Making a Coffee Table Wargame

Hi again,

Today I did something I've been intending on doing for a while - make a coffee table sized gaming mat. I first had the idea when I did my 3mm modern forces for Fistful of Tows 3. I placed an order today for some 2mm Irregular Miniatures WW2 stuff (Soviets and Germans) and so I figured the time was right to finally bring my idea to life. I had done a previous game mat for a full sized table and took the lessons I learnt from that to make this one. Using clump foliage and tea towels underneath for elevation along with some Monopoly buildings I think the table looks quite good! I think I'll have to order some proper buildings though...

I'm unsure what ruleset I'll use on the table but scaling ranges down will be a must. I already have Fistful of TOWs 3 and am familiar with it but have also purchased Kampgruppe Commander III from Wargames Vault and am liking what I'm reading. Decisions! Until next time. :)

Fields are spray painted on. The roads and rivers are painted on with cheap poster acrylic paint.

Setup with terrain. I envisioned this as a Soviet attack from the left table edge on a German defensive line protecting the town.

Small hills have a big impact at this scale.

3mm O8 modern armour. I think 2mm will be even better a fit.

A Fistful of Tows 3 - Battle Report

I recently got a game of A Fistful of TOWs 3 with Glenn and Jason. This report will be reasonably short on the text as I'm writing a few days after the event. We played the game on a ping pong table (about 9x5) running across the width. Glenn had a USMC armoured task force while I fielded two Swedish armoured battalions. We were going up against a Jason's Soviets consisting of a T-80B armoured regiment and a BMP-2 motorised regiment.

We're all still learning the game and have struggled previously to get the terrain mix right (open ground tends to favour the long range NATO MBTs while close terrain can let the Soviet numbers get in close and do huge damage). Thankfully this game we seem to have found the right balance. The game felt right, with Jason concerned about exposing his T-80s over the open ground while NATO found it difficult to get shots on well placed Soviet battalions. In the end the Soviets prevailed, the BMP-2s encircling and then bypassing a Swedish mechanised infantry battalion on the NATO right to take one of their objective roads. Soviet artillery demolished our sole M1A1 company and the Swedish S-tanks got annihilated when they left cover to chase the Soviets in the late game. The game was called after the NATO armour evaporated (probably around turn 7). Lesson learnt - outside of cover S-tanks are rubbish. Low armour, a 105mm gun and lack of stabilisation make them difficult to use  against 80s-era Soviet armour unless camping the woods on overwatch! Overall a fun day. :)

Swedish APCs prepare to drop off infantry in the ruined town

S-tanks! Their doom would be leaving this forest...

Marine recon scouts the main road. Glenn forgot his LAVs so Luchs had to stand in...

So... many... BMPs

T-80Bs

They get how many tanks???

USMC M-60 Pattons support Swedish infantry occupying the woods,,,

And also support the infantry in the town

M1A1s had a great position on the hill. TOW2 armed humvees lurk far left.

NATO's most powerful unit on the field was supressed and eventually crushed by concentrated Soviet artillery

T-80s advancing

Soviet infantry threaten the Swedes. The Swedes held a firm position and were basically untouchable in these woods... so Jason just drove around. Once the M60s were gone the BMPs had a clear run to the objective.

M60s held in the centre with Swedish infantry until BRDMs used a hill to slowly missile the company to death

Jason used the hedges effectively to hide his T-80s from NATO's superior range

Not many T-80s left on the left after TOW humvees tore apart nearly a battalion in one turn. Guided missiles are deadly if given an opportunity!

Fistful of Tows 3 Battle Report - Soviet Union vs West Germany, 1987.

Hello there!

Today I got a game in of Fistful of Tows 3 with Jason. We played in 3mm, which saved Jason lugging down his 6mm Soviets. The game was fairly short notice so neither of us had time to go over the rules beforehand and this was only our second game, so we kept it simple. No airstrikes or helicopters (or tactical nukes for that matter...). I'd hazard that we still made mistakes as it's a reasonably complex ruleset, but we definitely a lot, particularly how terrain effects the game. This will be a short one as the game was called after three turns (FFT3 is usually in the region lf a 10-12 turn game).

The table. I decided to make the table fairly heavily wooded and hilly. Yes, my forests and bridges are not scaled to 3mm, I know...

German panzergrenadiers defending the town with a Luchs screen. Leopard IIs are pushing down the road.

Two Leopard II battalions. The Germans were all rated average for this game.

German recon pushes up on the left

The Soviet right - four battalions of T-80Us! These were terrible troops, rated marginal

The Soviet right. Fair rated T-72B1s

Turn 1, German tanks occupy the left while the T-80U regiment pushes over the ridge. Initial casualties for the Soviets are light.

The main engagement on turn 2. The opening NATO salvos find their mark but the short range of the Soviets along with their numbers will count.

NATO right takes up overwatch positions. These would prove to be too far forward and would allow the T-72s to bring their numbers to bear.

Turn 3. The Panzers have all been eliminated, leaving just the village garrisons. Ouch.

The Soviets had plenty of tanks left...

Overall Thoughts

We learnt a couple of things this game. Use of terrain is essential, NATO needs to keep their standoff to avoid being overwhelmed. Effective use of terrain to screen an advance allowed the Soviet tanks to get their shorter range guns into range without taking early casualties. Setting a table in FFT3 is clearly an important element in achieving a good game.

The basic processes of how to resolve shooting, etc in FFT3 are reasonably complex. Jason and I both agreed that going for a more beer and pretzels orientated, easy to play game would be a better option when just looking to play for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. That said, the game has huge potential. I view it as kind of a tool box where you can build your own game. There's rules for basically anything you could want to do from engineering to chemical warfare. We talked about the prospect of a huge, 1 or even 2 day game played on a 12x6 table with multiple players and objectives to play. Different phases of the battle could be modelled with house rules to allow bases and units that failed quality checks to reconstitute and re-enter the battle. I think this kind of well-planned, deep game is where FFT3 would come into its own. Hopefully more to come! Thanks for reading. :)

Picoarmor 3mm Moderns

Hi again.

This project was a bit of a one-off and is now completed. 3mm moderns for Fistful of Tows 3. In the game bases represent platoons, so two vehicles to a base seems a bit off, however value wise 3x picoarmor vehicles was equal in cost to 1x Heroics and Ros 6mm vehicle. This project was in essence intended to be a cheap and easily transportable two player wargame of FFT3 that I could carry on my motorcycle. The aim then was achieved!

The forces consist of a NATO force split between British and Germans. The British have a Challenger 1 armoured regiment and a FV401 mounted mechanised infantry regiment. There is also support in the form of Lynx helicopters and Rapier anti-air vehicles. The German component is slightly larger, with a panzer (Leopard 2A4) battalion, mixed-panzer battalion, mechanised battalion (Marder 1A2s mounted) and a reconnaissance battalion with Leopard 1s, Fuchs and Luchs.

The Soviet force consists of two armoured regiments (one CAT 1 with T-80s and one CAT II with T-72s - all infantry in BMP-2s), with an independent battalion of T-80s and two Hind stands in support.

Picoarmor is a bit of a polarising thing I've found. I'm a big fan but certainly acknowledge that at this scale infantry are basically pointless. I personally wouldn't try doing 3mm in infantry-only eras like the Napoleonic Wars though I know there are those who do. As a way to put down a tonne of tanks on a table though it's a cool way to do it. The painting is incredibly quick - all of these vehicles were sprayed green, had a camo colour painted on (two for the Germans), washed and drybrushed. That's it. This whole project took maybe three weeks at most.

The whole lot laid out

NATO - British left, West Germans on the right

Challenger 1s

FV401s with infantry. In the background Spartans, Scorpions, FV mortars, Lynx helicopters and Rapier SAMs

Marder 1A2s and infantry

Leopard 2A4s

Luchs and Fuchs

The Soviets

T-72Bs

T-80UDs. The T-80s in this force are a mix of U and UD variants.

BMP-2s and infantry

The integral regimental support. Truck mounted mortars, recon BMP-2s and BRDMs, SA-13 Gopher SAMs and Tunguskas.