Introduction Between 1901 and 1934, United States Marine and Navy bluejacket detachments, from a few dozen men to battalion strength, were almost constantly in the field somewhere in Central America, Mexico, or the Caribbean. The campaigns in many ways resembled operations conducted fifty years later in the Southeast Asia area. There were "search and destroy" missions, "hearts and minds" operations, occasional actions of battalion strength, free fire and restricted fire zones, and so forth. As in the 1960s, many patrols were conducted by company, platoon, and squad sized forces. The Marine Corps' fire team concepts were first developed in these "Banana Wars" and great reliance was placed on the leadership qualities and abilities of the junior officers and NCOs who were to provide the Corps its senior leadership during World War Two. The following set of rules is designed to simulate small unit operations in these "Banana Wars". These rules first appeared in the Midwest Wargamer's Association Newsletter #29 (November-December 1987). Scale Each miniature represents an individual soldier. One inch equals five yards. Each turn represents one to five minutes of real time. Turn Sequence A. Unpin Phase: All pinned men may be rallied on a roll of six, on a D6. B. Initiative Determination Phase: Individuals and units act in a random order determined by the order in which cards are drawn from a standard deck of playing cards. If a red card is turned up, the American side may act. If a black card is drawn, consult the following chart: Bandit Action Chart Card : Result 2-5, A (clubs) : No observable bandit actions taken 6-10 : Possible bandit seen moving by patrol member J-K, A (spades) : Bandit performs offensive act Among Marines, a D 10 is rolled each turn to determine action order with precedence going from I to 10. When a bandit action card is turned up, the referee may opt to allow any number of bandits to act, up to the total number in the bandit force. Initial bandit placement is done before the game on a separate map. C. Random Action Phase: During each turn, the soldiers in a unit may perform only one of the following actions: 1. Move 2. Fire a weapon or throw a grenade. 3. Aid the wounded. 4. Lie low. 5. Call for artillery support. 6. Engage in close combat. Movement Men who move may do so in one of the following manners: A. Run up to 12 inches. B. Jog up to 9 inches. C. Walk up to 6 inches. D. Crawl up to 3 inches. At times, the following modifiers may come into play and may, in some cases, be cumulative: Woods/Brush: -2" while running orjogging, no penalty for walking or crawling Mud: -1" on all movement but crawling Downhill: +3" ifninning orjogging Uphill: -1" per level crossing for all movement except crawling Hedge/WaIVFence: -2" on running and jogging. Men may not end their moves atop wall, fence, or hedge. Marsh/Swamp: 3" maximum movement, no crawling. Carry or drag wounded: -2" (walk or crawl rates only) To go prone: no penalty To stand from prone: -2" To enter trench: no penalty To move through unfamiliar trenches: -2" To move Lewis gun: -1" ( if crawling-2") To move Colt/Browning machine gun: -2" (walk only) Firing Weapons When firing at a target or onto an area, cross-index the type of weapon with which the firing men are armed and the range to find the hit/pin numbers. Then roll the number of dice indicated under the rate of fire column for each weapon being fired. Notes: a. On table artillery may fire at targets no closer than eight inches. b. U.S. officers, sergeants, machine gunners, BAR gunners, and runners have .45s. c. Grenades have an explosive radius of two inches. Men in buildings or trenches are subject to unaimed fire until opponents get into the same structure. Players may use aimed fire at anything they see. Area fire is directed at any targets invisible to the firer. At times, the following fire modifiers may effect the die rolls. In some cases these will be cumulative: Target in trench or building: +3 Target is running: -2 Target is prone/crawling: +2 Per obstacle in line of sight: +1 Weapon is being fired downhill: -1 Weapon is being fired uphill: +1 Confined space explosion: -2 Firing unit using area fire: +2 Firing unit/individuals are USMC: -1 Firing distances are measured from the front ofthe figure's base, or in the case ofoff-table artillery, from the friendly table edge. Combat Results Pins: If a man is pinned, he may not perform any actions until he is unpinned. Hits: If a man is hit, the unit leader must roll a D6 to determine the severity of injury. On a roll of 1, the man is killed. Rolls of two or three result in critical injuries. The casualty must receive medical attention for three turns in order to survive. On a roll of 4-6, the wound is light. After receiving medical attention for three turns the wounded man may crawl but may not fire his weapon. Mines and Bombs If an ace of spades is turned up, the bandits may opt to throw a dynamite bomb. The U.S. commander dices to determine the severity of the blast. Using a D10, consult the following table: Die Roll : Result 1-3 : Bomber has a bad arm. Dynamite explodes too far from Marines to be effective. 4-7 : Bomb explodes among Marines. I" radius from blast point. Dice for casualties. 8-9 : Bomb explodes among Marines. 3" radius from blast point. Dice for casualties. 0 : Bomb explodes among Marines. 5" radius from blast point. Dice for casualties. *If this result occurs, dice again to see if bomber did damage to himself and/or any friends near him. Artillery Support This is used when Marines decide to "call" for artillery support by either signaling with flags, sending runners, or by using a radio (if one is available). If signaling with flags, the signaler must be visible to the artillery support unit. To determine if the message is understood, roll a D6 and consult the chart below: Die Roll : Result Odd number : Signals are misunderstood. Try to signal again next turn. Even Number : Message Received. Fire support in 1d6 turns If using a runner, the fire support must be on land but may be off the table. To determine if the runner makes it through, roll a D10 and consult the chart below after the runner exits the table. Die Roll : Result 1-4 : Runner moves at normal speed and arrives in I turn. 5 : Runner moves at sprint, arriving in the same turn (no delay in fire request). 6 : Runner injured enroute. Takes 2 turns to complete trip. 7 : Runner loses way and takes 2 turns to arrive. 8 : Runner has to shelter from enemy fire and is delayed I turn. 9 : Runner wounded enroute. Dice for severity of wound. If KIA or critically wounded, message does not get through. 0 : Runner delayed 2 turns. After 2 turns, throw I D6 to find the result: 1-2 Killed enroute 3-4 Arrives as expected, but two turns late 5-6 Arrives two turns late, one turn delay in artillery response When attempting to establish radio contact with support units, a D 10 is rolled by the patrol leader. If the result is 1-9, contact is established. If the result is a ten, contact was not made. At times the weather, the terrain, or surrounding noises may interfere. To simulate these effects when attempting to make radio contact, the following modifiers come into play: Patrol is in mountainous terrain: -4 Raining: -3 For every machine gun firing: -1 For every squad engaged in firefight within 10" of radio: -1 Once radio contact is established, roll a D6 to determine how long a delay there is between radio contact and fire support commencement. Once artillery support is available, the patrol leader rolls for hits on enemy forces. Visibility During the daytime, unless terrain intervenes, individuals and/or vehicles can be seen/recognized at the following distances. When men are seen, physical characteristics can not be distinguished. When men are recognized, friends can be distinguished from foes: Individuals walking, running, vehicles in motion: table length/100" Men under partial cover (trees, etc.): 80"/40" Men in hard cover (trenches, buildings): 20"/ 10" Terrain features, crawling or prone men: 40"/20" During nighttime, there is a severe reduction in visibility as follows: Individuals walking, running, vehicles in motion: 30"/10" Terrain features, crawling or prone men: 6"/3" Men in cover (partial or hard): 6"/3" Close Combat Hand to hand combat occurs when enemy troops come within crawling distance of each other. Each opposing combatant rolls a D10 subtracting 3 if pinned, 2 if lying low, and 1 if aiding the wounded. Also, add 2 for Marines, 1 for Navy personnel. Die Roll : Result 0-1 Surrender 2 Fall pinned 3-4 Run away 5-7 Fight 8-9 Fire weapon then fight If both men fight, roll 1D6 each. The higher score wins and the loser is injured (roll for casualty as per usual). If the rolls are equal, both are pinned. If neither man runs, the escapee immediately moves 12" (with terrain modifiers) from the scene of the fight. If neither side surrenders, the captive is led away to the rear. Banana War Patrol Strengths 5 man patrol, 1928 Nicaragua: 4 Springfields, 1 BAR. Patrol carries 100 rounds per rifle, 200 rounds for the BAR, and 21 rounds for the BAR gunner's .45 caliber pistol. For the rifles and BAR there are 1,200 rounds in reserve and 60 rounds for the pistol. There is a 30 day supply of rations, a fully equipped first aid kit, and a radio. Each man carries a bedroll containing a shelter half, poncho, mosquito net, and a complete change of clothing. Coco River Patrol, 92 officers and men, 1928: Headquarters section: 8 officers and men. 1 Captain (.45), 2 runners (.45's), I Acting First Sergeant, 2 cooks, 2 Navy corpsmen. 2 Platoons: 42 officers and men each 1 Lieutenant (.45), 1 Sergeant 5 eight man squads (1 squad leader (rifle), 5 riflemen, 1 BAR & .45, 1 Thompson SMG). No grenades were available (Lewis Guns were, but were not taken). Rations included cereals (oatmeal, hominy grits), rice, beans, canned salmon, corned beef, flour, salt, sugar, hardtack, and coffee. Canned vegetables were carried in limited quantities or not at all. Items carries included tomatoes, fruit, and jams. The patrol rarely stopped for a noon day meal and if it did, the meal usually consisted of hardtack & sardines or salmon. The patrol's results were fourteen bandits killed, four wounded (but escaped), five men and fifty-four guns captured. In 1901, the Marine Commandant recommended an organization of four companies of 104 officers and men for expeditionary purposes. Except for the Corps' expansion during World War 1, this establishment was generally followed in Central America and the Caribbean until the end of the 1920's. A typical expeditionary company would consist of the following: 1 Captain, 2 Lieutenants, 1 First Sergeant, 4 Sergeants, 10 Corporals, 80 Privates, 2 Navy Corpsmen, 2 cooks, and 2 runners Typed and submitted with author's permission by Darryl R. Smith. The Banana Wars Wargame Figures. Back to MWAN #119 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum 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