"I wish I was in France

"I wish I was in France!"

Wargames Rules for the first world war in East AFrica

Organisation
All figures are based on stands of 2,3 or 4 figures (size of 2p for combat stands and 1p for command).
Special stands may have to be made, they may be square, rectangular or circular and should be styled to fit the figures.
I suggest that Command Stands carry 2 figures and Combat stands 3.
Stands may be of the following types

Command	-	Officers
Combat/Command	-	NCOs
Combat	-	Riflemen
Combat	-	MGs (HMG or LMG)
Special	-	Mortars
Special	-	Artillery
Special	-	Vehicles

Command stands are used to command units, Combat stands fight (NCOs do both).

An example company consists of (e.g.)
1 x Senior Officer
4 x Platoons of
1 x command stand (1 or 2 will be Junior Officers, the rest NCOs)
4 x Other stands
? x Special Stands (Mortars, MGs, Artillery, A/Cs) these may be attached to platoons or fielded separately, with or without command capability)
LMGs should always be assigned to platoons

Qualities
Officers: Officers may be one of the following Abilities:
i. Diligent
ii. Competent
iii. Inept

Troops: Units, usually at the Company level, are given a Quality rating. This may be:
i. Exceptional
ii. Capable
iii. Inadequate

Colour coding:
Each stand in a platoon should be given a colour code, one of five (e.g. Green, Red, White, Black and Yellow). The controlling player should have d10 corresponding to these colours.
Specialist stands may be given any of the 5 colours. Be warned having lots of stands of one colour in a unit may result in disastrous performances.
If Platoons contain more than 5 stands additional colours may be introduced or one of the original colours reused.
The colour code system is used to speed up fire calculation and damage allocation.

Move sequence.
The game progresses in alternate bounds. The attacker starts and activates his units, carrying out the relevant actions. Once all of his units have been activated the defender activates his units.

Command and Control
Each turn a player must roll 1d10 to activate each unit. The dice determines how many actions the unit may carry out. These actions must be uniform across the unit.
i.e. a unit has two actions it decides to move and set up an HMG. The setting up of the HMG uses one whole action even though it only applies to 1 stand in the unit.
Officers have a command range of 6" and may thus command any units whose command stand falls within this range. If a unit is Out of Command any stand within 6" is sufficient. The actions ordered by an Officer must be uniform across all stands commanded by that officer in the phase.
Junior Officers may only be commanded by Senior Officers.
Separate units and stands not originally under the Officers command must be "brought under command" by the Officer using an action to do so. If a unit wishes to conduct its own activation roll and thus perform separate actions once more it is considered to no longer be a part of the Officers command group. NCOs may bring Out of Command stands/units under command.
Note: Units/Stands brought under command in a turn may not roll for activating themselves in that turn.

Units Out Of Command
Units or abandoned bases, which are out of command, that is with no Officer or NCO in command of them, and within command range (6"), may attempt to activate themselves.
The dice throw is made as usual and the resultant actions may be used in the normal manner.
Units/Stands brought under command in a turn may not roll for activating themselves in that turn.
If an out of command unit/stand fails to achieve any actions it will retire a full move segment. If the stand/Unit is in defences they may ignore this requirement.

Activation rolls
Roll 1d10 for each unit wishing to carry out individual actions:

No of Actions	Diligent Officer	Competent Officer	Inept Officer or NCO	Inadequate Out of Cmd	Capable Out of Cmd	Inadequate Out of Cmd
0	-	-	1	1-6	1-5	1-4
1	1	1-2	2-5	7-0	6-9	5-8
2	2-5	3-6	6-9	-	0	9-0
3	6-8	7-9	0	-	-	-
4	9-0	0	-	-	-	-

Actions
Each Action may be one of the following:

Move *
Fire *
Fire Artillery
Get "in position"
Set up HMG or Mortar
Observe *
Rally *
Test Retreating Unit *
Assault ²
Limber /Unlimber
Lay a gun or MG
Communicate
Despatch/ move runner
Bring unit/stand under command

* these actions may be performed more than once a turn.
² An assault means the unit may perform no further actions this phase.

Condition
Each stand may be either:

Steady	Normal movement and firing
Suppressed	Will not advance, may fire
Pinned	No movement or fire
Broken	Retreat at full speed toward base edge (no actions required) No firing allowed. If they are contacted by the enemy they will surrender.

Movement
	Move	Assault
Infantry	6"	8"
Cavalry	10"	12"
Runners	10"	-
Vehicles	8"	-
Limbered Artillery	8"	-
Wagons etc.	4"	-

Suppressed stands may not advance.
Pinned stands may not move or fire.
Stands must remain within 1" of another stand from their Platoon, unless abandoned.
A unit may abandon stands in order to keep unit moving; these may be brought under command by other Officer or NCO stands.
Junior officers may leave their platoon and join another.

Small Arms Firing
Firing may be conducted against a specific unit (platoon, battery, squadron) or against a target area defined as a zone with a frontage of 4" and a depth of 3". Thus the calculated Fire Factor relates to the volume of fire against a unit or area.
Different firing units targeting the same unit or area may either fire separately or sum their factors. Note: Artillery fire is always calculated separately from small arms fire.
Infantry stands and LMGs have a 360° arc of fire.
HMGs have a 180° arc of fire, and Artillery a 45° arc.
A Change of direction for an HMG, Mortar or artillery piece requires an action.

Factor Determination:
Sum the Factor from the Small Arms Table for each stand firing on the target, add or subtract the modifiers. Cross-reference the final factor on the Combat Results Table to see which dice scores cause Suppression, Pinning and Destruction.

Hit determination and Allocation;
Roll d10 of the appropriate colours for the target unit (Normally it will be as well to throw all 5 dice anyway). Check the dice score against the required scores. Any results are then applied to the stands of the corresponding colours. If there are two or more stands of the same colour code in the target unit / area they all receive the same result.

Stands receiving a result similar to the condition in which they already are will advance to the next worse condition. i.e. a Suppressed stand being Suppressed will become Pinned, and a Pinned stand being Pinned is destroyed.

Example:
A Capable, modern rifle equipped, Schutztruppe platoon of 4 stands, an NCO and an LMG fire on a clearing (4" by 3" area). The area contains 4 stands of Commonwealth troops where two platoons overlap (2 Indian stands, one marked Red and one, which is suppressed, Blue; and two Askari stands, Red and Yellow.
The clearing is 16" from the firing platoon, which is in position. The firer sums the factors;
4 stands = 4, the NCO = 1 and the LMG = 2; In position gives 6 (1 per stand), the umpire judges that the clearing constitutes Soft cover -3; The total factor is 10. Therefore the required rolls are 7 to suppress, 9 to pin and 10 to destroy.
The German player rolls the dice getting: Red = 9, Blue = 8, White = 4, Yellow = 3 and Green = 10. There are no white or green marked stands involved so these rolls are discarded. The yellow stand is untouched, the blue stand is suppressed and, as it already is, becomes pinned. Both the Red stands become pinned. A green stand would have been destroyed.

Artillery Firing
Artillery may be either Off-Table or On-Table.

Off-Table:
All Heavy Guns must be, and field guns may be, Off-Table. The availability of Off-Table artillery should be scenario driven.
Off-Table artillery may only fire in a Pre-Programmed manner with timings and targets written down.
Off-Table fire may be stopped or cancelled, but not initiated by a Senior Officer using a Telephone/Telegraph or flares.
All Off Table fire is considered to be at Extreme Range.

On-Table:
On Table artillery may be provided by field guns and mortars.
On table artillery my fire by a pre-programmed pattern, as with Off-Table artillery, or by Direct fire.

Direct Fire:
Direct fire may be carried out on targets in line of Sight.
Chose a target (a stand or terrain feature); then roll 1d10 to hit.
If a miss results, move the aim point the required displacement distance in the determined direction. The aim point now marks the centre of a burst circle of the indicated diameter. Any stands in this burst circle are potential targets.
Take the Fire Factor for the weapon and modify using the Fire Factor modifiers. Cross-reference the factor and roll the hit dice as with Small Arms fire.
Artillery is considered to be in position for receiving fire but not for firing.
Artillery is considered Capable for fire resolution.
Combat Tables

Small Arms Table:	6"	12"	18"	24"
	CLOSE	MEDIUM	LONG	EXTREME
"Old" Rifle	2	1	1	-
Modern Rifle	2	2	1	1
LMG	2	3	2	1
HMG	3	4	3	2

Fire Factor Modifiers:

Target		Firing Units
In Position	-2	Per Stand Suppressed	-1
In Soft Cover	-3	Per Stand In Position	+1
In Hard Cover	-4	Out of Command	-2
In Trenches	-5	Being Assaulted	-2
Cavalry	+1	Exceptional	+1
A single stand	-2	Inadequate	-1

Artillery Direct Fire To Hit Table:

Target		Displacement Distances
9,10	On Target	Close	1"
8	Right 1 displacement distance	Medium	2"
7	Left 1 displacement distance	Long	3"
6	Over 2 displacement distances	Extreme	4"
4,5	Over 1 displacement distance
2,3	Under 1 displacement distance
2,3	Under 2 displacement distances

Artillery Direct fire Factors:

Weapon	Minimum range	Maximum range	Fire Factor	Burst Circle
Light Mortar	4"	18"	8	1"
Heavy Mortar	6"	36"	10	2"
Light Field Gun	-	-	10	3"
Medium Field Gun	-	-	12	4"
Heavy Gun	-	-	14	5"

Combat Results Table:

Fire Factor	Suppressed	Pinned	Destroyed
0	-	-	-
1-2	10	-	-
3-4	9	10	-
5-6	8	10	-
7-8	8	9	10
9-10	7	9	10
11-12	7	8	9
13-14	6	8	9
15+	6	7	8

Close Combat Factors

Infantry Stand	3
Heavy Weapons stand	2-
Cavalry Stand	4
Command Stand	1

Close Combat Modifiers

Assaulting	+2	Per Stand Suppressed	-1
Armour support within 4"	+2	Per Stand Pinned	-2
Cavalry Vs Hard Cover or Trenches	-4	Infantry Vs Hard Cover or Trenches	-4
Exceptional	+1	Inadequate	-1

Getting "in position"
Getting in position takes an action. It represents making best use of the ground.
Stands/Units which are in position may not move. If they do move they are no longer in position.

Setting up an HMG or Mortar
An HMG or Mortar must be set up before it may fire. This takes an action. Once an HMG or mortar moves it is considered not set up and must set up again before it can fire. This does not apply to weapons being Layed. HMGs and Mortars may never be in position.

Observe
An activated Unit may attempt to spot hidden enemy. Indicate the Terrain area being observed and allow the owning player of the hidden troops or an umpire to roll 1d10 (concealed from the observer). The required scores are given below. Hidden troops, which move more than 1 move segment in a turn, or which fire, or are within 4" are automatically discovered.

Observation Table

Terrain	Range
Terrain	4"-12"	13"-18"	19"-36"	37+"
Broken	4	6	8	0
Light Cover	6	8	0	-
Dense Cover	8	0	-	-

Rally
To Rally, and improve the Condition of the stands in a Unit takes an action. Roll all the coloured dice as for firing. Modify the dice roll by the modifiers. The required scores are below. The result applies for each stand of the dice colour in the Unit.

Rally Condition
Recover 1 level	8+
Recover 2 levels	11+
Rally Modifiers
Officer with Unit	+1
18" or more from enemy	+1
In cover	+1
Out of Command	-2
Exceptional	+1
Inadequate	-1

Assault
An activated Unit may make an Assault. Once it has attempted an Assault it may make no further actions this turn. The Assaulting Unit(s) must take a Morale test immediately.
If the Assault goes in the Assaulted Unit(s) must take a Morale Test.
An Assaulted unit may fire before Close Combat is calculated provided its Morale Test result allows it.

Close Combat
This is carried out in the same manner as Firing, using the Close Combat Factors and Modifiers.
Following each round of combat any suppressed stands retreat 1 full move.
If all the stands in a unit in contact with the enemy are Pinned those stands surrender.
If one side has not surrendered both sides take a General Morale Test.

Communicate
Communicating takes an action. An Officer can communicate with another Officer or NCO if their stands are within 2" of each other. Officers with access to Telephones/Telegraphs may contact other units so equipped, including Off Table Artillery.

Despatch/ move runner
Officers may send communications/orders by means of a runner. These are moved one move segment automatically each activation phase. Additional movement segments require the use of an action by the despatching Officer.

Morale Tests
Morale Test should be taken:

When a Unit attempts to Assault.
When a Unit is Assaulted.
When a Unit loses a stand. (either Destroyed or Broken)
When a Unit goes out of command.

Roll 1d10 and modify it.
Morale Test Modifiers

NCO led Unit	+1	Per Stand Suppressed	-1
Officer led Unit	+3	Per Stand Pinned	-2
MG, Arty or A/C within 6"	+1	Per Lost Stand	-2
In hard cover	+1	Inadequate troops	-1
In trenches	+2
Exceptional Troops	+1

Moral Results

	General Test	To Assault	Being Assaulted
5+	OK	Will Assault	Will Stand
3,4	No Advance	No Assault	Will Stand but will not fire
2 or less	Retreat abandoning Pinned	No Assault	Retreat abandoning Pinned

Retreating Units will Retreat until passing a General Test.

Armoured Cars
Armoured Cars receive fire as Hard Cover. They ignore the movement restrictions of Suppressed and Pinned markers, but when Destroyed they are destroyed. Whenever an Armoured Car's condition state worsens it must take an "A/C test". Roll 1d10 and add/subtract the modifiers.

A/C Test modifiers

Friendly Infantry or artillery within 4"	+1	Suppressed	-2
Friendly A/C within 4"	+2	Pinned	-3

A/C Test Results

5+	Carry on
3,4	Retire 1 move
2 or less	Retreat until rallied to OK

If an Armoured Car is supporting infantry in Close combat, and the infantry surrenders, Retreats or are completely Destroyed; the Armoured Car retreats for one move.
Isolated armour may not be engaged in Close Combat, rather it should be shot at.

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