When fighting in the desert, mobility is key.
In the second part of the Scorpions of the Desert, @oriskany takes us through the different ways the infantry got about this environment.
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Wouldn’t have imagined you guys would have so many veterans playing.
Part of what makes the boot camp weekends so awesome!
I must say that I have learned a lot from this video even if it was only covering the basics. A fresh view on a few things for me. Keep it coming guys.
Glad you liked it, @yavasa!
great info video
Great rundown of some infrantry tactics,I know theyre not always relative to the rules but it makes the games more interesting for me ?
Thanks, @deadhead and @dane001
Brilliant oriskany, reminded me of my infantry hand book during in training then you had to think where would place my gun in the different formations.I still criticise the film’s for there non tactics formations and about they wouldn’t do that or they would all be hit they are that close together.
Indeed. Yeah, 95% of military movies, either modern or historical, are a very bad place to “learn” how things are, or were, done in the field.
Interesting lesson. Thanks again.
😀
These are some of the more interesting videos…tbe dude knows his stuff
Very kind words, thanks very much!
Wow I am loving these historical videos talking about real world tactics. Makes me wanna add some custom house rules to add bonuses or penalties for having squads in different formations.
I would love to see this in the projects page as part of a battle report!
did a bit of math and in 1:72 platoon level gaming it fits rather well with ~30-45minis fighting over a 180cm table
Indeed, a mid-small Bolt Action table, say 15-25 men, fit great on a table 80-100 yards across (about 5 feet of table). Tank battles were so much longer-ranged than people tend to think … but infantry engagements were so much SHORTER. This is what makes Bolt Action such a great fit for infantry skirmish.
another problem of wargames that results in more dense units is that you target an enemy team or squad and rarly individual minis > there often isnt much advantage of spreading (apart from mortar protection) against enemy infantry because the rest of the unit still has to roll as “being hit”
That’s great point. When a whole squad can see and be seen all at once, this is going to be a natural behavior.
Movies about any job get it all wrong almost always
Informative
@lawnor and @uptrebor – thanks very much!
Don’t bunch up unless you want to be doing the mg42 dance
More interesting information from Jim
Indeed, @collins ! That’s a nasty dance to be doing. 🙁 Even worse than dancing at the end of the rope!
Thanks, @normandyfan!
THIS IS WHY I LOSE WARGAMES!
All good advice and information – now just to remember to apply it next time I play bolt action.
Thanks very much @somegeezer and @skodamarine!
very interesting video
Wow – @oriskany with that story about teaching game on a random day in WWI – you have just made historical wargaming to be the most awesome thing ever! You should definitely do a video showing this “ghost of the commander” effect.
Thanks, @toricova.
@aztecjaguar, I’ve had the best luck with this kind of thing for US Marine actions in the Pacific and German / Societ actions in Russia, 1941-1945.
good talk, also the reason for the 5 meter dispersion is the blast radius of a grenade. We have house ruled the distance between figs to 4″ on occasion. It makes for an interesting, but longer game.
That would be awesome to see on a table, battle report in the project page! My favorite game ever, Panzer Leader, I freely admit needs all kinds of rule fixes and updates to really make it run. Even if you love a game, you can still try to make it even better / or more appropriate to your gaming preferences or styles.
Very interesting description of the fundamentals that we should all be aware of. One thought though regarding dispersion vs. wargames – games often use a compressed scale to fit things on a tabletop – so although (say) a 1″ gap between figures may no the enough at 1:56 scale, the actual ground scale for ranges etc may be more like 1:200 or more.
It’s surprising anyone survives any war at all!
Or to quote Monty Python: “Sir, if it’s a big war, someone could be hurt!”
Thanks, @georgesealy – my only possible addition to what you say re: compressed scale is that these games are often “true line of sight,” and if so, this requires the miniature units and the terrain to be in scale with each other. Totally agree about the 1:200+, GHQ has been doing MicroArmour at 1:256 (6mm, I think) since the 60s.
Interesting again. On the tabletop I´d try out all of the mentioned methods of movement just to see how they work and play.
Where can you get hold of one of those books or booklets about infantry training. That Piece from 1941 was an original, right? Are those reprinted?
What you said about the formations is specific for Americans or does it go for any army including the Germans and Russians and Japanese?
Navy and military press sell a few. Here’s a link to some American manuals as pdfs
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/index.html
Thanks, @jemmy – yes, that was an original from a relative that served in World War II. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, I agree with @torros that there are some great .pdf sources out there that can get you started.
Too bad games don’t reward players for using the real world tactics. Like maybe a small bonus to defence if you advance using a terrain appropriate formation, or penalty if you don’t.
While I would agree, I also add that some of these rules would be a little subjective. They’d also have to apply some kind of penalty, so the player would have to carefully choose and consider which formation his units were using. In older command-tactical wargames, we sometimes had to pick from a five-point list of standard postures, Probe, March, Assault, Delay, Defend, each of which a different penalty or bonus for attack, defense, and movement.
Awesome info! I used to use something akin to the diamond formation in 40K. The old template system would reek havoc on grouped up guys. Now with the templates in Second addition it has come back into use! Great video guys. Happy Gaming!
Movie’s are not good for information details.
Thanks, @thehumungus! I always love it when historical or real-life tactics find their way into other genres. 😀
Agreed, @zorg.