GHQ Models Forums

My Sherman v. Panzer boxed set is on the way and I have already got my bases ready. As I understand the rules, each stand would represent a platoon, so around 5 tanks, right? So would that be three stands to a company, with the company commander's tank in one of the stacks? So do 10 tanks work out to three companies with a battalion command as the tenth stand or what?

Are their TO&Es in the full rulebook?

Tim Capps

You tought it right. The GHQ rules states that a battalion is composed, more or less, of 10 stands.

If you have no objection I will throw in my 2 cents worth.

The U.S. had the 5 tank platoon until 1987 when it went to the current 4 tank platoon.

In the modern rule set I think (perhaps incorrectly) they allow for a 4 tank company for the post war years before 1987. I don't have the book w/me at this time so I may be incorrect.

However, if you have 17 tanks in a US armor company vs for the sake of discussion in comparison a 10 tank Soviet company, then I think 4 tanks vs 3 tanks is allowable and represents well the difference in size between the two.

Usually one model will represent 3 to 5 real life vehicles.

However, if you have 17 tanks in a US armor company vs for the sake of discussion in comparison a 10 tank Soviet company, then I think 4 tanks vs 3 tanks is allowable and represents well the difference in size between the two.
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That's how I handle it. The challenge is that whether using a traditional 5:1 scale or a "2-4:1" scale you end up with a disconnect with the Russians or the Americans when it comes to numbers vs maneuver elements with 17/10-tank companies.

Traditional 5:1 Scale TO&E
American 17-tank Company = 3 stands
Russian 10-tank Company = 2 stands

In this case the American maneuver elements are "correct" at 1 platoon per stand while the Russians are shorted a maneuver element/platoon at company level. Some may argue that since Russians are "less flexible" they should only maneuver in big battalions anyway, but that's not how they fought in their only major late 20th century war in Afghanistan. There tank companies were parceled out to infantry battalions and the tank platoons were often divided up.

"2-4:1" Scale TO&E
American 17-tank Company = 4 stands
Russian 10-tank Company = 3 stands

In this case the Russian company gets the correct number of platoons/maneuver elements at platoon level but the Americans get an "extra" platoon/maneuver element. In both cases the relative company strengths are roughly correct but I much prefer this approach. The reason is that the 5-tank American and German (WWII) platoons are the BIG exception when it comes to front line combat unit organization.

Most vehicles and support weapons such as mortars and machineguns from WWII to today are organized into groups of 2-4 per platoon (usully 3-4 but sometimes 2).

By focusing on the most common platoon organizations and using 2-4:1 you can design accurate TO&Es for the vast majority of organizations instead of trying to shoe-horn most TO&Es into the oddball American/German WWII 5-tank platoon TO&E. Over on the CD forum Frank has confirmed that the only reason the 5:1 ratio came into existence is that American and German WWII platoons had 5 tanks.

That has never made any sense to me since just about every other organization is so much easier to accurately represent at 2-4:1. At 5:1 many TO&Es get really warped as TO&E designers are forced to "converge" assets up to higher level organizations to accurately maintain relative strengths (a common point of debate among Command Decision players).