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Pz8 - WW2 Wargame Rules

1. What You Need
1/300 or 1/285 or 1/600 models and miniatures; terrain elements; one D6 die and one eviation die (D6 with one arrow on each side) for each player; chits for Disorganized and Suppressed units; a ruler marked in inches or 25mm segments; a playing area (4’ x 3’ or 120 x 80cm will suffice for a game involving one or two Btg each side).

2. Units
One base of infantry, artillery or one model represents one platoon or battery. Troops can be Elite, Average or Green. Bases can be 1” or 30mm squares, or whatever other sizes you already have. 1” in the rules represents 100 mt; when playing infantry scenarios, use 1” = 50 mt (i.e. double all distances).

3. Sequence of play
Determine before game starts who is Side A and B (by agreement or rolling one die). Each Turn:

1. A moves
2. B fires
3. B moves
4. A fires
5. A and B rally

4. Movement
Distances on open ground are:

Halve movement distance on rough ground (woods, hills, buildings etc), double on roads.

Trucks, Half-Tracks, Carriers and such can transport one base of infantry, HMG or mortars. Artillery and Anti-tank guns can move only if limbered by a Truck, Half-Track or Carrier. Halve movement distance when mounting / dismounting, or unlimbering / limbering.

5. Fire
Fire can be direct (when a unit can see the target) or indirect (artillery only). Friendly or enemy units, and non-open ground, block line of sight. Non-vehicle units or tank destroyers in rough ground, woods or buildings, are visibile only within 5”, unless they already fired in that turn. Tell the other player which unit fires and its target, check the firing range, then roll a D6. Target is hit with a result = 4, 5, 6

Indirect fire is done by artillery batteries that are supposed to be out of the table. Range is unlimited. Hits the target with a 5,6 (all other modifiers apply) otherwise it deviates. Roll one deviation die for direction and one D6 = inches. When a 1 or 2 is rolled to hit, that battery can’t anymore fire for that game. Close combat applies when enemy units are in contact; target unit is automatically hit.

6. Damage
If target is hit, firer rolls one D6 + Attack Factor, target rolls one D6 + Defence Factor. Compare the results:

Disorganized units can’t move; they fire with a -1 to hit; if hit and Disorganized again, become Suppressed. Suppressed units can’t move or fire; if hit and Suppressed again, or engaged in close combat, are Destroyed. Transported troops and limbered guns suffer the same damage of their transport.

HQs that suffer Disorganized or Suppressed results, make a D6 saving roll (unless in close combat):

7. Ranges

Range is measured 360 degrees from the centre of the base, except Artillery, Anti Tank Gun and turretless Armour that have a firing arc of 45° forward. Artillery ranges are for direct fire only. Minimum range for Rockets is 5”.

8. Attack Factors

Note: subtract -1 to vs. Armour factor for French and Japanese early AT guns.

9. Defence Factors

Armoured vehicles halve their Defence Factor (rounded up) if hit from sides or back, or by Indirect Fire.

10. Rally
During this phase, both players can try to recover Disorganized or Suppressed units that are within 12” of their HQ unit. Roll a D6 = 5,6 = unit ok if Disorganized, Disorganized if Suppressed. Add + 1 to roll if Elite, - 1 of Green.

11. Minefields and Wire
Minefields are represented by 1” square counters. For each “real” minefield counter, one or two “fake” minefield counters are deployed. When a unit enters a minefield, must stop for one turn. Reveal the minefield, if “real” it attacks immediately with Attack Factor = 3, after that it is removed. Engineers and Mine Clearing Tanks are immune to Minfields attacks, but must still stop one turn when they enter them. Wire sections are 1” wide and can’t be crossed by wheeled vehicles such as Trucks, Jeeps or Armoured Cars. Infantry units that enter them must stop and are immediately attacked with Attack Factor = 1. Engineers and all Tracked Vehicles must stop too, but they remove the Wire section.

12. Aircraft
Players can make a limited number of air attacks during the game. In the Firing phase, place the Aircraft model near the target and roll a D6 = 4,5,6 = hit. All other modifiers apply. In addition, subtract -1 for each AA gun within 6” from the target. Attack Factors are: Fighter Bomber = 2, Dive Bomber or Tank Buster = 3, Bomber = 4. Armoured Vehicles halve (round up) their Defence Factor.

13. Acknowledgement
These ultra-simple rules are based on MECHANIZED WARFARE RULES by Andrew Thomas, published by Irregular Miniatures.

6 March 2010, Pz8