…from a very old source.
While I am fairly happy with Bolt Action's infantry rules I am not so satisfied with the BA anti-tank rules. Now I've been around a few years (quite a few actually). I got started in the hobby in the late 1960s after reading Donald Featherstone's seminal book 'Wargames'. He included rules for ancient warfare, horse and musket warfare and WW2 but for the latter there were actually TWO sets of rules, his simple set and Lionel Tarr's rather more ambitious approach.
Tarr's system always struck me as being better than Featherstone's as he assigned strike values (SV) to each gun calibre and defence values (DV) to each target vehicle types. These values and the roll of three dice neatly dealt with hit chances AND armour penetration in one action. If you made the score, the target was hit and knocked out. It was quick, efficient and I have very fond memories of it from the late '60s and early '70s.
Tarr's range of values were quite narrow and to be frank I am dubious about many of his relative figures. Having spent 40-odd years since getting the book studying the period I think… hope… pray… that I have improved on Tarr's original somewhat.
Below are a draft set and I am putting them up for discussion. Please feel free to try them out and any feed-back or constructive criticism would be appreciated.
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Draft Normandy 1944 WW2 anti-tank gun rules (adapted from Lionel Tarr's original work)
The system is SV (strike value + modifications) + roll of three dice. The total must equal or exceed the target's DV (defence value). Target destroyed if this happens it has been hit AND the armour has been defeated or by-passed.
Guns:
Allied:
US 37mm and UK 2pdr SV 0
UK 6pdr SV 3 but SV 4 under 12 inches due to APDS
US and UK 75mm SV 2
US 3-inch A/Tank SV3
UK 17pdr + US 76mm * SV 4 but SV 5 on 17pdr only under 12 inches due to APDS
UK 95mm howitzer+ SV3
German:
37mm SV 0
50mm SV 3
75mm how+ SV 1
75mm L43/48 SV 3
75mm L/70* SV 4
88mm L/56* SV 5
88mm L/70* SV 6
* guns are high velocity and do not fall off so badly at range
+ guns are short barrel howitzers and suffer much more at range
Range variations:
Up to 12 inches +1 SV
Up to 24 inches 0 SV
Over 24 inches -1 SV but 0 for all * guns // -2 SV for all + guns
Over 30 inches -2 SV but -1 for all * guns // -3 SV for all + guns
Other variations:
Target or shooter moved this turn, -1 SV each, -2 if both
Target moving fast -2, shooter moving fast -3
Target in soft cover -1 SV
Target behind hard cover or hull down -2 SV
Target DV values:
First value is frontal attack, second figure is side or rear attack
Universal Carrier 14/ 13
Half-track 13/ 12
Stuart 14/ 13
Sherman 15/ 13
Cromwell 15/ 13
Churchill (early) 16/ 14
Churchill (Mk 7) 17/ 15
Half-track 13/ 12
Panzer IV (H/J) 16/ 14
Panther 19/ 14
Tiger 1 17/ 15
Tiger 2 20/ 16
Fire correction options:
If the first shot misses, the shooting player MAY opt to store two out of three Strike dice behind the target vehicle (showing the numbers that were rolled on the missed first shot). Next turn if neither the shooter nor the target have moved, the shooter may roll ONE fresh die as a 'correction' of the fall-of-shot applying the two previous dice to the third new die's score.
The shooter does not have to correct, if all three first round dice were poor, shooter may instead opt for three fresh dice on the next shooting round. A pair of dice scores may only be stored once for correction. If second 'corrected' fall-of-shot also misses, all three dice must be re-rolled on the third turn.
Barry