Quiet, Ugly Men - Low Intensity Warfare Campaign Rules

- Aaron Longbottom (1992)

Introduction

Theses rules are designed to give a background to games played with low level skirmish & RPG rules (in particular my own Skirmish '90.). They cover the type of guerrilla wars fought throughout the 20th century and could be used for earlier periods or "near future" games. The main ideas come from articles in Miniature Wargames by Martin Porter & Jim Webster, Recon (Paladium Books), articles in The Journal and many published accounts of such fighting.

Basic Game

The game is best played with the umpire(s) taking the role of the insergent fighters and the players that of the army/security forces. The object of both sides is to win over the population and gain total support for their cause.

There are two turns per day (24 hours), (I) Daylight, and (II) Night.

(I) Daylight

For each unit, the players must assigne activities for the day; eg. patrol area, police town, repair dammage, build road, relax, etc.

When ever they move roll a D100 on the Patrol Table.

Patrol Table

ROLL        RESULT
1 -59     Nothing Happens
60-69     Rout blocked/Sabotage & discovered.
70-80     Enemy tracks. Roll D6+ to discover (DMs -FCR, +1 in vehicle)
          If discovered roll again on patrol table to see where they lead.
81-90     Booby trap. Roll to discover (as enemy tracks) or you find it
          the hard way!
91-95     Sniper. 2D6 11+ to hit someone. Could play this & any followup 
          out as a small tabletop game.
96-97     Arms Cache. Roll to discover (as enemy tracks). There will be 
          2D6-6 enemy guerrillas guarding it. could play this & any followup 
          out as a small tabletop game.
98-100    Play out patrol as skirmish game. +1 to TIRDNESS.

(II) Night

Each night roll a D100 once on the Night Table for each base or unit perimiter, no matter how many units are occupying it. If roll is 90%+ then roll once more and add +1 to TIRDNESS.

Night Table

ROLL        RESULT 
1-69      Nothing Happens
70-89     Sniper. 2D6 12+ to hit someone.
90-95     Few mortar shells (1/2 D6 rounds)
96-98     Heavy mortar fire (2D6 rounds)
99-100    Playout FIREBASE game.

Patrol Game

Roll a D12 on the Game Table to see why guerrillas are there.
Roll a D10 on the Guerrilla Table to see type and number of guerrillas and any booby-traps/mines.
Roll a D6 to get quality of guerrillas.
If regular or mainforce roll a D10 for heavy weapons.

Game Table

RESULT   TYPE OF GAME                    DM TO GUERRILLA TABLE
 1-3    Enemy Patrol Active                -2
 4-5    Food Cashe                         -1
 6-7    Weapons Cashe                       0
  8     Tax Collector/Harassing Villagers   0
  9     Guerrilla Area HQ                  +1
 10     Guerrilla Supply Base              +1
 11     Guerrilla Rest Camp                +2
 12     Mainforce HQ/Supply Base           +3

Guerrilla Table

RESULT   TYPE OF GUERRILLAS   NO OF MEN   NO. OF MINES/TRAPS(*)
  1       Local Guerrillas      1D6          1D6
  2       Local Guerrillas      2D6          2D6
  3      Regular Guerrillas     1D6          none
  4      Regular Guerrillas     2D6          1D6
  5       Local Guerrillas      4D6          4D6
  6       Local Guerrillas      8D6          8D6
  7     Maincore Guerrillas     1D6          none
  8     Maincore Guerrillas     2D6          none
  9      Regular Guerrillas     4D6          2D6
  10     Regular Guerrillas     8D6          2D6
  11    Maincore Guerrillas     4D6          none
  12    Maincore Guerrillas     8D6          1D6

(* See below for Skirmish '90 rules for mines.)

Roll D6:
1-2 Worse than average quality.
5-6 Better than average quality.

If Regular or Maincore roll D10:

8 - One heavy weapon.
9 - Two heavy weapons.
10 - Three heavy weapons.

Heavy weapon is HMG, AAMG/AA gun, Mortar, Light tank, etc.

Use of mines/booby-traps in Skirmish '90 rules:


% TERRAIN OF          NUMBER OF BOOBY-TRAPS ROLLED
THIS TYPE     0    1-6    7-12  13-18  19-24  25-30  31-36  37-42  43-48

None        100%   50%    40%    25%    10%    none   none   none   none  
Minimal     none   50%    45%    40%    20%    10%    none   none   none
Low         none   none   15%    20%    30%    20%    10%    none   none
Medium      none   none  none    15%    30%    30%    20%    10%    none
High        none   none  none   none    10%    30%    40%    50%    50%
Maximum     none   none  none   none   none    10%    30%    40%    50%

Fire Base Defence

Set up a fire base/unit perimiter in the centre of the table and play 2D6+14 (1/2 hour) turns. Each turn roll D100 below:


ROLL     RESULT
1-75     Nothing happens
76-95    Sniper fire (Roll 2D6, 12 = someone hit)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
96-97    LMG fire (Randonly shoot-up some area within the units perimiter)
98-99    Mortar fire (Drop 3 random rounds within the units perimiter)
100      Sapper attack (2D6 men try to infultrate units perimiter)

If you rolled 96 or over above, then next and subsequent turns roll D20 below instead:


ROLL     RESULT
1-3      Nothing happens  (Go back to rolling on table above)
4-10     Nothing happens
11-12    Aimed mortar fire (At a random building/bunker)
13-14    Artillary/Rocket rounds (As mortar fire, above)
15-16    False alarm, garison opens fire. Jumps one ALERT STATE.
17-19    Assult - Roll on GUERRILLA TABLE to get numbers or drive
                 a carbomb into the base etc.
20       Sapper attack (2D6 men try to infultrate units perimiter)

At the start of each half hour turn the players must choose one of the following ALERT STATES:

                                                     OBS. LEVEL  TIREDNESS
(1)  NORMAL     25% in position, watching                 3        none
(2)  EFFICIENT  As normal but officers keep men alert     4        +0.5
(3)  ALERT      75% in position and awake                 5        +1
(4)  RED ALERT  All in positions, fully manned            5        +2
(5)  EXTREME    (CAN NOT CHOOSE THIS) As above but all    5        +3
                jumpy. Illum shells, firing at shadows, etc.

For each task a sapper wishes to perform they must roll less than the observation level of the base. If they roll equal to the value they must stay still for that half hour turn.

The effects of TIREDNESS are given below:


TIREDNESS    EFFECT                   
1-15       No effect
16-30      Slightly tired (initial motivation is -1)
31-40      Seriously tired, jumpy (initial motivation is -2)
           Roll D6 per turn, if 6 go to FALSE ALARM.
41+        Lathargic (Initial motivation is -2 from now on)
-----------------------------------------------------------
41-50        DM -1 to all observation & firing rolls.
51-60        DM -2 to all observation & firing rolls. 
61-70        DM -3 to all observation & firing rolls. 
71-80        DM -4 to all observation & firing rolls. 
81-90        DM -5 to all observation & firing rolls. 
91-100       DM -6 to all observation & firing rolls. 
101+       Shellshock. If you get this far then you're relieved of duty!

Effectiveness of Security Forces

(For a population of approx. 5-10,000)

Two measures: Guerrilla Alertness and Civilian Reaction.

Guerrilla Alertness

Start game at value of 0.

Modifiers

 Each guerrilla killed, captured or defected.          +1
 Each leader killed.                                   +5
 Each base, cashe, taxman, political activist found.   +10
 Each personal weapon lost/captured by guerrillas.   +/-0.5
 Each heavy weapon lost/captured by guerrillas.      +/-1
 Each new guerrilla recruit.                           -1


 VALUE   SIZE OF GUERRILLA GROUPS             NUMBER OF ACTS OF TERRORISM A DAY
Below 1  As Normal.                              1 act per day
  1-9    As Normal.                            D6:   6+ gives 1 act per day
 10-29   None over 2D6 men during daylight.    D10: 10+ gives 1 act per day 
 30-59   None during night.                    D10: 10+ gives 1 act per day
         (Unless following tracks.)
 60-89   None over 2D6 men. (Day or night.)    D20: 20+ gives 1 act per day
 90-119  No major units or night assults.      D20: 20+ gives 1 act per day
120-149  Half guerrillas in bases. No snipers. D20: 20+ gives 1 act per day
150-199  No guerrillas outside bases. 
         No booby traps. (150-ALERTNES LEVEL)%   No Terrorism
         of guerrillas defecting a day.   
200+     Area pacified.

Civilian Reaction

Start game at value between 45 and 55.

Modifiers

 Each civilian/policeman/local militiaman killed.             +1
 Every dead or otherwise soldier in guerrillas hands.         +1
 Each dead mayor, each successful attack on road or sabotage. +5
 Every tank or security forces base captured.                 +10
 Election held and winner still alive.                        -5
 Every GUERRILLA ALERTNESS point over 100.                    -1
 Every civilian project completed and working.                -1 to 5

 
 
 VALUE   SUPPORT FOR GUERRILLAS                                 MODIFIER
Below 0  Deny guerrillas support. None join guerrillas.           +2
  0-19   Favour security forces. 1 in 10,000 join guerrillas.     +1
 20-59   Neutral. 1 in 5,000 join guerrillas.                      0
 60-79   Favour guerrillas. 1 in 2,000 join guerrillas.           -1
 80-99   Hostile to security forces. 1 in 1,000 join guerrillas.  -2  
 100+    Civilian population revolts. All join guerrillas.      GAME ENDS!

Modifier above is to intercept terrorist acts. See below.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Roll a D100 of Terrorism Table for each act of terrorism per day.

These (especially if intercepted by security forces) could be played out as small role-playing or skirmish games.

Terrorism Table

ROLL      ACT OF TERRORISM
1-49    Minour crime requiring police responce.
50-59   Angry locals stone patrol.
60-69   Attack by guerrilla cell. Roll D4 on GUERILLA TABLE.
70-77   Infiltrator commits an act of sabotage.
78-82   2D6 guerrillas lay an ambush on a road.
83-92   Grenade attack.
93-96   Sniper shoots someone.
97-99   50lb bomb planted.
100     D20 per 1000 civilians riot. Disperse but DON'T kill them!

Possible targets for attack are Mayor, police, army, D6 civilians.
Possible targets for sabotage are Communicaions, pover lines, school.

To prevent terrorism you need to patrol villages and towns: Each village needs 5 patrol points, each town 10 patrol points.
Foot patrols give 1 patrol points each.
Vehicle with searchlight gives 4 patrol points
Helicopter gives 9 patrol points

If you have enough points in the area of a terrorist act then you may try to intercept the guerrillas. Roll a D10: 6+ to intercept. Modified by current Civilian Reaction (see above).Intelegence Table

Intelegence Table

ROLL   INTELEGENCE FOUND ON ...
1-79   Nothing.
80-89  Evidence of guerrilla cell in town.
90-94  Food/Money cache.
95-96  Weapons cache.
97-98  Taxman/Political activist.
99     Small party of guerrillas (D6) found by patrol.
100    Guerrilla base found.

If you get some intelegence you can set up an ambush. Roll a D10 (modified by current Civilian Reaction):

1 Ambush position given away.
10 Culpret of terrorism found.

Roll a D100 for outcome:

ROLL   RESULT
1-75   Nothing.
76-90  Roll a D4 on the GUERRILLA TABLE.
90-99  Roll a D6 on the GUERRILLA TABLE. 
100    Roll a D10 on the GUERRILLA TABLE.

When a guerilla is captured roll a D100:

ROLL   RESULT
1-89   Knows nothing/Wont talk.
90-95  Gives enough detail to set up an ambush.
96-97  Gives date & place of next act of terrorism.
98-99  Gives location of politial activist/spy.
100    Gives location of guerrilla base.

Effect on Security Forces

Tiredness can be negated by leave; -2d6 points per days R & R.

At end of month roll a D6 per six men missing from a unit to getb the number of new recruits. If less than six missing roll a D6 individually; 6 to get a man. Roll separately for privates, corprals, sergeants, lieutenants etc.

For each 4 months "in country" units may gain 1 on one of their troop ratings (Ability or FCR) and leadership points.
If they have recieved 3 or 4 recruits this month then they don't increase their troop rating.
If they have recieved 5+ recruits this month then they loose all their troop ratings gained so far.

Return to SOTCW main page.