So i was looking at Tank speeds this morning and i noticed the Matilda II is a 5 in Days of the Fox well to be honest thats to fast it should be a 4 as the max road speed was 8-10 mph although the ones sent to Russia where Faster with a speed of 15mph. so still a 4 movement i think. I think this would be a good optional rule to add for more veteran players

BJaffe01

That sound like realy interesting. In game terms a movement of 4 would be realy limiting. It will be a unit with some advantages but also with some dissadvantage, and with a movement of 4, its drawback would be clearly vissable?

Another question I have about tank speeds in general: is the offroad abilities of tanks overrated in TOI? For example, should rouds give the tanks a movement of cost of 1, clear terrain give a movement cost of 2, forrests a movement cost of 4? Maybe some tanks could get an speciality to decrease the moemvent cost of difficult terrain? This would give roads a far greater strategic influence, and also easier allows TOI to model different capabilities of different vehicles. Some tanks was better at driving offraod than others?

Grand Stone said:

At the strategic level, you would be right. But at the tactical level (ToI), the roads on the maps function as they should, making movement through difficult terrain and up hills easier, allowing the crossing of rivers etc.

Those tanks that were faster offroad have higher movement rates (Panther, Crusader).

The Matilda ist too fast, however. I agree with Bill, it should have Movement 4.

Concur with speed 4 for the Matilda.

Funny thing the Matilda is basically designed to advance with infantry to take out Machine gun nests. you can jog with them even at top speed. if there is ever a 1940 version you will see French Tanks moving that slow as well

BJaffe01

BJaffe01 said:

Did I just hear someone lobby for a "France 1940" expansion? Now THAT would be interesting. Exploring the decisions and options available to Guderian and his opponents at the true dawn of modern mechanized warfare, using TOI as the vehicle, would be incredibly fun.

I think France 1940 is a great time peroid to game. the French have some command issues but fought hard the British have good troops but also had poor command. the air battle was even between the Brits and Germans but the French where outclassed in some places and others they where even. so yeah i love the idea of France 1940.

BJaffe01

BJaffe01 said:

Me too. The period before the high-tech tank monsters is very interesting.

KlausFritsch said:

Yes but interestingly, the French armour was far superior to German. France 1940 was a replay of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War (France lost). A clear case of technology outstripping doctrine (or creating flawed doctrine) on one side versus a radical revolution in military affairs on the other. That's what wargaming is all about...exploring "what ifs".

Throw in Maginot Line scenarios, refugees, evacuation (British),...I WANT ONE! Anyone know where you can buy Char-1B 1/144 vehicles?

i'm not sure maginot line scenarios would be any fun. but the Campaign in France actually has 2 phases the intial phase and the after Pairs phase which also featured some interesting combats with the British division that was cut off from escaping and the French Colonial troops who sometimes gave better than they took. refuges would also be hard to mold within the game

BJaffe01

Yeah i think the French idea is great. It reminds me of a pc game called Theatre of War. The original that is. It covered lots of often overlooked parts of the war and was very fun. But thats kinda off topic

that's okay way off topic for 1 post is fine. i also think the Desert needs more loving. maybe not the 1940 stuff but for sure 1941-1943 stuff I'm thinking the Free-French stand to save 8th Army during Gazala maybe some other 1941 battles and for sure stuff in Tunisia 42-43

BJaffe01

BJaffe01 said:

I'm all for more stuff on North Africa. However, I don't think that a complete version of the scenario editor will ever see the light of day, and I still have not figured out how to show the board setup without actually photographing the boards.

Im all for more Africa additions. I think the Americans should have gotten a few more tanks like the M3A1 Stuart and M3 Medium Tank. Those were very common in Africa and i think they deserve a place in the Africa game.

French expansion sounds fun .) However I have one request, suggestion: hire Frank Chadwick to write a scenario or two. The two scenarios he made for the designer series are a heck of a lot of fun. And good scenarios are the key ingredient for this game.

Pilot17 said:

You can find these units for sale here. Very reasonably priced and to scale.

http://www.strangecargogames.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=301_262_272_273&sort=20a&page=3

actually the stuart and grant/lee are indeed important to the Desert and Russia as well. when the grant/lee arrived in the Desert it's 75 actually was the best tank mounted weapon.

BJaffe01

BJaffe01 said:

October 2010: FoTB

Holiday season 2010: TOI :Case yellow! (Fall Gelb): The invasion of France and the Low countries

That would be a dream come true! A panzer I and II for the Germans, a Stug d, an early war panzer IV. For the French a Char B, a Renault and a Sumoa. If that happened I'd take back allthe criticism for the late release of FoTB!

Don't forget about the Japanese and the Pacific, though!

A french sound easier though. Not that I wouldnt enjoy a pacific front expansion, but if a pacific front is to be made, I want to be good. Ie a pacific expansion would take more time. For example, how would you model fanatic japanese infanteri? Its difficult to tweak the infanteri without breaking balance to much.

Kingtiger said:

You can find the above 10mm French 1940 vehicles here:

http://nowear.se/pitheadphp/www/products.php?cayid=26

Fanatic Infantry isn't that hard and balancing isn't that hard but many battles in the Pacific don't lend to interesting scenarios. this expansion would take much longer to design right

BJaffe01

BJaffe01 said:

Well sir, what are you waiting for. Let's get cracking. Christmas is only 4 months away.

BJaffe01 said:

Hmm, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Singapore, Manilla, Malaysia, Guadalcanal, I can think of some...Besides if Memoir 44 can think of many interesting scenarios, why couldn't TOI?

Even if in real life there was a clear winner and there's no way the other side could have possibly won the actual battle (although of course history has provided countless examples of just such impossible victories), of course you can give the side having a clear advantage a severe time limit within which to achieve victory, or they are not allowed to suffer more than X casualties, or you need to get an X number of units off the board etc. etc.

Those banzai charges are severely overrated by the way. Although they were succesful from time to time, more often than not they were beaten off with severe casualties on the Japanese side. Other than that, cards can easily cater for such instances. Standard Japanese infantry have no need to be any different.

Kingtiger said:

It depended greatly on who was being charged. They worked extremely well against untrained or poorly-led troops. However, against well-trained troops they often ended up being suicidal. On Guadalcanal, the results of using them against US Marines were 15,000 Japanese dead versus 1,600 American.