PLASTIC OSTFRONT RULES FOR 1/72 SCALE WARGAMING

INFANTRY RULES 

THESE RULES WORK WITH GROUPS OF FIGURES ON A BASE WHICH WE CALL A SQUAD. A SQUAD REPRESENTS A PLATOON. SMALLER ‘HALF-SQUAD’S REPRESENT SMALLER UNITS SUCH AS HEAVY-WEAPONS WITH CREWS, ARTILLERY-PIECE CREWS OR COMMANDERS.

 PLAYERS SHOULD DECIDE IF THEY WILL BASE HEAVY WEAPONS AS INDIVIDUAL HALF-SQUADS OR AS SQUADS BEFORE PLAY. HALF-SECTIONS CANNOT LAY DOWN A BARRAGE LIKE THE FULL-SQUADS (SEE BELOW). 

EACH SQUAD MUST BE WITHIN A COMMAND DISTANCE OF OTHERS IN ITS UNIT OR THE PLAYER CANNOT CONTROL IT THAT TURN.

 SQUADS SHOOT AT EACH OTHER AND CAUSE CASUALTIES. AFTER A NUMBER OF CASUALTIES, DEPENDENT UPON THE QUALITY OF THE SQUAD, IT IS REMOVED.

 SQUAD AND VEHICLES CAN ALSO COME TO CLOSE-QUARTER COMBAT OR ‘ASSAULT’ AND SEEK TO DESTROY EACH OTHER THAT WAY.

 SQUADS OPERATE IN A GROUP OF 3 OR 4 WHICH FORM A COMPANY.

 COMPANIES ARE GROUPED INTO BATTALIONS, BATTALIONS INTO REGIMENTS, REGIMENTS INTO DIVISIONS.

 IF THEY RECEIVE MANY CASUALTIES OR ARE IN VERY ADVERSE SITUATIONS COMPANIES MAY TEST THEIR RESOLVE AND, IF THEY FAIL, REFUSE TO MOVE OR EVEN LEAVE THE BATTLE.

 COMMANDING SQUADS

 IF A SQUAD IS WITHIN THE COMMAND DISTANCE OF ITS COMPANY COMMANDER OR ANOTHER FOM ITS OWN COMPANY THEN IT CAN BE MOVED AS THE PLAYER WISHES WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE ORDERS IT HAS.

 THE MOVE MAY TAKE IT BEYOND THE COMMAND DISTANCE HOWEVER, THIS WOULD MEAN NEXT GO IT WILL NOT BE UNDER COMMAND.

 ELEMENTS OUT OF COMMAND HAVE A LIMITED RANGE OF OPTIONS FOR THE PLAYER TO USE IN THEIR CONTROL, REPRESENTING THE ACTIONS OF TROOPS WITH NO IMMEDIATE ORDERS.

 Infantry table 1. COMMAND DISTANCES

ELEMENTS OUT OF COMMAND

 IF THE COMMAND DISTANCE IS EXCEEDED THEN ON THE FOLLOWING TURN EITHER THE HQ OR THE ELEMENT MOVES TO REGAIN COMMAND. OTHER ELEMENTS CAN MOVE WITH THE ‘OUT OF COMMAND’ ELEMENT BUT NOT WHEN THE HQ MOVES. 

 A UNIT CAN CHOOSE TO CONTINUE AND LEAVE AN ‘OUT OF COMMAND’ ELEMENT BEHIND WHERE IT WILL FUNCTION ACCORDING TO THE DEFAULT COMMAND TEST RESULTS.

  ELEMENTS CAN BE SEPARATED BY MORE THAN THE COMMAND DISTANCES IF THEY START IN PREPARED POSITIONS OR FORTIFICATIONS – IT IS ASSUMED THEY HAVE A SYSTEM OF TELEPHONES OR RUNNERS ESTABLISHED TO MAINTAIN COMMAND. HOWEVER, IF THEY MOVE OUTSIDE THE DEFENSIVE SYSTEM THEY WILL BE OUT OF COMMAND. 

 ELEMENTS OUT OF COMMAND CAN SHOOT UP TO CLOSE RANGE AND CAN DEFEND AGAINST ASSAULTS IF THEY PASS A TEST. THEY DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR OBSERVE FOR OTHERS.ALSO THEY MUST MOVE AWAY FROM THE ENEMY UNTIL THEY ARE 60CM FROM THE NEAREST ENEMY, TOWARDS THEIR BASE-LINE AND TOWARDS COVER UNLESS THEY ARE IN PREPARED POSITIONS OR FORTIFICATION.

MOVEMENT OVER THE TERRAIN

 INFANTRY OR CREW SQUADS CAN MOVE 150m IN ONE TURN. 

HEAVY-WEAPON SQUADS OR HALF-SECTIONS CAN MOVE 100m IN ONE TURN.

 INFANTRY ARE NOT SLOWED BY TERRAIN UNLESS IT IS VERY BROKEN (BAD GROUND) BECAUSE IT IS ASSUMED THEY ARE MOVING IN SHORT RUSHES RATHER THAN CONTINUOUSLY RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE TURN.

 LINEAR OBSTACLES DELAY INFANTRY BY A VARIED AMOUNT WHICH REPRESENTS THE POSSIBILITY OF FINDING A WAY ACROSS AND THEN GETTING ALL THE INDIVIDUALS OVER.

 TO CROSS A LINEAR OBSTACLE FIRST MOVE THE INFANTRY UP TO THE CROSSING POINT . THEN DICE TO SEE HOW MANY METRES OF MOVEMENT ARE USED UP IN CROSSING AS GIVEN ON THE TERRAIN CHART. IF THE PENALTY IS GREATER THAN THE MOVEMENT AVAILABLE THEN THE ELEMENT CANNOT CROSS THAT TURN AND MUST DICE AGAIN AT THE START OF ITS MOVEMENT NEXT TURN. 

FACING AND ALIGNMENT

 ELEMENTS MUST FINISH THEIR MOVES FACING WITHIN 45 DEGREES OF THE DIRECTION THEY TRAVELLED IN UNLESS A HALF-MOVE IS USED TO ALTER FACING.

ASSAULT 

MOVEMENT INTO CLOSE COMBAT IS A SPECIAL CASE AND IS TERMED ASSAULT. OTHERWISE ELEMENTS CANNOT MOVE WITHIN 50m OF EACH OTHER.

  Infantry table 2.TERRAIN PENALTIES FOR INFANTRY MOVEMENT 

FIRE COMBAT

 Each element can shot at others and has more or less effect depending upon the cover of the target and the type of weapons used.

 If a target is visible, is in range, and the shooter is not stopped by command and control rules then a shot can be made. Elements can shoot more than once in a turn if doing nothing else to take up the time.

Determine if the target is viable on the observation table.

 Check line of fire: IT IS NOT PERMISSIBLE TO SHOOT THROUGH FRIENDLY INFANTRY OR SOFT VEHICLES UNLESS THEY ARE IN PREPARED POSITIONS OR FORTIFICATIONS.

 Check range to target use nearest point to nearest point.

 Assign all possible shots BEFORE rolling any dice to hit. Each enemy element can only be attacked once (perhaps with many shots).

 Check the target and shooter situation and roll a dice to see if a hit is made.

 If a hit is made the target is PINNED.

 If the number of hits is enough then the element is removed.

 Flamethrowers, engineers and assault troops make their attacks as assaults, not ranged fire.

 Infantry Table 3. OBSERVATION DISTANCES 

 MOVE UP 1 ROW IF THE TARGET IS OBSCURED BY FOLIAGE, LINEAR OBSTACLE, SMOKE OR PARTIAL CONCEALMENT UNLESS IT IS SHOOTING WHEN OBSCURATION DOES NOT REDUCE OBSERVATION RANGE

MOVE UP 1 ROW IF THE OBSERVER MOVED IN THE TURN HE IS LOOKING

DOWN 1 ROW IF OBSERVER IS HIGHER THAN THE TARGET

DOWN 1 ROW IF OBSERVER IS FOO, ALO OR SCOUT

(BUT SCOUTS DO NOT ALLOW OTHERS IN THEIR UNIT TO SEE FURTHER THAN THEY COULD NORMALLY)

Infantry Table 5. SCORES TO CAUSE A CASUALTY:

HQ AND COMMAND ELEMENTS

 EACH UNIT HAS A COMMAND/HQ BASE. THE SMALLEST ALLOWABLE IS A HALF-SQUAD BASE WITH 2 MEN, A LEADER AND A RUNNER/RADIO MAN. FOR EACH LEVEL ABOVE COMPANY ANOTHER FIGURE IS ADDED TO THE BASE AND A FULL SQUAD BASE IS USED. THUS A BATTALION HAS 3 MEN, REGIMENT 4, BRIGADE 5, DIVISION 6, CORPS 7 MEN.

 HQ/COMMAND BASES WITH NO OTHER FIGURES HAVE NO FIREPOWER BUT CAN FIGHT IN ASSAULT.

 COMPANY COMMAND CAN BE COMBINED WITH THE COMPANY HEAVY WEAPONS – USUALLY LIGHT MORTARS AND TRIPOD MACHINE GUNS. USE A SQUAD BASE AND MOUNT ONE TRIPOD MG , ONE MORTAR AND THE COMMAND FIGURES. 

REGIMENTAL AND HIGHER HQs REQUIRE A COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE TO FUNCTION. THIS SHOULD BE A RADIO TRUCK/AFV, TENT WITH RADIOS IN IT OR BUNKER WITH RADIOS.

LOSS OF COMMAND ELEMENTS

 IF HIGHER COMMAND ELEMENTS ARE LOST THEN NO ARTILLERY/AIRSTRIKES CAN BE CONDUCTED EXCEPT BY ALO/FOOS. ALSO ORDERS CANNOT BE CHANGED.

 IF A HIGHER LEVEL COMMAND EXISTS IT CAN CREATE A REPLACEMENT HQ SQUAD BY DETACHING A HALF-SQUAD WHICH CAN THEN MOVE TO THE LEADERLES UNIT.

HEAVY WEAPONS SECTIONS

 COMMAND/HEAVY WEAPONS SQUADS OR HEAVY-WEAPONS SQUADS WITH TRIPOD MGS OR LIGHT MORTARS HAVE SPECIAL FIREPOWER CAPABILITIES TO ALLOW THEM TO SUPPORT THEIR COMPANY.

IF IT DOES NOT MOVE THEN A HEAVY WEAPONS SECTION CAN SHOOT A KIND OF BARRAGE WHICH IS 75m BY 50m DEEP. THIS PINS ENEMY IN THE BARRAGE ZONE LIKE ARTILLERY BARRAGES AND HAVE AN EFECT THROW ON THE ARTILLERY TABLE.

 PLAYERS MAY DECIDE TO BASE ALL HEAVY WEAPONS SEPERATELY ON HALF-SQUAD BASES. IN THIS CASE BARAGES ARE CONSIDERED TO AFFECT ONLY A SINGLE ELEMENT THEY TARGET.