TF plays quickly but in a very different manner than BF, making clear the authors' different perspectives on the company/battalion battle. First of all, TF uses an abstract platoon/maneuver element organization that is based on sections - infantry platoons all consist of two sections, regardless of how many squads they might have, and vehicle and equipment platoons consist of one or more sections, each representing two or three vehicles or guns. The previously mentioned German tank platoon again has two models in it but the Soviet tank company now has five models in it - one for every two tanks. This still has the effect of allowing the German tank platoon some tactical flexibility but one must accept that the Soviet tank company (and indeed, any infantry platoon) is abstractly organized. It has the same effect, however, as before. Infantry platoons can fire and maneuver and form line or column. Tank companies can, in the German example, form multiple maneuver elements in a tactically flexible manner, while in the Soviet case they constitute a single maneuver element. These rules were designed for play on a hex grid of 200 yard hexes, though one can play equally well using 50 yards per inch as a ground scale. All ranges, however, are determined in 200 yard multiples, reflecting their hex grid heritage… The sequence of play is mixed-sequential throughout the turn. The indirect fire and the command control phases (first and last parts of the turn) are essentially simultaneous, but the tactical interaction segment, essentially, the fire-and-movement phase that makes up the bulk of the turn, involves one or more initiative phases, each phase consisting of movement and/or attacks by one side, with opportunity fires and other defensive activities being performed by the other… A die roll is used to determine who has the initiative for the first phase; the results vary based on which nationalities are in the battle and there exists the possibility (a small one, to be sure) that the segment will pass with no activity at all or even that the turn number (for a scenario like ours that lasts a set number of turns) will decrease by one… There can be as many initiative phases as either player wants; the tactical interaction segment only ends when both sides pass in succession, either because they're done with what they want to do or because they've no more units to move or attack. TF's movement rules are interesting in that units can generally move as often as they want to during a turn (in multiple initiative phases) but stop all movement for the turn once they enter combat (a unit can attack only once during a turn). This allows a lengthy "staging" to take place if the enemy does nothing to stop it, followed by an attack, and reflects the earlier Command Decision philosophy that it's not so much one's own movement allowance that limits one's movement as it is the actions of the enemy… Companies (and independent platoons) check morale based on casualties and perform based on their morale status, behaving well when morale is good and behaving less well when morale is bad. In keeping with the abstracted platoon organizations, platoon activities are strictly governed by the rules in terms of at whom platoons may fire, how they may mass their fires, and how far apart platoon elements can get from one another. Fire combat uses two resolution tables (not one, as per BF) but it's equally simple in resolution, with a single die roll sufficing to resolve any attack. Spotting is deterministic and simple. It's also conservative enough that it's not uncommon for a moving unit to blunder into a stationary and concealed foe. To the Vistula! WWII Rule Sets Reviewed Introduction Battlefront Tacfire Point of Attack Scenario: 5 August 1944 Overview Scenario Replay: Battlefront Scenario Replay: Tacfire Scenario Replay: Point of Attack Comparisons and Conclusions Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #82 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com