This was a 25mm WW2 scenario in which the combat elements were infantry platoons (2 stands per platoon), and tanks (one stand per platoon). No sooner had I started to explain the game then the hoots and hollers and jeers commenced. “How can you have a LAW assigned to an infantry platoon in WW2?” “What kind of silliness are you foisting on us?” My weapons chart contained the usual assortment of heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weapons and machine guns and artillery barrages and anti-tank weapons… but I had tossed in a LAW or two. This was the result of reading General (ret) Selwick Sludge’s book SECRET WEAPONS OF WW2. In truth, General Sludge had written a trilogy… including REALLY SECRET WEAPONS OF WW2, and REALLY, REALLY SECRET WEAPONS OF WW2. And if General Sludge said that the LAW existed in WW2, then bigawd, the LAW would be included in my WW2 rules set. And so I fought off the opposition, and we started the game. Mike Byrne and I faced Bob and Cleo Liebl, and each side was given some 5 infantry platoons and 3 armored platoons… a company-size skirmish. Mike and I, as the Allied force, moved first, and we diced for our movement distances, which could range from 10 to 20 inches per unit. Our first move allowed us a distance of 10 inches, and so we advanced our force from our baseline some 10 inches. Not all our platoons were on the field… we had had to select two platoons to be kept off-board and brought on later, via field orders. The Axis force, Bob and Cleo, moved next, and on the field they came. We were in firing range in a couple of moves, and we Allies got the worst of it. Damage determination required a lookup on a chart or two: (a) First each weapon had a basic probability of hit (POH). Toss percentage dice, and if a hit was scored, the target was given a casualty figure, and we’d then refer to the weapons chart. Here, there were listed 3 key parameters… the firing weapon’s rate of fire, the firing weapon’s penatration, and the target’s defense factor. (b) For a heavy tank firing on an armored car, we’d get Firing weapon rate of fire 3 Firing weapon penetration 9 Target’s defense 3 Get the “delta” by subtracting the defense from the penetration value, and multiply the delta by the rate of fire. This was the number of damage points inflicted on the target: For the heavy tank: Damage (Rate of fire, 3) x (Penetration ,9 - Defense, 3) Damage 3 x (9-3) or 18 points (c) An armored car platoon had a damage point level of 40… it could absorb 40 points before it had to retire. And so, after being hit, the target was now down to 60-18, or 42 points. It then took a morale test to see if it would withdraw. Note that the armored car unit was about half out of the battle. In the firing exchanges that took place, Bob and Cleo seemed much, much more effective than we Allies. Note in Step (a) above, that, when hit, not only were points deducted from the target’s point total, but it was given a casualty figure. This meant that the components of our Allied force were accumulating casualty figures much more rapidly than our opposition did. And somewhere in the sequence, was a phase to determine the ultimate effect of all these accumulated casualty figures. When this phase occurred, we’d dice to see the effect… each casualty figure on a platoon could mean an additional 2 or 3 or 4 points off the target’s total. Note that the (a), (b), and (c) steps were solely deterministic. It was in the latter phase that random factor (the dice throw), was tossed in. In retrospect, Mike and I pre-positioned one of our units poorly. This was a 2-stand infantry platoon, bolstered by one of the vicious LAW weapons. We placed it far upfield, at Point A on the map, thinking to get a quick couple of shots at the Axis armor as it came on the field. And the LAW did, firing at a German heavy tank. The parameters were: LAW weapon rate of fire 2 LAW weapon penetration 12 Hvy tank defense 6 Calculating the rate-of-fire times the delta, the LAW immediately scored 12 points of damage to the target. And it did so twice. The heavy tank started with 60 points, and it was now down to 36 points. But there, our joy ended. The LAW was given only two shots. Regardless of what General Sludge said, I didn’t want to overbalance the game in the LAW’s favor… so I limited it to 2 bullets. This left us with an infantry platoon hanging out at Point A, in enemy territory, with no anti-armor weapon, where it was soon targeted by the enemy. Point B was another problem for us. I had advanced one of our infantry platoon into the woods at Point B. To get into the woods, the unit had to pass a ‘rough terrain’ test… toss 70 or less on percentage dice. The unit was successful… into the woods it went. And there it stayed, refusing to toss another 70 or under to get out of the woods… evidently the woods were so thick, and the brambles so huge, and the briars so thorny, that the men in the platoon simply couldn’t move. Practically speaking, the unit was out of the war. Point C was also a problem site for us. One of our heavy tanks advanced up the slope from the east to get a better shot at the Germans. It was promptly targeted by an anti-tank gun. Anti-tank gun rate of fire 4 Anti-tank gun penetration 10 Hvy tank defense 6 The above shows that the tank suffered 16 points of damage. Our tank took a morale test, failed, and retreated back to the east, behind the hill. It, too, was out of the battle. One of the key locations on the field was the house at Point D. The Germans quickly occupied it, and once in, never out. We Allies never seemed to get going… beaten into the dust by the might of the Wehrmacht. Back to PW Review March 2002 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Wally Simon 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