As a combat engineer officer for six years (until last summer), I thought a more representative mine warfare section for Command Decision was due. Here are mine warfare rules with a little more substance while keeping complexity low. Please note that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers School studies indicated that Allied Link losses due to mines were 18% in North Africa, 23% in Western Europe, 28% in Italy, and 34% in the Pacific. Minefields for the purpose of Command Decision are defined as a square 50 yards on a side (1" x 1" or 1 cm x 1 cm). Minefields are subdivided into tactical and protective minefields, and are surface-laid or buried. Definition of Minefield Types A tactical minefield is one designed to delay or turn an enemy advance and is emplaced in a minimum of time using a minimum of mines, while retaining the option to be easily recovered and reused. A protective minefield is designed to prohibit the enemy advance, and is labor-intensive with an extensive use of mines. Placement of Mines by Engineers Placement time includes planning time, estimation, uncrating and placement of mines by one stand of engineers, as well as the number of minefields that can be laid per ton of mines. Tactical Surface-laid 2 turns per MF 8 MFs per ton Tactical Buried 3 turns per NE 8 MFs per ton Protective Always buried 4 turns per MF 4 MFs per ton Frozen ground doubles placement time. Night conditions double placement time. Breaching and Clearing Breaching opens a single vehicle-wide lane through the minefield or wire obstacle. The lane may not change direction in the minefield. Movement through a lane must be by a cautious advance order, and at a cost of 4" per minefield crossed. Vehicles which are. disabled or destroyed in the lane close the lane, but they maybe pushed out of the way. Clearing removes the minefield from play. BREACHING COSTS REQUIREMENTS Wire obstacles 1/2 full Movement Phase Tactical surface minefields 1 full Movement Phase Tactical buried minefields 1 full Movement Phase Protective 2 full Movement Phases CLEARING COSTS REQUIREMENTS Wire obstacles 1 full Movement Phase Tactical surface minefields, 2 full Movement Phase Tactical buried minefields 4 full Movement Phase Protective 8 full Movement Phases Engineers open a lane clear of minefields by spending a number a complete Movement Phases adjacent to the minefield. Engineers mm start the Movement Phase adjacent to the minefield, and must receive a movement order, and so are not considered as stationary if fired. Engineers may use a cautious advance, allowing them to fire, but the results in this turn are considered as half a Movement Phase. The engineer tasks are completed at the end of the movement, so during the turn a lane is opened. It cannot be used. Vehicular Mine Clearers Vehicular mine clearers (mineflails, minerollers, mineplows) clear a lane through any minefield/wire by spending 4" of movement while moving under a cautious advance order. When opening a lane in a minefield or clearing a minefield, vehicular mine clearer must roll a D10 upon entering. A roll of a 10 disables a flail or roller, while a roll of a 9 or 10 disables a mine plow. Mine rollers must add +4 to this die for each minefield cleared, and +2 per each lane opened prior to this in the game, while mine flails must add +2 for each minefield cleared, and + 1 per each lane opened prior to this in the game. Mine flails and mine rollers may travel with the flails/roller engaged by using a cautious advance, and using 2" of movement per 1" moved, and will automatically detect minefields. Bulldozers may not be used as mine plows. Artillery Artillery (not direct fire BE rounds) may clear minefields and wire obstacles. The artillery must be on target, and a D10 is rolled. If the number is equal or less than half of the BE value (rounded down), a hit is taken on the minefield. If hidden movement is used, artillery hits on a minefield should be kept hidden until the minefield is entered. Wire obstacles are removed with one hit. Tactical minefields are removed with one hit. Protective minefields are removed with 12 hits. Minefield Effects Hit Chart Minefield Vs. Vehicle & Cavalry Vs. Infantry Tactical 1-4 1-3 Protective minefield 1-7 1-5 Die Modifiers Unit under Travel or Full Advance Orders: -1 Each artillery hit on minefield: +2 HIT EFFECTS Personnel Stands: 1 Hit Soft vehicles 2 hits AFVs (roll d10: Light +2, Heavy -2) Damaged 1-4 Disabled 5-9 Destroyed 10+ Sighting Sighting is attempted just prior to entry into a minefield. Units may halt movement upon sighting a minefield. Units using a travel march order will not have a chance to sight a minefield prior to entry. Units using a full advance order sight on a die roll of 1. Units using a cautious advance order sight on a 1-3. SIGHTING MODIFURS (CUMULATIVE) Engineers on foot under cautious advance order: -3 Engineers with mine detectors under cautious advance order -4 Night (not applicable to engineers with detectors: +2 Surface-laid minefield -2 Terrain is paved road -2 Armored vehicle +4 Soft-skinned vehicle +2 Pinned unit +2 Smoke/limited visibility +2 Minefield is marked -5 Reccon -1 Elite/Veteran -1 Green +1 Mine detectors may only be used by engineers on foot. The majority of engineers are considered to be equipped with mine detectors. However, actual determination of mine detectors should be based upon supply status and equipment levels. For example, non-guard Soviet engineers rarely will be so equipped, while American engineers will always be equipped with mine detectors. 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