Messing around with card activation

While I have been snipping away paper soldiers, on the tabletop I have been playing some WW2 One Hour Wargames, in particular scenario 14  (static defence) to test out a card activation mechanism and using two bases for units.

The beginning of a game

Starting with the multi-base units, each stand effectively representing a section of a unit. The rule modifications are:

• Bases must remain within 3" of each other
• Units can shoot as long as one base is within range
• Bases have a 45 degree shooting arc, and bases can face different directions to increase their coverage
• Tank bases have a 180 degree shooting arc
• Providing one base is in cover the unit is considered to be in cover
• After 7 hits one base is removed and all subsequence shooting incurs a -1 penalty

Taking this approach degrades the ability of units after 7 hits, both in terms of shooting and reduces their ability to hold a frontage. A unit is fully eliminated after 14 hits rather than the 15 in the original rules, sufficiently close enough not to worry about modifying the shooting rules. Units can be tracked using 1 dice rather than 1-3 dice for 15 hits.

Cards get assigned to units

The activation rule modifications are:

• A card is allocated to each unit at the start of a turn
• Players then activate their units in card order King to Aces, two identical value cards are then ordered by Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs.
• An activated unit can move or shoot as per rules
• When a unit shoots at a target in the open which has not yet activated, the target can forgo their activation and take evasive action. This can be a vehicle retiring out of range or Infantry hitting the dirt. This reduces the number of hit taken by half. There are no penalties to taking evasive actions, other than losing their activation opportunity. Units which have already activated may not take evasive action.
• Once all units have activated (or taken evasive actions) allocate cards again, reshuffle if necessary.

As a solo wargamer the card activation helps to introduce a level of unpredictability in the game. So far I have played the scenario a couple of times using the activation rules and they have created more interest for me. As I try to coordinate attacks which can be delayed due to the card order or opting to have attacks stall as units hit the dirt to minimise hits.

One optional rule I am considering is allowing a player to swap two cards between units.

One downside of the cards is they can look quite messy on the tabletop.