Treadheads After Action Report at the South Bay Gaming Club. If you are in the San Jose area you should check out the South Bay Gaming Club. They are great groups of guys. There was also a huge Napoleonic’s miniatures game and an 18th century naval battle going on and about 15 layers attending. We had four players each running four tanks each. The German side had four Panthers and four Tiger I’s. The Russian player had four T-34/85 and four IS-2’s. It started as a meeting engagement at a range of 2,000 meters with some terrain blocking LOS. They were told it was a demo play test game and they were my guinea pigs for the afternoon. Sorry, no pictures. We used 1/144 scale tanks and some small hills and forests that blocked LOS. Nothing interesting to see. We played with all veteran crews and unbuttoned tank commanders to keep it balanced. Game Mechanics: This version of the game goes into more detail of engaging a target and desired aim time for better or worse accuracy. The player needs to make a risk-reward decision between firing quickly with less accuracy or taking longer to aim with better accuracy. Seconds really do count in the game. After Action Report: At the opening turn the German player had two of his Tigers head for a hull down location in the middle of the table and the other two move up the right flank. The player with the Panthers had them split up moving towards the center out of LOS and up the left flank out of LOS. The Russian player had his T-34’s move at full speed up their left flank towards the Tigers and the IS-2’s move up behind a blocking LOS towards the middle of the table. After a number of turns of maneuvering the two German Tigers got to their hull down position and took on the four IS-2’s at 1600 meters. All four IS-2’s missed on their first ranging shot and started to back out of LOS to reload. One of the Tigers hit but the round bounced off the bottom hull plate of the IS-2. The T-34’s continued to stalk the two hull down Tigers from behind blocking terrain but before they could get into position to shoot the four Panthers came into view. Two on their left flank and two directly ahead at a range of about 800 meters. Now the fun began. The German player came to a halt after seeing his quarry at a range where he could be penetrated was faced with the agonizing decision to fire quickly with a decrease in accuracy or take his time to aim. The Russian player with the T-34’s knew if he stopped he’d be immolated so decided to move two tanks being a harder target to hit but fire on the move with a lot less accuracy and have two come to a halt. The first moving T-34 to get a shot off in this little shoot out was on a halted Panther at 800 meters. He ended up getting a good shot off that went a little high but ended up bouncing off the bottom of the Panther mantlet and penetrating the hull top armor into the driver compartment taking out the Panther. Lucky for him as that Panther was going to get a shot off at him in two more seconds. Next was a Panther firing at a fleeing T-34 with a 90 degree deflection shot. The shot was accurate for range but the lateral dispersion put the round about two feet behind the turret – miss. Another Panther took a shot at a static T-34. However, it had just fired the turn before and placed a movement arrow designating him now as a moving target. That gave enough lateral movement for a miss. It’s a good thing he moved. Good shooting but bad luck for the Panthers. The duel between the Tigers and IS-2’s continued. All four IS-2’s bracketing shots missed again with most rounds going low. One tiger hit the top of the IS-2 curved mantlet and the angle was too steep for the round to bite into the armor. A ricochet but now he has found the range. The IS-2’s decided to close the range while reloading which will take 25 seconds. Two of the moving T-34’s came into view of the hull down Tigers engaging the IS-2’s. However, the two Tigers that were coming around the right flank were ready for them at a range of only 600 meters. The Russian player decided to keep his T-34’s hauling ass with a good deflection and engage the hull down Tigers on the move. One of the moving T-34’s got a shot off but it went a few feet high. The two flanking Tigers opened fire. Even though the T-34’s were evading the close

range of 600 meters got a hit on one through the turret side and the other in the engine compartment igniting the fuel tank knocking out both. The hull down Tigers engaged the IS-2’s while on the move as they were moving almost directly at them with a small deflection. The range is now 1400 meters and the Tigers have found the range. One shot hit the IS-2 in the upper hull side by the engine compartment which would have easily penetrated but because of the lateral angle it bounced off. The other one hit the turret front and penetrated setting off the ready rack ammo in the turret rear. Scratch one IS-2. The Tigers quickly reloaded to fire again. The IS-2’s have a 122mm gun that has two part ammo taking 25 seconds to reload. The Tiger can reload and fire again in 8-10 seconds. They are able to get off another shot while the IS-2’s are reloading. One round hits squarely on the turret ring knocking it out. The other round went high taking out the cupola and killing the tank commander. Meanwhile a Panther put a round through the turret of the remaining T-34 exploding it. At this point we ended the game. I wrote this from memory so please excuse any inconsistencies. Players debrief: Two players were vaguely familiar with the game, one had no knowledge and one had read the quick start rules. I took 5 minutes to brief them on the game and filling out the status sheets. The status sheets and gunnery charts I used were a little busy and with small printing but I wanted to see how well the players could use them. They didn’t work very well. I’ve since revised them with some of the good suggestions I received. They liked the idea of placing the aim point and seeing exactly where the round lands. The Panthers again showed the weakness of the mantlet ricocheting shots through the hull top. This has happened in every game so far and I’m using the historic diagram of the mantlet and ricochet angles. I didn’t just make this stuff up. The IS-2’s low rate of fire appears to be a problem when the odds are even. When they hit they are devastating. However, in this game their only target was hull down Tiger I’s whose ROF was three times theirs. The two Tiger I’s that took up a hull down position in the middle of the table had the best tactical position to control the outcome. Having the other two Tigers protect his flank worked well too. Normally at first glance I get the response of “the chart looks complicated”. That’s understandable. I have accuracy, time of flight and penetration information for all ammo types in 100 meter increments. This actually solves the mechanic of most games that have a base hit number plus range band modifiers, ammo type die roll modifiers, etc. that you need to search for with each shot. The accuracy letters have calculations that include a 20% range estimation error for the first shot, muzzle velocity, maximum ordinate, aiming error based on optics type and magnification and a few other factors to get the expected dispersion/MPI from the aim point. The results compare favorably to historic accounts and the formulas are from US Army Research on gunnery error budget. The letters are assigned a mil value and calculated out in 100 meter increments. It’s accurate and transparent to the player. No math involved and the modifiers are built in in at each 100 meter range increment. All the player needs to do is index the round type row and the range column to get the values. Mechanics of the game: One of the biggest problems has been to get the players in the frame of mind that the game is a continuous flow. There is no waiting for activation or your “turn” to do something. Units do not move or fire randomly based on dice or cards. As soon as you fire you need to determine the number of turns before you fire again by determining your reload and aim time. Don’t wait. Think like a tank commander. At any time you can slow down to stop or place a movement arrow to move out. There is no “waiting” for a specific phase to fire or move. If there is enemy action or activities around that threaten you then you can attempt to respond. Better crews perform actions more quickly than poor crews. The game system eliminates the need for complicated overwatch and opportunity fire rules. Engaging and firing at the enemy: Getting the first shot off is important. Out to about 1.0 seconds time of flight a gun can use battle sight and burst on target aiming which while a little less accurate is normally three seconds faster than range estimation and bracketing. This gives a big advantage to guns with a higher muzzle velocity. The revised system can let the player take from one to six seconds to aim and fire after reloading depending on his battle sight range. Taking less than three seconds to aim is a severe accuracy penalty but many times you are forced to get off a snap shot.

Your engagement time is the turret rotation time to get the gun on the target + the crew modifier. Follow up shot time is reload time + crew modifier to be “Locked and Loaded” then add your aim time or hold fire until a better target appears and then take aim. The status sheets have all of the info to do this and track turns and accuracy modifiers without the need for additional charts. At first glance they look “busy” and complicated but it’s sorted out after a few turns. The game is set up that if you are using veteran crews unbuttoned there are very few other modifiers. Movement: I’ve reworked the movement to use movement arrows that show the speed and direction of the vehicle rather than using generic ones. Movement is linked to terrain types and when moving to a different terrain type a new movement arrow can be laid down to show an increase or decrease in speed. The arrow is the length the vehicle will move so no measuring out distances. This will also give a good indicator to the enemy player to engage moving targets getting an idea of the speed and where the target will be a number of turns in the future. This will enable him to make a better decision for aiming time. Players can evade by zig zagging too which will throw off accuracy by generating lateral dispersion. Gunnery mechanics: To get the gunnery information just look in the target range column and the ammo type row and it’s right there. The only “modifier” is for the crew type on the first shot. The Ace crew modifier uses a range estimation error of 15%, Veteran 20% (no modifier), Trained crew 25% and Green crew 30%. The accuracy for follow up shots is on the accuracy card drawn and successive shots can be expected to have an MPI from the aim point of about 50% of the previous shot with no modifiers needed. The only modifier is from the aim time. So if a first shot that went 3.0 meters from aim point it can be expected to be about 1.5 meters on the second shot and about .75 meter on the third shot. This seems to simulate bracketing pretty well with successive shots becoming more accurate without tracking down a bunch of die roll modifiers. There is a limit to the accuracy depending on the range. There can be lucky shots and SNAFU’s that will interfere with smooth operation. If the range is within 1.0 seconds time of flight the player can use Battle Sight and Burst on Target aiming and fire control. It’s a little less accurate but is quicker. Normally they’ll want to use Ranging and Bracketing. Both have a variable aim time and accuracy modifier. The player makes the decision on which one to use. New changes and updates: The gunnery chart has been reworked and layout changed. All of the gunnery info for AP rounds is on the front of the vehicle status sheet making it more accessible and easier to read. To the right of the chart is the documentation for the accuracy letters showing % chance to hit a 2m x 2m target and expected MPI from the aim point is now next to the status sheet too. This will help the players determine the chances of hitting a target. This addresses one of the biggest complaints. Everything you need for the AP rounds is on the front of the chart. Info for HE and APCR rounds is on the back along with the armor layout and values. Summary: Yes, there is some bookkeeping and charts involved in the game. There is just no getting around it in order to simulate the decisions and their ramifications on accuracy. I’ve tried to consolidate as much as I can and make the information accessible and easy to identify. It’s still a WIP. Everything you do is what a real tank crew would do. You can respond to detected threats right away if you detect them without additional interrupt or activation rules. The games turns revolve around detect the target, engage by getting the gun on the target, decide on the fire control (range estimation or battle sight), aim, shoot, reload and repeat. It’s all about time and motion without using activation, initiative or set turn sequence. It’s pretty intuitive once you understand the concept and start thinking like a tank commander. Better crews perform the same actions more quickly making them more effective. It’s not just about die roll modifiers to a base number. Any tactic tank crews were capable of can be performed or simulated in the game without artificial or subjective rules. You can lay and wait in ambush without complicated overwatch and opportunity fire rules. You can close the range on the enemy evading/zig zagging by changing directions. Stop and shoot and move out again and after reloading stop and shoot again. No abstractions or additional rules for moving and firing. If you are buttoned up your tank commander will be protected but it will take precious seconds longer to detect and react to threats. Rates of fire for all weapons are historical and not abstracted. Rounds impact randomly around the aim point (determined by the player) and the more accurate the closer to the aim point they’ll land. There are no hit location charts and there can be up to 100 different hit locations per square meter of target area as dispersion is measured in 0.1

meter increments. So far I think the overall Treadheads system is making progress as players have found it playable and fun even with a minimal of instruction. There is much that can be done to streamline the system even more including deleting and abstracting some of the rules and concepts. The biggest benefit to players is that they are all involved all of the time as there is no specific fire or move segments or needing to wait for activations. You can’t afford to walk away. Vehicle Status Sheet: The Hull Down box has the height of the hull down protection. The binocular is for the Situational Awareness. The rounds represent the ammo ready rack. Cross one off after you reload. The next section is for target type and number designation. Put a check in the box for the ammo type you have loaded. “Engage” is getting your gun on the target. It uses the turret rotation speed in seconds (rounded up) + the crew modifier. Reload time is a set number + crew modifier. Info in light blue boxes stays the same the entire game.

The next section is where the aiming and fire control takes place. “Locked and Loaded” is the box to enter the turn which the gun will be reloaded. The “1st” column is used only for the first shot at a target. “F/U” is for follow up shots that miss. “Hit” is when you have found the range and solved the range estimation problem. The 1st shot has a modifier for the crew type which is in the light blue box. “Aim” is for the accuracy level for aiming for the current shot. The green box is the accuracy green letter from the accuracy card if the round missed. This will basically halve the vertical error of the previous shot. The red box the turn you will fire. The left side of the chart has additional information on mechanical reliability (wrench), small arms for protection, Situational Awareness arcs, maximum speed values over terrain type, turning radius, amount of time to come to a halt and other optional engagement rule additions. At most there are seven entries to make on the form and that is when first engaging a target. After that there are two to four boxes that will need an entry. So far it’s been pretty easy using dry erase markers. At the bottom is the gunnery information for the AP shell. The accuracy letter rows rows are for the 1st shot and all shots after the initial hit. Follow up shots that miss use the green accuracy letter form the card that missed. Penetration is for each 100 meters of range. Time of flight is used in the moving target lateral dispersion. The gunnery info is actually for the 88L71 gun. I was too lazy to make the change for this report.

The first shot the gun is locked and loaded on turn #12. It will be firing a ranging shot with 5 seconds of aim time. This gives a +2 modifier to the accuracy letter. 12+5=17 which is the turn the gun will fire. The accuracy letter is in the “1

st shot”

row on the gunnery chart at the target range but is checked at the time of firing (on turn #17). When drawing the accuracy card the letter will have two added to it (an L becomes an N).

The first shot was a miss and the accuracy letter for the follow up shot will be an “H” which is put in the green box. It took 9 turns to reload being “Locked and Loaded” on turn #26 (17+9=26). This will be a bracketing shot taking 6 turns of aiming so will fire on turn #32 (26+6=32). Aim time accuracy is a -1. When drawing the accuracy card the vertical and horizontal dispersion values will be under “G” (H-1).

The follow up shot was a hit so now we go to the “Hit” column. The accuracy letter on the gunnery chart under the “Hit” row for the target range is a “D” which is put in the green box. It takes 9 turns to reload so will be “Locked and Loaded” on turn #41 (32+9=41). He’ll take 5 seconds of aim time giving no accuracy modifier. All shots at targets at this range will use the same accuracy letter as he is ranged in eliminated the range estimation error. He’ll fire on turn #46 (41+5=46).

Example of three consecutive shots You can see that longer aim time results in better accuracy. The “First Shot” box is for the crew accuracy modifier and stays the same the entire game. In the example the value is zero because they have a veteran crew.

Revised Gunnery chart for the 88L71 gun for the Tiger II