Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week, in the eleventh article, I talked about the fifth scenario, “Purple Heart Lane”. This got us into artillery and multi-deck scenarios. All this pales in comparison to this week though, where we only have one thing to cover before our scenario: Armor. Almost every scenario from here on out will feature vehicles in some capacity so they will be important to understand.
Iron Tide
These rules apply to vehicles in general, but I will be speaking philosophically about armor specifically. I wanted armor to have a lot of personality in Firefight Tactical. It is a pet peeve of mine when I see armor in a tactical game and it is just a very high attack modifier sitting on a difficult to destroy counter. Armor should affect how both sides play, not just the enemy trying to destroy it, but also the allies trying to make use of it. All these foci tie into how vehicles work in Firefight Tactical.
The first and most obvious thing you will notice when looking at a vehicle counter is that it doesn’t have a morale value. Instead, it has two armor values, one for the front arc, and one for the flanks. Only Anti-Tank Fire actions (and Artillery Fire) have a chance of destroying vehicles at range and the chance is far better hitting them from the sides rather than head on. All Anti-Tank Fire actions list a Firepower as well as a penetration value. After a successful check, instead of making a morale check, the defending player rolls against the appropriate armor value for the vehicle, modified by the Fire Attack Success Margin (FASM) of the attack and the penetration value of the action used. If they roll under the modified armor value, the vehicle is fine, and on doubles it will valor as normal. If they roll over the value however, the vehicle is destroyed, and on doubles explodes, potentially causing morale checks to nearby units. In either case, if a vehicle is destroyed it is replaced with the Wreck terrain overlay, which can make the vehicle radically alter the tactical landscape, even after it is no longer around.
Many Flavors of Firepower
Most vehicles in the game are tanks (there may be more lighter frame vehicles as well as tank destroyers in the future), and the tanks offer multiple forms of fire for different situations. First, they have the ability to perform a standard Fire action by way of mounted MGs. Secondly, they have an Anti-Tank Fire for when they come up against other vehicles. Thirdly, and often most usefully, they have HE Fire. HE Fire works very similarly to the Sniper action, in that it targets a single infantry counter, and rolls a third die increasing the likelihood of causing casualties. Its greatest utility though is that it can be used on destructible terrain to collapse buildings like mortars do. All of these options make them far too dangerous to ignore.
Grease the Treads
One of the most dangerous aspects of vehicles is how mobile they are. This is represented in Firefight Tactical by the flip sides of the vehicle counters. Since vehicles cannot become pinned, instead the flip side denotes that the vehicle is “in motion”. The vehicle being in motion changes a lot about how it functions. Firstly, all enemy units will have a harder time hitting a vehicle that is in motion. Beyond that though, you will have a harder time hitting anyone else as well. This is still appealing when you look at the unique vehicle action Move & Shoot. This works a lot like Assault does, granting the option to fire on the move, but forces you to flip into motion. The question often becomes, when do you choose to come to stand still, temporarily making yourself a bit more vulnerable, but radically improving your chances to hit your target.
Tactical Considerations
Vehicles also come with their own status counters, that track one of two statuses they may take on. Firstly, at the beginning of an activation, tanks can choose to button up (or become unbuttoned). This makes them decidedly more difficult for infantry to close assault, but has the drawback that you cannot fire during an activation in which you changes your facing. Knowing the right time to go defensive and anticipate close assault is key here, because drastically decreasing the vehicle’s vision can sometimes render them next to useless.
The other side of the status counter tracks when vehicles become bogged down. Each vehicle has its own bog exponent next to its movement value, as do most terrain cards. Whenever a vehicle enters such a terrain card the two numbers are added together to get the bog check target, and the controlling player makes a test against it on two dice. If they roll equal to it or under, the vehicle continues its movement as normal. If it rolls over though, it becomes bogged down. This can be devastating, as a bogged down unit is flipped to stationery and must make the same check each time it attempts to move until it succeeds. Worse yet though, a bogged down unit is considered flanked by all incoming attacks. This makes terrain a serious consideration whenever you are planning the path of your vehicles through the field.
The last, and for me most important, thing that vehicles do is screen infantry. Vehicles offer a flat -2 TEM bonus to all infantry that are collocated with them. This makes them behave tactically as they should: as proper armor. They are for all intents and purposes a mobile terrain feature. They will often be used to escort infantry across poor terrain until they can get decent footing, and then cut them loose to go cause mayhem.
As you can see, vehicles bring a lot to Firefight Tactical. Once you play with them it all becomes second nature and you will never want to play without them. Now that we have covered all that, let’s move on to “Bloody Gulch”.
A Very Tight Spot
After retreating from Carentan, the German 6th Fallschrimjager Regiment was reinforced by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. The combined forces moved to counterattack Carentan from the southwest where they encountered the 506th and 501st PIR of the 101st Airborne. The Americans took heavy losses but managed to hold the line until they were reinforced by the 2nd Armored Division and 29th Infantry Division. This put the Germans on the backpedal and lead to the Americans at last securing and uniting the landing zones of Utah and Omaha beach.
Fight for Every Inch
Bloody Gulch is a unique scenario in Firefight Tactical in that the objective is based on advancing, rather than casualties or a specific terrain feature. Both sides face each other from opposite ends of the field. Whichever side has the most units past the midline of the battle grid at the end of the scenario will win. This requires that both sides make use of the armored units to lead the way and screen for the infantry. The tanks are the only significant defensive cover to be found in the battle once the units enter the field, so utilizing them properly will be key to victory.
To Carentan
Unlike the Americans, the Germans begin the scenario with armor. This isn’t a scenario for establishing good footing. You need to advance quickly, be bold with the armor, and attempt to cause casualties as quickly as possible. You have a tremendous advantage for the first half of this scenario, but it will evaporate as soon as the American 2nd Armored Division shows up. Your best hope is to make it so the damage is done before they can threaten to push you back. Remember that even in the absence of enemy tanks, your tanks can still be destroyed by close assault. Do not push too far into the enemy without infantry support or you may get overrun.
Courage Under Fire
Your only asset that can deal with those Panzers without making itself vulnerable will be your Bazookas until your tanks arrive. In truth, while possible, it is unlikely that you will take out a tank with a Bazooka here unless they get bogged down. Even so, the threat of concealed Bazookas can be almost more damaging than the real thing. Try to put some fear in the German Panzers so that they second guess advancing too quickly. If they do put themselves in a vulnerable state punish them for it immediately.
Chances are the Germans will have command of the field by the time your Shermans arrive. Then push into them hard. Even though you only have one more tank than they do (unless you destroyed one of theirs already) that is still an advantage to leverage. As soon as you take a tank down, bring up your infantry and force the Germans back before time elapses. So long as you didn’t lose too many units in the beginning you should be able to carry the day.
Urban Warfare
That is it for this week. Next week we will look at “To the Last Man, to the Last Cartridge”, our Cherbourg scenario. This one doesn’t add any new rules, but has one of my favorite objectives in the game. See you all there.
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Author: Sam London
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