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Old 05-20-2014, 05:25 AM   #1
Azinctus
 
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Default 6mm GURPS wargame

In my Warhammer 40K campaign I've been using Games Workshop's epic figures and some GHQ 1/285 WWII models to run huge GURPS fights.

In one battle we had the same village modelled in 6mm and 28mm setup on two tables and switched from one scale to the other as the PCs and their platoon of Imperial Guard entered the village. As they snuck around the 28mm streets of the village sniping at the defenders, they had to keep an eye on the 6mm hills on the other table because there was an enemy tank looking to give fire support.

For the rules I decided to stick to GURPS as written, with some acceleration for bases of soldiers. A stand of five men gets to move or shoot, and if it shoots it fires once at max aim bonus. Effectively we imagine that they are all aiming for three rounds then firing, giving a cadence of one aimed shot per five seconds, the extra second is lost in ducking, reloading, talking or resting. Obviously that doesn't make much sense if they move then fire, but no one seemed to mind that. Heavy weapons, machine guns and cannons, are based separately and use the normal rules, for those I printed aim tokens so we can easily see who has aimed.

Damage roles are replaced with a an amour save and penetration modifiers pinched from Warhammer. Damage is noted with counters, each counter roughly representing a man down and giving the stand -1 to hit and leadership tests to not flee or be suppressed (stunned).

I haven't tried to use these systems for large actions. The biggest battle was a Stalingrad-style defense of an apartment block in a city. The PCs and their platoon faced waves of 3-4 armoured vehicles and 10 stands of infantry. At the same time as they negotiated with the civilians in the cellar and tried to steal their money. A battlemat served as the 28mm interiors while the big table had the city laid out using cardboard buildings.

Movement is a little fiddly, a typical five yard move is only five millimetres and GURPS armours penetration rules for armoured vehicles seems wrong to me, but while Steel Panthers and Squad leader seem more realistic, I haven't been in many tank battles.

Where I really like this system is that we get to see tactical combat happening at ranges of 100+metres.

I have pictures (not great, I'm no photographer), sketchy rules and printable tokens and range ruler. Anyone interested? Got some tips? Tried something similar?

My pal wants to use a similar plan to setup a pitched fantasy battles.
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Old 05-20-2014, 11:18 AM   #2
GodBeastX
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

I've been looking for ways to manage a war in GURPS for awhile. I didn't like the way Mass Combat was presented.

I'm especially interested in how you're modelling Warhammer 40K equipment to GURPS :)
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Old 05-20-2014, 04:25 PM   #3
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

I am using Perfect Organism's 40k conversion. I don't have the link handy because I'm on my phone. Does anyone have the link?

I didn't much like Mass Combat either. There is nothing wrong with it but it is so abstract I would handle it all by GM fiat and a few skill roles.
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Old 05-20-2014, 10:42 PM   #4
David Johansen
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

Mass combat is intended to give you a "who won" result in a hurry without too much fuss. It's good but it's no wargame.

I had some notes on building a wargame from GURPS stats I passed on to someone a few years ago. It's been so long I can't remember much more than using damage values as points and dividing DR by 3.5.
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Old 05-20-2014, 10:53 PM   #5
scc
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

I don't think that wargame rules are what people are after here, squad combat or tactical RPG rules sound like they would fit the bill. I think the best example of what is desired is something like the Miniatures Handbook rules that D&D 3.5 had
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Old 05-21-2014, 02:24 PM   #6
Azinctus
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

Yeah. That miniatures handbooks wasn't bad. I used to have a table which translated one 3d skill test into numbers of successes and failures for multiples of ten rolls. E.g 40 pirates fire muskets at effective skill 12. Roll 3d, consult tables, 7 = 31 hit.

I want a set of simplifications which allow the PCs to bring 20 guys with them for a battle against 50. The PCs use full GURPS rules and the NPCs a cut down version which gives realistic results but without the detail.
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Old 05-21-2014, 04:04 PM   #7
chrissandvick
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

Have you checked out David Pulvers "Tactical Mass Combat" article from Pyramid 44 Alternate Gurps II?

In W40k gaming, a certain amount of abstraction is a good thing with the emphasis on melee combat. The more role fire plays, with realistic ranges, and it is hard for the stabby units to survive to do their thing. Heck, horse mounted lancers are a valid battlefield unit in the setting.
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Old 05-22-2014, 05:33 PM   #8
Trixbat
 
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrissandvick View Post
Have you checked out David Pulvers "Tactical Mass Combat" article from Pyramid 44 Alternate Gurps II?

In W40k gaming, a certain amount of abstraction is a good thing with the emphasis on melee combat. The more role fire plays, with realistic ranges, and it is hard for the stabby units to survive to do their thing. Heck, horse mounted lancers are a valid battlefield unit in the setting.
Some years ago JTAS published a detailed three-part series of 6mm scale wargame rules for GURPS squad/platoon level combat ("Arm of Decision").

Sample is here:

http://jtas.sjgames.com/sample.cgi?28

Last edited by Trixbat; 05-22-2014 at 05:53 PM.
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Old 05-23-2014, 06:53 AM   #9
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Default Re: 6mm GURPS wargame

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post
It's been so long I can't remember much more than using damage values as points and dividing DR by 3.5.
That's a pretty brilliant idea to do. Having less rolls but have it be on the scale of combat level you're representing is favorable in my opinion.

My biggest problem I've had is how to model attack and defense where it's group based and not individual units.

5 people fire on a group of 4 guys. I'd like it to be a couple rolls and know who is left standing. I havn't quite figured out how I'd represent that, and it's the biggest part of the system.
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