VBCW HEREFORD - THE BATHTUB HYPOTHESIS (4) - TERRAIN

Being the fourth in an irregular series of blogposts considering the application of Frank Chadwick's "bathtub" campaign ideas to the VBCW in Hereford. For earlier posts, click on the "Bathtub Hypothesis" label to the right...

So now we've got some cracking maps and have worked out a suitable ground scale - "one inch (on the campaign map) to one foot (on the tabletop) to two miles (on the ground)" - or about 1/10,000, as there are 5280 feet in a mile. The next challenge for a "bathtub game" has got to be the tabletop terrain....

Unfortunately, there seems to be no photographs available of Frank Chadwick's "Operation Barbarossa" bathtub game - other than the front cover of the scenario booklet itself, showing a nice "town" with external fortifications and tank traps:

Command Decision - Barbarossa 25

In the search for "terrain orientated photographs" of other wargamers "bathtub - type games", it didn't take long to run across a comparable British variant of Command Decision 25 (although developed independently), namely "Megablitz":

Megablitz Rules - see HERE for a summary

The Introduction to the Megablitz Rules set out what the rules were trying to achieve:

"...The skirmish level game is excellent if one wishes to reproduce the problems faced by squad or platoon commanders using a variety of infantry weapons, while the battalion level game allows players to see the interaction of a wider range of weapons types in the context of a larger scale battle. They do not, however, give players the opportunity to command higher level formations, where they can experience the problems of 'generalship'. At the other end of the spectrum, board or map games permit players to recreate the sort of decision making faced by Generals and Government leaders at the strategic level, but do not satisfactorily provide for players the opportunity to experience what the Russians call the "Operational Art" ('operativnaia iskusstva').."

"Operational Art" is apparently defined as "the intermediate level between the tactics of individual battles and the strategy of an entire war" with the result that Megablitz (and bathtub type games generally) "falls somewhere between the conventional board or map game and the normal brigade or divisional level wargame that uses large numbers of figures and model vehicles."

As to the tabletop terrain necessary for a "Megablitz" wargame, the rule authors specifically noted:

"Because these rules are intended to reflect the problems of fighting battles at operational level, the terrain used will be less detailed than that normally seen in games involving models. It is perfectly acceptable to use a suitably scaled map (particularly with smaller scale models). If, however, three dimensional terrain appeals, it is recommended that simple terrain showing only the major geographical features of the battlefield be used...It is also suggested that terrain features be of a smaller scale than the models being used, as this helps to remind players of the scale of the game. In general, this means using 15mm or 1/300 scale terrain features with the larger scale models (i.e. 20mm figures)..."

The "Megablitz" scale (for 20mm figures and vehicles) is 1:25,000, which the rules explain as "...4cm on the wargames table = 1km in reality, so a 6 x 4foot table represents 45km x 30km". This certainly means that one can represent a very large battlefield on a normal table - but a cost in the traditional visual/terrain element of the wargame:

May 1940 - Northern France on six tables.
The anxious French staff gather round for a pre-game briefing.

"The terrain used will be less detailed than normally seen...." The French point of view.

A different Megablitz game, but the same concept. The roads are drafting tape, only the principal
towns are represented, and then with 1/300ish buildings. No hedges, walls (or even hills) here...

Another game, but still France 1940. Here the town of Arras is modelling in "Megablitz scale"
The troops are 15mm. Note width of road, rail and river systems.

Same game further down the same table. Arras has three buildings - anything smaller than a town\city
is represented by a single building.

For more photographs of "Megablitz" scaled games and lots of enthusiastic commentary, check out these links:

(1). French Air Commander : Chris Kemp of the Not Quite Mechanised blog;

(2). French 53rd Divisional Commander : Bob Cordery of the Wargaming Miscellany blog

(3). French 18th Divisional Commander : the Dancing Cake Tin blog

(4). An overview of the whole (in 9 parts starting here) : Tim Gow of the Megablitzandmore blog

(5). A TMP discussion of the game and views on the "sparseness" of the terrain v the scale of the game.

Whatever one's views on "bathtub terrain", it should be noted that the Megablitz scale of 1/25,000 is significantly bigger than the intended "Hereford 1938" bathtub scale of 1/10,000, and both are dwarfed by the Command Decision "Barbarossa 25" bathtub scale of one inch (on the map or table) equalling 25 kilometres/16miles (on the ground) - or about 1/1,000,000! (there are 1,013,760 inches in 16 miles). This means:

(1). the photograph on the front of the Command Decision 25 "Operation Barbarossa" campaign booklet (above) can only be a "mock up" rather than a record of actual terrain used. The "town" represented looks to be about 12 to 18 inches across - or at least 192 real miles wide. Not even 1941 Moscow was that big!

(2). the "HerefordVBCW" ground scale of 1/10,000 will still mean that 1/300ish sized buildings will need to be used on the tabletop, but with the ground scale at around a third of the "Megablitz" scale of 1/25,000, the "sense of scale shock" should be somewhat reduced - and terrain appearance improved;

(3). the challenge will be the contrast between the 1/10,000 ground scale, the 1/300 buildings scale and the 1/55 figure and vehicle scale - not so much in relation to the representation of towns and villages (where wargamers are used to the representation of '1 model house = a village') but in relation to the representation of roads, railtracks, etc., particularly the width of a 'scale road' in comparison to the width of, say, a 'scale tank'....

(4). still, with so many elements of the game represented at different scales, the players should always be visually reminded that they are engaging not in a normal wargame, but in the fabled "Operational Art" !