The various WRG rulesets were a mainstay of my gaming experience from the mid 1970s through the 1990s. Too many hours were wasted away playing the WRG WW2 rules with our 6mm microarmour armies. I still have the troops but have only played a couple of times in the last three decades.
Based upon the recommendations of two gaming buddies from out east I picked up the 2025 revamped version of the Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare At Company and Battalion Level 1925 to 1950. Printed on demand by Lulu. I have also lucked into a collection of 15mm WW2 minis. I hope to try to entice some of the local Montreal gamers to give this a shot
I haven't played those since the 1970s. I wonder what the main changes are (if any).
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I only played them a little. I did however play the platoon level rules a great deal in the 70s and found them terrific fun with my Airfix fellows on Bellona battlefields
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
I started the first read through last night. To quote the author, he has shamelessly cribbed the 1950-1985 version of the rules and modified them for the WW2 period. We used play a hybrid of the rules as well. I preferred the later's target acquisition rules and movement/action options vs the original 1925-1950 ruleset. I hope to try them out with some 15mm figures.
ReplyDeleteThe 2025 rule set seems to have been converted from the WRG 1979 “Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare at Compsny and Battalion Level 1950-1985” Moderns rules. It shows the development from the WRG 1973/76 “1925-1950 Armour and Infantry” WWII rule set to the 1988 “Wargames Rules For All Arms Land Warfare From Platoon to Battalion Level 1925-1950” rule set. It has incorporated the A-F ‘Optional Actions’ (i.e. B - Fire twice halted with weapons other than those firing under A), which later became the ‘modes’ in the 1988 ruleset. However, the 2025 set still retains the slow and unwieldy morale test format with a long list of factors to work through for every morale test. The 1988 set had a much smarter solution to that.
ReplyDeleteIt also doesn’t address the well-known 1979 rules design errors such as aircraft only counting as half an element (leading to suicidal air attacks with little adverse consequence to your victory conditions) and, of course, the heavy motor transport filled with assault boats. The rules also allow the use of programmed air strikes in encounter games. This does not make sense.
Anyway, some initial thoughts. Some of the issues can be easily addressed, some can’t.
This salty fellow (the writers name is actually Salt) has made further alterations.
ReplyDelete1979 WRG set p26. Area Suppressed or Neutralised.
“The area affected is 100m wide for a heavy rocket, 50m wide for each salvo rocket launcher, and 25m wide for each other weapon up to the first six. If more than six weapons are firing at the target, the seventh of the 10th increased the width by half the normal amount, and further weapons by only a quarter of the normal amount. The area of 75m deep if only up to 2 mortars are firing, 100m deep if up to 4 mortars are firing or a single heavy rocket, 150 m deep up eight weapons other than salvo rockets, 250 m deep up to 24 weapons other than salvo rockets, or 350 m deep with more weapons or if any several rockets.”
Beaten zones for area fire 2025 set pp33-34.
These are different than the 1979 set, and don’t have the reduction in width as the number of guns increases. A 24 gun 25pdr regiment would have a beaten zone of 24×25 m = 600 m width. And the 1979 set the width would be 287.5m. In the 1988 WRG set it would be 450m wide. Also the beaten zone depths are mush simpler.
A comparison of beaten zones:
24 25pdr regimental concentration:
1. 1979 set 287.5m x 250m
2. 2025 set 600m x 150m
3. 1988 set 450m x 450m
He has also included a danger zone for beaten zones in the 2025 rule set which is not in the 1979 set at all, but is in the 1988 rule set. However, the description of it is very confusing, and I don’t know how it can be applied.it says, “Both types of concentration produce a danger area that covers a larger rectangle than the beaten zone, extending short of its near edge and beyond its far edge by the depth appropriate to a single weapon of the type firing, and left and right by an appropriate weapon width.” Isn’t that 600m x 150m again? That’s not BIGGER than the original beaten zone.
Thank you Alastair for you insightful comments on the rules. Looks like you have looked at them indepth.
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