CRT calculator for Holland '44

After a fun session at a recent USL meetup in Utrecht, where we played Holland '44 , we had a brief discussion about the Combat Results Table (CRT) of this game. We were comparing it to tables from older 1970s Avalon Hill games, which were more like very large lookup tables where every possible ratio was written out - resulting in an impossible number of columns and rows.

Some decades later, in an era where everybody has immediate access to a pocket calculator, there is no need for large tables like these anymore and the player is expected to be able to do some high-school calculations all by themselves. With a combat stregth 24 against 7 rounded down defender should be no problem anymore to find the correct column and start rolling the dice.

Still, after 5 hours of rules shifting, numbercrunching, drm-adjusting, row-and columnshifting it just can occur that a player gets somewhat tired and needs to take a bit more time in performing a few basic number operations. The question that popped up was of course: can we build an app that offloads some of this work for us.

In the miniature wargaming scene there exist a number of online combat calculators, of which the use is frowned upon in places. Part of the fun in miniature gaming is exactly the number crunching, and the thrill of finding out whether your careful positioning will pay off. Pre-calc takes a lot of that fun away, and it can be seen as somewhat disrespectful towards other playes - especially if the calculator is used during movement to pre-calc every possible position.

No such sentiments in our friendly group of course, as long as you use an application like this only in the real combat phase, and not to test possible outcomes during the movement phase!
On with javascript and the concept of progressive web apps, and now we have published (with the permission of GMT Games) our first working CRT helper for the game Holland'44. Just odds calculation was not really helpful for the player, since there are so many factors in play in calculating the odds and column shifts - so we ended up implementing most combat rules in the calculator. It's still work-in-progress and it needs testing on a few points, so feedback more than welcome. Please try it out.

This app is installable for offline use on Android and MacOS and also on your normal desktop webbrowser. Basically all you need to do is open the website - then go into settings or whatever of your browser and select Add to home screen Install

CRT helper for Holland_44