In keeping with the Clay tradition of chapping apart perfectly good rule sets I have "cut and pasted" a set of WWII Rules. This set is excellent for introducing newcomers to the hobby, using at conventions for simple 1-3 hour games, or the ultimate "get-on-down-in-the-basement-and-bang-heads-with-the-guys-on-the-weekend-game" that I live for. Aside from the normal gaming hardware of models and terrain, you will need a ruler/tape in inches, two D6 and a D20, and a map on graph paper gridded to correspond to the terrain to use in plotting indirect fire missions. The rules do sacrifice some realism for playability as rles for sighting and morale are not included. If desired, these could easily be incorporated into the turn sequence. One of the great features of the rules that does provide realism is the ability for players to tailor their combat vehicles in regards to movement, armament, and armor. Values in these areas are given as Light, Medium, and Heavy. An example would be a Mark V Panther played as a Medium tank for movement, but certainly Heavy for armor and perhaps even armament. A good old M4 Sherman would be Medium across one Duara, a 43 Stuart Light, and a King Tiger HEAVY!!' Unit organization for combat and command ability are available through many fine commercially published rule sets. My personal favorite and one I highly recommend is the National Organization Charts of GDW's "Command Decision" rules in 5 to I scale. I play this scale with 1/300 miniatures. I like to keep units base to base or very close together to facilitate commands and to help me think of fighting on unit level instead of worrying about individual vehicles or stands. As a master of plagiarism I would like to acknowledge my building blocks for these rules. "Battles With Model Soldiers" which I believe was written by Donald Featherstone (please forgive me if I am incorrect) provided my basic rules concept and "Command Decision" by Frank Chadwick guided my efforts. By the way Frank, if you're out there, I love your rules. As a full-time Army tanker, my wife can't believe I come home from work and play with my "little tanks". This rule set is a lot of fun. Please give it a try and feel free to change it to suit your needs. If you have questions, please contact me. TURN SEQUENCE 1. Issue Orders/Request Indirect Fire (Delayed) 2. Indirect Fire Phase (From Previous Turn's Request) 3. Movement/Direct Fire Phase ORDERS 1. NO ORDER -- Movement up to 1' (allowed to change facing or move from hide into firing position). May claim COVER modifiers if in rough terrain (woods, town, hulldown on hills, etc.). May fire twice per turn. 2. CAUTIOUS ADVANCE -- Half move to front or flank. May fire twice per turn. 3. FULL ADVANCE -- Full move to fron: or flank. May fire once per turn. 4. WITHDRAW -- Half move to rear, facing enemy. May fire twice per turn. 5. RETREAT -- Full move to rear, facing rear. May fire once per turn. INDIRECT FIRE Write down position of request and ammo type (smoke/HE). TO HIT D20 -- 13-20 Hit; 1-12 deviate clock direction D6 X 2" TO ADJUST -- (Must be Observed) -- Re-roll next turn and add modifiers to D20 Observer is FA Observer/Recon Element +2 First Adjustment Attempt +2 Second Adjustment Attempt +4 Third Adjustment Attempt +6 EFFECTS Smoke -- 5" screen or 3" diameter circle HE 1XD6 per each vehicle or stand in a 3" circle Troops/Soft Veh. 1 No Effect 2-4 Suppress 5-6 Destroy Armored Vehicles 1-3 No Effect 4-5 Suppress 6 Destroy MODIFIERS Firing Unit is Mortars -1 or HVY Arty-- +1 Target is In Cover -1 or In Bldgs/Entrenchments-- -2 Suppressed Targets may not fire or observe for the remainder of the turn and may only move away from the enemy (orders may be changed to do this). Back to MWAN # 41 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com