Sunday, April 10, 2016

Fast and Furious Fifties

Boy, simpler is sure harder than complex when it comes to rules.

Nonetheless, I persevered. My first effort was to revisit the  20th C version of the Square Brigadier complete with Orders dice. I added a village for the blocking force to take cover in and scattered a few other bits around the table. The game was pretty good despite me losing but it wan't quite right and it reminded me that I have come to dislike the Orders dice concept. Back to the drawing board.

Near the end of Game 3. The Lilliputian  dice were HOT! on the first few turns and I despaired for Roscia but it all came right in the end. The Roscian Commander managed to sneak off with 2 decimated infantry companies, a damaged Centurion and an HQ. (It said units, not viable units...) The Heavy Weapons company is contemplating blowing up the BAT and making a run for it. The Green force also took a beating near the end and has lost 3 of its infantry units and the Pershing is 1 hit away from destruction. 2 out of 3 for Roscia.
The final game was a nip and tuck affair with a heart pounding, nail biting end. I'm ready for Minicampaign game 2 now. The  product of today's fevered brain is attached below.
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Fast and Furious Fifties
A simple wargame for Mid-20th C toy soldiers
10 Apr 2016

All measurement is in multiples of a convenient standard length. If using a grid then it is numbers of grid squares or hexes. If not using a grid then roughly equal to the frontage of an average unit. Basic units are "companies" of Infantry, Heavy Weapons or Tanks and Headquarters (HQ). 
  1. Sequence of play. Assign red to one side, black to the other. Draw one card per turn. That colour goes first that turn.
    1. Movement. The active Player moves units.
    2. Defensive Fire. The inactive player may shoot with his units. 
    3. Close Assaults The active player now resolves shooting by his units which are adjacent to the enemy but only by those which are adjacent. If the defender is eliminated or retreats then a unit which attacked this turn may occupy the ground..
  2. Movement
    1. Isolated Units. Units which are not within 9 of the HQ are considered isolated and must roll 4,5 or 6 on 1 die in order to move. 
    2. Maximum Moves. Infantry: 2, Heavy Weapons and HQ: 2 in the open, 1 in bad going. Tanks:3 in the open, 1 in bad going.  
    3. Attacking. A unit that moves adjacent to an enemy must stop and resolve close combat. 
    4. Heavy Weapons. A heavy weapons unit which moves must be marked as being packed. It may not fire during its next defensive fire phase. 
    5. Roads. A unit moving by road may add 1 area but may not move adjacent to known enemy 
  3. Shooting.  
    1. Line of Sight. Infantry and tanks must have line of sight and line of fire to target. Heavy Weapons must have LOS from themselves or from friendly unit that does not move. Units may turn as required to shoot without penalty.
    2. Engaged. If a unit began its move adjacent to enemy it may only shoot at or be shot at by adjacent units. If a unit is adjacent to more than 1 enemy then it must split its dice.
    3. Dice@Range: Infantry 3d@1, 2d@3, Tanks 3d@3, 2d@6, Heavy Weapons 3d@6, HQ 2d@1.
    4. Difficult Targets -1d vs cover or if Infantry or Heavy Weapons vs tanks unless adjacent. 
    5. Pinned. -1 die if pinned.
    6. Effect. Each 5 or 6 is a hit.
    7. Driven Back. A tank unit which is hit by enemy shooting may cancel 1 hit each turn by retreating a full move and becoming pinned.
    8. Hitting the Dirt. An infantry, heavy weapons or HQ unit which is not adjacent to an enemy may cancel 1 hit each turn by going pinned.
  4. Morale. Units have a base strength which is reduced by 1 for each hit which is not cancelled. When strength reaches 0 the unit is removed. 
    1. Base Strength. Infantry can take 4 hits, other units take 3 hits.
    2. Quality. Elite Units take 1 extra hit, Poor units take 1 less.
    3. Pinned.  Pinned units lose 1 die when shooting and may not move except to retreat. The pin may be removed at the end of their movement phase.

10 comments:

  1. I like your Rules Ross - and the look of the Miniature Game. Are the figures and tanks 1/72nd or 1/48th? It is hard to tell. Regards. KEV.

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  2. That's a very close quarter tank battle! Thanks for posting the rules Ross.

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  3. Cool stuff, Ross.
    Do you use the same event cards as before?
    Regards,
    John

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    Replies
    1. I could have but didn't for a 1st outing. It would be easy to add some new ones like Airstrike etc

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  4. Rules very fast and fun. Are perfect for playing with young people who are always in a hurry ... or old people, like me, who can not remember many details. Cordial greetings

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  5. Ross Mac,

    A very interesting fast-play set of rules. I hope to try them out as soon as I can.

    All the best,

    Bob

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