More for OpSquad

A collection of thoughts regarding weapons not included in the rulebook that perhaps should be:

Rifle Grenades:The rifle-grenade fires, using a bullet-catching device, an explosive charge over long distances, giving infantry squads a handy extra 'punch' in combat. As such, the following stats may be used to represent this:

Rifle Grenade: Short +1d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A),
Single Shot
The rifleman may alternatively use his rifle as a standard weapon of its type, e.g. a Kar 98K or an SMLE.


Shoulder-Launched Anti-Tank Rockets: There are two significant types of man-portable anti-tank rocket launchers; the re-loadable Panzerschreck or Bazooka, and the single-shot Panzerfaust. As such, they really require two different statlines:

Panzerfaust: Short +2d6, Normal -, Long N/E, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1 10(A), One Shot, Bunker Buster

Bazooka (etc): Short +2d6, Normal +1d6, Long -, Extreme N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 10(A), Single Shot, Support Weapon, Cumbersome

One Shot: May only be fired once per game.
Bunker Buster: -1d6 from any cover.

Incendiary Weapons: By which I mean Molotov cocktails, flamethrowers, and WP grenades.

Molotov Cocktails, WP Grenades: Short +1d6, Normal/Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire 1, 5(A), Minimum Range 10, Incendiary
Flamethrowers: Short +3d6, Normal +2d6, Long/Extreme: N/E, Rate of Fire Special, Incendiary, Cumbersome

Incendiary: Any figure hit by an incendiary weapon will be set on fire. A figure on fire must roll 2d6 each turn, adding one every turn after the first, as though shot (e.g. they can be pinned, wounded or killed). A friendly figure may attempt to put the fire out by spending one turn in base contact with them, and rolling 10 or more on 2d6 + VT.
Rate of Fire Special: Draw a straight line from the flamethrower operator up to a maximum of 50cm. Anyone within 3cm of the line is hit.

And, lastly, Body Armour: Rarely worn, but most of all by Red Army assault squads and combat engineers, WWII body armour comprised sheets of shaped steel. Any figure wearing body armour may roll an extra d6 when being shot at.

I'm sure those will alter as playtesting reveals the kinks and weaknesses, but should suffice for now. In the meantime, I've built the first four Germans for my late-war Eastern Front force, and worked out what I'm getting for my 1944 Western Front stuff - two boxes of Dragon British Infantry, a box of Tamiya British, and a couple of boxes of Tamiya Germans (which I intend to paint up as straight German Whermacht, rather than my late-war W-SS/random squad). So in the end I'll have two German squads, a Russian squad (from Zvezda) and a British squad. Depending on how that pans out, I may splash out and get some US Airborne or something as well.

Thoughts On Operation Squad, or: Last Post Before Pics

Right, so I don't forget, here are my current thoughts on modifying Operation Squad for 1/35 and general play:

1/35 modifications:
Ranges: all ranges increase by 50%. Area effect of grenades and mortars increases by 5cm each.
Movement: 10cm becomes 15cm, 15cm becomes 20cm, 20cm becomes 30cm.
MGs and Assistants: Assistants must be within 3cm of the gunner, rather than in base contact.
Table size: 6' x 4' rather than 4' by 4' is preferred.

General modifications:
Motivation: This is scenario dependent. Squads can be classed as having LOW, NORMAL, or HIGH motivation. A squad with LOW motivation reduces its Break Point by 1, while a HIGH motivation squad increases it by 1. Note this does not affect the number of figures in the squad.
Shoulder-launched AT Weapons: E.g. Bazooka, Panzerfaust. They act as direct-fire weapons as follows:

SHORT: +2d6 NORMAL: +1d6 LONG: N/A EXTREME: N/A
Characteristics: Single Shot, Support Weapon, A(10)

Multi-Player Games: 4-8 players. I recommend that each player takes a Squad, with one player taking a Platoon Command Squad, or acting as the force commander. Each Squad should have an objective, which should in turn act towards the force objective(s). Platoon Commanders should issue orders before the game starts, and if they wish to alter these orders may only do so if either:
1) Their figure is within 20cm (28mm) or 30cm (1/35) of the squad leader he is giving new orders to, and with a clear LOS; the Platoon Commander must also be visible to the Squad Leader (i.e. in his 180 degree field of vision).
2) Send a runner from his squad to the other; the runner must use RUN actions where possible to get to the Squad Leader in question as quickly as possible. Once within 5 (or 10) cm of the Squad Leader, the orders may be relayed as a single Action on the runner's part.

What do you think? I reckon those mods will be easy to use and improve play, at least for me. Next post - pics. Promise!

A New Obsession (Oh Help! Oh No! It's A Wargamerlo!)

Thanks to my commission work, I have rediscovered the joys of 1/35th military figures. So much so, in fact, that I have purchased a copy of Torriani and Del Castello's Operation Squad WWII rules (from work, ahahaha) and some 1/35 Dragon late war Germans to start with. I have on order (from work) a few sets of Russians to oppose the Fascist Vipers, and I intend to do them all with winter bases for games set in the winter of '44-'45. Which allows me access to all the funky toys like StG-44s and Russians with body armour. And, of course, old men and young girls fighting to defend the Vaterland!

Not to mention, of course, the Lithuanians, Spaniards, French, Latvians, Danes, Belgians, Italians, Dutch, Estonians, Russians, Ukranians... etc etc. I'd gleefully paint their national shields but, sadly, all my Panzergrenadiers are in thick winter gear or camo tunics.

Terrain will be fun, too, and I think that I may have to make a few alterations to the rules. Chiefly, increasing all the weapon ranges by 50% and removing the bloody stupid tournament-based points system. Frankly I don't give a damn about points in historical games; I'd much rather do it by scenario requirements.

Should be fun, especially as my dad is going to have his shed wargames-room-ified by the end of the year.

My current thoughts on my German squad org are something as follows:

1iC with StG-44
2iC with MP-40
2 PzGrn with MG42 and G43
8 PzGrn with a mix of K98, G43, MP-40 and StG-44

Leaven with a couple of panzerfausts, stick grenades, etc... job's a good 'un!

Oh - and there'll be another post tonight: WITH PICTURES