Hot Chow! Rapid Play WWII

Posting has been a little light lately, to say the least. That doesn't mean I haven't been gaming though - I've played Hold the Line twice, and I've played a few scenarios from One Hour Wargames several times. 

Scenario 5: Bridgehead - Stand off at the hill. Missing crew on PAK 40 due to laziness.

As I mentioned before, I'm using my own rules for One Hour Wargames, but using many of Mr. Thomas's ideas as their foundation.

Below are the current draft of my WWII rules, "Hot Chow!" (I watched half a dozen or so WWII movies in the last month, and I swear, that line was in every one.). They are very much in the "playing with toy soldiers" tradition, and owe a debt to almost every rule set I've ever read. 

Hot Chow!

Rapid Play World War II

Table size: These rules are designed to work well on small tables, such as a 3’ x 3’ table, as used in Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames. The largest force fielded in those rules, and in these rules, is 6 units, or a reinforced company, although on a larger table, battalions should be feasible.

Figure scale: Unit frontage matters, not figure size or ratio of figures to real soldiers. 1 unit of infantry = 1 platoon and that is the basic unit for movement and combat.

Basing:  An infantry unit (platoon) should have a 4”-6” frontage. Depth is about half of width, but whatever looks right is acceptable. Vehicles and heavy weapons do not require basing.

• For the record, I use 5 or 6  figures to the platoon (I use 1/32 figures). Weapon crews are 2 figures. 6 figures really makes more sense at 2 per section, but I don't have enough figures to do that for all platoons.
• I've tried using bases 6" x 3" as well as figures without a base. I think the best compromise might be platoons of three 2" x 3" bases with each hit removing a single section.

Ground scale: If you must know, it’s 1” = 25m. This gives a platoon a frontage of 100m  - 150m which is about right for WWII platoons in the attack.

Tools: two six-sided dice, a ruler or measuring tape, pencil and paper or hit markers if necessary, toy soldi

Basic Unit Data

Unit	Movement/Turn	Combat Points	Attack Range
Infantry Rifle Platoon	6”	3	12”, 6” for vs armored vehicles
Infantry SMG Platoon(2)	6”	3	6”
Tanks	9”, 12” on road	n/a	24”
ATG	6”	2	24”
Mortar	6”	2	48”
HMG(3)	6”	2	48”

• 1 infantry unit represents 1 platoon
• 1 tank model represents about 3 vehicles
• 1 ATG and crew represents about 3 guns and crew
• 1 mortar and crew represents about 3 mortars and crew
• 1 HMG and crew represents about 3 HMGs and crew

Movement is how far a unit can move per turn. Regardless of the number of elements that make up the unit, all move together.

Combat Points are how many hits a unit can take before removal from table. It represents both actual losses and morale. This can be tracked with markers, stand removal, figure removal, etc. It also represents the number of dice a unit rolls in combat - as the Combat Points are reduced, so too are the dice thrown.

• Tanks and other vehicles don’t have Combat Points but instead utilize a method I’ve stolen borrowed from Featherstone.
• EDIT: When originally posted, I forgot to include how many dice tanks roll to attack. I usually have them roll 3 dice against other tanks, and 2 dice vs everything else, although I have had them roll only 1 die on occasion. I justified the later as a trade off for getting to survive longer than any other unit, on average.

Attack range is the maximum distance at which a unit may attack an enemy. (1)

Turn Structure:

1. Initiative
2. Morale Phase (side A) if necessary
3. Action Phase (side A)
4. Saving Throws (side B) if necessary
5. Morale Phase (side B) if necessary
6. Action Phase (side B)
7. Saving Throws (side A) if necessary

Initiative

Each side rolls 1d6. High score wins initiative, winner is side A, loser is side B. Re-roll ties.

Action Phase:

Sides may activate their units in any order. Units may either move or fire, but not both in the same turn. Units are not required to take any action, however see Sitting Duck rule under combat.

Movement

• Units may move in any direction as long as the terrain is passable, up to their maximum movement rate.
• When attempting to enter difficult terrain, roll a d6, on a 1 or 2, the unit stops at the terrain’s edge and can re-try next turn if desired. On a 4-6, the unit continues moving into the terrain\ at their normal movement rate. (4).

Combat

• Unit must have LOS to target, or in case of mortar, target must be in LOS of friendly unit.
• Units have 360 degrees of facing.
• Woods, forests, bocage, unharvested fields, buildings, hills, mountains, etc. block LOS to units on the opposite side of those features, but  not units occupying those features.
• That is, units inside woods, fields, etc. are in LOS.
• And yes, units in buildings are in LOS.
• Attacker rolls 1d6  per Combat Point remaining. Hits are scored per the following table(5):

Unit	vs. Infantry	vs. Heavy Wpn.	vs. ATG	vs. Tanks
Rifle	5-6	5-6	5-6	6
SMG	4-6	4-6	4-6	6
HMG	4-6	4-6	4-6	5-6*
Mortar	4-6	5-6	5-6	5-6**
ATG	6	6	6	4-6
Tank	5-6	5-6	5-6	4-6

*Subtract 1 from Tank Saving Throw result  **Subtract 2 from Tank Saving Throw result

• If target in cover, -1 on attack roll
• Sitting Duck Rule: If attacking same target as previous turn and target has not moved, +1 to attack rolls.
• For each hit, the target unit loses 1 Combat Point.
• Base to base contact negates cover bonus.

Saving Throws

Only tanks have saving throws

Roll 2d6:

• 9 - fall back 1 move
• 10 - fall back 2 moves
• 11/12 - destroyed:

Optional (and untested):

Assign each infantry unit a quality of: Green, Average, Veteran, or Elite

Elite units roll 1d6 per hit, on a 4-6 (3-6 in cover) the hit is negated

Veteran units roll 1d6 per hit, on a 5-6 (4-6 in cover) the hit is negated

Green Units roll 1d6 per hit, on a 1-4,, the attacker can re-roll the hit die, and if it hits again, the target unit loses an additional Combat Point

Morale Check: (Optional)

If a side is reduced to 1/2 of their starting units or less, on their next Morale Phase, roll 1d6. If result is greater than units remaining, roll 1d6 per unit.  Other than a result of “No Effect”, the result counts as the unit’s action for their next activation.

Optional: If using unit quality, adjust as follows: green -1, veteran + 1, elite + 2

<=1 - roll a saving throw, for infantry remove if failed. for armor, treat 10+ as fall back 2 moves. If passed fall back 1 move.

2 - fall back 1 move

3 - no action next turn  

4 - No effect

5 - No effect

>=6 - fire at nearest enemy, if none, then advance to close

No further morale checks are needed until the force loses an additional unit, at which point, they will check morale on their next Morale Phase (6).

Another play of Scenario 5 - That Sherman has no luck. Figures are placed on cardboard sabots.

(1)Please note that it is shortened to make play feasible on smaller tables. 12” represents some 300m, when in fact, an M1 Garand, for instance, had an effective range of 457m according to some website or other. I’m willing to sacrifice simulation for game play. Similarly, a panzerfaust 100 should have a range of 4”, a bazooka around 6” and panzerschreck around 12”. Tough luck.
(2)In One Hour Wargames, Neil Thomas limits forces to infantry, mortars, ATG and tanks. However, my Soviets wanted their SMG companies to get some kind of recognition. Who am i to resist the Red Army?
(3)As mentioned above, HMGs are not included in the OHW force lists. I allow an HMG to replace a mortar. 

(4)This is taken from the Wally Simon 70% rule.
(5)This table is based on Morschauser mixed with Neil Thomas's WWII rules

(6)This approach to morale owes a debt to G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. but also, if I recall, Tony Bath's campaign rules had something similar.