Gary Robinson - 02:16pm Dec 20, 1999 PST (#80 of 99) Tallahassee, Florida - Gary's Wargaming Web Page: http://www.concentric.net/~wiggler/ Impulse OCS There are a lot of mechanics I like about the Operational Combat System from The Gamers. I think the supply system is brilliant and I like playing with those little supply counters. I like the artillery system too. I also like the air game, and the overruns, and the action ratings. But there are some things I don't like about it. As a game: I don't like the fact that I have to leave the table for two hours when it is not my turn. I don't like the fact that solitairing it is almost overwhelming if not impossible due to the fog of war rules and elaborate nature of planning in the system. As a simulation: I don't like the fact that the defense is so passive and there is no friction. I don't like logistical assets being so vulnerable that they shape both defense (fortified backfield) and offense (precision surgical strikes) alike. As a result I have come up with some house rules I am now testing to remedy these problems. In essence I use a chit-draw impulse procedure so neither player has to wait more than a few minutes for his turn, and the defense can react to an offensive in progress. Here are my propsed rule changes for Impulse OCS or IOCS. Junk the sequence of play. The new sequence is: A. Initial Phase: Both sides get supplies and reinforcements. Both sides refit airbases. B. Bid Phase: Players bid for initiative using supply points. C. Air Superiority Phase: The "active player" gets to fly as many fighter air missions as desired. Skip if there is no active player. D. Impulse Phase: Players draw chits and conduct operations. E. Supply Phase: Both players check trace supply. All planes return to base. DG markers removed. Anti-raider rule: Rule change: if a unit moves into a hex containing an enemy airbase and/or supply dump and/or wagons/trucks, and wishes to search out and capture them, the unit must stop and end its movement for the turn in that hex. This rule makes any unit which lunges deep behind the enemy line at risk from a counterattack; it can't "jump in and jump out" on roads to snatch a supply dump while the enemy just sits there. Anti-"snapshot of supply line" rule: Rule change: If a unit captures an enemy dump, it gets 1/2 of the supply there, up to 1 SP max. The rest is removed from the map and the original owning player gets to set it back down on the map at a friendly HQ, dump or rail depot that is in trace supply at that moment at the start of next turn. This represents temporary disruption and re-routing of supplies. Similarly one truck or wagon can be captured, the rest are removed and replaced later. No surgical strikes 100 miles to the enemy rear to capture a pile of trucks. If there is only one truck in the hex, there is a 50% chance it escapes and is removed from the map. The capturing unit must stop regardless of whether the capture is successful. Trucks and wagons which escape automatically take any supply they are carrying with them. This rule is to change the model from a "snapshot of the supply line" with all assets frozen in place, into more of a real supply line with things coming and going, which can be disrupted but not caught all at one spot and destroyed with one surgical strike. Rule change: There is no Reserve mode. Reserves are in effect units which have not moved yet. Gary Robinson - 02:28pm Dec 20, 1999 PST (#81 of 99) Tallahassee, Florida - Gary's Wargaming Web Page: http://www.concentric.net/~wiggler/ Explanations of phases: A. Initial Phase: Pretty much the same as a normal OCS turn-start except it is mutual for both sides. B. Bid Phase: This phase needs to be tweaked for each game to get the numbers right. I am using Guderian's Blitzkrieg for my playtest of this system. My rule is: each side bids supply points they are willing to spend during the turn. If at least one side bids at least 10 supply points, then whoever bid higher is the Active Player. German bids are doubled for the purpose of determining who bid higher (only). If neither side bids 10 supply points or more, there is no Active Player (no planned offensive is considered to be underway). Players keep track (using supply counters) of the supply spent during the turn by the Active Player. If he does not spend at least what he bid, the difference must be removed from the map anyway and is lost. Bids represent the amount of planned activity. C. Air Superiority Phase: To prevent the Inactive Player from flying an unrealistic set of unopposed bombing missions at the start of an Active Player offensive, the Active Player is given the opportunity to fly as many air missions with friendly Fighter aircraft as desired. These missions can not result in bombing. In effect, this is a free chance for the Active Player to set up his fighters on station/conduct fighter sweeps in preparation for the offensive he (but not his opponent) knows is coming. D. Impulse Phase: The heart of the game. At the start of this phase, take a cup and fill it with chits, color-coded for the two sides, as follows: If there is an Active Player, put in 4 chits for his side for each SP he bid, and half as many chits for the Inactive Player. If there is no Active Player, put in an equal number of chits for each side equal to twice the highest bid. Example: Germany bids 10, Soviets bid 15. German bid is doubled for purposes of seeing who goes first, so Germany wins initiative. Put 4 x 10 = 40 German chits in the cup, and 20 Soviet chits in the cup, 60 total. Example: Germany bids 8, Soviets bid 5. Nobody bid 10 so there is no Active Player. Each side gets 2 x 8 = 16 chits in the cup, 32 total. Players then pull chits from the cup. Whoever's chit gets pulled, gets to do an Operation. Once the cup is empty, the turn is "mature." Refill the cup. Once the turn is mature, the Active Player may end the turn at any time by Passing twice in a row. (There can be Inactve Player ops between the Passes, they still count as "in a row" if the Active Player Passes on two of his own chit draws in a row.) Keep refilling the cup as it empties until the Active Player ends the turn by passing twice. When a unit moves, twist it 90 degrees to show it cannot move again. If it attacks, twist it to the 180 degree position to show it can neither move nor attack again, regardless of whether it has moved yet. Each time someone gets a chit, he puts it aside and gets to do an Op, as follows: 0. Pass. Do nothing at all. 1. Barrage Op: Conduct a barrage attack with any number of artillery units against one hex. Rotate the artillery units to the 180 degree position to show they have both moved and fired, whether or not they have moved. 2. Air Op: Fly an air mission against one hex. Since enemy units no longer "sit still" during your entire turn, planes must be given a greater ability to cooperate, so an air mission could consist of any number of planes from any number of bases flying to a single target hex and dropping bombs or taking up station. The planes would still fly one group at a time (if they came from different bases) for interception purposes. Planes which took up station and did not drop bombs, could do so later if they chose. Obviously air units could also fly other missions like transfers and air supply. The criterion is that there can only be one "target hex" whether it is a transfer, air supply, airdrop, bombing, taking up station etc. mission. 3. Movement Op: Move up to five ground units which all can trace to a single HQ. Multi-counter mobile divisions each count as three units if you choose to move more than two of the subunits including trucks. (Obviously if you move just one or two of them it is cheaper to treat them as individual units.) Units which move are twisted 90 degrees to indicate they may not move again. Hip shoot missions can be flown and each counts as a ground unit movement. As an example, you could move a ground unit next to an enemy, fly a hip shoot mission, then move an entire panzer division (assuming they can all trace to the same HQ) including overruns with a single Movement Op. 4. Combat Op: Conduct a ground attack with any number of units against one hex. Units which attack are twisted to the 180 degree position to show they may neither attack again nor move, regardless of whether they have moved yet. 5. Construction Op: Conduct a construction activity (airfield improvement, hedgehog, etc.) or rail move supply. ---- All the normal OCS rules would remain the same except there is no longer a Reserve mode - Reserves are simply those units you have not committed to movement or battle yet this turn. Also the hip-shoot distinction would be eliminated since it is primarily a creature of the turn sequence. If this troubles you, allow those with hip shoot capability to fly an air mission as one of their five "ground movements" during a Movement Op. This is a rough outline at this point, I am trying to keep rules changes to a minimum and simply change the sequence of play from Igo-hugo to a more interactive style. Comments welcomed. Since this system would be very suitable for solitaire play, it has the virtue of being easily testable! Let me know if you try it and think of any problems. Gary