Very Simple Army Men Saturday, July 16, 2011 Very Simple Army Men (VSAM) Operation Sandtrap is a registered trademarks of T. Sheil & A. Sheil © 1998. http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/wargame1.htm. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN Operation Sandtrap TO USE THESE VARIANTS! 1BC (One Brain-Cell) Toy Soldier Rules is a registered trademarks of Pete Kautz © 2001. http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/1BCToySoldiers.pdf. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN 1BC (One Brain-Cell) Toy Soldier Rules TO USE THESE VARIANTS! Fields of War is a registered trademarks of Alan Patrick © 2006. http://www.btinternet.com/~a.patrick/WW2Rules.htm. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN Fields of War TO USE THESE VARIANTS! World War II Rules is a registered trademarks of Ted Schulz © 2002. http://www.totalmodels.co.uk/workshop/pages/workshop_200.shtml. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN World War II Rules TO USE THESE VARIANTS! Fighting Plastic is a registered trademarks of T. Sheil & A. Sheil © 2005 written by Corey Butler. http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/newpic04/fpgame1.html. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN Fighting Plastic TO USE THESE VARIANTS! FUBAR is a registered trademark of Andrew Domino © 2011 Craig Cartmell. http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/forgeofwar/ Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN FUBAR TO USE THESE VARIANTS! The Green and the Tan is a registered trademarks of Nathan Russell © 2006. www.attackofthegame.com and Page 1 of 58 Very Simple Army Men Saturday, July 16, 2011 http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=79141&filters=0_0_0_0_0&manufa cturers_id=2577 and http://www.perilplanet.com/web_images/greenandtan.pdf. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN The Green and the Tan TO USE THESE VARIANTS! WWII Plastic Skirmish is a registered trademarks of Brett Drake © 2005. http://www.juniorgeneral.org/w2plastic/plastic.html. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN WWII Plastic Skirmish TO USE THESE VARIANTS! Table Top Troopers and An Eye 4 An Eye! A Rules Supplement for Table-Top Troopers is a registered trademarks of Ken Maher © 2001. http://kenmgames.wordpress.com/tag/table-top-troopers/. Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN Table Top Troopers TO USE THESE VARIANTS! Very Simple Generic Miniature Rules (VSGMR) is a registered trademark of Andrew Domino © 2010 Domino Writing. http://www.dominowriting.com/games.html Use of the trademark in this document is not intended to infringe upon or devalue the trademark. YOU MUST OWN Very Simple Generic Miniature Rules TO USE THESE VARIANTS! about the individual battles and history of World War II. Of course, I'd looked at Flames of War Introduction (http://www.flamesofwar.com/) but found When Commander Cody pointed me to the it prohibitively expensive and having no „Operation Sandtrap‟ rules it lit a fire ability to paint pretty much left me out of under me to create a VSGMR version. that game. As with most miniature games today, you can't really play the game Operation Sandtrap unless you join the 'hobby' including (http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/war painting, hand-crafting terrain and all the game1.htm) has some very nice ideas and other income streams the companies is very close to what I want to play, but making these games enjoy. I‟m not convinced carrying around 6 pieces of string, a cup and a bucket is simpler I wondered why it wasn‟t possible to just than a tape measure! grab a bunch of green army men and play the way we used to do it as kids? Old tech, I never really had much interest in World sure, but still fun. Then I found that while War II games until the Command & Colors most toy soldiers are about 2" tall there board game Memoir '44 are still a lot of inexpensive 1" figures and (http://www.daysofwonder.com/memoir4 vehicles available. Mostly on eBay of 4/en/). The game play was so interesting it course (http://cgi.ebay.com/260-ARMY- actually made me want to know more MEN-PLAY-SET-plastic-toy-HO-sized- Page 2 of 58 Very Simple Army Men Saturday, July 16, 2011 soldiers-br- needed for Heavy Tanks. Use of bridges /150598373258?pt=Toy_Soldiers&hash=item can limit Heavy Tanks, making a game 23105ccf8a). So I decided to invest in some more challenging. of these. Now all I needed was a simple set of miniature rules! CONCEALMENT Targets moving through a forest cannot be In a pretty thorough examination of the all seen except when they are close to the the Toy Soldiers/Army Men rules I could edges (within 2"). Ditto for targets in a fog find I never found one that I felt could bank, etc. They only become visible when really suit my needs (not a real big they fire at you, or when they come into surprise, since I‟m pretty picky about my direct view of the gunner/shooter. rules). So here is a hodge-podge of what I thought was the best rules for any Targets moving through a forest cannot be particular situation that could come up in seen except when they are close (2") to the Army Men/Toy Soldier battles. edge. Ditto for targets in a fog bank, etc. They only become visible when they fire at It's meant to be played with cheap plastic you, or when they come into direct view of soldiers, approximately 1" tall (or HO scale the gunner/shooter. Of course, you can use or 1/72 scale). But really any figures will Indirect Fire (on page 23) on any target. work. Artillery and mortars can be called in to drop ordinance on an area. The enemy will Terrain either move or continue to be shelled. It pays to have a Radioman (on page 28), a Different aspects of the land affect mortar squad and a few field pieces. The movement. Here is how Move Units are enemy has to reveal what items are affected: destroyed when a Concealed Squad is shelled. You might want to make it easier BRIDGES, PASSES, TUNNELS AND with a rule that states that any Squad FORDS being shelled reveals itself. This is When a figure comes to cross a bridge or something you and your opponents must go through a narrow pass or tunnel, choose decide before a battle. one piece as the lead figure. It moves as far as you wish, and everyone else follows Cover behind. Vehicles or Cannon behind fortifications, walls, or peeking over crests of hills are These require troops to move as a convoy. not hit unless a 6 is rolled. They may slow down many units. Determine the type of bridges before the FOREST game; Footbridges can only accommodate Guys can move over or through anything foot traffic. Light bridges will handle jeeps reasonable (i.e., not walls without and trucks, and some of the stronger Light windows). Touching figures are called Bridges can handle half tracks, APCs, Self- "Squads" (on page 7) and may move Propelled Guns and Light Tanks. Medium simultaneously. Bridges will handle everything up to Medium Tanks. A stronger bridge would be Page 3 of 58 Very Simple Army Men Saturday, July 16, 2011 These stop troops. Movement is at half speed (3" for Guys, 6" for Cavalry and Vehicles). Determine the thickness of a forest beforehand. Some forests prevent movement of Wheeled Vehicles (on page 35), and are so thick they bring tanks to 1/4 speed (3", the assumption that tanks can knock down small trees). Tanks moving through a thicker forest lose any Concealment (on page 3). HILLS These can slow troops. OBSTACLES These are natural and man-made Obstacles Sloping on any battlefield. Climbing a gently-sloping hill (10° to 44°) slows troops and Wheeled vehicles (on RIVERS page 35) Move Units to half (3" for Guys, 6" A River is a minimum of 4" wide. River is for Cavalry and Vehicles). considered Rough Terrain (3.7, 1/2 Move Units) and Guys cannot make distance Steep attacks while in the river. Guys can carry A Steep Hill (45° to 80°) slows them to 2" Machine Guns, Flame Throwers and Mortars for Guys, 4" for Cavalry and Vehicles. across rivers. Vehicles also lose ½ Movement in rivers (6”). Very Steep Hills over 80° can only be scaled by These cause troops to stop immediately. If Climbers (on page 10) with climbing gear. they can ford the river, they do so at half Wheeled (on page 35) and Tracked Vehicles speed (3"). If not, they must either use a (on page 33) and Cavalry cannot climb ridge or some kind of watercraft (on page steep slopes. 35). It takes one round to make amphibious vehicles ready to cross water (on page 35). Downhill Going downhill on gentle slopes does not On coming to a river, a figure must stop affect movement. On steep slopes, immediately.