Foreward

This page contains a number of optional rules which have not yet been incorporated into the main FireForce rules. These may be rules which have not yet been sufficiently playtested to add to the main rules (e.g. the night rules), rules which are not necessarily suited to larger actions (e.g. ammunition) or section s which are applicable only to a few scenarios (such as the rules for dogs and Special Forces). Rules in the forst category might eventually find their way into the main rules when they are sufficiently advanced, others will remain here.

The Optional Rules

Defensive Fire

A squad may be placed in overwatch. If so it cannot move and must be motivated. Troops may fire as normal in their own phase. Troops in overwatch can fire at enemy troops whilst they move in the enemy's phase. They may only fire once in that phase, and they must declare firing as the enemy moves; once a new squad has been activated the preceding squad can't be shot at (i.e. if they move a squad and you don't fire at it, then they move a second squad, you can't fire at the first one).

Night Actions

Normal Visibility

Visibility at night is reduced to 40" on clear moonlit nights, 25" on clear nights with no moon, and down to 10" on overcast nights. No firing is allowed at targets outside these ranges unless they are illuminated or revealed by some other method.

Illumination

Troops who fire weapons are partially illuminated and can be seen up to 60".

Flares burn for 3 turns and fully illuminate anything within 5". Line of Sight at night is blocked if it passes within 5" of a flare.

Night Vision scopes allow targets to be spotted out to Line of Sight.

Shooting

The number of fire doce rolled is halved at night in addition to any other modifiers.

Ammunition

Given the chance most players would blaze ammo away at a prestigious rate. However, life ain't as simple as that - a soldier can only carry so much ammo. To reflect this use this optional ammunition rule.

Each squad carries enough ammunition for 10 turns of normal firing (or adjust the numbers depending on the scenario). Each turn that more than 1/3 of the current number of figures within the squad engage in Aimed Fire uses 1 turn of ammo. Each turn that more than 1/3 of the current number of figures within the squad engage in Prophylactic Fire uses 2 turns of ammo. When all ten turns of ammo have been used the Squad is "Low on Ammunition" - halve the number of dice rolled for firing from now on. The number of grenades, LAWs, RPGs and other expendables should also be recorded and kept track of (and of course numbers should be strictly limited!).

Dogs

Dogs must be allocated to specific figures (their handlers). Dogs will detect any hidden enemy troops within 4". Dogs may be commanded by their handlers to attack any figure within 6". The dog goes into Close Combat with the figure and receives a +3 modifier. If the figure loses the combat by 3 or more they are killed (if the dog is trained to kill) or wrestled to the ground and forced to surrender to the handler. Dogs are treated as any other figure for the purposes of gunfire, blast etc.

Flamethrowers

Flamethrowers attack all figures and vehicles within a cone extending 5" from the flemathrower and 3" wide. All figures and vehicles within this cone make saving throws as normal, except there are no modifiers applied to the roll.

Special Forces (via Hollywood - very optional!!)

This section covers the elite of the elite - SAS, SBS, Spetznaz, SEALs etc. SpecFors should only be used for those very special scenarios....

Special Forces troops do not roll for Motivation. They are always treated as Elite wherever this would atract positive modifiers to die rolls. They may fire weapons of LMG size or smaller on the move provided they move no more than half their maximum move for the terrain they are in. When firing on the move halve the number of fire dice in addition to any other modifiers. They receive a +4 modifier in Close Combat.

Sensors

A number of different sensors were introduced during the Vietnam war and have become widespread in their use since then. These include seismic detectors, ground surveillance radars and vision enhancing systems (which will be covered in the Night rules). These rules work best when the services of an umpire are available.

1) Seismic

The position of seoismic sensors such as ADSID should be noted on a map at the start of the game. An ADSID sensor will detect movement within 3". It is only capable of telling whether something is moving nearby, not what it is or now many there are (although clues may be given by the duration of the detection). Notice of any movement is passed back to a central command post (possibly an aircraft, a receiving station in a firebase, etc.). Whether or not this information is immedately available to the troops on the ground depends on the scenario, but in most cases a successful communications roll will be needed for the information to be passed

2) Ground Surveillance Radar (GSR)

GSR detects all vehicle targets out to Line of Sight (and through soft cover) and moving infantry targets out to 50" (but limited by LOS as before)

3) Tripwires

A cross between a sensor and a booby trap. Tripwires connected to flares are treated in all respects as booby traps except that, when "detonated" a flare ignites, revealing the presence of moving troops nearby. See the Night rules above for efects of flares.

Geoff Titchener's Additional Rules

Geoff Titchener of QRF was kind enough to send me some more optional rules that his team of players have used:

Artillery Fire

Ok, the first step is calling it in. It is approved on a 6+, in which case it arrives in the artillery phase of the FOLLOWING turn. You then provide an Intended Point of Aim and declare whether you wish a single ranging shell, or just to go for it and fire the battery (6 guns) for effect!

The Intended Point of Aim has to be guessed, as a distance and bearing from a fixed point (e.g. 080 degrees, 20 inches from Hill 151). Mark the intended point of aim.

Now the messy bit - it deviates from this Intended Point of Aim by (1d6-1)x3" which should generate a number from 0 to 15". This is now the Actual Point of Aim.

The shells then deviate from the ACTUAL Point of Aim, each one landing in a random direction (use 1d12 clock face, or I use a Games Workshop deviation dice
with the arrows) (1d6-1)x2" away, thus you get a spread of anything up to 10 inches around the point. Guns up to 105mm use a 2" radius (that's a 4" circle!) and over this size use a 3" radius!!

Any figures fully of partially under a blast area make a saving throw, but only 1 saving throw even if under more than one shell. Thus a trained troop in the jungle who gets shelled by a whole battery of 6, and the poor sod is unlucky enough to catch all 6 of them, still only makes 1 saving throw of 4+ (1d10). A roll of 10 will pin him for a turn (buries his head and hopes for the best!) and consequently could see him fail his motivation and head back to the nearest cover out of the fire zone!

If the observer can actually see where the shell lands, he can, in the following turn, request the fire (Actual Point of Aim) is moved "Up 5, left 7" or whatever. This moves the Actual Point of Aim marker, but the individual shells still deviate from that point.

For every subsequent turn of firing on the same Point of Aim, the shell deviation is reduced by 1, thus the shells will all slowly start to fall much closer and eventually on the intended target.

Civilians

Civilians can be a real problem when you are trying to fight an enemy, and are a major morale problem to many nations. Any civilians within 3" of a squad count as being "caught up" in that squads action, and are potential targets when allocating hits to the squad. If you wish to have "active" civilians, they should move away from the direction of any fire at a rate of 1d6 per turn. For ease of operation, only move civilians within 6" of a squad that is giving or receiving fire.

Civilian buildings may be damaged by any HE fire and air strikes.

Wood, mud or other soft constructions will catch fire if hit by an HE shell and roll 5+ on 1d10. Deduct 1 from the dice roll if it is raining. Add 2 if hit by an air strike. Fire will spread smoke just like a smoke shell, i.e. extending 3" downwind on the turn it is placed, extending to 6" on the following turn, and blocking LOS.

Brick or concrete buildings will not burn, but can be damaged by tank or HE shells. They will blast a hole equivalent to their radius across (note, radius not diameter) in a hard wall. Grenades are fragmentation and will not destroy hard walls. Anyone behind the wall must make a saving throw as if in the open with no modifiers.

Wild Animals (aka "Don't get outta the boat!")

This was put in, to cover some special situations. It is recommended that this be a real random encounter, run by an umpire, and only at very special occasions when it is necessary to 'spice up the game'!

Figures moving through dense and unpopulated terrain, such as jungle or swamp, may attract the attention of an aggressive wild animal - in particular lions, tigers or crocodiles, depending on the terrain!

It will appear on a roll of 1 on 1d10, 8+1d6" away in a random direction, but never outside of the terrain in which it was activated i.e. it may be on the edge, but not outside. There will never be (subject to umpire's whim!) more than 1 wild animal on the table.

The animal will move 1d6" towards the nearest target. It will always move directly after the figures it is tracking. However it will move 2d6" away from the sound of gunfire (so at least you can scare it away!) If it gets over 30" from any figures, it will vanish. It it gets within 8" of a figure, it will charge 2d6" towards that figure. If it reaches it, the wild animal will fight a close combaat round at +3. It it makes a kill, it will remain there and eat its meal, or drag it away at 1d6" per turn. If it fails it will continue to fight. If it fails by 3 or more, it will run off 2d6". If shot at, it has a saving throw of 9+.