29 September 2013

Sudan Rules - Close Combat Mechanics

At the pointy end..hope the Mahdists don't "stick"!!

Close Combat

Close Combat takes place whenever two opposition units have charged into each other or one or the other has been charged or is charging.  Clear as mud!

A unit must move a minimum of 1” if foot or 2” if mounted to count as charging.

If any unit is charged in the flank or rear, they are only permitted to turn the figures that are contacted to face the enemy and fight.  For example a battalion in line caught in the flank can only fight back with two figures.

Under no other circumstances are figures allowed to fire or change formation (other than to turn those contacted figures to face that is).

Remember that this is a fun game so when a charge is measured and it may be in or out by a fraction of an inch the game encourages contact.  Push the charges in and put your faith in lucky dice and pure steel!

Always try and maximise contact with units as well.  If a unit has charge on an angle (not flank or rear of course) and just makes it into contact, wheel the unit into frontal contact to maximise figures fighting.

Naval Brigade prepare to dispatch some excited Fuzzies...hopefully!

Troops entitled to fight

In the initial round of combat, only the first rank of Imperial troops is entitled to fight.  As a consequence, only the same numbers of Mahdists are entitled to fight regardless of how many actual figures are in their formation.

If the Mahdists reactions after combat allow them to remain in contact in the second round, or indeed if the Mahdists have won the initial round of combat, the following occurs:

The Imperial player is entitled to fight his second rank of troops which generally means he can fight his whole squadron, battery, company or battalion.  The Mahdists are then allowed to fight back with TWICE the number of figures that they are fighting against.

If fate should allow it through the appropriate Mahdist reaction test result and combat should enter a third round, the Mahdist player is then entitled to use FIVE times the number of Imperial troops he is fighting against as long as there are that many figures on the actual unit.

Troops who have been charged that turn but who also inflicted casualties upon the enemy unit before they charged in with fire can count the casualties caused in addition to close combat casualties for the melee result.

Mahdists in melee may not be fired upon unless the unit has more than 100 figures in it.   If the formation does have more than 100 figures, it can then be the target of support fire from any other Imperial unit other than those it is meleeing with and as long as they comply with all firing requirements in terms of arcs, ranges etc.

These casualties count towards the melee result in terms of casualties that are received and inflicted by the Mahdists.

It is important to remember that though all casualties in firing and melee are calculated using the melee chart, all must now be converted to ACTUAL FIGURES LOST.  Therefore if a result shows that an Imperial unit lost 73 casualties that turn, we know they have lost seven figures with a possibility of a third if the player rolls between 4-10 on a ten-sided diced.  A roll of a 1, 2 or 3 would mean that the unit has lost eight figures.  The same applies for the Mahdists however they do not have the option of using an officer if the first roll is failed.


Bengal Lancers find someone lurking in the mimosa.
Imperial Melee Factors chart

IMPERIAL TROOPS MELEE FACTOR
Troop Type
Camels
Cavalry
Infantry




Cavalry
3
4
5
Dismounted Cavalry
1
2
2
Infantry
2
2
4
Camel Corps
2
2
4




Fighting behind a prepared position                                                                       +1
Charging with advantage of ground                                                                        +1
If Lancers in first round
                                  +2
All Egyptian/Sudanese troops
                                  - 1
Mahdist are in Cover
                                  - 2
Camel Corps fighting on camels                                                                              - 2
Mahdist are in prepared cover                                                                                  - 3



MAHDIST TROOPS MELEE FACTOR TABLE







Troop Type/ Opponent
Camel Corps
Cavalry
Foot
Improvised
Prepared

Mounted


Cover
Cover
Cavalry
3
2
4
1
-2
Infantry
2
1
4
2
-1
Camels
4
3
5
1
-2






If unit has an Emir with it


+1
Charging with advantage of ground

+2
Within 18" and in sight of the Mahdi

+2
Rifle armed foot in melee


-1
Unit is Fuzzy Wuzzy


+1

  
 Modifiers are then applied and as is the case for the firing procedure, a random factor is achieved by rolling a dice and referring to the Fire and Melee Random chart.


Local War Corespondent capturing
some images - for the London Newspapers perhaps?
 Next post - After Combat, Combat examples and winning the game!

2 comments:

  1. Carlo you can put on a very lovely gaming table my friend...very very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting the close combat. And I like a lot your game table.

    ReplyDelete