Blazing 88's Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Hi all. Has anyone ever converted the Battle Stations, Small Unit Action scenarios from Gene McCoy's Wargamer's Digest publication (1974-88?) to Combat Mission? I have a bunch of the magazines in my collection. However i have found a wargamer group that have all the scenarios in PDF format. I have downloaded them, but seeing as i had to sign up to their account to get them, anyone interested should do the same at this link: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/wargamersdigest/ I have always wanted to play the Battle Stations series in Combat Mission, i just never had the time to build them. Or the knowledge of how to convert the OOB's. So i am posting this in the event that this may persuade any of you fine gentlemen that produce scenarios for CM. Here is a example that has some info and scanned pages of a Battle Stations scenario: http://www.rhubarbgames.com/rgf/flames-of-war-historical-miniatures/tactics-problem-1-the-first-in-a-bi-weekly-series/msg17753/#msg17753 Battle Stations, Small Unit Action You are the company commander of A company, 15th Infantry Regiment. Your regiment is part of the 5th US Infantry Division - Motorized, which is rapidly moving across France, from Normandy towards the Moselle River. Your division is part of the 20th Corps under General Patton's 3rd Army. The division has been operating north of the famed 4th Armored Division. Your 15th Regiment is in division reserve. At this stage of the "Battle of France", US forces are running into small, scattered pockets of German resistance. You are called to regimental headquarters and informed by your regimental commander that he has a special mission for you. He hands you a tactical map of the Revigny area and informs you that a small German force has infiltrated behind the 4th Armored Division - to your south - and cut its main supply route. Your mission is to move to the small village and destroy the German blocking force. You locate the village in grid square F-1 on your map and note that you will approaching it along Highway 2 - which joins with Highway 1 in Grid Square C-1. Highway 1 is the main supply route for the 4th Armored Division. Looking at the map, you decide to move your infantry company to the road junction in grid square B-3 and then move forward to estimate the situation and plan your attack. The regimental intelligence officer informs you that French resistance forces reported that a motorized German infantry platoon holds the village, and that it has been reinforced by an armored panzergrenadier platoon - in armored halftracks - along with a Stug IV armed with the long 75mm gun. As your motorized infantry company moves into its assembly area in the woods located in grid square A-3, you move forward - with 1 truck of infantry for security and scouting - through grid square C-3 and around the corner of brushline C to Hill 101. You can see a Stug IV standing at the intersection in the town with its gun aimed down Route 1 towards Hill 101. You note several Krupp Kfz 69 infantry trucks parked around the buildings and estimate that the infantry must be occupying firing positions within the houses. It appears that the main German defense is placed to cover the approach to the village from the direction of Hill 101. You also note 3 German SdKfz 251/1 halftracks to the rear of building number 4 in the village. The wind is blowing from right to left as you look into the town. Your infantry company consists of your Company HQ (2 x Command Carbine, 2 x Bazooka), 3 Rifle Platoons (1 x Command Rifle, 1 x Bazooka, 9 x Rifle), 1 Weapons Platoon (1 x Command Carbine, Jeep w/.50cal, 3 x 60mm Mortar, 4 x LMG) plus attached from Battalion, 1 Mortar Platoon (1 x Command Carbine, 1 x Jeep w/.50cal, 6 x 81mm Mortar, 6 x Jeep) and 1 AT Gun Platoon (1 x Command Carbine, 1 x Jeep w/.50cal, 3 x 57mm AT gun, 3 x Trucks). All are Confident Trained. The Germans consist of a Company HQ (2 x Command PzFaust SMG), 1 Motorized Platoon (1 x Command PzFaust SMG, 4 x MG, 1 x HMG[Attached]), 1 Armored PzGren Platoon (1 x Command PzFaust SMG, 4 x MG, 3 x SdKfz 251/1), and 1 understrength Panzerjager platoon (1 x Command Stug IV). All are Confident Veteran. You must deploy your company to provide a base of fire and a maneuver element. While the German force is smaller than yours, it occupies well covered defensive positions. How are you going to plan your attack to dislodge the Germans from the village? There are lots of them. I think these scenario's would make a great addition to the CM community. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword56 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 These look terrific. And readily adaptable to CMBN. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword56 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I can't read the scale on the map. What is it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George MC Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 1" grid = 1' square. Looks like the grid is set-up for the wargame table being 4' x 8'. No way I can see of working out what that means in RL distances. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Ah, memories. Tabletop miniature wargaming...so many wasted hours.... Anyway, IIRC the rulesets they mention (Angriff and Tractics) were fairly abstracted. I'd suspect the ranges work out to something on the order of 25m/square or something along those lines. As with any abstracted map being adapted, the scale of things like buildings will be way off when translated into CM. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyBucket Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 1" grid = 1' square. Looks like the grid is set-up for the wargame table being 4' x 8'. No way I can see of working out what that means in RL distances. In the rules, a standing man can throw a grenade 15". Figure a range of 30-40 yards or so. If we go with 30 or so, figure about 25 yards a foot. I recall figuring out this scale as a kid, and calculating ranges for infantry weapons to scale for my plastic army guys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyBucket Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Edit: Bimmer beat me to it. I think that the exact scale of stuff like buildings wouldn't be so important as the overall situation. If I'm thinking this through right, that would qualify the posted example as a "tiny" map. There are plenty of folks, including me, who like small, mostly infantry battles. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Being that they are not historical scenarios, could the maps not be abstracted to fit what is needed for CM, basing it on the size of forces that would be involved? The designer can add their flair to the table top maps this way as well... by adding elevations, etc where needed. What should help out the process a little at least is that the briefings are already made up from the source. I would play them that is for sure. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlapHappy Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Actually, the original source page says 1"=50 m, so the entire should be something like 2.4 Km x 4.8 Km, quite large. That's computed by each square being 600 meters. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Wow, memories! Gene McCoy used to live across the street from my sister in Madison, WI in the late 70's/early 80's and I'd been wargaming since 1971, so she asked me if I had heard of him or bought his magazine. "Yes" and "yes"... but with little kids, 2 jobs, and school, I never managed to meet him, or to afford buying many of the mags. Once, she got me a stack of extra magazines from him, which I still have. I've been thinking along the same lines as you, Blazing 88 (same with ASL scenarios), but haven't yet built any of them in CMBN. Someday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted August 28, 2011 Author Share Posted August 28, 2011 Turns out KHOLT has created two scenarios (plans are for more i think) . One is for CMETO (modded CMAK, Europeon Theatre) called Chaulnes Author: KHOLT. This is at the Scenario Depot II. The other one is at The Proving Grounds: Author: KHOLT German Infantry Action and is for CMBB. Kind of the wrong forum for these comments, but at least the ball is rolling. CMBN battle station scenarios should follow a some point. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 bump.............. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas_in_mlb Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Wargamers Digest!! Talk about a blast from the past...buying minatures, primer, then paint....ayi, caramba. Never again. I do remember the scenarios. Interesting, if memory serves. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted July 15, 2012 Author Share Posted July 15, 2012 Wargamers Digest!! Talk about a blast from the past...buying minatures, primer, then paint....ayi, caramba. Never again... LOL no doubt. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Bump. I assume one of you fine scenario /map designers have looked at these. Just raising the thread from the depths of oblivion. Just in case one of you fine scenario /map designers would like to give these a go. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 ...Wargamer's Digest... That's the magazine I've been trying to think of for months. I used to get every issue back 30 and more years ago and I used to have a stack of them still around. But I think I gave them all away and now I am kicking myself for that. It was a great mag. I take it that it is no longer being published? Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 That's the magazine I've been trying to think of for months. I used to get every issue back 30 and more years ago and I used to have a stack of them still around. But I think I gave them all away and now I am kicking myself for that. It was a great mag. I take it that it is no longer being published? Michael Done, I think in the end it was called Military Digest. 1988 or 1994 last published, not sure. If you sign up at that yahoo group (first link in my OP), you will be able to download pdf's, scans, etc for the "Battle Stations" scenario's. I have 15 or so issues on my bookshelf, so if need be at some point I could scan the "Battle Stations" scenarios for anyone that may want to use them for scenario creations. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Blazing 88's, We used to snarkily refer to it as Wargamer's Disgust, but it did have some cool stuff, notably those Battle Stations. Odd, since that's a naval term! I learned a lot from reading that magazine, to include the Principles of War, title punning aside. Anyone looking to convert the Gene McCoy scenarios needs to remember the troops, vehicles and guns are not at 1:1, but are scaled down representations of the units. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Blazing 88's, We used to snarkily refer to it as Wargamer's Disgust, but it did have some cool stuff, notably those Battle Stations. Odd, since that's a naval term! I learned a lot from reading that magazine, to include the Principles of War, title punning aside. Anyone looking to convert the Gene McCoy scenarios needs to remember the troops, vehicles and guns are not at 1:1, but are scaled down representations of the units. Regards, John Kettler Yeah the scaling was based on his system called "Series 78 Standard Unit". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Blazing 88's, That your statement feels right to me, after all these decades, scares me! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denglish Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Did you have any luck finding Wargamer's Digest "Battle Stations"? If so I would appreciate a copy somehow someway? Thanks very much 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 Did you have any luck finding Wargamer's Digest "Battle Stations"? If so I would appreciate a copy somehow someway? Thanks very much http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1444666#post1444666 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.