Paulo Migliacci - 01:06am Apr 20, 2003 PST (#606 of 606) We have developed a somewhat simple house rule for OCS surprise rolls. The procedure is, after computing strength ratio, both attacker and defender roll, each, a six-sided die for surprise against their lead units' AR. A unit's Surprise Rating equals its AR, but is modified as follows: Attacker: + 1 for surprise rolls during overrun combat. + 1 for surprise rolls by an armor, mech or recon lead unit against a move mode unit that is not armor, mech or recon, in open terrain, during regular combat. Defender: + 1 for surprise rolls during regular combat and for units in open terrain during overrun combat. + 2 for surprise rolls during overrun combat by combat mode units in close or higher terrain. - 1 for surprise rolls by a DG unit. A roll that is equal to or lower than a unit's Surprise Rating allows surprise, except that a roll of 6 only counts for one side when the other side fails its check. If both sides pass their Surprise rolls, neither gets surprise. If one side pass and the other doesn't, the side that achieved surprise shifts the combat ratio a number of columns equal to its die roll. Examples: A German infantry unit with an AR of 4 attacks a Soviet infantry unit with an AR of 2 during regular combat. The SR for the German unit is 4 (unmodified AR), the Soviet is 3 (AR of 2 plus 1 for being the defender in a regular combat). The German rolls a three, the Soviet a five. The German achieves surprise, and ajusts the combat three columns in his favor (per his die roll). Another combat: a Soviet tank brigade with an AR of 4 overruns an AR 3 move mode German Infantry unit in open terrain. The Soviet SR is 5 (AR 4 plus 1 for overrun), the German SR is 4 (AR 3 + 1 for defending). Germans roll 3, Soviets roll 2. Since both passed their surprise rolls, no shift occurs. A third example: A German AR5 panzer battalion is overruning a Soviet move mode AR 2 division in open terrain. SRs are 6 (AR 5 + 1 overrun) for the German and 3 (AR 2 + 1 defense) for the Soviet. The German rolls 6 and the Soviet rolls 2. Since the Soviet side passed its roll, the German 6 is discarded and the German fails. The result is a two-column shift for the Soviets. If the Soviet roll was 4 or higher, the 6 rolled by the German wouldn't be discarded, and the German would get a six-column shift. This house rule ties the chances of surprise to a unit's Action Rating more closely, i.e., the higher the unit's AR, the bigger the shift it can achieve (up to a maximum of six shifts, achievable only by AR 5 units during overruns). A unit with AR 0 can still achieve surprise, by passing its surprise roll while the opponent doesn't pass his, but the biggest shift available would be two columns (an AR 0 unit rolling for surprise as a defender during an overrun). The house rule would mean that an overrun by a German Pz battalion with an AR of 5 against a combat mode Soviet Inf Div with an AR of 2 in open terrain would have the German unit passing its Surprise Roll five or six out of six times (AR 5 + 1 for overrun, with a roll of 6 conditionally failing) while the Soviet unit would have a 50% chance of passing its roll. Under the official rules, the attacker would get an overrun around 70% of the time. As for the defender, his chances of surprise would be around 8%. As for shifts, they would be randomly decided from one to six-columns worth. It is not as difficult as my bad English might make it sound, I swear, and it works nicely.