The Commander Series Forum

Hi lads, after playing with other's miniatures on other's tables I'm going to host my first own BKC game in the next few weeks.
Theatre will be North Africa and I'm going to teach the rules to a player who isn't a wargamer at all (yet *gg*)!
I have some Germans ready (~10 infantry stands, ~15 tanks, some guns and trucks) and I'm painting Brits at the moment.
I have no terrain available that is made for 6mm gaming.

So I wanted to ask what do you think what I should come up with? A simple x points vs. x points game? A scenario? How can I build up a quick North Africa table? What and how much units should I use?

Did you host sort of these games before? Any thoughts on this? I'm looking forward to your comments.

Regards
Sebastian

Put towels, hills, etc under a light tan colored bed sheet or cloth. That should give you some nice hills/valleys to deal with. You can even use books to create dried river beds, or rivers. I also use lichen sprayed brown/tan to make stands of brush and the like. I never really bother with too many trees in my North Africa settings.

For me the scenario which was in BKC Lite is always a good introduction. It is basically the encounter scenario from the book with the following forces;

US 1 x CO, 1 x HQ, 1 x FAO, 9 x Inf, 3 x MG, 1 x Mortar, 3 x Stuart, 3 x Sherman, 3 x 105mm Artillery

German 1 x CO, 1 x HQ, 1 x FAO, 9 x Inf, 3 x MG, 1 x Pak40 + Truck, 3 x Mortar, 2 x Stug III, 1 x Nebelwerfer

This should be fairly easy to adapt to what you actually have.
Also there used to be a starter battlegroups download on the website which included desert forces. I have a hard copy somewhere, will locate if and post the details for you in the next day or so.

Hi, thanks for the comments. What is BKC Lite? The details of the downloadable battlegroups would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

BKC Lite was a stripped down version of the rules intended as an introduction before purchasing the book. It is no longer available on this website.

Starter Battlegroups as discussed

British NA 1942

1 x CO
2 x HQ
1 x FAO
9 x Inf
3 x MG
1 x Mortar
2 x 2pdr + truck
3 x Crusader 2pdr
1 x Crusader (Support Tank Option)
4 x 25pdr

German NA 1942

1 x CO
1 x HQ
1 x FAO
9 x Inf
3 x MG
1 x Mortar
1 x 50mm Pak38 + Truck or Halftrack
4 x Pz II
2 x Pz III 50mm kurz
2 x Pz III 50mm lang
3 x 105mm

Thank you!
Except for that much artillery, I can field all that.
What would you veterans say, how long would such a game last with a beginner?

If I play an encounter, there are no artillery assets available. Does that mean I can still field artillery support but can order them like IGs? Then I could drop some of the arty and the FAO.

Although assets are not available in the encounter scenario you can still have Artillery Units (off-table called by FAO) or Artillery Support Units (on table called by CO/HQ like IG) My choice would be the off-table Artillery Units as it fits in better with the scenario and you only have to field a model for the FAO. The BG's I listed are perhaps a bit heavy on the Arty side for a 1st time game IMHO so if you want to reduce it down and filed them on or off table as you see fit.

I would definitely say they are a bit heavy on the artillery.

The easiest way to introduce someone new is to use tanks and armoured cars only. After a few games, introduce a small amount of artillery on and off table. I would stay away from infantry in the beginning.
Good Hunting and Vielen Glück,
Respectfully,
Bill
PS Add a house rule about dust clouds thrown up by moving vehicles reducing LOS.

Hi, what's the reason to stay away from infantry in the beginning?
For the first game, I thought we would use the optional rule of staying hits to speed up the game.

The dust cloud idea is nice, I read something similar somewhere but can't remember. I too think it's an important cover in the desert.

I'd encourage you to use a good - and appropriate - amount of infantry: BKC is a combined-arms ruleset & your infantry are invaluable...especially if, and this is entirely recommended, you're playing scenarios

Would you recommend a scenario besides Encounter for a first game? And if yes, which?

We started with a classis Attack - Defend scenario.
This got the players used to the need for a sizeable majority to take defended ground. We also used it to get everyone used to the terrain rules.

I would not recommend the use of optional and house rules in a first time game keep it simple.

No infantry suggested because your new player is not a wargamer. Just to keep it easy on him so he can concentrate on learning how to play a wargame and learn one type of combat. Just thinking of the volume of things a newbie will be learning. Little steps first.
Respectfully,
Bill

Little steps, heck! He should learn wargames the way I did...thrown into the water and handed an anchor. It was the closest to a live fire excercise then I have ever been.

PS: I'm kidding (sort of) of course.

I really don't see how not having infantry is going to help anything

War is all about the PBI...

Should be no big difference if I use only armour or only infantry. Apart from that BKC is very player friendly because all units work the same way anyway.

atNTM
I found it that staying hits are easier and more intuitive to play than removing them.
The dust clouds, hmm, perhaps we can drop them for the first game and just shoot.
Although he won't know what is a house rule or not anyway...

I also prefer the static hit rules. I've played two without and 1 with. I enjoyed the tension of having the hits survive turn to turn.

We use the static hits and although I was a little worried about the effect this would have, it has made a big difference to our games in terms of speed of play. Also, now infantry in trenches/buildings are tough to deal with but not solely vulnerable to CA. I like the saves, but it can make taking out fortified infantry VERY tough. Static hits makes it more doable in a short amount of time. Of course, the poor guys outside in the open are also in deeper trouble!

We have added a "rally' command action that allows units to remove hits at the expense of an action: 1 poor; 2 regs; 3 elites. No die rolls, just an action.

Chris