The Commander Series Forum

Hi. I'm wondering how big people make their fields? I'm working on a modular terrain board and I'm uncertain how big fields actually are in the real world and indeed what's good for gaming in. My board is supposedly a combination of generic 6mm ww2 (I'm wanting to do sea lion, normandy, soviet advance towards Berlin) meanwhile doubleing up after unplugging and swopping the trees and houses as 3mm modern (soviets invade germany). I'm hopeful modern fields are approximately double the size...

My half finished first module has around fields 8 by 10.

Sorry - all different, small in Normandy, none on the steppes, variable for rest of Europe. To get an idea use Google Earth, look at sample sof each area.

IanS

My 6mm fields are 7.5" x 5"

http://angelbarracks.co.uk/html/angel_barracks_...

I am sure they could be a lot bigger and be more realistic but this size seems to fit a few rules.

I think in the 30s fields would generally be smaller than current ones. As most agriculture was still horse /man driven, with limited tractors. Whereas now agriculture is highly mechanised which has lead to very large fields being created by removing hedges and fences.

Bocage fields were often 50-100yds across, and were regarded as small by British and US troops. Which would indicate they were used to somewhat larger ones.

I think you probably need to go with something representative at the 1:platoon scale.

Go with what ever looks/feels right. As fred says, Normandy fields are small, and if you scale it to 1cm = 20m, then your fields will be 5cm square!

Do different shapes as well - not everything is nicely rectangular!

If you make fields too small, the game will really bog down

I'm working on a couple of fields at the moment, same scale and period, ones 7cm square, the other 7cm x 14cm. I'll likely do an L-shaped one on 14cm square with a shed or barn on one corner. But I also suggest fields with one of those timecast hedges sets and those are larger and very irregular.

As fred 12df and kiwidave said Normandy fields were small, sadly with modern farming techniques most of the famous bocage has been ripped out to produce larger fields.

I just cut the door mat into fours for 28mm and 6's fof 10mm

As I play my games at 1"=50yrds with platoon sized bases, fields, especially in the bocage, are better treated as you would woods. Declare an area as fields and apply the cover, LOS rules to anyone in the area. This removes the problem of the very limited LOS (as per the 5cm square fields mentioned above)not being replicated on the table.

I should have added that in the "fields" area you can put whatever you want down, so you can use your pretty terrain.

Thanks for the advice. I'm realising I've far too many fields, currently cramming as many as possible. Also, they are probably too small since most infantry can get from the edge of one field to another in a single move. Maybe I'll aim for 15 by 10 instead and keeping them fairly irregular in shape. Now all I need is something to put between the fields...

between the fields or in the fields between the hedges?

just added some extra fields to my site:

http://angelbarracks.co.uk/html/angel_barracks_...