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Wrecks Rules for CMBB - Beta now available

Biltong

By Biltong
in Combat Mission Archive #4 (2002)

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Biltong Senior Member

Biltong

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I understand that Wreck has been hijacked by another game – great pity!

So, I’ve jumped in and started to adapt his rules for CMBB. I’ve decided to break it up into the 3 main theatres: North, South and Center – and then again into the 5 years. So far I have June to Dec 41 – South as the Germans. It still needs some work, but you should be able to start playing with it…. I’m on July with the playtesting and so far it's going ok - fine tuning as I go along.

Most of Wreck’s rules are intact, but I’ve changed the format to an Excel spreadsheet, the idea being that you generate each parameter, as you would enter it into the QB generator. It seems more logical and faster than the old text based rules. It caters for all possible combinations of parameters, e.g.: Nationalities; divisions, units; fitness; casualties etc that CMBB allows for in that sector at that time.

Nearly all the different options in the QB generator (such as Game Length etc) are now utilized to provide variety… most of them in a (I hope) historically correct way, E.g.: Casualties are used to simulate the effects of freezing cold on the Germans from the 4th week of Oct etc.

Basically it is a spreadsheet consisting of 4 sheets:

1) Rules for each parameter as well as the extra Auxiliary Force generation etc

2) A Parameter sheet that you use as is for the Aux. Force generation and Real Battle generation.

3) A new Favor sheet.

4) A sheet of random numbers between 1 and 10 since you now use a ten sided die to cater for all the different options.

CHANGES:

Catered for inclusion of any combination armor/vehicles – whatever, into your Core Force.

Time measured in days as well as weeks and months.

Replaced the rather complicated Auxiliary Force selection system with a die roll/modifier based system where you generate points for 1) Inf/Support 2) Vehicles 3) Armor 4 Arty/Air….

(Modifiers: E.g.: who attacks, assaults or probes; immediate attack or counter attack; Favor; Your quality etc)

The AI’s force loading is now handled by the Handicap percentages.

I’ve expanded the Core Force Experience calculations to differentiate between things such as MG bunkers and Mg pillbox and Gun pillbox etc. I’ve also differentiated slightly between how armor and infantry gain experience, e.g.: a soldier will get 2 points for each enemy soldier killed bur armor only 1 point, etc.

Expanded Counter Attack to include an option of Counter Assault, and Immediate Attack to include Immediate Assault.

Scrounging has been changes to a die roll/point system with various modifiers such as: “Not allowed if previous battle was lost” tongue.gif

Favor has been expanded quite a bit. E.g.: if your foe abandons his tank and you win the battle you can use it, but if he wins the battle he can use it himself again, so who wins; abandon; KO; burn etc comes into play and Favor gets a spreadsheet of its own.

KEPT

As before you start off Green and earn experience and Favor.

You still use the QB to generate random Auxiliary forces, but if you have points left in a category like vehicles, you can buy what you want (or below a rarity of your choice??)… You can also end up with another Axis nation’s units as your auxiliaries… This way you get to know most of the units in CMBB.

Kept Wreck basic structure of generating parameters - Aux forces – battle - decide on Counter Attack/Assault – Immediate Attack/Assault - Scrounge etc. It works well.

Hope this gives you an idea.

I did not (yet) write up the finer points that were covered quite well in the original rules. If you played those you should understand these quite easily and hopefully find it faster and easier although there are a lot more modifiers and options.

These rules will need to be clarified a bit for a new player. In time…

E-mail me if you want to give it a go.

[ November 06, 2002, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

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Biltong Senior Member

Biltong

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Added modifiers to cater for Conscript (newbie); Green (6 months of CMBO/BB experience); Vet and Crack players.... Even a Newbie should be able to figure out how to use them now... my 9 year old son has just rolled up his first battle and is hooked solid smile.gif

[ November 04, 2002, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

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Green Hornet Senior Member

Green Hornet

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I've been using Wreck's CMBO campaign rules for quite a while. I still play with them occasionally, although I've modified them quite a bit to suit some of my own preferences. For example, I use the scenario editor to generate the battles as this allows me to better contol individual experience levels for units.

Anyway, great to hear you've picked this up for CMBB. Too bad about Wreck. :(

I'll be watching for most posts related to this topic. Thanks for taking this on.

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GJK Senior Member

GJK

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Originally posted by Biltong:

4) A sheet of random numbers between 1 and 10 since you now use a ten sided die to cater for all the different options.

With all these advancements since the days of D&D and non-computer role-playing games, would it be fair to use a simple computer program to calculate the random number? Or must I try to dig up a 10-sided die from the box of original board wargames I have stored in the attic? :D
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Biltong Senior Member

Biltong

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It's a pleasure guys..

Juju/Supersulo...

It's called "Tropico" never seen it.. sounds like something I would like to drink though.

Hornet..

With CMBB you can set the Quality as you wish in the QB generator smile.gif Just select "Unrestricted" for Axis Quality. (explained in the New Rules) Great for the campaign game... hated it when my crack Sherman had to skulk around as a vet in CMBO

GJK

I used http://www.irony.com/igroll.html to create the sheet. I included it to save the guys the hassel and save me the hassel to explain to new guys where to get it/generate the numbers/copy/paste/export to excel/clean it up etc etc... you got da drift :D

It's easier once you have it printed and a single sheet should be enough... You can use it over and over... once you've reached the bottom start somewhere random or go backwards or sideways or.. uhm this is starting to sound kinky... anyway - you should be able to play a couple of campaigns with the one sheet: it's got 1600 numbers.

BTW - rules now at a stage where a newbie should be able to pick it up and figure it out... want to spell things out a bit clearer this week-end

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Peterk Senior Member

Peterk

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Hi Biltong,

I'm having a go at it as well, but I'm old and slow and have little free-time and you'll probably get something polished before me.

Some little findings/suggestions based on my playtests:

1. Consider bumping up the turn lmit (if you haven't already) to 35. Attacks are slower to develop in CMBB.

2. The medium sized map for an attack on a large town looks really, really bad (basically a few hundred small houses tossed together haphazardly really close to one another). Really boring to play on and...doesn't really look much like a large town. I was considering taking that map-type out of the mix entirely.

3. Why not start the Germans as Regular? They should get an advantage against raw Russians at least in the very first few months. This remedies the most frustrating part of the CMBO campaign.

Glad you scrapped the aux system. I did the same as well, allowing the player to purchase his mix, but basically knocked anything off the list that had lower than -20% rarity. Consider this rule for purchasing armor - keeps things interesting especially when a cool upgrade to a weak AFV comes along:

You spend points to buy into a "family" of tank (ie PzIV or PzIII). 50% of the time you get the latest version but 50% of the time you get the version before that.

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Biltong Senior Member

Biltong

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PeterK

1.Consider bumping up the turn lmit (if you haven't already) to 35. Attacks are slower to develop in CMBB.

You’re right. Found the same thing... allthough mine is dieroll based from 27 through to 36 with modifiers on map size, weather and type of Axis Attack

2. The medium sized map for an attack on a large town looks really, really bad (basically a few hundred small houses tossed together haphazardly really close to one another). Really boring to play on and...doesn't really look much like a large town. I was considering taking that map-type out of the mix entirely.

You’ve just given me an idea – I've been thinking about importing a river crossing map and maybe I should ask for a volunteer to do a large city map as well where 4 or more battles can take place on the same map. Still have to test it though. Any volunteers out there for the map and/or test?

3. Why not start the Germans as Regular? They should get an advantage against raw Russians at least in the very first few months. This remedies the most frustrating part of the CMBO campaign.

I’ve been wondering about that. I think historically speaking you’re more than likely right….

(Grog’s: Were most of the Germans Regular in the South?)

but I decided against that since I learned a hell of a lot during my painful green days in CMBO… mostly how to run LOL….

I think what I’ll do is put a warning in for the Newbies about the trials and tribulations of starting Green.

Glad you scrapped the aux system. I did the same as well, allowing the player to purchase his mix, but basically knocked anything off the list that had lower than -20% rarity. Consider this rule for purchasing armor - keeps things interesting especially when a cool upgrade to a weak AFV comes along:

Tried to please the Grogs and put the following in: (note the escape clause ;)

“You might want to stick to units that are < 40% rare or roll a die and 8 > gives you free reign to buy those rare beauties :)” heh heh

Thanx for the ideas Peter…. Keep em coming… Would you like a set? I would love to hear what you think. You been there/done that.. you’ll pick up the mistakes/variations/ideas faster.

Stryker/Warlord – it’s there

Matt

Haven’t approached anyone to host it yet.. too many changes – will drive a webmaster nuts. Once it’s settled down I’ll beg around. If you want a set let me know… It’s basically ready for Reg (even green) or better… most of the outstanding work is to do with spelling things out for newbies

Gpig –

Yep – should keep me/us busy for the next 3 years or until CM3 comes out – whichever comes first ;)

[ November 06, 2002, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

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Peterk Senior Member

Peterk

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> You’re right. Found the same thing... allthough > mine is dieroll based from 27 through to 36

> with modifiers on map size, weather and type of > Axis Attack

I like your way. The variation is a great idea.

> You’ve just given me an idea – I've been

> thinking about importing a river crossing map

> and maybe I should ask for a volunteer to do a > large city map as well where 4 or more battles

If you can find a way to get this to work, that would be absolutely incredible. I thought about something like that as well, where you load in the last save file for a new quick-battle but it didn't look like it would do the trick - units are imported as is and placed (locked? I didn't check) where the last battle ended and exactly in the same state/ammo remaining as the last turn, which sucks for what we want. I really didn't think it looked promising.

> but I decided against that since I learned a

> hell of a lot during my painful green days in

> CMBO… mostly how to run LOL….

You'll still learn a lot. You're attacking so much in the first 2 months, it's an enormous challenge to keep your guys regular and _not_ slip into the Green.

> Would you like a set? I would love to hear what > you think. You been there/done that.. you’ll

> pick up the mistakes/variations/ideas faster.

Got them. Thanks. Actually I was well along on my rules soon after getting the game and then i started playing a whole bunch of e-mail games (I think I have 6 happening right now) and the solo rules just fell on the backburner. I'm glad you stepped in!

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DD_Rob Member

DD_Rob

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Bump with some questions.

When starting the campaign the division type came up german-mountain. When you select this in the battle generator you are not able to get the core Mot Inf Co.

Also how do you suggest rounding the force size for Aux and total force sizes? Example: Aux is 350 pts do you select 400 in the battle generator or do you round down to 300. Total force is 919 do you select 1000 or 900, or is it whatever you happen to feel like at the time? Also a little more explanation may be needed for for force purchases when points are left over, for newbies to the system like me.

Rob W

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Biltong Senior Member

Biltong

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Rob

Q: “When starting the campaign the division type came up german-mountain. When you select this in the battle generator you are not able to get the core Mot Inf Co.”

A. Ahhh… good I just made it a bit easier and clearer:

48 GENERATE REAL BATTLE now reads:

“You now generate a QB battle using all the parameters above. This time you select ALLOW HUMAN for Purchase Units. Change Axis Force Mix, Nationality and Quality to Unrestricted. Remember to choose the right Quality for your Core Company and each of the other units. Buy your Core Force and the Auxilary Forces generated above.”

There are a number of things like this that need to be clarified for people who haven’t played the old rules. I hope to get to the most serious ones by this weekend.

Q. “Also how do you suggest rounding the force size for Aux and total force sizes? Example: Aux is 350 pts do you select 400 in the battle generator or do you round down to 300. Total force is 919 do you select 1000 or 900, or is it whatever you happen to feel like at the time?”

A. You add up all the Purchase Points that you rolled for your Auxiliaries + your Core Force points and if the total is, say 1025 you choose the next higher Force Size, i.e.: 1250.

I’ve made it a lot clearer in the latest draft… If it needs more work, let me know. For the Newbies I’ll give more detailed notes. My first draft was meant to get previous players going to test the structure and modifiers etc., but hopefully even green players should be able to roll up a battle after all the latest additions

Q. “Also a little more explanation may be needed for for force purchases when points are left over, for newbies to the system like me.”

A. See 48 Generate Real Battle (updated lately)

“If you have points left in an Auxiliary Category after buying all the units generated by the Auto QB you can choose what you want to buy from the normal unit list until you have used up the points for the Category.”

E.g – you rolled up 100 Purchase Points for Vehicles.

When you do: “47 - Generate Aux Forces using Auto QB”

The QB generator placed only one vehicle on the map: a PSW 231 Rad. You note this down. Later when you Generate the Real Battle you find that a PSW 231 only cost 61 Purchase Points. You now have 39 points to buy anything with (in the Vehicle Category only) You look around and find a PSW 222 for 37 points… You have 2 points left… but there is nothing that cheap - tough – you lose them :rolleyes:

Thanx for the questions Rob – It points out areas that need clarification. Keep ‘em coming.

Mark

Q. It looks as though you can only play this as the Germans right now. Is this correct? There is a mechanism for generating an opposing force of Axis troops, but nothing for creating a core force of Russians.. I'd like to see the ability to play as the Russians.

A Mark... I've got 5 years x 3 fronts on my hands... i.e. 15 sets of modifiers. It's going to be a long time (if at all) before I get to the Soviet side. The basic structure seems to be fine though and should cater for it quite easily. Someone should just sit down and do some reading and modify the modifiers... How about it? :)

Wow Guys - the e-mails have been pouring in and there is a ton of suggestions/questions/errors/unexplained bits etc etc... It looks like I might have to organise and prioritise all of the above and post some sort of breakdown as to what I'll be doing in what sequence... at the moment I'm just sending off rules and answering questions/fixing rules where it will hold up a player or lead him down the wrong way... Hopefully I'll catch up with most this week-end - wife is out of towm :D I haven't deleted your mails!! Some of you guys have done a ton of work - Much appreciated!! - keep 'em coming... I'll get to them.

[ November 07, 2002, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

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