by Evan Yoak and Joe Chacon

Last time we shot, this time we’ll move, next time we’ll communicate. Erm, we’ll shoot this time, too. Maybe communicate as well. Heck, we’re just going to do it all!

That said, we’re not going to cover movement in Decisive Action in any great depth since, if you’ve ever played a hex-and-counter game before (pretty likely if you’re reading a wargaming blog), you already know what’s going on. Instead, we’ll talk about two features that are different from your standard hex-and-counter fare.

The first unique feature involves the need to choose the general formation type that each of your units is in at any time. Units can be in either column mode or deployed mode. The former is, well, a column, in which the soldiers or vehicles are lined up to allow for speedier movement. The latter is when the soldiers or vehicles are arrayed tactically in anticipation of combat. Each movement type—leg, wheeled, and tracked—has two columns on the Terrain Effects Chart (TEC), one for column mode and one for deployed mode. The column rates are much more generous than the deployed rates, and furthermore, you can only use roads if in column. This limitation is particularly important because vehicles can only enter certain terrain types like Woods and Mountain on a road, so they must be in column to enter such hexes.

“Ok,” you ask, “why would I ever leave column then? It sounds great!” Au contraire mon frere, it is indeed great for moving, but it’s terrible for fighting. Units in column suffer a -2 penalty to any attacks they make because it is more difficult to get all the platoon’s guns to bear if they are all lined up behind one another; furthermore, enemies shooting at units in column get a +3 bonus because it is a lot easier to hit targets when they are lined up like in a shooting gallery. If you’ll recall from last time we talked, you’re looking to roll under your modified Fire Power on a d20, so +3 Fire Power is a Pretty Big Deal.

The crux of the matter is that changing from one mode to another ain’t cheap. Infantry are flexible, so they can change modes at low or no cost, but vehicles require 3 movement points (MPs) to enter and 2 MPs to exit column mode. Considering that 3 MPs is a third or more of most vehicles’ movement allowance, the decision to change modes is like moving in with your significant other: you’re not married, but it’s a bit of a commitment.

To further illustrate the importance of the decision, look at a lonely BMP-2 platoon who wants to set forth on a great journey across the Suwalki Gap. In column, a BMP-2 can cross almost the entire Suwalki map in just three turns, though of course if it does that in the face of opposition, it’ll probably get blown to smithereens. By comparison, if the BMP platoon attempted the same route in deployed mode—moving slowly to engage targets, trying to maintain a tactical formation and stay alive using micro terrain for any cover—it would have a much better chance of surviving the excursion, but it would take nearly eleven turns.

On a tactical level, if you exit column too early, it’ll take you an extra turn or more to get into firing position; on the other hand, if you exit column too late, you might win a turret toss contest. In sum, the management of movement modes in the game provides a lot of interesting tactical micro-decisions.

Lights, Camera, Action (Now Don’t Move)

The other feature in Decisive Action’s movement system is that sometimes you can’t move. That is, activation cards dictate the possible actions that units can take, not every activation card allows for every action, and not every action allows for movement.

We’ll cover the whole activation system in the next installment or two, but for now it’s enough to know that each company has one activation card shuffled into the activation deck, and each battalion and brigade also has one activation card for all of their respective independent units. Independents can choose any action, but company units can only choose actions listed on the specific activation card that’s drawn, each of which lists a subset of the available actions. These actions include:

• Fire – shoot up to two times with no penalties; no moving
• Move – move up to full MPs; no shooting
• Fire and Maneuver – fire up to one time with a penalty, move up to half MPs
• Assault – closing to fight at point blank range
• Rally – recovering from Suppressed or Broken

The formation activation cards represent the company’s tactical mission and doctrine. So for example, the Russians’ Defend activation card lists the Fire and Rally actions, so when that card is drawn for its company, the units in the company can either deliberately engage targets or rally and reorganize, but they won’t be able to move. On the other hand, the Russian Pre-Battle card provides Move and Rally actions, so no deliberate shots may be taken.

Opportunity Fire

What makes this all work cohesively is opportunity fire. Not only does Decisive Action have the typical movement-based opportunity fire, it also allows for opportunity fire against enemy fire itself. This scheme means that, even if a unit takes a Move action and can’t fire of its own volition, it can still get its two shots in by responding to enemies, whether they’re shootin’ or scootin’. A tank that Moves and is attacked by opportunity fire, for example, can respond in kind (if it survives, of course), or an infantry platoon that shoots once as it Fires and Maneuvers can still get its second shot in later via opportunity fire.

Opportunity works this way because there is a lot going on in a 15-minute game turn that is done one step at a time but is supposed to represent simultaneous action. A chance to conduct opportunity fire is in addition to what the platoon is trying to accomplish with its own mission. A miss during opportunity fire doesn’t just represent poor tank gunnery. It also represents that one or more parts of the platoon did not see the enemy, is too busy doing what they are supposed to be doing, or couldn’t turn their turrets fast enough to engage the enemy.

Nonetheless, the Fire and Fire and Maneuver actions play a critical role because often you will need to select your targets deliberately: opportunity fire is not always opportune, if you know what I mean. Furthermore, opportunity fire imposes a -2 Fire Power penalty, and if that op fire is against a moving target, there’s another -1 Fire Power penalty. Fire and Maneuver involves similar penalties (-2 penalty for a moving firer), so it’s on par with opportunity fire, but Fire actions involve none of these penalties. Thus your best shots will be with Fire actions, when you can get them.

Slow and Steady (and Planning Ahead)

I’ll close with an inside secret for those of you who managed to slog through the last thousand words (or for those who scrolled to the bottom to see if this windbag would stop blithering and say something exciting at the end). The secret knowledge is that movement in Decisive Action tends to be deliberate in practice. Sure, you could sprint across the map in a few turns in theory as discussed, but a lot of the time your units will be in deployed mode with the slow off-road movement rates (i.e., moving cross country trying to maintain a line, wedge, or echelon right formation rather than moving strung out along the road). Or it will be raining or snowing, and every hex takes an extra movement point. And so on. Another simultaneous action that is factored into the movement and contributes to its deliberate nature is the loading and unloading of soldiers and towed weapons from vehicles, which takes half of both the loader’s and loadee’s MPs. Likewise, entering cover takes half MPs. So a platoon of Bradleys that takes a Fire and Maneuver action (half MP allowance) can spend its fifteen minute turn stopping, dropping the ramps, and letting its platoon of infantry pile out and reform into squads to fight as an effective dismounted platoon, but that’s it movement-wise.

Such deliberate movement may sound dull, but in fact it makes things more exciting by forcing the player to face up to a lot of interesting decisions. It also makes sense: the reality of getting hit and having your crew or troops killed every time you crawl over a hill or poke your tank out of a woodline is a strong incentive to tread carefully. Finally, these mechanics encourage planning: rather than mandate that you follow your plan via written orders, Decisive Action strongly suggests that you plan ahead since you can’t all of a sudden decide, for example, to load A Company back up in their vehicles and jet off across the battlefield if you decide that attacking Hotdog Hill was an error and that Mustard Mound looks much lovelier.

But planning is another topic for another day.

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Previous Articles:
Roots of Decisive Action, by Joseph Chacon with Evan Yoak
Decisive Action: Fire Combat, by Joseph Chacon with Evan Yoak