A Fistful of TOWs - Light

Following on from my aborted set of World War Two rules, I reverted to Fistful of Tows 3 (hereafter FFT3).  Well, I say reverted I didn't go all the way to the full set instead I spotted that Little Wars TV had dusted down the free FFT3 introductory set and retitled it a Fistful of T34s (lets call these FF-T34 going forwards).  This was done with full permission from the rules authors and is really just a repackaging of the existing introductory set from the FFT website.  As a bonus it is free (you know how much I like free don't you)

I had used the modern FFT3 introductory rules before splashing out on the full set and found they give a good game so I expect that the World War 2 set will do the same.  Actually the FF-T34 set doesn't need to drop a huge amount from the main rules as the period is much more straightforward than modern combat.  Artillery rules and airstrike rules are simplified and merged, close combat is removed and terrain is simplified.  Lastly the number of quality levels for troops is reduced.  They hit all the key rule concepts and  have a good feel of the full rules.

I actually read through both the original FFT3 introductory rules and FF-T34 and found a couple of differences.  The rules on tank riders are more complete on the FFT3 set so I added them back into FF-T34s.  I also added back the full range of quality levels.  I only added them back in as I want to try the free rules out in other theatres of World War Two.  But really, FF-T34 doesn't suffer from the lack of that stuff as it is intended for a specific campaign setting from Little Wars TV, called Winter Storm set in December 1942. This is also free from the Little Wars TV website.  The campaign is a linked set of battles based on the 4th Panzer Army drive to relieve Stalingrad.  Spoiler alert it failed! There are videos of the refights on the Little Wars site.

So if like JBM you were wondering if the rules are any good this is a great way to try them out.  Little Wars TV have even provided paper templates with top down views of the vehicles and other troops for the campaign setting and some paper buildings to help with terrain.  So you could try the rules out for a very small expenditure on printer ink and glue!

All of the Little Wars Tv freebies can be found here >Fistful of T34s - Little Wars TV

The original introductory rules are here >FFG-FFT3-Introductory-Rules-Modern-v06.pdf

There used to be data sheets published online by FFT.com with vehicle and infantry data but these seem to have disappeared.

As to how these rules compare to the ones I was working on, they cover pretty much the same things although they are at the one stand is a platoon level.  That said the full rules have an option for playing at a lower level where one vehicle stand is one vehicle and one infantry stand is roughly a section.  Which is around where my rules were sitting.  Other than that they cover weight of fire using a concept of Rate of Fire which has the same effect.  Combat works in a similar way and the spotting and artillery rules are clearer than those I was working with.  Plus as a bonus it was designed as a set of rules for 6mm usage.   All in all I really don't know what made me want to try to reinvent the wheel.