Just wondering what they are like as a ruleset
Cheers
Great, I will prod the author to give you some tips!
Nick!
Cheers.. I couldn't really tell the website what scale it's meant to be. Is it 1 model=1 tank?
Yes Fenton the vehicle scale is 1:1
You can download a free PDF with the introductory rules ( http://www.sabresquadron.com/rd.pdf ) from the Sabre Squadron homepage at http://www.sabresquadron.com/index.html
Been keeping one eye on these rules for a while now as looking for a small scale cold war set - Sabre Squadron has had some very good reviews.
There are some other small scale (i.e. company/platoon) level rules due out later int he year too, including an "Ultra modern" version of TFL's Chain of Command called Fighting Season (a bit too modern for my taste, prefer cold war stuff personally).
A future project on the back burner for now ;)
Thanks Pierre the Shy, you beat me to it.
I'd add, if you go to the website and click on the magazine tab at the top you can download issue 1 of Squadron Briefing which features a detailed blow-by-blow account of a game with tanks only.
BTW - if anyone wants to review any of the new Pendraken stuff, I can put it in the next issue.
Nick
What's the infantry figure scale? Is that 1:1? I can't access the details from work & I have no patience... :D
Two bases is a squad, so a British Falklands squad is mg/support weapon stand then stand of rifles. Three of those and a co is a platoon (plus light mortar and whatever else you want to attach).
It's 1:1 but infantry are based in groups of 3-5 figures representing roughly a fire team. As an example, a mid-1980s Soviet Motor Rifle platoon consists of:
3 BMP/BTR each carrying:
1 Rifle Group with Squad Automatic Weapon and light disposable RPG
1 Rifle Group with Heavy RPG
Support weapons such as ATGM, SAM, HMG are based separately.
N
Sounds very decent. I'll investigate further when I can. Thanks
They are good rules. They handle a couple of companies per side. I use then for Vietnam War and will use them for my cold war stuff as soon as I finish painting them.
Thanks guys. I'll have a closer look
Sound interesting - will have a look when I get a spare half hour...
Has anyone actually played these yet? The freebie rules do look interesting & quite simple, but I'd want a printed copy & £25 is not to be taken (or given) lightly...
I'm thinking of using 3mm minis for them - any opinions on the feasibility of that?
I have
http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,13316.0.html
and
another game where my W German's successfully held the supermarket and swimming pool from the soviet hordes! Two great games, but I was playing the author! ;D
Quote from: Wulf on 11 July 2016, 08:48:45 AM
Has anyone actually played these yet? The freebie rules do look interesting & quite simple, but I'd want a printed copy & £25 is not to be taken (or given) lightly...
I'm thinking of using 3mm minis for them - any opinions on the feasibility of that?
Well they are not that cheap but guess you can try the "lite" rules for free - if you like them enough then you may choose to go ahead and buy the full rules. Not many rule sets let you "try before you buy".
Kieran, a well known modern gamer from Auckland has been trying SS in 6mm and certainly they seem to work OK from the battle reports he has been posting: http://6mm.wargaming.info/page4.shtml
While personally 6mm scale looks fine to me I am not sure how well 3mm would work given the vehicle and troop scale is 1:1 and only a company or two per side? you would have to have a smallish table (2' X 2') :-\
I have several brigades of 1980's NATO and Soviet 6mm based up for Modern Spearhead that have not been on the table for some time....a bit of rebasing and hmmm....but as they say "that's a story for another day" ;)
Quote from: pierre the shy on 11 July 2016, 09:41:12 AM
Well they are not that cheap but guess you can try the "lite" rules for free - if you like them enough then you may choose to go ahead and buy the full rules. Not many rule sets let you "try before you buy".
I have given them a good read through, although I haven't actually played (don't have the minis as of yet). I'm worried as to how closely the full rules resemble the freebies... I have read that it's very table-heavy and too many modifiers to die rolls.
QuoteWhile personally 6mm scale looks fine to me I am not sure how well 3mm would work given the vehicle and troop scale is 1:1 and only a company or two per side? you would have to have a smallish table (2' X 2') :-\
That's exactly the intention, a portable game. Although I'd just be using the standard measurements, so really the table would need to be the same size - the terrain & minis would be smaller.
Quote from: Wulf on 11 July 2016, 10:44:35 AM
I have given them a good read through, although I haven't actually played (don't have the minis as of yet). I'm worried as to how closely the full rules resemble the freebies... I have read that it's very table-heavy and too many modifiers to die rolls.That's exactly the intention, a portable game. Although I'd just be using the standard measurements, so really the table would need to be the same size - the terrain & minis would be smaller.
The trial version (Rapid Deployment) was revised to be fully compatible with the main set following the launch of the latter. The main set adds much, but you don't have to go back to stage one relearn in order to play it if you tried Rapid Deployment.
There are charts - loads of them in fact - but many are repeated; e.g. infantry hit by high explosive don't care if it is from a howitzer or an aircraft-dropped bomb so the effects chart is shown in both sections to avoid having to flick back and forth.
3mm should work - as they should for a a lot of rules aimed at larger scales - without amendment. I'm tempted to try it.
Nick
It does sound good. Usually I play Skirmish games, but this seems a good compromise with my other preference for smaller scales on smaller tables!
I'd think 3mm with ground scale as written gives a much closer approximation of figure to ground scale anyway?
That did seem to be one advantage. The great disadvantages are, of course, the teeny little minis when based one vehicle to a base, and the recognition factor. I haven't actually got any yet, but do 3mm T-55 look different to 3mm T-62? Or will I have to mark the bases (I hate that, may as well use counters)...
Christ Wulf, I can barely tell a T-55 from a T-62 at arms length in 6mm, I'm the wrong man to ask :D
This is why I have to rely on different colour schemes and basing - which works excellently - pop a bit of static grass or clump foliage on each T-55 base on the left front, a spot on the right front for T-62 bases? Or do the T-55's in monotone green, whilst the T-62 get the "applied on the way out the depot when the balloon goes up" sand tone disruptive stripes as well.
Or pop a small dab of colour on back base edge to denote type?
I may use the alternative - don't mix units & use whichever minis I have...
Due to the level of play, you're not likely to field more than one type of tank in a force so identification is less of not much of an issue.
Nick