16 16
128mm / 90mm APCR 18 18 18 17 17

VEHICLE DEFENCE VALUES

Vehicles Front Side Rear Top
Carriers, Stalinetts, Hanomag, Demag, M3scout, H. scout 9 9 9 9
A9 Cruiser I, T38, BA 64 9 9 9 9
Mk VI, Tetrarch, A13 MkI, White M3 HT, Pz I, JgPz I, Sig 33 auf PzI 10 9 9 9
Morris, Guy, Humber I-III, M. Herrington, Fiat, Panhard a/cars 10 9 9 9
Sdkfz 222, T40, BT5, BT7, BA10, BA32, Renault FT, AMR 35, 10 9 9 9
Lorraine, Ho-ni, other armoured cars 10 9 9 9
T26 b 1,2, 10 10 9 9
Sdkfz 231 10 10 10 9
A13 MkII, Scout car, Marder III 11 9 9 9
A10 Cruiser MkII, M8, M20, Wespe, L6, Semovente 47 11 10 9 9
Sexton, Hellcat, Pz II A-C, Pz IV C, Marder II, Sdkfz 234, Chi-Ha 11 10 10 9
Archer 11 10 11 9
Staghound, M41 SP 11 11 10 9
Sig 33 Bison 11 11 11 9
M 40 SP, Semovente 105 12 9 9 9
M11-39, Semovente 75, Ken-Hi 12 10 9 9
Humber IV, Pz II F/Lynx, Pz 35t, Nashorn, Hummel 12 10 10 10
Crusader I, Covenanter, M3 Stuart, H35 12 11 10 9
Pz III E-G, Pz IV D, R35, H39 12 11 11 11
Daimler a/car, AEC I,II, M12 SP 13 9 9 9
M13-40 13 10 9 9
Pz 38t, SU 76, SU 37aa 13 10 10 10
Crusader II,III 13 11 10 9
Stuart M5, M8, Lee I-III, Grant I 13 11 11 10
T50 13 11 12 9
Pz III H,J 13 11 13 11
Bishop 13 13 11 9
M10, M36, Mobelwagen 14 10 10 10
AEC III 14 11 9 9
Chaffee 14 11 11 9
Pz IV F, T60, T70 14 12 11 12
Char D2, Somua 14 12 12 11
Ostwind, Wirbelwind 15 11 10 10
Lee IV Grant II, Stug A-F 15 11 11 11
Pz III N 15 11 12 11
Challenger, Centaur, Cavalier, Cromwell I-VI 15 12 12 11
Valentine III,V 15 13 11 9
Sherman, Sherman Firefly, Priest 15 13 12 11
T80 15 13 13 9
Valentine VIII,XI 15 14 11 9
T34 B,C 15 15 15 10
Pz III L,M 16 11 12 11
Pz IV H,J 16 12 11 12
Stug IV 16 13 11 11
Sherman M4A3, Char B1 bis 16 13 13 11
Valentine I,II,IV,VI,VII 16 14 11 9
Matilda I 16 14 13 10
Matilda II 17 13 13 10
Cromwell VII,VIII 17 15 12 9
T34 A,D-F 17 15 14 10
T34-85 17 15 15 10
Comet 17 16 15 10
Panther 18 14 13 11
Churchill I-V 18 16 16 10
Jumbo 18 18 13 11
Hetzer 19 13 11 10
Tiger I, KV I s, KV 85 19 16 16 11
Stug G 20 11 11 9
SU 85, SU 100, SU 122 20 13 13 10
JgPz IV 20 14 13 10
Jagdpanther 20 14 15 9
KV I, KV II 20 17 16 16
Pershing 21 16 14 10
JS II 21 18 16 11
Brummbar 22 16 16 10
JSU 122, JSU 152 22 17 16 10
Churchill VII,VIII 22 18 18 11
Tiger II 23 17 17 12
Elefant 24 18 16 11
Jagdtiger II 25 23 20 12

@ Timbo
Maybe the Shermans are a bit low.

The thing about these tables is that hitting and damaging are all abstracted into a single die roll. So the Tiger I's attack value of 10 plus die roll averaging 3.5 means it should destroy the Sherman about 50% of the time at 1km range.

As the book notes, if you change one value you have to change quite a few. As published there was no value for a German 75mm L/43, 46, 48 or 70, it was just "German high velocity 75mm" – meaning a Sherman is frontally impervious to a Panther above 75cm range.

Agree the panther 75mn l70 should be better than the Tiger Is 88mm. I think I took the relative values in my table from either 80s WRG rules or one of the TTG rules etc, possibly a combination.

I wanted something that allowed the allies the option of better ammo eg apds etc

My hats off to both 4th Cuirassier and Timbo W for sharing with us. That's a lot of data to to transfer, thanks gentlemen.

No problem Marc,

Simple copy-paste, tricky bit was remembering where I'd saved that file in the mid 90s!

Just in case anyone is interested here's the rest of the rules/adaptations, think they were unfinished or I lost part of them but anyway.

Typically the morale section has disappeared from the end. IIRC this was done by section and you had to beat the numbers of casualties in the section to 'carry on'. Sections were mostly 8-10 figs, really rubbish troops threw d4, average d6, experienced d8, veteran d10, elite d12 and fanatics d20. There were probably some modifiers too. I also had a 'heroics roll' where once a game each unit could have one figure try to do something really stupid/heroic – usually jumping out of cover to get a clear bazooka shot – d6, pass on 5-6.

Again the formatting will be horribly wrong,

TIM'S WWII RULES

Scale 1"=10m so 10ft=1200m

Move Sequence

1. Orders
2. Movement
3. Spotting
4. Firing
5. Morale

Orders + Command

Only company commanders (captains) or squadron commanders or higher ranks can act as officers. Each can carry out one of the following actions per move.

1. Issue orders (take that wood etc.) or send such orders via messenger.
2. Promote platoon or troop commander (if original lost) or send such an order by messenger.
3 Encourage troops, roll d6, 6=+2, 5-2=+1, 1=no change. Must be with single unit.
4 Call for support fire (artillery / naval / air)
5 Receive or send orders via radio etc.

Movement (inches)
Road Cross/c Uphill
Infantry 4 4 2
Horses 6 6 3
Jeeps + m.bikes 20 8 4
Armoured cars 16 8 4
Other Wheeled 16 6 1
H-tracks+carriers 12 8 4
Tanks- Fast 12 8 6
Med 10 8 4
Slow 8 6 4

+50% infantry /horse running -50 % inf crawling -2" towing

Bogging Down throw d6 each turn
Tracked Wheeled
Broken Ground, Woods, Fords, Rubble, Snow 1 1-2
Mud, House 1 1-3
Marsh 1-4 1-5

SPOTTING

to see roll above on d10 10" 25" 50" 100" 125"
Large tanks + trucks 1 1 2 4 6
Small tanks, trucks etc 1 2 4 6 7
AT guns, jeeps 2 4 6 7 9
Mbikes, infantry 3 6 7 9 10

Vehicles in open are automatically seen.

+1 target moving, target firing
+2 fast moving (>10") ,firing mg or canon, obvious

-1 AFV closed down, spotter moving
-2 target behind firing, explosions, etc.
-3 target in cover
-6 target behind smokescreen

FIRING
Modifiers
Infantry Weapons -1 target fast moving (>20")
= or > on d6 -1 firing from moving vehicle
Gun Range open/soft/hard -1 firing from prone
+1 grouped weapon
pistol 5 5/6/6

grenade 3 explo 3-6 burst circle 1 Cover
prone in open = soft (fire at -1)
rifle 10 2/4/5 prone in soft = hard (no firing)
20 4/5/6 prone in hard = safe (no firing)
30 5/6/-

SMG 7c 2/3/4
14c 5/6/-

LMG 7c 2/3/4
20c 4/4/5
50 5/6/-

HMG 14c 3/3/4
20c 4/4/5
50 5/6/6
80 6/6/-

20/37mm auto 14c 4/4/4
20c 4/4/4
50 4/4/5
80 5/5/6
110 6/6/-

flamethrower 4 2/2/4 3-6 sets fire, pillbox=no cover

AT grenade 3 explo ,3-6 burst circle 1

Rifle grenade 10 explo 5-6 burst circle 1

PIAT/Bzk/Pzshk 10 see AT tables

Pzfaust/AT rifle 5 see AT tables

DIRECT ANTI-VEHICLE FIRE

PROCEDURE

For anti tank Roll d10 on 'to hit' table, if you hit, roll d10 on damage chart, add bonus to attack value, then compare with defence value. If attack value greater than defence value, target is destroyed

For high explosive Roll d10 to hit, roll number on HE penetration chart using d6
to destroy

TO HIT roll greater than on d10 Direct fire only

Gun \ range 5 10 25 50 75 100 125

1 man flamethrower 2
AT rifle / Pzfaust 3
PIAT/Bzk/Pzshk 3 5
Heavy flamethrower 2 3 6

37mm/2pdr/28mm 2 3 4 5 6
20mm auto 2 3 5 7 8 10
37/40mm auto 3 4 5 6 7 8 10
50mmL42/75mmM2/L24 2 2 3 4 6
6pdr 1 1 3 4 5 6 7
45/50/57/75/76.2mm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3in/ long 75/76mm/L70 1 2 2 3 4 5 5
17pdr/85/88/90mm 1 1 2 3 4 5 5
100/105/122mm 2 1 2 3 4 4 5
88mm L71 2 1 2 2 3 4 5
128mm 2 1 1 2 2 3 4

3 in/ 75mm how 2 3 5
105mm how 2 3 4
25 pdr 2 1 2 3 4 4 5
95/150/152mm how 2 3 4 6
155mm how 2 3 4 5
Petard 5 3 4

Modifiers

+1 every subsequent shot at same place

-1 first shot at new target
AFV closed down
target ; in hard cover/ started out of sight/ moved 10" +

-2 target ; started and ended out of sight/ hull down/ moved 30"+

-3 firer moving
target moved 40"+
Damage Chart

Roll d10 against AFVs, d6 against guns and soft vehicles

AFVs (d10) Guns (d6) Soft Vehicles (d6)

0 no damage 1 hit 1d6 crew 1 immobilised
1 immobilised 2 immobilised 2 hit 1/2 load
2 -4 to attack value 3 immobilised 3 hit 1/2 load
3 +1 to attack value 4 destroyed but 4 destroyed & 1/2 hit
4 +2 to attack value crew OK 5 destroyed all hit
5 +3 to attack value 5 crew killed 6 destroyed all hit
6 +4 to attack value 6 destroyed
7 +5 to attack value
8 +6 to attack value
9 +8 or 1/3 chance of
through vision slit

H.E. Penetration Chart Roll equal or greater than on d6

Gun Defence value soft 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Grenade 3 6
Gammon bomb 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 6
Magnetic mine 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6
Panzerfaust 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6
Panzershreck / PIAT / Bazooka 1 1 1 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6
Light Mortar (2"/50mm) 2 6
Medium Mortar (3"/80mm) 1 5
Heavy Mortar (120mm / MRL) 1 3 5
37mm 2 4
50-76mm 1 3
3" how, 88mm, 90mm 1 3 6
95mm how 1 2 4 5
100/122/128/105Stg/Rkt/ATmine 1 3 5 6
25 pdr / 105mm / Nebelwerfer 1 2 3 5 6
150mm/152mm/155mm/50lb 1 2 3 5 5 6 6
Petard / 100lb bomb 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6
250lb bomb 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6
500lb bomb 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 5 6
1000lb bomb 1 1 2 2 3 4 5

Thanks Timbo, I shall rip that lot and stash it.

Ideally what I am trying to do is build a sort of generic Excelised rules sheet into which one just selects the ruleset and the outputs are standardised. This won't always be possible, given my Excel abilities and that some are more detailed than others. Warboard ignores turret versus hull distinctions, for example, and in fact is so simple it's not really necessary to Excelise – the record keeping is more useful.

What's interesting, though, is that if one wanted to, it wouldn't be too hard to make this set of rules a bit more sophisticated. One could mod the fire routines to allow things like APDS, perhaps by randomly allowing a score of 7 on a six-sided die. There is also no need for the gun ranges to be equally spaced. They could perfectly easily be 10, 25, 60, 200, for example. Quite simple to amend once programmed.

One's default assumptions about gun versus armour performance is that it will be consistent. That is, if a 17-pounder can pierce the 100mm front of a Tiger at 1,500 metres its attack value should be similar to that of an 88mm that can do the same to a Cromwell. There's actually no reason for this to be so. You could give the 17-pounder an attack value of 20 and the Tiger 19, and you could give the 88mm an attack value of 12 and the Cromwell 11. In each case the gun defeats the armour. Taken individually the values make little sense but they still produce consistent results. I reckon something like this is going on in both Warboard and some of the Quarrie rules.

Op Warboard!! That's how I got into gaming all through my teens and into my twenties.
like many of the previous replies, my brother and I made various modifications and house rules.

Operation Warboard – played loads of games of that as a boy with my Dad in the 1990s. Cracking set of rules.