I thought I'd post a little about the way I am using Blitzkrieg Commander for fighting BoB battles, as people tend to want to know that sort of thing.
I use the rules pretty much "as is" except for the following:
Infantry and cavalry are organised into "units" (companies/squadrons of 3-4 bases). Guns, armoured cars etc are fielded as 1-2 stand units. Units are ordered around and take actions rather than the individual stands in the BkC rules. Firing, fighting and losses are still calculated on a stand-by-stand basis (like the original Warmaster). Units may be reduced to a single stand.
Each unit has a commander who may order the unit if no more senior officer is going to do so.
Most British (and some other) units are of a higher quality, so roll 1 less d6 when checking for suppression and fall-back
Most native types are of lower quality so roll 1 extra d6 when checking for suppression and fall-back
Stats for stands are smilar to BkC, but it is often necessary to adjust things for simplicity.
HMG stands are given a damage level of 6 to match the rest of the infantry. When an infantry unit containing both rifle and HMG stands accumulated 6 "hits" the player decides whether the rifles of HMG is lost (HMGs shoot better but are worse in close combat).
I use the close comabt rules from Cold War Commander as these give a better flow, I find. I also use the opportunity fire rules from CWC at the moments, although the original ones from BkC might actually work quite well for the Back of Beyond, so I might revert to test them out.
All in all, the rules work very well for BoB and the use of "units" is very similar to the "fixed formations" that many BkC players already use.
As my games are in 28mm, I use inches rather than centimeteres for measurement, but reduce the numerical distances by about 1/3, so riles have a range of 20" (10" for close range) and HMGs I allow to fire at up to 40" if regular or 30" if not so well trained. HMG teams may either move or fire in a turn, once they have done one, they cannot do the other, regardless of how many orders they receive. This saves having to worry about "setting-up" rules
Cavalry who fire are assumed to dismount first, but must ignore the first stand in the unit (assumed to be horseholders) when calculating how many dice to roll. As they use carbines I downgrade their fire at long range but allow +2d6 per stand at under half range rather than the usual +1d6 for other weapons.
Armoured cars are treated as mobile HMG stands with 360 degree field of fire. I don't bother with saving rolls and allow them to take up to 4 damage, but only from artillery etc, or HMGs that roll 6s to hit.
Usually the British CinC has a CV of 10 and subordinates/unit commanders have a CV of 8. Opposition commanders usually have CVs of 9 and 7 respectively. Dropping CVs too low might be historically justified, but I want the games to be fun for both sides to play! The command radius is 20", as is initiative range (although I might drop this to 15" for lower quality troops).
After a battle, eliminated stands may return. I have been allowing regular stands to return on d6 rolls of 1 to 5 and irregular stands to return on rolls of 1 to 4. Rolls can be adjusted depending on the level of victory or defeat.
I think that this just about covers things! The rules play really fast. The first day of Pashminia only took around an hour to complete.
cheers
I use the rules pretty much "as is" except for the following:
Infantry and cavalry are organised into "units" (companies/squadrons of 3-4 bases). Guns, armoured cars etc are fielded as 1-2 stand units. Units are ordered around and take actions rather than the individual stands in the BkC rules. Firing, fighting and losses are still calculated on a stand-by-stand basis (like the original Warmaster). Units may be reduced to a single stand.
Each unit has a commander who may order the unit if no more senior officer is going to do so.
Most British (and some other) units are of a higher quality, so roll 1 less d6 when checking for suppression and fall-back
Most native types are of lower quality so roll 1 extra d6 when checking for suppression and fall-back
Stats for stands are smilar to BkC, but it is often necessary to adjust things for simplicity.
HMG stands are given a damage level of 6 to match the rest of the infantry. When an infantry unit containing both rifle and HMG stands accumulated 6 "hits" the player decides whether the rifles of HMG is lost (HMGs shoot better but are worse in close combat).
I use the close comabt rules from Cold War Commander as these give a better flow, I find. I also use the opportunity fire rules from CWC at the moments, although the original ones from BkC might actually work quite well for the Back of Beyond, so I might revert to test them out.
All in all, the rules work very well for BoB and the use of "units" is very similar to the "fixed formations" that many BkC players already use.
As my games are in 28mm, I use inches rather than centimeteres for measurement, but reduce the numerical distances by about 1/3, so riles have a range of 20" (10" for close range) and HMGs I allow to fire at up to 40" if regular or 30" if not so well trained. HMG teams may either move or fire in a turn, once they have done one, they cannot do the other, regardless of how many orders they receive. This saves having to worry about "setting-up" rules
Cavalry who fire are assumed to dismount first, but must ignore the first stand in the unit (assumed to be horseholders) when calculating how many dice to roll. As they use carbines I downgrade their fire at long range but allow +2d6 per stand at under half range rather than the usual +1d6 for other weapons.
Armoured cars are treated as mobile HMG stands with 360 degree field of fire. I don't bother with saving rolls and allow them to take up to 4 damage, but only from artillery etc, or HMGs that roll 6s to hit.
Usually the British CinC has a CV of 10 and subordinates/unit commanders have a CV of 8. Opposition commanders usually have CVs of 9 and 7 respectively. Dropping CVs too low might be historically justified, but I want the games to be fun for both sides to play! The command radius is 20", as is initiative range (although I might drop this to 15" for lower quality troops).
After a battle, eliminated stands may return. I have been allowing regular stands to return on d6 rolls of 1 to 5 and irregular stands to return on rolls of 1 to 4. Rolls can be adjusted depending on the level of victory or defeat.
I think that this just about covers things! The rules play really fast. The first day of Pashminia only took around an hour to complete.
cheers
Comments
Post a Comment