Korona update

I cheated. I painted figures for the project last night instead of War of Spanish Succession figures. What can I say - I'm enthused!
So by tomorrow the troops will all be ready to fight.

Drying in the sun.

Al the basic colours have been laid down, including a drybrush of the main uniform colour. Then I have glooped them with Army Painter soft tone dip. Why soft tone? Because that is what I have here at home, the leftovers of my strong tone being all dried up. Remember, this the 'make do' project! With soft plastics I like to use the dip, not just for a little shading, but because I look at it as a very thick and flexible varnish. It doesn't half whiff though.

The last two days have also allowed me to refine my gaming and campaign rules, so without much further ado, here they are, totally unformatted for this blog!

WWII in the Pacific Rules

Phases:

1)      Move                    2) Fire                   3) Assault            4)Rally

Side A moves and assaults, Side B fires, Side B moves and assaults, Side A fires, Rally all sides

Movement:

	Good going	Rough Going	Bad going
Commanders/FOs/Snipers	6”	4”	3”
Infantry	6”	4”	3”
Man packed weapons	4”	2”	1”
Wheeled vehicles	12”	-	-
Tracked vehicles	8”	2”	-

Unlimbering/Limbering  takes one move.

Squads within 6” of their commander may move freely. Otherwise they must roll for initiative. Initiative roll is 3+ Veteran, 4+ Trained. 5+ Raw

Rough Going – rocky/muddy terrain, buildings, light woods

Bad going – steep hills, heavy woods, swamp

Firing:

Unit firing	Number of dice	Range
Rifle squad	3	15”
Commander	2	6”
Sniper	3 kills enemy on a ‘6’	18”
HMG	4	24”
Small mortar	3	6-18”
Medium/Heavy mortar	4	6-24”
AT guns	1	32”
Heavy artillery	5	36” direct no limit indirect
Air support strafing	3	No limit
Air support bombing	5	No limit

Target is obscured, use one less dice

Hit on 5-6

1 hit = pinned – may not move until rallied

2 hits = suppressed – may not move or fire until rallied

3 hits = killed. Suppressed units that are suppressed again are killed.

4 hits = any stands within 2” of the killed squad are suppressed.

Forward Observers cannot call in fire missions if they moved or if they are suppressed.

A FO must have Line of sight to the target to call in a Fire Mission.

Heavy and man-packed weapons may fire only in turns where they did not move.

Shooting at armour:

AT guns and artillery roll with one dice hitting on  4+

Roll 2d6 and add the attack value for the weapon. If it equals or exceeds the defence value of the vehicle, the vehicle is destroyed.

Attack values:

Light gun (up to 50mm) - 3

Medium gun (51mm-75mm) - 4

Heavy gun (76mm up) – 5

Defence Values:

Light tank – 8

Medium Tank – 9

Heavy tank – 10

Visibility

Units must have line of sight to shoot.

Units within 3” of the edge of cover are visible but obscured.

Units within the same cover are visible to each other within 6”, but obscured

Assault

·         Assaults occur when bases to base contact is made, or base contact is made with an occupied building. Crew served weapons may not initiate assaults.

·         A commander, sniper or FO is immediately destroyed if caught in base to base contact with an enemy outside of 2” of a supporting stand.

·         Assaults take into account only bases in contact with the enemy and may be supported by a commander within 2”.

Roll a dice and add modifiers. Highest score wins. Losing side has all squads removed.

Modifiers in assault:

Crew served weapons -2

Raw troops -1

Veteran + 1

Additional squads in contact + 1 each

Commander adding support +1

Tank +3

Other vehicles +1
Pinned -1
Suppressed -2

Rally

	Pinned	Suppressed
Raw	5+	6
Trained	4+	5+
Veteran	3+	4+

A Commander within 2” adds 1 to the dice roll.

If successful the unit is free to move as normal, losing all negative modifiers.

Ending game

The game will automatically end when one side has lost one third of the stands present, unless a special rule or objective is in place. The loser will withdraw one zone on the campaign map.

CAMPAIGN RULES           

Phases:

1.       Roll for naval events

2.       Roll for aerial events

3.       Roll for company supply

4.       Roll for initiative

5.       Move companies

6.       Fight any battles

1)      Naval events

Roll a d6. On a roll of d6 an event has occurred at sea. Roll a further d6 and consult the table:

1 = An Australian convoy has fought off a Japanese attack. No impact in game terms. If HMAS Pitcairn had previously sailed away, it has returned. Phew!

2 =  An Australian convoy has been attacked by the Japanese. As a result forward companies will not benefit from having a supply company supporting them.

3 = An Australian convoy has been attacked and HMAS Pitcairn has had to depart Port Murray. No companies are in supply this turn.

4 = A Japanese convoy has been attacked and IJN Uesugi has had to depart Kilu. No companies are in supply this turn.

5 = A Japanese convoy has been attacked by the Allies. As a result forward companies will not benefit from having a supply company supporting them.

6 = A Japanese convoy has fought off an Allied attack. No impact in game terms. If IJN Uesugi had previously sailed away, it has returned. Phew!

2)      Aerial events

Roll a d6. On a roll of d6 an aerial event has occurred. Roll a further d6 and consult the table:

1 = A raid on Port Murray airfield. One Buffalo is destroyed.

2 = An air battle over Korona. Two Buffalos have been lost.

3 = The Buffalos have been recalled to help the fight elsewhere.

4 = reinforcement. A Hurricane-bomber has been sent to help out.

5 = strafing attack on the Korona track. One Japanese company will not be in supply this turn.

6 = Attack on Kilu. HQ is down and no Japanese company will be in supply this turn.

3)      Company supply

For each Fighting company, count the number of zones it is away from its base. Then roll a d6. If it is equal to or higher than the number of zones, then the company is in supply and may move forward. If the roll is lower, then the company is out of supply and must stay stationary or withdraw.

If a company is out of supply for two consecutive turns, then it will lose a number of stands equal to half the d6 supply roll. This will continue until the company is in supply again.

When a company is in supply it will gain a number of stands equal to half the d6 supply roll to replace any stands that it has lost so far.

4)      Roll for initiative

To decide which side may move forwards first, each side rolls a d6. Subtract 1 for every company out of supply in that army. The highest roll takes the first move.

5)      Move companies

Any company in supply may move forwards one zone. Any company may withdraw one zone, unless already engaged by the enemy.

6)      Fight battles

SPECIAL RULES

Off table support

Australians with an FO can call for off table artillery in zones 1 and 2, and air support in zones 6 and 7.  Air support for strafing runs by the Buffalos rolls as many dice as there are aircraft (maximum 3).  If The Australians have gained a Hurricane-Bomber, that may be called in instead.

Japanese may call for off table artillery in zones 6 and 7.

Banzai!

Japanese troops that win a battle will be thirsty for further victory. The successful company may ignore a failed supply roll in the following turn.

Airdrop supply

Australians in zone 6 may count Korona in zone 5 as their home base on the following conditions:

i)                    At least one supply company is present;

ii)                   The RAAF still has planes (Buffalos or Hurricane) at Port Murray

A Bastard of a track

The Southern track through Erida and Kerna up to Munara is barely one person wide and often covered in fallen trees, mud and mosquitos. Troops using this route count -1 to their supply roll.

Impact fuse

Japanese knee mortars can only pin troops in jungle or woods, no matter how many hits they roll.

Snipers

Defenders may choose to replace a squad with a sniper. Snipers must deploy in cover, and are placed on the board when a target appears for them.

Terrain generator

Divide table into 3 x 1’ squares.  Roll 2d6 for each square and apply the terrain below.

2,3 = steep high ridge

4 = steep low ridge

5 = mud/rocks/swamp

6, 7 = high ridge

6,9 = low ridge

10,11 = river/creek

12 = flat ground

In areas where the map obviously shows plains, (eg. Around Korona), replace all ridges with flat ground, and steep ridges with hills.

Refer to map for level of vegetation.

As I go on I expect things will change, or be added too. But at the moment I'm happy with where they are at to start things off.

I've already rolled up the first campaign move, and so tomorrow there will be two battles fought, both on the edge of the clearing at Korona. I'm quite looking forward to it.

The first turn!

Nate