Advanced Vehicle Rules v2.6

I. Movement

Vehicles move in straight or curved paths.  They never move back and forth.  They move up to the full range on their profile.  Vehicles in units must stay within 4 inches of each other.  They can drive backwards: halve their speed.

Vehicle crews can dismount in their movement turn.  Voluntary dismounting can only happen if the crew passes a courage test.  They can mount without penalty or test.  Vehicle crew will be forced to dismount if their vehicle is damaged or hit by an h- or t- class weapon of strength 7 or higher.  Roll 4+ for each crewmember to escape.  Bailed out crewmen cannot shoot the tank’s weapons.  They have to test courage to remount.  If the crew is reduced to 50% or lower, the main gun gets a -1 penalty after remounting.  If the crew is reduced to 1, the vehicle cannot move and the main gun gets a -2 penalty to hit (or the vehicle cannot move and the machine gun can shoot without penalty).  Vehicle crews can join up with other crews if both have been reduced.  They can only join with vehicles of the same type.

Vehicles can run over enemy infantry.  The vehicle moves as normal.  The soldiers in the way must test their courage individually, not by squad.  A fail means the soldier is crushed and removed from play.  Prone troops will not be affected and non-infantry teams cannot be ran over.

When a fully tracked vehicle enters, leaves, or stops in difficult terrain, roll 1d6: the vehicle will be immobilized on a roll of one or two.  It can only fire its machine guns.  The vehicle may retake the test the next turn.  On a one to three the vehicle is able to resume movement.  Vehicles noted as Heavy can roll one to four.  However, vehicles are never slowed down by terrain.   If a vehicle is immobilized when moving 6 inches or more, it will receive a wound.

II. Shooting

Tanks shoot as infantry.  Use this chart for shooting penalties:

Movement	Shooting penalties
0 inches	Main gun, all MGs shoot
1-6 inches	Main gun w/-1 penalty, 1 MG shoot
More than 6 inches	1 MG can shoot w/-1 penalty

 

The main gun is the gun in the turret or hull.

Along with this, pivoting counts as movement.  A weapon must have line-of-sight to the enemy target to fire.  Vehicle turrets and pivoting tanks get up to 90 degrees free; each further 45 degrees count for 1 inches.   Pivoting must occur in the movement phase.

Some vehicles have two armor ratings (noted with an A): front and flank.  The front is the front and sides.  The flank is the rear and turret.  To hit the turret when facing the front armor, roll a 4+ after hitting.  If it fails, then the front is hit.  Artillery hitting a unit of vehicles will hit all vehicles under the template on the front armor rating unless specified by the weapon table (i.e. mortars hit flank armor).

For t-class weapons, range represents not actual range but practical range.  When a weapon fires at a target that is less than half the practical range, the weapon gets a +1 to hit.  Should the target be practical range plus half range, the gun will get a -1 to hit penalty.  For example, a 75mm AT (US) will hit a target 20 inches away on a roll of 3+; the same gun can hit targets 41 to 60 inches away on a roll of 5+.

Weapons noted as HE can fire special high explosive shells.  The shells will fire on a 2x2 template and will count as the strength of the shell, but as h-class.  Otherwise it will work as regular shooting.  For example, a 75mm AT (US) can fire a HE shell, which has a strength 6h instead of 6t, and it will fire on a 2x2 template.

III. Hand-to-Hand Combat

Vehicles can participate in hand-to-hand combat (HTH).  Instead of fighting, the vehicle will move up to 6 inches in the HTH phase to get in base contact with enemy infantry.  The squad must test their courage.  If they fail, they fall back 2d6 inches.  If they pass, they fight.  The machine guns on the tank can fire at the enemy infantry.  The infantry can use grenades and demolitions.  The grenades count as range 6 inches, strength 3t; they automatically hit the flank armor.  One grenade per squad can be used; every two additional soldiers in the squad will add +1 to the wound roll.

IV. Artillery

Self-propelled guns move like regular vehicles.  They have to remain still to fire.  SP guns fire like tanks, but use the following procedure for firing:

1)                 Place a template and find the range.  If out of range, then the round is wasted.

2)                 Roll to hit.  If the target is in a different position than in the previous turn, add a -1 penalty to hit.

3)                 If a miss, roll a scatter dice to determine where the shot lands in 2d6 inches.

4)                 If a hit, then roll a scatter dice to determine where it lands in 1d6 inches.

5)                 If a 1 is rolled to hit, then the shot disappears over the horizon.  If a 6 is rolled, the shot hits the original target.

6)                 All soldiers and bases under the template are hit by the strength of the weapon.

Artillery firing on vehicles uses the rules regarding weapon strength.

V. Courage

Vehicles do not flee like regular troops.  If a situation calls for a courage test, take the test as normal for the tank platoon/vehicle unit.  A fail means the unit cannot move or shoot their main guns the next turn but can shoot their pintle machine guns.  If assaulted by infantry, they can still fire their machine guns.

VI. Transports

They are regular vehicles that carry troops.  Dismounting and mounting counts as half move each for the vehicle.  All mounting and dismounting occurs before the unit can move.  All figures exit automatically from visible hatches and doors.  Artillery and heavy weapons need a full turn to set up after dismounting.  All transports have crew, but they can still run if there is only 1 crewmember left alive.  If a bail out is called for, roll for the passengers if mounted.  Any machine guns on it can be used only if there are any soldiers being carried in it.

Transports cannot assault and their passengers cannot dismount directly into HTH.

VII. Damaged/Destroyed Vehicles

When a vehicle has been damaged with a roll of 6 (excluding vehicles that need a 6 to damage), roll on the KO chart.  A broken tread means the vehicle cannot move or pivot.  A jammed turret means the turret cannot move but the vehicle can still move.  A KO means the vehicle is totally destroyed, and the crew was completely wiped out in the explosion.  Any troops in base contact with it will also be killed.   Troops within 2 inches receive strength 1d6 hits.  Damage is cumulative.

Destroyed vehicles can be pushed aside by vehicles with a higher front armor rating.  A destroyed vehicle cannot move or shoot.  Roll 5+ for each crewmember to escape.  Leave the vehicle on the table but place the turret next to it.  Place stretched-out cotton balls on KO’ed vehicles.  This counts as smoke for terrain.  Destroyed and KO’ed vehicles cannot be touched by infantry or weapon teams.  They can be destroyed by demolitions: a turn is needed for a soldier to set it up.  Roll the fight value of the soldier to destroy.  When destroyed, it counts as being KO’ed.

Non-KO’ed vehicles can be recovered by an armored recovery vehicle.  They must be in contact.  The crew counts as being dismounted for a whole turn.  The next turn the recovery vehicle pulls the vehicle away towards the friendly table edge with no penalty.  If the recovery vehicle is destroyed, both stop where they were.  A recovery vehicle  that leaves the board can return 3 turns later.

VIII. Open top/hull

Open top: These vehicles do not have a roof, like the M10 tank destroyer.  When in an assault, the infantry can choose to lob grenades into the crew compartment: roll to wound the crewmen.  When dismounting or bailing out, the crewmen get a +1 modifier to the rolls.

Open hull: These vehicles are very vulnerable to infantry fire, like the M7 self-propelled guns.  S- and h-class weapons can wound the crew; s-class weapons get a -1 penalty to hit the crew instead of the vehicle.  Passengers in open-hull vehicles are treated as crew.  They can also fire their weapons; treat them as having moved.

IX. Special Upgrades

Pintle machine guns: Pintle machine guns on turrets can be fired if a vehicle crewman is partially out of the turret.  The main gun gets a +1 to hit modifier when the commander is out but does not shoot the machine gun.  The commander can be shot at by rifle-armed soldiers and snipers.  He is hard to hit, however, and can only be hit on a roll of 6.  If wounded, the main gun gets a permanent -1 penalty to fire.  Pintle machine guns can fire at air strikes. 

Heavy Camouflage: The vehicle is painted well and covered with mud and branches.  Enemy troops targeting the vehicle get an additional -1 penalty to hit when firing over practical range.

Tread guards: They ignore all immobilized results on the KO chart.

Extra armor: This includes items such as Schützen, sandbags, bedsprings and extra tracks.  They give a vehicle a 4+ save if hit by infantry-carried weapons (grenades, bazooka, etc).

Bulldozer blade: The vehicle counts hedges, walls, and like terrain as difficult terrain.  Also, after blowing over such terrain, the terrain features are destroyed in a gap the width of the tank.  Bulldozer blades can also be used to push aside vehicles with equal front armor ratings.

Smoke grenades: They automatically hit.  Place stretched-out cotton balls around the vehicles front.  They count as smoke for terrain and shooting.  They can be launched by destroyed vehicles by recovery vehicle crew.  After the end of each turn, roll 1d6: 1-3 smoke leaves.

Communications: Only platoon and company command vehicles can have them. They let the platoon take courage tests with the company command’s courage value.  They do not need line of sight with the company command vehicle to do this.  They also can be more that 6 inches away.  Company command vehicles can order air strikes with the communications.

Gyro stabilizer: They allow a vehicle’s main gun to ignore the penalty to shoot when moving 1-6 inches (includes pivoting).

Tanks and officers and crew: This is not an upgrade.  Platoon command tanks count as having an officer (lieutenant) amongst its crew.  Company command vehicles count as having an officer (captain) also.  Officers can save their wounds with a roll of 4+.

 NOTE: All vehicle upgrades have to be properly modeled.

X. Sample Tank Platoon

	Sh	D	W	C	M	P	notes
Panzer IV H	4+	5/4A	2	4	12	50	75mm KwK L/43, 2x MG34, 5 crew

 

Late War Germany Panzer Zug: 175 points

1 Panzer IV with communications, pintle MG42, officer

2 Panzer IV

Pintle MG42: 10pt.

Communications: 15pt.