GHQ’s Micro Armour:

The Game WWII Rules

review by Bill Rutherford

These rules come in a 132 page glossy soft-bound book with excellent production values throughout, e.g., well-placed color inside, good photo illustrations (small, non-dominating), and good sidebars.

The rules themselves are only 18 pages long. The balance of Micro Armour (MA) consists of all of the “other” things you need to know in order to play with WW II tank models. The scales are: 1 model/stand = one platoon or gun section; 1 inch on the tabletop represents 100 yards; and 1 turn = 3 minutes. My impression is that the player represents the force commander - somewhere (based on the scenarios) between a regimental and brigade commander. The turn length “felt” a bit short, given this notional span of command, but I need to play a couple more games with the rules before my jury returns on this. The sequence of play is mixed-sequential, with players alternating (based on an initiative die roll) designating which of their units or maneuver groups will move during a turn, those not moving being eligible to fire. Indirect fire and direct fire are then executed (in that order), again in alternating order, then movement is conducted. I thought the play sequence was interesting in that players designate movement groups before combat but move them afterwards… Spotting is deterministic - either one sees the enemy or one doesn’t, based on line of sight and the maximum visibility range for a scenario. Combat is quick and bloody.

These rules are meant to move along, despite a short turn span (3 minutes) and the combat mechanisms are geared towards this end, being somewhat abstract. All units have an attack factor and a defense factor. These are modified for range (generic - one range chart applies to all firers), type of target (units with antitank capability have both armor and soft attack factors), and whether armor’s flanked (reduced defense factor) and a difference is calculated and rolled against on a combat results table quite reminiscent of the old SPI CRTs we all knew and loved… Results range from suppression, to worse things, to destruction. Opportunity fire exists, takes place during movement, and can be responded to by the moving side’s covering fire (something akin to overwatch). Indirect fire is preplotted (direct artillery fire isn’t) and is conducted in a manner generally similar to direct fire. Command control comes into play in an abstract manner.

Before conducting movement, each player makes a command roll to see how many movement orders may be issued. These are issued to the movement groups designated above, which means that an ambitious player may find s/he designated more maneuver groups than s/he has available orders, but multiple move orders may be issued to a single maneuver group. Many activities are governed by a side’s cohesion factor. This is scenario-assigned (or taken from the organization charts) and governs how well units do things, mainly by die rolls against it. Movement, for example, requires a die roll against one’s cohesion factor. Having movement orders makes the roll easier; trying to move without an order makes the roll harder. This is an extremely simple device that does a lot to add uncertainty to one’s conduct of a battle… Oh - lest it be forgot, terrain affects fire, movement, and line-of-sight. Engineers, mines, airpower, and a number of optional rules (e.g., variant movement sequence) fill out the rules. One thing missing, in my estimate, was morale. I think the intent was that the combat results incorporate unit morale, but there seems to be an omission at the company and battalion level, especially so, given that a battle force may consist of a couple of battalions…

There are 9 pages of well-written designer’s notes. John Fernandes, the author, goes to great pains to describe the reasoning behind each rule and regardless of whether you agree with a rule, you’ll understand why it’s there! There’s a bibliography (sadly not annotated), 18 pages of equipment data - LOTS of equipment - covering 12 WW II combatants (there are Belgians, Czechs, Rumanians, and Hungarians, in addition to the usual foes), and 56 pages of clearly laid-out organizational tables (same foes) provide a reasonably complete set of formations with which to play games. The equipment charts include point values, which will make the gamer very happy or very unhappy, depending upon whether s/he agrees with the assigned values…

There are 6 1/2 pages of scenario design notes that I thought were one of the strongest points of this rules set. These notes trace the development of a scenario in much the same way my freshman rhetoric professor used to assign an argument, i.e., What’s the nature of the scenario? Who are the combatants (He referred to arguers this way)? What’s the (historical) context? What’s the battlefield (topic) look like? How large a scenario is it (the scope, or in game turns, the point value)? How do you win (figure it out…)? Following this, there’s a 2 1/2 page example of how to design a scenario following these principles, again, well thought-out, itself followed by a 2 page example of play that covers a notional three turn game, and seven 2-page scenarios, each of which includes historical notes, detailed orders of battle, a simple map using Terrain Maker( hexes (This is GHQ - what sort of maps did you expect?), and clear victory conditions. Good stuff!

Finally, there are two pages of game counters to photocopy (nice color counters; must find a color copier! A shame they’re bound into the book and not die-cut…), a two-page annotated sequence of play (useful), a page of blank equipment data cards to copy, and two pages of game charts in BIG print…

Micro Armour is not inexpensive at $29.95, but if you’re looking for a simple, clear set of rules with lots of support material in the book that just plays, you should take a look at them. Available from your local game shop, or failing that, direct from the publisher, GHQ, at 28100 Woodside Road, Shorewood, MN, 55311. Check out their website at http://www.ghqmodels.com. This website is a good place to build an order to take to your local shop (if they carry GHQ) or to place an order directly with GHQ (if your local shop doesn’t carry their products). Recommended!

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