Captain Blood's Western Desert: P.125 - SdKfz10 half-track with 2cm Flak 30

[Captain Blood]

I love those rules!

And those markers look the business!

Thanks.

The rules don't seem very well supported, or to have had much take-up. But they look like they'll suit me - not many rules as such, but a lot of cinematic flavour and tactical decisions.
I am heartened that you like them. Most people who have played them seem to. But they just don't seem to have landed with much conviction.
I guess in the face of Bolt Action, Chain of Command, and 101 other WW2 'large skirmish with armour' rulesets, it's a pretty crowded market with some big established brands...

Pity.

Well, I'm going to give 'em a go...

[Dr. The Viking]

Well I have played them twice and I really like the way you can commit your tokens to part of the battle exhausting the units as you go.

Supported or not... You're going to make changes anyway 

But I don't suppose you will be adding tiffin cards just yet.

[Captain Blood]

No. The whole Tiffin thing (and all its imitators) is the work of the devil 

The Iron Cross approach, where indeed, some units may never activate - but because you have had to spend your limited command resources elsewhere, rather than the entirely random and capricious turn of a card - feels like a much more sophisticated way of reflecting the same sort of battlefield paralysis.

[Mason]

That there is what 'proper' tokens look like in my book.
Proper work, that is.
 

[carlos marighela]

That would be quite an easy road to take, Dirk, but I don't think I would win many matches! 

You could simply say that this year you were making just a token effort.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice tokens, and a use for the 20mm Renedra bases (I used mine for some work in progress 15mm Bolt Action figures).

[Silent Invader]

All very good Richard.   . As it should be 

Do you know a review of Iron Cross that you might recommend?

[Helen]

That's a real sow, isn't it? I wonder how it fought.

Will be available from Perry Miniatures very soon. Alongside a number of other Allied vehicles and guns. There are photos on the Perry's Facebook site.

Richard, lovely work on the markers.

[tomrommel1]

nice markers

[Captain Blood]

Thanks 

Do you know a review of Iron Cross that you might recommend?

There aren't many, Steve. A quick search on TMP yielded a few. Normsmith who is a member here has one on his blog. There was a smattering when the rules first came out about 18 months ago, since then, not much. There are various pdfs downloadable from the Great Escape Games site (they're the publisher). There's an Iron Cross forum within the GEG forum, but seems more or less dormant. There was an entire episode of Meeples and Miniatures devoted to it when it first came out, and that probably provides the best overview...

[carlos marighela]

Rules support? Yeah, I won't play anything that isn't supported by at least two dedicated forums, a blog and has a downloadable app, a facebook presence, a Twitter account and Tinder. Handy if it has what's up? Or is that what-the-fuck? Spotify optional.

1. Publish rules.

2. Print addendum if you, your editors or publisher have buggered up the printing, it's littered with typos or you haven't really play tested the mechanics.

3. Print second edition if you think the market is milkable but only after a decent interval. In the interim print some scenario books for those bereft of ideas. This is where you tinker with the mechanics based upon the abusive posts littering various wargaming forums and blogs

4. Let the punters interpret the rules. Unless they are written in Barkerese, they'll do that anyway. Actually, even if they were written by Phil, there's bound to be someone you know with access to the Rosetta Stone or a table deciphering cuneiform.

[Silent Invader]

No. The whole Tiffin thing (and all its imitators) is the work of the devil 

The Iron Cross approach, where indeed, some units may never activate - but because you have had to spend your limited command resources elsewhere, rather than the entirely random and capricious turn of a card - feels like a much more sophisticated way of reflecting the same sort of battlefield paralysis.

Thanks Richard. It was the last para of the above post that intrigued me .... I like rules that enable limited choice ('enable' being key).

[Captain Blood]

Yeah, I think you'd like these, Steve. Lots of choices, not many rules.

Rules support? Yeah, I won't play anything that isn't supported by at least two dedicated forums, a blog and has a downloadable app, a facebook presence, a Twitter account and Tinder. Handy if it has what's up? Or is that what-the-fuck? Spotify optional.

Did you stop taking your medication again Carlos?

I don't usually use commercially published rules, so I'm about as far from a 'support' addict as you can get, so feel free to sod right off with your righteous anger
I couldn't agree more - there's a depressing degree of needy 'rules ecosystem dependency' amongst many wargamers these days. I blame Games Workshop (naturally) - it's the culture they created. Endless supplements and fluff all designed to part gullible young people from their money...

As far as Iron Cross goes though, expansions that were promised seem not to have materialised; the rules landed with quite a big splash - and then appear to have sunk more or less without trace; there's very little in the way of supporting information and examples on the rules website; and even the publisher seems to have lost interest and stopped answering rules questions on their own forum dedicated to the rules...
Since this is probably the first set of commercially published wargames rules I've bought in 20 years (aside from Saga), and I really like the look of them, it's just disappointing that they seem to be dead in the water.
But we shall see.
I'd better play them first 

[Hammers]

You could simply say that this year you were making just a token effort.

Out. Out!

[carlos marighela]

Yeah, I think you'd like these, Steve. Lots of choices, not many rules.

Did you stop taking your medication again Carlos?

I don't usually use commercially published rules, so I'm about as far from a 'support' addict as you can get, so feel free to sod right off with your righteous anger
I couldn't agree more - there's a depressing degree of needy 'rules ecosystem dependency' amongst many wargamers these days. I blame Games Workshop (naturally) - it's the culture they created. Endless supplements and fluff all designed to part gullible young people from their money...

As far as Iron Cross goes though, expansions that were promised seem not to have materialised; the rules landed with quite a big splash - and then appear to have sunk more or less without trace; there's very little in the way of supporting information and examples on the rules website; and even the publisher seems to have lost interest and stopped answering rules questions on their own forum dedicated to the rules...
Since this is probably the first set of commercially published wargames rules I've bought in 20 years (aside from Saga), and I really like the look of them, it's just disappointing that they seem to be dead in the water.
But we shall see.
I'd better play them first 

As it happens I didn't have you down as the needy 21st wargamer. It does make me giggle though when folk complain that X ruleset isn't 'supported'. Makes you wonder how some folk manage to work a kettle in the morning.