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Author Topic: 5 Men In Normandy???  (Read 4175 times)

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
5 Men In Normandy???
« on: January 28, 2023, 11:34:40 PM »
Anybody using these rules?

I bought and downloaded them today to try and use with a box of 1/35 stuff I found the other day, must have had these since 1990, except for the Dragon Sdkfz 250 which was offered in 2000.  I also have a Schwimmwagen, a MKIV Ausf G Panzer, a Sdkfz 222, a PAK40, a M8 GMC and a jeep.  Mainly I'll be using just the soldiers, but it never hurts to have some "props" on the battlefield!  Probably going to get together a squad of Brits and a squad of Russians just to switch off now and then.

My interest lays in squad-level, skirmish rules and have always wanted to try using 1/35 scale soldiers doing it.  Reading the rules I think they were meant for 28mm and smaller, but I see no problem going up the scale either.  I'm going to try using the rules just as they are instead of changing distances for the larger scale.
The crow flies at midnight

Offline Gunner Dunbar

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1256
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2023, 03:02:54 AM »
Sounds like fun, I have a box of 1/35 figures in storage somewhere, must be 300-400 figs, 95 WWII, but I need to start another scale/genre like I need another hole in the head, there’s also Nuts, haven’t played either.

Offline bluewillow

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2280
  • Bluewillow- Matthew Williamson
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2023, 07:34:45 AM »
Yes, I gave a friend in Sydney who skirmishes at this scale. I built him a lot of buildings for his games.

Cheers
Matt

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2023, 11:37:28 AM »
I read over the rules last night.  Really like the way the troops and equipment are generated, might incorporate them in my homemade modified rules.

I only found 2 Youtube videos but both showed how the game is played very well.

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2023, 11:43:12 AM »
It also sounds like the "5 Men In Kursk" has more in-depth rules, 1 of the videos mentioned some things that I didn't notice in the Normandy ruleset, or the guy in the video was using another name for the section of rules he mentioned.

Not sure why the author didn't simply call them out as different versions, he was playing Germans and Americans in the Kursk game so it isn't theater specific.

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2023, 11:54:12 AM »
Sounds like fun, I have a box of 1/35 figures in storage somewhere, must be 300-400 figs, 95 WWII, but I need to start another scale/genre like I need another hole in the head, there’s also Nuts, haven’t played either.

WOW!!!  I may have 40 figures total.

I didn't want to spend a lot on something I may not enjoy (who am I kidding?), I just want to see how it is using 1/35 scale figures on my 4'x6' battlefield.  I think I can use the trees I presently use for 28mm gaming, but need to build a couple of buildings in 1/35 to give them something to explore.  I've made decent buildings (for my O-scale railroad) before using Strathmore board. Easy to cut and glue and it accepts paint well, although a laser cutter would be nice for making buildings out of MDF (or even use it on the Strathmore).

Speaking of figures...anyone modify their figures by heating and bending?  I've done it in the past by holding the piece over a candle flame until it's soft enough to bend, but it usually distorts the details.  Can a heat gun be used?

Offline rimfire86

  • Schoolboy
  • Posts: 6
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2023, 08:30:59 PM »
I’ve been playing 5 men at Kursk in 1/32 scale for many years, this has allowed me to get some use of my old Airfix figures. My group has simply tripled the ranges and movement, everything else is done as per the written rules. The larger figure’s really make a game up close and personal

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2023, 12:31:33 PM »
I'm going to play a game or 2 using my 28mm figs, then move up to the big boys.  With a 4x6 ft table tripling ranges/movement may be too much, but doubling them sounds doable.  Other than moving, throwing grenades, and shooting pistols, I can't think of anything else that would require changes to the range.  Rifles, SMGs, LMGs, etc should be able to fire as long as the target can be seen.  I'll know more once I get into it.

I recently got a 1/32 New Ray jeep.  I was going to buy a 1/35 jeep but at half the price I figured why not, plus it's a nice looking, diecast model already put together and painted/decaled.  It does look a tad big next to a 1/35 Marder III Ausf H but the 1/35 figures seem OK by it.

I would start with using my 1/35 figs but I want to paint them all first.

Offline Gunner Dunbar

  • Mastermind
  • Posts: 1256
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2023, 01:34:30 PM »
WOW!!!  I may have 40 figures total.

I didn't want to spend a lot on something I may not enjoy (who am I kidding?), I just want to see how it is using 1/35 scale figures on my 4'x6' battlefield.  I think I can use the trees I presently use for 28mm gaming, but need to build a couple of buildings in 1/35 to give them something to explore.  I've made decent buildings (for my O-scale railroad) before using Strathmore board. Easy to cut and glue and it accepts paint well, although a laser cutter would be nice for making buildings out of MDF (or even use it on the Strathmore).

Speaking of figures...anyone modify their figures by heating and bending?  I've done it in the past by holding the piece over a candle flame until it's soft enough to bend, but it usually distorts the details.  Can a heat gun be used?
Plastics are fairly easy to convert without risk ruin with candle flame, just cut and glue, use a little GS to add folds in the cloth at the joints, yeah I sometimes go overboard in collecting things.

Offline Billchuck

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 432
    • Velociengineer.net
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2023, 02:04:48 PM »


Not sure why the author didn't simply call them out as different versions, he was playing Germans and Americans in the Kursk game so it isn't theater specific.

They are (slightly) different games. Normandy is intended for about 5 figures per side. Kursk is squad vs squad, with maybe a vehicle to spice things up. There are some changes in the mechanics to accommodate the difference in scope.

Online Kikuchiyo

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 959
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2023, 08:40:50 PM »
This sounds like just the thing for a small travel game

Offline Sarmor

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 275
    • The Node
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #11 on: February 04, 2023, 08:54:59 PM »
Haven't tried Normandy, but I played a single test game of Five Men at Kursk a couple of years ago and oh boy, it was weird… Shooting turned out to be pretty ineffective, but at one point one of the US paras charged a poor German grenadier and, thanks to some really good dice rolls, eliminated 1/4 or maybe even 1/3 of the enemy squad in a single activation (since IIRC after winning close combat you can charge at another enemy if they're close enough).  lol

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2023, 12:13:24 PM »
Haven't tried Normandy, but I played a single test game of Five Men at Kursk a couple of years ago and oh boy, it was weird… Shooting turned out to be pretty ineffective, but at one point one of the US paras charged a poor German grenadier and, thanks to some really good dice rolls, eliminated 1/4 or maybe even 1/3 of the enemy squad in a single activation (since IIRC after winning close combat you can charge at another enemy if they're close enough).  lol

I agree.  I played a couple of games using my 28mm figs and had mainly misses.  Might try to incorporate percentage dice and distance rules instead of rolling for 1's and 6's.  Like most rules, it all depends on the roll of the dice.

Having played using what I would call the basic move/fire rules, the 100 pages (rules and companion) can be whittled down to 4 pages or less for a quick game.

Offline Freddy

  • Mad Scientist
  • Posts: 962
    • My blog
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2023, 02:33:44 PM »
Do not try to bend plastics imho, use cuts and green stuff.

I am also gonna try these rules with my 1/35 models (see other thread), glad to hear that I am not the only one who finds these "something worthwhile only happens at 6" rules of FiveCore weird, I will replace the basic combat mechanics with my own. But the rest is cool, I really like the activation system.

Offline Dubar

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 215
Re: 5 Men In Normandy???
« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2023, 03:47:11 PM »
I was even thinking about simply using the distance to a target and roll percentage dice.  In order to "Score" the roll has to be equal to or greater than the distance.  So if you can see a target 45" away then you have to roll (I'm using 2 ten-sided dice) a 45 or higher in order to "Score".  If you're 9" away a 9 or higher.  I have a 48"x72" table so I could possibly have a target 72" away and would have to roll a 72 or higher to Score.

If you "Score", roll the KILL die to see if the target is temporarily Down or Out of Action.
If it's a "Miss", roll the SHOCK die to see if the target Flinches or Bails.

Might need some tweaking but sounds playable.

 

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