A Note on Scales

Introduction

The purpose of this post is to provide some brief words on 4 different scales that wargames rules should address. The intention is to provide background information to be referenced by future posts. Version 2 of Chain Of Command (COC2) is referenced to illustrate the scales. The scales are addressed alphabetically, below.

Ground Scale

Ground scale is the ratio of distance on the table to the real world. The ground scale for COC2 is 1:120 so 1" on the table represents 120" = 10' in the real world; hence, 12" on the table represents 120' = 40 yards in the real world. Clearly, the distance across the table a unit may move is determine by the speed the unit was capable of and the ground and time scales.

Ground scale is also used to derive the range of weapons (eg, arrows, muskets and machine guns) used in distant combat.

At The Sharp End (ATSE) is a set of rules (from TooFatLardies - the publisher of COC2) for campaigns of COC games; a campaign is a series of games in which the result of early games influences the start conditions for later games; for example, a character killed early in the campaign is unavailable to take further action in the campaign and may or may not be replaced by a different character.

ATSE confirms the ground scale to be 12" represents 40 Yards and states this is defined in COC (which I've not read) but I've found no reference to ground scale in COC2.

Model Scale

Historical Tabletop Wargames (HTW) are played with scale models of real world objects. Model scale is the ratio of the size of the model to the real world size of the item it represents. The model scale of 1:100 indicates that 1 centimetre of a model represents 1 metre (100 centimetres) in the real world. A model scale of 1:100 equates to a figure that is nominally 15mm tall when standing, which is sometimes referred to as a scale of 15mm - note that the distance from sole of boot to eye is 15mm for a 15mm figure - not sole of boot to top of head - please don't ask me why.

For World War 2 (WW2), this is approximately consistent with the mean height of soldiers. At 1:100, 15mm represents 1.5 metres = 4' 11". This Wikipedia article includes the comment 'an average height of 1.65 to 1.70 meters was aimed for' by the German army early in WW2. Those extra couple of mm of model, from eye to top of head, make up the difference. Compared with heights of Europeans today, the mean height of a soldier in WW2 was short; heights of 5'6" to 5'8" are quoted in several places in t'interwebrary.

Generally, models (eg, vehicles, buildings, plants, walls, width of rivers and roads, etc) should be built at the model scale so that the models look 'right' when placed in close proximity on the table.

Differences between Ground and Model scales are normal within HTW. COC2 played with 1:100 models and a ground scale of 1:120 represent a relatively close match between these scales.

Organisation Scale

Some HTW rules are intended for actions between very large forces; for example, many rules for the English Civil War/ British Civil Wars have an organisational scale of 1:20 so a company of nominally 100 men, typically commanded by a captain, would be represented by 5 infantry figures.

COC2 is a skirmish level game. The core of each force is a platoon, typically of 30 to 40 men; hence, the organisational scale is 1:1 - one model represents one real person/ vehicle.

Time Scale

As previously noted, time scale works in conjunction with ground scale and speed to derive distances that models may be moved. In common with some other 'modern' rules for HTW, COC2 has a variable time scale. Based on a mean move distance of 7" for infantry moving at Normal speed (roll 2d6), and assuming the guys are jogging over a relatively short distance at circa 6 miles per hour, the duration of a Phase in COC2 is in the order of 8 seconds.

In addition to the distance moved, the time scale influences the amount of metal that can be fired (distant combat) or thrust (close combat) at a target each Phase of the game; hence, the potential amount of damage that can be caused.

Correction

This article was originally posted on 17Dec25 with the erroneous value of 24 seconds for an indicative duration of a Phase of COC. The correction to circa 8 seconds was made on 18Dec25.

A Terrain Selection Technique Applied to the Western Desert

A few months ago, Peter's rules, descriptions of campaign moves and after action reports posted at Grid Based Wargaming, inspired me to dig out some old WWII Western Desert 1:300 Heroics and Ros models. Peter had developed rules for battle from 'Tank on Tank' from Lock 'n Load Publishing.

Peter also developed rules for selection of terrain for each battle. Selection was influenced by the location of the battle on the campaign map.

In simplified summary, Peter shuffles 18 cards and deals 9 on a 3 by 3 grid. Each card represents one of 8 different terrain types. Rules determine battle objectives, which are terrain features.

The technique works well but during games where it had been used, I encountered an issue previously experienced with English Civil War (ECW) battles also fought on battlefields with relatively few hexes; namely, the edge of a battlefield can appear to be an artificial barrier. This can be a particular issue when an objective is close to the edge of a battlefield. Generally, to regard the the side of the battlefield to be adjacent to an abyss is inappropriate. For ECW, a river works as a good boundary but a river on both sides of a battlefield would be unlikely for every battle.

One solution I'm about to trial uses the same 18 cards as Peter to determine terrain in an inner grid of 9. Peter's technique is used to determine:

• The side of the battlefield occupied by each force
• Defender and attacker adjustments to the terrain
• Battle objectives
• Initial deployment of units

Quantities of each type of terrain 
card for inner and outer grid

This is supplemented by another set of 32 cards with 4 different terrain types. This deck is shuffled and cards are dealt to determine terrain immediately around the inner grid of 9 - this results in a 5 x 5 grid of terrain features. 

The quantities of terrain cards in each deck is shown in the adjacent table. The deck for the outer grid excludes potential objective cards and a road card because only one road is permitted on the battlefield.

An example of Peter's table-top
terrain for the Western Desert

Whilst Peter battles across  impressive 'cloth' table top terrain (see the adjacent picture, which was pinched from here), I aspire to a 3-dimensional modular terrain system with a look similar to that pictured below; however, with the experience documented here, I intend to use simplified 2-dimensional terrain for now; namely, interchangeable map modules. 

Illustrative look for aspirational terrain

First use of terrain cards with outer surround

An 'open' terrain module

Each terrain card represents a module of hexes. The reason I like hexes is explained here.

Each hex has the dimensions listed below; these are a comfortable fit with units mounted on stands of 30mm square: 

• Length of face - 31mm
• Distance between opposite faces - 52mm
• Distance between opposite angles - 62mm

All modules, bar the 'open' module, contain terrain features. Terrain modules are 4 hexes wide by 3 hexes deep; they measure approx 7 1/8" (182mm) wide by 6 1/8" (157mm) deep so a 5 x 5 grid is slightly less than 3' x 3' (1m x 1m) so occupies a reasonably small part of a table-top.

Shown below is the battlefield generated by the set of cards pictured above. Note that whilst the escarpment runs the width of the battlefield, each module has a pass so that there isn't only one pass to form a bottleneck between levels (such as Halfaya Pass).

Interim terrain modules that represent the battlefield
generated by the cards shown above

Seven types of interim terrain module - absent is 'road with village'

My gut feeling is that the quantities of cards should be tweaked. I suspect that the ratio of 'open' cards to the total quantity should be greater and the ratio of soft sand and wadi should be reduced but I intend to play a few battles with the current ratios to gain experience.