Anyone use rapid fire?

[slinky]

If so have you changed the direct fire damage table?

Ive played a few games with these rules and think they are great apart from the damage table which I think quite frankly sucks!

[Martyn]

I agree. Although not quite as bad as Flames of War. For a small scale game I still use Charles Grants "Battle" with my own moral system factored in. It might be old but it's still a good little book!

[slinky]

Ive just joined the rapid fire2 yahoo group and there are some files for much better direct fire resolution that actually takes into account the vehicle's armour!!

[Doug]

I to use the Rapid Fire rules and have done so since they first came out. I would be the first to admit they are not perfect. If a rule controdicts my knowledge of a certain aspect then we change it and it goes in the house rule. I am a great beliver that the rule book is a guide and a final word when things are not cut and dry.

[GordonY]

I used to use them, found the discrepancy between what the tanks represent and what infantry/transport represent a bit confusing. BUT if you play it in 28mm as a skirmish set they work great. Big battles, is a no-brainer, use BKC.

Gordon

[Martyn]

The trouble is that like most commercial rules they try to cover every conceivable situation and period. WW2 can easily be broken down into so many distinct periods, each with its own flavour. Avoid the trap of the "one off situation", there will always be exceptions but exceptions rarely if ever affect the overall outcome.  So why don't you write your own for the period that you are doing. Read around your chosen period and avoid commercial rules like the plague!  Remember commercial rules are are not a bible and in many cases are poorly researched or just based on the failings of other commercial sets. In the case of FOW I feel are just there to exploit the market rather than anything to do with history.

Martyn

[Ben Waterhouse]

I know this is  bit of a resurrection, but I am interested in doing The Desert War from start to finish (and possibly Italy). I want to do represent actual orders of battle and fight brigade/divisional battles, and I want my rules simple. I have played RF in 1/76 a very long time ago and seem to remember it gave a good game.

I see that RF has put out a number of interesting scenario books for the desert war.

Of course it will have to be 10mm; so, Ladies and Gentlemen lead me by the hand, am I barking up the wrong tree (or just barking)?

[robert]

If you are doing 10mm at Brigade level and upwards then surely Blitzkreig Commander 2 (aka BKC) is the ONLY way to go?

[Ben Waterhouse]

If you are doing 10mm at Brigade level and upwards then surely Blitzkreig Commander 2 (aka BKC) is the ONLY way to go?

I don't like BKC....

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Try these if you dont like BKC -

       http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/BGMR_WWII/


IanS

[Womble67]

Hi all

I use Rapid Fire rules and have done since they came out  however having said that due to work commitments I was unable to go to my local club for a number of years so not played it for a long while, and since I've been back at the club we have been playing Black Powder.  But fingers crossed that should be about to change once I get my World War Two Russians and Germans painted.  And as mentioned in an earlier post there are numerous scenario books available.  Also if you go to the Rapid Fire website  you can also download scenarios for free. http://www.rapid-fire-uk.com/game-scenarios/

Andy

[kustenjaeger]

Greetings

I know this is  bit of a resurrection, but I am interested in doing The Desert War from start to finish (and possibly Italy). I want to do represent actual orders of battle and fight brigade/divisional battles, and I want my rules simple. I have played RF in 1/76 a very long time ago and seem to remember it gave a good game.

I see that RF has put out a number of interesting scenario books for the desert war.

Of course it will have to be 10mm; so, Ladies and Gentlemen lead me by the hand, am I barking up the wrong tree (or just barking)?

We played RF for WW2 Normandy etc a long time ago and then moved away from it as there were too many things rubbing us the wrong way for a brigade game.   We tried Spearhead but had issues with that too and settled on BKC - not that it's not got its own issues especially if you look at it at a granular level - because it gave a reasonable feel for relatively simple rules.  If I want more complex I go Command Decision.  However all these are brigade level i.e. commanding a brigade size formation (Spearhead could I think go larger at 1 inch = 100 yds, but given desert frontages I doubt you'd have the table size with a division on the table).

As regards the desert Frank Chadwick published a supplement for CD-Test of Battle called Benghazi Handicap (BH) which covers 1940-41 and is a mass of detailed information together with scenarios.  I'm starting to research Operation Battleaxe (15-17 June 1941) through regimental histories and, in due course, war diaries, and am finding a few discrepancies with BH but not much.  In due course I want to end up with sufficient in 10mm to fight a campaign being able to field any one brigade/regimental group that could have taken part at 1:4/1:5 scale.

Regards

Edward

[Ben Waterhouse]

Thanks Gents, food for thought.

[Luddite]

The trouble is that like most commercial rules they try to cover every conceivable situation and period. WW2 can easily be broken down into so many distinct periods, each with its own flavour. Avoid the trap of the "one off situation", there will always be exceptions but exceptions rarely if ever affect the overall outcome.  So why don't you write your own for the period that you are doing. Read around your chosen period and avoid commercial rules like the plague!  Remember commercial rules are are not a bible and in many cases are poorly researched or just based on the failings of other commercial sets. In the case of FOW I feel are just there to exploit the market rather than anything to do with history.

Martyn

Doubleplusgood post.  

We've been searching for years for a ruleset that comes anywhere close to representing WWII conflict, balanced against the tension of the need to make a playable, fun game...largely without success.  Things have got so desperate, i was even convinced to try FoW v3 (FoW being, with the possible exceptions of MEdieval Warfare and Mr Lincoln's War, the worst set of rules ever written).  

Crossfire's the closest we've come so far, but it has its own issues, especially with vehicles, and facilitating multi-player games.

[Derek H]

I've settled on I Aain't Been Shot Mum and Battlegroup Panzergrenadier.

IABSM you command up to a company with support, BGPG you command a battalion or two.