The Flames of War rules for LRDG Chevy trucks state that crew can dismount as rifle teams. Personally I don't see the point of swapping a vehicle bristling with heavy machine guns for an infantry rifle team but the option is there if the players can see a use for it. I've modelled my dismounted crew on small bases (the same size as command units) with two figures per base.
I've only painted six bases because I expect them to only be on the games table for a short while and probably never more than a couple at the same time. I couldn't find any irregular infantry figures to represent the varied and unconventional dress of these men so in the end I opted to use regular British Desert Infantrymen.
As well as allowing crew to dismount if they wish I also plan on allowing crew a chance to survive if their vehicle is destroyed, similar to the rules for passengers Dismounting Under Fire from destroyed transport vehicles. Many of the detailed action reports I have read tell of LRDG crew calmly leaping from wrecked or burning vehicles and escaping capture by evasion or by mounting other vehicles. I really wanted to show this in my game and decided I needed to tweak the existing rules to reflect the toughness and daring of these desert warriors.
Dismounting Under Fire (LRDG)
When you destroy an LRDG Vehicle, make a 4+ Passenger Save to see if the crew survive. If they do place an LRDG Rile Team next to the destroyed vehicle. Crew that Dismount Under Fire in this way may immediately move up to 4"/10cm in any direction, but not closer to the shooting team. In night fighting encounters where visibility is limited by darkness, bailed out infantry teams can be removed from play (deemed to have escaped into the night) if they end their move 12" from the nearest enemy team.
I think this new rule will open up some interesting options for players to consider and will certainly cause a few headaches for axis players desperate to claw back victory points by destroying LRDG raiding patrols.
Nicely painted boys there Lee. :)
ReplyDeleteI take it you didn't fancy doing head swaps with Arabs or Commandos to get that inimical LRDG look?
Head swaps on 6mm figures...I'd need a microscope to pin the joins! I did actually buy some other 6mm figures that I thought I could use as irregular infantry but the quality of the castings pretty much negated any benefit that would have been gained. In the end I reasoned that as LRDG crew were issued with steel helmets (although most wore a variety of other headgear, including German caps) it wasn't unreasonable to have some wearing the traditional 'Brodie'. Every man also had a 'bail out bag' with survival rations so I figured the models with backpacks are the lucky few that managed to grab their bags before their vehicle went up in flames.
DeleteI don't blame you for not doing head swaps as suggested above. There is just too much to paint to worry about head swaps on 6mm figures unless for a competition or as a prototype for a production run. Still if Tamsin wants to lead the way and show me differently.....
ReplyDeleteThe LRDG grows some more and I do like the way it is looking.
We play in 20mm and use dismounted troops to attack parked aircraft, raid buildings for intel and prisoners etc, but I suppose that in 6mm this might be indicated by parking next to the objective for a turn.
ReplyDeleteWe play Spearhead in 6mm and the same option to dismount is there. The issue is about survivability when enemy armour is in the vicinity - or even enemy infantry. Trucks full of infantry can't shoot back and they make very easy targets. Infantry out of trucks make very hard targets. So whenever our infantry see enemy tanks or A/T guns, they jump out as soon as they can.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading about one particular raid where the raid itself was a complete success but the LRDG were attacked by the Italians while making their escape. Many vehicles were destroyed but most of the crews escaped either on foot or by mounting other vehicles. In many ways their escape was more exciting than the raid itself but would be very hard to use as the sole basis of a wargame.
Delete