In my last post I wrote about my quest for using toy soldiers for war gaming the struggle in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) between the Allied powers and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The idea was to find a relatively simple set of WW2 rules that could be reasonably used to fight small battles and encounters in the jungles of the area. I received several suggestions including Donald Featherstone's early rules published in his classic Wargames. While they showed some promise, I wanted something a bit more complex and I think I have found them with FUBAR, a free set available for download (www.fubarwargames.wordpress.com/downloads/, and edited by Craig Cartmell). Included among the supporting documents (the rules being only a single page) are platoon organizations for the major combatants. Between that and the rules, one should be pretty much ready to go.
While facing an opponent on the other side of the table is always enjoyable, the rules play well with little modification solo.
So how are the units organized? The answer to that question is somewhat problematic. Every unit has a TO&E (table of organization and equipment) giving the unit's size, leadership, and weaponry. Most war game rules start with units at full strength, an ideal that is in reality rare. Casualties, administrative demands, sickness, outside training all eat away at the unit's actual strength. This is something that should be reflected when we set up our games (campaigns are of course great for doing this). The picture below illustrates my point.
| US Army Rifle Squad of twelve men in two teams: Squad leader and BAR team (R); and the Rifle Team and Assistant Squad Leader (L) |
While this is the ideal, the reality in WW2 was a squad of 9 or 10 (and sometimes fewer). More next time!