Combat HQ: World War Two Wargame Rules

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Combat HQ is a fast-paced set of wargamerules for playing large-scale World War Twobattles. Combat HQ places you in command ofan army. You decide where and how hard toattack in a game that focuses on seizing theinitiative, pressing an advantage, and planningfor future events.

Rapid Command Pulses and opposed dicerolls keep all players constantly involved. Easy-to-play rules emphasise command and controldecisions over complex combat resolutionmechanics. Each Command Pulse you decidehow to use your limited command resources.Will you use your Command Dice to move upa company of infantry supported by tanks? Orwill you use them to rally an Anti-Tank Gunbattery close to being dispersed? Or maybeyou'll use them to liaise with your staffofficers?

Combat HQ uses six-sided dice and is suitablefor 2mm to 20mm figures. It features rapidmovement, decisive combat, and excitingdecision making.

Games with multiple players per side areeasily handled with each player controlling hisown battle group and Staff Officers, androlling his own Command Dice.

WhatDo I Need to Play?

A good handful of standard six-sided dice (6-12), plus fire, suppression and disruptionmarkers.

HowMany Figures Do I Need?

For the basic game, 12-20 bases are themost you'll need. If these are all infantrybases, that adds up to 36-60 figures, plusanti-tank gun and heavy weapon models. Inan amour game you're looking at 9-15vehicles.

When's it Set?

The core game is set in 1944 and has starterarmies for Germany, the BritishCommonwealth, the Soviet Union, and theUSA. Additional books are planned to coverarmies for the entire war.

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WhyMoreWWII Rules?Combat HQ grew out of the desire to play afast moving World War Two miniatures gamethat not only required players to makedecisions as army commanders, but alsocontained sufficient detail to capture theintricacies and complexities of World War Twocombat in a tense but fun game.

Combat HQ is the culmination of many yearsof tabletop game design and real-time videogame design. My initial goal was to create agame that didn't follow a predictable “I Go,You Go” structure but without having to relyon random cards or dice rolls to activate units.Alternate Command Pulses and the threat of aCommand Failure make each turn different.You may not only have enough dice each turnto do everything you want, but your opponentmay also be using your own dice against you!

Command Dice

Command Dice are used to activate or rallyunits. Sets of doubles and triples may be usedto increase the number of Staff Ordersavailable. Doubles and triples can also beused to issue multiple move orders. A tankcompany could be ordered to move threetimes this turn by using three dice to activatethem, but by using three dice on onecommand, fewer orders are available to othercommand groups.

To issue an order choose a platoon to act asthe Command Unit, and place a Command

The Turn Sequence

At the start of each turn, both players rollCommand Dice. Any 1s rolled represent lostopportunities. Each 1 that is matched by aroll of a 6 is discarded until next turn. If aplayer rolled more 1s than 6s a CommandFailure occurs and the 1s are given to hisopponent who gets to use them as wild dice.

After any 1s have been discarded or givento the opponent, players arrange their diceinto chains. Each chain consists of all dice ofthe same number, so a player who rolled a5, two 3s, and three 2s, would have threedice chains. Any 6s rolled are wild dice andmay be used to boost combat results andcan also be combined with other dice tocreate chains.

Players now carry out alternate CommandPulses. The first Command Pulse goes to theplayer who rolled the most 6s. If one playerrolled a Command Failure, his opponentautomatically has the first Command Pulse.

During a Command Pulse you get to chooseone of your dice sets and use it to issueorders or restock Staff Orders. Once all dicein a set have been used, your CommandPulse ends and it's your opponent’sCommand Pulse. Command Pulses can be asshort as only one dice, or could be as manyas six dice making each turn different.Command Pulses alternate between playersuntil all Command Dice have been used. Theturn then ends and a new one begins.

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Dice next to it. Then nominate up to threeother units to be part of the unit’s CommandGroup. Command Groups represent acompany with attached assets. They areflexible and may be changed each turn.

Early in the game, you have enoughCommand Dice to order all your units, but asthe battle heats up you’ll need to rally unitsand restock Staff Orders. Each of these actionscosts one or more Command Dice so you haveto choose which units to activate thisCommand Pulse. As the number of CommandDice can also fluctuate each turn, Combat HQforces you to prioritise your actions.

StaffOrders

Staff Orders are used to call off-table artillery,but they may also be used to issue orders.Staff Orders may be stocked each turnallowing a player to build up his order poolready for a dramatic assault or stalwartdefence. But Staff Orders are used frequently– it's a balancing act between using CommandDice to issue orders and using them toincrease your Staff Orders.

Combat

Combat needed to be simple and fast withboth players involved at all times. The attackerrolls to hit and the defender rolls to see howhis unit reacts. The defender may be forcedback and suppressed from a good attack

without any further dice rolls.

Combat uses the unit’s Combat Dice versusthe target’s Reaction Dice in a simple opposedroll. The Target Number (TN) is adjustedaccording to circumstances such as range,angle of attack and movement. Each combathit causes a point of Disruption. When a unit’sDisruption equals its Cohesion (3 for most

Game Length:

Unit Scale: The Platoon is the basic unit andis represented by a base of three infantryfigures, a heavy weapons team, or a singlevehicle or gun model.

Ground Scale: 1” equals 50 yards.

Figure Scale: Plays equally well with 2mm,6mm, 10mm, 15m and 20mm figures. 28mmfigures are possible, but a large table isrequired.

Bases: Base frontages (widths) are from 30-60mm – it's your choice. It's not reallyimportant – so there's no need to re-baseexisting figures. You can even use individualfigures by grouping them into units of three.

Playing with Smaller Scale Figures: Morefigures can be placed on a base, or all basesizes and distances can be divided by two.

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units) it's Dispersed and removed from thetable. Disruption Points can be rallied withCommand Dice.

Suppression

Morale checks are built into the combatsystem. When the enemy rolls one or more 6swith their Combat Dice, the target unit maybecome suppressed. For each 6 rolled, thetarget unit needs to roll at least as many 6swhen he makes his Reaction Check to avoidbeing suppressed. Suppressed units may alsobe Forced Back. Once suppressed, unitscannot be included in a Command Group, andcannot use Opportunity Fire. Suppression canbe easily removed with a Command Dice, butthis reduces the number available for orders.

Fire at any Time

Units can fire at any time during a turn. Theycan fire during your Command Pulse or useopportunity fire in an opponent's Pulse. Whena unit fires, a fire marker is placed next to it toindicate that it cannot fire again until nextturn. Activated units can move and fire, firethen move, or move and reserve their fire touse as opportunity fire. As firing is so flexible,when to fire becomes a tactical decisionrather than something you have to dobecause you activated a unit. Fast units canmove forward ready to use Opportunity Fireagainst any enemy that appears. As you canalways hold fire until the enemy moves hisunits, Combat HQ provides lots of tactical

choices.

Movement

Movement is important in a World War TwoGame. Vehicles should be able to cross thetable rapidly moving into flanking positions,and threatening enemy positions. Mediumspeed vehicles move 6”+1D6”. If they are givena triple move this adds up to 18”+3D6” for apotential 36” move. Fast vehicles are evenquicker with a triple move adding up to18”+6D6” for a potential move of 48”. Withthese movement distances infantrytransported in trucks and carriers can bemoved forward rapidly to follow up behindattacking armour or used to take vitalobjectives.

Reserves

Any units held off-table in reserve may enterthe table and make a triple move. They areunable to fire in the Command Pulse theyenter on, but are free to fire in later CommandPulses. It makes sense to have part of yourforce off-table ready to exploit anybreakthroughs or to plug any breakthroughsby your opponent. The placement of units isalso very important. As well as fighting enemyunits on table you also need to reduce theenemy's ability to move freely across thebattlefield.

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About the Author

ArmyMorale

Each army has a pool of Morale Points thatare reduced each time a unit is Dispersed. Youlose the game when your Morale Points arereduced to zero.

When's it Available?

The Combat HQ rules will be available in early2016 for Amazon Kindle and as a printed

book. Sections of the free Armour Battlessampler rules are being posted regularly onthe wargames design website and will beavailable as a Kindle book and as a pdf laterthis year.

Where Can I Find OutMore?

Visit www.wargamesdesign.com to read thelatest Armour Battles posts and to sign up forthe newsletter.