WWII

[Michele]

Originally Posted by FeiLin

Also, I'm looking for a way to create more elaborate mass combat units based on "PC-level characters and vehicles" (ie evaluate combat effectiveness on a larger scale if my PCs capture some German Tigers to replace their Shermans). I could of course do that arbitrarily by just saying a Tiger's one equipment level above a Sherman, but that's a bit lame.

So, I'm looking for a few things:

• Vehicles tailored for 4th (preferrably with installations such as FLAK 88s, and similar ones)
• Air support/involvement for tactical ground combat
• Converting characters/vehicles to Mass Combat units

I don't know exactly how to help you to convert individual characters to Mass Combat stats if you don't want to call them "heroes" in the Mass Combat sense of the term (p. 9).
However, when it comes to vehicles, you don't have to "convert" them for Mass Combat. You only have to define them in Mass Combat terms.

For instance, a Tiger tank was a Heavy Tank (which has its own line in the Mass Combat system), and Hans-Christian Vortisch tells us (in Pyramid #3/67) that it was a Fine piece of equipment. He also says it was normally crewed by Good troops. A single vehicle and its crew are an Element in Mass Combat, and the information above tells you what the Troop Strength of a Tiger Element is. Mass Combat tells you everything else you need to know to use it under those rules.

By comparison, a Sherman was a Medium Tank. The decision as to what quality it was as equipment is up to you. Personally, I'd call the most common/earlier models as Basic, by 1944-45, but there were less numerous, later and better armed models that would qualify as Good equipment. By 1945, the crews were normally Good, too.
That tells you their Troop Strength as a Mass Combat Element.

It also tells you that a company of Shermans is vastly inferior in sheer TS to a company of Tigers, but also that they should try to maneuver, because Heavy Tanks don't qualify as belonging to the Cavalry Class, while Medium tanks do. So use that Cavalry superiority in the battle.

So you actually can work this all out on your own if you want to use GURPS Mass Combat.