GHQ Models Forums

In 15mm and 20mm games model buildings are typically large enough that one can actually place their troop stands inside the building models (ie they usually have removable roofs too) or even on the buildings.

But in 6mm gaming the model buildings are usually solid castings. So, here's the question: based on your favorite ground scale/game system, how do you indicate that infantry stands and/or vehicles are in built-up-areas?

A. On top of or inside the model buildings

B. Touching the model buildings (but measure ranges to the model building)

C. On a BUA template/mat with the model buildings present only for "looks"

D. Other

Tim

I borrow a trick from Napolionics. THe building is mounted on a thin styrene stand. If the infantry stand is placed on top then the troops are considered inside.

If I'm doing skirmish with ony 4 or 5 buildings I put a floor plan next tot he table and they are physically moved inside.. I only do this for small games it slows play a lot.

Our gaming group usually has 3" x 3" squares with a building on it to represent a town sector.

If a stand(s) are on this sector base, they are considered inside the town sector and gain the terrain benefits of being inside the building.

We have found this to be a very good game tool.

Frank

zaevor2000 wrote:Our gaming group usually has 3" x 3" squares with a building on it to represent a town sector.

If a stand(s) are on this sector base, they are considered inside the town sector and gain the terrain benefits of being inside the building.

We have found this to be a very good game tool.

Frank

Frank,

Do you worry about precisely where in the 3" x 3" sector the troop stand is located? Or is it considered "deployed" and therefore capable of shooting out of any side of the sector?

Thanks in advance!

Tim

voltigeur wrote:I borrow a trick from Napolionics. THe building is mounted on a thin styrene stand. If the infantry stand is placed on top then the troops are considered inside.

Hey Voltigeur!

That sounds very similar to one of my old favorite games "Napoleon's Battles".

I suppose the same question that I had for Frank applies here (and for anyone else who uses "templates" for buildings). When on the building stand/template does the actual location of the infantry stand matter or is it considered "deployed" anywhere/everywhere within that stand?

BTW...this question has come up for me as I work on my Version 3.0 terrain (I now have palm trees!!!). I've been looking at the many excellent examples of microarmor terrain on this forum and the terrain ranges from the purely "functional" to stuff as detailed as model railroad scenery. Every figure scale from 6mm to 30mm has to deal with the relationship of troop stands to model buildings but in my brief year or so doing microarmor again it seems that this scale has both the potential for amazing presentations (eg Mark Luther) but with additional functional challenges (eg most buildings are solid castings).

Thanks!

Tim

Excellent question Timothy!

If the unit is in the sector it is considered "deployed" and may fire out of any quadrant.

An optional rule is that the facing of the stand(s) is the facing of the unit in the town sector.

This is an elegant system and works well since it should be remembered that each building in our systems represent groups of buildings and not just ONE building. You can picture a 3" x 3" sector as a group of houses in a small village or as a city block of houses in a suburb.

Having sectors like this easily resolve the question of a unit being inside or outside of a building for defense purposes.

I hope your day is going well!

Frank

I use clear plastic "covers" for over BUA's. These were scratch built using clear 1mm thick sheet from the hobby shop. Place a stand on top when it is considered in the building. Take it off when its not and remove the cover. The thing I like is you can still see the buildings you took all the time to make and paint, model stands are not leaned up against the BUA and you can accurately place your stands in the BUA.. I base all my buildings on 2" x 3", 3" x 3", and 3" x 6" bases. The plastic covers are 3" x 3" and about 2 1/2" high.

Here are some pics.




Found the idea on another gamer's website so I can't take the credit.

Outstanding suggestion. How did you make your clear plastic?

Very nice work on your terrain and minis!

Frank

By the way, here are some related threads that I've found. Some of these are really amazing from a modeling perspective but I can't figure out how they would work during a game (where would you put the stands and how would you define their cover and concealment status?). Others appear quite functional.

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... w&start=15

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... rrain+show

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... rrain+show

I use card-stock foldup building and have the roofs loose. When troops are in the building, I take off the roof and put them in the buidling. If I someday invest in a digital camera, I will take and post pictures.

Timothy OConnor wrote:By the way, here are some related threads that I've found. Some of these are really amazing from a modeling perspective but I can't figure out how they would work during a game (where would you put the stands and how would you define their cover and concealment status?). Others appear quite functional.

http://www.ghqmodels.com/forum/viewtopi ... rrain+show

Thought I might explain my approach, as it is illustrated in the first game in the AARs thread in the link above.


I don't use anything to denote general "built-up" areas. I have structures that are part of the terrain of the game. When I want to indicate a unit is inside a structure, I pick up the structure and put it on some small portion of the unit's stand. Here we see some French infantry, across the creek, fighting from several buildings.


Here we see Italian infantry in and around the village. Some are sheltering in buildings, others are in the open. (In both cases they are being abused by French artillery and direct fire.)

This approach would not work well if my buildings were fixed to larger bases, like the 3 x 3in or 4 x 6in bases others have shown here. I'm quite interested in considering other approaches, as those based buildings look very nice on the battleboard. But so far, the approach I use is simple enough and quite functional for wargaming purposes.

My buildings are all solid cast resin so if the roof the flat enough I will balance the infantry stand on top of the building, if the roof won't hold the stand, then the convention is that if the infantry stand's base is touching the building, then that stand is considered to be in the building. If due to density issues that is not possible, then I will remove the stand from the board and make a note of which building it is in. As for firing, a unit deemed to be in the building can fire from any side that has openings. I assume that if it is multi story, the occupying unit will move to the most advantagous floor to accomplish their mission. The ruleset I use doesn't have infantry melee so any combat within a building takes place as normal firing at <25m where infantry is pretty lethal.

One other convention I have used, is to divide the building into suppression zones. In my rules and in WRG, a fire team can suppress a 50 meter frontage and one height level. When firing at the building a firing unit could fire to suppress any units on that side of the building. (degrading their ability to fire out the windows in that zone, or make them test for casualties if they try to leave the building from an opening inside the zone.)

When I was making my own buildings I insured they were even multiples of 1/2 inch length. so a building that was an inch and a half long single level it would take 3 fire teams to suppress one side of the building.

One of the pleasent surprizes is, like in history, the frontage of my units in Urban terrain closed down dramatically. With a company dropping from an average frontage of 200 to 300 meters down to 2 blocks when facing multi story buildings.

Another thing to include for Urban warfare is sewer movement you can be truly, truly evil in those games!