"Best Desert War rules for Australians vs Italians 1940" Topic

Looking to play some Tobruk area type games with simple rules, probably 6mm but maybe 10mm depending on availability of figures.

1. Any suggestions for rulesets? I'd like some solo capability here.
2. Who makes ranges of figures/vehicles suitable in 6/10mm scale

Total novice re: desert warfare but I'd like to use armour & infantry if possible.

Cheers!

Jae

most WW-II rules should cover this

what scale/size do you want individual units to be?

If you want to use individual tanks and squads of infantry the original Squad Leader rules are a great fit.

They're pretty easy to understand and get playing with and they have lots of scenarios available for Western Desert.

we have done it in 54mm using the Bolt-Action rule system

Agree with Saber.
What do you want your individual units to represent? One man, one fire team, one squad, one Platoon, one company.
Joe

Thanks for the responses.

Depends on whether I go for 6mm or 10mm I guess. I'm hoping for 6mm as a quicker entry point into the period but am not sure which scale has the most to offer. I am more interested in desert war specific rules than generic WW2 & don't want to get into armour only battles.
With that in mind, which scale is better for the variety of vehicles/figures & which rulset tackles desert warfare best?

Cheers!

Jae

For 6mm there is a massive amount of vehicles and infantry available.

Depends where you're based as to which manufacturers to go with, as well as how much you want to spend.

In the US GHQ make fantastic vehicles in 1/285th with infantry that are a little bit bigger than 6mm, but they are expensive.

In the UK there is Heroics and Ros who also make an extensive range of vehicles and infantry but less accurate than GHQ whilst still very good.

Also in the UK are Baccus that have a smaller range of vehicles and infantry with equivalent casting to Heroics.

Oh and my favourite 6mm infantry are from a manufacturer called Adler miniatures in Brighton, but Leon who runs Adler is in the process of retiring so is shutting down production of some ranges. I think the Adler 6mm may be produced in the future by Heroics possibly starting later this year?

For 10mm in the UK Pendraken are starting to produce vehicles and infantry.

6mm is a quicker entry point and can give. You sweeping tank battles in the desert. It also takes less space. You do lose some fidelity on the infantry as they tend to look similar at that scale.
If you are going to go 6mm then you probably arent doing man to. Man battles. Do you want to have you pieces squads, platoons or companies? For tobruk I am guessing squads or platoons. Are you going to be playing solo or with friends? How much chaos/ control do you want over your troops and battlefield?

I do the desert in both 6mm (cheap, easy to paint and store, vast ranges) and 15mm (not so cheap, but nice to look at).

Nearly all my 6mm stuff is Heroics or Scotia, it is actually 1/300 unlike other manufacturers.

If you want a rule set which actually captures the qualitative differences , then Command Decision is hard to beat. Stands are platoons, manoeuvre units companies. I'd also recommend tracking down the "Beghazi Handicap" scenario book,,although it is OOP as it includes masses of historical info as well as great scenarios .

Do you want to do single base skirmish or something like battalion level? Do you want to be a Lieutenant or a Colonel?

Battlefront:WW2 works very well for armour and infantry. 1 base is a squad, 1 model vehicle is 2 or 3 actual vehicles. Well designed, and covers the desert.
details at fireandfury.com

Looking to play some Tobruk area type games with simple rules, probably 6mm but maybe 10mm depending on availability of figures.

KISS Rommel may be a simple option. link
Initially you can try cardboard markers and if you like a set of rules purchase the figures. This is another link to the rules. PDF link

I have an occasional opponent but usually play solo.
I prefer simple games which emphasise tactics rather than get boggged down in excessive detail.
Above all, I like rules which reflect the period & theatre of war. Also quirky mechanics.
I live in the UK so most of the suggested manufacturers are available to me but I tend to look for the unusual which is why I chose Australians vs Italians rather than the usual British vs Germans. I'm currently watching a YouTube video about the small Indian contingent within the Australian OOB so you get the idea.

Also a lower level of command is best for me so squads & platoons sounds good.

There is really only one scale 1/144 . To be fair it's the other way round, you decide what level you want to play, 1 mam equals 1 man or section or platoon, that decides your figure scale.

For a 1 man equals 1 man type of game, the Battlegroup system is great.

Jae,
What I am hearing from you sounds like 6mm and a platoon + to a company on the board plus support. Does that sound right? Each piece [ stand ] will be anywhere from a fire team to a squad but probably a squad. Correct?
I want to get this right because as you can see well meaning folks are going to be giving you plenty of rulesets they prefer. [ Which to a certain extent is what you asked.] They are a lot of great rulesets out there. Rulesets are a matter of preference. We need to see what your preferences are to narrow the field a bit.

Joe

For fast playing WW2 at 1 stand = 1 platoon, I enjoy Blitzkrieg Commander. Nominally written for 10mm (Pendraken has a great line of minis), I've played in both 1/87 (Roco and assorted plastics) and 1/285 (GHQ).

If you're undecided on 6mm or 10mm, I would recommend 10mm. At 6mm, it gets really tricky telling a DAK Pz.III and Pz.IV apart when they're out on the table, even with the great GHQ sculpts.

As a vendor, 10mm or 1/144 are easier to find than 6mm here in the USA. Seems that at conventions in the South, 1/285 or 6mm has more modern battles while 10mm 1/144 are more common in a WW2 scenario.
Of course bolt action can be seen in 28mm and 20mm games on the table.

Joe Legan has, it what level do you want and how credible. If you really want to be a divisional commander then Logistics is a huge part of the job. If you start just one battle/action you have missed most of what a divisional commander does. He's the guy who picks where and when fight. If you want to be Wellington you do not start the fight deployed at waterloo, you start way before that and the situation may or may not lead you to fight at Waterloo.

The best (most fun) rules I've come across for an all arms game are Blitzkrieg Commander 4th ed.

Fast, fairly easy, and with a good amount of period feel.

I've played some pretty big games with them (Sidi Rezegh 41 at 1:5 using 15mm stuff) – though I've since decided to scale formations at 1:10. I'm doing the big actions set in Operation Crusader – you might be looking for something more skirmish but, BKC is actually aimed at gaming lower level units/formations at 1:1.