For mass battles, we're playing Iron Cow 2103.  I really am hooked on that rule set.  Simple, but not overly so.  And the rules are clean enough that if you want to add some home guidelines of your own, it's really easy to make them mesh  8)   (IE -- I wrote up some rules for attacking static defenses).

For skirmish level stuff, I've been playtesting Todd's Wardogs rules -- and it's well suited to playing a smaller battle with no more than 12-20 vehicles a side, where as in Iron Cow the ideal game looks to involve about 40 or more per side

(although I think a full blown "Army" of several platoons would get a bit effort-intensive because you'd end up pushing 70+ around per side).

If I can get a decent digital, I'll send i pics.  I'm finalizing my CDSU guards unit.  I broke from the unofficial paint scheme with them.  A flat grey hull for the tanks, with gunmetal gun barrels, steel plating on that grating along the bank, and  black tiger striping for camo -- looks neat, especially when, because they're  a GUARDS unit and are dismissing the whole concept of hiding, they've painted their grav skirts solid red.  Nice revolutionary colors 

Possible fix would be to limit flares to the same hex as the equipped unit.  Or else simply mark the unit as having deployed flares.

Why equip a unit with a flare projector that could benefit hostile units?

There's no set range for flares, except to say it can shoot the thing up to 3 hexes away.  So conceivably a plane can drop a flare in its own or an adjacent hex, right?  And aren't flares and other measures like cratering charges done AFTER movement is complete?

I don't think you'd have to make AA a bonus.  You either state outright whether a weapon is AA or for surface targets.  The bonus would be if you allowed dual purpose weapons, which could target both.

Got just about all the vehicle fluff for the Germans done.  Here are the write-ups for them.  Just gotta get the Soviet write ups done and everything we need for tactical scenarios is about ready to go.

Mk. VII Ritter MBTs
Mk. VII panzers provide the foundation for German armored regiments.  Solid in terms of firepower and protection, the Ritter may not be the best AFV currently in service – but it still acts as the measuring stick against which all other tanks are rated.   Appropriations are in the works to improve its targeting systems, with upgrades slated to reach the field in the next three months.  Its fuel cell drive is a no-frills approach seen among many vehicles employed by modern militaries, as the maintenance requirements for such equipment is miles below those seen with fission or even fusion technology.

Recommended Mini: Brigade Kochte MBT

SP.9 Fuchs ICV
The Fuchs infantry combat vehicle provides panzergrenadiers with the mobility and armored protection needed to survive the modern battlefield.  The SP.9 is no match for a tank – its heaviest armament is a 20mm autocannon – and under the right conditions its hull can be perforated even by crew-served heavy weapons.  Yet the vehicle's ability to lay smoke, cover advances with indirect suppression fire and create cover for its squad of riflemen, have earned it high marks from  countless foot soldiers. 

Recommended Mini: Brigade Baumann ICV

SP.9r Command Variant
The SP.9r is a command variant of the popular Fuchs ICV, and is commonly attached to tank and mechanized infantry units.  Gone are the 20mm autocannon and grenade launcher.  In their place, engineers have installed the communications gear needed to direct the actions of a full armored company and a short range ATGM launcher – the “Dolch” – which can unfold directly alongside the commander's topside hatch.   While ammunition is limited, the SP.9r is a deadly tank hunter if used properly, and more than one divisional history credits such vehicles with saving panzergrenadiers under attack from Soviet armor.

Recommended Mini: Brigade Baumann HQ

Sk.5 Raubritter Recon Tank
Sk.5 tanks serve as the eyes and ears of German armored formations.  While the Raubritter's gun is all but useless against anything heavier than a troop carrier or armored car, the vehicle's main benefit remains its ability to relay information through its communications gear.  A platoon of German recon tanks (usually involving an equal mix of gun and missile-toting variants) can disrupt enemy formations, ambush convoys or finish the encirclement of trapped Russian units – trusting on their small profiles, ECM and armor plating to live through such engagements. 

Recommended Mini: Brigade Oldmann Recce Tank

Sk.5 tanks serve as the eyes and ears of German armored formations.  While the Raubritter's turreted ATGM launcher is a decidedly lethal threat to tanks and walkers, the vehicle's main benefit remains its ability to relay information through its communications gear.  A platoon of German recon tanks (usually involving an equal mix of gun and missile-toting variants) can disrupt enemy formations, ambush convoys or finish the encirclement of trapped Russian units – trusting on their small profiles, ECM and armor plating to live through such engagements. 

Recommended Mini: Brigade Oldmann Recce Tank (missile variant)

Mk.VIb Kopfjager SP Artillery
The Kopfjager is a dedicated artillery vehicle mounted on a Ritter chassis.   Developed in 2156, the MK. VIb has been dubbed a “rocket howitzer” by Wehrmacht field officers as it lobs 120mm rounds propelled by self-contained plasma engines (the barrel is there strictly to channel the warheads).  Crews are trained to direct four round “sheaths” against designated target coordinates since the weapon system's automatic loader can handle as many shells in the space of 10 seconds.  Damage inflicted on the barrel limits the Kopfjager to two such salvos during any given engagement, and the equipment is finicky.  While the 120mm gun is housed in an armored turret, the circuitry has a history of being knocked out of commission by the slightest hit.  What's more, the crew compartment is too cramped to allow for ECM gear….forcing engineers to install external chaff and flare projectors to protect the vehicle against counterbattery fire.  Still, German artillery officers consistently praise the Kopfjager's performance, noting it packs enough of a punch to rend the thickest Soviet armor. 

Recommended Mini: Brigade Doherty SP arty

I also have a SP.4d Medical Vehicle (Boyd HQ mini), but the write up will be minimal.  And an AA platform I still need to write up.

Add those to about 6-7 German mechs, and the roster is about done.

Absolutely  !!

The dates in the mech descriptions so far are 2157-2160.

So far, all our playtest sessions have centered around isolated skirmishes where all I've described is the tactical situation for that particular battle.  But for the overall setting, I was thinking MAYBE Imperial Germans against Soviet Reds (rather than just doing future Nazis against Future Stalinists).

I was thinking of a timeline where the Kaiser's Germany has grown to dominate Western Europe in the 22nd Century (having found its place in the sun following its victories in the early 1900s, it slowly but surely absorbed the rest of the continent through economic warfare and military action)-- and they're now duking it out with the Reds.

The Brits and Americans would have to fit in somewhere. 

PS --

Had to fix a typo in the Maskhadov.  Thermal 6 and 183 points.  Even with a worksheet to help, I find mistakes here and there.  Looking forward to when Wardogs has an automated sheet or somethin'     Updated Russian zip file uploaded (which is why the counter dropped back to 0), or you can just make the tweak in the word file yourself.

I looked at the Germans again, but their math checked out just fine.  So these guys are good to go 

When my Brigade shipment arrives, I'll stat up some conventional armor to go with them (grav tanks, APCs, MICVs, etc)....

Well there you go about the planes.  My opponent has only statted up two aircraft -- going to poin that out.

As for the shoulder missile launchers -- I figured you could go either way.  So folks should just use whatever arcs may sense 

Here are the Russians statted up so far. 

I still have about 2 more mech classes for each faction to do, but there's only so much I wanna paint up before this weekend. 

I'm trying for a theme, design wise, for each.  The Germans have more flexibility.  Their missiles can be interchanged and reach farther.  They have a command model.  Their targeting is better and their heat output lower.

The Russians are firepower heavy.  EMs have been traded for hardpoints in a lot of cases.  Their heat ouput is a good bit higher, but they can balance this out, for a couple of turns, with decoy flares.  Missiles possess shorter range, and basically are "all or nothing" affairs.  Their targeting systems are not as good.  But the Katemir is faster than anything the Germans have, and so is the Wolk. 

Anyway, we've had fun over the course of a few playtest sessions  .  Observations....

Aircraft, except for taking off and landing, really don't have anything setting them apart from ground units.  Would elevation rules make things to cumbersome? 

Second, unless you pour everything into speed, they don't seem to have THAT big of a horsepower advantage over ground units, nor are they that much harder to hit.  Well armored, Tech 4 (fuel cell) CAS minis have maybe 10 MP when we draft them up.  You can boost that through afterburners, but even then it doesn't really feel like they're moving hundreds of miles per hour. 

Matt

Scratch builds aren't an option for me....not that handy.

And I should clarify that I'm not looking to translate CAV mechs exactly.  The only thing I'm trying to do is to find minis I can use.  I'll stat them up as something else entirely, trying to fit it into the Iron Cow universe (just using Wardog rules).

That's the route I'm going to go.  Big scale stuff -- Iron Cow universe, Iron Cow rules.

Smaller/skirmish stuff (with maybe a combined arms company on either side) -- Iron Cow universe, Wardogs rules.

All I know right now is that the other stuff was just too runny.  The Reaper stuff is easier for me to handle.  I just got done last night painting up some German torpedo nefs, teeny little suckers, and they came out looking cleaner than I hoped.  Took some squinting to get the German tri-color on the sides of their tail fins