Company Megatest - Fireball Forward!

 

Seen the ads for this set for ages in MW&BG so had to give it a try. It also has a Stalingrad scenarion pack which might be interesting for the PhD. Oh and Little Wars TV has just done a head to head between Fireball Forward and Crossfire - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3tvgM3_-UE

Presentation

I got the 110pp PDF, which has about 56 pages of rules, optional rules and design notes (!), 26pp of scenarios (13 scenarios), an index (!), 8pp QRS and 11pp of stats - so a pretty full package for $25. Rules are pretty well laid out, line drawing not photos, lots of short examples. My only niggle is that there is a short of quick intro to the whole rules at the start and actions at each phase, but further rules for the actions are later on, so I was always diving backwards and forwards. The RQS also seems to miss some key elements (even if simple) like Morale.

Artillery Stonks from both sides causing a lot of issues!

Set-Up

I used the Choctaw Warrior scenario as the base for my game, beefing the allies up to a Coy+, and giving the Germans some extra MGs and tanks. Germans attacking from the top of the table.

How It Played

The lead P.IV got taken out by the Cromwell as it reached the wood, but the second P.IV managed to take out both of the Cromwells and settled down to providing fire support. A to-and-fro battle for the wood on the L lasted almost the whole 7 turns, with close assaults by both sides but the British ended up in possession. A German attempt to flank L of it was caught by an arty stonk and never progressed. On the R flank platoons traded shots for most of the game, the Germans only belatedly trying to push across the gaps between the hedgelines once their IG started providing support. Unfortunately their Pl Cmd bought it, one section faltered, and one was already Broken so the remaining section to make contact couldn't really achieve much. 

The centre was far more touch and go. An early British stonk caught the Germans forming up, but then a couple of German stonks, and the fire support from the P.IV started to weaken the British line enough (crucially breaking the UC Bren teams that had been brought up to support) and in the final moves the Germans tried to push across the open ground. They'd did their best to suppress any fire, but in the end only the Zug Cmdr reached the hedgeline - to be faced by only the British Pl Cmdr left defending it! And that was the end of Turn 7 so we'll never know which of them won!

In terms of losses the British only had 2 elements KO'd, compared to the German's 5. Both sides lost one Pl Comd. In terms of holding the line the British succeeded, holding both flanks quite securely, and with enough Broken troops to put into the fray if the German commander won his melee!

The fight for the wood

Rules Impression

Unlike some of the rules I've tried recently which have been pretty vanilla Fireball Forward has a lot of novel mechanics and ideas, all of which work, but which possibly aren't as elegant as they could be. So I'll actually step through the key mechanics.

Activation

FF uses a standard deck of cards, shuffled, with Germans activating on black cards and British on red. You draw cards until the colour changes, and the person who's colour it is must then decide order of activation for that many units, so you can't change if things go wrong on the first activation. At first I found drawing then replacing the colour change card a bit odd, but in the end I found it gave a nice Bolt Action type mix of long and shorts spurts of action but without special dice or drawing chits. I used to be really keen on the 1 card = 1 specific unit model to get the extra friction, but certainly for mech games I think its reasonable to let the commander choose the order so as to try and bring off integrated attacks. Having thought more about the card deck approach the more I think I might use it on my next CWO game, with a few further tweaks to introduce some morale orientated friction.

There are also "initiative chips" (1 or 2 per game, but some multiple use) which give you extra activations. Nice.

C2

Good units can take actions automatically, basically one or all of Spot (leaders), Rally, Fire, Move, in any order. Broken units have to take a Rally test first (3+ if by a 3+ leader, otherwise 6+). Any suppression is removed automatically - which really limited the effects of suppression, see below. When the platoons lost their leaders then the 6+ really meant that Broken units were out of the action and the Platoon ceased to work as a cohesive unit, which seemed reasonable (although FF does use extreme terms, Broken is really just "Shocked" and Rout - when a freshly Broken units falls back - is really just Pull Back).

Spotting

You need a basic spotting check (5+) to spot hidden units (default state at start) before you can fire on them. Auto within 3". No DMs.

Movement

Movement distances are as-the-crow-flies. As long as your route doesn't move beyond this radius you can take any route to your destination (although subject to Opportunity Fire).  Terrain is dealt with by allowing a maximum of 2 "zone" crossings in a move, such as two hedges, or a part of a wood divided into 3 or 4 zones. This does bring a nice fluidity to the movement and gets away from the false precision of a 8" or 12" move. Might be tempted to use it, plus maybe some variable element to still increase uncertainty.

Firing

This is where FF fails I think. When you fire you roll at least 3 dice (4 for MGs/Guns) these being your normal damage dice (typically needing 4+/5+ to hit), one or more "hit dice" (needing an invariable 6 to hit) and a range dice (which can be a single D20, or D4+D8 or other weird combinations). MGs and guns roll another D6 for ammo/stoppages. With bigger guns and HMG you could be rolling 7 dice or so, a mix of D6 and other types, the D6 in three different colours! Just looking that up each time and then finding where the dice are on the table just really gets in the way of the flow (although if its just basic rifle fire then you tend to just hold the 3 dice needed in your hand the whole time). The range dice is there both to give variability in range (your range is range dice+ a basic range for the weapon), and to give a short range effect (+1 if range < just the range dice). There are some very basic DMs.

For each hit you take a morale check, typically 4+ for separated unit, 3+ for leader or unit adjacent to leader. Lose 1 check and you are "broken" and pull back to cover and out of LOS of enemy, upto 12", two losses and you're dead. I found the pull-back very unnatural - from what I've read the pullback is more likely to be a Pl level thing, sections just going to ground if they are being hit and pinned. With an element now 12" behind you the Pl Comd then has to decide whether to spend a turn moving back to help them rally on a 3+, or leave them trying for a 6+, again in contrast to what I usually read of the Pl Comd and Sgt running along the line to motivate people.

Any hit means you are suppressed, so no opportunity fire, but you automatically lose suppression when activated - so if you try to suppress with one Platoon from the front and then charge with another Platoon on their activation the target is only suppressed if the opposition hasn't had an activation between them to recover suppression.

Opportunity fire works in the same way, but doesn't cause suppression which seems odd - surely its normal effect is to get a moving unit to dive for cover. It also wasn't clear to me if a unit could do Opportunity Fire and normal activation, or even multiple opportunity fires.

Anti-tank fire is a bit simple. D6 plus a range dice, hitting again on around 4+/5+. The tables give the "penetration" points and the defender rolls D6 per armour point - but saves are then a complicated none for 1s, 1 for 2s-5s and 2 for 6s. Anything not saved means KO, and a morale test if equalled.

Close Assaults

Close assaults are relatively simple, Morale check to commit, then pair off, D6 each and a couple of DMs. In practice I found that if a Platoon charged forward you'd be lucky to get 50% of the Platoon actually committing (looking for 3+ for 3 units, 4+ for the winger), which again doesn't quite seem right, more likely all or nothing as otherwise you get one section stranded - but guess that happened, just not as often as in the game? Loser takes morale checks equal to the delta in modified die rolls.

Indirect Fire

Each side gets a number of missions, no discrimination between mortars and guns. FO needs a Morale Check to call in, if successful then roll on a 2D6 table for the result, 6-10 on target, lower is bad news (delays, deviation), higher is good news (double impact etc). Very basic.

There are extra rules for things like Grazing Fire/Beaten Zones,  Snipers, Mines, Air Support, fanatical Soviets, jungle and even small boats and horses but I didn't play any of them.

ENDEX

Conclusion

So some different ideas which is good, but some work, some don't. Trying to "house rule" it to fix is probably too big an ask as the direct fire system is just too clumsy for my liking. No issue with the multiple morale check principal though. In reality I think I'll just steal the bits I think I can work with. Overall I guess 7/10.

Company Megatest -- FiveCore Company Command

 

Had a so-so relationship with the Skirmish version of FiveCore so let's see if I get on any better with the Company version, although I'm a bit wary of a system that uses almost identical mechanics for Skirmish, Company and Brigade level combats.

Presentation

Single 62 page PDF from Wargames Vault - $7.99. No hunting through multiple supplements like the Skirmish version, all in one place and pretty well laid out. Very simple 1pp QRS.

Set-Up

Like a lot of the Nordic Weasel products there's a complete scenario and even campaign generator in the back of the rules so I used that to generate the 3' x 3' terrain and force objectives. Company Group on either side, Germans defending the village against a simple attack.

How It Played

The Cromwell advancing down the road got ambushed by the German AT gun and by a Panzerfaust in the woods and had to pull back, shaken but not out. The German MG in the house on the S of the table effectively pinned the southern British platoon at the wood line. The Cromwell put a few rounds into the house to take him out, but an artillery stonk on the German hedgeline missed, and the Cromwell was finally taken by the AT gun. In the centre the British pushed through the woods, whilst the Germans swung down from the fields N into the woods. A couple of firefights and assaults saw the Brits as victors, although a lone German squad managed to keep the reserve platoon pinned back. The Germans tried to push forward again in the S, a Panzer coming up the road getting hit by the last Cromwell. The German infantry were luck with the Brits rolling a Scurry round as they legged in across the field. They made it to the hedgeline and into close assault for no loss, forcing one section to withdraw. The British on the N side were making their own flanking action rather than taking the village head on, but both sides were at 7 squads, 1 above the morale threshold and we were on turn 10 (no idea how you're meant to do it in 5!). Then the Brits rolled an order change and higher command obviously felt they were too spent to take the village and ordered them to go firm around the village and woods. All over and even honours.

ENDEX

Rules Impression/Overall

Way better than last time. Yes it's very abstracted but it moves along quickly, is internally consistent and works and all the extra bits generate a good narrative. Perhaps not the ruleset I'd play for a more analytical game (been reading too much Jim Storr) but for a fun game it's probably hard to beat.

Perhaps the mechanic is less suited to Skirmish where you (well I) really do want something a bit more gritty, and having abstracted it may well be that it works OK at Bde level as long as the terms for results are changed - will have to see in a couple of years when I get round to the Bde test. I could see it as an interesting alternative to the Megablitz/Division Commander type portable wargame rules.

Probably 8/10, even 9/10 on its own terms (somewhat better than the 5-6/10 last time!).

Company Megatest - Panzer Grenadier Deluxe

 

Time to get David Brown's Panzer Grenadier Deluxe on the table. I've always thought his General de Brigade a solid set of rules, and I'm keen to try O Group, so be interesting to see what this older set is like.

Presentation

242pp hardback book with lots of model pictures and historic photos. 4pp QRS at the back, a 1pp play aid and 1pp or markers/templates. Pretty logical layout but pretty chatty and possibly broken up into too many chapters.

Set-Up

Same as for the Crossfire test. Germans Coy+ deployed ahead of and behind the river and bridge (top of photo above), and British with 2 Coy+ advancing from the bottom.

Finally clearing the R field

How It Played

The Cromwells did a bit better this time, not only taking out the PIV on the ridge line but also chasing the Pak back from the fiver, and then taking out the second PIV, all for one damaged but not KO'd Cromwell. With the ridge clear B Coy made better time down the L flank, but 1 Coy caught it badly both in trying to get to the field in front of the bridge, and to the one between the wood and the stream, but both positions were eventually taken by 1 Pl and 2 Pl of  A Coy were fairly spent.. Both sides made repeated attempts to bring in fire support, the Germans nicely catching 1 Pl as they consolidated on the LH field. As the Brits went firm just before the river they finally managed to bring the fire support in, and winning the firefight on both flank. Finally the river was crossed with key German units suppressed or forced back and it was game over.

The dismounted Carrier Platoon moves through the marsh

Rules Impression

I really liked these. The C&C mechanic was just about right, variable CP but you only spend them on the "harder" stuff. The different levels of "morale" test rather than specific damage also worked nicely, and it gave a good "company" feel as you weren't too concerned about whether units had taken x% losses, but more just were they in the fight. Likewise fire was at the # of "section equivalents" level. Fire support worked well too, although all the gunners were shooting accurately - luck of the dice. The "Battlegroup" breakpoint test for ENDEX was also nice, and a 75% first threshold meant a relatively early finish on a bad dice roll. The whole thing just hung together well.

Crossing the river

Conclusion

A few minor things I might tweak but otherwise a nice set of rules and probably better than any of the Modern ones I played. If they are still scoring high by the end of the test then I'll certainly do a Modern version. Overall 8/10, maybe even 9/10.

The Final Assault

Basing

In playing Crossfire something just didn't seem right, and PG confirmed it - my basing was hideous. In an attempt to be "flexible" and save cost I'd sabot mounted my 1p soldiers into 3 or 4 figure sabots to represent each section - but they took up way too much space. So before I do the next game I'm rebasing them (but leaving enough on 1p pieces for Pl sized games) with 3-4 figures per 4cm x 3cm rounded oblong base. Looks way better.

Company Megatest - Crossfire

 

Finally back to the Company-level megatest, this time focussing on WW2 rules. First up, Arty Conliffe's "no ruler, no fixed turns" Crossfire rules.

Presentation

44 page black and white ruleset, lots of diagrams no pictures, glossy paper, very similar to his Shako rules. Reasonable layout although section numbering and styles could be clearer. 4pp QRS.

Set-Up

I bought the Crossfire scenario book, Hit the Dirt, at the same time so as to give me some scenarios to use for these tests. This first one was a modified version of Roadblock on Highway 120, with Brits standing in for Americans and Germans standing in for Italians. The Germans start on the top half of the table protecting the bridge and the Brits advance N from the S table edge (closest to camera).

How It Played

The Brits moved rapidly to the wood edge on the left and were then dissuaded from advancing by a Tiger. The Tiger took out the first Cromwell and then got into a slanging match with the second. On the right flank the Brits lost a section as they reached the edge of the field. The rest of the Platoon went right flanking and got into a slanging match with the German MG and Gruppen. 3" mortars put down a salvo but that didn't change things so I forced an assault which ended up with a win for each side. In the centre smoke was put down to mask the advance against the next field. The Brits leapt over the hedge as the smoke cleared and suffered suppression, survived a second round, got the initiative, rallied, fired back and got into another slanging match. Gave up at that point I'm afraid to say.

Rules Impression

I really wanted to like these rules as they are quite innovative and I think if I played them some more and in a different style I might like them more, but not at the moment. As the description above suggests I found they just kept dissolving into a slanging match. Side A would move, side B would get opportunity fire. They usually get a Suppression, so get the initiative, fire again, not get a suppression but something like a pin, fire again, miss, lose the initiative, then B would rally (or not) then would fire, again might get a suppression, then lose it before the kill, the B rallies etc etc. Whilst there is other stuff you can move in between the fact that safe moves can be as far as you like mean they're all done quite quickly and you're just down to the one or two contact points, and its simplest to just slog one out as you don't want to run the risk of missing your once chance to best the other side before they do it to you. 

Conclusion

As I say I think if I approached them with less of a "let's try and break it" attitude they might be OK, or perhaps house-rule it to avoid these boring tit-for-tats (which I've seen in other games) then things might be better. There is also the issue that as ANYTHING can move/act at any time you do have that empty paper/too many options issues, which might in some ways be realistic, but in reality you've issued your orders at the start and now every unit should be making an equal effort to implement them. So I think it has to be 6/10 for now, but a better player might be able to get it up to 8/10.

1985 Company Megatest - Summary and Roundup

 

That's the end of the Modern Company-Level rule set test, more WW2 focussed rules to follow hopefully later in the year. Eight sets of rules played against variations of a single scenario of a meeting engagement to seize the town of Semmenstedt. The summary below is in order played, and each title links to the relevant blog post. Of course your mileage may vary and most based on a single playthrough.

Reviews Summary

Battlegroup: NORTHAG 8/10

• Pros: BR endgame system, just plays pretty well
• Cons: Over generous and IGOUGO activation system. Lookup table for hits.

Seven Days to the Rhine 7/10

• Pros: Nice activation system. Worked better than Iron Cross (may be me!)
• Cons: No HE or indirect fire.

Team Yankee 5/10

• Pros: Nothing seemed really broken.
• Cons: Very old school IGO-UGO. National "to hit" values. Long dice chains. Tank ranges seem short. Repeated "free" attempts to get your artillery on target. No real difference between ATGW and gun fire. No suppression. No friction, no spotting. 

Bolt Action - Reality Check 8.5/10

• Bolt Action plus house mods
• Pros: Bolt Action scales up reasonably well
• Cons: Need to clarify how sub-unit pins effect unit activation

3rd Generation Warfare 5/10

• Pros: Lots of nice info
• Cons: Need to buy a separate data book to play. Multiple fires, cumbersome mechanics

Cold War 3 3/10

• Pros: More nice info
• Cons: Essentially a re-engineered version of Team Yankee. Typos galore (18 per page!). Errors in QRS. Errors in data (or may be typos...)

Sandhurst Modern Infantry Battle - 6/10

• Pros: "What the pros used". 3 pages. "Official" view on what are effective ranges.
• Cons: Very slim-line, not even AT wpn and armour differences. Limited scope.

Contact Wait Out - 8.5/10

• My own in-house set
• Pros: Covered pretty much all the basis. Adding 7DTTR activation and NORTHAG Battle Rating added to it
• Cons: Might replace infantry direct fire with the suppression mechanism (so similar approach to Sandhurst). Bit too hard to kill things? 

I played Sabre Squadron a while ago, I think it would have come out at around 6/10.

Conclusions

So Contact Wait Out did way better than in the Platoon tests, and with the tweaks for Battlegroup:NORTHAG and 7DTTR is playing really well. Bolt Action needs a few more tweaks to also work really well at this scale but is a good second choice. Battlegroup:NORTHAG and 7DTTR both play OK with no major issues, but the rest were very much a mixed bag.

One thing I did note across all the games is that I started with 1 fig = 1 man and individual basing. Even with just a couple of platoons dismounted that was a lot to move, and more importantly place - particularly since most rules were at 25m - 50m per 4cm hex. So I started sabot the figures up, then decided actually I only needed ~4 figs to represent each section. Even so cramming into a couple of hexes (~100m section frontage) was hard, especially in urban areas. Next time I run a company game (and certainly for the Bn games) I think I might switch to 10cm Hexon or 10cm square grid, and use section sized stands.

For my previous megatests see:

• Platoon Megatest
• Skirmish Megatest

1985 Company MegaTest - Contact Wait Out

 

Time for the last in the run of 1980s Company level games, and time to put my own set through its paces.

Presentation

I did have a "rule book" edition several versions ago but whilst it's still in flux all recent editions have been on an A4 landscape QRS - two sheets (admittedly 9pt) for main rules, 2 more for stats, and a few extra pages for air/engrs etc.

Set-Up

As previous, but now had the British coming in broadly across the East edge, and the Russian's coming in broadly on the West edge.

How It Played

Seemed a far more even game than the others. The Brits were slow to get into Semmenstedt with both sides more or less meeting in the middle. The Russians got to the farm first, only narrowly beating the Brits. There was the standard face-off between T64s and Chieftains, with T64s tending to hit but not penetrate and the Brits fluffing a few shots (although Milan got one). By the end all the Chieftains were gone and two T64s were left.

By the farm the M109 battery put in a couple of fire missions, causing suitable pinning/shock but minimal damage - although one BMP bought it. The Brits dismounted from their FV432s about 150m and tried to take the site before the Russians could recover, both slides lost a section but the Brits couldn't unseat the Russians and pulled back. 

In Semmenstedt 2Pl got into the high-rise and poured fire onto the Russian Pl that was pushing in, causing one section to give up. A Russian fire mission again caused some damage to the S of the city but wasn't fatal. One of the Chieftains took out a couple of BMP before it was fired on from a BMP up the road in Remilingen and taken out.

An attempted airstrike saw one Harrier go down to a SAM-7, whilst the second ship missed the T64 it was aiming at.

With most of the rules tested and both sides at 50% of their battle rating, and SN10 making a spectacular first flight (and even more spectacular second!) I'd run out of time and called ENDEX.

Rules Impression

OK I know this is going to sound biased, but bear in mind I gave CWO only 6.5/10 in the Platoon MegaTest, but I thought that CWO played pretty well and was the closest to what I'm after in a Company level game.

I did make a few changes before the game. One was to simplify the Indirect Fire rules - and in doing so remove the last vestiges of the WRG Armour and Infantry1950-1975 rule set (yes up to a decade before 1985!) in which it has its spiritual home. I also changed the way I did random movement distances, trying to eliminate the use of Fate dice and keep to just D10/D6. In fact I found the new system too random in the first couple of turns and changed it again, still keeping the D10s - random movement is a must I think, especially for this sort of game. I also introduced a new system for randomly determining how much FIRES support you have which worked well.

I also stole the Battle Rating system from Battlegroup:NORTHAG. As it was  both side started with identical BR (not planned, but they did have similar forces) and ended with the same number of BR tokens (about 50%). With the British having lost all their MBT, and the Soviets at least 1 Platoon then playing on too 100% seems a bit much. In future games I might make the percentage national/scenario based, so say Brits play to 60% and WARPAC to 80%. There is the issue that the loss of a section might have a bigger impact than the loss of an MBT - but that may the the price for no bookkeeping and and amount of friction.

The other big change was in activation. I played the first half using the existing random card activation at Pl/Tp level - but really that just doesnt go with mechanised warfare really where reasonable comms and covering fire doctrine means far more co-ordination is possible. I liked the 7 Days to the Rhine system, but having a token per element (so 20-30) was crazy, so I did it at unit level - so about 6 a side in this case. I then did some randomisation to make it +/-2 per turn. Activating like this made it sensible to move FIRES calls outside of the normal activation cycle and do at turn start for both side. Interrupt fire in 7DTTR works as the opponent unit spend its token early, but since I've got unit tokens I'm doing that by a simple overwatch order. I'm keeping the ability to "pass" phasing at any point - but I am concerned that if the phasing player doesnt do that it becomes IGOUGO. So as well as this I gave the non-phasing player the ability to spend 2 tokens to take over phasing and activate a unit (or the phasing player could bid 3 etc). I think this might give just the right level of interactivity and how you spend your tokens becomes a key decision, but without being too gamey. It's not really very easy to test in solo play, so post-lockdown I can hopefully try the mechanism with other players.

I did think that things were a bit hard to hit/kill than in other rules so I'm tempted to drop the "to spot/hit/kill" scores by 1. I think I might ditch targetted inf vs inf fire for the suppression rules, and I need to work a bit on the whole shock/pin/neutralise/kill mechanic, but its definitely getting there. And despite the extra complexity overall I  don't think the game slowed too much.

Overall

Pretty good I think, back to what I remembered it being before the Platoon game, and actually improving on what it was before, so all in the right direction. Just the right combination of friction, grit and playability. Overall 8.5/10, and I think I can push it up to 9 or even more when it comes to the WW2 company test.

1985 Company MegaTest - Sandhurst Current Ops - The Modern Infantry Battle

 

I came across this during VCOW, and what's not to like about a book with Barossa training area on the cover!

Presentation

Another great book from John Curry's History of Wargaming Project range. 124pp b&w softback. The book actually has 4 rules in it , a Platoon Kriegspiel, Battalion Level (all ratios based), this one, and an IED one. There is also lots of fascinating supporting material - I wish Sandhurst had been this into wargaming when I was there - was still a dirty word then (even though Paddy Griffiths was around - never saw him, only saw David Chandler once). The Company level rules only cover 7 pages, of which 3 are the core rules and one a QRS.

Set-Up

As previous, but now had the British coming in broadly across the East edge, and the Russian's coming in broadly on the West edge.

How It Played

The Brits raced to Semmenstedt  first again, just occupying the buildings before the BMPs hit. The Chieftains had been assigned to Platoon Groups, and it was pretty much evens between them and the T64s, and likewise between the Scimitars which skited N and the BMPs - but again the Brits were left with minimal anti-armour (even a Milan was taken out by a T64) whilst the Soviets still had nearly a dozen BMP.

The Soviets made a determined push on the farm complex NE of Remilingen where the Brits had a Platoon (supported by the Scimitars), but the complex fell after two melees. In Semmenstedt the Brits managed to keep suppressing the advancing Soviets, and the BMPs were useful at suppressing them back. In the end the Russians got in and the first building fell. As the reserve platoon arrived to reinforce the assault ENDEX was called, with the British position effectively lost.

Overall it played quickly and smoothly and had one of the better narratives of the games.

Rules Impression

Your not going to get a lot of rules in 3 pages, but what's there works well. Simple movement, direct fire vs inf, and vs AFVs, and indirect fire and that's pretty much it. Half-a-dozen DMs for each. No air, no morale. There's not even armour and AP values - its just hit and destroy for anti-tank. Infantry fire is very much geared to suppress (6+ to suppress, 11+ to destroy - ie at least 2:1). Melees seem very unbloody - 10+ to kill. Simple, but like I say they play well.

What I think is most interesting about them is a) you get an "official" figure for things like effective weapon ranges, and also an insight as to what is seen as important - suppression, hitting (penetration or disablement assumed), ammunition (both for IDF and GPMG-SF, limited to 3/4 turns fire each. The rules really seem there to enable a TEWT ( Tactical Exercise Without Troops) and I'm sure they were played with lots of discussion about options and consequences. John's comments about the Army's aversion to dice are also interesting.

Overall

Not a set for regular play, and they probably leave too much out for anything but a very friendly game between good mates - certainly don't let a rules lawyer need them. But fascinating as a resource, and they gave as good a game as most of the others. Overall 6/10.

Once set left to play - mine!

1985 Company MegaTest - ColdWar3

 

Spotted this one when I was looking at something else on WargamesVault, and for only $13 thought it worth a punt.

Presentation

113 page full colour PDF for $14 from WargamesVault. Like 3rd Generation Warfare it's obviously written by someone very keen and reasonably knowledgeable on the subject. It does include all the stats you need, and there is a downloadable free 2 page QRS.

But..

Even more so than 3rd Generation Warfare lots of interesting facts and bits of detail get in the way of a clear presentation of the rules.

The rules are covered in typos. Some are consistent mis-spellings of military terms (NORTHTAG, reccee etc), but most are just simple typos. I chose a page at random and it had 12 typos on it - and that seems typical.

Worse, there are some factual errors (Chieftain with a 105mm gun?).

Even worse, some of the dice rolls and DMs are confused in sign, and different between rules and QRS. For instance the key "to hit" roll is 4+ for conscripts and 5+ for trained in the rules, but 5+ for conscripts and 4+ for trained in the QRS! The QRS in the back of the "updated" rules (issued today!) manages to miss Trained and Elite from the table entirely. Artillery to hit is based on the target team's skill level (just about makes sense with DF, but for IDF? And what happens if you have mixed targets under the template (which although mentioned lots I couldn't find), but then has DMs of +1 if target has gone to ground (so harder to hit) but +1 if using radar or airborne (which should make things easier).

Basically they are a mess.

Then I got a real sense of deja vu, with some bits of rules ringing bells. A quick check and I realised that this was basically Team Yankee. Google confirmed it, or at least that it is/was a "modern" version of Flames of War. Some of the vehicle/weapon stats are identical with TY, and all the core mechanics are the same. There are a few things streamlined (and generally improved), a few things made more cumbersome, and worse. But there is NOTHING that  I could see on the web site or in the rules that references this heritage even though both FOW and TY are mentioned (alongside other rulesets) in the introduction.

So had I known all this I doubt I'd have bought it.

And all this makes the "puff" at the start with a positive quote from an Army officer and lots of thanks to various military units and people even more embarrassing.

Set-Up

As previous, but now had the British coming in broadly across the East edge, and the Russian's coming in broadly on the West edge.

How It Played

Given all the issues this was again a bit of an abbreviated test. A bit more play than 3GW since at least all the material was there and TY was playable, even though I had to keep referring back to TY to work out what CW3 was trying to do. One change from TY is that it had "to hit" values of 3+ for WARPAC and 4+ for NATO, whereas CW3 has 4+ and 5+ respectively. That said the Chieftains rapidly finished off the T64s (both have a ROF of 2), and then only had to dodge the Saggers to start picking off the BMPs. One Scimitar also made short work of a platoon of BMPs (ROF4!). The Russians did try and launch a ground assault, with no casualties on either side on one melee, and a Soviet win on the other.

Rules Impression

Trying to move beyond the presentation issues, and without repeating the TY comments there were a few positives:

• Direct fire was slightly streamlined, at least 1 step skipped I think
• The Morale idea was nice, randomly determine a target number at the start, then hit it with nD6, but n reduces depending on how bad things are
• Some nice weapon discrimination and lots of detailed weaponry (Firecracker rounds, beehive ammo!)

Oh and side order was not spelt out at all, it just says "taking turns" or "in turn" - does that mean by side or unit, and who's first. Certainly no friction.

Taking TY and adding in the better bits of CW3 would probably give a reasonable set of rules - but I'd definitely start from TY not CW3!

Overall

Disappointing on multiple counts, a pity given the author's obvious keenness and knowledge. In its current state its barely worth 3/10.

1985 Company MegaTest - 3rd Generation Warfare

 

Spotted this set of rules a while ago, so thought I'd buy them for the playtest as they were only £10 for a Lulu paperback.

Presentation

96pp black and white Lulu paperback - A5 sized, order from https://www.3rdgenerationwarfare.co.uk/. There's a wealth of information in there along side the rules, even an APFSDS penetration graph, and some nice B&W wargame photos. Some of that mixing in though does get in the way of a clear read through the rules or when you're hunting to find something. Well written though, and almost everything covered (incl ATGW, AA, Counter battery etc) although the mottled grey background to each page can make the text hard to read. Free downloadable QRS and 6mm mods. Not bad at all though, and the overall style is something I wouldn't mind emulating for my own rules when I publish them, hadn't thought of A5 and the Lulu print is pretty nice.

Set-Up

As previous, but now had the British coming in broadly across the East edge, and the Russian's coming in broadly on the West edge.

How It Played

I got as far as the opening tank duel before I realised that there were going to be some real problems playing it, so instead I abandoned the scenario play through and just went through the motions of trying some direct AT fire, AP fire, indirect fire and assault.

Rules Impression

I had a bit of a sinking feeling when I saw the 20x20 table for armour kills, but I decided to stick with it. Moved my units ready for the first T64 vs Chieftain, went to look up the AP and Armour ratings, and realised there weren't any. ALL the stats are in another £10 book! Now a £10 book I'm reasonably happy to buy on-spec, but £20 has probably crossed the threshold into a more deliberate purchase, and given that 20x20 matrix and a few other things I could see that this wasn't a rule set I'd play again. I guessed some values but found this put penetrations at 11+. Luckily there's a snapshot of the Leopard entry on a page on the web site, so I used that as a guide, which gave a more reasonable 9+, but really had to guess things like FV432s, Scimitars and BMPs. Then came my first infantry fire and whilst a "Squad" is given an FP rating all support weapons are in the extra £10 book, and its not clear from the rules is the Squad FP includes its GPMG or not. Indirect fire, same issue - FPs in the extra book. At that point I gave up.

From what I did manage to play:

• Seems like tank guns can fire 3 times, and move twice - which seems excessive on an IGOUGO game, so most Chieftains were out in the first round
• Infantry close range fire seemed cumbersome and then very ineffective. The process is:
• Sum the FP of troops involved (which involves rolling dice for some support weapons)
• Use a table to convert FP to dice
• Roll the dice, total pips = potential hits
• Roll dice for each potential hit against a To Hit value
• If target hit roll another dice for a cover save
• If fail the cover save roll another dice and cross reference with FP on a 6 x 20 table to see if just suppressed, fallback or destroyed (although also results for destroyed and suppressed, and destroyed and fallback!)
• Arty uses same tables as infantry
• There is a morale roll, but for most NATO its an automatic pass 

Overall

OK so I didn't play a complete game, and perhaps shouldn't give a rating, but there should be a clear message on the website that you need to buy the data book to play it - or give a both books for £15 deal. What I did play though just seemed to cumbersome, and the multiple actions too powerful. Overall it would probably still be only 5/10 if I had all the data to play it.

1985 Company MegaTest - Bolt Action Reality Check

 

Bolt Action Reality Check is the name I give my version of Bolt Action with various house rules particularly for ranges, firepower etc. For the Modern Version I used the stats at Jay's Wargaming Madness.

Presentation

My 4 page BARC QRS and Jay's 7-10 page QRS, all PDF.

Set-Up

Same as Team Yankee, sides reversed from the first two.

BMPs stream into the assault

How It Played

Similar pattern to the others. A tank duel which the British again lost, the Brits getting to Semmenstedt. There was a nice assault from Remilingen  which got bogged down in a flurry of pins from a Fires task. The Brits in the town weathered a Soviet 122mm strike  reasonably well, but a couple of FV432s were lost. A Soviet assault along the bottom baseline into the woods outside Semmenstedt (Bolt Action melees are viscious),  so with only the odd Milan and Carl Gustav to worry about they just stood off and started demolishing the buildings with the 73mm guns on the 8 remaining BMPs.

The attack out of Remilingen bogs down in a hail of 105mm HE

Rules Impression

That played pretty well, I do like the Bolt Action pin mechanic. Still bits of BARC I'd like to tweak and I need to integrate Jay's modern stuff into it too.  Playing it at a Company scale worked well, I activated at the Platoon level but let each section do its own action. I do need to think about pins, as they have to be allocated at section level to have the proper effect, but then when you roll to activate what do you take - I think I took the worst section each time and that seems a reasonable compromise, but then if you pass do you only take 1 off that section? 

Overall

As already mentioned (I think) adding the 7DTTR activation mechanism on top of the BA dice, and then Battlegroup:NORTHAGs Battle Rating ENDEX system could give a very nice game. Good but still worth improving on. Overall 8.5/10.

 

1985 Company MegaTest - Team Yankee

 

I've never actually played Flames of War, or have a copy, but I bought Team Yankee partly because it was another WW3 set, but mostly because of the excellent looking Iron Maiden BAOR supplement. There's some quite nice scenario chrome in both books, but having got the sense of FOW/TY being a bit of a tank-park game I realised I ought to actually try it out myself.

Presentation

122pp full colour hardback main book (Soviets and Americans) and 50pp full colour hardback BAOR supplement. 2pp QRS at the back of main book, reasonable layout of rules.

Set-Up

Essentially the same as the last two, but I swopped the British and Soviet board edges round. Company Group on either side as before. No attempt to use points!

How It Played

With the swop of sides the Brits got to Semmenstedt first. Again Chieftain vs T64 tank duels dominated the early game - and I kept the same "tactical" separations as before so no tank parks. Again the Chieftains came of worse. As the Brits dug in around Semmenstedt an artillery strike mauled the units in the woods. A direct assault out of Remilingen ended up with a lot of burning BMPs. Two platoons of BMPs then rolled in from the West, supported by the artillery and took the wood, and it was time to call a halt. yet again with the MBTs gone the Soviets are left with an armful of BMPs with 73mm/ATGW and the Brits just have a few Milan and Carl Gustavs (roll on Warrior!).

Rules Impression

To be fair, not as bad as I'd feared. That said....

Very old school IGO-UGO. For some reason all Brit units are 4+ to hit and all Soviet 3+ with no real reason for it. Once you've hit you roll for save, then you often have to roll for firepower. Tank ranges seem short (4x AK47, so 800-1200m?). Similar Gun Factor+D6 > Armour Factor to 7DTTR. Repeated "free" attempts to get your artillery on target. No real difference between ATGW and gun fire. No suppression. No friction, no spotting. Nothing seemed really broken though.

Overall

More playable than I expected, but nothing innovative or to lift up from being a very simple rule set with one to many dice rolls. If I was looking for a "starter" set I think I'd prefer 7DTTR. Overall 5/10.

1985 Company MegaTest - Seven Days to the Rhine

 

Next up is Seven Days to the Rhine (7DTTR) by Great Escape Games and the Cold War partner to their Iron Cross WW2 set. I'd heard good things about Iron Cross, but was then a bit disappointed (4/10) when I played it last year. Would 7DDTR fair better?

Presentation

44 page soft-back, staple bound so lies flat. 2 page QRS on back pages and a set of Tactical Advantage cards. Similar mix of pics to Battlegroup:NORTHAG but no annoying punch holes. Pretty sensibly laid out.

Set-Up

As for the last game, meeting engagement with the Russians aiming for (Semmenstedt) whilst NATO was sweeping the area clear of enemy. Same Reinforced Company Group as before.

How It Played

The British got moving first and fast, pushing down to Remilingen and a wide R flank against Semmenstedt. Similar Chieftain vs T64B duels as before, but this time the Russians were fairing a lot better. The Brits played a Tactical Advantage card to get another Chieftain on but that was promptly brewed by a BMP. The Soviets called up a Hind and the last Chieftain bit the dust. A pesky Milan team had to be cleared by the BMPs but then it became a bit of a turkey shoot for the T64Bs. In Semmenstedt both sides had occupied a block of flats each and it became a slow game of attrition, but the British soon tripped the 2/3rd losses trigger from the T64B activity and it was game over - a Soviet win.

Rules Impression

I must admit it played a lot better than the Iron Cross game - don't know if I was reading the rules better, or it was more suited to a more armour heavy game. I really liked the activation model, lots more choice, but I didn't have the "pile it on" problem I had last time. Tempted to limit each unit to two activations just to be safe, but otherwise certainly prefer it to Battlegroup:NORTHAG. Combat seemed a bit one dimensional with not much differentiation between kit - even something like an AGL. The AP+D10>AV mechanism worked pretty well and was easier than the 2D lookup table for B:N. Reaction rolls were OK and broadly replaced spotting. Infantry firing was very basic though and no concept of suppression. There was also NO HE or indirect fire (apart from a simple initial bombardment). 

Overall

A lot better game than the Iron Cross one - weird , will have to go back and try that again. The activation model is really nice, and actually using that with B:N would make a good game, and maybe some other hybridisation - or use both learnings to improve ContactWaitOut (my own set). Lack of HE and poor infantry firing and weapon definition is a downer though. Overall 7/10 - well up on 4/10!

1985 Company MegaTest - Battlegroup NORTHAG

 

I had the Battlegroup NORTHAG rules on pre-order last year and finally got them on the table just after Christmas as I was also painting up a 10mm Coy level force to fight them with. I've not played any of the other Battlegroup rules. I'd also picked up Seven Days to the Rhine earlier in 2020, and then I've had Team Yankee/Iron Maiden for ages, so I felt the start of the Company Mega Test coming on. The plan is to do it in two phases this time, 1985/ColdWar for Phase 1, and then a break and then WW2/Normandy for Phase 2 with a different set of rules (IABSM etc).

Presentation

110 page softback, well laid out, rip-out QRS and counters at the back, nice pics but not too many. Could have done without the faux punch-holes! Wont lie flat as perfect bound. Having wpn data separate from ORBAT data was a bit annoying.

Set-Up

I used my MechWar pre-gaming to set the game up, WARPAC had to take and hold a town (Semmenstedt) whilst NATO was sweeping the area clear of enemy. NATO just managed to get to the town moments ahead of the Soviets so it became a meeting engagement, with the town in the  middle/bottom of the table. Both sides had a reinforced Company Group with Tank Troop assigned, plus extra support weapons and a FOO/MFC. ground scale was estimated from the rules as about 1"= 5/10m, and I treated one 4cm hex as 1".

NATO arrives bottom left, Soviet's on far side, target town on right

How It Played

NATO got the benefit of initiative rolls and sneaked a Scimitar into the town ahead of the BRDMs and the lead BMPs. Chieftains moved into Remilingen (village in middle) and well placed to pick of the advancing Soviet armour. T64B's and Chieftains duelled away, keeping the British from reinforcing Semmenstedt and letting a BMP platoon move in from the extreme right. The Russians consolidated their hold on Semmenstedt, pushing one Pl into the woods beyond, and another Pl bravely up the road towards Remilingen! With the Chieftains blocking the exploitation the Russians pulled the Gunship counter and sent a Hind in against the NATO armour - and one Chieftain bit the dust - leaving only one.

Russian losses had been building up though and some of their BR draw were high - with the result that they reached their breakpoint first. They had Semmenstedt but NATO had Remilingen and the other two objects were also split - so on NORTHAG terms NATO won, just, but in strategic terms WARPAC held their objective and NATO hadn't achieved theirs.

Rules Impressions

Can't say I'm a great fan pure pure IGO-UGO. The Action allocation seemed very generous and I started playing the random allocation but even them wasn't really stretched. The core movement/firing rules worked well - I really liked the way that you could only use suppression against infantry. The indirect fire was also good, rolling for comms, then for the spotting round and then for fire for effect. The table scale (4cm hex = 10m) meant that deviations were big but so was the danger zone. The BR chit system was wonderful - of course playing solo I knew both sides but in a PvP game would add a nice touch of uncertainty. Some of the points and BR values were a bit off though - with a British FV432 platoon being better rated than a BMP platoon.

Overall

Really nice set. Might tweak the activation system but otherwise very playable. Overall 8/10.