Hell's Highway Scenario Special Rules & Updates

With the upcoming play test of my Bolt Action Hell's Highway game this Saturday I've finally figured out the special rules that will be used for the scenario.  If you have not seen it, my original post detailing this scenario can be found here.

Updated Scenario Map

First up, I've made some modifications to the original scenario (I've also updated the original post to reflect both the special rules detailed here and the changes).  Here is a summary of the changes to the original scenario:

• Updated Map:  A few minor changes to the location of victory points and added indications as to which German units deploy in which sections of the table.  You can see the updated map picture above.
• British OOB:  I removed the tank hunter troop (consisting of the M10 Wolverine and Achilles tank hunters), otherwise all other forces are as originally specified.
• German OOB:  I removed the '88 gun team from the SS forces.  I also removed the Panzerbuchse 41 AT gun team and medium mortar team from the Fallschirmjager forces.  I added a German Heer 120mm heavy mortar team that is attached to the SS forces.

The special rules, deployment and objectives are detailed below.

Special Rules

Preparatory bombardment:  The British forces get a preparatory bombardment against all German Heer positions located at the first defensive line.  Resolve prior to pulling the first activation dice.  This is conducted as per the normal scenario rules for Bolt Action.

Mass Activation:  To account for the large number of units on each side and the number of players involved, the normal activation process is replaced by this "mass activation" process.  Create your activation dice pools as normal (one for each unit, team and so on).  Put those dice off to the side - they are now your army dice pool.  Determine the activation dice that will be used for determining the activation sequence.  For each side divide the number of dice in your army dice pool by the number of players on that side - rounding up.  These dice are now your activation dice (I recommend using different coloured dice for these so you don't mix them up with your army dice pool).  Put these dice in your activation bag, cup or whatever you normally use to "pull" dice.  Each time you pull a dice from your side, each player takes a dice from their army dice pool and activates a unit normally.  It is possible the final activation dice pulled results in not every player receiving a dice from the army dice pool, in this case dice are distributed to those players who have units remaining that have not activated yet this turn.

Allied Air Support:  The British may call for air support up to two times during the game.  Calling air support does not follow the normal rules.  Instead, to call air support, any British vehicle with a main gun can fire a "purple smoke" round at a designated point on the table (a building cannot be targeted).  Roll "to-hit" with no modifiers, hitting on a 3+.  If you miss, scatter the round D6" in a random direction.  Mark the location using a purple smoke marker (you can make your own, see my recent blog post on making them here).  Resolving the air strike is determined based on if the location of the purple smoke marker is within the first 10 feet of the British side of the table or the last 10 feet of the table.  If it is in the first 10 feet, resolve the air strike at the start of the next British activation.  If it is in the last 10 feet, add a different coloured dice to the activation pool for the next turn.  When that dice is pulled resolve the air strike before pulling another activation dice.  This is meant to represent that the further the allies moved the longer it took for air support to show up (if it showed up) - whereas sir support was readily on hand during the initial advance.

My purple smoke markers.

Deployment

British:  Units deploy up to 30" in on the road (as marked on the map) and up to 4" either side of the road itself.  At least one tank troop must be in the lead, otherwise units can be placed on the road in any order, with unit unable to fit moving on the table as they are activated (and can fit).  British vehicles cannot move be farther than 4" from the road until they are past the first 30" of road (passing the deployment zone) - this does not apply to infantry/dismounted teams.  This remains in effect throughout the game and represents the constricted space the British had to work with.

US Airborne:  Units deploy within the farm complex.

German Heer Force: Units deploy in defensive positions 42" from the left edge (see map) of the table and on the left side of the bridge.

German Fallschirmjager Force:  Units deploy anywhere in the area of the central town.

German SS Force:  Units must deploy within 48" of the right side (exit point) of the table and no closer than 18" to the farm complex.

Victory Points

Victory points are awarded as follows:

• Each infantry section or vehicle destroyed = 2 points.
• Each team (includes weapon teams, officers, medics and so on) destroyed = 1 point.
• Each British tank that moves off the table via the "exit point" (far end of the table)  =1 point.
• Each controlled objective = 10 points.

There are four VP objectives marked on the map: the farm complex, hotel complex, chateau and bridge.

To control an objective there must be no enemy units present within the physical feature of the terrain/building the last unit to occupy the position was friendly (if no friendly unit is present, mark control of the objective using an appropriate marker).

The allies start in control of the farm complex while the Germans are in control of the bridge, chateau and hotel objectives.