Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 16:55:12 +0200 From: A.Bouis Subject: Landships variants Gang, Here are a few variants for Landships you may be willing to experiment in... Any (welcome) comments, please e-mail me personally. Arnaud. dev24@bos.wtk.suresnes.marben.fr -------------------------------- Variants for LANDSHIPS! ALTERNATE SMALL ARMS COMBAT RESULTS TABLE (SACRT) I have always found it strange that the elimination of units be solely dependent on their morale, in a war where bullets made no difference between Green and Elite troops. Admittedly there are some justifications for involving morale in unit elimination (unit cohesion), but during WWI, small units were destroyed by fire more than at any other previous times. I prefer the idea of low-morale units routing. The second problem with the LANDSHIPS! SACRT is that it never yields more than a "H" morale check. Units with a morale of "5" can go through a hail of bullets with only a tiny chance of elimination. This really bothered me. To correct these defects, I propose the following (somewhat bloodier) SACRT: Die Roll Fire Strength Hitting Hex 2-4 5-8 9-15 16-22 23-29 30+ 1- H3 H4 E E E E 2 H2 H3 H4 H4 E E 3 - H2 H3 H4 H4 E 4 - - H2 H3 H3 H4 5 - - - H2 H2 H3 6 - - - - H2 H2 7 - - - - - H1 8+ - - - - - - The usual SACRT terrain modifiers apply. E : All units in hex are eliminated H#: each unit in hex rolls a die. If die <= #, unit eliminated; otherwise, if the (same) die > the unit's morale, units is pinned and retreats two hexes; if die <= morale, unit is pinned. NON-AUTOMATIC PIN REMOVAL Instead of the player regaining control of his troops automatically, I should like to make the "pin" effect more of a nuisance. During your Pin Removal Phase, roll a die for each STACK of pinned units: 1-2 : all units in hex become unpinned. 3-5 : all units in hex remain pinned 6 : all units in hex stay pinned, OR (if using Infantry Heroism) roll on the Infantry Heroism table INFANTRY HEROISM To give FT's and CT's unusual reactions (I love the ASL "Heat of Battle" rule), roll on the following table, the result of which affects ALL the units in the stack: Infantry Heroism Table Die Roll Result 1 Charge ! 2 Hardening 3 Demoralization 4 Retreat 5 Panic 6 Surrender Charge : become unpinned. CT units must charge the nearest enemy CT/FT unit; FT units must move towards nearest enemy CT/FT by the shortest (in MP) path, until they eliminate it in Close Assault, at which time the effect ceases. Hardening : become unpinned and replace every unit in the affected stack by a unit of the same type with a moral one higher, if such a unit is available. Demoralization : same as above but with morale one lower. Retreat : stay pinned and retreat two hexes. Panic : become unpinned and move without firing towards a friendly mapedge by the shortest (in MP) path until beyond direct fire range of all enemy units. Surrender: If any enemy unit is within 5 hexes, Elimination. Otherwise, become unpinned. OPTIONAL ARTILLERY RULES Guns never acted as independent indirect-firing units. The game allows unrealistic control of each gun as an independent "fire module". The following rules aim at bringing more historicity. - To be able to lay indirect fire, ART guns must be set up in groups of at least three pieces in the same hex (guns were normally not dispersed over hundreds of yards, so their crews could be able to communicate at all). Such groups (called "batteries") must be declared prior to game's start. There may be more than one battery per hex. Adjust scenario set-up if necessary. AT guns are not subject to this rule. Any ART gun not part of a battery may not perform indirect fire. - During the barrage phase, all guns in a battery must be targeted together at the same hex, same type of ammo and barrage (they must be part of the same fire mission). Not all guns have to fire however. HIDDEN FO's To avoid abusive shooting of FO's in a scenario, use the following rule : * A FO can be set up hidden on the map (mark his location on a paper). * An FO is revealed (placed on the map) only if he moves within spotting range of an enemy or an enemy unit enters his hex. * An FO still takes the effects of any fire directed against his hex (reveal it and resolve fire effects if any "H" result ensues). * Aircraft never reveal hidden FO's. TANK BREAKDOWN LANDSHIPS! tanks break down at an incredible rate. Should you, like me, find this exaggerated, roll a second die while rolling for Tank Breakdown. On an even result, ignore the possible breakdown result provoked by the regular die. TANKS AS COVER Rule 8.23 says tanks block LOS. This I find unrealistic, given a hex is 100-meters large. To better reflect normal behaviour of infantry, which would "stick" just behind (not hundreds of meters) tanks to get cover, use this rule: - Tanks no longer block LOS - Any CT or FT units in a hex with a tank benefit from a +1 protective DRM on the SACRT.