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Post by crimhthanthegreat on Nov 22, 2007 22:26:13 GMT -6
Hey Fin or anyone else how about a summary when you have time thank you!
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 23, 2007 15:37:51 GMT -6
This one I had. It's a three-book boxed set designed to simulate tank warfare (as well as anti-tank warfare) in World War II.
I thought it was pretty realistic. I also recall it being pretty complex, full of charts, and pretty "dry". My enthusiasm for tank warfare wasn't enough to sustain my interest so I gave it away to a friend.
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Post by thorswulf on Nov 23, 2007 23:18:07 GMT -6
I purchased a copy early this year. Very realistic and heavy reading to be sure, but fun for 1:72 plastic warfare!
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 24, 2007 9:00:17 GMT -6
Also, I never had any plastic tanks. This tends to make Tractics less fun.
What I wish I still had was an old Milton Bradley (?) game called "Tank Battle" which was a lot like Stratego but had a bunch of plastic tanks. I'd throw the game away and keep the miniatures. :-)
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Post by ffilz on Nov 24, 2007 17:48:39 GMT -6
I putzed around with Tractics but never really played it. It was what I purchased instead of D&D as my first TSR purchase. I looked over both D&D and Tractics in the store, and went for Tractics since it was a miniatures game and D&D seemed to be some kind of pencil and paper game.
30 years later, I still play D&D and Tractics has sat unappreciated...
Frank
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Post by grodog on Dec 8, 2007 21:40:51 GMT -6
Like several other TSR games, Tractics was first published by Don Lowry's Guidon Games. The first TSR edition of Tractics was also published in a woodgrain box identical to the OD&D ones. Haven't ever played it, though I've always loved EGG's "Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery"
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 9, 2007 9:15:25 GMT -6
I've always loved EGG's "Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery" One of my favorite Dragon magazine articles of all time!
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Post by dwayanu on Dec 9, 2007 12:54:52 GMT -6
In my recollection, it was sort of like Tobruk -- a great experience once, but not one I was eager to repeat.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2008 2:08:33 GMT -6
This was one of the first miniatures games I played, along with Angriff! . Still have them too. Tried programming the tables into a Commodore 64, but it took up more than one disk & I couldn't make the program handle the necessary disk-swapping neatly.
Still would like to turn it into a computer aided game.
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Post by calithena on Mar 18, 2008 21:09:01 GMT -6
Interesting side note - Gygax and Tucker used to play chess - Gary beat Leon like a rug.
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Post by thegreyelf on Sept 10, 2009 8:15:16 GMT -6
So it seems what you all are saying is that I made a good choice by passing on Tractics for $65 at Gen Con this year?
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Post by chgowiz on Sept 10, 2009 9:11:01 GMT -6
This was one of the first miniatures games I played, along with Angriff! . Still have them too. Tried programming the tables into a Commodore 64, but it took up more than one disk & I couldn't make the program handle the necessary disk-swapping neatly. Still would like to turn it into a computer aided game. Ha! Even when you could notch the disk and use both sides? It's scary that I just pulled that memory from the old core banks...
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Post by coffee on Sept 10, 2009 12:12:26 GMT -6
Probably more a case of the incredibly slow serial connection the 1541 disk drive used.
It's even more scary that I pulled that memory from the old core banks...
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Post by giantbat on Sept 10, 2009 22:47:36 GMT -6
What I wish I still had was an old Milton Bradley (?) game called "Tank Battle" which was a lot like Stratego but had a bunch of plastic tanks. I'd throw the game away and keep the miniatures. :-) There's a vintage store here in St Paul, MN had a copy of Tank Battle last time I was there. I think it was maybe $20. Didn't check inside to see how complete it was. If you're still wishing for it two years later, I could stop by there sometime see if it's still available.
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Post by thegreyelf on Sept 13, 2009 20:10:26 GMT -6
has anyone actually seen "Fast Rules," the predecessor to Tractics? I'd love to get a look at that, but I can't get any hits on Amazon OR Ebay for it.
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Post by thorswulf on Sept 13, 2009 22:35:01 GMT -6
The "Fast Rules set used to be available online, but alas it has gone away. The rules are very simple compared to tractics, but you had better know armor statistics to play. Speed, main weapon, and level of armor are streamlined into simple categories. And 2d6 are used.
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Post by chgowiz on Sept 14, 2009 8:49:10 GMT -6
Probably more a case of the incredibly slow serial connection the 1541 disk drive used. It's even more scary that I pulled that memory from the old core banks... Not to keep derailing this thread... but I do remember how slow the 1541s were, especially when playing Ultima 3 on my C64. Another scary fact. I have a fully functional Pet 4032 with dual floppy drives - and they work. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2009 9:25:07 GMT -6
Yes I have "Fast Rules", it is a very simple version of "Tractics". Tractics is a game I played a lot of with micro armor, many hours of fun and great times. Also, "Fast Rules" has at least three printing dates. May 1970, Jan 1972, and Aug 1973. by Mike Reese & Leon Tucker.
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Post by thegreyelf on Sept 17, 2009 8:54:21 GMT -6
Here's one for you: could you play Tractics effectively with the common plastic "army men" you can buy in any toy store, pharmacy, or discount store?
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Post by Finarvyn on Sept 17, 2009 13:55:02 GMT -6
Yes I have "Fast Rules", it is a very simple version of "Tractics". Can you find these online, or are they only paper copies?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2009 15:33:40 GMT -6
I have a third printing copy of Fast Rules. According to the rule book Leon L. Tucker has the copyright to the game. Even though I prefer snail mail, please e mail me if you have any questions, I think you have my e mail address.
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Post by gloriousbattle on Oct 11, 2010 18:36:04 GMT -6
Probably this is a dead thread, but I have been doing some work on this recently. If you have the D&D rules and the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article, you really don't need Tractics to do a roleplaying scenario, any relatively simple WW2 armor system will do. Why? Because the article already tells us how the WW2 weapons effect the monsters. As to how the monster's attacks effect the armored units, just convert the monster's damage backwards to the nearest equivalent. Example: How does a Storm Giant's punch do against a King Tiger? Well, he does 7-42 points of damage, and on the Weapon Type, Damage, and Effect Area table from S&S, the nearest equivalent is the 6-48 damage caused by a 75mm gun. Since this is roughly the equivalent of a Sherman's gun, the answer is "not very well", but to find out exactly, you would simply use your WW2 combat system, and treat the attack as coming from a 75mm gun. Simple. Other conversions are equally easy. For example, if you were using Axis & Allies as your armored combat system, most infantry move 1, so you would convert 1 hex into 12" of D&D movement. Now, of course, you still need the skills of a good DM to figure out how the Storm Giant's lightningbolt would affect the Tiger (the crewmen confined in a steel box that has just conducted a massive amount of electricity), but Tractics wouldn't help you with that anyway, and, if you are a good DM, you already have that skill.
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 11, 2010 19:25:27 GMT -6
Probably this is a dead thread, but I have been doing some work on this recently. Dead thread? On this board, no thread is ever dead! I had a copy of Tractics years ago and gave it to a friend who was a big WWII fanatic. I occasionally peek on e-bay and wish I'd kept it.
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Post by thorswulf on Oct 11, 2010 22:07:50 GMT -6
regarding the question about using plastic army men. You could do this with the rules, as they do have seperate booklets for armor/anti-armor and infantry rules, but the scale of movement might have to be adjusted as these rules were scaled for 1:72 figures. Of course those figs aren't to spendy, but building tank models takes forever.....
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Post by gloriousbattle on Oct 12, 2010 12:56:02 GMT -6
regarding the question about using plastic army men. You could do this with the rules, as they do have seperate booklets for armor/anti-armor and infantry rules, but the scale of movement might have to be adjusted as these rules were scaled for 1:72 figures. Of course those figs aren't to spendy, but building tank models takes forever..... I play D&D in 15mm, so I just use A&A Minis and Flames of War figures.
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Post by chicagowiz on Dec 7, 2010 9:22:52 GMT -6
I have the Sturmgeschutz & Sorcery article mentioned above and I'm trying to interpret the Area of effect rules.
For example, a hand grenade - it has dmg of 5-20 (3d6+2, I'm assuming), and an effect area of "1 target A". The "A" area of effect is 1" diameter circle.
I'm interpreting that to say "within a 1" circle, 1 target will take 5-20 damage". That seems... low? Especially when you get to mortars and bazooka/panzerfaust rounds - it seems like they would explode a bit and spread shrapnel around.
Is this a Tractics thing (the 1 target w/in an area) or some effort to simplify the amount of rolling for area of effect explosive rounds?
(I'm tempted to jigger with the area of effect, have targets make saving throws and apply damage that way... thoughts?)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2010 7:19:03 GMT -6
For example, a hand grenade - it has dmg of 5-20 (3d6+2, I'm assuming), and an effect area of "1 target A". The "A" area of effect is 1" diameter circle. I'm interpreting that to say "within a 1" circle, 1 target will take 5-20 damage". That seems... low? Especially when you get to mortars and bazooka/panzerfaust rounds - it seems like they would explode a bit and spread shrapnel around. For an area effect I'd think that everyone in the area gets hit.
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Post by thorswulf on Apr 1, 2011 17:20:10 GMT -6
Remember though in OD&D 1"=10 yards outdoors! Thats 30' in a dungeon! So maybe the numbers are'nt so odd after all.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2014 19:33:24 GMT -6
A 60mm mortar has a small burst radius. The bazooka and panzerfaust were both HEAT rounds which are designed for armor penetration, not shell fragments.
Yes, I still play TRACTICS. Won the game I played at GaryCon VI!
Tractics works best as a skirmish level game; no more than 1 platoon of AFVs per side.
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Post by solfe on Apr 3, 2019 19:49:51 GMT -6
Tractics was the first game I ever "played" at a con. I was 5 and I was fascinated by all of the figures for WRG.
What I missed, because I wasn't tall enough to see over the edge, was a massive Tractics sandtable with easily a dozen players. When they saw me, the grabbed me and set me down on the table to move the pieces for them. They had a series of custom tables, maybe 6 feet on a side, and their intent was to slide them out of the way to move pieces. After they applied the sand, it became impractical. It made a terrible noise when they slid the table sections and other people would yell at them. My memory is distorted, due to my age and size, but I think it was 4 6 foot sections long and 3 wide. It was epic.
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