WW2 Tank Battle With Lardie Rules Mismash!

Just got done with a great WW2 tank battle in 15mm that my buddy put together using several TFL rulesets. He incorporated elements from Chain of Command, What A Tanker, and even Sharp Practice. He had already playtested them before, and to be honest, it flowed really well. I've played a few games of the three sets in the past (mostly at my buddy's place), so a lot of it was familiar. I was on the German side with two Panzer IVs. In fact, our side had a total of 9 Panzer IVs, and the Americans had 12 Shermans, one of which had a 76mm, one a 105mm, and one a Jumbo in heavy armor - basically the same armor as a Tiger for gaming purposes.

Activation was random by chits being pulled from a bag (I suppose this is similar with Bolt Action too). Besides units (mostly 2 tanks or a single command tank), the bag also contained several Flags per side and Tiffin chits. Flags could be used for actions like failed activations or improving hit or saves. Pulling 3 Flags in a row allowed the last player who activated to take another turn - I think something like this is in Sharp Practice, maybe. The Tiffin ended a turn, as in Sharp Practice. Command Morale points were used per side as in Chain of Command - this was tied into the amount of Flag chits remained in the game. Also, when a side's Morale points went to zero, the game ended; in this case the Germans lost after 9 turns. We had the better of the Americans early on, one of my Panzer IVs took out their 76mm Sherman. Two other Shermans were taken out by another German player. However, towards the end of the game, the Americans took out 3 of our Panzer IVs, and our command tank was immobilized. All in all, it was a very nice game and great to catch up with old friends - there was a total of 8 players. My buddy who hosted the game will be putting together a report and hopefully QRS for the rules for future games.

The red die marker is for Shock. If successfully activated the next turn, 1 Shock is removed. Normal activation required a 5+ for the Americans, and 4+ for the Germans with a roll of 2D6. Shock points were added to this base score - so having upwards of 3 or 4 Shock Points made it difficult to activate.

My buddy had a great table layout and terrain. There was a lot of good cover and concealment for manuevering, but also a lot of areas with good LOS. The range was the full table length, but max effective ranges (without suffering minus penalties) was 60" for the German 75mm and Shermans with 76mm and 105mm guns; and 50'' for the 75mm Shermans. Each piece of soft terrain like hedges added a minus 1 to the To Hit score - the base score being 5+ on a D6. Successful hits were followed by damage rolls by the shooter, and save rolls by the target. These scores were then checked against a Chain of Command table for damage results - if enough damage was inflicted. This think this is borrowed from What A Tanker.

Movement and/or shooting was made after a successful activation roll. You could move up to 3D6 moves. The Germans were allowed to shoot after 1 move, and the Americans could shoot after 2 moves - something to do with their better suspension system. You could also move after shooting if he had not used the full 3 initially. Oh, and I should add, my buddy made his own movement D6's. He left off the 1 and replaced it with a 7 - he said he said 1 inch moves were useless.

Those are my two Panzer IVs in the picture above. Each having 1 Shock apiece after being hit earlier. No damage was sustained, and the Shocks were removed after successful activations in the next turn.

My buddy wanted us to use the grey dice to show how many D6 moves were used. We sort stopped doing this as the game went on, as it was fairly easy to remember without using markers.

I also started on the 1/16th scale Mycenaean warrior. Pretty simple color palette - bronze, flesh, and a few other colors. I will give the Tower Shield a hide pattern.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog updates. Wishing you all a great and safe summer.