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Author Topic: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)  (Read 1705 times)

Offline goingaviking

  • Student
  • Posts: 12
I am looking for suggestions for division-level rules for the Great War in the Middle East, specifically the British v the Ottomans, using 15mm figures.
I have If The Lord Spares Us, The Last Crusade and Bloody Picnic.
I have also played a game using Command Decision at Historicon.

Does anyone have any experience with these (or alternative suggestions).

I have rejected If the Lord Spares Us because it is brigade-level and the rules haven’t been worked on since they were published 15 years ago.
The Last Crusade is even older but it has been republished.
Bloody Picnic is party of the General de Brigade family, albeit a minor one, which I like.

Offline robh

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 3379
  • Spanish offworld colonies
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2020, 10:46:20 AM »
The best around is "Great War Spearhead":
http://www.greatwarspearhead.com

Another excellent option is "Trenchline" the WW1 expansion for Panzer Korps:
http://www.panzerkorps.com/index.html

(Hoplite really need to sort out a decent web presence but are very helpful answering queries and have good iO groups for rule discussions)

Spearhead is more detailed and gives greater granularity to combat and support units and consequently is slower to play. Individual units act each turn in accordance with various levels of order constraints.

Trenchline (as with all the Panzer Korps range) amalgamates point and support units into a discrete entity which is the game element so is simpler and plays more quickly.

The Panzer Korps system is more akin to a 3D boardgame. You will need to get your head around the abstraction that all the units associated with the game element are acting even though they are not individually ordered. It is a very different way of figure gaming.

Both will give good games and can actually be played with the same figure basing, so the choice is how many figures do you want on the table and how much time do you want to allow for each game?  As your force sizes increase or if you have time pressures Trenchline becomes the better option.

Both these systems are parts of a WW1-WW2-Modern trilogy of rules that share common mechanics and concepts so if one does work for your WW1 games you can move to later eras very easily.

Offline Dobbie71064

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 190
    • Dobbies Hobbies
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2020, 02:12:40 PM »
I may be a bit bias here but 'Through the Mud and Blood of Flanders' by Dobbies Hobbies might be exactly what you're looking for. It's a ruleset of my own design which is geared towards providing quick and easy game play with enough historical flavor to give it a period feel. It will handle any engagement from regiment vs regiment up to multiple divisions per side. The smallest maneuver element would be a company (one base represents one company/battery)

The rule set is available on Wargame Vault along with all of the theater supplements. I don't have one for the Mesopotamian campaign as of yet but the army lists for the Gallipoli supplement should cover what you're looking for.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Offline Yarkshire Gamer

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 769
  • Yarkshire Gamer
    • Yarkshire Gamer
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2020, 06:32:20 PM »
I am surprised you've ruled out If the Lord Spares Us, we regularly play large 28mm Games with them and find them superb, they are specifically designed for Mesopotamia Palestine etc rather than a conversion from a Western Front rule set which is a completely different type of warfare in many ways.

A rule set not being worked on for a while can be a good thing, Johnny Reb II was the best set of ACW rules ever, Johnny Reb 3 was not, by a long way  lol

Mesopotamia is more of a Brigade level war anyway, the initial drive on Bagdad was by the 6th Poona Div. I've put a link to one of our games to see how we do it.

Best of luck with your rules search.



https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2020/03/battle-of-sheikh-saad-1916-action.html
« Last Edit: July 05, 2020, 06:34:57 PM by Yarkshire Gamer »
"Glittering prizes and endless compromises,  shatter the illusion of integrity"
http://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.co.uk

Offline aphillathehun

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 522
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2020, 06:57:30 PM »
I am surprised you've ruled out If the Lord Spares Us, we regularly play large 28mm Games with them and find them superb, they are specifically designed for Mesopotamia Palestine etc rather than a conversion from a Western Front rule set which is a completely different type of warfare in many ways.



What kind of mods did you make to it for 28mm?  I've looked at it a few times.

Offline wtjcom

  • Student
  • Posts: 17
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2020, 10:54:48 PM »
The 1916 rules are commonly played between brigade and divisional level depending on field strength of the formations. The basic units of maneuver are battalion sub-units, but those are fairly large blocks. There are numerous optional rules which can be used to add realism, with basic game play stripped down to keep things moving. Feel free to take a look (rules are free) and forward any ideas if a higher level view is what you're looking for.

http://www.wtj.com/games/1916/






Offline Yarkshire Gamer

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 769
  • Yarkshire Gamer
    • Yarkshire Gamer
Re: Division-level rules for The Great War (in the Middle East)
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2020, 05:53:12 AM »
What kind of mods did you make to it for 28mm?  I've looked at it a few times.

We did very few mods at all, play with the same move and fire distances. Only real difference is our figures are based individually, 2 counting as a base.

There are loads of game reports on the Yarkshire Gamer blog, have a look.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

 

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