Modified Morschauser's Modern Rules Ramblings

I've been reading through some of the many rules that I own (some of which - wonders of wonders - I have even played)  and game reports on various blogs and this has had me thinking of some of the things that are "missing" from the Morschauser modern rules. I can only blame this on the sickness that seems to afflict most wargamers with the unceasing urge to tinker with rules in search of some ever elusive holy grail.

As written, for the types of games I have been playing (1 stand = 1 platoon, as with Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargame WW2 rules), there really isn't anything wrong with the rules. Yes, they're missing mortars, but that's easily rectified. There's also no adjustment for cover but I simply reduce the chance to hit - for example, instead of 4 or 6, they only hit on 6, regardless of the type of cover.

But, as a result of all of that reading I have done lately, I decided to try my hand at fielding a company sized battle, but with 1 base = 1 squad. And at that level of detail, I felt, again inspired by my reading, that 1) there should be reaction fire and 2) different types of cover should have different effects. I also began to question the ranges given in Morschauser and if they were suitable for such a low-level game, where, "realistically" the whole table would be within range of everything that can shoot.

As you can see I opened up a can of worms rather quickly.

Let me save you the trouble of reading further if you have limited time: I didn't like the end result and I'll try some different rules for that level of game. At least until I decide to try this experiment again.

US Infantry assault a German squad in the woods to the east of the objective.

For reaction fire, I reasoned that it, like cover should be at reduced effectiveness (as it is in a number of rule sets). Except that meant that if a unit was reacting to a unit that moved but was in cover, that would mean nothing but an MG could hit it. I can buy that for hard cover, but for the edge of forests, high grass, fields? That didn't seem right.

I then thought, instead of using one die per stand as I do, I could use one per roster point as Morschauser suggests. Then I could reduce effectiveness by one die for cover, and a second die for reaction fire. But what happens when you're down to 2 strength points? Or 1? The original problem returns.

Finally, I decided, that since shooting at a unit in the open should be easier, I would give everyone two dice to attack. The second die would be dropped for reaction fire. I would use my original adjustments for cover (6 instead of 4 or 6 for all but MGs, who hit on a 4 or 6 instead of 2, 4, or  6).

I decided to forgo the effect of different types of cover. Cover would be cover and that was that. Mostly because the scenario I was playing had only forest for cover anyway. Lazy, I know.

For ranges, I kept movement the same, but made the rest of the table in range for firearms.

The proof would be in the pudding. For a scenario, I used the hill from Dick Bryant's small 2x2 Crossfire scenarios, expanded to 4' x 4' given my base sizes and figure scale and leaving out everything except the infantry and heavy weapons teams (so no artillery, no mine fields, etc. as those would require further modifications).

In theory, my changes don't seem all that dramatic, but something about the games (I played the same scenario three times, each time tweaking things here and there) felt off.

Perhaps it was just my indecision about the changes, the grey areas around the rule edges, etc. and more play and time would change my mind, but, for now, I have decided that instead of trying to change Morschauser's Modern rules, who's appeal to me is that it's very much playing with toy soldiers, I will use a different set of rules for this type of game (1 base = 1 squad, up to a company with support on the table).

Nordic Weasel's FiveCore: Company Command  has a number of ideas that I like, especially that you can't target a weapon's team if there's a unit of infantry nearby (I'm not sure about the reality or reasoning, but I like how it will preserve the weapon a bit longer). I already own it, which is another plus. Other options I have in my collection include Blitzkrieg Commander and David Newport's Tactical Combat rules (available for free via Lone Warrior). I like both of these rule sets and have played them both a number of times.

I hope to get a game in tonight of the same scenario but with Company Command as the rules.