1. Q ; Though RF! does not state a ground scale, is there a scale commonly used when designing scenarios?
- A ; The ground scale for the original rules was 6" = 150yds. but this was in the
days before the rules became rapid fire.
2. Q ; I am confused over the problems removing regarding Barbed wire obstacles through artillery fire. The 3rd Supp. gives rules for removal of tank obstacles, 4-6 on d6 for a gun of 75mm+, but would barbed wire sections be removed on a similar d6 roll?
- A ; During the first world war both sides expended tons of shells in an attempt to break the enemy's barbed wire to little effect. With this in mind I'd advise that barbed wire be impervious to gunfire, in fact if the area is heavily shelled, not only will you still have to cross the wire, but the ground should be difficult also. Best thing to do: run tanks across it.
3. Q ; In Rapid Fire supplement 3: (see also article in Frontline for a more detailed and historically accurate version of this game) what is the best way of 'winning' this scenario? I tend to lose it before I get off the beach.
- A:
Solution 1;
- I believe the only use for the Stuarts is to stick infantry on 'em and go hell-for-leather up the road to Glebovka and support the paras asap. Although capturing Glebovka isn't essential to getting a Soviet victory, getting Ozereika and knocking out 3 of the 4 guns will do it, it sure as heck helps!
Solution 2 ; Most nations would have tankriders of one sort or another, so it should be a common practice on the tabletop but, in my experience, it is usually only done by Soviet players.
Anyway, I tend to have a theory of gaming that I just call 'BOLD'. It is simplicity itself, in that it follows the 'see the objective, take the objective' approach. Often, attackers in a game are a bit cautious, moving forward in probing attacks, halting, bringing up additional troops, etc.
Not me. I just 'go for it' and often win because the defender is overwhelmed and kept off-balance by having too many targets to fire at, with the faster-moving ones getting through the lines and having a fine old time!
I've probably mentioned this one before but I had a Bocage game of Americans vs Germans with my old buddy Ian (on this list) and a couple of other guys and ripped straight up the road towards suspected German positions with .50 cal MG equipped jeeps and 37mm equipped armoured cars, swamped the defenders who couldn't decide whether to fire or not at the stuff coming up the road or stay concealed for the 'meatier' targets that were sure to follow. By the time they'd decided, my stuff was past them. It tore into a gun position (which had fired and missed), killed the gunners, spotted the softskins and supporting infantry and moved on, doing this in field after field until it had broken through to the rear areas and shot the heck out of the HQ units!
This led to a general withdrawal of ALL the German forces and the taking of the town by my boys.
Total German losses? Most of their heavy equipment and vehicles, several gun crews and a company or so of infantry. Total US losses? None. Well, ok, one of the armoured cars had a light damage.
Great fun. The German players found that they weren't used to such aggressive use of force or the use of the speed available to such vehicles and were deeply distressed at the outcome. Since then, I've had several victories using similar tactics but they have been at increasing loss as the opposing players are learning to be more flexible in their tactical deployments.
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