Re: [SG 2} 15 mm TO&E ramblings

>1)  Does anyone routinely field platoons under 24  figures?
> 
>2) Does anyone routinely field platoons over 48  figures?

"Routinely"?  No to either.

I've fielded forces of less than 24 in games with mixed units (ie two
vs.
one scenario), and occasionally I've run games with special scenarios
that
had few figures on one side.  Generally no, however, 24 is about as
small
as I'd want to go (my NI unit is 24 actually - but they're "commandos"
and
deploy in teams of four, so 24 figs is plenty for a good game).

I've played many games with more than 48 figures on a side (several
company
size battles with multiple platoons, vehicles, etc) but I have maybe one
actual single organized platoon that is that big (out of the 20 or so
that
I own).

I find that a single platoon starts to run into command-and-control
problems once you get beyond about 6 sub-units. Check out some of the
TO&Es
on stargrunt.ca - those are mostly forces I actually play with - but I
commonly do stuff like have a command squad (4 figs), a team of medics
(2),
three "rifle" squads (8 each), and maybe an attached marksman team (2)
or
weapon team (2 - 6), for a total 32 - 34 in five-six separate units. 
Any
more than that within one single platoon and the platoon commander's
ability to command the squad (transfer actions) becomes too diluted.  

This comes down to play style, however.  If I'm going to have a big
game,
I'd rather have 2 or 3 platoons (well, 2 or 3 platoon commanders who can
transfer actions) than a single really big one.  OR, I'll have a single
platoon and add attachments that just aren't part of that platoon's
chain-of-command (like a couple of combat walkers) and can't get
reactivated.

I'll also do stuff like play a "mechanized" unit with a single platoon
or
infantry, all mounted with a light tank in support.  Then instead of 4
or 5
units I have 10 or 11 (each vehicle being a separate unit) and if you
try
to run THAT with a single platoon commander you don't get many
reactivations relative to the number of units.	In this situation I've
designated the vehicles as a separate platoon for in-game purposes and
have
one of them as the vehicle platoon commander (kind of like USArmy Mech
Platoons with the officer dismounting to command the infantry and the
platoon sergeant commanding the vehicles).

If I'm playing a game big enough for two infantry platoons and some
support
(maybe a few vehicles), I'll very rarely add the next command level (and
bring on a company command squad), because then games take a *long* time
to
play...

>I discovered that 48 figures is a two to one (two packs to obtain  one 
>platoon) ratio, 40 figures is 5:3 (five packs to get three platoons), 
36
is 3:2, 32 
>is 4:3, 30 is 5:4 and 28 is 7:6.  And of course 24 is	1:1.  

48 figures is a good selection.  You can build yourself a "reasonable"
platoon (of say 30 - 36), but then have enough left for "specialist"
stuff
like creating a squad of assault pioneers (sappers / light combat
engineers), marksmen, extra HW squads, etc. OR you can have extra
figures
so you can change the equipment given to the squads.  Maybe the force
uses
two SAW per squad one time, and a SAW + GMS/P another time - and you
have
extra figures.	If you want to play a bigger game, you could break that
48
figures down into two platoons organized very simply (3 rifle squads of
6,
medic team of 2, command team of 4; total 24 figures) and have two full
platoons.  

So buying two packs (with 24 figs per) for each force will give you lots
of
flexibility, and you don't need to buy more than 2 packs...

>is involved,  2:1 is economically  'viable' to my mind, 5:4  starts
getting 
>'carried away' (Four platoons on the board for one side?)

I've played in several games quite a bit bigger than that, but you only
want to do it once or twice a year and you need really big tables...  :)

>Would you buy 7 packs to 
>get 6 platoons?

Not for a single force, no - though I have to admit I've painted one
complete company for my NAC (with two "standard" rifle platoons, one
light
infantry platoon, one PA platoon, company HQ, mortars, etc) - but that's
mostly just excessive.

Now, TomB (who hasn't posted here on the main list for a while, but he's
still out there rumbling around) seems to be on a mission to collect a
company size force of all the GZGverse nations.  He has a *lot* of
figs...
all in 25mm (like me), and mostly unpainted.  It's an impressive
collection.   

:)

-Adrian

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Adrian Johnson
adrian@stargrunt.ca
http://www.stargrunt.ca

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