Wargamers have different preferences when it comes to the scale and scope of their game. Some prefer to play out whole wars on a large scale, with division or corps sized units. Others favor company or platoon size battles or skirmishes where figures or markers represent squads. Then there are the wargamers who wish to play out skirmishes on a scale of one to one, i.e. with one marker representing one man.
I have always felt I belong to this last group, the very tactical players. It is on this most detailed level - where you can almost smell the sweat, the napalm, the tension, the fear - that I feel war should be simulated. At this level the grand designs of generals and colonels seem useless and the objectives of the battallion hazy. But that approaching shadow in the brush looks all too much like an enemy soldier. You grip your rifle, trying to make up your mind whether to make a stand or to run for your life...
This, then, is 7.62mm, a site dedicated to tactical military gaming. Its focus is on the actions and thoughts of the individual infantryman and his squad leader in conflicts of the past and the present. It grew out of a concrete need - I wrote a scenario and posted it on the Phoenix Command mailing list... but the mailing list policy discourages the posting of files so I needed to put my scenario map on a web page somewhere - but I decided early on that I also needed a repository for all the stuff I've published on the mailing list. So here we are.
This site is by no means meant to replace or outdo the excellent Phoenix Command sites already in existence (the Leading Edge Games Home Page, the Unofficial Phoenix Command Support page or many other fine sites). I cannot promise timely or regular updates, high-quality presentation or flawless English. This is just a collection of items you may find interesting. Use this web site as you would a box of white-nosed 7.62x39s, simply take the content and discard the box. I will consider contributions but please check first with the other sites as they offer far superior presentation than what I'll be able to provide here.
This site was first opened in 1998. Since then there have been a number of small updates as I have updated my weapon designs but no major changes. However I still have lots of plans... So what will be on this site ?
Scenarios - there are only a few commercially available for Phoenix Command and thus only a few have been published on the mailing list. I'm working on a whole series of very detailed scenarios which take place on the Finnish front during World War II. The first of these is on this site and more will follow after they've been edited for publishing.
Weapons - It is my intention to design Phoenix Command versions of all the prominent guns used by Finnish armed forces. The work is almost complete as far as the WWII weapons are concerned and work on post-war types will follow. Due to scenario requirements I will have to design a number of lesser-known Allied weapons such as the Nagant revolver and the .55 caliber Boys anti-tank rifle. Some of these will be posted here, others on the Unofficial Phoenix Command Support page . My role-playing campaigns also require some new designs now and then and these will surely wind up on these pages. In addition, one of my players has designed a bunch of Wild West revolvers (I said military gaming ? Well, many of them are Army revolvers ;) and those are posted here as well.
Tanks - The scenarios I'm designing require older Soviet tanks such as the T-26 which are unavailable for Phoenix Command. Since the formulae used for determining the armor and gun effectiveness of tanks are at present unknown the required tanks will be created using design-for-effect principles. The BT-5 and T-26 model 1933 tanks have already been designed and will be posted here later. Besides these I am considering the other models of the T-26, the other BT tanks (BT-2 and BT-7) and the huge T-28.
The WWII Trench Rolling Game - This is something I have thought
about a lot. Those of you familiar with the Recon random VC tunnel chart or the AD&D Random Dungeon generation rules will instantly recognize the concept. The idea is to create a solo game in which the terrain is generated and the enemy's actions covered by dice rolls. This is for all those Phoenix Command GMs who, unable convince potential players that their game is in fact playable at all, are doomed to an eternity of solo wargaming ;)
Rules: Although most people will claim Phoenix Command already has way too many rules, there are some areas where new ones can be introduced. On their way here are my Short Bursts rules. The current version of the Quick And Dirty Tactical Air Support Rules can be found on the Unofficial Phoenix Command Support page .
PBEM: The first scenario of the Finnish Scenario Series was playtested in a Play By E-Mail game with three players. Encouraged by this experience, the Kollaa Will Hold PBEM game was begun on January 21, 1999. The information pages relevant to that game are on this site.
Links: It is not my intention to provide a comprehensive listing of links to interesting military web sites. Such lists are a pain to keep up to date. I will only list a few links which I think are particularly relevant to the focus of this web site.
In addition I have a number of other projects, most of which are too incomplete to be discussed yet.
So when will all of this be online ? Don't ask me. Work on making most of the above understandable by people other than myself has not even begun yet. Major updates will be announced on the Phoenix Command mailing list. Stay tuned.
