I set up a small, solo encounter pitting a fairly immobile defensive force of 5 anti-tank guns, 4 armored cars, and a couple of infantry units, against a more mobile aggressive force of 7 main battle tanks (MBT), one big battle tank (designated the BBT, and right off the experimental engineering line), 3 armored cars, plus 4 infantry units. Attackers 14 units, and defenders: 11 units. A unit was defined as a single stand, and its strength, termed its Efficiency Level (EL) was tracked. MBTs, the main battle tanks, had 6 ELs, the prototype BBT had 7 ELs, while armored cars and infantry units had 4 ELs Referencing the map, the tank force came on from the northern baseline, heading south. I had previously placed the defensive units in the towns and wooded areas shown on the map. The attacking objective was to break through the defenses and get off the field, exiting on the southern baseline. Since this was to be a solo effort, I changed the sequence from a simple You-go/I-go to a card governed system. Each side had a deck of 8 activation cards. On each card, 2 or 3 units were listed, and when the cards were drawn, the listed units could move and fire. Note that each side had its own deck, guarantying that on every alternate draw, a side could respond to the opposition. This dual-deck set up is in contrast to the single activation deck described in another article in this issue on the rules PIG WARS, which, in its use of a single deck, can give rise to a series of ‘gotchas!” as several cards from one side can be drawn in a row, resulting in one side’s continually zapping the opposition, while the poor opposition simply hopes to survive until its own card appears. On three of the 8 cards in each deck, instead of activated units being listed, there were special provisions: a. Artillery barrage. When this card was drawn, the active side could target 2 units, each with a probability-of-hit (POH) of 50 percent. If a unit was hit, it recorded Loss Points, and was given a casualty figure. b. A ‘wild’ card… this permitted a side to select 2 specific units and have them move and fire. c. A 2-function card. First, there were ‘field orders’. A side had a choice of 4 orders and could select any 2. The field orders were: 1. Repair one unit by removing 20 Loss Points 2. Give one unit an additional EL 3. Remove one casualty figure 4. Shift a supporting MG unit to another infantry unit. The second function performed when this card was drawn was to assess damage. Here, the casualty figures being carried around by all units due to firing and melee, were translated into EL losses (boxes crossed out). The attackers’ goliath, the BBT, was the target of many firing units, and early in the battle, the tank commander took a morale test and failed… he retreated 10 inches. In fact, during the battle, he failed 2 morale tests, and for each one, fell back. It seemed he was under orders not to get his brand new tank dirty, and he complied to the utmost. There were so many ELs crossed off the BBT, that during one draw of a field order card, I selected option 2 in the field order listing, in effect, giving the tank an additional life. Most of the time, the selected field order option was #3, because, during the damage assessment phase, the presence of casualty figures increased the actual damage to the unit. Each casualty figure added 5 to a percentage dice throw, and the damage chart was: Dice Toss Resultant EL Loss 01 to 33 Lose 1 EL 34 to 66 Lose 2 ELs 67 to 100 Lose 3 ELs Over 100 Lose 4 ELs Note that a lousy dice throw (a high one) could just about eliminate a unit. Infantry, with their 4 ELs, were pretty brittle. I started the battle, as I said, in a solo manner, and after the first complete draw of the cards in each side’s deck, i.e., Bound #1, the advancing tank force looked a winner. It had eliminated one of the 5 opposing anti-tank guns, and scored lots of Loss Points on the other units of the defense. When a unit fired, its probability-of-hit (POH) was usually around 50 to 70 percent. I kept the percentages high to keep the battle short. A low hit toss produced 20 Loss Points on the target’s sheet, and even if the firing unit “missed”, I still recorded a loss of 5 Loss Points. When a unit accumulated 30 Loss Points, it lost one of its EL levels. The residual Loss Points were carried over. Note that there were two ways to lose EL levels. First, accumulate 30 Loss Points, and second, during the damage assessment phase, toss high and lose EL levels directly. All units started out with a POH of 70 percent. From this was deducted a cover factor, and a range factor, and to the basic percentage was added a series of “+10’s+ for ‘anti-tank versus armor’, or ‘infantry in close assault against armor’, or “tank firing against armored car’, and so on. I was about to start Bound #2, when through the door walked Jeff Wiltrout, and the solo game turned into a 2-sided one. Jeff opted to command the defenders, and his initial survey of the field resulted in a comment to the effect that things weren’t looking too good for the defense. I informed Jeff that his basic orders were, at all costs, to prevent a breakthrough of the oncoming tank force. “They shall not pass!” said Jeff. Immediately, the tide turned. I had sent 2 of my MBTs, accompanied by 2 infantry units, south through the town of Neut, and Jeff promptly targeted them and attacked the tanks with two of his infantry units which had been hidden in the woods north of Neut. Infantry range against armor was limited to 10 inches, sufficient for the infantry to blast away at my two tanks, producing Loss Points and giving them casualty figures. The rules permit movement after firing, and Jeff’s infantry units immediately closed for close assault. They were victorious in the close assault efforts, and my tanks retired, replete with casualty figures. I had tried to protect the tanks with the accompanying infantry, but had failed to get the infantry into the woods to engage Jeff’s units. I needed a toss of 70 or less to penetrate the woods, and failed… my infantry never got close to that of Jeff’s. When damage assessment time came, the tanks lost lots of EL levels, and were effectively out of the war effort. This left my major thrust right up the middle of the field. To counter this, Jeff moved a reserve anti-tank gun from the town of Jaim up to Rancit, and this, together with some effective firing from another anti-tank installation in the woods to the west of Rancit, blew up another couple of my MBT units. Not good. At battle’s end (3 times through the decks of each side), it appeared that the defenders had lived up to their motto: “They shall not pass!”. My tank units were decimated, about the only viable tank unit left was the huge BBT, and the commander of this tank wasn’t going anywhere. I raised the flag of surrender and pulled back. Back to PW Review September 2000 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Wally Simon 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