"Open Fire!" by Battlefront

[Ithoriel]

Some are more "realistic" than others, for a given value of realistic.

Have to agree with the sentiment that some rule sets are more effort than enjoyment!

[Raider4]

Some are more "realistic" than others, for a given value of realistic.

Realism. What do we mean by realism?

Example: If I'm playing Victory At Sea, obviously I'm not soaking wet, freezing cold & in danger of drowning in the North Atlantic, am I?

Martyn

[Ithoriel]

If I'm playing Victory at Sea it's a fair bet I'm in my pyjamas, it's 4am, I'm freezing cold, I'm exhausted and I'm desperately trying to stop some wuzzock from sailing right into that spread of torpedoes!. Close enough!

.. for a given value of realistic.

[KTravlos]

I do not know about realism or what not. But walls of tanks are simply not fun. They do not look fun and they do not play fun. This is one reason why I have avoided WWII and after wargaming. Tank walls seem unavoidable. I think WWII+ are periods  best enjoyed either as boardgames at the operational- strategic level, or down to the sqaud at most platoon level.

[Ithoriel]

Any WW2-and-after rules that don't punish wheel to wheel armour by making them a prime target for artillery or air power aren't doing their jobs properly!

"Ach so, Heinz! The Englander pig-dogs are lined up like Volksvagens in a parking lot. Call in the Stukas!"

What do you think? Career writing Commando Comics a non-starter?

[fsn]

Absolutely! (To the rules. As far as the Commando Comics goes ... I'd maybe read a few more.)

Artillery and loads of it!



"Zuffel! Tommy's artillery is ... aarrgh!" - FSN

[Steeleye]

I remember seeing 'track guard to track guard' columns of 1/300th T62s rolling across bits of West Germany back in the 80s, I don't know what rules people used back then but this sort of thing is hardly new...although that's hardly an excuse for it now.

[paulr]

I remember seeing 'track guard to track guard' columns of 1/300th T62s rolling across bits of West Germany back in the 80s, I don't know what rules people used back then but this sort of thing is hardly new...although that's hardly an excuse for it now.

If they were parked on the edge of the table probably WRG Moderns, if they had actually advanced almost certainly another rule set 

[skywalker]

I admit we do sometimes play tank heavy games, but they are usually scenario based which at least gives both sides a fighting chance. We went away from the Battlefront published Flames of War rules as we found them to have too many strange rules which did not fit into what we consider the spirit of wargaming  . So for 15mm games we use the Rapid Fire rules as some of the scenario supplements give ideas for some cracking games that require a bit more thought than just lining up a wall of Tigers and shooting large holes in everything.   

[Leon026]

I have to admit, I do play Flames of War every so often - despite its "realism" (or whichever definition of realism we give it). It uses a variable scale which makes adding a tank platoon "acceptable" to an infantry company while keeping to the "realism", but that said, I have huge huge huge doubts on whether their "Cold War gone hot" game is even going to work. For that matter, I've yet to see a miniature board game accurately represent armored warfare.

The whole IGOUGO is think has gotten really stale too, considering FoW does not have opportunity fire / overwatch

[julesav]

I've been playing WW2 games since the old WRG 1925-1950 rules in the 1970s. Play quite a lot of FoW. Dodged the 'track to track tank' look by playing infantry companies only by gentleman's agreement. We also chose to base our AFVs to make 'track to track' deployment impossible. I've had some truly corking games!

As with every rules set you can play to distort history or play historically. The rules seem sound and pretty 'bomb-proof' I've killed closely packed tanks with air power and artillery.

Criticising a set of rules for how people choose to play with them isn't really about the rules, it's about the players. And everyone is entitled to play how they choose imho.

[paulr]

Well said