Zulu WWII - A new wargame under development

[Golgotha]

Zulu WWII Wargame. Been helping playtest these fantastic rules.

Introduction

Zulu WW2 is a miniature wargame designed for you to recreate Battlegroup level battles of the Second World War. Inspired by the dramatic mobile warfare during the period, Best of Breed was designed to replicate these confused and frantic mobile engagements, whether on the frozen Kalmyk steppe outside Stalingrad, the desert wastelands around Sidi Rezegh or on the rolling French plains of Arracourt.

We believe that the core challenges faced by commanders in mobile warfare, in any period of history, is dealing with high levels of uncertainty, yet being required to be decisive and violent in execution. It requires confidence in action despite the lack of information available to you. Hard decisions must be made, with either glory or catastrophe facing each one. Some of the best practitioners of mobile warfare, Patton, Rommel, Roberts, and Rybalko were able to deal with this high-risk tolerance, a unique trait, rare amongst commanders – can you meet the challenge.

Therefore, we have designed WW2 to restrict as much battlefield information as possible available to both you and your opponent. Yet at the same time demand from the player to play with aggression, speed, and cunning. Much like a game of poker, the player must either be forced to put their chips on the table or fold their hand in the face of uncertainty and doubt.

In WW2, you are the commander of a task force built from a selection of many real-life formations that fought battles across Europe during the Second World War. You will assemble your companies for action and lay down plans for engagement on the battlefield. Do you want to leave reserves and discover your opponent’s main course of action, or will you gamble on a high-tempo manoeuvre with the mainstay of your forces to enforce your will over the enemy early on?

What will your opponent do? Has he left his right flank thin with weak infantry forces? Or is it a trap goading you to put your main forces into a kill zone? Maybe he has hidden forces moving at high speed on the left flank, which could be comprised only of recon vehicles, or perhaps it could be their main armoured column? Only by establishing contact with your own forces will you find out. It's these challenges and choices that make WW2 a new way to wargame.

The choice is all yours. We have restricted the amount of ‘luck’ when determining your plan and manoeuvring the troops you want. The game is not going to make you play any other way, besides what you are as a commander and the capabilities of your troops.

Consequently, a key understanding of combined arms and the role each unit plays on the battlefield is key. We have built unit and weapon profiles to combine not only their historical combat traits but their behaviour on the battlefield, in battlefield awareness and Mobility. You may have seized the initiative with aggressive manoeuvre with your main armoured thrust but being forced to leave your foot-slogging infantry behind, your tank crews have run themselves into enemy hidden anti-tank guns, which they couldn’t spot, and you didn’t predict until it’s too late.

You won’t have success because your opponent failed a dice roll to activate a certain key unit, but rather because you chose the right time, with the right troops, to risk it all. Or perhaps your opponent chose their worst time, with a force poor for the job.

[fred]

Sounds very interesting!

All of the scale of the game, the scale of the models, and the aims in what is being modelled, appeals to me.

How do I find out more?

[Golgotha]

Thank you for your interest Fred.

Currently, the rules have been playtested in 15mm. Though having said that the rules would work in bigger scales and especially smaller. Organisation wise think platoon or company level with each tank miniature being equivalent perhaps to 3 to 5 tanks.

Thus far the rules have one scenario based on Budapest and information from this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Take-Budapest-Struggle-Hungary-Autumn/dp/0752466313

Currently being developed is a Normandy scenario. The rules ultimately should also be expanded to accommodate post-WWII conflicts, some of us have been thinking South African border War.

The rules are designed with mechanised warfare in mind. The company is called Zulu Games and there is still some discussion about what to call the WWII rules.

For more watch this space for now I will keep you updated.

[snitcythedog]

Sounds very interesting. 

[fred]

I have loads of 10mm WWII figures and tanks - mainly organised around 1 stand = 3-5 tanks or 1 stand = 1 platoon of infanry - so sounds a good fit.

I’ve got a lot of early war stuff too - and it sounds like the focus of these rules should work well to differentiate the slow command style of the 1940s French army vs the quick exploitative command of the Germans.

As to the name - not sure about Zulu WWII - when I first saw it I thought this was going to be some weird WWII rules - crossing over colonial era South Africa with WWII.

[Golgotha]

Thank you Fred and Snitcythedog. What you have already Fred sounds ideal, scale conversion will be part of the rules. The latest from the developers may help contextualise these rules further. A FAQ document is in the works so do feel free to ask.

Zulu Games is a generic gaming platform to replicated mechanised warfare in a tabletop game (typically 6X4). The Zulu gaming engine will support multiple eras of mechanised warfare and due to the unique fog of war and visibility mechanisms, warfare that has been traditionally been very hard to replicate on a tabletop such as guerrilla warfare can be supported.

The planned implementation is: WW2 first release (Autumn 2023 ) …Cold War next…then
Vietnam…so an exciting range of games ahead. The current design centre is 10 – 15mm, 1 stand = 1 platoon , so a game is roughly battalion in scale. We wanted players to use existing stocks of 15mm WW2 miniatures. Games can be smaller and much larger depends on how long you want to play for!
We are introducing two ways to play scenario and competitive, with an dramatic narrative play in both. We are hoping that this best replicates the shock violence and surprise of modern mechanised warfare but importantly makes tabletop game exciting, hopefully attracting new players from other genres.

First out is Zulu WW2 is designed for you to recreate battles of the Second World War. Inspired by the dramatic mobile warfare during the period, Zulu WW2 was designed to replicate these confused and frantic mobile engagements, whether on the frozen Kalmyk steppe outside Stalingrad, the desert wastelands around Sidi Rezegh or on the rolling French plains of Arracourt.

We believe that the core challenges faced by commanders in mobile warfare, in any period of history, is dealing with high levels of uncertainty, yet being required to be decisive and violent in execution. It requires confidence in action despite the lack of information available to you. Hard decisions must be made, with either glory or catastrophe facing each one. Some of the best practitioners of mobile warfare, Patton, Rommel, Roberts and Rybalko were able to deal with this high-risk tolerance, a unique trait, rare amongst commanders – can you meet the challenge.

Therefore, we have designed Zulu WW2 to restrict as much battlefield information as possible available to both you and your opponent. Yet at the same time demand from the player to play with aggression, speed and cunning. Much like card game of poker, the player must either be forced put their chips on the table or fold their hand in the face of uncertainty and doubt.

In Zulu WW2, you are the commander of a task force built from a selection of many real-life formations that fought battles across Europe during the Second World War. You will assemble your companies for action and lay down plans for engagement on the battlefield. Do you want to leave reserves and discover your opponent’s main course of action, or will you gamble on a high tempo manoeuvre with the mainstay of your forces to enforce your will over the enemy early on?
What will your opponent do? Has he left his right flank thin with weak infantry forces? Or is it a trap goading you to put your main forces into a kill zone? Maybe he has hidden forces moving at high speed on the left flank, which could be comprised only of recon vehicles, or perhaps it could be their main armoured column? Only establishing a contact with your own forces will you find out. Its these challenges and choices that make Zulu WW2 a new way to wargame.

The choice is all yours. We have restricted the amount of ‘luck’ when determining your plan and manoeuvring the troops you want. The game is not going to make you play any other way, besides what you are as a commander and the capabilities of your troops. Consequently, a key understanding of combined arms and the role each unit plays on the battlefield is key. We have built unit and weapon profiles to combine not only their historical combat traits, but their behaviour on the
battlefield, in battlefield awareness and Mobility. You may have seized the initiative with aggressive manoeuvre with your main armoured thrust but being forced to leave your foot slogging infantry behind, your tank crews have run themselves into enemy hidden anti-tank guns, which they couldn’t spot, and you didn’t predict until it’s too late.

You won’t have success because your opponent failed a dice roll to activate a certain key unit, but rather because you chose the right time, with the right troops, to risk it all. Or perhaps your opponent chose their worst time, with a force poor for the job……play to find out!

[fred]

Sounds a great concept - will be very interested to see how this develops. Finding a good WWII game that works for me seems to be an ongoing challenge.

BKC - gets lots of stuff on the table, but can become a bit of dice fest.
O Group - has a great feel to the games, but a bit smaller scale than what I want to play, often feels its a platoon or two slugging it out, and you can’t get everything deployed for lack of orders.
Battlegroup - does a good job of the WWII feel, manages to get higher level assets on the table, but very much 1 model = 1 tank.
Rommel - a good game, but more abstract and higher level

I hoping Zulu WWII is sized around BKC - so 2-3 battalions a side (20-40 models) but removes a lot of the dice related randomness.

[Golgotha]

I have recieved some further feedback from the design team.

Zulu Gaming
This is the name of the core generic game mechanics, these are designed to be used across any period of warfare. (often shortened to plain "Zulu".

Zulu WW2
Zulu WW2 is the the product name for the World War 2 game. It is the Zulu Gaming Mechanics  + Period specific data for WW2 & specific rule extensions for WW2.

Zulu Game Scaling
Zulu Gaming is effectively tabletop scale independent. It could scale to regiment even division (each Side)
We have played the game from company up to roughly regiment size. (3-4 Battalions), per side.

On Table Scaling
On table scaling is approx 1" to 100 Yards

Combat Unit Scaling
The basic Combat Unit is a Platoon.
This is represent on table by 1 model or 1 stand

Key Dimensions for Game Scaling Table Size
Our competitive model and scenarios are designed for a 6X4 table. We have played on both  6X6 table (a recreation of fighting around Ponyri Station Kursk), and a 3X4 table, (Urban fighting Stalingrad) the forces just need to be scaled up and down, roughly about 1.5 Units to a square foot.

Time
The other factor is time to game.
Although combat in Zulu Gaming is fast, at about 35 Units, a game takes about 3 hours.
This is the core Zulu Gaming design centre along with a 4X8 Table. Large scenarios or recreations have played out at about 6 hours...

[fred]

Thanks, that all sounds good.

Anything on number of players we often play 2 or 3 players a side

[Golgotha]

Certainly doable had a few games with 4 players so no real reason why one could not have 2, 3 or more... At the moment no solo rules but players used to playing solo could no doubt us them as such...

[Golgotha]

ZULU have been busy tweaking the rules and playtesting additional scenarios. They have also been working on developing a website and merchandise.

Here is the cap they have done for the playtesters and counters/markers are also in the pipeline.



More pictures are available here: https://frictionbmcminiatures.blogspot.com/search/label/ZULU%20WWII

[Old Contemptable]

A set of rules used to play games. Interesting-looking rules. Thanks for posting.