Roy K. Bartoo - 07:07am May 31, 2001 PST (#7015 of 7057)

Anybody played any wargames lately? Me, I soloed a couple scenarios of
the GameFix/Competitive Edge "Foxhole" game over the weekend. Scale is
platoons of infantry & vehicles, something like 100 yards/hex, system is
said to be based on GDW's Command Decision minins rules.
Desktop-publishing style magazine game, the one in the mag covers
early-war Germans vs. Soviets. Some interesting aspects, some
limitations due to the format.

There are essentially three key ideas in the game system: unit cards,
the integrated move/fire system, and the loss recovery system.

The counters in the game are essentially just markers - they tell you
the type of unit represented, but not its vital statistics. These are on
a set of small cards, with a different card for each unit type. This
means that, for example, you could use the same Rifle Platoon counters
to represent units in '39, '45, etc, just by varying the card.
Unfortunately, this is an unutilized advantage, since the game (at this
point, anyway) only includes one card for each unit type. This is not an
entirely new idea - SPI used generic markers with a table of values in
at least one of its old games ("Tank!", for the memories) but the cards
are more convenient than looking on a table.

Having the vital statistics on the cards rather than the counters means
that they can be more differentiated (more space for additional
numbers). In Foxhole, this means that units' firepower, movement, armor
value, and when they can fire all vary depending on the unit's orders.
It works smoothly, although I wish OSS had laid the cards out
differently (I'd have preferred to see the sequence of Orders be:
Defend, Advance, Move, Travel - in sequence of increasing movement and
decreasing fire capability). Oddly, Infantry units have an armor value
when in Defend mode, but this seems to have no effect on play. It also
seems a bit odd that units in Travel mode (road-bound strategic movement
mode, essentially) would be able to fire at all - but as they don't fire
until the Final Fire Phase, everybody else will get at least one shot at
them before they ever get to return fire.

The last essential idea in Foxhole is how casualties are handled. When a
unit fires, you roll a d10, add the unit's fire value (don't forget
range modifications), subtract the terrain value of the defender's
terrain, and hit on a roll of 10 or higher. Once hit, the defend makes
two 'saving rolls' (think of it as a morale check, though more on that
anon) - add the defender's armor, subtract the attacker's penetration,
on a roll of 5 or less the defender passes. If the defender passes the
first roll, they survive unharmed. Fail the first roll, but pass the
second, and the defender is removed from the map and placed in a heap of
'broken' units. Fail both morale checks, and the defender is removed
from the map and placed in the 'slightly dead' heap (there will also be
a 'truly and sincerely dead' heap). In the rally phase at the end of
each turn, each leader can automatically 'rally' one broken unit (place
it on the map under him) or 'reconstitute" (just add water?) one
'slightly dead' unit (at the cost of putting an identical also 'slightly
dead' unit into the 'truly dead' heap). Vehicle units can 'break' and be
rallied, but once eliminated, cannot be reconstituted.

This makes leader units very, very important - as long as your leaders
are alive you can keep a flow of recovered units heading back to the
fight. It also means that 'leaders' tend to be the hindmost - they
contribute very little to the fight, there is no command/control
mechanism, and any enemy that can see them will be shooting at them.

This system also has some odd side effects, like the incredible
teleporting units. A unit could break on one side of the map, and be
rallied later that same turn beneath a leader over the hills, through
the woods and clean across the map from where it used to be. Similarly,
a unit could be surrounded, break, and escape ("Da, tovaritch, I know,
we're surrounded by fascists, all we have to do is break and they'll let
us go!").

Another strange side effect of the system is that armor doesn't affect
your chance to be hit - it modifies your likelihood of passing the
'saving roll', but not by very much. The number of die rolls in this
combat system can be reduced, simply by rolling three dice at once - but
it could be reduced even further for infantry targets. They have a 50%
chance of being unharmed, a 25% chance of being broken, and a 25% chance
of being eliminated, so if you have a d8 lying around ...

Seriously, though, this points out a missed opportunity in the system.
They could have further differentiated the 'soft' units, by giving them
morale values that would add to their 'saving rolls'. So conscripts
might have a +1 or even +2, veterans might have a -1, elite units a -2.

Scenario 1 is interesting, although balance will depend heavily on how
soon (if ever) the Soviet demolitions truck enters the game. The Germans
fight their way onto the map, against a variable Soviet force, and try
to take the bridge in the center of the map before it is demolished or
time runs out.

Scenario 2 could be interesting, but as printed is a dog. In theory it
is a delaying action by a small Soviet force. In practice, the Germans
do not have enough time for their infantry to walk, unmolested, to the
exit area. They can, barely, squeak enough units off by shuttling
infantry on top of the Pz II's - if these can be used as transport, and
if the Soviets don't interfere. Alas, there are two choke points (the
bridge and one hex of Light Forest in the belt of Dense Forest that
cordons off the southeast corner where the Germans enter), and with no
overrun rule, that is more than enough to stop the Germans. Extend the
scenario to 10, maybe 12 turns length and it might work.

Scenario 6 ("The Long Way Home") is ... different. Four German Pz II's
try to make their way across the length of the map, against moderate
opposition. Their ability to zip across 500-1000 yards of clear terrain
without being shot at (the Panzerbush syndrome is alive and well here)
suggests that the system needs some sort of opportunity fire rules.

Sorry for this on-topic post.

Roy