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Red Thunder Campaign: Battle for Rikonovo II (work in progress)

Quiet weekend for a change — looking at this again... had some rule refinements in mind and some ideas of how to handle vehicle casualties in the Mech units — those darn PzGren halftracks !! :rolleyes:

Maybe "keep it simple, soldier", and just assume they always have their halftracks?

In proportion to their unit strength of course.

Maybe it would make some players more willing to take risks with the halftracks, but I think that's better than having the tracks sit back in the deployment zone. They are not exactly breakthrough tanks anyway, and the crew lost would count at the end of the battle. So that should balance gamey behaviour a bit.
 
Maybe "keep it simple, soldier", and just assume they always have their halftracks?

In proportion to their unit strength of course.

Maybe it would make some players more willing to take risks with the halftracks, but I think that's better than having the tracks sit back in the deployment zone. They are not exactly breakthrough tanks anyway, and the crew lost would count at the end of the battle. So that should balance gamey behaviour a bit.


Well, the Germans have only a limited number of units with halftracks -- a few armoured recon units and PzGren companies.

What I have resorted to doing, is on each mixed counter, to count the combat/fire support light vehicles separately from the infantry headcount.

The straight troop carrier SPW-251's and command SPW-251/3's are not counted individually but adjusted to match the strength points of panzergrenadier infantry.
Up to the player if he wants to leave them in the deployment area.

Trucks will be kept off the battlefield unless it's a Meeting Engagement battle -- units will be deemed to have deployed on edge of battle -- only towed weapons and mortars should have trucks/halftracks available.

Mechanisation/motorisation is basically more an abstraction allowing faster movement/deployment on the strategic map, not the CM battle maps themselves necessarily -- will keep those on the not too large size :)

Note: The CM battle map doesn't necessarily represent the whole of the map ZONE being fought over, just the section used for battle where defender decides to make a stand or opposing forces meet.
 
I think I managed to test and figure out the initial “chit pull” system of arrival of units and reinforcements and what units start on the map for both sides.
Working on a balance of a “battle narrative “ and the commanders decisions.

The FOW system seems to be working well...

I am thinking of abandoning the “front” idea, where units are assigned to defend a frontage/side of a zone if there are multiple units in a zone, as too complicated.

There will be FIVE turns covering each day, each broken up into FOUR “impulses” that will determine which time of day a battle will take place.

  1. MORNING 05:00 - 09:00
  2. MIDDAY 09:00 - 13:00
  3. AFTERNOON 13:00 - 17:00
  4. EVENING 17:00 - 21:00
  5. NIGHT 21:00 - 05:00
 
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Rainy early autumn day here — managed to spend a good chunk of it working on a new version of Rikonovo campaign — complete simplified reconception of the map and how it works — trimmed down and standardized many of the units and OOB’s and am close to finalising the “chit pull” system for arrival of units and reinforcements that juggles between command challenges, tension and campaign balance.

Will post some screenshots tomorrow.
 
Here is the revised map ... changed over to point to point battle zones (similar system to @Ithikial CMSF campaign) ... each sector will have a dedicated CM battle map of around 1000 x 1000 metres (more or less) .. also depends on features etc.

Units are reinforced infantry companies, armour and guns either weak companies or platoons (number next to NATO symbol indicate actual number of vehicles, adjusted by battle losses)
Infantry units have three strength levels: Full, two-thirds, one-thirds ... all their support weapons (ATG, Hvy MG, Mortars) will also come in threes to allow for this breakdown.
Strength indicated by the pips like under the NATO symbol on the German Grenadier unit shown. The STuG unit for example has 6 vehicles.

Solid lines between Zones are normal, road-based unit movement, dotted lines cross-country movement (with movement penalty), white dotted foot infantry only (they can lug their heavy MG and medium mortars along, but nothing else) -- there is also a white-frames zone which is only accessible to Infantry.

The BLUE line on two of the zones indicate the defender is dug in.

It'll be FOW and simultaneous orders by both sides played out by the GM, the battle is played over just under TWO days, from Midday day ONE to EVENING Day TWO -- that makes NINE turns.

Operational scenario stays the same -- onrushing Soviet Mech and Tank spearheads try and capture Rikonovo and cut the retreat roads from Vitebsk "off the march", hoping that speed and hitting hard will overrun improvised defenses and prevent the Germans from fighting a holding action while detraining the main force of 5th Panzer Division further west at Borisov.
German Kampfgruppe commander (the HQ counter will be renamed after the FGM player taking command) will try and cobble together a defense from improvised units and 5th Panzer units arriving in dribs and drabs (The Russians are also overextended and will arrive erratically) as roads and railroads are chaotic with the retreat from the Russian Bagration offensive. German commander needs to hold out long enough to evacuate all the wounded and warehouse stores from Rikonovo, keep the roads & railroads to the west open and hopefully give the Reds a bloody nose, allowing the bulk of 5th Panzer Division to consolidate near Borisov.

More details if I have time this evening... final draft of rules in the works. (keeping things simple as heck!)


2Wuswxt.jpg
 
@Rico since your campaign is advancing again...maybe I could put a hold on the one I was developing.
In addition, @Panzer_Kraut and I have assembled all those maps, all cut down to about 1km.
We could pool our resources and you could use those if you want!

@Concord -- I'd love to have a look at those maps.
 
I've shared the folder with @Rico and @Panzer_Kraut.

The majority of the maps are 1.2km in size, to have some wriggle room.

I named each map with a brief description of the terrain.
The name of each starts with the terrain classification: Open, Woods and Town.
 
I've shared the folder with @Rico and @Panzer_Kraut.

The majority of the maps are 1.2km in size, to have some wriggle room.

I named each map with a brief description of the terrain.
The name of each starts with the terrain classification: Open, Woods and Town.
Thanks - - downloaded them - will have a look this evening, looks like some useful maps there.
 
I think such "camaraderie" (as exemplified by leadership, teamwork, courtesy, & respect) is what distinguishes FGM from most of the other wargame communities out there.
I agree.

Been browsing through some of the maps this evening (unfortunately gotta work late on a cartoon deadline) -- some great stuff there -- started assigning some of them to the zones on the strategic map -- they all will need some tweaking, but a great start.
 
This has ground to a sudden halt -- RL work has taken over ... project a client has been sitting on since February has finally gotten go-ahead and is now suddenly a rush job. Sigh ... the joys of freelancing. :rolleyes:

That, and in addition getting a wasp sting on the back of my neck from last Sunday afternoon infected... big, hot swelling on back of neck... antbiotics, cortesone, running a fever ... fun, fun, fun...
 
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