Getting familiar with Baroque (part II)

This is a continuation of the conversation started in Part I.

I would like to talk about the turn sequence for Baroque, which is one of the things that makes the game attractive for me.  I was never much of an Impetus player, (I played the free Starter version a few times, using typical Roman/Barbarian army pairs, but not too much).  So, the Baroque structure is one that I am exploring with a fresh perspective.

A few things have to be defined before getting into the turn structure.

First, the army will have a Command Structure.  This is defined by the army list, or a series of options are given.  An army can have Good, Average or Poor.  These cost an increasing number of points, and there is a range given for Leader figures, where they can use their leadership bonus to keep troops under control.  For instance, an Average Command Structure costs the army a total of 12 points, and it means that leaders in that army have a leadership range of 6BU (Baroque Units, or in the case of 15mm armies, 6x 60mm baroque units).  Other Command Structure levels, with cost and range, is found in the rulebook.

The turn sequence works like this

1. Decide the Initiative
2. The active player (one by one) activates all the units in the Command he has activated.  The inactive player responds with reactions and/or evasions.
3. Initiative is re-decided, and repeat until all of the Commands on the table have been activated.

Deciding the initiative works like this - Each player selects one of their commands (each army is divided up into a number of 'commands' that each contain several units).  Both players roll 2d6 for their selected command, and apply dice modifiers based on the leadership bonus of the Leader of their command.  High roller wins the initiative.  If there is a tie, then the highest rated Command Structure will break the time.  Otherwise, re-roll to see who has initiative.

 Once a command has been identified as having initiative. the player controlling that command now activates each of his units, one at a time, and then plays out all that the unit is doing that turn.

The actions that a unit can do include these:

• Rally
• Withdraw (from the battlefield)
• Move
• Disengage (from a melee)
• Shoot
• Charge
• Fight a Melee

A move action can be repeated multiple times, but each time after the first, once the move is completed, the unit must pass a discipline test, or the unit is Disordered.  If the unit is trying to contact the enemy, the last move action is considered a Charge, and certain rules affect it (the rolling of an additional charge bonus distance; the possible reactions of the target of the charge).

The rulebook describes how to handle these actions, but many of them will allow for the opposing player to engage in a Reaction.  In this way, the turn is integrated, and both players are involved throughout.

The reactions allowed are these:

Action	Reaction
Withdraw	Opp Fire or Opp Charge
Move	Opp Fire or Opp Charge
Charge	Opp Fire, Def Fire, or Countercharge
Shoot	Opp Fire or Opp Charge

The reaction can only be against the unit that enabled the reaction.  So that if I move my Pike & Musket unit, and it comes close enough to an enemy unit that it can Opportunity Fire, it can only do so vs. the unit (my Pike & Musket unit) that triggered it.

In addition to the Reactions listed, many units may also Evade.

If more than one unit can React to an acting unit, only one may be selected to React.

If a reacting unit decides to Opportunity Charge, it may hit a different target unit, if such is in the way of the movement of the Opportunity Charging unit.

So, the turn is quite interesting, as the player who has initiative has to decide if his actions are worth doing, if they may trigger some reaction by the enemy.

Movement
All movement and movement bonus amounts are given in multiples of the BU (Baroque Unit).  USUALLY but not always, foot are 1BU and mounted are 2BU, but there are exceptions.  For instance, on the 30YW German Catholic army included in the rulebook, there are infantry musket units called Schutzen.  They have a move of 2BU.

Units may be classed as either Fast or Slow (but not all units are - most are average).  A Fast Unit has a benefit to the discipline test after second or subsequent movement orders (meaning it is easier for Fast units to do more than one move order).  A Slow Unit is the opposite - there is a penalty to the discipline test after performing additional move orders.

The movement rules cover interpenetration, maneuver and wheeling, obstacles and terrain, and how to handle the charge bonus (which is given in BUs of course).

Shooting
Shooting is handled by rolling a number of dice equal to the shooting unit's VBU (Basic Unit Value, recall that the acronym VBU is from the Italian, not English version of the rules).  That number gives a basic number of dice for shooting, which is modified by a Range chart.  The range bands are Point Blank (1BU), Short (2BU), Long (4BU), and Extreme (8BU).  Most hand weapons (bow, musket, pistol, etc) have a maximum range of either short or long.  The firing table in the book gives you a number of extra dice that you gain, or lose, at different range bands, based on your weapon type.

The dice are rolled, and modified by situations (first volley, shooting while moving, shot modifier for mixed infantry units, etc).  Each 6 causes a DAMAGE (a hit), and every pair of 5s causes a hit.  Count up all the hits (total Damage), and then the target unit makes a Cohesion test, to see if the Damage tranlates into Losses.

Damage is not permanent, but is only a modifier to the Cohesion Test.  For every point that a unit misses it's Critical Number (which is the VBU of the unit, minus the Damage it took), it takes a reduction to it's VBU.  So if the Critical Number is (as an example) 2, and the Cohesion Dice Test comes up a 4, the unit would take a permanent Loss of -2 to it's VBU. If a unit has it's VBU reduced to 0, it routs immediately and is removed from the table.

If a unit passes the Cohesion test, it takes no Losses, but does suffer Disorder.  A disordered unit that AGAIN is disordered, will instead take a VBU loss.

The book gives rules for commanders being hit, arc of fire, reduced effect firing (like into terrain, or blocked) and discusses particulars for artillery, pistols, and defensive & opportunity fire.

Melee
Fighting the melee is similar to shooting.  Once two units are engaged and fighting (there are rules determining charge effects, flank charges, melee modifiers for certain unit types and situations, etc.), each will roll it's allowed number of dice (VBU plus or minus modifiers). A gain, 6s and 5s are the dice that cause damage.

Once again, there is a roll to see if the damage translates into permanent Losses (i.e. a Cohesion test).

Following the melee, and determining results, there are rules determining retreats and pursuits, and how they are evaluated.

Rules are given for commander casualties, and also for mixed (i.e. multi unit) melees.

Skirmishers that are hit in the open by formed units do not fight, but are immediately dispersed (remove from the table).  Again, there are rules covering melee and Artillery, and Baggage trains.

The rest of the rulebook covers special rules, setting up battles, and a number of army lists.  These will be covered in Part III.

Getting familiar with Baroque (part I)

The term Renaissance as a period is one which has been responsible for a lot of ink - in both history circles, as well as by wargamers.  Going with the various articles published here at Gaming with Chuck over the years, I am going to (vaguely) take it to represent warfare (typically, but not exclusively) dealing with Western Europe (and the border regions of Western Europe - say with the growing powers in the south and the east).  As far as time periods go, I am going to limit myself with the 16th and 17th centuries (so, roughly, from 1500-1700AD).

There is a lot going on in other parts of the world, and the study of conflicts there is equally worthy of wargaming (in fact, I have even published a set of rules for the Samurai battles in Japan (From the Sky we Came) which covered the Sengoku period, up until the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 AD.  But, that is a different sort of warfare from what I am discussing here.

Here, I am focusing on warfare in Western Europe.  These are the conflicts of the Italian Wars, the wars of religion that grew out of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.  The possible conflict between England and Spain.  The battles of the Spanish Netherlands.  The many conflicts making up both the Thirty Years War and the English Civil Wars (both in the 17th century), and so on.  These battles and wars are marked by several broad features - the presence of gunpowder, the reliance of infantry (in many cases) on pike, the presence of armor (especially, but not only, for mounted units) and the existence of interesting mixed-arms formations (starting with the tercio formations coming out of the Italian Wars, and then moving to the more streamlined pike and musket formations of the 17th century, which eventually gave way to pure musket formations by the end of this period).

I've reviewed, and reported various battles, using several sets of rules for this period.  I have read many, many more.  Lately I have looked into Baroque, from the Italian wargaming company of Dadi & Piombo.

These are an evolution of the Impetus rules for ancient and medieval warfare, published earlier by Dadi & Piombo.  As the cover states, these cover 1550 to 1700.  The earlier Impetus rules overlapped with this period, and the very nice wargame lists they produce on the website have armies up to and including 16th century (including some of the Central American armies - another focus of warfare in this period, but not what I am discussing here).

My recent (the past 2-3 years) renaissance wargaming was with a modified version of the Neil Thomas Renaissance rules, from his "Wargaming: An Introduction" (several convention games, and an Italian Wars scenario).  While they produce a small, and satisfying game, they are a bit limited in troop types, and also in allowable player actions.  While they are excellent for introductory games, and for small convention games (to introduce a period), they don't have the complexity or depth to keep more experienced wargames engaged for long.  On the other hand, these days, I am not a big fan of very complex rules.  While I admire the Field of Glory rules, and their Renaissance version, they are not the rules for me.  Also, while I am a huge fan of the George Gush rules (mentioned here on Gaming with Chuck with some of my other Renaissance rules reviews), they don't play well with a modern audience.  However, I think that Baroque might fill the sweet spot (at least until we try By Fire and Sword).

Unit Types
As mentioned, Baroque covers 1550-1700.  The unit types it features are perfect for representing battlefields in that period.  There are, roughly, two different types of units, plus artillery.

The first type are Mounted Troops, and include several classes of unit -

• Gallopers - Shock cavalry trained to charge at a gallop, may use a pistol, but more likely to rely on the sword or lance.  
• Trotters - Cavalry that charge at a trot.  These almost always will be pistol armed, and will discharge those during the slower charge, to follow up with contact by sword.
• Reiters - These are pistol armed (and perhaps heavily armored) cavalry, the prefer to not close to contact - but instead will keep their distance, and employ pistol tactics, like the Caracole maneuver.
• Sipahis - Eastern cavalry, usually armed with missile weapons.  Sometimes present in large units (treated as a 'Massed Unit').
• Light Cavalry - These are fast, skirmish cavalry, often armed with missile weapons.  
• Horse & Musket - In the later part of this period, some trotter units will have integrated foot musketeers, for greater strength on engaging the enemy in fire combat.  This is a mixed unit with mounted and foot soldiers in the same unit.

The second type are Foot Troops, which also include several classes of unit -

• Pike & Musket - This is the mixed unit of pikemen and musketeers made popular with the advent of more, and more reliable, hand weapons that use gunpowder.  Because a portion of the unit is armed with pikes, this reduces firepower, but also provides a strong deterrent to cavalry, and the ability to hit other infantry in contact. 
• Early Tercio - This is very, very deep unit, coming out of the 16th century, with some integrated shot troops.  Because of its extreme depth, and training in deployment, it is almost impossible to gain a flank advantage against this unit, but it is extremely vulnerable to artillery.
• Later Tercio - Not as deep as the earlier tercio, and sometimes employing a higher ratio of shot troops, the Later Tercio is almost as flexible as the Pike & Musket unit, but still a bit more unwieldy.  It is not as well protected on the flanks and rear as the Early Tercio, but it has enough shot troops posted there that it can give fire out of those aspects of the formation.
• Pikemen - Deep formations of only pikemen, without integrated shot troops.  These are popular in the earlier part of the period by those nations fielding pikemen, but not employing the Tercio.
• Irregular Infantry - These are (sometimes) fierce hand to hand fighters.  Sometimes they are equipped with missile weapons.  Sometimes they appear in large units (treated as a 'Massed Unit').  But they are not the disciplined mixed units listed above.
• Shooters - As with Pikemen units, these are from the earlier part of the period before the mixed units took over - these are units of purely missile armed soldiers.
• Skirmishers - Light troops, sometimes armed with good quality firearms, designed to skirmish with the enemy.
• Dragoons - These are mounted infantry, armed with missile weapons.  They combine the faster maneuverability of mounted troops, with the ability of infantry to provide good missile fire.

Other classes of tabletop units -

• Artillery is available.  In this  period, as the science of artillery is being developed, there is a bewildering constellation of different types of guns, calibers, firing mechanisms, etc.  These are all simplified in the rules to light, medium or heavy batteries.  And further, they are classed as either Cannons (firing a relative flat trajectory), and Howitzers (firing a high arcing shot).
• Commanders - The army will be divided up into a handful (usually 3 or 4) of commands (or brigades).  Each of these has a commander.  One of these commanders will be the General (or commander in chief).  A commander can be attached (if he wishes) to any non-artillery unit in his command.  the commander-in-chief can be attached (if he wishes) to any non-artillery unit in the entire army.
• Baggage - All armies have immobile baggage.  The baggage may be Fortified or Not.

Measurements in the Game
Battlefield measurements in the game are measured (and listed on the charts) in terms of BU, or  'Baroque Units' - so named to distinguish them from the basic unit of measure from Impetus, which was the Unit, or U.  In Baroque, the BU is equal to half the frontage of a standard unit (which is always 12cm).  So, a BU is 6cm.  Speaking of unit frontage...

Unit basing
For 15mm, the standard unit frontage is 12cm.  Which is perfect for me, as my units are based on standard 4cm wide bases.  So three bases wide, makes a unit.  For Pike & Musket units that is perfect - a stand of pikes in the middle, flanked by two stands of muskets - looks great.

Using larger one piece bases would be nice, but I don't want to rebase my renaissance wargaming armies.

The depth of the units varies, with the deepest being the Early Tercio - it is 12cm deep.  Since I mount my pikes in two ranks on a 3cm deep (or sometimes 4cm deep) stand, it is easy for me to model an Early Tercio - 3 stands wide, and 3 or 4 stands deep(!) - but it is the biggest unit in the game (and was quite large in history too).  A more standard Pike and Musket unit is listed as 4-6cm deep - which means, for me, one or two stands deep for Pikemen in the middle, and two stands deep of Musketeers on the flanks.  Easy, and it looks good.  Cavalry is easier - one rank deep.  Massed Mounted units are two ranks deep.

I'll follow this article up in Part II with a discussion of the turn sequence, and basic game structure.

Saga - and the Dark Ages

Just a quick note - we (myself and the members of ODMS local to Hampton Roads, Virginia) have been playing a lot of SAGA lately (2nd edition).  One of our members has even started a very nice SAGA campaign.

In that campaign, I am playing an Anglo Saxon contingent, with Wulfric of Kent as the faction leader.

But, one of the things that is exciting, is the rekindling of interest in Dark Ages history, within the club.

It got me to thinking about some of the early dark ages articles I wrote last year.  I am thinking of creating SAGA boards for some of them - based on some that do exist (some in Aetius & Arthur), such as the Franks, Goths, Carolingians and others.

-Chuck
posting from GwC HQ, hidden in the Lake Maury Forest, with a view of the verge

The taxonomy of WW2 rules

In the field of information modeling and knowledge modeling, a taxonomy is a way to sort out a complex body of knowledge, by providing a structure of definitions and categories, to help you find your way quickly, and see which pieces of information belong together.

An easy example is the taxonomy of Carl Linnaeus, which was used to organize all the animals of the animal kingdom into like groups.  This gives us the concept of animal families, etc - mammals, canines, and so forth.

Carl Linnaeus' Taxonomy (example)

One of the things I would like to do, based on a series of games played in ODMS recently, is to come up with a taxonomy for WW2 micro armor rules.  So the first thing is to come up with some of the categories of concepts that apply to different rules.

Off hand, I can think of these:

• Scale (i.e. how many vehicles does a tabletop model represent)
• Turn Sequence
• Friction/Fog of War
• Command & Control/Morale
• Hit mechanism
• Kill mechanism
• Acquisition/Spotting rules 

I will have to come up with ways to divide and recognize the features in each of these areas, and then come up with a reasonable (but finite) categorization system for the WW2 rules we have played recently.

On Serious Wargaming

The US Department of Defense, under Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, realized that professional wargaming had lagged over the few decades of us fighting in Southwest Asia, and in short, since the "end" of the cold war in 1991.

He proposed a re-invigoration of the art, and suggested a few ways in which this could be done.

One of those was something called the Wargaming Initiative Fund, which is a way for the Department of Defense to fund new and interesting wargaming activities within the multiple parts of the service.

Here is a recent article by the current overseer of the effort - COL Heath.  This is very interesting to me as I have been funded as a research scientist working on projects related to this for the past few years, and I hope that continues.

The article is here.

General d'Armee - first thoughts

Recently, we played a couple of games of General d'Armee at our regular ODMS game meetings.  These have been run by Sean (read about his gaming stuff over at Mad Mac's Attic), although I suspect that they have struck a chord with the group, and that we'll be playing more.

The rules are available from Too Fat Lardies, who sell the Reisswitz Press rules (that is the imprint of David Brown's current batch of rules).  These (GdA) are on a step up from General d'Brigade (GdB), and one of the chief differences is that now battalions and regiments are treated as somewhat generic in size, only differentiating by gross categories (large, regular, small, etc).  This is very similar to Black Powder, etc. and different from the earlier rules (GdB) - which had you using specific numbers of miniatures for different units, based on historical OB.  There are a ton of useful resources at David Brown's blog.

The turn sequence runs (roughly) like this -

1. Both sides dice for the number of Aides de Camp (ADC) available.
2. The ADCs are applied to units.
3. Each brigade is rolled for to see if it is Hesitant or not during that turn.
4. Both sides then roll 2d6 for initiative, subtracting 1 for each Hesitant brigade.
5. Winner chooses to go first or second.
6. First player orders and resolves Charges.
7. Second player orders and resolves Charges.
8. First player resolves moves.
9. Second player resolves moves.
10. First player resolves firing.
11. Second player resolves firing.
12. Melees (resulting from charges, or carried over) are resolved.

In all this is a pretty good sequence.

Firing is done (by regular formations and artillery) by the toss of two dice, and then modifiers are introduced.  The final result is consulted on a chart to see what the impact is (casualties, discipline test, etc).

Firing by skirmishers is done by granting the skirming formation a number of Casualty dice - roll them, and they cause a hit on 4,5,6.

Charges are handled first as a test, to see what the charge results are.  This may, or may not result in a melee or a volley being fired, as well as charging home, retiring, etc.

Melee's are resolved by each side having a number of casualty dice (as with skirmish fire), these are rolled and hits counted.  Then the winner of the melee is determined by  comparing these scored hits.

In all this is a good set of rules, with a lot of thought going into how the different formations, etc interact with each other.  Looking forward to playing some more of these, I may run a game or two myself in the near future.  Sean has published a Player's Guide over at his blog.

Here are some pictures from our most recent game, which was the battle of Maida 1806.

Cold War Commander - How To

This is a "how to" article I wrote for ODMS, giving the basics on how to play Cold War Commander.

Cold War Commander – How is it played?

1. Introduction

Cold War Commander, by Peter Andrew Jones, is a set of rules for modern conflict (1946 until today). It follows (and is very much similar to) Blitzkrieg Commander, which covers WW2. Both rulesets have a lot in common with Warmaster (by Rick Priestley), and Mr. Jones had Mr. Priestley’s blessing to write a set of tank and infantry rules. Other rules that are very similar, are the Warlord rules (Hail Caesar, Pike & Shotte, and Black Powder). All of these rules are currently very popular, in general, and here in ODMS.

For those not familiar with Warmaster, what that means is that the basic tempo of the game is this: players will take turns, and on their turn they will try to activate units.  Different command elements (HQ and CO) can make a dice roll vs. a target number (their command value) - if you pass the dice roll, you get to issue an order to some of your units (move, shoot, etc).  The strength of the system is that command structure and command level is a key part of the game, and you are never 100% sure of a plan (as in real life, friction and fog limit military operations).  The weakness of the system is that there are times when a player, or a side, will miss most or all of their command rolls - getting to do very little on their turn.  Very Frustrating!  Details are described below.

2. Types of Units

Cold War Commander (CWC) has several types of units. The biggest distinction is between combat units (infantry, vehicles, support weapons), artillery (which may be on or off board), aircraft, and command units. Let’s look at these in reverse order:

Command units consist of four types –

• CO (Commanding Officer) - overall commander of a side in a game – 1 per side
• HQ (Headquarters) - in charge of some part of a unit’s combat units – multiple per side
• FAO (Forward Artillery Observer) – sights targets and requests unplanned artillery missions – 0 or more per side
• FAC (Forward Aircraft Controller) – sights targets and requests close air support missions – 0 or more per side

Aircraft units are of two types –

• Ground attack aircraft, which are requested by an FAC (or used in planned aircraft strike missions)
• Transport helicopters, which are treated as regular units, to carry infantry and support weapons

Artillery units can be off board (in which case it can be used for planned missions, or in response to the FAO), or can be on board. In either case, they are used for indirect fire, and can fire Barrage missions, or Concentrated missions (see artillery rules in the rulebook).

Combat units are everything else (infantry, support weapons, transport vehicles, tanks, etc). All are rated with several pieces of information. These include:

1. Move
2. Attack (or number of dice to attack with)
3. Hits (to be killed)
4. Armor save (in some cases - usually armored vehicles)

 

 3. Turn Sequence

CWC is played in alternate turns. On a turn, you have four phases:

Scheduled Phase – Scheduled artillery and aircraft missions for this turn take place

Initiative Phase – Recon units attempt to communicate with a command unit; then any units within the Initiative Distance of the enemy get a free action.

Command Phase – Now, command units may, one at a time, attempt to issue orders. Pick a command unit, and then pick a unit to receive an order (or group of units), and declare what the order is (“That unit of tanks will move to the ridgeline.”). Then roll the dice (2d6) vs. the command unit’s command rating. If less than the target number, the unit performs the commanded action, and that command unit may roll again. Note that the subsequent order can be to the same unit. Subsequent rolls are/may be reduced depending on who is being ordered again.

If the roll is a failure, that command unit may issue no more orders this turn. Once the CO fails his roll, the side is finished with Command Phase for the turn (hint: use your CO last).

End Turn Phase – Check for victory conditions, and then remove all hits from any units on the table that were not destroyed. Additionally, remove suppression markers from the active player (only).

 

4. Recon Units

During the initiative phase, a Recon unit tries to communicate with the nearest command unit on that side. This is based on a dice roll (based on how close the nearest enemy unit is), and if successful, then the Recon unit can choose an action. Depending on what that command unit is (CO, HQ, FAO, FAC) then the Recon Unit can choose from the following:

• Add 1 to the command value of the command unit (CO, HQ, FAO, FAC)
• Issue orders to on-table mortars to fire at that closest enemy unit to the Recce unit (CO or HQ)
• Request artillery support against the closest enemy unit to the Recce unit (FAO)
• Request an air strike against the closest enemy unit to the Recce unit (FAC)

Note, that the second, third, and fourth item take place during the Command Phase, by the command unit the Recce unit communicated with – this just lets that command unit target the enemy unit that the Recce unit can see. (remember, that the Recce unit doesn’t have to be in line of sight to the command unit it communicates with, so this is a way of “extending the eyeballs” of that command unit).

 

5. Assets (planned Artillery and Aircraft strikes)

Not every side, or every scenario will have Assets available. These are the pre-planned aircraft and artillery missions. The player who has them available must write down where the target of the strike is (based on the map of the game), and on what turn they strike. Different armies have different types of missions available (HE, Smoke, etc).

 

 6. Orders to Combat Units

The orders that a command unit may issue to a combat unit are pretty simple. They are: move, deploy and fire. Note, these are the same orders (or actions) that a unit may do during the initiative phase.

• Move is just that – a unit may move up to its movement value. See the rules about limits from terrain. If a tank unit has a Stabilized weapon, it may also fire, if it only moves half.
• Deploy is used to set up certain support weapons (such as Mortars or towed guns), also it is the order used to load infantry onto transport units (they must be in contact). Deploy is also used to dismount from transport units. The infantry units (and/or support units) are placed in contact with the transport asset they just dismounted from. Finally, Deploy is used to pivot a set up towed weapon.
• Fire is used so that the unit (or units) may shoot against an enemy within range, line of sight, and line of fire (all defined in the book).

When a unit moves in contact with the enemy, then that is a Close Assault.

 

7. Command Blunders

When a command unit is issuing a command and rolls double 6’s – then a blunder has occurred. Not only does the order not succeed but based on what type of order it is (Artillery strike, Aircraft strike, or Command order) there is a roll to see what the blunder causes. Usually bad (like friendly fire).

 

8. Attacks

When a unit executes a Fire order – and attacks another unit – that unit rolls the number of attack dice that they have available. The to-hit number is 4+ if the target is in the open; it is 5+ if the target is in soft cover; it is 6 if the target is in hard cover.

There are several types of weapons, based on the army listing – those followed by an asterisk * do not cause hits vs. any units with an armor save (i.e. tanks, APCs, IFVs, etc). Those followed by a hash mark # do not cause any hits vs. unit that do not have an armor save (i.e. soft transport, infantry, support weapons).

Line of sight is 180 degrees, forward of the unit. Line of fire, in a restricted visibility unit (marked in the army lists) is only 90 degrees, forward of the unit. Armored units can fire at other vehicles, over infantry and guns. Line of sight can pass over infantry and guns, but not over vehicles (friendly or enemy).

Command units do not block line of sight.

 

9. Hits

Any unit that takes hits, must make armor saves (if it can). If there are enough un-saved hits to exceed the HITS rating of the unit, it is destroyed. Keep track of the number of hits a unit has taken, even if they aren’t enough to kill it. Other units may attack the same target this turn (although all hits are removed from all targets at the end of each player’s turn).

 

 10. Suppression

For each hit that was not saved, the attacker rolls the dice again, with the same “to hit” number. If any of the dice score, then the target is suppressed (mark it with a suppression marker).

NOTE: You can purposefully try to suppress a unit that you cannot cause hits against (like using a weapon marked * against a tank) – in that case the to-hit number is automatically a 6+. Saves are allowed. Unsaved hits are then rolled for suppression (again, 6+).
Suppression markers are removed from a player’s units only at the end of his turn.

 

11. Fall Back 

A unit that is ALREADY suppressed (because it was attacked by another unit, which resulted in suppression), and which receives more hits, may fall back. Instead of rolling for suppression by additional unsaved hits (assuming that the additional hits are not enough to kill the target), the target unit rolls 1d6 for each extra unsaved hit, and falls back that many cm. If the unit has to fall back more than 10cm in a turn, it is destroyed (the crew/infantry abandon the field, hide, run away, etc).

 

 12. Close Assault

The rulebook has a series of restrictions on close assault, but in general when a unit contacts an enemy, there is a close assault. AFVs can only close assault in the open, unless they are carrying infantry or support riders. Transports that close assault automatically dismount their infantry, in contact with the enemy, when the assault starts (except IFVs which may keep them on board)

Friendly units within 10cm can support the close assault, if they can draw a line of sight to one of the assaulting units in contact with the enemy.

Responding units can also have 10cm of supporters to fire back.

Once hits are rolled for (all close assaults hit on 4+, to determine the number of dice rolled, consult the chart on p. 35), determine which unit (on each side) takes the hits. Roll for saves if possible. Then compare outcomes and follow the results (also on page 35).

Close assaults are deadly. And can be unpredictable.

 

 13. Infantry Support Weapons

Machine Guns and Infantry Anti-tank Weapons (RPG-7, Bazooka, etc) do not need a deploy order before they can be fired.

Mortars and Recoilless Rifles must have a Deploy between moving and firing (to set up), and also between firing and moving (to break down).

Infantry units that have Anti-tank Weapons added on to them, may use their regular attack values, and their IATW attack values. IATW can only be used once per turn by a unit. Armored units do not get a saving throw vs. IATW (unless noted in the army list).

 

14. Anti-Tank Guided Weapons

ATGW (i.e. Anti-Tank Missiles, such as Sagger, MAPATS, TOW) are extremely deadly, and long ranged.

There are firing restrictions (see the rulebook, p. 24), and they can only be fired once per turn. If a unit is targeted by an ATGW, there is a dice roll to see if it can evade. This is one dice, vs. the same to hit number required for the ATGW to hit the target. If this evade dice hits, then the target may not evade.

Roll the attack as normal. However, if the evade dice misses, then the target saw the missile coming in, and may evade. It can move up to 10cm in any direction, and the to hit number against it gets worse by one category (i.e. – if in the open, it is treated as in soft cover, etc). If the unit was already in full cover, or if the 10cm move can get it out of LOS, then it cannot be struck.

 

 15. Artillery, Aircraft, Engineering, Tactical Doctrine, Opportunity Fire, etc

There is a lot more to this ruleset, but the above presents the basic ideas required to play. Some things are often forgotten (like Initiative Moves, Recon communication, and how to do Close Assaults).

These are a reminder for those items. In all cases, consult the rules. These aren’t hard rules, and players will get the hang of things in a turn or two.