Combat
Combat needed to be simple and fast with both players involved at all times. The attacker rolls to hit and the defender rolls to see how his unit reacts. The defender may be forced back and suppressed from a good attack without any further dice rolls.
Combat uses the unit’s Combat Dice versus the target’s Reaction Dice in a simple opposed roll. The Target Number (TN) is adjusted according to circumstances such as range, angle of attack and movement. Each combat hit causes a point of Disruption. When a unit’s Disruption equals its Cohesion (3 for most units) it’s Dispersed and removed from the table. Disruption Points can be rallied with Command Dice.
Suppression
Morale checks are built into the combat system. When the enemy rolls one or more 6s with their Combat Dice, the target unit may become suppressed. For each 6 rolled, the target unit needs to roll at least as many 6s when he makes his Reaction Check to avoid being suppressed. Suppressed units may also be Forced Back. Once suppressed, units cannot be included in a Command Group, and cannot use Opportunity Fire. Suppression can be easily removed with a Command Dice, but this reduces the number available for orders.
Fire at any Time
Units can fire at any time during a turn. They can fire during your Command Pulse or use opportunity fire in an opponent’s Pulse. When a unit fires, a fire marker is placed next to it to indicate that it cannot fire again until next turn. Activated units can move and fire, fire then move, or move and reserve their fire to use as opportunity fire. As firing is so flexible, when to fire becomes a tactical decision rather than something you have to do because you activated a unit. Fast units can move forward ready to use Opportunity Fire on any enemy that appears. As you can always hold fire until the enemy moves his units, Combat HQ provides lots of tactical choices.
Movement
Movement is important in a World War Two Game. Vehicles should be able to cross the table rapidly moving into flanking positions, and threatening enemy positions. Medium speed vehicles move 6”+1D6”. If they are given a triple move this adds up to 18”+3D6” for a potential 36” move. Fast vehicles are even quicker with a triple move adding up to 18”+6D6” for a potential move of 48”. With these movement distances infantry transported in trucks and carriers can be moved forward rapidly to follow up behind attacking armour or used to take vital objectives.
Reserves
Any units held off-table in reserve may enter the table and make a triple move. They are unable to fire in the Command Pulse they enter on, but are free to fire in later Command Pulses. It makes sense to have part of your force off-table ready to exploit any breakthroughs or to plug any breakthroughs by your opponent. The placement of units is also very important. As well as fighting enemy units on table you also need to reduce the enemy’s ability to move freely across the battlefield.
Army Morale
Each army has a pool of Morale Points that are reduced each time a unit is Dispersed. You lose the game when your Morale Points are reduced to zero.
