6 mm O Group / BBB

[jon_1066]

Just wanted to post up my adventures in 6 mm WW2 with O Group.  I have been collecting Napoleonics in 6 mm for a few years now with scenery to match.  Having recently joined a very friendly wargame club I've been further lured into historical wargames.  This has led to O Group.  The club members have lots of figures in 20 mm so I've decided to do it in 6 mm (me? contrary?)

First off were some test games with blank bases for the models



The battle to capture Ophoven during Operation Blackcock in January 1945.  A weakened German battalion defends the village from the 2nd Devons and a squadron of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment with Crocodiles and Achilles in support.

Made lots of mistakes but it was a good test for the rule set and my basing.  I've gone with the same base sizes pretty much as the Napoleonics and the same basing methods.  ie self adhesive 1.5 mm magnetic sheet with fine sand.  2 vehicles to a base except for heavy tanks which are singles.  Transports and Recce are on 50 by 20, tanks and SPGs are on 50 by 25.  Support weapons are on 25 by 25 and infantry sections are on 50 by 20.  Co Commanders are on a 2 p piece and FOOs on 25 by 25.

Next up is the figures.

Edit.  Added my O Group BBB mash up.

 

[jon_1066]

Obviously WW2 is vast in terms of equipment, belligerants, periods, troop types and theatres.  I've settled on NW Europe '44-45 as that is the period I am most interested in (and the Brits get to win!)

I've ordered stuff from a few sources.  I got enough Germans from 2D6 Miniatures for a full Battalion.  I'm basing them six to a section.  The paint job is quick and dirty, spray grey, wash with diluted black ink, pick out faces and weapons.  The figures themselves have significantly more detail than this but this is meant to be a quick project.  I haven't tried their vehicles.

2D6 don't do NW Europe brits so I have ordered them from Baccus along with some AFVs.  The infantry are significantly bigger than the 2D6. I would say 2D6 are true 6 mm scale and Baccus closer to 8 mm.  This is especially true for the AFVs.  The Churchill tank pack is about 1:240 scale based on its dimensions.  They are lovely models but hugely oversized compared to Heroic and Ros and GHQ.  They simply won't work on the same table let alone the same base.  eg a Baccus Universal Carrier is about the same size as a Heroic and Ros Sherman.  The infantry should be OK but the Baccus AFVs are out.

I have ordered a bunch of vehicles from Heroic and Ros and they are genuinely 1:300.  They suit the 2D6 figure scale very well.  They have less detail than Baccus and worse casting quality.  I have decided to stick with them for a few reasons.
They have much greater range than Baccus
They have less detail.  This is meant to be a quick project aimed at the 3 ft view.  If I went with Baccus I'll end up in the weeds of painting shovels strapped to the sides of 6 mm tanks.
I have been gifted/lent a whole heap of old 6mm vehicles from the club.  These are mostly old Heroic and Ros and GHQ so whilst some are in poor condition (I'm going to need to replace a bunch of gun barrels) they are too good to pass up.

First couple of test bases are in progress.



The Pz IV are old GHQ models I think.  The dunkelgelb is a base coat of Khaki spray paint from Halfords followed by a dilute nut brown ink wash then brick red and forest green mid tones from the Foundry paint triads dabbed on.  They are lighter than the actual shades but at 6 mm I have found you have to go brighter.  The numbers are impressions of numbers rather than actual numbering but I have got decals for the German cross on the back (which are teeny tiny and bordering on mustaches on a hussar).

The tank destroyers I think are probably M10 Wolverines rather than Achilles (M10s having a narrower turret?) but at this scale and this quality they will certainly do as a stand in.  Sprayed a base coat of Halfords Camo Green dry brushed Forest Green mid then light tones.  Decals are from I-94 Enterprises picked up on a stand at a show.

The bases are in two stages. You can see the base sand layer on the self adhesive on the Achilles with the Germans having had a second application of sand with dilute PVA to give some texture.  This will be finished by painting moss shade, perhaps a dry brush of moss mid tone then static grass liberally dotted on the base with neat PVA.

Next post will be the town of Waldfeucht as featured in "With the J*cks." when Peter White took on a Tiger tank with a Piat.

[Inkpaduta]

Great looking board and figures. Just one question. What is O group?

[SJWi]

Inkpaduta, "O Group" is the Two Fat Lardies/ Reisswitz Press company/battalion  level game. Basically an infantry game with armour/artillery support. The core rulebook is late war but I think there are now some other periods eg 1940,

[jon_1066]

Great looking board and figures. Just one question. What is O group?

Thank you.  As stated they are a battalion level rule set.  They give a really good game but also feel like the period.  You command a battalion with usually 2-3 companies on the board.  The basic unit is a platoon and each stand is a section.  So most infantry platoons are 3 sections, AFVs usually come in two sections, etc.  The scale of the game is great for a lot of after action reports, eg I have the AAR for Operation Blackcock from Jan 1945 and it is full of descriptions like 3 Co of the 4th KOSB with support from 1 squadron of the 13/18 Hussars attacked such and such place meeting fierce opposition including 15 SP guns and 5 Tiger tanks.  In essence the OOB writes itself and period maps and aerial photos are available on the web to give the battlefield.

[bishop2k7]

Looks like you are off to a lovely start. Nice looking table and figures. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Dubar]

Very cool!
I've got a box full of GHQ tank and SP artillery (but no figures) somewhere around here, but have been unable to find them so far.

[jon_1066]

Making some progress.  The basic platoons are complete and working on some vehicles



Some Cromwells, a Crab, Crocodiles, and Universal Carriers alongside a British Platoon and Piat.  For the Germans there are some Hetzers, PZ IV, Jagdpanzer IV and a panzerschrek base.  I have everything needed now for 7th Armoured in NW Europe in winter '44-45.  Can field a motorised infantry battalion or normal infantry battalion with all intrinsic supports and a troop of Cromwells plus 79th Armoured.  Just need to get a good spraying day for the next batch of painting. Their opponents are a German infantry battalion with horse drawn supports, a variety of towed AT guns, MMGs, and AFVs including a unit of Tigers.

The main difficulty I have is gun barrels.  I'm going to have to go back and replace a few.

[jon_1066]

Attack on St Joost by 7th Armoured division January 1945.



Played at Lost Legion club in Hitchin.

It didn't go well for the brits who lost 8 tanks of the 8th Hussars in the attack.


The 6 mm stuff worked pretty well.  The only downside was the game was quite slow to play.  With just 2 companies a side it still took the best part of 5 hours.

[jon_1066]

Having recently got Bloody Big Battles to tinker with for some Napoleonics I was struck by how elegant it was in handling activation, disorder, moral and firing.  O Group is great but seems to take quite a while to play and has many niche and special rules scattered throughout the rule book.  I therefore had a moment and thought how would a game play with the best bits from O Group and BBB?

Enter a solo game with my mashed up rules. The Royal Scotts Fusiliers attempt to capture the villages of Lind and Stein and get a bridge across the Steffeler Bach during Operation Blackcock January 1945.



It was nip and tuck but the Brits managed to pull off the win by driving off the Germans.  Things didn't look good when A Company had been badly shot up taking on a BUA without the tanks able to support and the Sherman Crab was knocked out blocking the bridge that had been erected.  The reserve company though cleared the Germans and the second bridge was put in position and the AVREs spigot mortar made short work of the Germans defending the houses opposite.

[fred]

Good looking table.

Intrigued by the rules mash up! I’ve read BBB but not played (don’t really have enough figures for the periods it covers) and have played a lot of O Group, and get what you mean about the time to play and the detail of some rules.

[jon_1066]

Thanks

I can post the rules once I've tested them  a bit more.

It basically dumps the whole order dice and moral/shooting system from O Group (so maybe not heaps left!) but keeps all the Armour, Firepower, Anti Tank, ranges, combat patrols, ambush units, recon, etc.

The Dice activation is taken from BBB but disorder is replaced with Suppressed - basically the same thing.  The move table is pretty much kept as is.

The Firing is taken from BBB but I've made the fire power table almost entirely exponential on powers of 2.  Everything has to shoot at the same target at the same time.  Add up all firepower and roll 2D against the CRT.  Most things that affect the firer you half or double their fire power.  eg firing at close range doubles a units fire power.  Most things that affect the target you have left and right column shifts.  eg an infantry unit that is suppressed in a BUA gets three left column shifts.  Anti tank rating gives right column shifts against vehicles, AFVs get left column shifts for armour.

I've kept the same turn order from BBB (so active player moves, passive play react fires, active player fires, close combat, clean up, swap).  The mechanic means as you move the opponent can react fire at your units as they move and potentially suppress them which stops their movement.

[fred]

Certainly interested to hear more.

[6milPhil]

Lovely looking work. Looking forward to seeing more. 

[jon_1066]

OK some more testing and rules refining. 

Here is the latest version of the BBB and O Group mash up. In an effort to speed things up I've got rid of the active player firing on their own turn so you only fire on the opponents active turn.  It gets rid of each player in effect getting a double go at shooting.

The O Group AFV tables can be used pretty much straight as is since the FP and AT ratings port directly in.