Men Of Frost

A Quick And Dirty Set of WWII House Clearing Rules

By Paul Scrivens-Smith

Introduction

These rules are the fault of FAA, basically, if they had not made such great British Paratroops, I would not have wanted to recreate the fighting in Arnhem September 1944. They are intended to give a fun WWII skirmish game in a built up enviroment that can handle upto 5 players a side on a table upto 3' by 3' . Everybody so far who has played them have said what great fun they are, and they contain a few new ideas so approach them with an open mind.

Requirements
Pens and Paper
Six sided dice (D6) NOTE D3 is a D6 halved
Percentage dice (D100)
Tape measure
Periscope (opional)
Calclator (handy)
Four to six figures per person (these must be in upright poses as will become clear later)
Terrain - a ruined city/town section (See Below)

Terrain

If you cannot afford to cover a 2' by 3' area with commercially produced ruined buildings (I cannot) you can do what I did, it only cost me about 10.00. Go to B&Q (or other hardware sperstore) and buy a pack of 3mm cork wall tiles (there are usually about ten 12" by 12" tiles per pack. For each ruined building take a tile and cut it down with a craft knife to 8" by 12" (fig1), this is the base of your building. Take the rest of the cork and cut it into two strips 2" by 8", these are used to make your walls, Cut out the walls and cut doors and windows in them (fig2). Then break the cork along the length of the wall to give a rough, bombed-out look to them (fig3). Once you have made the wall sections glue them together onto to the 8" by 12" cork bases, and glue some debris to them. Do some as bombed out houses, some as factory units etc. When the glue is dry spray them from a good distance with black spray paint to give them a smokey/burnt look.

Troop Statistics

Each player needs to roll up the troop statistics for his figures, theses are as follows-

Initiative	Officers/NCO's/Rambo's D3+1		Others D3
Weapon Skill	Officers/NCO's/Rambo's 4D6x10		Others 3D6x10

Move sequence

Everyone moves Initiative 1 figures
Everyone moves Initiative 2 figures
Everyone moves Initiative 3 figures
Everyone moves Initiative 4 figures
Everyone fires Initiative 4 figures
Everyone fires Initiative 3 figures
Everyone fires Initiative 2 figures
Everyone fires Initiative 1 figures
Everyone fires Initiative 0 figures

Movement

Troops in the open/on roads (ie not on a tile)		9"
Troops on a tile but not in a building			6"
Troops in buildings					3"

It takes 1/2 move to climb over a wall that is upto chest height on a figure.
It takes a full move to climb over a wall that is higher than the figure (but not over 1.5 times his height)

Firing

		Range Bands
Weapon		Full	Half	Quarter	Eigth	Sixteenth
Pistol		1"	2"	3"	4"	5"
SMG		2"	4"	6"	8"	10"
Carbine		4"	8"	12"	16"	20"
Rifle		5"	10"	15"	20"	25"
Box LMG		4"	8"	12"	16"	20"
Belt LMG	5"	10"	15"	20"	25"

NOTES-	Assault rifles can fire as either carbines (single shot) or as 	
		SMG's(automatic)
	Belt fed LMG's need two crew members, otherwise they fire as box 
		LMG's

Automatic weapons can fire as single shot weapons as normal or have a cone of fire that at its wide end is a quarter of the range, but halving the hit chance. For instance - A SMG on automatic at 4" range has a beaten one 1" wide.

To determine a hit take the firers weapon skill and modify it by the range modifier, this is the score or less needed on a D100 to get a chance of a hit. Any complete 100's count as an automatic hit, with the remainder being the chance of getting another. For instance - A figure with a rifle at 13" and weapon skill of 120 would have a 30% (120/4) chance of hit.

Head visible				1/5
Head and chest				2/5
Head, chest and stomach			3/5
Head, chest, stomach and groin		4/5
Head to Boots				5/5

Once you have determined if a hit has been made throw a D3, this is the number of initiative points that the target looses. If a figure is reduced to zero initiative points he can fire but not move, anything below zero is dead/seriously wounded.

Example of a fire fight
Gefreiter Braun has 2 initiative points, a weapon skill of 110 and is armed with a rifle, Private Doxey is has 2 initiative points, a weapon skill of 160 and is armed with a SMG.

As they have the same initiative they fire at the same time the range is 7", Braun is firing from a window with only his head and chest showing (2/5 cover), and Doxey is leaning out of a doorway with his head, chest and stomach showing (3/5 cover). To get a hit Braun needs to throw under 55% (110/2), he throws 78 and misses. As there is only one target present Doxey switches to single shot and lets rip. Doxey needs to throw under 20% (160/8), he throws 07 and has a chance of a hit. Because Braun is only showing his head and chest, Doxey needs to throw 2 or less on a D6 to hit, Doxey throws a 1 (what a hero). He then throws for the effect and throws a 2, Braun is now down to initiative 0, and Doxeys comrades slap him on the back.

Duckbacks

If a figure is targeted during a move phase by a firer with higher initiative, and the firer gets a hit on the percentage dice, but misses on the cover dice, then the target is forced to duck back, temporarily reducing his initiative to 0 for the remainder of the turn (mark with a counter).

Paul Scrivens-Smith
Technical Support
E-mail: paul@ethix.co.uk

Return to SOTCW main page.