Today, I've decided to enroll myself in something of a wargamer's boot camp to help make sense of the combat system in The Second World War game series produced by Diffraction Entertainment/TKC Games.
This will probably amount to a drawn out self reference guide, but it's helpful to have a discussion about the system as a whole since TSWW game series amounts to something more like a simulation of Second World War combat than it does a game in some respects.
As I take to learning the system while playing through TSWW Hakkaa Päälle, I've taken note of a few difficulties that are somewhat of a challenge to grapple with, at least for someone who is new to this system. So, let's treat this like an exercise in learning like everything else, piece by piece and bit by bit.
The inspiration for the combat system in TSWW comes to more than an abstraction of combat ratios between two or more fighting forces. Instead, prior to establishing combat ratios, there's a bit more of a science to approximate, or simulate, a more realistic version of that abstraction. On the TKC Games (Digital) webpage, there's a short blurb about the inspiration behind their system. It comes from "Trevor Dupuy’s 'Numbers Prediction and War' methodology, using calculated lethality indices," which "gives a unique opportunity to develop an accurate and exciting conflict simulation that, from its inception, was created with computer gaming in mind."
Three points in this quote give a pretty obvious indication then as to why we need a different mind and perspective to breakdown, learn, and (hopefully) appreciate the combat system described in the game rules. First, the objective is to "simulate" combat; whereas combat is I would say typically gameified in the vast majority of wargames out there in our current age, this system aims at simulation, which is more involved - more calculated.
Second, it's created with computer gaming in mind. The formulas and scripts involved with computer gaming certainly lend themselves much more to making complexity playable than a wargame simulation in print form (especially when you're looking for table space, let alone brain power). Computers are just simply better aimed at simplifying realism into leisurely, playable terms. I would say that the video game series Steel Panthers (the best around nowadays being winSPWW2) is most likely the best in-between example where the world of complex wargames from the days of SPI and Avalon Hill met with computerization of complex wargame mechanics. In Steel Panthers, you get a sense of the formulaic representation of tactical combined arms combat through the values attributed to small arms, HEAT weapons, armor ratings, and the influence of terrain, distance, and training on combat results. While I have no experience yet playing around with the digital versions of TSWW game series (partly because I believe they're still in development), I'd at least go so far as to say that the print games released by Diffraction Entertainment/TKC Games arrives somewhere near the system of complexity represented in games like winSPWW2, and it's precisely because what we're dealing with here isn't a game, but rather a simulation that not only takes account into far more variables, but it also relies on the treatment of those variables in a system based, at least in part, on statistical modeling.
Third, and perhaps most related to point two, the fact that this system is based on Dupuy's methodology clearly indicates that the use of indices and a methodology at all lends itself to a combat system that is based on a model of combat that attempts to approach a more real-to-life statistical simulation of tactical combat than most wargames, which lend themselves more to a relative abstraction of the same thing.
So, why does this matter? If nothing else, it helps us wargamers think in terms of variables and their relationship to each other. In my opinion, it'd be more helpful if there was an alarm-blaring indicator by way of a preface in the rulebook so that players are aware, but like a "buyer beware" notice, but at least I've come to this realization by my own devices.
Anyway, onto the combat resolution sequence. Reading from the rulebook, we have a pretty simple explanation of this procedure (I'm quoting from the Hakkaa Päälle Game Rules booklet, version 1.6hp, dated 2021): Rule 10.B.1 states "The attack (combat) strengths of all the forces attacking are modified for terrain, supply, national contingent (see 10.C.5 below), special unit types (see 10.L on page 62), Going (if used, see 10.O on page 66) and CEV (including BAI), then totaled."
Ok ... so this is complex as it is. Discounting that we do the same thing for the defender and then play around with odds ratios, there's some serious mental math we have to do just to find out the final value of the attacking force and any die roll modifiers that we work with when resolving the combat. Not only are some of these modifiers variables that change the attack strength, some components play into the die roll modifiers (and to be sure, the die roll modifiers are also partly dependent on the units we're attacking).
Is it making sense yet? No, Ok, moving on.
Now, for ease of walking through this without having to back track, I'm also going to note several other rules that modify or correct these modifications. While the base rules address, in general, how these modifiers influence and change our attack strengths, they are superseded by several other rule sections. Before modifying attack strengths, consult the following sections: the Political & Economic Rules in the main Game Rules, consult scenario specific modifiers in the At Starts rulebook, and for good measure, also consult the country-specific Orders of Battle.
So, let's do some mental math and work through an example. (DISCLAIMER: I'm still learning this system. Mistakes will happen ... that's the whole frigging point of this post. Not that anyone else but me reads this, but if you do, don't get pissy with me. I'm making mistakes as a part of the learning process).
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| Let's pretend for a moment that these tanks look like they're in clear ground during good weather. |
I'm going to take the example of the Russian 1st L(ight) Tank Brigade (X), with a base attack value of 5, under the best of all possible combat conditions attacking let's say into clear terrain with no hexside obstructions. For ease of calculation, because it's too much to crunch at the moment, let's set aside air superiority, interdiction, and other air-related combat modifiers. I'll also skip the optional Going rules. Then, I'm going to do the same modification for the 1st L Tank Brigade under the worst possible combat conditions. Modified by terrain (in the defender hex), which is weather dependent, the attack value of our armor (5) is modified by 1.25 in good weather (no DRM): 6.25 (no DRM). Next, modify for supply. We want Offensive Supply, so 6.25 modified by 1.5 and we get: 9.375 (no DRM). Next, modify for national contingent (2+ nations attacking together). Since we have only one national contingent attacking, we need not worry about this. Moving on, modify for special unit types. We have armor at play, so we're modifying according to the Armor Shock Effects (ASE). Clear terrain permits full ASE, so with our light armor equating their Armor Points to 75% of the SP total (which is 2), we have 1.5 Armor Points (which themselves are also modified by supply and not just terrain ... this is why combined arms attacks are tricky). With 1.5 Armor Points, we get a +1 DRM. So, we have 9.375 (with +1 DRM) and no other special unit type modifications. We're not using the optional Going rules, so we move finally onto the CEV. Consulting the CEV table, 1939 Soviet Union is listed at 1, so our final modification brings us to an attack value of 9.375 with a +1 DRM. Not bad.
Now, let's say we're working with the full Political & Economic rules, which do serve to nerf the Soviet attackers quite a bit. On page 117 of the game rules, the full ASE value for light armored brigades is limited to "0.5 Full Level". Now here's where I run into a question. Is the terrain modification to ASE the number of Armor Points once calculated? Or is it a modification of the % based on the armor type? Hmm, questions, questions. I'm probably over thinking and it's a modification of the number of total armor points after calculation. Light armor modifies at 75% of the SP total attacking. An armor brigade at 2SPs comes down to 1.5 Armor Points in clear terrain, modified at 0.5 of the full level brings it down to 0.75 Armor Points. But, since the final calculation is rounded up "if less than 1" (per rule 10.L.1.b on page 63), we retain our net +1 DRM for 1 Armor Point at a 9.375 attack value. Phew.
Okay, now let's make these combat conditions suffer for the 1st L Tank Brigade. Attack value is at a cool 5. Terrain, let's say we're attacking into wooded hills in severe, freezing weather. The terrain modifies our attack value by 0.5 with a -1 DRM: 2.5 attack value (-1 DRM). The freezing weather brings the - DRM up to -3: 2.5 attack value (-3 DRM). Next up, supply. We have only general supply (say we're not stacked with a Corps HQ per the Soviet's Political & Economic Rules that modify the standard supply requirements), so we modify by 0.75: 1.875 (-3 DRM). Next up, special unit types (so ASE calculation). In wooded hills, only half of the SPs may claim armor effects ... ah, OK, that's how that works. So 1SP. It's down to half again for Soviet limitations per the Political and Economic Rules. So 0.5 SPs. General supply reduces combat effects by 50%, so that's a modification on the 75% for Light Armor: .75 x .5 x .5 = 0.1875 Armor Points. Pretty pitiful. Normally, we'd bump this up to 1 (and snag a +1 DRM) per 10.L.1.b, but, following scenario rules for the intro Land Combat scenario (which I'm currently scratching my head through), Soviet armor doesn't benefit from ASE effects, so scrap that whole tangential math problem. We're still at 1.875 attack value at -3 DRM. Yikes. Next up, skipping the optional Going rules, we have CEV, valued at 0.75 in general supply. So that's 1.40625 attack strength (with a -3 DRM). That's ... pretty terrible. Thank goodness there's no rivers or defense fortifications in the way.
So, by comparison, even beset by the Soviet player's coordination limitations per the Political & Economic Rules in both cases, when attacking clear terrain in good weather, the 1st L Armor Brigade's attack strength comes in at 9.375 with a +1 DRM. In wooded hills and severe, freezing weather without the benefit of Armor Shock Effects (pitiful as those effects would be anyway), we're looking at an attack strength of 1.40625 with a -3 DRM. That's a significant spread between the two. Divide 9.375 by 1.40625 and we get 6 and 2/3, discounting difference achieved by our DRMs.
To make this go full circle, let's say the brigade attacks an enemy with 1 defense strength and no modification to DRMs beyond what we've calculated, rolling a 5 on the Combat Resolution Table. At 9:1 odds and a +1 DRM, we get a Defender Eliminated result. And trundling blindly into the woods at 1:1 and a -3 DRM, we get an Attacker Quartered result. Telling, isn't it?
Well, this certainly served as a help to yours truly, and hopefully if any curious minds read this, it'll be a help to them too. I'm off now to see if I can replicate this in real game terms and run a few more trial and errors, but it certainly for one puts things into perspective and gives a good sense of how to run with the system. For good measure, I'll probably run through another "Doing the Math" boot camp some time, seeing as it could probably be a good series for the more complex games out there. When I run up against the air combat procedure most likely, I'll see if I can put another one of these together.
Any way, until next time.
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