Combining game ideas from different systems into a playable game

A buddy and I purchased Memoir 44 some time ago because it was an easy stepping off point into WWII gaming that required no other work than un-boxing and playing out games from the scenarios (and there a huge bunch of them available on line).

Setting out a set of the terrain tokens on my 12 x 4 foot table with the 2" hex that I got showed that you could really get a lot of depth to the battlefield and play several days of a mini-campaign out by simply adding further terrain behind the existing setup.

In my situation I wanted to try blending Memoir 44 terrain tokens and battle dice system onto a larger scale megablitz type campaign.  So I brought out one of my 1940 French Infantry Divisions (in this case the 18th Infantry Division).  These are organized roughly into Megablitz units with each stand representing a battalion of troops or a specialized company of engineers, reconnaissance elements, signal and AA units, etc...

Each stand is based on a hex base 2" across so fit right into the table grid system and onto the Memoir 44 tokens pretty well also.  Each hex is taken to represent one kilometer of ground so this position represents around 20 kilometers of front line as you measure along the stream.

You can then use the Memoir 44 extra pieces (like sandbags, wire entanglements, etc...) right on the stands.

Above you see the 1st Battalion of the 125th Regiment behind the sandbags (so get a -1 dice in Memoir 44 and ignore the first retreat die as well).    The second shot shows the same unit protected by barbed wire (not the best representation but it saves me a lot of fiddling with tiny stakes and wires).

The Division HQ stand beside the battalion shows the General de Division smoking his cigar and considering why he hadn't retired back in 1938 when the opportunity arose!

I have now placed the 18th Infantry Division onto the table in positions that it might have taken up when it received its mission to deny the passage of this section of the front to the enemy.  The mild stream is a tributary of the Dyle River and at this scale I don't actually try to mark roads or small terrain areas.  

The division in its box at the top, and deployed onto the tabletop below.  We see two of the three infantry regiments deployed along the stream line.  Where there isn't a terrain tile that would provide defensive benefit, the troops are marked with sandbags as 'dug in'.  The third regiment is still in their transport group trucks (a French doctrine idea) near the Division HQ ready to move forward to support the 2 regiments in line if needed.

Around the Div HQ are clustered the 'administrative' functional stands for signals, engineering, anti-aircraft (guarding the HQ element is top priority here!) etc...

The 2 artillery battalions are forward, one in direct support of each of the regiments deployed.  You will also notice that the 2 anti-tank stands in the division (one of 25mm guns and one of 47mm guns) are both placed directly behind dug in infantry.  In our game this is allowed, they also count as dug in and can fire in support of the infantry if they are attacked.  All countries' units in the 1940s time frame have this tactical feature of direct A-T support (although most have small numbers and weak A-T armaments that will not destroy the enemy mobile forces as it turns out). 

Here is where a good question comes up around treatment of terrain in gaming.  At this level we basically state that the area of each hex is representative of either open rolling terrain, or we stick a marker on it to show woods, marshes, ponds, hedgerows, etc...  Now Memoir 44 has done a decent job in providing all manner of terrain type tiles (although we will need MANY of them in the long run) and they tie the effects of each pretty simply to the number of dice you reduce your firing by and/or whether you get to ignore any retreat results on their own dicing system.  Quick, clear and simple, just what I think is needed in a game where a player would handle a Corps perhaps.

So if you are on a 'defensible' terrain tile you get the advantage, there is no multiple benefit (being in a town on a hill with barbed wired and a river running through it is all the same -1 die and 1 free retreat pass).  Again simple but elegant to my mind.

Readers will quickly note that our General has not placed troops along the rest of the river past the right handed turn it takes in the photo.  Rightly so because that area has been entrusted to that cad who commands the 1st Division Legere de Cavalerie who you were forced to room with at the advanced general staff course back in the day.  Let him and his horsemen dabble at war, your division has been given the most important assignment and you will not expect any support from that source.  Hopefully the enemy will divert forces against them and your job will be easier.

Now nothing takes place in modern war in a vacuum, and the 18th Infantry Division can expect support from the Corp Artillery, Engineering and Air Support elements at Corps or even Army level (there are many rungs in the ladder of the French forces).  There might even be a spare Battalion de Chars Cuirassiere (independent tank battalions) lurking nearby if things get really sticky.  So our General is pretty confident that his deployment will last past the initial shots of the campaign.

Our next session will show the enemy forces preparing to attack this position and how their organization ad structure may or may not assist them in their attack!