Fight Your Own Battles

Click on each heading to reveal rule.  Please note that some of these rules have now been revised and will appear in Heroes All when it is launched in 2019

I use a single unpainted figure to represent concealed infantry elements.  Use your own rules to determine how and when these elements are detected

Observation is one of the most contentious issues in wargaming - can you see my tank behind that house, can I see your troops in the woods?  Rapid Fire has a fairly comprehensive observation chart that is not too complicated and suits the speed of the game well.  A single die roll sorts out most of the "can he/can't he" decisions.

In a solo game, often played over several sessions, it is important to distinguish between those elements that can be seen and those that cannot. To do this, I divide my elements up into 4 basic types - infantry, softs, armour and artillery.  I have small bases of figures, a truck, a small tank and an artillery piece, mounted on a proper base but painted matt black all over.  I call these black models "shadows".  The infantry versions are shown above for British, German, American and French troops.  A single shadow model is used to represent an element or group of elements that is on the table but not yet spotted by the enemy.  A composite force, perhaps comprising armour and transport, will have a shadow representing either.  Towed artillery is shown by a soft skinned towing vehicle - it is not neccesary to show the artillery piece as well when it is not deployed.

The shadows are numbered and cross-referenced to a list until they are placed on the table.  As an element is observed/spotted/acquired (whatever term you wish to use), the shadow is removed and the actual element replaces it on the table.  Cohesion within the elements on the table means that, for me, if one element has spotted an enemy shadow, they will communicate the fact to their colleagues.  Thus when the shadow is replaced, it means all elements on the observing side are now aware of it's presence.  If a composite force is spotted, then all elements within that force are spotted and placed on the table.

A waste of models - buying them just to paint them black?  Well actually, old or broken vehicles and "prototype" models representing my early attempts at scratch building are ideal.  If you do have to buy a vehicle, try eBay or similar for something that might be damaged or badly made/painted.  You would not want  to use them for a game but they can often be picked up for a few pennies and make excellent shadows!

Incidentally, the red paratrooper in the foreground of the photograph is the "Aim point" for landings.  All deviations away from the landing point (as a result of wind etc) are measured from this figure.  When all the paratroops have landed, this figure is removed.

The Bavarian Corporal famously made the prediction that he was coming to England a few months before changing his mind and heading East instead.  In solo wargame terms, planning and launching an assault against yourself may seem something of a thankless task - after all, unless I am a half-wit without a short term memory to speak of (no comments please wife...), how can I surprise myself?

The answer is as simple as a few blank white postcards.

It is bound 6 of the game and the British CO has seen off the German assault.  He now wishes to counter attack whilst the Panzers fall back.  The plan is to attack on either bound 7, 8 or 9 depending on how quickly he can bring up some reserves, shuffle his defensive line to release some much needed armour support and call up the artillery to harass the retreating force.  3 plain white postcards are used - one marked with an X.  They are shuffled and placed in a pile on the Admin table.  At the start of bound 7, a card is drawn and the attack will be launched if it bears the X mark.  If it is blank,  the preparations continue and the CO does not draw another card until the start of bound 8.  All unused or blank cards are recycled for their next use.

This system has the advantage of letting a predictive system determine when the attack will take place without it becoming totally random (you have control of the bound numbers and the number of cards used).  The CO will have been given his orders by his superior and now has the task of assembling the required force.  If he goes early, he may find the retreating Germans in disarray but may only have a small force at his disposal.  Going 3 bounds later may give him a better strike force but his foe may well have found a decent defensive line and "rallied" their confidence.

Incidentally, in FYOB, the "Continuous Momentum" and "Casualty Milestone" factors determine the mental state of the troops on the ground and the reaction of the German Commander as his attack starts to falter.  The mechanisms in FYOB determine (1) at what point the individual elements dive for cover or retreat and (2) when the commander calls off the attack and sets a rallying point for his forces.

Click to reveal each rule - please note that some of these are now revised and appear in the Heroes All rules which will be launched in 2019.

Recent games have suggested that the convoy rules, where a ship is a ship, are a little basic and do not allow the introduction of escorts such as Destroyers and Corvettes which had different roles.

The initial change is to consider the options when setting up the escort fleet.  Normally this is 1+d3 ships but now I consider that a Corvette represents 0.75 of a ship so a roll of "2" (giving 3 escorts) could give me 4 Corvettes instead of 3 Destroyers.

When defending against an attack (where the destroyers roll a d6) the Corvettes only roll a d4 but as you are likely to have more of them, they can double-team the raiders.  This also means that the Corvettes can disrupt attacks rather than sink enemy raiders - and that feels OK.

To clarify (and to clarify the original rules), when the initial "exchange" results in the attacker scoring higher, it rolls 2 x d6 to attempt to sink the escort.  Where the escorts are double-teamed, only one of the escorts is sunk should a double be thrown.  This is where having more ships can be a bonus.

Submarines

However, when attacked by a submarine, the Corvettes are damaged on a roll of 4 and sunk on a 5, 6.

A clarification - submarines can be selected as a raider option when the fleets are determined (pg 68).

Flying boats

The player can elect, instead of a squadron of light/dive bombers, to recruit an anti-submarine aircraft (the famous PBY Catalina perhaps?).  This aircraft has the range of a super-fighter.

The PBY can be sent on patrol over the sea.  It patrols a wide area for all daylight sessions less 1 (to simulate its journey to and from the patrol area).  For each session over the sea (squares do not have to specified), the PBY throws a d6 and on a score of 6 detects a submarine.  It attacks the submarine by throwing a d6 with the result giving;

6  =  submarine sunk

5, 4, 3   =  submarine unable to move during the next session

2, 1   =  no effect of attack

Subsequent attacks on the same submarine in subsequent sessions by the same aircraft (i.e. a continuous attack) get a +1 bonus on the dice roll.

In recent research into various mini-campaigns, it became clear that the special characters that led some of the British Special Forces  required an extra set of rules.

In the early draft of FYOB, I did have a "Character" level for an Officer - bought rather than created.  It is around this (originally discarded) set of notes that I have formatted the rules below.  In each case, the FYOB rule number appears alongside.

3.2   Each figure within the force "costs" 3x the value of Elite/Veteran troops.  Special Forces/"Ace" AFV Commanders cost 3x the value of their (Elite) AFV.  This calculation is made after considering all special capabilities (see Troop costs in FYOW)

7.1   The Character Officer is rated using a d3+4

9.0   The orders given can offer a variety of routes to the objective.  The player chooses whichever suits him best.

11.2   Each Special Forces element led by a "Character" is it's own Battlegroup.  Casualty Milestone tests do not apply to the Battlegroup.

15   When ORTs are taken, +1 to the d6

23   The first 50% of Momentum Tests are ignored

34   An extra Rallying Throw is gained automatically without the need to take a Leadership Tests.

44   The element may start the game concealed automatically.  It may move whilst concealed but will reveal itself on a d6 throw of 1 after each movement.  On subsequent bounds, the element throws the d6 again and can conceal itself on a throw of 5 or 6 when in suitable ground.  The player should exercise discretion on what is possible regards an escape from detection for each situation.

48   The element cannot be part of a Group

50   If the Officer is lost, the replacement gains a +2 on the d6 rating throw

57   No Leadership Test is required on landing after a parachute drop.

XX  (see below) Special Forces may carry 2 loads where normal infantrymen carry 1 load.

XX (see Observation above) Special Forces count as 2 figures each when observing