Fistful of TOWs 3 Books Out

[voltigeur]

1. Overwatch slows the game down, especially when it interrupts enemy moves. The penalty encourages players to not slow the game down gratuitously.

Your penalizing a legitimate and established Armor Tactic because it "slows the game down"?

Really?

[piersyf]

I'm a little confused... I have always been under the impression that we are not allowed to post direct links to commercial sites on this forum, yet that is all this thread is intended to do, and has yet to be commented on by a moderator. Would the moderators please explain the limits to this rule?

[ferret701]

I've played a ton of FFT2. Here are a few thoughts on this:

With the platoon-scale BMP conversions, I believe FFT used 3-model companies because there were, at least theoretically, some 13-vehicle companies at the end of the cold war. That said, I believe they would have been rare, and 10-vehicle companies the norm.

As for overwatch, it represents a platoon firing on a moving platoon, with a limited window of opportunity to get shots at all the targets, hence the penalty.

[paul]

Are any of the FFT rules setup for 1:1? I prefer playing at that level and was wondering how much of an issue it is to switch from 1:5 to 1:1 if there are not any rules already setup for that level.

[kfeltenberger]

Are any of the FFT rules setup for 1:1? I prefer playing at that level and was wondering how much of an issue it is to switch from 1:5 to 1:1 if there are not any rules already setup for that level.

There's one page that discusses changing the scale. It doesn't go into a lot of depth and allows the player to set many of the parameters. That one page was the only thing that convinced me to buy the rules and read them as I steadfastly refuse to play anything other than a 1:1 vehicle scale game.

That said, the monkey wrench is in the point cost for the vehicles. If each stand is a platoon, then you get some vehicles grossly overvalued (those with three vehicle platoons like the modern Israeli formations) or grossly undervalued (those with four (or more) vehicle platoons like most US formations).

The original rules (page 29) state that one miniature is between 4 and 6 vehicles. So this could mean that it's 1 US M-1A1 platoon or conceivably two Merkava IV platoons. Or some mix inbetween. For something that is using points to build opposing forces rather than agreed TOEs, IMO this is a major fail as reduces the maneuver elements to a ridiculously low number at best, and splits up platoons at worst.

[paul]

Thanks Kurt for the update. I agree using platoons does reduce the maneuvering in the battle. That is why I also like 1:1.