Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Converting Epic to Epic FoB

One of the biggest challenges was taking the enormous amount of stats and special rules for Epic and convert them over to Field of Battle: Sci-Fi.

The first thing was converting movement. Here is how I adjusted the Epic stats to fit into FOB. Remember I'm only converting Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Eldar, and Tyranids for my gaming pleasure. Those with Squats, Orks, and Chaos Marines can use my guidelines below.

Movement Speed Conversion

15cm or less = Slow (8”) = S8"
20-25cm = Normal (12”) = N12"
30-35cm = Fast (16”) = F16"
40+cm = Super Fast (24”) = SF24"

Two Ultramarine Land Raider Companies (each stand is a company in FOB)


This is not an exact science and I allowed some leaway in adjusting movement. The best part about writing rules for only your group to play with is that you don't have to account for every detail. It is quite liberating!

Converting Weapon Ranges
FoB has one weapon range for all units, well that wasn't going to work for all the nasty stuff in Epic, so I changed the following.

Epic Range = FoB Range
<= 15cm = 4”

<= 30cm = 8”
<= 45cm = 12”
<= 75m = 16”

<= 100cm = 24”
> 100cm = 36”

In addition, to keep things simple, I used the following range calibrations to adjust fire quality:
(click for larger image)





So, if your weapon had a range or 24", then short range would be 6" or less, normal would be 6" -12", while Long would be 12" - 24". Simple.

Lastly each vehicle weapon was assigned a Weapon Level (WL). This tells you which row on the rating table to roll on when creating the Combat value of the unit.

Converting Armor 
First, there was the issue with infantry in armor, like space marines. I gave them a special value of Heavy Body Armor, which is a bonus against other infantry fire, but not against artillery and large caliber weapons.

Next was dealing with vehicle armor:
Armor Save = FOB Armor type

4,5,6 = Light
3 = Medium
2 = Heavy
1 = Extra Heavy

I dropped Extra Light armor as it really wasn't something fits into the game as I envision it. That may change.
Ultramarine Infantry companies (each stand is a company) & Rhino APCs
 

 

Next, some special changes to match up with how FOB handles better quality units:

SCA = Superior Close Assault (3+), More than 6 I have to figure out something better

HFP = High Firepower Modifier (Attack Dice 2+, Save Mod. -3 or greater)
HBA = Heavy Body Armor (modifies infantry based attacks)

Here is a small sample of the ratings for Space Marines (click for larger image)












Note that I haven't actually played with these conversions, so I may have to make tons of adjustments, but I feel pretty confident with what I have done so far. Tyranids will be a challenge, along with Titans, but I will figure them out.

Devastator Companies (3), Assault Companies (4), Predator Company, and Whirlwind Company.


Feedback welcome.
Eric

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Search and Destroy vs Apaches

During my Din of Battle 2 playtesting (2007) we fought several early engagements between US cavalry and Apache Indians.

Thought I would share some of the photos. My attempt at some more rugged southwest US terrain.









Wednesday, March 16, 2011

What is going on in the War Room!

Now that I have finished writing Din of Battle 2nd Edition for Piquet Inc, I'm going to finish working on a couple of other projects I have been tinkering with. DoB2 should be available by Historicon (July) of this year, likely much sooner.

1. Vauban's Wars (was Coehorn's War) which is 18th century siege warfare. I have a new playtest group which is helping with the rules. I hope to have this available in PDF format this year.

2. Get my Epic 40K figures back out on the table!

Photo of my War Room with my jungle terrain on the table!



The Epic 40K conversion to Field of Battle:ww2 has really receieved a lot of my focus. I'm putting 6 to 8 figures per Flames of War medium size bases, while two vehicles on a large base. If the vehicles are APCs I have been mounting them on a small base so that I can get more use out of them. You need a ton of Rhinos, etc to make your units mechanized! Superheavy tanks are one per medium size base which looks good.

With this basing scheme I literally have 100s of companies size units for Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Eldar, and Tyranids!

Since my Space Marines, Imperial Guard, and Eldar are nearly all painted, this will allow me to play immediately and I hope to put the figures on the table next week for a run-through.

I'm also basing all my Sci-Fi buildings on floor tiles, and I think they are going to turn out great!

I hope to share my conversion ideas and concerns on this blog so others can chime in. The first Ultramarine Terminators have rolled off the assembly line and look great. I'll post some photos next week.

Cheers!