A collaborative historical side-project: El Alamein in 6mm

[Simon W]

Just got my loot from GHQ in the post. Very nice...

[Mike the Pike]

Sweet! What did you end up getting?

@All: One base = One Platoon might be interesting. For infantry that would make 3 bases equals a company and maybe a half size base for the HQ platoon. Tanks would be, perhaps, 2 tanks for the platoon and say 1 more for the HQ platoon.
I could field the entire Maori battalion!!!

Still, let's see what BC3 has to say. I can hardly wait!

@TOD: I feel my anti 6mm powers failing further every day. You are evil!

[The Other Dave]

Yeah, I think I'll want to see what BC3 suggests vis a vis basing. Personally I'm kind of partial to squads and individual tanks per base at 6mm because that gives something like true-scale and I'm a sucker for one-model one-man at a realistic ground scale.

(TBQH, I sort of think by-the-platoon bases would be happier at 3mm than 6. )

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on a Combat Command box from GHQ in the relatively-near future, though (with my summer bonus at the latest), and get myself started.

[Simon W]

Just got my loot in the post from GHQ. Very nice indeed...

[Simon W]

Dammit. Just realized I posted twice. Can't get the hang of this board. I got 5 Panzer IIIJ with the long barrelled 50mm, 5 Panzer IIIF/G with the short barrelled 50mm, 5 Panzer IVF1 with the short 75 and 5 88s in the already deployed position. I'm just straightening the barrels and petting them now.

I must admit, my own preference is for 1:1 at this scale, but it all depends on finding a workable set of rules for 1:1 I guess. When I was a teenager I played TTG's Challenger rules and they were awful - it took all evening just to get one shot off. Still got them though. Along with an ancient set of WRG 1925 - 1950 rules with the old card covers. I should start a museum some day...

[The Other Dave]

It might feel like an odd way to go about it, but most games designed for 15mm end up giving a realistic ground scale when played at 6mm. Too Fat Lardies' I Ain't Been Shot, Mum (which they advertise as an alternative to Flames of War, and is also a company-level game - and has the kind of "friction" rules that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside) is designed with a ground scale of 1 foot = 80 yards, which at 1:240 is pretty dang close to figure scale at 6mm.

I do want to check out BC3, though. I like BC2, although I've only got one game in and it was very much a learning experience.

@Simon: Did you order straight from GHQ? What was shipping like?

[Simon W]

I ordered straight from GHQ. Really good service. Shipping was 13 dollars US out of a total order charge of 60 dollars. I guess that's what you get for living at the end of the earth...

Is 'I ain't been shot yet, mum' able to handle battalion-sized games? That's what we should be aiming for in this scale, I reckon. Especially if we are able to rustle up multiple players for each side. What are the actual GHQ rules like? I've never actually played them.

[The Other Dave]

That's good to hear about GHQ, and is actually pretty reasonable shipping from the States, all told.

IABSM has the basic unit of command as a platoon, and a typical one-on-one game would be a company or two per side - it ought to scale up to handle a battalion-ish game at 6mm, if we had multiple players and a nice wide table.

I guess the nice thing about a historical project is that there's no reason we couldn't just try out Every Rules System until we find one we like!

[Simon W]

Microsquad - the GHQ 1:1 game - is available as a free download from wargamesvault.com. There is also a free PDF called Blitzkrieg Commander Lite available.

Worth a look...

[The Other Dave]

Microsquad - the GHQ 1:1 game - is available as a free download from wargamesvault.com. There is also a free PDF called Blitzkrieg Commander Lite available.

Worth a look...

Rules Magpie Dave likes this development! I'll give them a look - reviews of Microsquad seem pretty happy with it.