WW2 my draft rules, Take Cover and their replays

This page is a placeholder for ramblings on my draft WW2 rules, and also Take Cover!!, the rules that have been the main inspiration for my rules.


Background
Generally not interested in skirmish rules although all the rules I first played (Cambrai to Sinai, Tractics) were skirmish.  And one of my favourites, Take Cover, plays a bit like a skirmish game.  My sweet spot is running a battalion on a table, but don't mind a company level game.  I Prefer a base = 1 squad.

Currently I don't have much time and have small children so cannot set up a game and leave it for a while.  But I have acquired some 6mm armies, and have a 2'x2' table in a drawer.  I try out my rules using both 6mm and 20mm, converting from 20mm scale using inches to use centimetres.

East Front 1943 Company campaign. 6mm.

Following a Russian company in a small campaign on the East Front.  Missions based on Platoon Forward.

Game 01 (using my 6mm Platoon advance to cover rules)

NUTS! Comic style skirmish reports
3rd Company
Game 01 - 28th June 1944 Cheux Normandy
Game 02 - 30 June 1944 North of Cheux Normandy
Game 03 - 30 June 1944 North of Cheux still Normandy
Game 04 - Early July 1944 North of Cheux still Normandy

Other units
Game 01 - 29 June 1944 Normandy near Les Saulets 

Take Cover
Review posted.
Take Cover Amendments PDF
20mm battle report, east front
20mm battle report, western front 1944
20mm battle report, eastern front 1942

6mm Advance to Cover company rules
Modified the battalion level rules to work at company level - halved distance scale (1:450 now); infantry now 1:3 from 1:10 and vehicles now 1:1)
I am using these rules to help create historical scenarios based on the Hampshire regiment battles July 1944 - March 1945
D Company at La Londres - Normandy 31 July 1944
B and C Company at Contour 180  - Normandy 31 July 1944


Advance to Cover (2015. Very much the same as Advancing Battalions but with minor changes)
Operation Jupiter
Game 01 - Les Duanes Farm complex (January 2015)
Game 02 - Horseshoe Wood (January 2015)
Game 03 - barn at Chateau de Fontaine (January 2015)
Game 04 - Wicked Wyverns (January 2015)
Game 05 - The Ridge (January 2015)
Game 06 - The Edge of Town (January 2016)
Game 07 - Château de Eterville (January 2016)
Game 08 - Counterattack (January 2016)
Game 09 - East of the summit (played July 2016 but not written up yet)
Game 10 - Enter the Tiger (played July 2016 but not written up yet)
Game 11 - Somerset LIs Attack on Point 112 (played July 2016 but not written up yet)
Game 12 - Schwerpunkt (played July 2016 but not written up yet)
Game 13 - Form a Defensive Flank (January 2017) with 12yo
Game 14 - Crest of the Hill (January 2017)  with 12yo
Game 15 - Attack on Louvigny (January 2017)  with 12yo

Game 16 - Trouble Near le Mesnil (January 2021) with 12yo (different 12yo!)

Operation Jupiter 17 - Crossfire at the Woods (December 2021)

Game 18 - Maltot under siege (June 2024)
Game 19 - Not played yet

Game 20 - Secure the Village (July 2024)

Game 21 - Counterattack at Maltot (July 2024)

Game 22 - Jabos (August 2024)

Game 23 - Into the Jaws of Death (August 2024)

Game 24 - Edge of Maltot (August 2024)

Game 25 - Not played yet

Game 26 - Point 112 (September 2024)

Game 27 - Regain the Point (September 2024)

Game 28 - Edge of the Plateau (September 2024)

Game 29 - Alone on the Hill (September 2024)

Game 30 - last one in book.  Not played yet.

Advancing Battalions (New late 2013 homegrown rules)
20mm battle report, western front 1944 played with a 9 year old
20mm battle report, eastern front 1942 played with a 9 year old (2nd game)
20mm battle report, eastern front 1942 played with a 9 year old'd dad
20 mm battle report, western front 1944 played with 9 year old (3rd game)

Normandy Operation Goodwood mini-Campaign using Advancing Battalions
Game 1 - Screening Cagney
Game 2 - Oemler's counter attack
Game 3 - Emieville Charge
Game 4 - Evening assault upon Cagny
Game 5 - Capturing Le Poirer
Game 6 - Assault on Frenouville
Game 7 (last one) - Assault on Chateau St Pierre D'Oursin
 
Advancing Platoons (6mm 12x12 gridded rules)
Game 1 - East Front 1942
Game 2 - East Front 1942

Vyazma or Bust mini-campaign (Take Cover derivatives)
6mm battle report, east front 1941 (Izdeshkovo)
6mm battle report, east front 1941(Belyi)
6mm battle report, east front 1941 (Floznia)
6mm battle report, east front 1941 (outskirts of Yelna)
6mm battle report, east front 1941 (centre of Yelna)

The above played out the mini-campaign.  I went back and played the scenarios in the book I did not play as part of the campaign:
6mm battle report east front  1941 (Urk) using FiveCore Company Command
6mm battle report east front 1941 (Outskirts of Vyazma) using my own Advance to cover

Battlegroup Kursk
First game and thoughts on the game
Second game (Squad level)
Third Game (Squad Level)

Modern Games
1986 British Vs soviets 6mm using Tank Wreck!


Rules below are listed from newest to oldest.

Platoon Advance to Cover (2018)
These are rules for playing with 6mm bases on a 12x12 gridded surface.  They are based off my draft Company Advance to Cover and Section Advance to Cover (the latter two not yet in a fit state to publish).  I have used them in a few games but the artillery and vehicle rules are not tested.

Link to the rules: ww2x2 Platoon advance to cover v1.0m.pdf

Section Advance to Cover (2017) not yet published
I took the Company Advance to Cover rules and the rules I had used to play some 1:1 games (comic style reports above) and created some rules for 1:1 skirmish games with about 5-12 figures a side.  The change from my older skirmish rules is modifying the number of dice rolled rather than adding or subtracting modifiers to a single dice. The rules are a QRS and about 2 pages of notes and so not ready to share.

Company Advance to Cover (2016) not yet published
As indicated below, I have redrafted Advance to cover to work at company level.  I  continue to use modifying the number of dice rolled rather than adding or subtracting modifiers to a single dice.  They are designed to work with both 6mm  (measuring in cm and 1 base =1 squad) and 20mm (measuring in inches and 3 figures = 1 section).  I have not completed writing the rules but have played a couple of games.


Advance to Cover (2014)
This is the "sequel" to Advancing Battalions.  It is really just a slight refinement of Advancing Battalions after the Operation Goodwood scenarios.  It also has some suggestions for using them for company level rules but I am thinking of creating specific company level rules with a lower ground scale.  It is also better formatted.  I have used them a few times already and am happy with them and can see I will be using these for my 20mm and 6mm games for some time.

This is the link to the latest version of the rules - Advance to Cover V1.0d (January 2015)

Advancing Battalions - 20mm WW2 rules (2014)
These rules I have used for 4 games in the Operation Goodwood mini-campaign (see above) and so far and working fine.  They are loosely based on the 6mm WW2x2 rules derived from MWR and Take Cover rules and the 20mm Open Fire rules below.  I made infantry combat faster, have gone for simple card activation and simplified morale but went back to die rolling for spotting. 

This is the link to the latest version of the rules - ww2x2 Advancing Battalions v1.0d (May 2014)

I am likely to be using these as a basis for playing both 20mm and 6mm (just by converting to cm) as they are hitting my sweet spot for playability Vs what I am willing to compromise on for historical feel.  I do need to differentiate nationalities a little more.  I have some ideas there but have not tested them out yet.

This is a slightly faster version that uses more dice rather than modifiers. I have used to play 3 games against a nine year old:  WW2x2 Fast v1.0c (April 2014)

6mm WW2x2 rules derived from MWR and Take Cover!! (2013)
These rules I have used once (the Centre of Yelna 6mm report) so far and worked fine.  I wanted to streamline the Take Cover rules, simplify spotting and use a modified version of combat derived from Irregular Miniatures Mechanised Warfare Rules. 

This is the link to the latest version of the rules - WW2x2 MWR 1.0f April 2013. Changes from last version is a few minor clarifications.  I have played these a few times, and were the result of a few games of playtesting.  I like them.

20mm WW2x2 Open Fire rules based on Take Cover!! (2013)
I expanded the rules below from 2 pages out to four and included aircraft and engineering rules as well.  There is an extra 1 page of vehicle classifications and a 1 page reference sheet.  6 pages in all.  The rules go back to be closer to Take Cover!! - the main differences from Take Cover!! are:

• a different turn sequence (particularly morale is first not last in the turn)
• streamlined to hit table (one table rather than 3 for HE, Infantry and Anti Tank)
• no ricochets or bail out tests
• simpler aircraft rules and vehicle damage results.

Otherwise it is similar in mechanics to Take Cover!!  Played these rules (once) and I needed to make no changes to the rules, a good sign.  The only thing I may do in the future is add in some of the nationality characteristics that were scattered through the original rules and add in some more spacing for a better layout and the expense of adding in a page or two.

This is a link to the latest copy of the rules - ww2x2 take cover open fire v2.0d  (December 2013)

2 page WW2x2 rules based on Take Cover!! (2012)
Take Cover!! is long out of print and I tinker with my version of those rules incessantly.  Over the last few years I have been jealous of the Pz8 two page WW2 rules.  So I thought - can I get my version of Take Cover!! onto 2 pages?  It was not as hard as I thought. The rules have come out VERY dense though - it is still similar in complexity to Rapid Fire, and would have twice the rules of the Pz8 WW2 rules.  But I have used them once so far - 6mm battle report, east front 1941 (outskirts of Yelna) - and liked how they went.

Here is the link to the WW2x2 rules version 1.1b January 2013. I expanded them out from 2 pages and this became the rules described in the earlier section above.