COMBAT CAPTAIN ! World War II Tactical Wargame Rules

( JANUARY 1 Revision) © 2010 David Raybin

These Free rules which you can download here   CombatCaptainRULES_1, 2010 revison are a highly stylized “recreation” of World War II tactical combat with 28 millimeter model solders and appropriately scaled tank, and cannon. You could use 15mm troops if desired or, arguably, larger scaled miniatures.

The game uses a “you go” – “I go” turn sequence with the passive player having a limited “opportunity fire” to keep one side from dominating the other as well as keeping the passive player on his toes while the other fellow is moving about the board.

Against the grain of most modern rule sets which use a multitude of charts, this set has but a single fire chart. Everything else is factored into the number of dice cast for a particular activity.

The six-sided dice are used to their maximum effect by allowing some activities only on even rolls and other activities only on odd numbers. Because there are more even “pips” than odd, this permits a chance variation without cumbersome charts. For example long range fire effects are calculated only on odd dice, medium on even rolls and both even and odd when firing at close range.

Our rules were first used during wargame conventions. The minimum of charts and simple mechanics were designed to achieve a faster paced game which could be played in less than three hours.

My earliest rules – such as the Charge of the Light Brigade – were primarily devoted to combat in the mid to late nineteenth century with significant numbers of battalions roaming the battlefield. Trench warfare came next which is where the off-board artillery rules originated. More recently I toyed with Pirates and even Ironclads when I was in my “water mood.”

An impetuous acquisition of some early WWII British and German troops put me square in the need of some tactical rules for that period. I looked for some suitable rules and found most were vastly too complicated. Other rules compelled the use of assorted-sized dice which has never appealed to me. And so, like most of us, I rolled my own: rules that is.

The limitation of six-sided dice dictated a host of charts and variables which made my first attempts as complex as all the other tactical games on the market. In a dream, I suppose, I hit upon the full, even, odd dice convention that plays prominently in the range and movement rules.

I then decided that dice could represent not only distance and fire combat but that dice could substitute for time itself. “Paying” so many dice to conduct an activity would permit a delay in movement for example while the unit engaged in some other event such as seeking cover. This took a long time to conceptualize but once I understood the relationship the various factors became more apparent. The incidental benefit was the elimination of as many charts as possible.

Hitting on “three” as the “magic number” of dice per turn was by default. Fewer dice made things too slow and more allowed a side to get too much of a jump on the other side.

The fire rules are an evolution of my musket-era charts albeit with far more variables that seem to be required in modern era games. We can agree I suppose that “shooting” is what WWII games are all about. A single chart would be tolerated if it was devoted to the killing of enemy units from afar.

The morale rule is a variation of that used in my other games. It is gradual and if you want to run about with morale markers affixed to your troops so be it. Again there are no charts and anybody can subtract one pip from every die as a penalty.

The “cover” rules flowed naturally from the need to avoid complex terrain modifications. Instead of you going to the terrain, the terrain comes to you as a function of the time it takes to get into the several degrees of cover.

At the end of the day the game was designed for fun at our wargame conventions or where some stalwart souls want to engage in the pastime of our wonderful hobby.

Carry on.

David Raybin, January 2010, Nashville.