OPTIONAL RULE FOR SOLDIERS

Alan R. Arvold

Close Assaults:

Close Assaults are dismounted bayonet charges conducted by

infantry and dismounted cavalry units. This would also include

point blank fire and hand-to-hand combat as well. Perhaps a

better term for this is Shock Combat as these type of assaults

were more reminiscent of the bayonet attacks of the previous

century then of the actual close assault tactics that started to

develop towards the end of World War I. Like cavalry charges they

were all but useless against troops except in special occasions.

The following rules reflect these kind of attacks.

General Rule:

Close Assaults occur at the end of the Mutual Fire Phases of each

turn. The player who makes the first fire attacks in a Mutual

Fire Phase is the only player who may make close assaults in

during that Fire Phase. Close Assaults are made after all fire

attacks and mounted cavalry attacks have been completed in the

Fire Phase. While any unit may be the target of a close assault,

only infantry companies and dismounted cavalry units may actually

make close assaults. Close assaults are optional to the attacker,

just because he has units adjacent to enemy units does not mean

those units have to close assault those enemy units.

Procedure:

In order to make a close assault, the assaulting unit(s) must be

adjacent to the target unit(s) at the time that they make the

assault. The combat odds are computed by comparing the total

stacking values of the assaulting units to the total stacking

values of the defending units. From the computed odds the

attacking players then rolls one die on the Combat Results Table

using the appropriate odds column. The result is then applied to

the defending player's unit(s). (Example: Two Russian infantry

companies close assault a German infantry company. The odds are

eight to four, which equals two to one which are the odds used on

the Combat Results Table.)

Cases:

(A) Close assaulting units may move in their preceeding movement

phase but must have at least two unexpended movement points in

order to conduct the close assault. Close assaulting units may

not fire in the same combat phase in which they perform close

assaults.

(B) Close assaulting units may only attack enemy units in one

adjacent hex. Multiple units close assaulting the same hex from

different hexes must combine their close assault (stacking)

values into one total.

fire in the fire phase in which it close assaults may not add its

close assault value to the close assault attack.

(D) Close assaulting units may still act as observers for

Observed Fire from other units in the same Fire Phase which they

close assault.

(E) The attacking player must announce at the beginning of the

Fire Phase which of his units is conducting close assaults and

which enemy units they are attacking before any fire attacks are

made.

(F) A unit defending against a close assault may still conduct

fire attacks in the Fire Phase in which they are close assaulted.

(G) Combat Results affect the defending units as follows:

No Effect: Means just that, nothing happens to the defender.

Disrupted: Defending units which are disrupted receive a

disrupted marker and must retreat one hex away from the hex

that they are in. A disrupted unit may not retreat into an

enemy occupied hex. If the disrupted unit can not retreat due

to being surrounded by enemy occupied hexes, it is

eliminated. Defending units which are already disrupted

before the Close Assault occurs are eliminated if they

receive a disrupted result from the attack.

Eliminated: The defending unit(s) are removed from the board.

(H) Attacking units may move into the hex vacated by the

defender. The number of attacking units which move into the hex

can not exceed the number of stacking points allowed in that hex.

(I) The odds of close assault attacks may be lowered in the

defender's favor by virtue of the terrain his units occupy. The

following terrain hexes reduce the odds as follows:

Improved Positions and Woods lower the odds one column to the

left.

Slopes and Crests lower the odds one column to the left if all

attacking units are in lower terrain.

Canals lower the odds by one column unless at least one attacker

is in an adjacent canal hex.

Towns and Trenches lower the odds by two columns.

In the case of combination of terrain, such as Trenches in a

Crest hex, all odds modifications are cumulitive. (In this case

the odds would be lowered three columns.)

(J) Machine Guns, Field Guns, Howitzers, and Mounted Cavalry may

not Close Assault enemy units, although they themselves may be

the target of a close assault from enemy units.

(K) In the case where a Mounted Cavalry unit is performing a

charge against an enemy unit that is attempting to close assault

it, the cavalry attack is resolved first. Any surviving non-

disrupted enemy units may then close assault the cavalry unit.

Note that close assaulting units may not fire at the cavalry

units that are charging them due to Case (A) above.