Gents
A pre-battle reconnaissance system has just struck me, that would
allow for an attacker to have some prior knowledge of what he is
coming up against.
At the start of a game there is a facility for each force to dice for
how many blinds it has. This could also be used to allocate an
attacker a certain number of pre-deployment spotting attempts. This
would reflect how much prior knowledge they have of their opponent.
For example as this chart currently stands good regulars have 1D6
number blinds. Equally this could also reflect how many spotting
attempts they get before deciding on where to attack.
This would need to be adjusted for circumstances. For example…..
The force is strong in dedicated recce troops +2
The force has dedicated aerial recce to mission +1
The force has faced this enemy in relatively static
positions for a week or more. +2
The contact is relatively unexpected -2
The contact is entirely unexpected -4
Let us presume we have an element of 7 Panzer post the Meuse
crossing, so driving like hell through northern France. The force in
question may or may not benefit from aerial recce, depending on its
mission. Let's assume it doesn't as this would apply in most
circumstances. It does, however, have a good recce troops so gets a
+2 there. Whilst contact is expected somewhere, this may come at any
point, so becomes "relatively unexpected", a +2, giving us a net
result of 1D6.
On the tabletop the defender allocates troops as usual. The attacker
would sketch out a general plan at this stage, however, before
finally allocating his troops the attacker then rolls his D6. He
rolls a 4. He now has four "spots" on the table before deciding on
his plan.
For every spot the attacker rolls one dice. If the target area,
which would be 1 foot square (?) is within a foot of the point (or
any point if multiple) of attackers table entry the spot is
automatic. If it is between 1 and 2 feet a 2 or more is needed on a
D6; between 2 and 3 feet, a 3 or more is required, up to between 5
and 6 feet where a 6 is required.
For each unit "spotted" a blind is put down on the table. The
attacker then rolls a D6 for each of these blinds, and on a 6 the
actual defending figures are put down. This reflects that the recce
forces will more generally identify where an enemy is, rather than
what he is.
The attacker, with his fresh knowledge, may have five minute to then
finalise his plans (after all contact has now been made, the enemy
are alerted). For every minute over this five taken the defender may
remove one of the spotted blinds and deploy elsewhere. A rather
nasty device to get the game started on time.
Any thoughts?
