Take the High Ground!

 Late Saturday night, I came up with an idea for simple set of rules that I wanted to try out. Having long wanted to put one of Stuart Asquith's scenarios from Guide to Solo Wargaming on the table, I flipped through that volume and chose Take the Highground (Hence the title of this post).

It was "snowy" Sunday (a rarity in Atlanta but there was no accumulation - thankfully. People down here do not understand how to drive in snow of any amount) and seemed like the perfect day for tea and a wargame. I dutifully laid out the table for the first figure game of 2022 and set about trying my rules. 

Meh.

While not a terrible game, it seemed edge cases and questions arose on nearly every turn. This greatly slowed the pace and enjoyment of what was supposed to be a faster playing game.

On the plus side, the idea seems solid to me (more details in a future post), but there is much tweaking to do, if I choose to pursue the idea, including figuring out exactly what I'm after, as these were rules about the mechanism and not about the result I want. A poor design approach, clearly.

The game did have some good moments, like this. The Soviet T-34 had been knocked out, and the ZiS-3 and Panzer IV engaged in a duel that the plucky gun crew won.

Feeling unsatisfied, I set up the table again. I started to play straight rules-as-written Morschauser's modern rules, but the lack of reaction fire wasn't squaring with me. This is the problem with having opinions about the period. I think had I just called the "trays" (Morschauser's term) platoons in my head, then I wouldn't have cared, but I was thinking the trays were squads this time and I can't imagine squads not firing in reaction.

So, I threw together some tweaks - my usual for cover, strength points, plus added a reaction fire option, added leaders (Platoon and Company in this case), morale (stolen from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit), and Pinned and Paralyzed states. It sounds like a lot, but they very simple add-ons and were not so much complication as a little more flavor.

I probably take this picture every game these figures are in.

Mortar unit moves up behind woods - Morschauser has no mortars, but they are easily added. I added a rule on the fly that the Platoon Leader could spot for them.

The Soviets advance as seen from the German side of the table. Morschauser has no cover rules - so as I always do wth my Morschuaser modern variants, I used 4/6 hit in open, 6 only if target in cover. MGs are 2/4/6 in open, 4/6 if target in cover.

One of my favorite features of Morschauser is that infantry anti-tank grenades are accounted for (and as they appear in nearly every Soviet and Russian WWII movie I have watched, they are pretty common at least in cinema). Here the Soviet rifle units assault the Panzer IV. The other favorite rule from Morschauser - the tank overrunning the infantry - came into play a moment, after this unsuccessful attack.

The German position consolidates around the right hill. The T-34 has been paralyzed by a hit from the Panzer IV - they'll need a morale check with the aid of the commander next turn. The ZiS couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Not pictured - another Soviet rifle group charges the German armor, hits it with AT grenades and destroys it. A moment later the Soviet rifles on the right took out one of the German rifle units. With a shell of a force, the German leader ordered the remaining troops to fall back. 

Much better.  It had the right feel of toy soldiers "plus".  That is, just a little extra to feel more period representative to my mind. And by period, like history learned from war movies.

The only thing I might change is the way damage works for armor when the trays are squads. In this case, the tank is likely one tank. Because I don't use Morschauser's attack with d6 per strength but instead roll 1d6 for the tray (as if there were no strength points) which deals at most 1 point of damage. So, a tank can never be destroyed in one round of combat - which doesn't feel right.  

Featherstone's method from War Games could be the basis for the new approach. It allows for a range of results, from nothing, to forced back, to destroyed. I'll play with it a bit - maybe turn one of the force back results into a loss of 1 strength point.

When it represents two or three tanks, then I think wearing away the unit makes more sense and no change is needed.

In any case, the itch was scratched, and I got to spend some time pushing toy soldiers around and rolling dice, while staying warm,