I originally developed this game as a sort of bridge between the then feuding camps of board and miniature gamers. As a recent converts to miniatures I was some what keen to pour oil on the waters. I was accused of bringing together the worst of both worlds. After looking at several of the more recent WWII rules and playing a game in Singapore based on a miniatures variant of a board game I came to the conclusion that TAFELBLITZ was not all that bad, as it too is a miniatures variant of PANZER LEADER/BLITZ. Units are platoons for the Germans and companies for the Soviets. Stand sizes are matter of personal choice, but my experience has shown that 11/2 to 2 squares work well for the Wehrmacht while the more ponderous Red army may well be represented by 11/2 by 21/2 bases.
Vocabulary
UNIT: Any vehicle or stand, German platoon or Soviet Company AFV: Any armored vehicle other than a truck or halftrack
INFANTRY: Any foot unit of rifle, SMG or other special unit on foot WEAPONS: Any artillery unit, mortar, MG, At guns etc.
Sequence of Play
As a rule of thumb the Soviet player moves first. The sequence is then as follows: Soviets fire, Soviets then move all units that did not fire. Germans fire, then move all nonfiring units. This is one turn. Opportunity fire may be called on opposing units as they move. Units so doing may of course not fire during their regular phase.
Movement of Units
Each side may move any and all of their units up to their full speed which is limited by the following:
HILLS: All units except Infantry loose 1/3 of their movement per contour crossed moving up hill. There is no penalty for downhill movement.
DAMS: All units loose 3 per 1 of stream crossed.
RIVERS: Impassable except at fords which are considered streams.
FORESTS: There are no movement penalties, but as a rule only infantry and some lighter weapons are allowed in forests. This is best decided by scenario.
BUILDINGS: buildings are considered to be in ruins for game purposes. All units may pass through buildings with out movement reduction. Buildings hold two third as many Soviet units as German. If a village is represented the buildings ought to be within 3 of each other.
ROUGH TERRAIN: Generally only Infantry is allowed in rough terrain, again a scenario decision seems best.
ROADS: Increase movement as follows: Infantry, weapons, and halftracks move 2 on road per 1 of movement. All AFVs have a 17 road bonus, but only if the entire move is made on the road. Armored cars, trucks etc, triple (3X) their speed on roads. All units may move 1 regardless of terrain.
TRANSPORT: Trucks, & halftracks may each carry 1 infantry or weapons unit. AFVs may carry only infantry or MG units. It takes 4 of movement to load or unload units. German AFVs may not fire while transporting. If the transporting unit is destroyed, the passenger must roll 8,9 to survive.If a weapons unit it must check again with a even number for its ordinance to be functional.
IMIT: Before each sides move, the player rolls a D6; the number rolled is number of minutes he has to move.
Firing
To fire a unit must not have moved, have a visible target, have line of sight, (except mortars) and of course within range. Again, except for mortars most weapons fire at a more or less flat trajectory. Thus, unit units may not fire through terrain obstructions, or have a clear line of sight. Several units may combine their AF (ATTACK FACTOR) against a single target. To select odds, calculate the type of firing, adjust factors, and decide odds, rounding off in defenders favor. AFVs fire type A (armor piercing), artillery fire type H (high explosive) and infantry, MGS, halftracks etc, fire type I (small arms).
Attack & Defense Alterations
Buildings combine Defense Factor (DF) of all troops into a single DF for the entire garrison which is then doubled. Forrests double DF but with no combinations. Hill slopes cut DF in half if fired on solely from hilltop. Attack Factors (AF) vary by target, range, and type of fire as per the following chart
Soviet infantry have an AF of 2 (3 for guards) against AFV targets.
Overrun
Any AFV or Halftrack may over run any infantry or MG stand in open terrain. The attacking unit is moved up to the defender, its AF is tripled (3X) and compared to the defenders regular (X) DF. If there is transported Infantry, it may jump off and join the attack adding its tripled (3X) AF. Infantry may also use the tactic to assault buildings, but its transport may not be included and AF is only doubled.(2X) Infantry amy also assault instead of normal fire, if they are in within 1 of the target. Infantry in this close assault mode use only their standard AF but do subtract two (-2) from their roll.
Minefields
Unless by scenario design, minefields may not be laid during the game. They of course may be included as per laid. Each field measures 3 by 1 and located precisely on a secret map. Minefield are fired when units, either enemy or friendly moves trough it. They are fire as normal with an AF of 20 either type A or H, not both.
Engineers
Combat Engineers may clear minefields in two (2) turns, automatically destroy any enemy unit they touch up to three (3) times in any game. They may also blow bridges if in physical contact by the following chart:
High Trajectory Fire
Further research has shown that German artillery should be allowed high trajectory fire but only Soviet mortars may so fire.
Pinning
A P on the survival table indicates that the target is pinned. The target unit may then move only 1 if infantry and not at all if weapons, vehicle or AFV. A marker of some sort (I favor a piece of cotton wool) should be used to identify pinned units. After one complete turn the unit may move freely unless pinned again by fire. Pinned units may not fire. They may board halftracks or trucks, but not AFVs.
Supporting Screens
AFVs, infantry and weapon stands adjacent to each other may form supporting screens, which mutually beneficial: Infantry may not be pinned. AFVs may not be close assaulted by enemy infantry. Any type A firing at the AFV adds a +1 to its roll.
Fortifying
Construction of hasty fortifications take 5 turns. Once completed they double DF.(2X) Only infantry and weapons may build fortifications. Fortification in forests triple DF. (3X) Real forts and fortified buildings triple DF, (3X) but may not be constructed during a game. Once in enemy hands fortifications are considered destroyed and lose all benefit.
Soft Ground, Mud, etc.
Soft ground slow unit movement as follows
Air Support
Supporting aircraft appear during the sides movement phase, but before any units have moved. That is imeadiately following fire. Movement of aircraft is unlimited; they are merely placed on the board. Any and all enemy anti aircraft units fire using the DA column of the Survival Table. A D roll downs the aircraft, while a P cancels the aircrafts attack. An air sorti may carry either type A or H weapons, but not both. The type must be declared in advance. Air attacks use the Survival Table figuring the standard DF of the target, compared with AF of the aircraft as follows:
All aircraft attack singly, never in combined attacks.
Smoke
Smoke may be fired at any time instead of type A or H. AFVs and self propelled artillery should be limited to one (1) round of smoke per game. There are no limits for mortars, towed guns.
Effects are as follows:
Sighting
In order to give ambush weapons (AT guns etc) a more realistic chance, any unit in ruins, forests, etc should not placed on the board until it fires. They should be marked on a map.
Game Armies
The game is designed to be played with moderate to large scale collections of model soldiers and vehicles. Regiment and brigade size action are quite easily fought out in an evening. The following are suggestions for a basic forces. My own collection is mainly made up of HO scale Minitanks and 1/72 plastic figures. Micro armor might subsistute millimeters for inches for a cozyier and cheaper alternative.
GERMAN PANZER GRUPPE
PzIV x 3, PzV x 3, Stug III x 1, Puma x 1, Infantry x 13, Eng x 1, 81mm mortar x 2, 120 mortar x 1, 50mm AT gun x 1, 75mm AT gun x 1, SP105mm Art. x 1, halftrack x 7, truck x 12
SOVIET BATTLE GPOUP
T34/c x 6, T34/85 x 6, SU85 x 2, Infantry x 6, Eng x 1, 82mm mortar x 2, 120mm mortar x 1, 57mm AT gun x 2, 76mm Howitzer/AT gun x 1, halftrack x 2, truck x 10
Survival table
RULES OF PLAY
TARGET TYPE AFV OTHER RANGE under 3 under 1/2 range over 1/2 range Fire Type: I 3X - - X Fire Type: A 2X X 1/2X 1/2X Fire Type: H X 1/2X 1/2X X 0-5 Bridge blown
6,7 Bridge passable to Infantry and weapons up to 81mm mortars only.
8,9 Demolition fails bridge intact.Infantry 2
Weapons no move
Mortars & MGs 2
Halftracks 12
Trucks 1
T34/c 20
T23/85, SU85 16
JSII, JSIII 12
PzV, JPzV 16
SU100, PzIV 12
Stug III 12
PzVIa, Hetzer 11
PzVIb, JpzVI 8TAFELBLITZ OPTIONAL RULES
Aircraft Target is: AFV Stand AF A 25 5 AF H 10 30 1. Smoke barrage are 3 in length.
2. Any fire through smoke adds +3 to roll.
3. Smoke last until after friendly movement phase of next turn.
4. No AFVs may attack through smoke.
5. After firing smoke a D10 is rolled. A 0 means high winds and barrage is wasted
Statistics Charts
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