Outline for [night/FIBUA?] infantry assault - Working Title

"C³I - Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice & Incompetence?"

Aim
To show the general confusion that infantry battles degenerate into once the engagement has started.

I want to show something along the lines of the fact that no-one knows how they will react until they are 'in combat' (i.e. under fire) and the tendency (as reported in some of the things I have read at least) of certain individuals to be more aggressive/less affected and carry on with their drills to win the battle.

In a given unit a certain (small) proportion will carry on regardless, a similar proportion will 'funk' and take no part and the majority will try and save themselves. The basis for the small fire team (in the British Army at least) is that one man will go forward, another will follow because he sees the first move and the other two will follow so as not to be left behind.

There is also an observation that those that actually lead men in battle are not necessarily those with the rank to do so. Troops follow whoever appears to be doing the job best.

Method - Forces
I envisage this as having only the assaulting side played. I think that having two very confused sides is likely to lead to a complete and utter shambles rather than just a mildly confusing shambles. It also minimises the number of players required, in order to have proper chaos a reasonable number of people are required.

Ground
The ground will be represented by a series of tables that can be moved between as the battle develops. This should allow some level of flexibility in hiding ground from the assaulters (apart from on their map) before they get to it. It should also break up their cohesiveness by scattering players between tables where they will be unable to see what is going on elsewhere. It should also introduce a 'personalising' of the battle for different players as they become engrossed in the local situation to the detriment of the bigger picture.

Likely enemy positions should be represented by a card which can be turned over when within a certain distance. Wrinkles with this include colouring the cards the same as the table top so that they are less apparent from a distance (except perhaps the more obvious positions which could contrast?) Also cards can have all sorts of results on them (other than actual positions and lots of blanks), sort of like an encounter deck in AD&D.

Situation
Enemy Forces
The enemy will be a non-mechanised infantry force with a poorer level of training than friendly forces. They will be reasonably well equipped with a mix of assault rifles and other automatic weapons in approximately platoon strength. They will have some mortar and defensive artillery support but are not thought to have any armour. They will be in a well-established defensive position with a number of re-inforced concrete structures on a mountain side.

Enemy doctrine is to defend to a prearranged plan in order to preserve their limited radio capacity for calling in support fire or changing to a contingency variant of the overall plan. The enemy will either follow their plan, or leave the battlefield should the situation prove hopeless. [Note: this is similar to the tactics used by non-radio equipped troops such as the Vietnamese when fighting the Americans.]

Friendly Forces
One well-trained infantry company (~100 men) with battalion mortars, MG platoon, one (8 gun) field battery in direct support and a FO Party attached to company HQ. Other assets may be available on request should the situation require it.

Players will start off with command of a section of 8 men. When coming under fire for the first time reaction tests will be taken to sort the psychopaths from the socially well-adjusted. At this point players will switch to playing the psychopaths and attempt to inspire those around them to follow.

I will be using a modified and much simplified version of my earlier rules to do this. I have not yet produced a mechanism for inspiration to follow the psychopaths and would welcome any comments. It needs to be something reasonably simple and rule-based rather than involve dice-rolling for each figure. My thinking so far is along the lines of 2d6 to initially work out the figure's aggressiveness and making the highest score the natural leader.

Once an aggressiveness attribute has been rolled it is kept for the remainder of the battle. Soldiers will automatically follow anyone within their aggressiveness range who is moving, although if their score is higher then they may act independently. Those with scores under a certain value (say 8) won't get up when under fire if no-one else is moving.

I propose to offer this for the Games weekend and would welcome any comments for this type of mechanism, preferably before I run it so that they can be tried.