"WW2 East Front 6mm game on small table on blog" Topic

This is the second game in trying out my own 6mm WW2 rules. I converted all the dice rolls to be on a deck of cards (so draw a card to lookup the result). The first game went fine and I have now glued the paper sized deck onto actual cards.

The games pits a small hasty German defence against an attacking Russians reduced company. It was played solo on a 50cmx50cm table with 6mm troops. It was fun and a close game. The full report is on my blog:
link

An image of some suppressed Germans:

Looks interesting, thanks for posting.

Cool stuff, Shaun, and a very fun read, thanks for sharing.

The troops look great, but I'm really loving those bombed-out buildings and walls (as in the photo above), they look amazing.

How did it strike you using names in the batrep? Maybe nothing yet; for me it really comes in when they start accruing some history, establish some character, and you start becoming invested in them. Or maybe I'm just incredibly strange ;)

V/R,
Jack

The rules look great!

@Jack – I got the buildings off eBay several years ago. I obtained about 15 whole and wrecked. I have used the odd one in past games but this is the first time more than that have appeared on the table at the same time.

I am using names to wean myself into actually following a company in campaigns. The naming was more about can I do a report with names, ready for when I follow those named soldiers through a series of battles. So not at your standard yet, but prepping for it :-)

@Durban Gamer – I am actually pleased on how well the rules are working for these small table battles.

Thanks all for looking!

Goctcha! Those building were a great Ebay pickup, look fantastic. I'm very much looking forward to your campaign following a company.

V/R,
Jack

Eastern front in 6mm? Yes please!
- Good looking, mixed and interesting terrain that sets the scene? Check!
- Combined arms: Infantry, tanks, guns and arty? Check, check, check and check!
- Fire and maneuver? Check and check!

Very nice AAR. Looks like it went very well. Not mentioned is whether it was a solo game (my assumption) or against an opponent.

I second the compliments to the ruined structures.

I also recognize the infantry, at least the Red Army figures, as H&R. I too have H&R Red Army figures -- a rifle battalion and an SMG company that have seen many battleboards since the early 1990s, and have been progressively upgraded as my own modelling skills have improved. There's something about seeing advancing frontovics with their Mosin's bayonets glimmering on a WW2 battlefield…

Your rules seem to have worked well for your fight. I am a fan of rules that play well with combined arms. Do you think they would work as well if it was a tank force with a few squads of infantry in support, rather than vice-versa?

I particularly like how the suppression affected the combat. The idea that a suppressed unit could only fire at the closest enemy is interesting. Maybe you could also try that a suppressed unit could only return fire at the unit who's fire suppressed it. Just some ideas. My preferred ruleset, Mein Panzer, also adds a very interesting twist to suppression of infantry. In MP each base gets to do two things in a typical activation -- an "action" and a "move". You can chose one of many different things for your "action" -- shoot, spot, communicate, perform an engineering task, etc. You can even move with your "action", meaning if you do nothing else, you can double move in the turn. But if you are suppressed, all you can do with your "action" is try to remove the suppression. If you fail, you can not use your "move". If you succeed, you have used your "action" but still get your "move".

Most infantry squads have 2 hit points, meaning 1 kill only reduces your squad to half strength. Even then, your opponent won't get many kills unless he gets very close. So it takes a lot of concerted effort to kill off infantry units.

The rather simple mechanism of how suppression works has an interesting effect on how infantry combat plays out. Once your opponent starts to get any advantage in the rate of suppression (starts building fire superiority in the engagement) you, as the player, will feel mounting pressure to pull back. It may take a long time to kill off your infantry (they don't die quickly), but once he gets the advantage in how many of your squads he is suppressing your return fire slacks off, and he can continue suppressing and closing in for the eventual kills. All you can do with the squads you manage to un-suppress is:
1) Leave them in place to be suppressed again, and probably again after that, until they are eventually killed off, or
2) Try to move them back, out of the line of fire, and establish new positions some way back.

You don't need any morale rules to tell you when they move back. You feel the pressure to move them back, as it's about the only way to get them back into the fight.

Another approach to suppression that makes for interesting games.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Hello Mark (1),

Thanks for stopping by. It as a solo game. 99% of the games on the blog are, so a safe bet there!

I have not tried the rules with mostly armour with some infantry in support. With a much earlier version they worked OK, but that was 10 years ago and bear almost no resemblance anymore to the old version. Th rules are designed for about 5-12 stands/elements/tanks. If you stick to that and have mostly tanks and only a few infantry stands it should work fine.

I have heard only good things about Mein Panzer but i have so many other rules (also unplayed) I never got around to buying them. The way suppression works sounds great and getting suppression to work for WW2 games that reward good tactics is never easy. The original rules I started with were Take Cover!! that had quite good rules for suppression (not quite the same as Mein Panzer or mine) but led me realise how important suppression is. Note that my rules have two levels of stress – pinned (move or fire at closest) or suppressed (don't do anything except if suppressed again you retreat back a move).