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Old 10-14-2017, 03:23 AM
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ContourCraig ContourCraig is offline
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World War Two wargame rule development

Hi all
Many decades ago we (myself and a few buddies) developed a set of World War Two rules called 'Armorgeddon'. These rules however never got formally published. The rules are interactive (simultaneous game-play) so tended to played more often, with less time devoted to documenting the game mechanisms in all their nooks and crannies. Something I have now resolved to put right.

I will document with photographs some of the development games because these will involve some paper model terrain. I have also started designing 6mm paper soldiers to replace my toxic lead figures.

'Armorgeddon' is based on the laws of physics. The name arises from the first use of 'tanks' and the end result of two atomic bomb actions. (1916-1946). Most wargame rules use alternate turns, much like chess where one side contemplates and then executes their moves, while the other waits and endures, until it it their turn to seek revenge by inflicting injury on their opponent in the most artificial way possible allowed by the rules.

In each game we explore one aspect of the rules in fine detail, We had our first game last week, and had quite a fun time, without the figures from two opposing companies of infantry actually getting to fire a shot at each other! There was a lot to learn about leading troops into battle, for example, Don't lead from the rear! Use a runner rather than shouting orders over vast distances, etc
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Old 10-14-2017, 03:38 AM
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Kevin WS Kevin WS is offline
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Interesting!

I used to war game a lot in the 70's and 80's - used the Battle Rules if I remember rightly, with some mods.

We all had military experience in the type of warfare we were simulating, and actually find the rules very accurate in terms of realism. We ended up using them for a short while for some actual military training!

We however always used an umpire - this was the key to speed, accuracy, fairness, and resulted in a mix of simultaneous and alternate play depending on the situation.

With a umpire we were also able to use, importantly "fog of war" as well.

Look forward to your further posts....
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Old 10-14-2017, 06:12 AM
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I wish I had more time and space for gaming.... the mechanics are fascinating.
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Old 10-14-2017, 07:14 AM
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Armorgeddon is entirely original as a concept. That does not mean it is series of wacky unprecedented ideas hobbled together in an ad hoc piecemeal fashion. Rather these are the rules that fashioned my early gaming guides:

http://freewargamesrules.wikia.com/wiki/WRG_Armour_and_Infantry_1925_-_1950

Armorgeddon uses a simply system of combining only five actions into a whole game. Soldiers, represented by figures, can do one combination of any three of only five basic acions each turn, namely observe, communicate, move, shoot, and/or hide. Statistically each element therefore has 125 different ways of compiling a set of activities for its turn. Choosing the best 3 actions is mostly logical, and takes only a couple of seconds for each element. So, the largest 3 hour game-time battle we have been able to fight to conclusion so far, using a one-to-one-figure-to-real-man-ratio and a 1mm =1m ground scale, involved a clash of brigades from the 8th Army and Afrika Corps.

Minor intricacies magnify exponentially because soldiers can for example shoot with a pistol, rifle, machine gun, mortar, howitzer, tank cannon, grenade; or move on foot, in a truck, tank or aeroplane etc. All of which needs a consideration of its effects. The game is controlled by rolling one dice per action to see if it suceeds or fails. The fun of the game consists of experiencing the outcomes of these choices and how the figures interact with their friends, their commanders and subordinates and aliies, their foe and the terrain and, not least the actual disposition of the elements.

Armorgeddon worked so well for tanks and artillery and aircraft, that we seldom got down to proper development of the relatively static nature of the infantry form of warfare. The termininology "relatively static" arises because mechanised troops, like all troops in Armorgeddon, can potentially move three times a turn. (three times the rate listed in the rules above). Thus motorised troops they can move right across the whole table in only one or two turns. If that is not fast enough, remember that the enemy can also be moving, just as fast, in the opposite direction AT THE SAME TIME. (Troops can potentially approach the enemy at 6 times the familiar wargames rate). As we are prone to say to the astonished wargames veteran, "This is the Blitzkreig, it is not World War One !"

The rule development that I am doing now, involves trying to sort out the consequences of giving a bunch of armed men, the poor bloody infantry, free-reign over their actions.
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Old 10-14-2017, 07:40 AM
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That url does not seem to work. Try this one:
WRG Armour and Infantry 1925 - 1950 | Freewargamesrules Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia
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Old 10-14-2017, 11:40 AM
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Though I'm not doing historical miniatures games any more, dang, that sounds like fun!
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Old 10-15-2017, 01:53 PM
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What scale are you using ?
I believe that the WRG Rules were used with 20mm or 1/72 scale figures and vehicles.
Battleground, WWII has been my go-to rules for the last 20 years.
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Old 10-17-2017, 10:22 AM
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ContourCraig ContourCraig is offline
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Thanks for the link update.

I had a large plastic 1/72 collection, but tactically it is like fighting in a parking lot. So I moved to 1/300 about 30 years ago. Much smaller and you don't need a warehouse of accessories.

This is a photo of my last big game in 1/300, Set in France 1940. The Germans are attacking from the right, if you can spot them. The cork object in the foreground is a 'reverse' periscope. The game is played using direct visiblity of the model as positioned amongst the terrain. The terrain is built up a few centimeters with foam tiles cut out from twelve 500x500x12 mm blocks. Most of the cover comes from the resulting dead ground, rather than from the traditional hills, trees and buildings The contour set is modular and reuseable. Two set of tiles have been used on this table, then covered with a fine green stretch toweling tablecloth.

The natural effects of the terrain can be seen on the left where there is a road bridge over a river valley. The river itself is not up to standard (yet) but it is at least its banks are not above ground level !
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