Saturday, April 18, 2015

Return to Disposable Heroes & Iron Ivan Rules

So after a brief hiatus, I'm back onto Disposable Heroes and Iron Ivan games rules but have decided I'll use them with my 15mm miniatures instead of 20mm 1/72.  Understanding why I'm adopting them again is not possible until you know the reasons why I gave them up in the first place;  terrain, dice, and miniatures.  First of all, I do not have adequate terrain to support good platoon-level skirmishes using 20mm troops.  Instead my DH games turned into shoot-em-up fests that were essentially over when hte HMGs came into play because eveyone could see to all corners of the table.

Also, I wasn't a big fan of using D10.  I prefer D6.  That said, I'm not completely against D10, just not a huge fan.  There is no mathematical reasoning for this.  Just personal preference.

(Speaking of personal preference, if you want to check out any of my old Disposable Heroes games in 20mm, do a search in the upper left hand corner of the blog and you can read some of my AARs from battles in the past.)

Lastly, miniatures - there never seems to be enough miniatures, vehicles, and buildings painted up for a truly satisfying game - unless of course we try it in 15mm!  In that respect, I have lots of troops, terrain, and vehicles!

So fast-forward to  the Grenzer John "This Very Ground" post this past week.  I know I know, completely unrelated to WW2 but still compelling none-the-less.  It reminded me of the great flexibility you have as a platoon leader or higher commander in Iron Ivan games.  The sequence goes something like activate, move/shoot or shoot/move, and close combat.  Brutally simple and effective, and there is alot of "wiggle" room to input your own rules, develop characters (for that platoon-level Stalingrad Campaign game you've been planning for years!), and use different kinds of weapons. I wonder if the "skirmish elite" scenarios would work for DH....

So watch this space.  I plan on putting a DH game together in 15mm when I can and I can honestly say I'm looking forward to it.  Plus it gives me another reason to use my "snazzy" Litko custom Iron Ivan activation tokens!

Also if you get a minute, check out Grenzer John's outstanding blog and read up on their  "This Very Ground" French & Indian War clash!  Huzzah!


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the boost, Steven! I hope you enjoy the game. I did a blog entry on our SCW Disposable Heroes game in 15mm a few years ago. I'm sure it's archived somewhere.

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    1. No problem John. Your blog post was inspiring and made me want to dig out all my old Iron Ivan rules and I did. I think I need to give them another shot. The games have always been fun. I think with more terrain on the table, they'll be much more satisfying than my previous 20mm attempts.

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  2. DH is my fav ruleset for WW2 to moderns! I use 28mm stuff.

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    1. Chuck,
      I gave up DH for about 2 years but I think I'm ready to jump back in! Including This Very Ground and possibly even venturing into their WW1 rules as well - all in 15mm.

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  3. How did you know I have indeed been planning a platoon level campaign in Stalingrad for years? That's spooky!

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