Quick Battle - Standard House Rules, what are yours???

[WynnterGreen]

When I set-up my Quick Battle PBEM Games, I usually have a set of negotiable Rules that I and my opponent agree on before we start.

Sometimes during the negotiation though I forget things that can be critical to an enjoyable and balanced game.
At other times opponents ask for a rule to be added that I think makes excellent sense but I forget to add it to my rules for the next game.

So for those interested I thought it might be good lay out, discuss and maybe come up with a bit of a template to use when setting up QBs.

This is what I've been using recently, other then the obvious, No Arty on Set-Up Zones, etc.

33% Armour.
A maximum of one third of points can be allocated to Armour units.

One/Four BigCat.
Only one tank out of 4 can be taken as either a Panther, Tiger, KT, Jagdpanzer, or Jagdpanther

One/Four Sherm76
Only one tank out of every 4 can be a Firefly or Sherman 76mm variant.

Organic Artillery ON/OFF
You can't take Artillery that's bought from the Artillery Only section, or any extra arty that isn't attached directly to your Companies or Battalions Command.

TRP Scale.
Battle Size Small, Maximum 1TRP + 1TRP for each increment of Engagement Size increase.
This Maximum is doubled for both sides in Attack/Defend and Assault missions.
(For example a Huge Meeting Engagement would have a maximum of 4TRPs per side, but a Huge Attack would have a maximum of 8TRPs per side)

Air Assets??????
Now this is an interesting one.
Having never used them before, I went on a bit of a rampage with them in my last 3 PBEM Games.

The evidence seems to be that they're pretty effective, even against your own troops if you stray to close to their attack template!

One opponent insisted that they're 'artillery' and therefore kind of making the suggestion was that I'd broken the Organic Arty Rule.
Air assets clearly aren't Artillery, but in hindsight I understand the sentiment, having now used them.

I really like having them in the game, but I can see the need to restrict them.
Has anyone come up with a solution that lets them be an option, but stops them from being problematic?

Thoughts?

 

[Underfire]

I do like your House Rules, and have used them myself when possible.

I do have a query for personal clarification.

One/Four BigCat.
Only one tank out of 4 can be taken as either a Panther, Tiger, KT, Jagdpanzer, or Jagdpanther

One/Four Sherm76
Only one tank out of every 4 can be a Firefly or Sherman 76mm variant.

Do you mean that you can only buy a Big Cat/76mm as the 4th tank, or, you can buy a Big Cat/76mm as your 1st tank then up to 3 further smaller tanks before your next Big Cat/76mm?


On airsupport, I recently played a scenario and had a platoon on the edge of the fire zone. I lost half of that platoon!
Personally I have no problem if both are used. Maybe, similar to your armour limitation, have a max amount that can be spent on off-map assets - this would include any organic arty.

 

[Bill]

I don't see the problem with air assets. You either agree to use air assets or not use air assets.

House rules are important and should be agreed before selecting QB parameters.

Game design issue: QB parameters need changing so that the players can select whatever parameters they want (within reason). For example points and time parameters.

 

[WynnterGreen]

Do you mean that you can only buy a Big Cat/76mm as the 4th tank, or, you can buy a Big Cat/76mm as your 1st tank then up to 3 further smaller tanks before your next Big Cat/76mm?

Yeah, I need to fix the wording to clarify.
The idea is that Armour Piece 4 / 8 / 12 etc..... can be Bigcat/76mm

One/Four BigCat/76mm.
Only every fourth Armour piece can be either a BigCat or Sherman76mm variant.
You need to purchase three Armour assets before purchasing your first BigCat/76mm

BigCat = [Panther, Tiger, KT, Jagdpanzer, or Jagdpanther]

I left Churchills off this rule because Rarity usually precludes taking Fireflys and Churchills in any significant numbers.
If it became an issue, Churchills could be added to the One/Four

 

[Hang Fire]

Hey WynnterGreen Cheers!
We battled many times and you kicked my butt more times then I would like to disclose. I remember the first Air bomb ... LOL

Tim AKA
General Lee Irked now Hang Fire here...

 

[WynnterGreen]

@ Hang Fire, trying to remember...... was it in a Italy game??????

I think that was the first time I ever used a plane, it dropped a 500Lb bomb and literally frightened me when it cratered because I wasn't expecting it.

 

[WynnterGreen]

Re: Air Assets

I've decided that in a medium game or smaller Air Assets are a bit too disruptive, mostly because one of the things they seem to be most effective at is area denial.
Troops just can't readily move around much while the birds are up, so on smaller maps and in smaller engagements they bog the action down a little too much.

So the first thing I've decided for myself is; No Air Assets in Medium or Smaller Engagements and a restriction of Max/1/Air for Larger Games


Another thing I've been thinking about is:
Although I mostly play Organic Artillery, some times I'd like the option to play around with some of the other Artillery available.
So for Large and Huge Games I've come up with the simple additional option of playing:

Organic Artillery +1
Meaning all the normal Organic Artillery rules apply except that you're allowed to purchase 1 non Organic Artillery Section.

 

[Hang Fire]

@ Hang Fire, trying to remember...... was it in a Italy game??????

I think that was the first time I ever used a plane, it dropped a 500Lb bomb and literally frightened me when it cratered because I wasn't expecting it.

Yes it was an Italy game . I figured I got nuked at first. Hahaha