There are two types of movement allowed: tactical and administrative.
The former simulates the movement of combat units operating in anticipation of battle, either seeking out opponents or avoiding them. The later is the strategic movement of troops from one urban location to another, using major road or rail networks. Tactical movement and administrative movement may be combined in the one turn. In addition, reconnaissance is treated as a function of tactical movement. Combat will interrupt or terminate movement.
Moving ground units by air or sea is discussed later.
Movement Allowance.
Each type of unit has an intrinsic movement allowance, unaffected by battle losses etc, based on its mode of transport. Infantry units walk while in tactical mode. A movement allowance consists of a number of movement points.
Infantry 6
Elite Infantry 7
Artillery 6
Self Propelled Art 8
Mechanised 12
Armour Fast 10
Armour Normal 9
Armour Slow 8
Leaders 12 (as Mech)
Aircraft/Helicopters unlimited.
Naval vessels - see Naval rules - 6 sea areas.
Movement Phasing by Unit Type
Each different type of terrain exacts a different terrain cost on units moving into it during a turn. This cost is cumulative from hex to hex and when the total equals the unit's movement allowance that unit may move no further. A unit may not move into a hex if it does not have enough movement points remaining to satisfy the terrain cost of that hex.
* Includes Mechanised units and Self Propelled Art.
** Entry to these hexes is only permitted if a road or railway passes through it, and then only along that route. Units performing this will be highly vulnerable to attack at all times.
*** Amphibious Only. Impassable to other land units except at bridges and as specified by the scenario.
@ - Elite infantry trained for specific terrain will pay less per hex (Jungle Inf, Mountain Inf, Marines and Commandoes.)
Where tunnels exist they extend the road or rail, but are considered to be installations. If destroyed then the road or rail link is destroyed also.
A unit is not deemed to have entered a hex until sufficient MPs have been expended to do so, this may result in the unit remaining stationary in a hex for a number of movement rounds.
All turns are divided into 12 movement phases (for land forces). Units are moving in some or all of these phases dependent upon the table and their movement point allowance.
The table shows the timing of expending movement points, NOT the time of moving.
Troops in tactical mode are at all times alert and ready for action. Units are assumed deployed in readiness for sudden combat. This means that they have a reasonable chance of detecting nearby enemy forces and are less vulnerable to surprise attacks, either in the form of ambush or attack from the air. Units are moved using either an order that allows movement as well as a specific task or by use of the Move order. Some orders double your movement costs.
Unit organisation will also have an effect on movement and performance. A unit with zero organisation cannot move.
Some orders may specifically alter a units tactical performance, such as Scout.
Troops in administrative mode are unprepared for combat and are in transit on roads, railways or one of the other available options. Admin movement assumes that suitable vehicles are brought from a nearby establishment to allow transport at increased speeds.
In the following sections, where-ever it mentions 'centre' it refers to a population centre such as a village, town or city. It MAY also refers to Minor and Major Installations that exist in a hex with a road or rail line.
A route is a section of rail or road that links two centres. Some routes may be shared but each begins with a centre, ends with a centre and has no other centres (except Installations) between them.
Bridges and Tunnels must be functional or the section of road/rail that passes over them is considered broken and will prevent admin movement. Unowned bridges or tunnels are neutral, not enemies, but will fall to the first player to tactically pass through them.
The following types of admin moves are possible:
From any road hex to any centre at either end of that route provided they are able to trace down the appropriate route to one of those centres, which must be friendly, and that path must be free of enemy units at the time the admin move is begun. *
From any friendly centre to the next centre on that route, with an option to bypass Installations.
From any friendly centre to any road hex of the route to another centre. *
From a suitable centre to any suitable hex via one of the available special moves. In this case they must actually own or be allied to the starting centre owner.
* Roads only.
You MAY admin move into an enemy controlled centre or hex and thus INTO combat. You cannot admin move OUT of combat. Be warned however that admin moving into combat will result in a severe combat penalty.
NOTE: the penalty for this should be double sided, tactical units attacking admin movers should get a good bonus AND the admin movers should get a good penalty. So the attackers do a lot more and the adminers do considerably less. ...+3 -3.
There are two types of control for Urban centres, Population control and physical control. It is only physical control that is important in determining if administrative moves are possible.
Physical Control is determined by the presence of units and is worked out on a phase by phase basis.
If there are not any military units present in an Urban Centre then the player with Economic Control of that Urban Centre will also have physical Control for purposes of determining if an Admin move can take place.
Physical control is determined at the end of each movement phase.
Installations remain under a player's physical control until another enemy players military unit passes through the hex.
Ground units may use admin movement along a friendly road network. The unit can start or end admin movement from a friendly centre or from a road hex that lies between two centres, one of which is friendly.
It may travel from friendly centre to friendly centre along a contiguous road/highway route until it reaches it destination or passes into 6 centres or destination hexes. Attempting to admin move through a centre or hex not controlled by friendly forces will result in the unit stopping and entering combat.
An admin move is ordered by giving a Move order and by then specifying the appropriate numbers in the movement instructions section of the player submittal.
Eg Three towns are linked by a road network. Hycondea City is in centre 501, Lozano is 506 and Diaz is 505. In order to admin move from Diaz to Hycondea City you would give a ?? order with movement instructions; 506,501. This order in effect says, get in your truck and drive to Lozano and then to Hycondea. It takes 2 phases (equivelant to 2 admin movement spots or 4 land movement spots). The order must include Lozano because this town lies on the road between Diaz and Hycondea. Note there is no requirement to state the starting centre.
Eg. If you wanted to move from Diaz to Hycondea City in tactical mode you would give a ?? order with movement instructions; 6,6,1,1,6,1. This takes 6 phases providing the unit has enough movement points.
Eg. If you wanted to admin move from one hex north of Diaz to one hex south of Hycondea you would give a 29 order with movement instructions; 506, 03825. That is drive to Lozano (the next link in the road network) and then drive to the hex south of Hycondea City. This takes 2 admin move phases. In this case the Lozano would need to be friendly to the player.
more eg of admin/tac move combos.....
Rail movement is similar to road movement except that units must begin and end their move in a centre which lies on the rail network. Railway hexes may be sabotaged and this will send the unit back to the last centre passed through.
They cannot board or detrain at any place other than a centre which lies on the rail network, ie not at hexes along the way.
Rail moves are differentiated from road moves by using a negative centre value; eg to move from Lozano to Diaz you would plot -505.
Several of the elite units have a special admin movement mode available to them as follows:
Marines, Commandos Sea move.
A SEA move is possible whenever the elite unit occupies a friendly coastal or major river centre. They can then move out to sea and return to any land hex in the same or adjacent sea zone (remember rivers are a zone). This move is completed in one phase.
A Paradrop is possible when the elite unit is at a friendly, functional airport. They can then be dropped on any hex on the map. They will be prone to air superiority effects that may result in the mission failing altogether.
Neither of these moves can occur while the units are in combat. Note there is a difference between units in combat and units in the same hex. Some units are able to exist in a hex without starting combat, these would NOT prevent a special move happening.
NOTE: This is important, a seperate flag will have to be used to indicate combat as opposed to enemy in the same hex.
Units travelling in admin mode along the road/rail network will suffer heavy casualties if contacted by hostile forces - even numerically inferior hostile forces that are in tactical mode.
Units moving in Admin mode will be stopped by any hostile enemy units occupying any hex of the route, either in ambush or other tactical mode. This includes garrisons of installations in the same hexes. Units stopped in this way will suffer a severe combat penalty for that combat turn. A unit ambushing such a unit would be even better off and has an option to retreat.
NOTE: normally +3 -3, ambushers +6 or even +3 an double damage
If hostile units break off contact, the admin mode unit will attempt to resume movement, but will have lost one phase of movement for each round of combat. That is, if the unit fought one round of combat the maximum number of centres it could move that turn would be reduced to 5, if it fought 2 rounds of combat movement would be reduced to 4 centres and so on.
NOTE: the move instruction will need to be kept in a stack and popped when completed.
Minefields layed along a route will cause damage to units using Admin moves, and have the same effect as one combat round above on a unit's movement. EACH unit moving over the minefield will suffer damage.
NOTE: minefield depletion after each attack! say 25%.
NOTE: response to minefields for admin moves flag - this should be a player setting, do they return to base or keep moving?
Admin Movement is timed in the same movement phases as tactical movement. Admin Moves by Road and Rail occur on the even phases.
You can use a '0' order in a move to delay in a centre for a phase. This allows you to plan a strategy where you can use both normal and admin moves (for different units).
E.g. An APC unit can move 12 hexes in a turn, but an Infantry unit can only move 6. If you wanted the Infantry and APC to end up in the same village at the end of the turn, then you could attempt the following. Give a movement order (??) for the APC to move to the target village (e.g. Tacapulco Town to Estel Village). The APC will arrive at the end of phase 7.
Allow the rest of the move to force any enemy units to retreat. Plot Admin Moves 0,0,0,0,0,605 to delay in Tacapulco for 5 phases and then Admin move to Estel on the last phase of the move.
Combining Admin and Tactical Mode.
It is possible to combine admin movement along roads with tactical movement in the same turn by specifying a combination of numbers in the movement segment of the turn sheet.
Admin movement is triggered if the movement instruction given is larger than 99, tactical movement is triggered if the movement instruction given is a direction (ie 1 to 6). A ground unit can therefore move in and out of these two modes. If combat occurs the unit will be treated according to the mode it is currently in.
All the rules pertaining to admin and tactical movement still apply. Note that a unit does not get double its movement allowance. For instance if an infantry unit use 3 phases in tactical mode you can only use 3 phases in admin mode, not 6 in each.
Example: You have raised an infantry company deep in the jungle and you wish to move it to a more useful location. It is 4 hexes to the nearest road, the terrain is forested and a minor river lies in between. The road lies to the south-west and it is then only a short drive to the provincial capital (located in hex 1328, centre 101). You control both ends of this section of road. You would give your unit an order with the following movement instructions - 5,5,5,5,101. Your men will arrive on phase 5.
Players specify the tactical movement of their units by direction. The points of the compass are represented by 6 numbers corresponding to the 6 sides of a hex.
North - 1
NorthWest - 6
NorthEast - 2
SouthWest - 5
SouthEast - 3
South - 4
So the movement instruction to move a unit 4 hexes to the north of its present position would read - 1,1,1,1.
A '0' may be used to specify a 'wait' phase. This temporarily halts the units movement by burning its next allowable movement phase remaining stationary. Use of the '0' does affect the Movement allowance and reduces the number of movement instructions that may be given.
eg. an APC unit given a 0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1 order would keep pace with an artillery unit given a 1,1,1,1,1,1 order provided they moved through clear terrain.
Admin moves are indicated by destinations, not directions. A destination can be an Urban Centre ID#, an Installation ID# or a hex number. To be able to move to the destination the unit must be standing on an appropriate admine route, or in a hex that makes it eligible to make its admin move (airport, coastal port etc).
Eg Movement order 101,105,106,01515,0,0.
Where a rail admin move is to be used you should indicate this by placing a negative sign i front of the centre number. By default road is always used.
Eg Movement order -101,-105,106,01515,0,0.
Usually you will need to find an enemy before you can engage them in Battle. (Units blundering into the same hex will of course fight unless they are allied). The Recce order can be used to find units in adjacent hexes. A Scouting unit will be able to see into all hexes upto two hexes away.
Units in tactical mode always spot other enemy troops in the same hex. They do not see troops in adjacent hexes unless using a Recce or Scout order, and only a chance of seeing them even then, depending on the terrain.
The results of a Recce is dependent on the surrounding terrain. Jungle Urban and Mountain hexes will often prevent a unit being seen. Units that are camoflaged will usually not be seen from adjacent, or may not even be seen in the same hex.
Scouting reports will have increased chances of seeing things, it will normally see everything in its own hex (100%), everything in adjacent hexes as if a normal unit in its own hex, and everything in the next ring of hexes as if they were adjacent to a recce.
Air recce is described more fully in the Air rules, but are essentially the same in the effects notes above.
Pursuit occurs when enemy forces are in near proximity and one side seeks battle while the other tries to avoid it, or ignore it.
Units are given a pursuit option as part of some of their movement instructions. The available settings are 1: don't pursue, 2: pursue and 3: breakthrough. Setting 3 is only available to armoured and mechanised units.
Pursuit is recorded against a unit permanently once it is set, remaining until changed. As not all orders allow an option to set your pursuit you will have to make do with those that do and retain your settings as required.
A unit will go into pursuit mode if given the order to do so as part of their orders and they have spotted an enemy unit with the Recce order, or they have forced one to retreat. Pursuit can only be made if the unit is currently on an Aggression Factor of 5 or greater, even if the option to pursue is set for the orders that the unit is using.
Any unit on orders which do not have a movement allowance will attempt to pursue units they force to retreat if and only if they have an Aggression Factor of 7.
If the unit is therefore deemed to be tasked to pursue enemy units taking the above into account and it forces its opponent in battle to retreat then your unit will always attempt pursuit.
The presence of other enemy units at the battle does prevent you from pursuing. A unit's opponent is defined as the hostile unit it fired at during the current combat round.
Pursuing units always move one hex in the direction of the enemy retreat. The type of terrain the retreating units is in will then determine if the pursuit is successful.
After entering pursuit mode the unit will attempt to follow/catch the enemy unit instead of completing its original movement instructions (with the possible exception of Rangers). It will remain in pursuit for the rest of the turn unless it is beaten in combat or loses sight of the enemy. If multiple targets are available it will pursue the slowest enemy, then the smallest force, then randomly.
A unit being pursued will continue to execute its original movement instructions unless it also pursues, or it is retreating from combat.
A retreating unit will attempt to continue its retreat in the same direction until enemy forces are outdistanced (there is a whole hex separating the units after all movement for the round). This usually means that a unit retreating from combat will move 2 hexes away from the combat. That is, a unit that retreats from combat but is not pursued will retreat 1 hex while a unit which is pursued will retreat 2 hexes. As pursuers move 1 hex, pursued and pursued end the round 1 hex apart.
Thereafter the chance of successful pursuit is dependent on the terrain entered and the relative speeds of the combatants. Unsuccessful pursuit terminates the pursuers movement.
Be warned however that a force of several units may become split up while trying to pursue, as each unit determines its success separately.
Terrain
Chance to pursue
Clear/Village
90%
Forest, hill, Town, City
75%
Marsh, Swamp
50%
Jungle, Mountain
25%
Breakthrough: Armoured and Mechanised units may attempt to ignore enemy units after the first round of combat by setting a pursuit option of 3. These units will continue moving if there are no hostile troops present armed with anti-tank weapons or Mechanised or Armoured units. Otherwise they perform the same as if their pursuit option was 2.
The effect of this is that the armoured units will continue their move regardless of combat.
Some units will be given Support orders that will allow them to move toward nominated units that have become engaged in combat. To do this the supporting unit must remain with 4 hexes of the target. Immediately after the first round of combat the support unit will move in a direct line toward the battle hex. It will continue to do this as long as the target unit remains alive and in battle. If battle ceases then movement stops for that unit for the rest of the turn unless activated by another support condition within range.
Tunnels are installations that act as parts of an admin route, usually cancelling the effects of the terrain they pass through. A tunnel must be intact for an admin route to be used.
Where tunnels allow specific units to enter a terrain type they are normally prohibited from then they are considered to be in the tunnel. If the tunnel is destroyed then the units are trapped in the hex and cannot leave until the tunnel is fixed.
To control a tunnel that is more than one hex long requires you take military control of both ends. To destroy a tunnel only requires control of one end.
Major Rivers
Major rivers may only be crossed at bridges or ferries, or in hexes where a boat unit is acting as a ferry, or by certain elite units.
Bridges cancel all movement penalties. Units are treated the same as if they were moving across a minor river.
Ferries effect movement and combat. A ferry causes a major river to be treated as a minor river for the purpose of movement. Units moving by ferry into combat are considered to be crossing a minor river.
Commandoes, Marines and Engineers will treat Minor rivers as if they were not there, and Major rivers as if they were Minor rivers.
Boats using the Ferry order will act in all ways as if ferries.
Minor Rivers
Minor rivers may be crossed at any point but entail an additional terrain cost of 1 movement point for infantry, and 2 movement points for all others, except amphibious vehicles where the cost is 0.
There is an offensive penalty to combat for units which enter a hex over a minor river hexside during the very next combat phase, including amphibious vehicles.
Although a bridge spans two hexes it is assumed to be in only one hex for purposes of ownership and control. This hex is denoted by the white side of the symbol representing the bridge. Units in this hex may elect to destroy the bridge, garrison it etc. Units in the other hex may not.
Destroying a bridge: Garrisoning a bridge will not stop an enemy from crossing into the hex. For this to occur the bridge must have been destroyed before the enemy attempts to cross. Note: that the conditional Destroy order (order 25 with object 1 being a 2) will also not stop an enemy from crossing into the hex. It is in fact the act of entering the hex that triggers the guarding unit to destroy the bridge. In this case the bridge will be blown up after the enemy has crossed over.
Units equipped with amphibious vehicles ignore minor rivers, and treat major rivers as minor ones for movement.
Ground units will provide incidental information about each hex they occupy or enter. This information will include the presence of uncamouflaged ammo dumps. Any aerial reconnaissance of the hex will also be reported. At the end of the turn, units will report the number of units present in the hex, be they enemy or allied.
An Observation post may be set up in any hex in which you currently have a ground unit by giving that ground unit miscellaneous order 'Set up Observation Post' (order XX).
This results in the ground unit losing 1 strength point and an Observation Post being created in the specified hex. Each player may have only one OP per hex. This Observation Post is never involved in combat and will be destroyed if hostile units perform a search in the hex. In the latter case the owner of these hostile units receives a message telling them they have destroyed an OP and the name of the faction that it belonged to. However OPs are not normally visible to hostile units unless a search is performed. Hostile OPs in the same hex will report on each other!
Each turn an OP will report on anything that happens in the hex it occuppies and the 6 hexes immediately adjacent. This report is automatic and includes troop movements, combat results, aircraft sightings, equipment delivery, and the results of any orders carried out by nearby units - eg digin, camouflage, take, leave, ambush etc. These reports will include minefield and artillery attacks, aircraft strikes and naval bombardment regardless of whose forces are involved or the nature of the terrain. Your brave observation post will radio anything of importance straight to your commander.
For every 5 observation posts or part there-of, your maintainence cost is increased by 1AP per turn. That is, 1 OP costs 1 AP, 5 OP costs 1 AP, 6 OP costs 2 AP, 11 OPs cost 3 AP, 21 OPs cost 5 AP.