In our club games we have a tendancy to limit off table artillery to particular game turns. For example in a meeting engagement a number of moves must be allowed for off table artillery to be allocated, sites must be surveyed and the guns and aiming markers must be setup. For heavy artillery this could be a considerable time. Our typical club games last 15 to 20 moves so off table support may be only available from about move 5 for an attack who is not prepared in advance. Defenders will usually have off table support quicker. Sometimes the umprie may withdraw support without notice due to 'commitments' to other forces. The umpire has a table that indicates what support is available and when. It also applies to air support. This is part of the scenario pack that we usually put together. To digress a little; this pack usually comprises Background narrative, German briefing with scenario specific objectives and scenario specific rules, Allied briefing again with ojectives and special rules, Orbats for each commander, maps for both sides, data sheets for vehicles and guns for the theatre and period. Obviously the two sides get different objectives and only the rules that apply to their own troops - for example as defenders you have wired the canal underwater so it is impassable except at bridges. Maps may show otherwise hidden minefields. We have tried using the 5 rounds per tank limit with mixed results. Sometimes 5 rounds is all you need in a game. I tried to use forward replenishment points in one desert game but the players just got stuck in in the old way so when the dust settled few tanks needed a resupply. I shall revisit this in a future game - perhaps the tanks should start the game low on POL (Beda Fomm springs to mind). Maybe we should cut the ammunition issue to 4 rounds? I'll try this and see what happens. Another fun variable is weather and the time of day. It is interesting to start a game before dawn which allows attackers to advance to quite close quarters -remember they should not move as fast as in daylight. We played a scenario of the obruk 30th April-2nd May battle about a year ago which started in darkness and just when everyone was expecting daylight a sea mist rolled in to keep visibility down for a while. I think that I posted some of the ccenario pack onto our egroup. I have since been lent the Osprey Tobruk 1941 which would have reduced the workload of preparation had it been available in time! Back to Frontline Vol. 2 Iss. 3 Table of Contents Back to Frontline List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Rolfe Hedges 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