BAPTISM OF FIRE III WW2 SKIRMISH. Sample file. Written by Gordon Roach, 2009 V.1.0. Copyright 2009 Gordon Roach, TFP Games v1.0

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1 BAPTISM OF FIRE III WW2 SKIRMISH Written by Gordon Roach, 2009 V.1.0

2 0. Contents 1. Introduction The Books Design Behind the Game What Do I Need To Play? Setting Up The Game Orders 9 2. The Men Who are those guys? Leaders Checks What are Checks? 3.1 Performing a Check 4. Turn Sequence Turn Sequence 4.1 Activation Deck Used Multi-Player Games 4.4 Motivation Cards Command Points What are Command points? 5.1 How many CP do I have? 5.2 What do CP do? 6. Actions What are Actions 6.1 Actions & Command Points 6.2 Actions Unit Formations Formations 7.1 Command Ranges 8. Resolving Hits Casualty Resolution 8.1 Knocked-Down Fatigue 9. Morale Morale 9.1 Inflicted Morale Checks Commander Leading 9.3 Making the Morale Check 9.4 Interpreting & Applying Morale Results Motivation Movement Movement 10.1 Turning & Facing 10.2 Moving Obstacles & Rough Terrain Command Points & Movement 11. Vision & Cover Line of Sight (LoS) 11.1 Vision Arcs 11.2 Reduced Visibility 11.3 Cover Cover & Hiding 11.5 Binoculars & Scopes 12. Combat Combat 12.1 Basics of Direct Fire 12.2 Grenades 12.3 Direct Fire Templates Close Combat Flamethrowers Assault Demolition Charges Anti-Tank Combat Anti-Tank Combat 13.1 Shooting at Vehicles 13.2 Vehicle Protection Vehicle Damage 14. Crewed Weapons Crew 14.1 Crew Optional Weapons 14.2 Crew Served Weapons 15. Vehicles Vehicle Types 15.2 Vehicles & Morale 15.3 Mobility Types 15.4 Vehicle Movement Crew Vehicle Protection 15.6 Vision 15.7 Vehicle Features Vehicle Weapon Firing Arcs Terrain & Combat 16.0 Terrain & Combat 16.1 Targeting Terrain 17. Communications 17.0 Types of Communication 18. Scenaro # Scenaro # Starting Army Lists...76 Quick Reference Material

3 1. Introduction 1.0 Baptism of Fire III It seems a long time ago that I first started down the BoF path. It was a surprise to find the first game became so popular. From that moment I knew I had a path to follow that would ultimately lead me to a very different idea of a game and how it simulated command and control in a wargame. I have spent some years developing a series of games that have built upon each other; stretching my understanding of how reality can be portrayed in a game. This has not been easy as I have found comfort zones of how I perceived things, and patterns of familiar mechanisms. Baptism of Fire III is a large step away from what most people will have experienced in wargaming. It has a gritty feel, an intensity in combat that will hold your attention and tax your nerves as you make decisions and try to out-wit your opponent. You can feel the pressures of command, trying both to succeed in your mission and get as many men home alive as you can. And somewhere along the way you will find yourself having fun because BoF III is a game; it is serious fun. The game is based on well proven real-life theories developed in combat and now in wide use in all walks of job or business, and especially by the military. The basis of this and how this has evolved into Baptism of Fire III is explained further on. Understanding the simple theory (which you may already use unrecognized in your life) will illuminate the core mechanisms of the rules. One of the new concepts developed with these rules that really excites me is the integration of simultaneous play. Combined with the other mechanisms you will find playing exciting and invigorating, and the simplicity refreshing. The rules have been produced in a light and easily understood format, complete with a full range of play aids that will have you playing in no time. Everything has been produced to allow players to quickly come to grips with the rules and play fast paced games with fun. Further aids and expansions to the game will be available through the TFP Games website. I hope you enjoy this game as I have enjoyed designing it. Join our website for more information and answers to questions. Gordon Roach TFP Games 3

4 1.1 The Books Design This book is intended to be both functional and eye-catching. After writing many books, I have developed in the last few books is the integration of images and speech balloons in a form of graphic novel. For some this may seem a distraction or even childish at first glance, however I find this graphical approach extremely functional. Speech balloons allow the text to be controlled in its flow and composition, drawing your attention to the rules you are looking for, easily highlighting important points and examples, and creating a white space around text. Without the usual text structure of columns and page after page of boring text in which you soon lose those details you are looking for, one can quickly skim pages and find the information required. The speech balloons have been colour-coded to make it even easier for you. Rules are in the White boxes. Important points or notes are in the Pink boxes. Examples and comment are in the Yellow boxes. 4

5 1.2 Behind The Game BoF3 uses many unique concepts in wargaming. These have evolved over a series of games starting with A Leader of Men. The mechanics of BoF3 create a feel and flow that you will not find in any other game I know of, with incredible intensity, and the burden of command placed squarely on the players. In the heat of combat, the battle takes on a life of its own. It is a place where the intensity of time is often compressed, life outside it seems to move in slow motion. Adrenaline is up, hearts pumping. Reflexes, battle-drills or combat experience take over. And if you are not in it you just don t experience it. If you have never been under fire it is a hard experience to understand. BoF3 captures this in the Activation sequence through the Activation Deck. The deck tries to capture the heart of all this and is based on the well known concept developed over 40 years ago, by Col. John Boyd, one of the U.S. Air Force's best fighter pilots and a veteran of jet combat over Korea. The Activation system is based on a concept I have experienced and researched, which I call Heat of Combat. It is hard to describe the process without an understanding of the proven concepts and theories it is based on. An extract of how Col. Boyd s concept works follows on the next page. The system focuses on the concept that the men closest to or in the heat of the battle will be making decisions faster and sooner than those outside the danger. Commanders also seem to focus on the immediate firefight and in the process can and do lose track of the entire situation, sort of like the squeaky wheel gets the oil. This is recognized in having the units closest to known enemy or suspected enemy positions activate first. As they are in the situation and on the spot they will be reacting or determining how the situation plays out before they get to report it up the command chain where further decisions may be made. Commanders are thus waiting to be fed sufficient information to direct the resources at their disposal. The essential qualities of leaders in game terms is now their Leadership Rating (LD). This reflects many leadership aspects including the ability to quickly analyze a situation and issue clear and effective orders via the communication means he chooses. The LD rating is thus a many faceted thing as it also restricts the number of things a commander may do and thus how effectively he may react or perform. The creation of the Activation Deck forms a pool of the leadership available to a side, and in some ways reflects the inter-cooperation of a force, how they respond to each others needs, anticipate how other commanders will operate or react, or have made tactical arrangements between themselves prior to battle. This may all seem like a headache in the making, but simply let go of all your previous gaming experiences and trust this system. Its simplicity in operation gets you past all the hard thinking and allows you to have a game which is both realistic in its modeling that which can t be by conventional gaming means. And it s fun! 5

6 OODA - A Four-Part Cycle The heart of Boyd's theory is the premise that a tactical decision is the result of a four-step process commonly dubbed the OODA loop after its component parts. Boyd called these four stages Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action. Observation: Whether observation consists of the visual cues that guide a fighter pilot or the staff papers and briefings presented to a senior administrator; the decision-maker must first perceive and assimilate information about the environment as a basis for decision. Orientation: Once the decision-maker has gained information through his or others' observations; he must fit those pieces of information into a useful understanding of the situation. Decision: The decision-maker selects a course of action. Action: The desired course of action is executed. In a dogfight, both pilots carry out these steps in rapid, almost continuous succession. Indeed, under normal circumstances, the two pilots are not aware of the steps as they cycle through them. If one pilot arrives at successful decisions faster than the other, the slower pilot will be left responding to actions that the faster pilot is already evaluating and changing. As the cycle continues, the slower pilot's decisions lag increasingly behind the rapidly changing situation. His decisions are less and less appropriate to the actual situation, and ultimately he is defeated. The victorious pilot is said to have a shorter OODA loop. Within the U.S. military, the value of rapid decision-making has been recognized far beyond the arena of air combat. The idea that tactical agility, getting inside the enemy's OODA loop, could permit a smaller, better-trained force to defeat a larger, slower opponent appealed across the services. Outnumbered by Soviet ground forces in Europe, the Army incorporated Boyd's ideas into its Air/Land Battle doctrine. The Marine Corps, whose expeditionary mission often requires fighting larger forces under difficult conditions, was particularly taken with Boyd's ideas and incorporated them into its maneuver warfare doctrine in the 1980s. After the 1991 victory in Kuwait, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Charles Krulak went so far as to call Col. Boyd one of the architects of victory in the Persian Gulf War. Current U.S. military doctrine emphasizes translating high-speed information flow into dominant maneuver faster than an enemy force can react. It also contemplates direct attacks to convince, confuse or deceive enemy decision-makers, thereby lengthening the enemy's OODA loop. file How to speed up and how not to Sample information to challenge or validate his decisions. As a cyclical process, the speed of the OODA loop is limited by its slowest step. One temptation for commanders is to extend the observation (information-gathering) phase of the process, which can lead to what is sometimes called analysis-paralysis, in the hope that more information will improve the resulting decisions. In general, however, research has shown that once a decision-maker has the minimum information required to make an informed judgment, gathering more information doesn't improve the efficacy or correctness of his decisions. Further, most expert decision-makers rely on observation of fewer factors than they realize to make a decision. One technique the military uses to shorten decision-making times is to establish in advance the minimum information required to make a decision in anticipated situations. In many situations, minimum essential information is codified into a formal list of expected indicators. Accurate, rapid decision-making is not a function of technology. The U.S. military receives, processes, and presents senior officers with more information than any force in history. Yet, U.S. exercises employing German military officers with World War II combat experience showed that these officers could make coherent tactical decisions with rudimentary information in minimal time. Technology is an asset only if it presents the few key variables the decision maker requires (that is, the minimum required information) more rapidly or more understandably. Finally, while every decision causes the OODA loop to begin anew, the decision-maker's view of newly observed information is itself affected by the decisions that the commander has just made. Commanders have a strong tendency to hold to previous decisions until the evidence for change is overwhelming. For example, in a given battlefield situation, a commander who arrives later in the incident might elect immediately to go defensive, while a commander who has already committed significant resources to offensive operations might maintain them well beyond that point. While this bias can never be completely overcome, a good decision-maker is aware of it and actively seeks 6

7 1.3 What Do I Need To Play Miniatures to represent each side s forces. Scenery. Assorted dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20). Tape Measure (in Inches). Activation Card Deck (see 4.13). Unit Cards. Quick Reference material from the back of this book. Pen/pencil & paper. Markers to denote Normal and Aimed hits, lost Motivation and Used Dice Sizes This games uses a variety of dice types. With the exception the d2 and d3, all are commercially available in most good game stores or wherever you might find role-playing games. The d2 and d3 are just adaptations of these dice. d2 Any die, odds is a 1, evens a 2. d3 Roll a d6 and divide by 2, rounding down. 7