Slitherine

Hi all,

I was thinking of designing some scenarios using the scale used in "Rapid Fire" miniatures game. Basically, a tank/vehicle/gun is about 1 platoon. Each figure is about 15 men. I think that it should translate well at this scale. Usually a battalion is listed as a number of figures and some weapons associated with it. Each weapon is "manned" by some of the figures drawn from the pool. So, as an example, an American Battalion might be something like 45 figures. The battalion has 2 bazookas a mortar a 30 cal and a 50 cal. Each heavy would require 2 figures reducing the count to 37. There would be 3 companies each of 10 men. That would translate into 30 figures divided by five or 10 stands of infantry. That leaves 7 figures left over for the command section. Maybe 3 figures for a scout and another infantry unit to round things out.

Tank Battalions would be a bit easier to decipher. An American tank battalion has 3 companies of main battle tanks and a company of light tanks. Each company would have 3 tanks (platoons). So that would be 9 MBTs and 3 light tanks. There is also a command section of 1 tank. So the American battalion would have 13 tanks in all.

I would leave off the support vehicles (like recovery tanks) since they usually are not represented in game. I'd also add a truck or two where it makes sense. You need trucks to move your mortars and heavy MGs for instance.

Here are some free scenarios worth trying for this experiment. http://www.rapid-fire.uk.com/scenarios.htm

I was thinking of making the game board a standard 64X32 since there will probably be a high figure count in the game.

Question about fair use. Do you think there would be a problem using the game books as a source? Much of the actual game would not be listed so nobody could, for instance, crack open the scenario and glean how to setup a Rapid Fire battalion per the RF game. I would not be organizing by company and the unit make-ups would be at least a little different. Maps would also be somewhat different.

John

There should be a disclaimer/copyright page near the front of the rulebook that tells you what you can and cannot do with the content.

I would think that for your own use or to share for free it would be allowed.

I have posted a few tips here and there for creating scenarios. If the book has diagrams or pictures of maps you may want to scan them in to your computer to use as a guide for your maps.

Check my Manual Additions post for how distance works in BA. You may have to adjust your map size for gameplay.

You may say that a tank represents a company of tanks but what do you do about the roads and buildings?

Good luck and ask questions.

junk2drive wrote:There should be a disclaimer/copyright page near the front of the rulebook that tells you what you can and cannot do with the content.

I would think that for your own use or to share for free it would be allowed.

I have posted a few tips here and there for creating scenarios. If the book has diagrams or pictures of maps you may want to scan them in to your computer to use as a guide for your maps.

Check my Manual Additions post for how distance works in BA. You may have to adjust your map size for gameplay.

You may say that a tank represents a company of tanks but what do you do about the roads and buildings?

Good luck and ask questions.

Disclaimer?! never thought of that! I'll check tonight.

I think I've seen your tips. They have been very helpful!

The scale of RF is 1 tank = 1 platoon. I think it will work well with BA as 1 stand will essentially be about 1 platoon too. The scenarios I've seen are infantry heavy anyway, with about 1 battalion of tanks on the field at a given time. So 10 tanks to say 30 infantry units? Not bad at all.

Buildings would represent a cluster of buildings. RF has sort of a toy soldier battle game look to it...much like BA does. So, I think RF lends itself to BA pretty well.

John

I think it's a good idea. I used a Flames of War scenario as the base ofr my Hells Highway scenario. Looking forward to seeing whatever you produce and as J2D says if you need help just shout up.

Sounds like a cool mod!

acarhj wrote: Basically, a tank/vehicle/gun is about 1 platoon.

Ok ... I can help with this if you need it. As you know, BA can only have 1 tank/vehicle/gun per unit, unlike the "men" which are limited to 5.

So ... I know how to turn your 1-Tank unit into a platoon of many tanks, using code and displaying the info on the UI.

That is, of course, if you need to count down unit strength peicemeal.

Merr wrote:Sounds like a cool mod!

acarhj wrote: Basically, a tank/vehicle/gun is about 1 platoon.

Ok ... I can help with this if you need it. As you know, BA can only have 1 tank/vehicle/gun per unit, unlike the "men" which are limited to 5.

So ... I know how to turn your 1-Tank unit into a platoon of many tanks, using code and displaying the info on the UI.

That is, of course, if you need to count down unit strength peicemeal.

It's mainly a scale thing. 1 tank represents a platoon of 3-5 vehicles. The game plays the same. Honestly, it is window dressing. Nothing more.

Hi acarhj

Sounds like a good idea. Were you thinking of making it as Rapid Fire mod, e.g. adjusting vehicle/unit stats, calculation of unit damage/kill, or using the RF scenarios and OOBs but keeping the actual game mechanics as they are?

Cheers

PirateJock wrote:Hi acarhj

Sounds like a good idea. Were you thinking of making it as Rapid Fire mod, e.g. adjusting vehicle/unit stats, calculation of unit damage/kill, or using the RF scenarios and OOBs but keeping the actual game mechanics as they are?

Cheers

Just using the scenario books as the OOB. I will change it enough so that the scenarios are not completely 1-1 translation. I think I have to do this anyway simply because there will be some units that don't exist between games. The 40mm Bofors for instance could be a Portee version of the Bofors in BA.