Any high level Modern rules?

Started by Last Hussar, 18 September 2024, 10:46:12 PM

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Last Hussar

Anyone know of any high level rules for the 1980s? One model is a company or higher- higher the better.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

Big Insect

CWCII should work well - you might just need to avoid buying too many bits and pieces (snipers & infantry upgrades etc) and play the simpler optional Recce rules.
The 'hits come off' version of play is in many ways ideal for representing higher formations.
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Last Hussar

My understanding of the xxC series is that if a unit needs 5, say, hits to kill, and only gets 4 in a turn it motors on next turn like nothing had happened.  This doesn't feel right.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Think you need to go to boardgames like SPIs Hof Gap and others in the series.
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Big Insect

Quote from: Last Hussar on 19 September 2024, 08:00:50 AMMy understanding of the xxC series is that if a unit needs 5, say, hits to kill, and only gets 4 in a turn it motors on next turn like nothing had happened.  This doesn't feel right.

That's one way to play the game - that's the 'hits come off' version. Which for a higher level game works well as it represents units being withdrawn from combat to be reformed and returned to the front line.
But you can also play the 'hits stay on' version, that produces a much 'bloodier' and much faster game.
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "outside of the box" thinking.

henjed

And there are ways of doing it between all hits stay on and all hits come off that requires some care when playing buy which work well in the BKC games I play. AFVs always retain one hit; artillery pieces likewise. Infantry lose one hit at then end of each phase/turn if green, two if regular, three if veteran, but always retain at least one hit.

hammurabi70

QuoteAnd there are ways of doing it between all hits stay on and all hits come off that requires some care when playing buy which work well in the BKC games I play. AFVs always retain one hit; artillery pieces likewise. Infantry lose one hit at then end of each phase/turn if green, two if regular, three if veteran, but always retain at least one hit.

A neat idea. A rules system I have avoided up to now that people seem to have adapted well.  Worth taking another look at.

henjed

There are some ambiguities in the rules, and I can see why some don't like the push-your-luck command/order system, but for the games I have played (exclusively Desert War 1941/42) it gives a thrilling game full of movement, sudden, bewildering halts, cosmic blunders and knife-edge endings that delight me.

Last Hussar

If you lose 2 tanks of a 4 tank platoon, or 6 in a 13 tank platoon,  it can't fight at full strength.  It's not just more fragile,  it's weaker.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

Orcs

Quote from: Last Hussar on 19 September 2024, 10:03:50 PMIf you lose 2 tanks of a 4 tank platoon, or 6 in a 13 tank platoon,  it can't fight at full strength.  It's not just more fragile,  it's weaker.

You said you wanted high level. Your talking Platoons. A Divisional commander does not look at a platoon strength. Some platoons in a battalion or Squadron will be heavily depleted, others will be at full strength. It averages out.  He will only want to know they have X% of their fighting strength, and consequently able to hold or attack  Y Frontage with those losses.
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Ithoriel

QuoteIf you lose 2 tanks of a 4 tank platoon, or 6 in a 13 tank platoon,  it can't fight at full strength.  It's not just more fragile,  it's weaker.

Are those two burning wrecks or are is one doing field repairs to it's track and the other is slotting new glass into the vision slits because the originals were crazed by shrapnel? There's a whole spectrum between completely OK and destroyed.

The xxC series is top down, not bottom up. It gets the "right" result for all the wrong reasons. Which I prefer to the alternative.

All the BKC games I've played have felt like real actions. The mechanisms may be counter-intuitive but the effects work for me.
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Last Hussar

OK. They lose 2 companies worth out of a battalion.

CwC is very much full strength or dead.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

Orcs

Quote from: Last Hussar on 20 September 2024, 06:41:58 PMOK. They lose 2 companies worth out of a battalion.

CwC is very much full strength or dead.
Thats around 30-50% casualty rate, at the lower point they would be pulled back for Rest and reinforcement. at the higher level they would probably rout.

So play hits stay on. Reduce firepower dice by 1/3rd for each 2 pips damage on the dice.
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Last Hussar

I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry

dylan

Quote from: Last Hussar on 22 September 2024, 08:49:40 AMThat's a thought.

Some rulesets actually designed for company-stand modern play for you to consider (CWCII is a fine ruleset, but I don't consider it ideal for company-stand+ level play):
Nordic Weasel Games "FiveCore Brigade Commander"
Legionnaire Games "Strike Legion Planetary Operations" plus "The War That Never Was" module