Progress report

[martin goddard]

The rules are really swimming well. Most of the mechanism come from other RFCM rules.   The games are done within 2 hours.  Having lots of enjoyment.  I have a fair few painted figures but these rules need more than the first edition of BAIT, The target is about 100 figures, to get a force on the table.  So i have lots of companies with 60% strength. Dave painter will need to get out the big brush.
Very exiting, eczema or exciting?

[Andoreth]

Very exciting indeed. I am not too worried about the main rules since I assume you are still planning on a gridded battlefield but scenarios and the prebattle sequence will still be interesting; and it will of course mean more figures.

[Leslie BT]

Yes getting the scenery completed.

And armies painted.

[martin goddard]

Scenery in latest edition reduced to 6 templates per player.  This might make the table too bare but play testing will tell!??  This gives a 50% coverage of tough terrain.

[Leslie BT]

Martin hope you and the playtest team have had a couple of good games this week, without too many radical changes, just gentle honing.

Hope that Stewart can get a large raw force to work.

[Colonel Kilgore]

<< Apologies for the final sideways photo: if I can get Tinypics to reinstate its orientation I will correct subsequently! >>

I had a very enjoyable couple of games at the weekend at PP HQ, play-testing the current draft of the new SCW rules, and I thought it might be handy for folk to see where things are heading [caveat: everything that follows pertaining to these rules is liable to change before they are published!] - besides, Sean asked for pictures.

The core rules seem largely settled now, with the main focus of tweaking being on relative force strengths.

Game 1 saw a Republican International Brigade [4 platoons, each of a Platoon Commander, 8 x rifles and an LMG base, supported by a pair of light tanks] defending against the Nationalist Civil Guard [who had brought along a brace of field guns and another of armoured cars] (photo from the Republican lines):



Things were initially looking good for the Republicans, who held 2 objectives and some other terrain as they repeatedly delayed the Civil Guard assault. However, this was not enough in the end to prevent a convincing Civil Guard victory, once all the points were totted up [sorry – forgot to take any more photos as we got caught up in the action].

Game 2 [first photo from Nationalist lines] witnessed a change of allegiance by the players, with the Spanish Legion [2 beefed-up platoons and a pair of light tanks] attacking a company of Assault Guards [aided and abetted by a pair of armoured cars and a couple of field guns].





This was a game of two sides, with all the action taking place on the Legion's left flank.

A disastrous pre-game phase meant that the second platoon had to be left off-table [arriving too late to turn the tide, in part due to Martin's cunning use of the reinforcement "Delay" asset] while the first platoon was repeatedly "hammered" by off-table high explosive shells from the get-go, and struggled to get off its exposed start line [the partial cover placed to protect their advance had been removed during the pre-game sequence]. Meanwhile, the Legion light tanks were free to wander about as they wished, since none of the Assault Guard small arms could damage them.

Nothing much happened at all on the right flank. There were never enough Legion in play to threaten it, so the garrison sat tight and banked the points for the objective and surrounding buildings.

All quiet on the Legion right flank:



Legion left flank being rolled up:



Key conclusions:

• The pre-game phase is a bit of fun to determine who chooses their on-table posture (defence or attack) but can have far-reaching consequences when there is a significant gap between the two players' pre-game scores
• The main rules are straightforward and easily memorised (probably rather more so than other RFCM rules I have played, notably since this set has borrowed many of the more streamlined mechanisms from other sets – PBI and MOCB in particular) whilst still allowing a wide range of force compositions – each with their own particular flavour - and offering a good degree of tactical flexibility to players
• It's handy to have something in one's force that can take on armoured cars and tanks, which can otherwise roam the table at speed and with relative impunity
• The choice of which 3 assets to select [unlike Square Bashing, you can't have the choice of all from a given army list...] for each game is important
• HE shells can be very effective at both killing and hammering (=pinning) bases
• It can be useful to hold back a few asset points, to keep one's opponent guessing as to what treats might be in store for them if the dice gods are against them
• You do need a fair bit of scenery
• A basic 10-base platoon can be fragile: adding  LMGs and MMGs both increase firepower considerably and make them more resilient
• Infantry advancing in the open [albeit a historical "tactic"] are [equally historically] highly likely to get chewed up
• Dead ground, woods and partial scenery can help provide an avenue for assault [as long as those pieces don't get moved in the deployment phase]
• It is easy to get one's platoons mixed up: clear differentiation between each is important
• The game can play very quickly both in game and real time [our second one was over in about an hour]: players need to push on quickly to enact their plans
• I felt that the grid worked well and did not get in the way, allowing a focus on the wider picture

Finally, a well-deserved cup of tea for my congenial host, following his double victory:

[martin goddard]

Nice pictures, can I have them (jpeg?)for the website too Simon?

[Colonel Kilgore]

Martin,

Thank you, and of course - I will email them to you tomorrow.

And, if you use something other than Tinypics to host them, you have a fighting chance of them being the right way around!

[Simon]

Any estimates of likely publication date?

Thanks

Simon