A line in your favorite firefight could be “He’s dead Jim.” . With the simple addition of a medic to your platoon or squad a new level of suspense could be added to the game. In man-to-man combat with some of the current rule sets, the role of a wounded soldier or the medic is sometimes not fully addressed. Having been an army medic for several years my troops felt better knowing that if they were injured they were not stranded or alone. I ‘m not proposing rules to bring the dead back to life in the game or adding tons of paperwork to a fast moving game, but remember, a wounded soldier requires two others to treat and transport to the rear. This could add an interesting element to a game. In the standard game, hit means dead, miss means miss. Consider this situation where your soldier couldn’t miss but the die roll said he did. To console you, think of this; he did hit, but not so bad as to decrease his targets effectiveness. Therefore the hit was ineffective. After receiving the hit you could just leave it at that and say he is dead but another method of play would be the soldier is now an ineffective. The ineffective could be wounded or dead determined when the medic arrives at the figures side. THE TRIAGE STAGE A simple way of determining the status of the ineffective is after the medic reaches the soldier, is to roll a die. 1-3 means a serious wound, 4-5 mortal wounds, and 6 he has died. Add a plus one to the die for every turn the wounded are not attended to. THE TREATMENT STAGE Every modern soldier has some rudimentary first aid training to care for himself or his buddy. Another suggestion is, if attended by a buddy after being wounded, every other turn add the plus one to the die roll. This action could take the place of the combat action for that soldier. Besides helping out your buddy is a nice thing. Some medics are better than others so you could give a rating to your medic for his skills, 3 being the best. Use this as a minus on the die roll. As a rule though dead during the triage portion should always be final. THE TRANSPORT STAGE Evacuating the ineffective soldier to the rear or treatment area could be added to those seeking true realism in a squad level game. Soldiers in the modern era find themselves off the battlefield and in a rear echelon hospital in under an hour. “Dust off, Dust off be advised the LZ is HOT!” It might be too much to add to your game, but it gives a reason to buy some helicopters for your table. One, two or four soldiers can carry the casualty out of danger. If one carries, their movement should be cut by 75%, two can carry at 50% and four at full movement. I hope that you consider these ideas in your next battle. Remember those medics deserve some credit on your battlefield! CHARTS TRIAGE: (add a +1 for every turn not attended to.) 1-3 Serious Wound 4-5 Mortal Wound expected to die shortly 6 Dead TREATMENT: (use the Medics skill rating as a modifier) 1-4 Casualty is stable for transport 5-6 Casualty’s condition will not improve despite all efforts TRANSPORT 1 person carry 75% movement loss 2 person carry 50% movement loss 4 person carry no movement loss When you’re dead and dying on Afghanistan’s plain And the women come out to cut up the remains Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains And go to your God like a soldier --Rudyard Kipling Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #85 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com