Kampfgruppe Normandy

[grant]

I first came in eyeball to AB figure contact at this year's War and Peace show and knelt there, transfixed at a specimen display of painted men. I'd have bought aome there and then if the guy who's vendor stand it was actually sold them instead of "just showing them off for him". I wanded lots of little german and russian lads to duke it out with.

Amazing looking things.

AB is stunning! Their Nappies too. But I especially love their 20mm. Not that I own any, but if ever I were to switch my FoW, it would be AB for sure. Well, maybe Bolt Action in deference to our hosts.

[Colonel White]

I will be looking to employ some AB figures in my collection . I think these will be mainly US . I think AB are quite expensive buy they are quality and the good thing about WW2 unless you are dong Russians you tend not to have lots of infantry unlike other eras.

Just an update on KN . Brian has heard through official sources that there will be a Russian Supplement and it is expected to be released in September. What we don't know however which September it will be, could be this coming September but could be September 2012.

[Parus Ater]

AB yanks do look spot on, the only issue I saw was the Thompson SMG models have 3cell magazine pouches which weren't issued in Europe and Africa. An easy fix if you can't ignore it.
I wouldn't mind some but I can be very fussy so the only 1:7* option I'd go for would be Milicast's resins by which time I'd actually be cheaper aticking witj 28mm only.

[Colonel White]

There quite a few top notch makes in 20mm .
AB figs and Millicast as mentioned.

Others are MMS ( metal vehicles). Dragon and Revell 1/72( top notch plastic kits, Dragon being superb quality with the inclusion of etched brass parts). The Revell Panzer IV H being rated as one of the best ever produced kits in this scale.

[zedeyejoe]

OK I was talked into buying a copy, you smooth tongued devils. Of course it is direct sales only but only £3 postage and it arrived next day, so full marks there.

But I am sorry it is as bad as I feared. Not totally awful you understand but they do like telling you how to play. The supply rules are specifically 'not optional'. Well folks when I have a set of rules I play it the way I want, not the way a chap sitting in Nottingham thinks is best for me.

[Colonel White]

Justin

As I understand it (not played yet of course) the supply rules are an integral part of the rules structure. It probably makes them different than most other rules. It is a way of "handicapping" some of the superior German equipment. For example a German Hummel ( 15cm Artillery piece) as I understand it has only Ammunition for 2 rounds . Therfore to use it affectivly it will need its own supply truck attached to it. The poor Americans really don't get access to their "Funky" equipment until the Ardennes offensive which is beyond the scope of the current book.

On saying this I know Mike and Brian do not use the supply rules as yet . How do I know this you all may ask? Because neither of them have a truck between them I think this is were I will be coming in as I do have some trucks ready to take to the battle.

[zedeyejoe]

OK, I plan to handle supply differently. Instead of a fixed amount of rounds (or as the rules say, a burst of fire), supply shortage would be based on a die roll, so you cannot plan for when you are going to run out of ammo. That means that each and every time you fire there is a chance of running out, so cannot plan for it. Also means that no bookkeeping needed as you are not counting down an ammo supply.

In some respects it is very broad brush. Yes a penetrating hit destroys a tank - we know of course that Italian tanks could be easily, penetrated, so easily in fact that the shot could go straight through without causing much damage, ah well. All rifles are equal with the exception of the FG42. I would give a bonus to the American Garand for its semi-automatic fire but no such benefit under KN. Likewise the BAR gets rated as an LMG, just like a Bren. And a medium or heavy machine gun can just attack one enemy unit, instead of if correctly positioned to fire in enfilade, the weapon can take out an entire line of men, they are properly more of an area effect weapon.

Cover provides a save roll rather than making the target more difficult to hit in the first place - I take the opposite view, does not make much difference really but it does save one die roll, so would speed up the game.

Same with observing the target, a roll of the dice and no difference to spot for a tank or an infantryman. I think it should be really hard for a buttoned up tank to see its targets. That would make it a positive advantage for infantry to support tanks attacking concealed enemy. In fact that is my view on rules as a whole, try to get the rules to reward historically correct tactics.

No advantage I could see for combat effectiveness of different troop types, green is as good as veteran. Of course the higher quality your formation is the more units you can activate.

Sorry folks it might make for a fun game but I don't see it as an historical wargame.

[Colonel White]

If you are not careful enough you will end up in a game too bogged down in detail . it is a fine balance between playablility and making the game dull and getting bogged down in detail and looking at charts etc. One of the reasons I am not to keen on General De Brigade Nap rules , though I appreciate it does have a good following.FOW has many faults in it such as immune Tiger 1s except for flamethrowers.I know someone who uses a German Army list with many Flamethrower Panzer 3's in a Normandy Campaign. Anyone with any knowledge will know these never operated in Normandy!In fact they only had a handful of these tanks of which most had disappeared by 1944 and were used in small numbers in the italian theater and the Eastern Theater. If you want to play a wargame with lots of detail then there are games like Panzer War which has endless performance charts which differentiates between different marks of the same tank for example a Panther Ausf D performs differently to my Panther Ausf G and then its prey could also be different as a T34 1941 model was different in some respects to a T34 1942 model . For me this is too much detail and would bog a game down.

What I am trying to say is you can pick holes in every game thats going as IMO there is no such thing as a perfect ruleset . This is probably the holy grail of the rules writer.

Particularly in the late war it was easy for tanks to spot targets even if they are hatch down. This is becasue they were littered with optical viewing instruments such as periscopes. Very later Panther Gs ( my favourite tank) were even fitted with Infra Red night viewing equipment.

Speaking to our group of players that play KN they all enjoy the game and for me this is what its all about. Yes I could pick holes in KN as anyone can do with any ruleset once an extensive knowledge has been gained. A good example is the use of the Panzer 4 "G" as the command vehicle in a squad of Mark 4's in some of the army lists. Yes there were a few old Gs about but not that many . Anyone will tell you that the bulk of the mark 4s were made of of H and J models in a ration of about 3:1

[zedeyejoe]

In fact I would say that KN is the one with too much detail and bookkeeping.

Ammunition has already been covered. The effect of HE is like in my rules dependant on calibre, so it is in KN but is included in each stat line! Also already mentioned is do you do cover and damage as two separate effects or combine them?

Not looking to pick holes but explain why KN does not cover the period either well or to encourage historical tactics.

Another example, it is IGoUGo now that can cause problems, so you need to allow for Opportunity fire (Covering fire in KN). In KN it is limited to fire at one enemy target which allows you to trip the fire with one unit and then move anything else with impunity. Now in my version, the other players unit can continue to shoot so long as its morale holds out. So an unsuppressed unit can really hold the enemy up.

Particularly in the late war it was easy for tanks to spot targets even if they are hatch down. This is becasue they were littered with optical viewing instruments such as periscopes

Humm, I have served as crew on a tank (Chieftain) and found that being buttoned up severely limited visibility. Modern vision aids help but that would not be anything normal in WW2.

Israeli tank commanders are known for taking high losses because they kept their heads out of the turret, even when under fire.

Speaking to our group of players that play KN they all enjoy the game and for me this is what its all about.

Well and good but I think a critical view should also be voiced. If someone is happy to play KN knowing all the facts, great.

[david1234]

I definitely agree with the comments on tank viewing ranges, just read any tanker's memoirs and this is a constant theme, for example, "By Tank into Normandy" or "Warriors for the working day", both excellent memoirs on how it was to fight in tanks. Unless you stick your head out, you were vitually blind. (RoE covers this effect quite well in my opinion). Having a periscope would never come close to having a proper look outside. As for night vision, I believe only 50 panthers were ever equipped with this, so it's impact for most tanks would have negliable.

Not having seen a copy, what level of gaming does this set provide for? I.E., is platoon level, company, etc? As I find for platoon games a good level of detail is vital, for example, different marks of tanks having noticeably different stats, rifles having different ranges, etc.