The
ambush is a well known military tactic, however wargames rules rarely
seem to have a workable mechanism to handle them.
A
summary of existing rules and methods
I
carried out a non-comprehensive analysis of wargames rules that have
any rules for ambushes. (If any readers know of any other than those
I have listed then please send a comment to the Editor!)
Ambush
rules in published wargames
“Flames
of War”
The
Defender may have 1 (sometimes more than 1 depending on the scenario)
unit kept off table for use in an ambush.
Deployed
no closer than 4" and in cover (woods, etc.) to an enemy unit or
more than 16" and not in cover.
Bolt
Action
A
unit can be given an Ambush order
A
unit with an Ambush order may fire at a moving enemy unit in the
opponent’s turn (so a bit like overwatch in other rules)
At
the end of the turn an unused Ambush order can be converted to a Fire
order on a score of 4+ on 1D6
One
Page Rules
Units
with the Ambush special rule may be set aside at the beginning of the
game. In any turn after the first, a one of these units can be
deployed anywhere >9” from any opposing unit.
“The
Sword and the Flame”
This
game has rules for the concealment of units – indeed it is
recommended that all Native units are concealed at the start of a
game. A concealed unit may be revealed as and when desired by the
Native player or when an opposing unit moves to a position where the
concealed unit is visible.
Considerations
Most
of these methods work up to a point. However, tracking the location
of units can be a pain. This pain can be alleviated to some extent by
using an area or grid location but it still requires record keeping.
Of course it is possible to “free kriegsspiel” the whole thing as
in Dick
Scholefield’s
“The
Birds Are Singing And It's a Wonderful Day!”,
but I was looking for something more rules based.
Colonial
Many
moons ago my old wargaming friend Robin Peck (now sadly passed away)
wrote up a system in the “Lone Warrior” magazine. This is
summarised here:
Generally,
the native forces will be concealed at the start of the game. Shuffle
together as many marked cards as there are native units with as many
blank cards as there are more possible places of concealment than
native units. For example, if there are 11 possible places of
concealment and 6 native units, shuffle together 11 cards – 6
marked and 5 blank.
Place
one card face down at each location. Remember that more than one unit
may fit in a larger area of concealment.
Face
down cards may not be moved. Cards may be turned over when:
During
native movement – roll 1D6 to score 6 to allow one card card to be
turned over. You may do this no more than twice in any turn.
If
any Imperial figure approaches within 4in. of a feature containing a
card
An
ordinary pack of playing cards may be used:
Again
the system worked but the disadvantage is that all potential
concealment locations are known, it’s just that you don’t know if
they are occupied or not. It is theoretically possible for the
opposing force to simply work around them.
I
have seen a number of other games where concealment is managed by
having one or more dummy markers for each marker representing a real
unit. Again, this has the same problem – all the potential
locations of the concealed forces are known even if the actual
location is unknown. The corollary is of course that where there is
no marker there is definitely no enemy troops ...
A
Better Mousetrap?
Picture
the scene … a British column advancing through hostile territory.
It could be the North West Frontier or the savannahs of Zululand …
. An American patrol in Vietnam …. an armed convoy in Palestine in
1936….
At
any time they could be ambushed by enemy troops. They don’t see it
coming until the bullets start flying or the demolition charge blows
the road in front of them. Every tree, hillock or other piece of
cover could hide a malevolent enemy. Most of the time the Americans
in the jungles of Vietnam never even saw their opponents.
While
trying to recreate these sort of situations in a game format, it
dawned on me that all the constraints rules normally placed on where
and when an ambush might occur are actually completely irrelevant.
Why not simply allow ambushers to appear from cover literally
anywhere? And why limit the number of ambushers?
Simple
Ambush Rules
These
rules have a main core section (given below) and then two alternative
specific modules – one for a unit based rules system and the other
for a figure based skirmish type game. In the latter case my “go
to“ rules for skirmishes is “One Hour Skirmish Wargames”, hence
the references to Action Points (APs).
The
ambushing side has one or more “ambush pools”. An Ambush Pool is
a group of units or figures held off table and available for
deployment in ambushes. The Ambush Pools can potentially contain all
the figures or units in the Ambushing force.
A single Ambush Pool can be assigned to a specified zone on the
table.
The
Defender moves onto the table and proceeds with actions until the
Ambusher declares an ambush. At this point the Ambusher places as
many units or figures from the Ambush Pool as they wish. This
deployment counts as a Move action (and any restrictions on Move
actions will apply).
Ambushing
units must be placed no closer than the “minimum ambush distance”
from any enemy, may be in cover or prone, and no further away than
the “maximum shooting distance”. The ambushers must have LOS to
an enemy unit. The “minimum ambush distance” is to ensure that
Ambushers cannot move straight into Close Combat.
Play
then proceeds normally with the following additional provisions:
In
the Ambusher’s activation, additional units or figures from the
Ambush Pool may be deployed. This deployment counts as a Move
action.
The
scenario may set a limit on how many units or figures can be
deployed in a single activation.
Ambushing
units or figures may “fade away”. They are removed from the
table and returned to the Ambush Pool. This action also counts as a
Move action. A unit that fades away recovers all hits.
Contact
is broken when all units or figures are out of LOS. If contact is
broken then all the ambushing units fade away.
Simple
Ambush Rules (unit based)
“minimum
ambush distance” is one normal move (for the ambushing unit).
“maximum
shooting distance” Is small arms range
Roll
6+ on 2D6 to activate a unit from the ambush pool for the first time.
A
unit cannot fade away if engaged in close combat.
A
unit that has “faded away” may be deployed again in ambush on a
score of 8+ on 2D6, but not on the same turn in which it fades
away..
Simple
Ambush Rules (for use with “One Hour Skirmish Wargames” or
similar skirmish rules)
“minimum
ambush distance” is 6”.
“maximum
shooting distance” Is 24”
It
costs 1AP to deploy a figure
The
scenario will set a limit on how many figures can be deployed in a
single activation, though usually this is limited by the number of
APs available.
An
ambushing figure may “fade away” at a cost of 1AP per figure.
