Modern Flames rules for 1967-1973



Modern Flames rules for 1967-1973

This is a guide and list of rules used to play Flames of War (FoW) for Middle East in the turbulent period between 1967 and 1973. Players need a copy of the Flames of War rules to play this game.

Night

See the HCMRB or For King and Country for full night fighting rules.

Engineers

Treat units with the Engineer ability as pioneers for clearing obstacles.

All engineers have Tank Assault 3 in assaults.

Command Net

Advances in radio, microwave and other communications systems make it possible to link even a platoon leader with higher echelon units, like artillery and air controllers.

• Armies that take advantage of command net will have this noted in their army list.

Any Company or Platoon Command team may act as an observer for Air Support or Artillery indirect fire with no penalty.

Air Support

Airpower has increased greatly in power and sophistication since World War Two. Aircraft have also increased greatly in cost, and their loss is now far from trivial. The air-support rules in the basic FOW game, continue to be used, with these additions:

• Interception is as HCMRB.

• All airpower is resolved at the start of the shooting phase. First roll for airpower availability. If it arrives, resolve as normal.

• Jet aircraft are faster moving and difficult to hit. They may only be shot at by Anti-Aircraft weapons as in the basic game.

• Only one interception may be made a turn. If an opposing player is fielding an observer and attack helicopter as well as air support, his opponent must choose to either intercept either one or the other.

• Any weapon with AA rule does not suffer the +1 to hit for being a RoF 1 weapon when used as AA.

• Weapons with AA RADAR re-roll misses against all flying helicopters and aircraft (eg ZSU23/4 and Sa-9).

Anti-Radiation Missile Attack (Suppress SAMs)

The IDF pioneered assaults against AA sites in the Middle East. Although the US shared their experience and technology developed for the conflict in Vietnam, the Israeli Air Force struggled when the Egyptians really thickened their SAM and AA defences during the War of Attrition. In 1973, at the height of the Yom Kippur War, the IDF procured some specialised Anti Radiation Missiles (ARMs) which they used to good effect. Nonetheless, the biggest source of Israeli Air Force losses was SAM and AA fire during the Middle East conflicts of this period.

Instead of providing Air support, once per game, the attacking player may attack enemy Area Air Defence systems using a Shrike or Standard ARM. Only the IDF may conduct a suppression mission. It will succeed on 4+, but the other player may save on 4+ (Jordanians) or 5+ (Egyptians/Syrians). The attacked player must declare whether or not they will attempt to save before the IDF Suppression mission takes place.

If the attacked player’s save is passed, then their AADS won’t work the following turn, but will be active for the rest of the game from the next turn. If the save fails, the AADS is inoperative for the remainder of the game. If the ARM attack fails, and the defender may no attempt to save, their SAM system is unaffected and continues to operate normally.

Anti Tank Guided Weapons (ATGW):

ATGWs are powered by a rocket motor and guided to their target by an operator. They are usually very accurate, although may suffer from a long flight time, have a minimum range, and be vulnerable to countermeasures.

• Except for helicopters, missiles may only be fired by vehicles or infantry that remained stationary and are not Pinned.

• Missiles are accurate – re-roll missed hits at long range.

• However, the target may evade by Breaking Off by passing a Skill Test, if they end up out of sight or range (but only the first time a hit is allocated to the vehicle each turn). If the Evading vehicle ends up Concealed, then the target is Concealed for the purposes of being hit by the ATGW but misses are still re-rolled. The team and platoon do not need to spend a turn reorganising.

• Alternately the target vehicle may choose to fire at the missile firer if at short range with MGs etc. The MGs fired cannot be fired in the next turn, but can be fired in the Defensive Fire phase.

• A 7 or greater will never hit and is not to be re-rolled. The whole platoon must spend the next turn reorganising (see Recce rules in HCMRB).

• Saggers and any other “controlled” (ie 1st Generation) missiles will only hit on a “passed” Skill test. Re-roll any failed Skill checks at long range.

• Missiles have a minimum range – any target within this range is not affected;

• Missiles are slow to react – they may not be used in Defensive Fire;

• Missiles depend on their operator to guide them. They may not be fired if pinned. NB ATGW fired by Armoured Tanks (eg BRDM2 Sagger or M150/TOW) ignore being Pinned Down.

• NB Veteran, Concealed, Gone to Ground teams cannot be hit by an ATGW, but if a platoon team is within close range, hits are allocated normally within the target platoon..

Remote Control

The BRDM-2 Sagger is quite sophisticated for its time. The firer-operator can dismount a distance away from the vehicle and operate the missiles effectively.

The Operator may dismount and fire missiles normally, as long as he hasn’t moved in the Movement phase. The operator may move up to 4” away from the BRDM – 2 Sagger and still operate it. It may not move further than 4” away, and moves as an Infantry team.

The Operator may remain Concealed and/or Gone to Ground when firing, unless the launching BRDM-2 Sagger can be seen in the Open, in which case the BRDM-2 Sagger may be fired at separately to the Operator. If either is destroyed, the Operator is removed from the game but doesn’t count as a separate team if destroyed.

HEAT weapons

Heat stands for High Explosive Anti-Tank and was used by the world’s armies with increasing frequency after the Second World War. Instead of defeating armour with kinetic energy, a Heat round uses chemical energy.

Targets hit by HEAT weapons do not receive +1 armour for being over 16” when rolling to pass an armour save.

Recoilless Rifles:

These are similar to the World War Two weapons used by German and US Airborne troops. They look like light field guns, but fire rocket powered projectiles. Their back blast tends to give their position away, and can be dangerous if someone is standing behind.

• Recoilless Rifle teams may not claim concealment in the turn they fire.

• Recoilless Rifle teams may not fire if there is any part of a friendly infantry or gun team directly behind and within 4 inches of the base of the Recoilless Rifle.

Tip and Run

Small MT equipped with medium size Recoilless rifles were fragile, but useful AT assets in this period. They would engage armour, preferably from ambush, engage and then break off.

As per MCHRB Tip and Run.

Sniper Teams:

Sniper teams with specialist weapons and training are a common part of modern warfare.

• Any type of infantry force (including mechanised and airborne) may chose snipers as per the Stalingrad book;

Sniper teams cost 50 points as in Stalingrad and HCMRB;

Technology:

Many armoured fighting vehicles and even some infantry squads are now equipped with advanced technology. (Other technology has the same effect as in WW2 FOW.)

Cannister Special anti-personnel round which is very effective against infantry in the open.

Any weapon that fires canister cannot fire any other weapon in the phase. Each gun fires a barrage as per the Sturm Tiger rules in RoH, with a maximum range of 12”, AT 2, FP 6+. Teams under the template will be hit if the firer passes a Skill Test for each team. There is no penalty for only 1 gun firing. Canister may be fired as Defensive Fire.

Infra Red Night Fighting

This advanced form of night fighting technology was tremendously useful for the Syrian T62s attacking the IDF at night on the Golan Heights in 1973. The IDF had nothing to match it.

Although all targets count as concealed, with a maximum line of sight of 24”, or 16” during inclement weather, the player doesn’t roll for visibility range.

Breaching Gear: Engineer platoons equipped with breaching gear may choose to use it to clear a significant obstacle (eg canal bund).

Roll a single dice for the platoon, take a skill test. If the skill test is passed, then when a second Skill Test is passed by the same platoon, then a 2” band of the obstacle is removed.

Nine mile snipers

The engagements conducted during this period in the middle east, were ferocious, bloody and sometimes quite mobile, over swathes of desert, mountains, valleys and fertile areas. Artillery (guns, howitzers, rockets and heavy mortars often shoot fire missions at medium and long range, as well as conducting counter battery missions as directed.

Mortar, rockets, howitzers and guns which can conduct Barrage Fire may apply the Guns Across the Volga rule. If your opponent has more than 1 Battery (on orr off table),one of your off-table Batteries will go off-line each turn on a dice roll of a 1 for 1 turn, if any of his batteries are not requested for an alternate Mission. If an on table battery conducts counter battery fire it cannot count as Gone to Ground in that turn.

In order to conduct any Shooting each and any artillery battery forced off-line in this way must roll a dice in the Unpin phase at the start of your turn, if it rolls a 1, it cannot shoot for the rest of the game, but doesn’t count as lost for the purposes of VP calculation or Company morale tests.

Light Anti-tank Weapon

Every infantry platoon may have numerous M72 LAW anti-tank rockets. These are essentially disposable versions of the Second World War bazooka. Their main role was tackling armour as well as silencing bunkers and demolishing termite mounds.

An infantry team which is so equipped may fire one of their M72 LAW rocket launchers instead of their normal shooting. If they do so they use the second line of characteristic shown in the arsenal.

Tank Terror

Contemporary troops are familiar with the weapons and tactics required to defend and attack armour.

Infantry and gun platoons/companies equipped with more than 1bazooka/RPG7 or M72 LAW count as Fearless for Tank Terror in the turn they are assaulted by armour.

Observer Helicopters (eg UH-1D Slick)

An Observer Helo (eg UH-1D Slick) is dedicated to carrying the artillery observer and the rest of the airborne command team.

Unlike a normal Transport Helo, an Observer Helo cannot carry passengers and remains on the table from turn to turn like a Gunship (eg UH-1B Hog or AH-1 Cobra). If it is shot down, it is permanently removed from the game.

Helicopters

Helicopters provided mobility, firepower and supplies.

They come in two varieties:

• the passenger-carrying, and

• the gunship.

Helicopters are more like airborne trucks than normal fixed-wing aircraft. As such they remain on table from turn to turn like vehicles, and they are shot at in the opponent’s Shooting Step like vehicles rather than in the owning player’s Shooting Step like aircraft.

Helicopters operate as vehicles rather than aircraft.

Moving

Flying over all obstacles at over one hundred miles an hour and, a Helicopter covers ground much faster than any ground vehicle can.

Helicopters do not have a Movement Distance. Simply place the helicopter where you want it to be in the Movement Step. Remember, helicopters operate in platoons and must remain In Command when moving.

Shooting at helos

Helicopters operate close to the ground in direct support of the army, more like highly-mobile vehicles than aircraft.

Helicopters are shot at like vehicles in the opponent’s Shooting Step, rather than being shot at like aircraft in the owning player’s Shooting Step.

Flying and Landed Helicopters

Helicopters normally fly too high and fast for most weapons to be able to hit them. The big exception are passenger carrying helos bringing in troops. They have to come in low and land (even if only for 15 to 30 seconds), exposing themselves to all sorts of ground fire.

Gunships and empty passenger carrying helos are Flying helicopters. Flying helicopters can shoot over and be shot at over friendly troops.

Transport Helos (eg Troop carrying Mi8, Super Frelon, CH53 or UH1s) carrying passengers are Landed helicopters.

Who can Shoot at Helicopters

Even though they are flying low, helicopters are still too fast moving and high for anything but a shoulder-fired infantry weapon or dedicated anti-aircraft gun to hit.

Only Anti-Aircraft weapons and Infantry teams can shoot at Flying helicopters. Any weapon can shoot at Landed helicopters.

Infantry and Man-packed Anti-aircraft guns firing at a Flying helicopter determine their Line of Sight treating the helicopter as a vehicle. This allows them to shoot at a helicopter flying above them in a wood for instance, it will of course, be Concealed. Other Anti-aircraft weapons have the same restrictions they have when firing at aircraft (see Who Can Shoot on page 141 of the rulebook).

When shooting at Landed helicopters, teams determine Line of Sight as normal for vehicles on the ground.

Measure to the Fuselage

A helicopter’s rotors make it theoretically occupy a huge area. However, it is only the fuselage that really matters.

Always ignore the rotors when measuring to or from a helicopter model.

Helicopter Saves

Despite their lack of armour, helicopters are remarkably robust. They can fly with a lot of damage to the non-critical parts, so it takes a lucky hit or a big shell to shoot them down.

Helicopters have a 5+ Unarmoured Vehicle Save when hit. However, they are not automatically Destroyed if they fail the save. Instead, the opponent must make a Firepower Test to Destroy them, otherwise they fly on unharmed.

Enemy on the Landing Zone

If a Transport Helicopter on its final approach to the Landing Zone discovers that the enemy have overrun its planned touchdown point, it will abort the landing, coming back later when the Landing Zone is safe again.

Helicopters cannot assault or be assaulted. If any enemy team approaches within 4”/10cm of a Landed helicopter, it immediately returns to the Pick-up Zone. Flying helicopters are unaffected by enemy teams moving beneath them.

Shooting with Helos

Gunships acted more like tanks than aircraft, flying to the hottest danger points to give the hard-pressed infantry fire support before racing to the next crisis. Door MG Passenger carrying helos have a door gunner firing an LMG door.

One door MG can shoot from each side of a helicopter. The Field of Fire of a door MG covers 180 degrees directly to the side of the helicopter. Wargamers are far more precise in positioning their helicopters than pilots under fire, so each of the two door MG’s on a helicopter must fire at a different platoon, but both can fire at their full ROF of 3.

Rocket Pods

Rocket pods are fired in pairs for aiming and then a salvo for effect. If the first rockets are on target, the full effect of the rockets makes a mess of the target. The more rockets spent on getting the range, the fewer left to saturate the target.

The firing gunship must point directly at its aiming point when firing rockets. Rocket pods use the Stuka zu Fuss rules on page 167 of the rulebook. Like a Stuka zu Fuss, rocket pods get six attempts to range in and the failures to range in and failures to range in reduce the number of weapons counted as firing in the bombardment. Each gunship can only fire one bombardment per game.

Unlike normal artillery, gunships can fire Artillery Bombardments after moving, and can fire the machine-guns in same turn as firing rocket pods. The machine-guns must fire at the same enemy platoon as the rocket pods, but fire at their full ROF. If a gunship is firing both its rocket pods and its machine-guns, resolve the rocket bombardment before rolling to hit with the machine-gun attacks.

Pick-up and Landing Zones

Transport helicopters meet their passengers at the Pick-up Zone and carry them to the Landing Zone.

Designate an area on an adjacent table as the Pick-up Zone. All teams awaiting transport to the Landing Zone are held off table at the Pick-up Zone. Any Transport Helicopters not currently on the table are also held at the Pick-up Zone.

A Rifle Company (Airmobile) may deploy platoons to the Pickup Zone rather than deploying them on the table or in Reserve.

If the mission does not already designate an Objective as the Landing Zone, you may nominate any one Objective as the Landing Zone Objective after deployment before the game begins. Unless otherwise stated, your Transport Helicopters may begin the game either on the Landing Zone or the Pick-up Zone.

Transport Helicopters Arrive from Pick-up Zone

There were never enough helicopters assigned to a large airborne assault to lift all of the infantry (or ‘grunts’ as the pilots called them for their perceived level of intelligence) in one go. The helicopters ferried them from the Papa Zulu (Pick-up Zone) to the Lima Zulu (Landing Zone) in a series of waves.

Transport Helicopters starting the turn at the Pick-up Zone load passengers and are placed on the table in the Movement Step within 12”/30cm of the Landing Zone Objective. They remain there for the remainder of the turn with their passengers on board, and can shoot their Door MG’s.

Transport Helicopters cannot be placed within 4”/10cm of an enemy team, or within 2”/5cm of open or normal woods, forests, buildings, or other helicopter .Transport Helicopters cannot move once placed.

Slicks Depart from Landing Zone

Having braved the enemy fire on the Landing Zone, the Transport Helicopters flare to a quick landing, drop the grunts, then head straight back to the Pick-up Zone for more.

Transport Helicopters starting the turn at the Landing Zone, dismount their Passengers in the Movement Step. Then, at the end of the Movement Step they are removed from the table and returned to the Pick-up Zone. Measure a dismounting team’s movement from the door of the Transport Helicopter it arrived in. A platoon can dismount, even if they have no Platoon Command team present.

Shooting at Slicks

Very few Slicks w ere actually shot down. Almost all of the Slicks that were badly shot up managed to limp back to the Pick-up Zone where their unfortunate passengers mounted a replacement helicopter and went straight back in.

When a Slick is Destroyed it is returned to the Pick-up Zone with its passengers, becoming the replacement helicopter. The passengers are always unharmed. Because they are not Destroyed as normal, treat every four Slicks Destroyed as a platoon destroyed for the Victory Points Table on page 195 of the rulebook.

The Hog gunships suffered heavier casualties than the Slicks as they spent more time over the LZ and sought out the enemy.

When a Hog is Destroyed, it is removed from play as normal. The loss of a Aeroweapons Platoon counts as the loss of a platoon when calculating platoons destroyed for the Victory Points Table on page 195 of the rulebook.

Helicopters Turn by Turn

It can be a little confusing using helicopters the first time with Slicks constantly arriving at the Landing Zone and returning to pick up more grunts. This table gives a quick turn-by-turn summary of what is happening.

• Turn One

Dismount passengers from Slicks, remove Slicks, and move Hogs in the Movement Step. Shoot with Hogs in the Shooting Step.

• Turn Two

Place Slicks and Hogs in the Movement Step. Shoot with Slicks and Hogs in the Shooting Step.

• Turn Three

Dismount passengers from Slicks, remove Slicks, and move Hogs in the Movement Step. Shoot with Hogs in the Shooting Step.

• Turn Four

Place Slicks and Hogs in the Movement Step. Shoot with Slicks and Hogs in the Shooting Step.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

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