Independent Fire

Rules for Skirmish Action in the 1930s and 40s

By Richard Denning

Introduction

These rules are designed to play out small to medium size skirmish actions in the Spanish Civil War and World War 2. It is intended that each side use up to 50 figures but each player should only have a small number to keep track of. Ideally several players each take about 10 figures but more can be handled by using slightly simplified rules .The rules require an umpire ideally or one player acting as umpire and controlling all of one side. Concealed movement is used.

What you need :

20mm scale figures.. Some cavalry involved as a patrol can be interesting. As for artillery I suggest 1-2 guns only - as a battery could wipe out the entire enemy force in one go. Tanks may be used but it is intended that use should be restricted to 1-2 per side. Light tanks only should be used.

The figures should be individually based.

Terrain.As appropiate

Tape measure marked in inches. ( all ranges and distances given in inches)

Percentage dice (d10).

Paper and pencil.

Scales

I figure = 1 man ,I inch = 20 yards, I move = a "short period of time!"

Troop types and missions

The umpire will determine the quality of the troops and objectives. He will brief all players. Troops may be Raw (conscripts), trained or Veterans. They may also have qualities of crackshot or strong man.

Concealed movement

No figures are placed on the table at the start. A map of the table is made for each player. This is used to keep track of movement. Only when firing begins and groups of soldiers are spotted are they placed on the table.

Move sequence

Both sides and all players move at the same time. This is done on the map until spotting has been successful and firing has begun. The umpire can be fairly flexible about allowing firing to occur at which ever point in the move the player wishes assuming they have loaded weapons (see below). In other words moves just happen with no fixed sequence. I feel umpires can be left to use common sense to decide what happens when.

Movement

Figures may either crawl , walk, jog, Sprint , aim or observe

Crawl (may fire) 1"

Walk (may fire) 2" (Cavalry 4")

Jog (may fire with reduced effect)4" (cavalry6")

Sprint (may not fire) 6" (cavalry 12")

Aim- no movement . Spend 1 move aiming (get bonus to fire)

Observe - no movement . Spend entire move with eyes peeled.

Vehicle 1/3rd Speed 5", 2/3rd Speed 10", Full speed 15".

Spotting Within 15" +20% Within 6" +30%
Target is: Firing Moving in open Stationary in open Prone/crawling in open Behind Cover
Spotter is:
Observing95% 85%65% 50%25%
Walking85% 65%55% 35%20%
Crawl/Jog65% 50%35% 20%10%
Sprint25% 25%20% 10%05%

Figures involved in melee or aiming may not roll to spot though the umpire may wish to allow them to see activity he feels they could do.

Firing

Ranges: This chart give range brackets for given weapons
Weapon Short Range Medium Range Long Range
Pistol4 68
Rifle20 4060
S.M.G10 2030
LMG20 4060
HMG30 6090
AT Rifles2 46
Direct Fire30 90180

Consult the following chart which indicates the chance of hitting a target dependant on range and target details. There are modifiers to this chance given below.
Target is: Short Medium Long Vehicle is
Standing60% 40%20% Stationary
Walking50% 30%15% 1/3 Speed
Jogging40% 20%10% 2/3 Speed
Sprint30% 15%5% Full speed
Crawl10% 1%-10% N/A
Soft Cover30% 15%5% Soft cover
Hard Cover20% 10%0% Hard Cover

Rifle and pistol fire once, SMG fire twice, LMG fire 3 times , HMG fire 4 times in a move.

Modifiers

Novice Firing -20%

Veteran Firing +20%

Crack shot firing +5%

Snap Fire -10%

Firing Walking,1/3 Speed Vehicle -10%

Firing Crawling, -30%

Firing Jogging 2/3Speed Vehicle -40%

Firing with light wound -20%

Firing with serious wound -40%

Crouching in open -20%

Effect of Hit:

The concept of this chart is that when the player rolled to hit the lower the roll under that required the better the hit. Thus if the figure needed 80% and roll 78 he has 'just' hit. A roll of 5 would be a dam good hit.

Look across the horizontal row of tens . Find the score the player needed(or the nearest higher one). Then look down that column and find the score he actually rolled . Always round up to next highest roll. Then find the letter on the left that corresponds . The meaning of this is given after the table.
Wound 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
A 11 23 45 67 89 10
B 22 46 810 1214 1618 20
C 33 69 1215 1821 2427 30
D 44 812 1620 2428 3236 40
E 55 1015 2025 3035 4045 50
F 6 1218 2430 3642 4854 60
G 7 1421 2835 4249 5663 70
H 8 1624 3240 4856 6472 80
I 9 1827 3645 5463 7281 90
J 10 2030 4050 6070 8090 100

e.g. Player needed 40 . He rolled 31. Looking down the 40 column we find 31 in the G row.

A. Hit in heart. Dead. (in case of melee neck broken)

  1. Chest hit renders him unconscious . Will die unless gets attention in 6 rounds( medic roll 10% per turn to recover)
  2. Serious wound to right arm. Stunned 2 turns . Then cannot use Right arm. May only fire 1 handed weapon.
  3. Serious wound to abdomen . Unconscious 2 turns. Then may not move .Can only fire from prone.
  4. Serious leg wound . Cannot walk . Stunned 2 turns .
  5. Light head wound due to glancing blow to temple. Unconscious 2 turns .
  6. Light chest wounded. Knocked down. Stunned 1 turns.(Takes 1 turn to get up)
  7. Light right arm wound. Stunned 1 turn .
  8. Light left arm wound . Stunned 1 turn.
  9. Light Thigh wound. Cannot sprint or Jog.

2 Light wounds = 1 serious

2 Serious = Dead.

Stunned opponents may not fire but may melee at a deduction.

AT Fire

Roll in firing table is chance to hit tank. Reroll for effect of hit.

Check gun can penetrate armour(These a tables are simple for quick play)

AP penentration Figure in chart is class of armour that can be penetrated

Gun 5" 10" 20" 50" 100"

20mm 4 5 6

37mm 4 5 6 6

45mm 4 4 5 6

50mm L42 3 4 4 5 6

50mm L60 3 3 4 4 5

57mm 6Pdr 3 3 3 4 4

75mm L24 4 4 4 5 6

75mm L43/48 1 2 3 3 4

75mm L70 1 1 2 2 3

Gun 5" 10" 20" 50" 100"

76.2mm 1 2 2 3 3

85mm 1 1 2 2 3

88mm L 56 1 1 2 2 3

88mm L71 1 1 1 2 2

90mm 1 1 2 2 3

100mm 1 1 1 2 2

122mm 1 1 1 1 2

128mm 1 1 1 1 1

Armour class

At present I have included only early tanks

Figure in chart defines Armour

Front Flank Rear

German

Pz I 6 6 6

PzII 5 6 6

Pz III 5 5 5

Pz IVD 4 5 5

British

Mk IV 6 6 6

Matilda I 3 4 4

Matilda 2 2 3 4

A10 5 6 6

A13 5 6 6

Russian

T 26 5 6 6

Bt5 6 6 6

Italian

M13 5 6 6

All other Italian 6 6 6

French

Char B 2 3 4

Renault 5 6 6

Note angled shot between 30 and 60 of tank surface count 1 class higher class.

Effect of hit

1-2 Track hit (re roll 1-4 Max half speed, 5+ to blow of track) 3-6 Hull compartment hit (re roll 1-3 crew stunned 1 move and count as light wounded , 4-6 Crew stunned 2 moves and count as serious wound , 7+ Fuel tank explosion BOOM! ) 7 -10 Turret hit (re roll 1-2 Traverse mechanism hit and disabled, 3-5 crew stunned 1 move and count as light wounded , 6-7 Crew stunned 2 moves and count as serious wound , 8+ ammunition explosion BOOM! )

Artillery Fire

Artillery/Mortar . Use template 3" by 3". Marked 1-9 . Roll a d10 . 0 is a miss. Other rolls hit the square. Any one in square may be injured. Re roll d100 0-25 no effect 26-50 Light wound 51-75 Serious wound 76+ Dead . (Light mortar fire 3 times -20% to effect, medium mortar and light artillery [upto 75mm] 2 times -10%, Heavy mortar and medium artillery[76mm - 105mm] 1 time , Heavy artillery [106mm+ ] fire once + 20%.

Direct fire roll (in firing table) is chance to hit area aimed at . Burst radius for artillery shell is 2". Any one within range rerolls 0-25 no effect 26-50 Light wound 51-75 Serious wound 76+ Dead.

Grenade . Range 4" To hit target 6+. If miss 1d3 inches out in direction decided 1-2 left, 3-4 Right, 5-7 Under, 8-10 Over. Burst radius 1". Reroll as above. (count as medium artillery)

Molotov cocktail. To hit stationary 60%, Moving upto 2/3 Speed 30%, Moving 2/3rd speed + 15%.

Dud on 25%.

Then roll as Tank hit. For infantry hit reroll for effect treating as light artillery.

Artillery as a target

If an artillery battery is fired upon by enemy artillery the crew may be casualties . The piece may also be hit by the explosion . If in the burst radius of the shell reroll a d10 .If the piece is defended by an emplacement use dm of -2. If his roll 1 d10 1-5 no effect 6-7 damaged May not fire for 2 turns then count as light wound. wheel.7-9 Heavily damaged may not fire for 4 turns then count as serious wound. 10: Piece destroyed.

If firing on gun with armour piercing shells count as hard cover to hit then reroll as above.

lee

Weapon value : This defines how well armed the figure is.

  1. Unarmed
  2. Club/ musket butt./ dagger.
  3. Sword.
  4. Fixed bayonet

On this chart cross reference the WV to find a figures chance of hitting opponent.
\enemy

Own

1 2 3 4
150% 40%30% 20%

2
60%
50%
40%
30%
370% 60%50% 40%
480% 70%60& 50%

Modifiers : Attack from rear +20%, light wound -10%, serious wound -20%, Hard cover -20%.

Strong man +10%. Per additional friend attacking same enemy +10% . Opponent Stunned +10%, self stunned -10%.

Quality of opponents . Adjust chance of inflicting a hit by comparing attacker and defenders quality.
\enemy

Own

VeteranTrained Raw
Veteran- +10%+20%

Trained
-10%
-
+10%

Raw
-20%
-10%
-

Effect of hits is worked out on casualty chart just as for fire arm hits.

Morale

This is a simple check made when ever the umpire feels significant losses have occurred in a given turn i.e. 20% or more. Alternatively casualties have risen to 33% or higher morale should be checked.

Roll > 50%

Modifiers to roll veterans +20%, Raw -20%, > 50% with wounds -20% , Per 20% casualties -10%, Outnumbered 2:1 or higher - 20%.

If passed carry on . Fail buy < 25% fall back on cover will defend. Fail >25% run away.