My Rules Modifucations for Rapid Fire!

RAPID FIRE (posted from my phone)

The quest for the ultimate company level rules (in my opinion) continues with a new (old) idea.  Some of you may know of my warm/cool relationship with the Rapid Fire rules.  On one hand, I enjoy them very much as they are.  That is a “toy soldier” set of rules that allows you to refight epic battles and put all your toys on the table.  What I dislike about the rules is not that significant but is enough to keep me from playing RF more often.

I dislike the more “finicky” aspect of counting figures for shooting, instead preferring an aggregate capability for stands.  I also dislike that a group of 8 to 10 figures is a company but a building is still a building.  Have I mentioned I also like a stand to equal a squad (a la for games like Crossfire).

That being said, I do have enough imagination to work around these self-perceived problems and think Rapid Fire delivers a fun, enjoyable, and exciting game.

I remembered a suggestion from SERVICE RATION DISTRIBUTION-HOBBY centered on scaling up/down Rapid Fire to better suit my taste.  The idea recently hit me that I could do this to RAPID FIRE making it a company-level game.  My figure to man ratios change, making all figures / vehicles 1:2 or 1:3, thus producing the following changes to the game:

The basic unit of maneuver becomes the platoon (changed from company) with the next higher echelon being the company instead of the battalion.

You can keep casualty numbers roughly the same (20 figs or 50%) for morale purposes.

An unintended and added bonus is that a 4 Soldier stand equals a squad.  This is what I’ve been looking for!

A Standard 1943/44 Soviet Rifle company would then have 57 to 60 figures at this ratio, broken into 3 platoons of 12 to 16 figures, and a support platoon of 9 figures with 3 weapons (Machine Guns).  The Company HQs is 3 figures including the Anti Tank Rifle.  (A really sick part of me enjoys making these M-TOE conversions – which is another reason I keep coming back to Rapid Fire).

CHANGES TO SHOOTING

What else changes?  Well I found a gem of a conversation from the dreaded TMP [click] that had a suggestion for replacing the Rapid Fire firing table.  While I haven’t tried it yet, I’m really looking forward to it.  It goes something like this:

RF Fire points used to determine number of dice thrown for fire effects

1.      Each rifleman in a firegroup counts as 1 FP point

2.      Each crew served MMG/HMG count as a FP as per RF tables

3.      Basic Dice Allotment:  +1 die per 2 FP (this would give a single stand 2 dice for firing – almost perfect!)

BONUS DICE:

+1 Die per 5 Firepoints for elite or wpns crew

+1 die per 5 firepoints for Post 1941 German LMG bonus

+1 die per 5 Firepoints for SMG/Asslt Rifle at short range

-1 die per 5 firepoints for poor troops or wpn crew

-2 die per 5 firepoints for Pinned troops

Roll dice allotment looking for kills based on range and cover:

SMALL ARMS RANGE BANDS: SHORT 0-6 MEDIUM 6-14 LONG 14-24

OPEN / TARGET MOVING

SHORT 3-6 / MED 4-6 / LONG 5-6

SOFT COVER / STATIONARY TROOPS IN OPEN

SHORT 4-6 / MED 5-6 / LONG 6

HARD COVER

SHORT 5-6 / MED 6 / LONG 6

HE/IDF/DIRECT FIRE HE

Each arty model count points per RF tables 1 die per 2 points (round down)

Table 4 Guns 5-6 is a kill

Table 5 guns 4-6 is a kill

So that’s it.  I’m super excited to try these rules out this weekend and see how they go.  I will try and post pictures.  Needless to say, I need a good set of rules and a battle idea for my annual CHRISTMAS OFFENSIVE