GHQ Models Forums

Has anyone ever modified Team Yankee and Test of Arms for 1:1 miniature gaming?

We have done three play tests so far, and it has worked extraordinarily well. Our group decided that one hex on the maps equals 2 inches, and converted all movement and ragne values by X2. We also adopted an artillery and mine marker/dummy marker system, to get around the lack of hexes....another bonus is no paperwork and "secret" stuff.

What is lacking for us is more "modern" stats (post 1991) and also stats for say Stinger missle teams in the US force, etc.

What are your experiences?

Wow! I was discussing this very same adaptation with a gaming buddy at a con today. Don’t forget Battlefield Europe, Sands of War (+ expansion), and Blood and Thunder (WW II, east front). Each of these games uses Frank Chadwick’s “First Battleâ€￾ system. However, there is some variation from game to game in scales and stats. BE was copyrighted in 1990, but it looks forward to, back then, future systems. Equipment that entered service as late as 2000 should be in there.

I’m a bit surprised that you use 2â€￾ per hex as your conversion factor. At 50 meters to the inch, the game hexes are equivalent to 4â€￾, the same size as a Terrain Maker hex.

With regard to stats, what few vehicles that are not covered by the five games shouldn’t be too hard to give numbers. Let me propose an example (using BE as a base), the Leopard II A6.

You need an attack factor. The newest Leo has a longer main gun than the Leo II and Abrams; I’d use 11s. The range is 11 hexes.

For a defense factor, the A6 is probably equivalent to the M1A1+ (it’s now called the M1A2). I’d give it a 14c (I think that the 15c of the Abrams is over rating it a bit).

Movement is 7T. The Leo II in BE is 8T. The Germans didn’t upgrade the engine/drive train, and the extra weight should slow it down a bit (but hey, 8T is fine too).

The A6 uses thermal imaging, so the Vis (vision) factor is T, and finally, the Pt Cost should be about 16.

There it is, simple as that. Do you have a particular tank/vehicle with which you'd like help?

I've always liked the "First Battle" game system very, very much. On another thread, I rate it as one of my top three favorite "miniature" rule sets.

Le Scronge - thanks for the response.

To be honest, we used a very non-scientific approach to saying replace each hex with two inches....

One of our gamers had a battletech hex map (shudder, bah, THAT game again.....) with each hex two inches.

We played out several scenarios from Team Yankee on it, using minis instead of just the counters.

We then tested our artillery and air strike system, placing counters and cut out of paper templates, but with the hexes as a reference since we were still using the hex map.

We then converted our cheat sheets by mutlplying all measurements by two so they would be in inches, and played a few games on just the table - no hex references to fall back on.

It worked.

For "company vs battalion" size games, we play on a 4X4 foot area or use 4X6 with the 6 as a depth measurement. For 'company plus vs regiment" sized games, we usually move to 4X6 with the 4 as a depth measurement or put together two tables for a 6X8. We are still loosely basing terrain arrangments on the various maps in the game boxes.

NOW here is my concern about the AIR system.

Existing rules, anything air, shows up on a 6.

Looking at Test of Arms, AA is CHEAP, and dedicated AA drives off aircraft on a roll of 4+, on a 6+ destroys it. The distinction between 'driven off' and 'destroyed' only matters if you are playing out a series of battles.

I read the rules, and I just cannot imagine the massive aerial kick ** CENSORED ** delivered on ground forces in Desert Storm, or how the USA could have possibly sustained airmobile operations in Viet Nam (Ia Drang Valley for example).

So, if you WANTED to use the rule set to play a modern day aerial assault, say the actual Falklands landings, or Ia Drang Valley 1965, or play along like the Marines intended to in Norway or Denmark vs the Soviets, or simulate the 101st swoop down behind the Iraqi army in 1991, what do you do?

I've used it for miniatures modified from hexes since the late 80s. I think at 1 or 2 inches equalling 100 meters.

Also used the sands of war platoon level similarly.