YOU WILL NEED Four, Six and Ten sided dice Tape measure Orders counters for Move, Fast Move/charge, Hold, Redeploy Markers for Suppressed, Light Wounds and Serious Wounds. Figures Model cars and trucks Buildings Poker chips Play money (you could use real money of course, but it would detract from the atmosphere) ORGANIZATION Figures are grouped into wargame units representing the different elements in play. Each unit or gang should have between 2 to 8 figures. A carload of gangsters or cops (4-5 figures) would be average. Each unit should have a leader figure; a veteran cop, more experienced gangster, Police Captain or Gang Boss would all be unit leaders. A side made up of several units will have one leader as the overall commander, such as the Police Captain or Gang Boss. Some units, such as a Private Eye or a reporter will not be on any side. For each side roll ld6 to determine how many poker chips they get for re-rolls. SEQUENCE OF PLAY Orders Phase. Beside the leader for each unit place a counter giving its action this turn. Possible actions are Move, Run/Charge, Hold and Redeploy. Reveal Orders. Uncover the orders counters for each unit. Movement and charge counters should indicate the direction of the move. Charge Declarations. Any unit that has been ordered to charge declares its intent and the target of its charge. Charging unit must pass a Guts test. The target of the charge must pass a Guts a test to stand and shoot. Everyone Moves. Charging units are moved into contact first. Targets of charges that fail their Guts test move away from the chargers. Everyone Shoots. Hand-to-Hand. Combat is resolved. Rally. Roll to remove suppression markers, rally panicked figures and treat wounds. ORDERS Move figures on foot make a regular move in indicated direction. Vehicles make a slow move. Vehicles may stop and figures dismount. Figures may board stopped vehicles. Charge/Run figures on foot make a running move in indicated direction. Chargers move into base-to-base contact with their target. Vehicles make a fast move. A vehicle must have been moving slowly the previous turn to make a fast move in the current turn. Hold figures may not move more than 1". But they may turn or move up to 1" in order to get a better firing position. Vehicles stop. Slow moving vehicles break at will. Fast moving vehicles must roll for breaking distance and test for loosing control. Redeploy Figures in unit may move around within their leader's Command Radius to get better shooting or defensive positions, tend to wounded comrades etc. COMMAND RADIUS Figures need to stay within a certain distance of the next nearest figure in the unit as determined by their level. Punks 2" Goons 4" Thugs/Green cops 6" Wise guys/Regular cops 8" Veteran cops 10" Gang Boss/Police Captain/Hitmen/G-Men/P.I.s 12" All figures must stay within the command radius of the leader of the unit. So a wise-guy can deploy his gang of goons over a radius of 8", but each goon must be within 4" of another member of the gang. A punk, leading a gang of other punks obviously has to keep everyone within 2". A team of G-Men can spread out 12" apart. LEGS Walking= 6" Running= 6+1d6" Cannot run with Light Wounds, LMG or case of whiskey Crossing obstacles- must stop at obstacle (includes doors and woods). Next turn cross with 1d4" move. In woods roll 1d4" per turn while moving through bush. Exit cars= ld4" Entering cars/climbing stairs= stop at obstacle, next turn climb one flight, or get in car. Serious Wounds 1d4." If assisted by non-wounded comrade in base-to-base contact 6". Civilians and bystanders move in a random direction. Shopkeepers etc. will hide in their place of business. WHEELS Cars slow move 12" Fast move 12+2d6" Breaking- Cars doing a slow move can stop at any point. Cars making a Fast move roll may break at any time, but roll 1d6 for how far they skid. If the breaking movement will cause the car to hit something, then the driver may attempt to swerve, but must test for loosing control. Turns- cars can safely turn up to 90 degrees while making a slow move. Cars making a fast move will loose control if they turn more than 30 degrees on a roll of 4,5 or 6. If the car looses control roll another d6; on a 1,2 or 3 it skids or fishtails d3 inches sideways. On a 4,5 or 6 it rolls over. Cars that roll are wrecked. Cars that hit something when skidding, breaking or swerving may attempt to drive away on the next turn. They may drive away on a roll of 5 or 6, otherwise they are wrecked. Occupants of crashed vehicles test for wounds; 1=S, 2,3=LW, 4,5=SW 6=D Vehicles have a limited transport capacity. Motorcycle=1 Motorcycle with side car=2 Roadster=2 Car=2 front seat, 3 back seat Light truck=3 cab, 6 in back Heavy Truck=3 cab, 10 in back When dismounting figures cannot all get out of the same door. A figure must get out of each door of the vehicle on each side. GATS Shooter must have line of sight to the target by measuring from head to head. If the LOS passes over or through any obstacles then the target gets a cover modifier. If the obstacle is hard and completely obscures the target then no shot is allowed. There must be a 1" wide gap between figures to shoot between them. Automatic weapons and shotguns must choose the closest figure as the target. Add cover and situation modifiers to the basic `to hit' score. Roll 1d10. If die roll is equal to or less than the modified `to hit' number required for the weapon and range then the target is hit. If target is hit then roll for effect. Pistols, rifles and shotguns roll Id10. FIRING CHOPPERS (AUTOMATIC WEAPONS) BARs roll 4d10. (Browning Automatic Rifles are treated as LMGs but have a slower rate of fire) SMGs roll 6d10. Other LMGs (Lewis guns or Browning HMGs) roll 8d10. The shooter designates a primary target. All dice can be allocated to that primary target, or the shooter can spread his fire by allocating some of the dice to other figures within a 45 degree arc. Dice should be assigned to the closest figures first. Dice are assigned before rolling to hit. All cover and situation modifiers apply. The shooter can designate anyone of the front figures as his primary target. The figure in back can only be targeted if a die has been first assigned to the closer figures. HMGs only make it in because of their appearance in Miller's Crossing. I also have a silly idea to pit my PI against some of Pulp Figures new Japanese infantry in Jack Malory Defies the Rising Sun! TO HIT (-) = no shot possible. (0)= shot possible with positive modifiers. Cover /situation modifiers Shooter is civilian, punk, goon, thug or green cop -1 Shooter is hitman, G-man or veteran cop +1 Shooter running -2 Target running -1 Shooter standing still +1 Target standing still +1 Shooter driving a car -2 Shooter in moving car -1 Target moving vehicle -1 Target fast moving vehicle -2 Target in hard cover (at a window, behind a car, behind corner of building) -2 Target in soft cover (behind a tree, garbage can, lamp post, in shrubbery etc.) -1 Shooter is Suppressed-1 Shooter has Light Wounds -2 Shooter has Serious Wounds -3 Assume the target is using cover to best advantage. So as long as the base is touching the building, then the target is assumed to be hiding behind the corner even if a straight LOS can be drawn from shooter to target. Shooter has to move in line with wall for target to lose cover benefits. Target still gets cover even though shooter can `see' target figure.  EFFECT For each hit roll on the `Effect' chart cross-indexed by weapon type to determine the damage done to the target. EFFECT `S'= Suppressed or Stunned 'LW'= Light Wound 'SW'= Serious Wound 'D'=Dead MULTIPLE WOUNDS If a figure is wounded multiple times then take the most serious wound. If a figure receives multiples of the same wound then roll a d6. On a 4,5 or 6 the wound is upgraded to the next level. SHOOTING AT CARS Motorcycles and side cars are small targets so shooting at them suffers a -2 modifier. If a vehicle is hit, roll a d10 to determine the location of the hit. Driver/passenger/Back seat left/Back seat right/Back of truck- figure occupying that position is hit, roll on effects chart for type of weapon fired. Occupants of back of truck are diced for randomly. If the driver is S or LW test for wrecking each move. Driver is SW car skids to a halt in 2d6". Driver is SW car skids to a halt in 2d6". Driver D then car wrecks. All occupants test for wounds. Tire- car loses d6" movement per turn. Does not accumulate. Engine- car loses d6" movement per turn cumulatively until it can no longer move. Gas Tank- vehicle explodes. Test all occupants on the `shotgun' effects column. Re-roll- roll again. A second re-roll result is a body hit. Body- bullets pass through the body of the car not hitting anyone. SHOOTING AT VEHICLES BOMBS A figure can throw a bomb (pipe bomb/stick of dynamite/hand grenade) up to 8". Place blast marker. Any figure touching blast marker rolls on the shotgun column for effect. Any figure within 3" rolls on the pistol column for effect. Blasts are blocked by hard cover. Soft cover reduces effect roll by 1. Cars are wrecked if hit by bombs. If attempting to throw bomb through a window or other small space and more than 2" away, then roll ld6. Miss on 1-3, bomb hits the wall and bounces back ld3 inches. FISTS Figures must be in base to base contact. Each figure rolls ld6. High roll wins. Loser rolls on effect chart for weapon used by opponent. FISTS Sailors/longshoremen/Tong gangsters +1 Knives/Saps +1 Clubs, bats, police truncheons, clubbed rifles/shotguns +2 (clubbed rifles/shotguns are wrecked if used in this way). Figure is Stunned -1 Figure has Light Wounds -2  Figure has Serious Wounds -3 If police roll double their opponent then the loser is handcuffed and placed in custody. Next turn cop must take prisoner to the paddy wagon. If other figures roll double their opponent then they get a +1 on the Effects roll. GUTS Each turn a group of figures is shot at it must test for guts. Roll 2d6 and roll Guts Rating or less to pass. If they fail then they will retreat to nearest cover and try again next turn. Use rating of highest living and not seriously wounded figure in group: GUTS EFFECT Civilians 4 Punks 6 Goons /Green cops 7 Thugs/Green cops 8 Wise-guy/Veteran cops 10 Hit-man/G-Man 11 Gang Boss 12 Each suppression marker on group +1 Each Light Wound +2 Each Serious Wound +3 Boss arrested/killed +4 If the group rolls more than double (die roll modifiers) their guts rating then they will cheese it and run for the table edge. RALLY PHASE Figures in base to base contact with wounded comrades can bind up their wounds. On a 5 or 6 a Serious Wound can be reduced to a Light Wound, or a Light Wound can be reduced to a Suppressed. Any figure with a Suppressed/Stunned marker can try to remove it with a roll of 4,5 or 6. Any figures with S, LW or SW on them must retreat to cover in the next movement phase. A unit that is cheesing it can attempt to rally by making a Guts test. POKER CHIPS Players can spend their poker chips in several ways: to re-roll a Wheels, Gats, Fists or Guts roll, but you must abide by the second roll. to get a -1 modifier on an effect roll. To attempt a daring stunt (leaping over an alley or from a speeding car etc.) 4,5 or 6 to succeed. Failure results in rolling on the Shotgun effects column. MONEY Some monopoly money should be in use during the game. This can be VPs for gangsters who are robbing a bank or jewelry store, and it can be used to bribe cops to facilitate a getaway! G-men cannot be bribed. City cops you've got a 50% chance of the bribe being accepted unless the GM/scenario/campaign determines otherwise. CHARACTERS Special characters of heroic or notorious stature may have multiple hits or special skills. "Mad Machinegunner" with two Tommy guns: -1 Gats modifier. Must fire both guns in same arc. -1 on Effects rolls when wounded (you gotta be pretty tough to fire two tommy guns at the same time). With SW can only fire one gun. Two pistols: Can shoot both at same target or can engage two targets with a -1 Gats modifier to each shot. Hard-boiled P.I.: -1 on Effects roll when wounded. Gangster Project Pulp-Era Wargaming Part 1 Part 2 Rules Back to MWAN # 130 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com