All the King's Men for WWII

After our game on Friday using ATKM rules with my War of 1812 collection (look here), Michael and I spent some time in the car on a road trip and devised a set of amendments for the rules to use with my 54mm WWII collection. We tried to use the basic mechanics of ATKM while attempting to maintain the "beer & pretzels" feel of the rules. The latter is difficult to do, since it's a slippery slope when towards complexity, especially with WWII rules with the increase in diversity of weapons etc. I've listed the amendments below in a QRS format. In order to relate them to the rules as written, you can see the main rules here.

ATKM for WWII

Infantry units are typically four to six figures each and represent fire teams or half-squads. Machine gun teams are also represented as separate two-figure units or may be part of a fire team (i.e. three or four riflemen and a two-man LMG team). Vehicles operate as individual units but may be activated together with the use of a command chip (assuming they are of the same platoon). This would also assume that they are equipped with radios (thus, French 1940 tanks would not be able to activate together in this way). Mortar and artillery units firing indirect may be activated by using a command chip by designated observers or on-table commanders (scenario generated). When firing tank guns (or equivalent), roll the number of dice indicated on the Hard Weapon Table. The defending AFV rolls a number of saving (or defensive) dice plus any appropriate modifiers. If the number of hits (after subtracting the hits from the saves) exceeds the AFV Toughness, roll 1d6 per hit on the AFV Effect Chart. If tied or lower, ignore. We've tried to place all the firing modifiers with the saving rolls for consistency but there's not particular reason why firing dice couldn't be modified as well.

Movement
infantry - 6"
slow AFV - 12"
medium AFV - 16"
fast AFV - 20"
*Wheeled AFVs receive a 4" movement bonus on roads.

Defensive Dice
All infantry teams roll one die per figure remaining.
Light AFV - 4 dice
Medium AFV - 6 dice
Heavy AFV - 8 dice

Small Arms
rifle - 1d6/figure
LMG - 6d6/team
auto-cannon/MMG/HMG - 8d6/team
SMG - 2d6/figure (maximum 24" range)
pistol - 1d6/figure (maximum 12" range)

Weapons Ranges
All weapons (except SMG & pistol) have unlimited range. If firing within effective range, there are no modifiers (see Firing Modifiers chart).
Small Arms - effective range 24"
Heavy Weapons - effective range 48"
grenades - 6" maximum

AFV Toughness
Light Armour - 1
Medium Armour - 3
Heavy Armour - 5

Heavy Weapons
Light Calibre - 4 firing dice
Medium Calibre - 8 firing dice
Heavy Calibre - 12 firing dice
* Infantry anti-tank weapons (i.e. bazooka) are heavy calibre up to 12" and medium calibre to 24".

AFV Effects from Fire
roll 1d6
1-2 = suppressed (i.e. not able to activate for balance of turn)
3 = immobilized
4 = main gun destroyed
5-6 = vehicle destroyed

Explosive Weapons
light (i.e. light mortars, grenades) - 4" burst radius
medium (i.e. medium mortars, small infantry guns) - 6" burst radius
heavy (i.e. off-board artillery) - 8" burst radius

deviation:
line of sight - 1d6"
on-table indirect - 2d6"
off-table indirect - 3d6"

Roll the deviation dice with a direction die. The firer rolls 1d6 per figure in the burst radius. The target rolls 1d6 saving rolls per figure in the burst radius. If impact point is on an AFV, roll as per the Heavy Weapons table.

Saving Rolls Modifiers

additions/subtractions to the number of saving roll dice:

+1/+2/+3 cover
+2 AFV target moved
+2 heavy weapon firer moved
-1 versus auto-loading weapon (i.e. auto cannon)
-2 versus AFV flank
-3 versus AFV rear
+2 per multiple of the effective range (beyond the effective range)

These are the basics. After our first play-test, it was obvious that some of the numbers may need to be tweaked (especially the ones related to AFVs). It's probably obvious already that the slippery slope is difficult to avoid (especially to those familiar with the rules already). ATKM rules are designed as an old school gaming exercise. When I play with them, I can easily see us sitting in the backyard playing with our toys in the grass and dirt (although I haven't gone there....yet). You can see some photos of the game from Sunday below. My apologies for the quality and small number of the photos (since my good camera has gone missing).

Overview of the table.

German armoured car takes a direct hit!

German anti-tank gun hidden in the ruined buildings.