Just how many models is an artillery Battery?
While I can accept understrength batteries and 'individual guns' about how many peices does a gun model represent? I am thinking in terms of Jock columns and the like with Batteries of 25pdr attached. Will an 8 gun battery be 3 models or 2, and a 6 gun bty by 2 or 1, will it also be a factor of training - an inefficient battery being more easily dispersed and therefore being represented by fewer models in addition to any modifiers in the to hit/morale rolls? Hopefully Graham

Graham, The game scale is one model gun represents 2-3 actual artillery pieces. I suggest if you are following specific orders of battle you take either the upper or lower ration and stick with it. DB

Battery Size
OK that makes sense. Many thanks - I think I will stick with 6 guns = 2 Models and 8 = 3 for the time being, but, if using forces where poorer quality batteries played a crucial role adopt a 2 guns to 1 model ratio to ensure that the threat stays around for longer. This is probably the way that I will go with PAK fronts in Russia. Graham

25pdrs
Hi Graham, There is a wee problem, in that British batteries frequently operated tactically as troops (half-batteries of four guns each) - each troop commander was also the troop's FOO. I would therefore opt for four models per battery. This then gives you two FOOs per battery, each with a direct link to the troop he commands as well as to the battery commander - quite handy to be able to split the fire when in stiff situations. The battery commander also frequently operated as a FOO (attached to the armoured/infantry regiment/battalion HQ), while the two troop commanders would usually be attached to the two forward squadrons/companies. Cheers, Mark

British Artillery Battery
Just to expand on the above, I believe the organisation for a British battery (1943-45) should be as follows: Battery Commander (functions as FOO - OP tank as transport) 'A' Troop Commander (functions as FOO - Carrier or halftrack as transport or OP tank in armoured regiments) 2x Guns (off-table) 'B' Troop Commander (functions as FOO - Carrier or halftrack as transport or OP tank in armoured regiments) 2x Guns (off-table) One battery was always directly attached to an infantry battalion or armoured regiment and thus the battery/troop commanders were usually deployed forward with the troops. However, each FOO had the potential to be directly linked to every other gun in the army group when necessary. A single RA lieutenant had an enormous amount of tactical firepower at his disposal (but with that potential came an enormous responsibility to ensure that higher-level resources were not wasted on unimportant targets). Mark PS Coming back to the original ratio question, I believe that the ratio of 1:2 should alwas be used, unless the weapons concerned were operated tactically in threes (such as three-tank platoons/troops).

Just how many models is an artillery Battery?
Mark Thanks, I will give a four gun organisation a try out. One of the sources of my confusion was endeavouring to get a balance between the amount of artillery available and the amount of armour and infantry. I am trying to establish scenarios for a 6 by 4 and do not want to end up with tanks track to track, but maybe 6 max per side, so that the games revolve around the effort of the infantry. If I am honest I have been influenced far too much from playing Combat Mission 1 and 2 over the winter and wanting to transfer a lot of those scenarios to the table top, plus the group that I play in is deeply committed to playing PBI2 and so I would like to work within their existing structure of forces, but take a break from those rules from time to time. Cheers Graham

Graham, I've got a table that's about 6 X 5 ft. I recently did a game with a full British battlegroup of 7 Inf platoons, 1 Asslt Engineer platoon, 6 Sherman minis, 2 piece artillery battery + 6 pdr anti-tank battery. They were up against a German paratroop company group. I did another with something like 14 German tank minis in the attack + 4 platoons. There was no sense in either battle of things being crowded. I would say that an armoured battlegroup of anything up to 20 AFVs + a couple of inf companies could be easily deployed. If you went to a ping pong sized table, I couldn't see any difficulty in doing battalion plus or even brigade minus. regards EC

Scenarios
Hi Graham, A word of warning re Combat Mission: the British/Canadian scenarios that come bundled with the game are 99% bollocks! It is a fantastic game, and the scenarios are all good fun, but their research leaves A LOT to be desired (my particular favourite wa the one which had British forces in 'Eastern France' (?!!) in late 44, equipped with every single British armoured vehicle in the game - Shermans, Fireflies, Churchills, Challengers, Cromwells and even Comets (which didn't enter front-line service until Feb 45)! There is also the Arnhem campaign where every single German attack comes over the bridge)! The historical basis for the scenarios is usually correct, but the order of battle is almost always wrong and the map is usually fictitious. The worst offenders are the writers called 'Wild Bill's Raiders' - avoid them like the plague. If it's well-researched, historical scenarios you want, then I'm afraid you won't find it in Combat Mission (though a lot of the scenarios downloadable from the web are excellent). A notable exception though is the Villers-Bocage campaign which comes with the original game, which is absolutely superb - spot-on in fact. I don't mean to detract from CM though, which is a truly original and brilliant game - it's just that they need to sack some of their scenario writers! Coming back to miniature wargaming for a moment: You can find some scenarios on the 'Battlefront: WWII' website at www.fireandfury.com - a different game system, but one of few rulesets that aims at the same niche as 'BG:PzG' - just take exactly the same number of models and mix in a few extra officers for BG:PzG. I can send you a few of my own if you wish. Cheers, Mark