A Change of Pace: Returning to Grid-based Games

While contemplating the games I enjoy playing and the kinds of games I want to play for WWII, I realized that I really want a higher level game where the result is something like the battle descriptions you read on Wikipedia (I know, I set the bar high). Grids seem like the easiest way to do this without a large investment in additional figures and time spent painting them as they make abstracting an easier prospect, at least for me.

2012, playing"Pacific Assault" rules from Lone Warrior. 

My gaming cloth already has a 6" grid on one side, from that time a few years ago when I had a 4' x 4' table top (which I do again, thanks to a plywood acquisition). Of course, that didn't stop me from contemplating grid sizes from 3" up to 6" and agonizing over it for a few days before settling on exactly where I started.

2014. This is a Crossfire scenario called "Stug Smuggling" from lloydianaspects.co.uk
Converted to The Portable Wargame

To my own surprise, it turns out, I have very definite opinions about what different numbers of figures can represent and in what layouts they can represent them, so it took more time than I expected to make a decision on exactly what number/arrangement of figures I would use and what size unit they would represent..

After an hour or more of manipulating figures and taking pictures and analyzing my reactions to them, I determined that three or four figures in a line seems to work for my brain with respect to calling each unit a battalion (the de facto assumption for The Portable Wargame from what I can figure. Although I get that they can be whatever you want, I think from the perspective of converting scenarios, historical and otherwise, it helps to have a clear idea of what you're working with).

I hope to get in a small 6 space x 6 space game of The Portable Wargame in, using a scenario from One Hour Wargamesm tonight, to see if my decisions really do work in practice.