Categorising combat chances as good, average, and poor

During recent months, I've been reading (re-reading) some of Donald Featherstone's WW2 rules from his various books, and also delving into Charles Grant's book "Battle - Practical Wargaming”, which was one of my favourites when I first started wargaming with my Airfix WW2. Reading the rules from these books have got me playing a series of small WW2 games where I tested a few rule adjustments with the aim of:

1. Eliminating hit tracking by immediately removing unit sections when hit.
2. Introducing a random shooting order for units, adding a layer of unpredictability to the games.

One of the test games about to start.

The alterations in rules prompted me to reorganise how I structure my units. In previous games, each figure base or tank represented an individual unit. However, my units now typically consist of 2-4 bases, or what are better thought of as sections. The exceptions generally being with any Headquarter (HQ) units, artillery/mortar units, and Forward Observation Officers (FOO). Weakened units might only comprise two bases, and infantry units could be supplemented with Anti-tank guns and when combined function as a single unit. Here are a few of examples where the organisation has been influenced by ideas from “Battle - Practical Wargaming”:

• Tank Troop. 2 tanks
• Infantry Company. 3 bases
• Infantry Company with support. 3 infantry bases and 1 AT base
• Infantry Company with support. 3 infantry bases and mortar base
• Mechanised Infantry Company with support. 3 infantry bases and self-propelled gun.

A British company with AT support defending a farm.

Organising units containing multiple sections offers a distinct advantage when it comes to using a random shooting order. I will typically have 5 to 6 units per side in a game, executing actions for all a unit’s sections at once, rather than having to randomly actions for 20 or more individual bases.

Before diving into the combat details, here's a brief overview of the movement phase. It's kept straightforward: both sides roll a D6, and the player with the highest score chooses to move first or second. Each player then proceeds to move their units in the agreed-upon order, making sure a unit retains its coherency with all sections within 8 inches of at least one other unit section.

Examples of movement allowances:

• Infantry, towed guns, and heavy tanks - 8 inches
• Mechanised infantry, light tanks, and armoured cars - 16 inches
• Medium tanks - 12 inches.

Once movement commences, any unit that remains stationary or moves less than half of its movement allowance can engage in combat. Units permitted to shoot have a playing card placed face down beside them. If any base within a unit moves more than half of its allowed movement, the entire unit forfeits its shooting opportunity. This final rule can create problems for units where their bases are strung out and they lose coherency forcing a base to move its full movement allowance to retain coherency. Although I do allow for the base to be abandoned and removed from play.

Once both players complete their movement, reveal the playing cards. The unit with the highest card value (Kings to Aces, then in the order of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs) gains the chance for their bases to shoot first. Eliminated units are then removed from play.

A troop of Shermans will get the important first shot against the Panzer IV’s.

The combat ranges have been kept simple with all units having a direct fire range of 16 inches and indirect artillery unlimited. This mirrors the approach taken in Neil Thomas's One-Hour Wargaming WW2 rules where units have limited ranges, emphasising the visibility constraints rather than a weapon's theoretical range. Given that my games are set in North-East Europe, this approach seems to make sense to me. Moreover, it proves advantageous when gaming with 1/72 scale models on a 6 by 4-foot tabletop.

For determining hits, I like to have a simple method than I can easily remember. I categorise chances as poor, average, or good. A D6 to hit roll of 6+ is required for poor odds, 5+ for average, and 4+ for good opportunities. To categorise the combat situation, identify which of the advantages and disadvantages listed below apply.

Advantages:

• AT guns targeting armoured units (tanks, SPGs).
• Heavier AT guns (e.g., 88mm, 17 pdr.) firing at armor gain an extra advantage.
• Attacking the flank or rear of targets.
• Artillery targeting Infantry (including mechanised infantry) with clear line of sight directed by a FOO.

Disadvantages:

• Targets in cover (towns, woods, dug-in) or hull-down positions for tanks on hills (excluding SPGs which may not be hull-down).
• Heavy tanks and SPGs (e.g., Tiger, Panther, JagdPanther, and Churchill).
• Artillery targeting armour or guns.
• AT weapons firing at infantry (excluding mechanised infantry).
• Infantry weapons firing at armour.
• The target is a FOO (I will generally use light armoured cars to represent their position)

Tally up the advantages and disadvantages. If there are more advantages than disadvantages, it's a good combat opportunity. If it's the reverse, it's poor. When they balance each other out, it's considered an average opportunity.

Note - Tanks have a choice of weapons. They can either use their hull mounted machine guns or their main AT gun.

An AT Gun shooting with advantage knocks out a Sherman on the road. While the remaining Sherman tanks shooting with advantage are able to destroy the Stug III. The defending German infantry shooting with disadvantage were ineffective against the tanks.

Given that I typically play solo wargames, I follow these shooting priorities for both sides during a game:

• AT weapons prioritise the nearest armoured target before they can shoot at the nearest infantry or gun targets.
• Small arms shooting focuses on the closest unit.
• Artillery targets the nearest unit directly or, if directed, aims for the one closest to the FOO with the most advantageous shooting situation.

The next post will have a small game battle report.