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Note: I'm not trying to step on any toes here, I thought that I would share an idea with other fellow gamers whom are interested in using micro armor with FOW

The last time that my wife and I went to Calgary, I played a Flames of War game against a buddy of mine (played against him quite a bit before moving- lost every time ). Afterwards, we discussed the issue of using micro armor with FOW. So when I got back to my new home, I sat down and wrote up some rules for using it.

If you have the FOW 2ed rule book, on page 23 shows the general layout for Battalions, number of companies and so forth. Using this idea, you would use FOW force outlines for creating a legal list, meaning you must meat the min. requirement for your force without going over the limit for supporting units and points etc.
Each company basically has 3 platoons in each (1 stand= 1 platoon), thus you would need 3 stands for a total of 9 stands in 3 companies, plus what ever attached heavy weapons. Then from there, the player can allocate points towards supporting units, artillery, armor (if an infantry force) anti tank guns etc etc etc. When it comes down to shooting, movement and so forth, all the rules regarding this would be from the Rulebook itself.

Next on the list was points cost. This part gave me a headache but what I came up with (comments would be greatly appreciated) was to purchase the force at the company level. I had thought about it at the platoon level, but that would be expensive in the end. Lets compare- a German player, purchasing a Panther company would need to pay 1210pts for the whole company (3 stands). If it was at the platoon level, then the whole company would be 3630pts. Ouch!!!, thus I stuck with the company level purchase, which is to be paid at the full amount in points. If you look at the 1210pts for the Panther company, those same points is for 5 Panther D (Kursk) tanks in FOW.

Next step on this idea was for the Russians. Hmmm...what to do with them. In FOW, a Soviet player creating a Medium tank battalion for Mid War (42-43) can have up to 2 medium tank companies and up to 2 light tank companies each of which can contain up to 10 tanks for a total of 40 tanks + the HQ tank. If we follow the scale from above (1 stand= 1 platoon/ company) and the player purchases the total points for max amount of tanks, then the player would have 8 tanks, 4 of which would be medium tanks and the other 4 light tanks. (I have this as an option for the Soviet player)

Shooting. Well stays the same, but its for each stand. Thus if a regular stand in FOW has 2 shots, the stand at this battalion scale has 2 shots. In FOW a platoon of panzergrenadiers are classed as MG stands, so 3 shots each if not moving. 7 x 3= 21 shots from the infantry. At the smaller scale, the same ROF but it would only be 9 shots as there is only 3 infantry stands. Same idea for armor, anti tanks guns etc. Ranges are also the same as well, though in my opinion, I would drop the infantry ranges from 16" to 12" and the HMG stands from 24" to 16". To me, having HMG that has the same range as a tank seems completely wrong.

Well, that pretty much sums it up right there. Like I stated at the very top, I'm not trying to step on any toes, so if this gets deleted for that reason, no hurt feelings. If does stay on, I look forward to hearing from others what they think of this idea.

I only have the 1st edition FOW rules. I have played several small battles using microarmor. I just use the rules at 1:1. I base everything on 1" square bases (vehicles and infantry), and keep the ranges the same as they would be in 15mm - at least the ranges come closer to making sense that way. I do halve the movement allowances however. It makes the game much more fire and manuever, as opposed to the charge of the light brigade you usually see. I also prefer using a mixed deck of cards to activate random platoons from each side, rather than IGUG. Each platoon must roll against their training rating to activate, then that platoon can go through its turn. A joker is inserted into the deck and that means the turn is over when it is pulled and the deck is then reshuffled.

Interesting use of the cards probert. I used a system like that many years ago for a skirmish game my group was working on. We wanted to build into the system an easy way to have good soldiers and slackers with a minimum number of die rolls. Each player had a deck of cards, and each soldier was assigned a card value. "Heros" had all four of their cards in the deck; "Good soldiers" had three cards; "regulars" had two; and "slackers" had one. Extra cards like the face cards were sometimes put in to allow for special actions, and we used a joker in each deck to mark the reshuffle point. Players took turns drawing their top card and activating that soldier. I never finished building the system as I moved on to other things, but it was a good starting point.

With my microarmor game today I have an activation roll based upon troop quality which provides a similar function.

I'm planning on much the same. I don't use the cards. Players just alternate platoons. But I do use hidden movement. As for points, I just make up my own (eneven) scenarios. I've got a nice nasty infantry fight I'm working on. First playtest is June 2 (tho I'm using 15mm as my infantry in MA is not finished yet)....

I cut all measurements in half (actually I just use 1/2 scale rulers).

hauptgrate,

The system you describe is similar to the excellent Face of Battle skirmish rules. For FOW I don't use the multiple cards because I am dealing with platoons and not individuals. But I just roll against the platoons training rating. If the roll is not successful, that platoon gets no action on that turn.

I bet nobody wants to play the Russians in your game!

They may not activate well, but each platoon gets cards in the deck, not each company. So some of them usually get something done, but the actions are highly disjointed, just like the real thing.