Nightfighting WW2 - Western Desert

[ochoin]

Since Covid has killed our big, two day Show games, our little group's biggest event is the annual Australia Day Battle (coming up in late January).

This year, the talk is for the Western Desert in WW2. The rules we use are Blitz Krieg Commander 1 which are company/battalion scale rules so 8-10 tanks a side, commensurate infantry etc.

Up to now, we've only ever gamed late war Western Europe. The battlefields have buildings, hedges, woodlands etc - plenty of cover & the means of limiting the ranges of weapons eg a German 88 can fire 100cms unless blocked by line-of-sight. This is vital in a game as otherwise the attackers would get massacred.

I know the Western desert had wadis etc & dust plays a role in concealment & you can always use smoke rounds to hide troops, however, the battlefield looks fairly naked.

And then I had a "wizard wheeze": set the game as a night attack.
Sadly, our rules have no provision for this. I'm trying to devise some bolt on rules.....eg half ranges, movement potentially being in random directions, perhaps morale issues for the defenders????

Does anyone have any concrete ideas? I'd be grateful.

donald

[FreddBloggs]

Make germans attack avoids the 88 dominance.

Also remember if allies, artillery, germans hated 25pdrs as much as allied tanks hated 88s.

[Essex Boy]

You could double up on all the units, one of which will be a dummy, which stays a dummy until it can be seen. Obviously, dummies can't shoot(?). Visibility would be a fraction of what it would be during the day (unless you're silhouetted against a horizon) but bullets and other missiles don't fly less far in the dark - or is that an Australian thing?

You're welcome. No charge.

E

[ochoin]

bullets and other missiles don't fly less far in the dark - or is that an Australian thing?

E

Yes. The air here, at night, is far thicker than back home. As you can imagine, this slows down the regular nightly fusillades of boots, beer bottles & bricks (&, yes, bullets) between neighbours here in Australistan.

donald

"No charge"? Are you saying charging should be banned in night attacks?

[Essex Boy]

"My good man, I wish to return this 'ere kangaroo, for it is broken"

"How's that, cobba?"

"I shall tell you. Yesterday morning when you sold it me, it could jump a good twenty feet, but last night it could barely manage half of that".

"It was dark. What did you expect, you dozy drongo?"

[Essex Boy]

Most definitely. Charges would be suicidal.

[ochoin]

"My good man, I wish to return this 'ere kangaroo, for it is broken"

"How's that, cobba?"

"I shall tell you. Yesterday morning when you sold it me, it could jump a good twenty feet, but last night it could barely manage half of that".

"It was dark. What did you expect, you dozy drongo?"

Your grasp of the OZ patois is either astonishing or frightening. I haven't decided which.

donald

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Your grasp of the OZ patois is either astonishing or frightening. I haven't decided which.

Are they mutually exclusive?

[Essex Boy]

"My good man, I wish to return this 'ere kangaroo, for it is broken"

"How's that, cobba?"

"I shall tell you. Yesterday morning when you sold it me, it could jump a good twenty feet, but last night it could barely manage half of that".

"It was dark. What did you expect, you dozy drongo?"

Your grasp of the OZ patois is either astonishing or frightening. I haven't decided which.

donald

I have courted both Australian and New Zealand ladies in my time. They have aimed all manor of exotic insults in my direction.

[ochoin]

Your grasp of the OZ patois is either astonishing or frightening. I haven't decided which.

Are they mutually exclusive?

Iain imagines Australia to be some sort of crude backwoods environment. Laughable.
Australians are an incredibly sophisticated people.
For example, most Aussies have eschewed naked mud wrestling as their favourite entertainment in favour of the ballet......provided the ballet has at least one scene involving naked mud wrestling (eg Swine Lake).

donald