GRENADE and AMMO SUPPLY COUNTERS.

In the heat of battle, one can always lose track of their ammunition supply of such weapons as Frag/Smoke grenades, PIAT round, 2" mortar HE rounds and Flamethrower fuel supply. One way of helping keep track of your supply is my using a counter, here are the ones I use.

FRAG/SMOKE GRENADES:

In Chain of Command there is a limit to how many grenades one can use in a game and this is dictated by a Leaders Command Initiative Level.

The total number of grenades a Leader may order used are:

Junior Leader: 2 Frag and 2 Smoke grenades
Senior Leader 3 Frag and 3 smoke grenades.

I started using beads to keep track on the gaming table of my grenade supply by placing them with the team but found it was a bit cumbersome so I made a magnetic base for them, which made it easy to move the grenades with the troops.

Each base can accommodate 4-5 beads

I used Perry plastic bases.

The black beads represent Frag grenade while the white ones represent Smoke grenades.

First step is adjusting the bead to accommodate a magnet, is to cut a small portion from a bamboo skewer and secure in place within the bead with super glue.

Next step, secure a tiny earth magnet on top of the piece of skewer that has been placed within the bead.

Then paint the bamboo part of the bead to match the colour of the bead.

Next to secure a circular sheet of metal on top of the Perry base with superglue, coat the top of the metal surface with a thin layer of super glue, add some flock and paint the edges of the base black.

Once the Team starts using Grenades, you can place the marker with the beads next to the Team, as they use the grenades, remove one of the beads, here the Team has one Frag and no Smoke grenades.

No grenades left.

One Frag and Smoke grenade left.

As with all things I started to simplify my Frag/Smoke counter into this counter which has superseded the previous one.

I used metal rods and with the help of my hand motor I shaped the rod into grenades, I also soldered metal ring pins on each of them. The two on the left are Frag grenades and the one of the right is a Smoke grenade.

I scratch built 3 counters, the larger bases are Warlord games plastic bases while the small bases are Perry plastic bases and secured the metal grenades in place with super glue. The top counter keeps track of the smoke grenades while the bottom keep count of the Frag grenades.

This Team has 3 Frag grenades left but no Smoke grenades.

AMMO SUPPLY:

I also used beads to keep track of ammo for varies weapons by placing a white bead next to the weapon each time it fired it weapon and once it depleted its ammo I would place a green bead with a X on it to signify it had depleted its ammo supply , the image shows a 2" mortar out of HE ammo.

As with all things, I improved this marker to these, they are ammo cases from the plastic British Warlord games infantry kit. I scratch built the counter using Perry plastic bases, number them, flocked the top surface and secured in place the ammo cases.