Wargames Rules for All-Arms Land Warfare from Platoon to Battalion Level 1925–1950

“Wargames Rules for All-Arms Land Warfare from Platoon to Battalion Level 1925–1950” were first published by the Wargames Research Group (WRG) in 1973 and have been updated by Phil Barker in 1988. Rather than focus on minor and often irrelevant differences in tank armour and armour penetration capabilities, the author emphasizes tactics, terrain, and command control as the decisive factors of modern ground warfare.

Contents

• Title: Wargames Rules for All-Arms Land Warfare from Platoon to Battalion Level 1925–1950 and 1950–2000
• Period: 1925–2000
• Type: Tactical Wargame
• Time Scale: 5 minutes per double-bound (friendly plus enemy bound)
• Ground Scale: 1 mm = 1 m, 1 mm = 2 m, 1 cm = 2 m (1:76 scale troops)
• Troop Scale: 1 figure = 1 man, 1 model = 1 gun or vehicle
• Basing: 2–3 figure weapons groups, 4–6 figure rifle groups
• Armour penetration benchmarks
  • Sherman vs. Lingèvres Panther: 66 % per game turn
• Author: Phil Barker
• Format: 134-page rule book, of which 58 pages cover 1925–1950
• Language: English
• Publisher: Phil Barker
• Published: 2016

Chapters

1. Introduction to the 1988 Edition, 1 page
2. Playing Conventions, 1 page
3. Planning your Army, 6 pages
4. Sequence of Play, 1 page
5. Table and Terrain, 3 pages
6. Time, Weather and Direction, 1 page
7. Force Posture and Deployment, 1 page
8. Command, Control, and Communication, 3 pages
9. Training and Morale, 1 page
10. Actions permitted by Modes, 1 page
11. Surface Movement, 1 page
12. Vision and Target Acquisition, 2 pages
13. Direct Fire, 6 pages
14. Area Fire, 7 pages
15. Combat Results, 2 pages
16. Field Engineering, 3 pages
17. Air Support, 4 pages
18. Deciding the Victor, 1 page
19. Tactics, 1 page
20. Contemporary Production ADV Characteristics and Costs, 9 pages
21. Typical Non-AFV Organization and Cost, 4 pages
22. Selected Bibliography, 1 page
23. Part Two: Wargames Rules 1950–2000, 66 pages

Evaluation

Allied players will be happy to note that Phil Barker‘s Wargames Rules, like the WRG Wargame Rules 1925–1950 before them, actually give the 75 mm L.41 Sherman tank gun a 66 % chance of destroying the Panther parked on D13 between La Senaudière and Lingèvres on 14th June 1944. In fact, penetration and destruction of the Panther is automatic at this very short range of 400 yards, but actually hitting the turret side of a hull-down Panther requires a roll of 3+ on a D6. If at first you don‘t succeed, the second shot at the same Panther has an 83 % chance of success. It‘s important to remember that many other popular World War Two wargame rules are heavily biased in favour of German heavy tanks, making it virtually impossible for Shermans to survive tank duels.

Phil Barker‘s Wargames Rules for All-Arms Land Warfare from Platoon to Battalion Level 1925–1950, originally published by WRG in 1973, are still decidedly “Old School”, consisting of 58 pages of text and tables, but not a single illustration or photo, apart from the front cover.

While the text is laid out well enough, and the table of contents really helps locate relevant section of the rules, these wargames rules are likely to overwhelm beginners dabbling into World War Two gaming for the first time. The author suggests keeping it simple at first, running a platoon-sized infantry game perhaps, and adding more complex game elements as the rules are progressively understood and memorized.

There are many acronyms to learn, like SLR (self-loading rifle), Rgr. (rifle grenade discharger), DIAT (disposable infantry anti-tank projector, i.e. Panzerfaust) or RIAT (reusable infantry anti-tank projector, i.e. Bazooka, PIAT, Panzerschreck), NGFO (naval gun fire observer team) and so forth, which are explained just once and then used consistently throughout the remainder of the rules. Where other wargame rules like Rapid Fire! or Bolt Action spend an entire page to visually lay out a US Infantry Battalion, Phil Barker needs only one line of cryptic text to define any formation in breathtaking detail:

Rifle Plt. 41: C-SLR(4–5). 3 sect ea SLR(3),SLR(4–5),LMG(2–3),S(1)

This translates as (US) “Rifle Platoon 1941: Command element with self-loading rifles (4–5 figures). 3 sections (called squads in proper American English) each of one element with self-loading rifles (3 figures), one element with self-loading rifles (4–5 figures), one light machine gun (BAR) element (2–3 figures), and one sniper.” of course.

While this army list format does take a minute or two to get used to, the army lists in Phil Barker‘s wargames rules are very comprehensive, covering the major belligerents as well as their minor allies, like Burmese, Gurkhas, Maoris, Moroccan Goumiers, Abyssinians, Commandos, Highlanders, plus Israelis, Chinese, North Koreans, and Vietnamese insurgents. There is no need to spend another 600 Euros or so on a plethora of expensive army lists or scenarios booklets down the road.

Phil Barker‘s army lists are in error where they allow the British Motor Battalion to employ M2 and M3 Half-Tracks, apparently including the precious .50 Caliber M2 Browning Machine Gun. Motor battalions actually had M5 Half-Tracks without the HMG. The British player ought to be able to fire the section LMG as a vehicle machine gun (VMG) when the motor section is mounted, but not the .50 cal. HMG.

The rules are to be played with 1:300 scale miniatures at 1:1000 ground scale (1 mm = 1 m), or 1:200 scale miniatures at 1:2000 ground scale (1 mm = 2 m), or 1:76 scale miniatures at an unspecified ground scale. Phil Barker suggests using 1:76 scale miniatures for platoon-sized actions, in which case the gaming table only needs to be 1 m wide if a 1 cm = 2 m (1:200) ground scale is used.

Phil Barker‘s Wargames Rules 1925–1950 are definitely “Old School”, and that‘s a good thing, because they were never designed as a marketing tool for selling expensive figures, tanks, artillery, and endless expansion sets. While there may be a few glitches here and there, these rules do not appear to be heavily biased in favour of one army or another.

Wargame Rules