"The Game" and Bocage

[General Retreat]

I recall somewhere in GHQ’s literature (pre-Web page days) their assertion that their system—principally Terrain Maker—gave infantry the cover necessary to survive on the modern battlefield. And I agreed. Key to this is the Bocage of Normandy. Accordingly, I created a lot of Bocage in my early days. But the gaming systems I used weren’t satisfying. Given a copy of John Fernandes’ WWII Micro Armour: The Game, I concluded I had a system worth investing in. And an investment it is because I’ve mounted every last unit on one inch square steel plates I’ve procured locally. (Sixty bucks just for the plates so far.) Also spent a lot of time gluing terrain on those things to look like the pics in the book.

The other big change: the terrain itself. I’ve removed all permanent trees and structures from the hexes to facilitate movement. Trees, buildings, boulders, etc. are movable now. I’ve given away some realism for playability. (I intend to show photos in another post … someday.)

Also gone are the Bocage hedgerows, read: walls. Like trees, the mounted units don’t do well on them. Walls don’t work well with platoon-sized units either. Beyond that, the book doesn’t have a Bocage terrain type. This is somewhat understandable but it does mean the end to GHQ Bocage system. I suppose I can draw flat hedgerows on terrain hexes but the question remains: how does it affect combat?

I have an idea or two but thought I’d toss this up for the crowd. Remember: WWII Micro Armour: The Game rules and flat terrain hexes.

[WargameHub]

I would treat it as closed off, on the edge to fire and that's it, otherwise can't be seen.

[RedLeif]

The scale of MATG can present a challenge for map builders. I was creating a foam 3D terrain board for a large scale Stonne scenario based on maps from a board game by "The Gamers". 1/285 scale buildings are in scale with the combat models but a roughly 1"x1" building model fills a 100x100 yard/meter area of the map. Thus 1 building is a small village or several blocks of a town or city. over the years I've collected some bigger buildings like a roughly 4" x 6" Stalingrad factory model, its so big I've yet to put it on a terrain board (I guess it would be about 1/4 of Stalingrad all by itself).

And if you model the roads to fit the stand size (1" wide) they become much to large for the surrounding terrain to be the right scale. I made 1/4" to 3/8" wide strips of brown or grey cloth for roads and even that looked a little out of scale. So my board began to look more like an enhanced map than a scale model terrain board and I was OK with that, but some gamers are not. The scale terrain just isn't to scale of the map. This is a challenge for some.

As to the combat effects of bocage take a look at the free scenario "Abrams Folly" to see how they handle stone walls. Before I checked that I guessed it would behave something like rough terrain 2 with different movement rules. It would definitely be a good candidate for a special rule in a scenario. I haven't read enough history of the fighting in it to be much help beyond this vague suggestion.

I too would like to see what other scenario designers have done with this terrain type.

regards,
RedLeif

[General Retreat]

Thanks for your ideas, guys. My thought about Bocage would be another terrain type with different cover values for vehicles and non, much like woods and buildings in MATG. But I might not give vehicles any cover advantage since they were at such a disadvantage in Bocage . So maybe "4" for infantry and weapons, zero for armor et al. And maybe not permit overruns in Bocage much as some forbid in towns, too. Another possibility is halving armor defense as one does in close assaults even when simply shot at.

Then, Rhino and Dozer Shermans could redress the imbalance somewhat. Permit overruns . Gain some cover. Might only require one such company in a group of Bocage hex.

Have to think about it and experiment.

[RedLeif]

just another thought on this topic.

I just finished reading the microsquad rules and they cover bocage rules in the terrain effects chart and the rules themselves.

[General Retreat]

Thanks for the tip.

Uh, what are the "microsquad rules?

[RedLeif]

sorry, they are GHQ's new 1:1 scale WWII miniatures rules written by George Christensen, largely based on and an expansion of the platoon scale rules by John Fernandes.

They have some really good ideas in them.

leif

[General Retreat]

Thanks again.