Our troops command vast firepower in the form of squad-based automatic weapons, hand-held anti-tank projectiles, and long-ranged mortars and machine guns. Deploying and manoeuvring skilfully will enable your infantry to bring their weapons to bear most effectively against their enemy.
Units that have been given a Fire or Advance order can shoot, whilst units that have been given an Ambush order can shoot when they spring their ambush – in which case their order is flipped to Fire. Other units can sometimes shoot in special circumstances as described throughout the rules: for example, reaction fire during an assault.
When a unit shoots follow the procedure below:
1. Declare target
2. Target reacts
3. Measure range and open fire
4. Roll to hit
5. Roll to damage
6. Target takes casualties
7. Target checks morale
Pick a target and declare you are opening fire. Normally, a target is always a single enemy unit. When a unit shoots, it fires all of its weapons at one target: for example, a tank, a squad of infantry, or an anti-tank gun and its crew.
When a unit opens fire only those models that can draw a clear line of fire to their target actually shoot. Any models unable to shoot will not fire, for example because they either can’t see a target or because their weapons are out of range.
Note that we do make an exception for models equipped with one-shot weapons, who are allowed to select a different target to the rest of their unit: see the section on one-shot weapons.
Example: An infantry unit can see two enemy units – a machine gun team and an infantry squad further away. As the machine gun is already suppressed with two pin markers, the player decides to ignore it and declares that his unit is firing against the enemy infantry.
Infantry models are always allowed to see and shoot through other models in their own unit as if they were not there. This is because the unit is assumed to be in constant motion, troopers working as a team and not getting in each other’s way. Sometimes you will find it convenient to momentarily lay down a model or place it aside whilst checking line of fire, and this is perfectly fine.
Models are not allowed to shoot through other friendly units or to draw a line of fire within 1” of a model from another friendly unit. Even though a shooter may be able to see the target, the shot is not permitted if it would pass through or within 1” of a model from a different friendly unit. In such cases the friends are too close to the line of fire. Note that this applies vertically as well, as shown in Diagram 4B.
We make an exception to the rule that you can’t draw a line of fire within 1” of your own side where shots cannot possibly score damage on the friendly unit. For example, infantry armed with small-arms cannot possibly damage an armoured personnel carrier, so they are allowed to draw a line of fire within 1” of it. In such a case shooters must still be able to see the target to shoot – they cannot see ‘through’ the vehicle – but the closeness of the carrier does not block their fire.
The same exception also applies when shooting mortars and howitzers over the heads of friendly units using indirect fire, as explained later. These weapons fire with a high trajectory, lobbing shells high into the air so they fall onto the enemy from above. When mortar and artillery crews shoot indirect fire they can therefore shoot at any enemy they can see without intervening friends blocking their fire.
Infantry models are always allowed to see and shoot through enemy infantry and artillery models as if they were not there. Note however that if you shoot through an enemy unit, this will provide cover to their comrades behind, as explained later in the section about cover.
Diagram 3: Line of Sight Through Models in the Same Unit
All of the German soldiers in the firing unit have line of sight to the target unit.
Diagram 4A: Firing Past Friends
Models A and B can fire at the German soldiers because their shots won’t pass within 1” of friendly models. Model C and the other models in their unit cannot fire as friends are in the way!
Diagram 4B: Firing Past Friends
Models A and B can fire at the German soldiers because their shots won’t pass within 1” of friendly models. The other models in their unit cannot fire as friends are in the way. As it can be difficult measure this vertically, you might have to roll a die for models you are not sure about.
If the nominated target has not yet taken an action that turn the player can, if he wishes, immediately order it Down. If he decides to do so, pick an order die of the appropriate colour from the dice bag and place it next to the unit, showing it has gone Down. This will make the unit more difficult to hit, reducing the consequences of being shot at, but on the other hand it means the target expends its action for the turn.
Example (continued): The target has not taken any action yet so the opposing player could decide to order the unit Down. The player decides against ordering his men to get down, judging that the shooters are out of range.
Diagram 5: Firing Past Armoured Friends
The British soldiers’ shots can pass within 1” of the friendly tank, as their weapons cannot possibly damage it.
Every weapon in the game has a maximum range at which it can fire effectively. For example, a rifle can hit targets up to 24” away whilst a medium machine gun can hit targets up to 36” away.
Each weapon has a number of shots. This is the number of dice rolled on behalf of the model firing the weapon. For example, a rifle has just 1 shot, whilst a medium machine gun has 4 shots representing its rapid rate of fire.
Every model that can draw a line of fire to at least one enemy model in the target unit shoots at the nominated target. Note that players cannot hold back a unit’s fire – when a unit fires every model that can shoot must shoot.
Diagram 6: Indirect Fire
The mortar can shoot at the German squad as it can see through the friendly unit in front of it.
Measure the distance between each firing model and the closest visible enemy model in the target unit. Then compare the range of each shooter’s weapon with the measured range to the target model to determine whether its weapon is within range. If within range, roll a D6 for each shot the weapon has, as shown on the weapons chart. If the target is out of range then the shots automatically miss and there is no need to roll.
Example (continued): The player measures the range to the target for each of his models and finds that three of his riflemen and the sergeant’s submachine gun are out of range, but the squad’s light machine gun and four riflemen are in range. He can therefore fire four shots from the machine gun and one each from the four rifles, making a total of eight shots.
Sometimes, a scattering of tree models, tumbled ruins, rocks and such like is assumed to stand for a fairly dense tangle of woodland, rubble, or rocky outcrop which is impractical to represent literally on the battlefield. It is enough that we know a wood is a wood, and we can easily imagine the tangle of undergrowth and closely packed tree trunks. Players should agree at set-up what elements of terrain are going to be treated as ‘dense terrain’, as this will influence line of sight as described below. Hills are normally not treated as dense terrain, but of course players can agree to do so if they wish.
Units can draw line of sight into and out of dense terrain, but cannot draw line of sight right through it. Unless the players agree otherwise, units are not allowed to draw line of sight over dense terrain, the dense terrain is always assumed to be higher than any models on the table blocking line of sight to all ground units.
This means, for example, that if a firing unit is trying to draw line of sight to an enemy unit and all of the models in the enemy unit are behind a piece of dense terrain (and not in it) – so that the line of sight from all firing models to all target models is drawn through the dense terrain, then the target is considered impossible to see. If any of the enemy models are inside the dense terrain, then the target is visible, but counts as in cover, either soft or hard depending on the type of terrain (see the rules for cover)
Diagram 7A: Dense Terrain
All models in unit B can see the target unit (C). Only five models* in unit A can see the target unit (C). The tank cannot see unit C at all.
Area of dense terrain (ruins, rubble, woods etc.)
Diagram 7B: Dense Terrain
Because of the intervening area of dense terrain (rubble, wood, ruins etc.), the German unit cannot be seen at all.
Each D6 rolled has a chance of scoring a hit on the target. Successful hits represent accurate fire placed in the immediate vicinity of the target, with a good chance of killing or incapacitating an enemy.
Each die roll of 1 or 2 misses and is ignored, whilst each die roll of 3, 4, 5 or 6 results in a hit. This is usually expressed as a roll of 3+, meaning a roll of 3 or greater on the die. However, there are a number of factors that affect this roll, making it easier or more difficult to score a hit as explained below.
German Veteran Grenadiers Squad
The basic 3+ chance of hitting assumes that the firer is not distracted by the battle raging around him, has time to aim his shots, and that the target lies in plain view without the benefit of cover of any kind. During a firefight this will rarely be the case, and a target can be considerably more difficult to hit as a result. This is represented by means of the following modifiers. Regardless of any modifiers that apply, a roll of a 1 on a die is always a failure.
| Hit Modifiers | |
| Shooting at point blank range | +1 |
| Per pin marker on the firer | –1 |
| Long range | –1 |
| Inexperienced | –1 |
| Fire on the move | –1 |
| Target is Down infantry/artillery | –2 |
| Target is a small unit | –1 |
| Target is in soft cover | –1 |
| Target is in hard cover | –2 |
Shooting at point blank range: if a target is very close it is easier to hit. If the target is within 6” shooters receive this bonus to their roll to hit.
Per pin marker on the firer: if the shooters are pinned down they will be more concerned about keeping a low profile than aiming carefully at the enemy. For every pin marker on the firing unit, the firer suffers a –1 to hit modifier. So, two pin markers suffers –2, three pin markers suffers –3, and so on.
Long range: each weapon has an optimum range beyond which it loses accuracy. This modifier applies if the target is at a distance of over half the maximum range of the weapon. Note that this may mean some shooters in the same unit might require a greater score to hit than others.
Inexperienced: inexperienced or poorly trained troops are far less likely to hit anything. Inexperienced units suffer a –1 penalty to their roll to hit.
Fire on the move: if the firing unit is making an Advance action the unit is spending some time moving and its fire will be less accurate. Hence the unit suffers this penalty to its roll to hit.
Target is Down infantry/artillery: this applies if the target unit is either infantry or artillery that has gone Down, as shown by the order die placed next to it; individual soldiers lying flat trying to offer the smallest possible target.
The stand on Bloody Ridge, by Peter Dennis © Osprey Publishing Ltd. Taken from Campaign 284: Guadalcanal 1942–43
Target is a small unit: this applies if the target unit consists of either one or two infantry models. One or two men can easily escape attention on a crowded battlefield. Note it doesn’t matter how many men were in the target at the start of the game – it is the number of men in the target when it is shot at that counts.
Target is in soft cover: this applies if the majority of the target unit is in soft cover from the point of view of the majority of the models firing against it. For more about cover see the box.
Target is in hard cover: this applies if the majority of the target unit is in hard cover from the point of view of the majority of the models firing against it. For more about cover see the box.
If penalties to the score needed to hit a target mean that a die roll of more than 6 is needed it is still possible to shoot – though the chances of success are small. Open fire as normal rolling one die per shot. Pick any dice that have rolled a 6 and roll them again. Any further rolls of a 6 hit the target – nice shot! Although this means it is necessary to roll a 6 followed by another 6 to score a hit, it is still well worth an attempt.
If a shooting unit scores one or more hits place a single pin marker on the target. Note that it doesn’t matter how many hits a unit scores on the target; so long as at least one hit is scored the target takes a single pin marker. There are some very heavy weapons that inflict more than one pin marker when hits are scored, but these are exceptions that need not concern us immediately. See the orders section for more about how pinning works.
German Pz II Ausf. L Luchs
Example: The player calculates the chances of scoring a hit. The basic score needed is 3+, but the shooters suffer a –1 because they moved this turn (with an Advance order) and a further –1 because both the rifles and the machine gun are firing at targets that are over half of their maximum range away. Therefore the player will need to roll at least 5s to score hits. The dice are rolled and get three hits, a very good result. Because the shooters scored at least one hit, a pin marker is placed on the target.
Pick all of the dice that scored a hit and roll them again to see if the target suffers damage and takes casualties. The score needed to inflict a casualty depends on the damage value of the target, as shown in the table overleaf. We have included damage values for vehicles including tanks to give an idea of relative values. Heavy weapons add a modifier to the damage roll, allowing for a score of greater than 6. This is described in detail in the section on weapons. Regardless of any modifiers that apply, a roll of a 1 is always a failure.
| DAMAGE VALUE TABLE | |
| Troops and Soft-Skinned Targets | Result Needed |
| Inexperienced infantry or artillery | 3+ |
| Regular infantry or artillery | 4+ |
| Veteran infantry or artillery | 5+ |
| All soft-skinned vehicles | 6+ |
| Armoured Targets | Result Needed |
| Armoured car/carrier | 7+ |
| Light tank | 8+ |
| Medium tank | 9+ |
| Heavy tank | 10+ |
| Super-heavy tank | 11+ |
Example: If a regular infantry unit is hit by rifle fire then a die is rolled for each hit and all further rolls of 4, 5 or 6 will score damage, i.e. rolls of 4+, or 4 or more. In this instance rolls of 1, 2 or 3 would fail to score damage and have no effect.
In situations where most of the shooters in the firing unit can draw a clear line of fire to most of the models in the target unit, then no modifiers are applied for cover. It doesn’t matter if cover obscures a few models in the target unit, or even if some models are completely out of sight; so long as at least 50% of the shooters can clearly draw a line of fire to at least 50% of the target no modifiers for cover apply.
Targets Obscured by Terrain or Other Models: If at least 50% of the shooters in the firing unit can draw a clear line of fire to at least 50% of the models in the target unit then the target is not in cover.
If instead the target is in cover, it is more difficult to hit (either –1 or –2 on the dice, see below).
Cover is most likely to take the form of vegetation such as hedgerows or trees, or something more solid like rubble, wreckage or ruins. In other situations, the presence of other units, whether friends or foes, obscures a portion of the target making it harder for the shooters to draw a line of fire.
We also assume that where shooters draw a line of fire over walls, hedges or other obstacles or comparable terrain at a target beyond, then the target counts as in cover if the majority of the target models can only be shot at over such terrain.
Targets Within Dense Terrain: For practical purposes we assume that a unit is always in cover if at least 50% of its models are inside a wood or comparable area of dense terrain. It is convenient to assume all models whose bases are entirely in the terrain are ‘within it’, as this avoids any uncertainty in the case of troopers who may be partly inside.
Shooting From Cover: Where at least 50% of the models in a unit are firing from directly behind a wall or similar obstacle, or firing from the edge of a wood or other dense terrain at a target that is otherwise in the open, no penalty is applied on account of the wall/wood/etc. Models count as behind a wall when they touch it. Models count as at the edge of dense terrain when they are positioned within the dense terrain and touching its boundary, and their shots cross less than 1” of the dense terrain they are occupying. This simply recognises that troops can take up good firing positions along the edge of a wood or behind a wall and shoot without the wood or wall itself getting in the way. If less than 50% of the unit’s models are inside dense terrain, but not at the edge, the unit can see and shoot out, but their shots will be affected by the cover modifier.
Soft or Hard Cover?: Soft cover describes the sort of concealing cover that makes a target hard to pick out, but does not necessarily offer much in the way of physical protection. This includes woodland, hedgerows, and other vegetation such as leafy undergrowth and fields of tall crops. It includes infantry units (both friendly and enemy), artillery or soft-skins – if these partly obscure a target and make it harder to see. Camouflage nets or mesh designed to conceal a target from plain view would also count as soft cover. Soft cover can also include fences and light wooden barricades or similar constructions.
Hard cover describes the kind of cover that offers real physical protection as well as a degree of concealment. This includes stone, brick concrete or similarly substantial walls or ruins, rocky outcrops, foxholes, ditches, and trenches or sandbagged defences. It also includes armoured vehicles that partially obscure the target, whether friends or foes.
If a target benefits from both soft cover and hard cover, use the one that applies to the majority of the unit. If they both apply in equal measure, only apply the hard cover modifier, for a -2 penalty on the roll to hit.
Before the game begins it is important that the players rate the terrain according to type and decide for themselves what amounts to soft and hard cover.
Not Sure?: In the vast majority of cases it will be obvious enough whether a target is in cover or not. However, sometimes it might not be so easy to make a judgement either because the situation is very marginal, or because it might be impractical to get the necessary model’s eye view. To quickly resolve situations where it is otherwise impossible to make a clear judgement, simply roll a die to decide. On a roll of 1, 2 or 3 the target is in cover, on the roll of 4, 5 or 6 the target is not in cover. Alternatively, if you cannot decide whether a target is in hard cover or out in the open, you can simply treat the cover as soft cover instead – a very neat solution!
The damage table makes a distinction between troops and soft-skins with a damage value of up to 6+ and armoured targets with a damage value of 7+ or greater. This divides potential targets into two categories: soft targets that can be readily damaged by small-arms fire and armoured targets that can only be damaged by fire from heavy weapons.
We will describe the rules for different kinds of weapons in the following section. For now all it is necessary to know is that heavy weapons add a bonus to the roll to damage, making it possible to score more than 6. For example, a Browning .50 calibre heavy machine gun has a bonus of +1, so a die roll of 6 scores 6 +1 = 7.
Small-arms and light automatic weapons such as rifles, submachine guns and light or medium machine guns don’t add a bonus to damage. This means it is it is impossible to score more than 6 when rolling to damage using these weapons.
You will have noticed that infantry and artillery of better quality are harder to score damage against, whilst those of lower quality are easier to score damage against. This represents the advantage of combat experience, vastly increasing the survivability of veteran, highly trained and experienced soldiers compared to green recruits.
Example (continued): The enemy are regular troops, so each hit scored will need to roll 4+ to score damage. Three dice are rolled and two succeed in scoring damage on the enemy squad.
For every hit that scores damage the target unit loses one model as a casualty. Casualties represent soldiers stunned, wounded or killed in action – they may be dead or temporarily incapacitated. Either way, they are out of action and the model is removed.
The player whose unit has taken casualties normally chooses which men to remove. This obviously means that casualties will fall amongst the most expendable men first – for example, riflemen rather than machine gunners and squad leaders. In reality, if a squad’s machine gunner were to be shot one of his comrades would take over the weapon, so it is entirely reasonable to remove ordinary troopers as casualties first.
Note that casualties can be taken from any models in the target unit, including models that are completely out of sight and out of range of the enemy weapons – think of it as a dynamic situation, where soldiers are moving around and bullets of course travel further than optimum range and often punch through or ricochet off cover.
When a 6 is rolled to score damage – before any modifiers are applied – roll that die again and if a further 6 is rolled the shot scores exceptional damage. This means the shooter picks which model falls casualty rather than his opponent. This represents the fact that sometime it’s the Sarge who gets it, or that a machine gun can jam or be damaged beyond repair.
For example, exceptional damage allows the opposing player to remove a squad’s NCO, reducing its morale value by –1. Alternatively, the player might choose to remove a model carrying a particular weapon such as the squad’s light machine gun or a panzerfaust. If the target is a weapons team, for example a bazooka or medium machine gun team, then exceptional damage indicates that the weapon itself has been damaged or rendered inoperable in some fashion, so remove the weapon and its firer as a casualty.
If a target loses half or more of its men from the fire of one enemy unit, then the player makes an immediate morale check. This is just the same as an order test, and all modifiers that apply to an order test also apply to a morale check. If the unit passes the check, then there is no effect and it continues to fight on as normal.
If the morale check is failed, the unit’s nerve has broken and the troops run for their lives, scatter, or surrender to the enemy. In any case, the unit is removed from the game and counts as destroyed, just as if it had been completely wiped out by enemy fire.
When a unit is destroyed, immediately remove its Order dice, either from the bag if it has not activated or from the table if it has.
Example (continued): As the squad had only six models remaining when shot at it, two casualties are not enough to force a morale check. Had the shooters managed to cause three casualties, a morale check would have been required, and if failed would have resulted in the unit being destroyed. Now, with only four men remaining, it will be easier to force a morale check the next time the unit is shot at.
The 4th Indian Division attacks through the Matmata Hills, by Steve Noon © Osprey Publishing Ltd. Taken from Campaign 250: The Mareth Line 1943
TOP SECRET
When a unit has been placed in Ambush, it is scanning the field waiting for a target of opportunity. See here for more information about Ambush.
Resolving Ambush Fire: Units that are in Ambush can interrupt any move made by any enemy unit to shoot at it. The ambushers can interrupt at any point during the move, as long as they can see the target at that point: before, during or as soon as movement is complete. The player whose units are in Ambush declares when he wants his troops to open fire, and the target unit is positioned accordingly. The ambushing player flips the unit’s Ambush order to Fire and resolves the shooting as normal – except that the target can never react to Ambush fire. If the target is not destroyed as a result, then the unit completes its move with whatever troops remain.
Note that a unit can spring an Ambush against units that are making any kind of move – Advance, Run, escape, and even units regrouping after an assault, tanks reversing after failing an order test, artillery crewmen moving from gun to gun, tank crews abandoning their vehicle, etc.
Note also that even if an enemy assaults the unit in Ambush and the assault starts less than 6” away, the ambushers can still fire!
Firing Against a Unit in Ambush: If a unit in Ambush is shot at it can react by going down just like a unit that has not yet taken an action. In this case the order die is flipped to show that the unit is Down and is therefore no longer in Ambush. This is an exception to the rule stating that a unit can only go Down if it has not yet received an order. This allows for the state of readiness of ambushing troops.
Soviet KV-8 Flamethrower Tank
