Company Dice
A simple system for creating companies out of platoons is to have a Company Dice markers.
You have 3 platoon counters in a clump, and place a Company Die beside them, which defines the abilities of each company, 6 is Elite, 1 is Dross. If a "6" is damaged, it becomes a "5".
Watch in horror and disgust as your Green recruits hesitate in their attack, get butchered as they run away from their Veteran defenders, and spend the rest of the battle hiding in the woods like Conscripts!
- Veteran, Seasoned, Green and Raw unit abilities.
- Command Radius
- Step Loss
- Routing
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| Conscript | Raw | Green | Regular | Veteran | Elite | |
| Rout | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Opportunity | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| C3 Radius | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Accuracy | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
In a scenario, you group some or all of your units into companies. In the picture above we have a Veteran PzIVh Company followed by a regular panzergrenadier Company. The Soviets have a Regular T-34c company and a Raw infantry Regiment in Raw trucks. The mortars in this case don't have dice, so they operate as the default level for the Soviets in this scenario, perhaps Green.
An Elite Scout platoon would have its own die, since it operates by itself.
Rout
If the unmodified Attack roll is a six, the target must take a Rout Check.
You roll a D6, you must roll number in the "Rout" row or less to pass.
If the target passes the Rout Check, nothing happens. If it fails, place a "Rout" counter (shown above) on top of the target's Company Chit. No unit in a company can fire with the "Rout" counter on its Company Chit. At start of the movement phase the player performs a Rout check on each routed unit. If the unit passes, its rout counter is removed.
In its movement phase, a routed unit that has LOS to a enemy unit that is currently spotted must move its maximum allowance. A routed Company moves as normal, but its Defense Strength is halved when moving. If a routing unit is forced off the edge of the board, it is eliminated.
You roll a D6, you must roll number in the "Rout" row or less to pass.
Soviet unit subtract 1 from the Rout Check die roll. Poorly trained Soviet units often attacked with little apparent regard for casualties.
"The Jagdtiger took several hits, but American projectiles could not penetrate the 250 mm (9.8 in) frontal armor. However, the inexperienced German commander lost his nerve and turned around instead of backing down, exposed the thinner side armor, which was eventually penetrated and all six crew members were lost."-Carius, Otto (2003). Tigers in the Mud., p. 221
Opportunity
Any undisrupted Company counter may conduct Opportunity Fire once per turn at any enemy entering an adjacent hex, even if the counter has already fired, if it passed the "Opportunity Check".
You roll a D6, you must roll the number in the "Opportunity" row or less to pass.
Accuracy
If you roll a 6 on any fire, perform an "Accuracy Check" immediately after the "Rout Check".Roll another D6, you must roll number in the "Accuracy" row or less to pass.
If you pass, your "6" result is changed to a "1".
This gives high quality units a edge.
Step Loss
In Panzerblitz a damaged unit is magically restored to full capacity after a short rest.
A step loss represents permanent damage, which is more realistic.
If the company suffers 2 "D" results or one "DD" result during the turn, reduce the number of the dice face by 1. So a Veteran 5-spot Company becomes a Regular 4-spot Company.
This is in addition to the D/DD effects. A unit may suffer up to 1 Step Loss reduction per turn. If a Conscript (1) Company suffers a Troop Quality reduction, all units of the company are destroyed.
Command Radius (C3)
This is the maximum number of hexes apart two counters from the same company can be. If this unit is exceed, the company must roll that number or less with a D6 at the start of each friendly movement phase. Failure means that no unit of the company may move in that turn, except when forced to rout. They may still fire.
Drawbacks
The only fiddly thing is remembering which units go with each chit. Not a problem if you just have 3 Panthers, but you might get a bit mixed up during massed infantry assaults with a mix of veteran and green troops. Your average units can do without a Company Die, use the Company Dice with the elite troops and the conscripts.
Other Ideas:
Chit Pull Company activation
If your dice are different colors, you have a chit pull activation system. You have a bag with each color in it, pull a die at random, all those colors are activated. When be bag is empty, begin a new turn.Hesitation
If a unit moves into an open hex where it would be subject to 1:1 fire or worse if every non-dispersed enemy unit could direct fire on it, it takes a Hesitation Check. Roll a D6, a Conscript/Raw/Green requires a 4 or less to pass, a Regular/Veteran/Elite unit requires a 5 or less. If the unit fails the Hesitation Check, its movement ends immediately, it cannot enter the 1:1 fire hex on this turn. If it passes, it may carry on for the rest of the turn without further Hesitation Checks. Only one Hesitation Check per unit per turn.
The idea is from from the "ASL Retro" rules.
