An
article originally published in Wargames Illustrated Magazine, for using
Foundrys Home Guard range of figures:-
Don’t Panic
Captain Mainwaring!
Or Mordheim
twins with Warmington-On-Sea.
With
our brave lads barely back from Dunkirk, crooked-crossed Nazi bombers hurl
their deadly payloads on the innocent English coastal village of
Warmington-On-Sea. Soon fanatical
paratroops are pouring down to capture a bridgehead, ready for Seelowe – The
Invasion Of England! Only the local
Home Guard units are available to stem the tide….
Very young Britons or our
overseas chums may not recognise that these Home Guards are based on the
classic 1970’s BBC comedy “Dads Army”, and any stereotypes come from this, and
British attitudes prevalent in 1940 (and still prevalent in many bars today!)
The Rules.
Anyone
who has used Games Workshop Warhammer style gaming will understand its basic
principles. “Mordheim” (available from Games Workshop) is a
skirmish version of Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WFB), where small warbands
(about 5-15 strong) fight in a ruined city.
The main extra rule, compared to WFB, is “hiding”, where a slowly moving
figure cannot be attacked unless spotted at close range (usually initiative
distance) or an enemy gets a clear line of sight to the figure. Also,
“casualties “ are not necessarily removed but can become Knocked Down or
Stunned instead, in each case falling to the ground. So when shot, only one third of the time will a figure will be
eliminated, and most of the time becoming pinned down in a World War Two like
way! The game also comes with some
excellent plastic & card ruined buildings, obviously just visited by a
gruppen of Heinkel III’s. Just right for our 28mm tall Wargames Foundry Home
Guard and German Paratroopers.
It
is a game system geared towards characters, and includes a lot of hand-to-hand
stuff. We’ll keep the character parts
but reduce the hand-to-hand (more suited to fantasy or Medieval games than
WWII).
The People.
We will first meet our warriors, and their peculiar personal
characteristics, then look at some modern weapons.
|
Troop Type |
M |
WS |
BS |
S |
T |
W |
I |
A |
Ld |
Weapons |
Special |
|
Home Guard. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Captain George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) Bank Manager |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
Revolver |
Leader 6” circle Stubborn |
|
Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier)Asst Bank Manager |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
Rifle + bayonet |
Leader 3” Circle |
|
Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn) Butcher |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
Rifle + bayonet |
Don’t like it up ‘em! |
|
Private Frank Pike (Ian Lavender) Bank Clerk |
4 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Tommygun |
Mummys boy; Stupid Boy; Whistler |
|
Private James Frazer (John
Laurie) Undertaker |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
Rifle + bayonet |
Dour Scot |
|
Private Charles Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) Pensioner |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
Unarmed |
Gallant; Weak bladder; First Aider |
|
Private Joe Walker (James Beck) Scrappie |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
Rifle + bayonet |
Spiv |
|
Others |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
Rifle + bayonet |
Walk On Parts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
German Paratroopers |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
SMG or (Rifle + bayonet) |
Nazi; Marching songs; Nuns habits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Civilians. |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
Unarmed |
Innocent Bystanders |
As
you can tell from the Strength (S) characteristics, many of our Home Guard
Heroes are over 65 or under 16 years of age, and not especially well led. But they will all do their bit.
The
Paratroopers are fit young Hitler Youth fanatics ever eager to help an old lady
across the road (but only after checking her racial purity papers of
course). Well trained and equipped, no
dirty trick is too low for them.
The new
skills / characteristics are:
Stubborn – may re-roll any failed
leadership tests. Will never
voluntarily rout.
Mother’s
Boy -dice at the start of the game: 1 or 2 and he only
arrives on turn two, kept back by mum.
Stupid
Boy -may never become hidden.
Whistler –
Pike whistles “Hitler is a Jerk” so annoyingly that all hidden paratroopers
within 10” are revealed as they rise to the insult to their testicularly
challenged Fuhrer.
Don’t
like it up ‘em – need not test leadership to enter melee.
Dour
Scot – constantly calls out “we’re doomed!”, thus lowering
all Leadership (Ld) of friends within 6” by one.
Gallant –
although a pacifist, Godfrey is extremely brave (MC holder) and will always
pass leadership (Ld) tests. He will
never use a weapon or command the platoon..
Weak
bladder – dice at the start of the game: 1 or 2 and he only
arrives on turn three due to having to “be excused”.
First
aider – makes any stunned Home Guards within 1” of the first
aider count as knocked down instead (max of 1 per turn).
Spiv – you
may add one extra figure to your forces, due to extra gear being scrounged.
Walk
On Parts – these are the platoon members who hang about in the
background and make up numbers. These are not classed as Hero’s and apparently
rarely speak.
Nazi –
having had all their individuality ground out of them by the brutal Nazi
system, no paratroopers may be referred to as Hero’s. They all count as
Henchmen instead.
Marching
songs – with their superior marching songs, the Germans
always get the first turn in any scenario.
Nun’s
habits – fifth columnists were believed to operate disguised
in Nuns habits. Nun like figures may not be shot at or charged by the Home
Guard until the turn following a positive identification. This is achieved by moving to within Initiative
distance and line of sight of the “Nun”.
An actual habit wearing Paratrooper must discard the habit at the same
time as shooting or charging himself.
You must have figures to represent each state of dress. Allow
the Germans to move one or two real nun figures to add to the confusion. Foundry has a Nazi looking “nun”, while
Ground Zero Games produce a couple of real looking nuns.
Innocent
Bystanders: Civilian
figures do not move by themselves but must be led by a figure in base
contact. Home Guard will be trying to
rescue these treasures by leading them off table. Nazis may use Civilians as
shields (any shooting against the German which misses due to this cover bonus
is assumed to hit the civilian).
Prisoners (optional): Normally figures Stunned
then engaged in close combat are automatically Taken Out. You may choose to make them prisoners
instead. The figure will follow the
captor around for the rest of the game or until led off table. If the captor is Knocked Down or worse, the
prisoner is removed (still counting as Taken Out). If still a prisoner at the end of the game the prisoner does not
throw on the Serious Injury Chart but counts as “captured and removed from the
campaign”.
The
Weapons:
The firepower is much greater than in Mordheim! A pistol can also be used in melee as in
Mordheim.
|
Weapon |
Range |
Strength |
Shots per turn |
Special Rules |
|
Pistol |
12” |
3 |
2 |
(Pistol) |
|
Rifle |
30” |
4 |
1 |
With bayonet counts as a “spear” |
|
German SMG |
20” |
3 |
3 |
|
|
Tommygun |
20” |
4 |
3 |
Ammo limit |
|
Grenade |
Users S x 2” |
4 |
- |
Prepare; Burst circle; 2 carried by
each paratrooper |
|
Petrol bomb |
Users S x 2” |
3 |
- |
Prepare; Burst circle; two carried by each HG figure so prepared |
|
Vickers Gun |
48” |
4 |
2 |
No moving and firing ; Ammo limit;
crew weapon |
|
Lewis Gun |
36” |
4 |
2 |
Double penalties for moving and
firing ; Ammo limit; crew weapon |
|
German MG-34 |
36” |
4 |
2 |
Double penalties for moving and
firing; crew weapon |
Note that Warhammer games use six sided dice, so the differences in weapon Strengths (S) between “full power” long cartridges and reduced power pistol or assault rifle ammo is exaggerated a bit. Shame. You could make all guns S 3 or S 4 for simplicity.
Prepare – Pass an initiative (I) test to use. (You
are putting aside other weapons to get this ready.)
Burst – if a hit is achieved, affects all targets within 2”
radius. Double Strength (S) and +1 to
Injury rolls if target is in a confined space such as a room. If it misses then assume it rolls away
harmlessly amid the rubble.
Ammo limit - Any even doubles thrown during firing means
there is no more ammo for the rest of game for that weapon. (All Home Guard automatic
weapons should have this limit due to scarcity of ammunition. You could consider the Paratroopers to also
have limited ammo but perhaps make it a double 6 only.)
Armour saves- none, except those from
helmets (and the 6+ from bare hands).
Fear: All troops with guns cause fear except for those
stunned or knocked down (this is to cut
down the hand to hand combat).
Bicycles: These allow the user to move
at triple speed on clear ground (but cannot charge!) They will be abandoned
when entering rough ground or after combat (would
you carry a bike around in a firefight?). Being obvious, however, they
cannot hide and are at +1 as a shooting target and always strike last in a
melee if charged. You need normal figures
to represent them dismounted.
SCENARIOS-
Games
Workshop rules are usually very strong on scenarios. Use Mordheim scenarios, but change items such as “treasure” or
“wyrdstone” to be Ammunition Containers or downed Luftwaffe pilots (for the
Germans), or the likes of rescuing ARP
Warden Hodges, the Vicar, the Verger, Mrs Pike (Franks mum and Wilsons chum), Mrs Fox or cash from Mainwarings bank
(for the Home Guard). A rescued figure
will follow the rescuer/captor around in base to base contact until taken by
the opposition or led off table.
Count
the lower “gang rating” as usual counting paratroops as 5, and HG as zero,
experience.
Numbers:
This
table shows the quantity of troops involved.
(You may only have one heavy
weapon such as a machinegun.)
|
Skill
Level Of Player |
Home Guard |
Paratroops |
|
Expert |
12 |
4 |
|
Normal |
14 |
6 |
|
Novice |
17 |
8 |
In
1939 and 1940, the Home guard was pitifully equipped. Modellers may care to reduce a couple of the Home Guard figure to
being armed with shotguns or clubs (pickaxes / cricket bats / etc) or spears
(pitchforks).
Once
you have set out the two sides, remove any unpainted Home Guards (they were not prepared in time for the
invasion!) and any unpainted paratroopers (assumed killed in landing accidents so may not be used). Remove any duplicated figures (unless you believe there were a lot of
twins and triplets in the same platoon – there are a lot of figures in the
Foundry and other figure ranges, so all figures should be different).
Campaign:
Our
forces are supplied by their military establishments. As such we have no use for the Mordheim trading rules. The only
campaign rules will be personal improvements and the casualty chart.
Home
Guard Heroes start with zero experience and the Paratroops with 5. The only
skills allowed are strike to injure, step aside, eagle eyes, battle tongue,
mighty blow, resilient, unstoppable charge, and any of the speed skills. You may also allow the new skill first
aider. You can always invent other
special skills.
As
mentioned, all the Paratroops are Henchmen so only “the lads got talent”
improvement can give them a Hero!
Allow
the winner to field an extra figure after a victory (or one per discovered “treasure” etc. if you want a lot more figures).
On the serious injuries chart the “Sold to the pits” and “captured” results
become “captured and removed from the campaign”. It’s up to you if you allow
“blinded in one eye” to continue…
Paratroops in 1940 actually
landed separately from their long guns, thus until they get a weapons
container, they should really only be allowed pistols and grenades…
“Historically”, our mythical
Home Guard platoon never fought the Paratroopers, but did capture Luftwaffe
airmen, blow up sea mines, shoot their entire allocation of five bullets per
man at a Heinkel, and plan to poison Hitler (who was notorious for chewing
carpets during his rages) by smuggling him an arsenic coated rug.
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