2 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

TAB LE O F C O N T E N T S
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Example of Play...........................................................................................................................................6
Vehicles and AT Combat..........................................................................................................................17
Defensive Setup.........................................................................................................................................28
Preparing for an Air Assault....................................................................................................................35
Reconstitution & Replacement................................................................................................................40
Design & Developer’s Notes.....................................................................................................................45
Game Credits.............................................................................................................................................47

Section Header Picture Captions:

Page 6:
Light machine gun firing across a clearing from under the cover of low-hanging
trees. Near Vire, France. August, 1944.
Page 17:
A German soldier awaits our tanks with the new improved Raketenpanzerbüchse 54
with blast shield, commonly known as the ‘Panzerschreck’.
Page 28:
US soldier aims the .30-caliber M1919A4 MG on tripod.
Page 35:
Men board UH-1D helicopters.
Page 40:
Medevac helicopter departing from the LZ.

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 Introduction 3

Introduction is indicative of lots of activity that the player, just like an

actual company commander, has no control over.
The Basic Training Field Manual has hopefully given you a
clear idea of how the game works mechanically. Let us take Time Management
a moment to examine some of the concepts behind Fields of
The amount of time a turn covers is abstract. However, the
Fire’s various mechanisms and some basic tactics.
scope of a turn is based around the ability to initiate and
complete a task in one turn. The Call for Fire action in the
The Game Engine real world can take as little as four or five minutes from call
Fields of Fire is a resource management and decision mak- to rounds on target, but for a new target location, it can take
ing game. The resource is the Command. Commands are as much as 15 minutes to make contact, adjust fire, and fire
exchanged for actions that are performed by units on the for effect.
map, which are the decisions you make. There are limitations The turn limit is a simple way to capture the cumulative
to how many Commands are available to spend, meaning effects of fatigue. Once you have played several missions,
you have to manage supply and demand. For the game to be you will notice that the company in the attack typically runs
challenging, there must be more actions available to you than out of steam with healthy units by the eighth or ninth turn.
there is a supply of Commands, like real life. When this happens, your thinking will shift to preserving
combat power for the next mission.
Abstraction & Problem Solving If a mission has reattempts available, you have a different
Understanding the level of abstraction is important to gain decision calculus. Reattempts are based on the historical
insight into how the game’s activities depict actual activities. time covered, so some missions have them and others do not.
A Command is an abstraction of all activity to be undertaken You are playing against the historical performance. You can
within a variable amount of time. A game turn is not a precise approach this in three possible ways: go all out to try to com-
period and the amount of time each activity takes within that plete the mission in one go; go hard until turn seven or eight
is also variable. and assess if you should consolidate and use the reattempt;
or go slow and steady whilst planning to use the reattempt all
A Command may represent the literal transmission of a
along. There is no right or wrong answer. It is not cheating to
command from the officer to the troops, or it represents the
take it slow, nor does taking it slow provide the opportunity
sergeants and corporals performing the task under the general
for any more Experience Points. It may reduce casualties, but
influence of the headquarters. General Initiative also depicts
that is mathematically debatable. The middle ground is the
the activities of those same sergeants and corporals doing
most common historical choice, that is to go hard and have a
actions that help the player, without being specifically ordered
preplanned criterion for holding up, consolidating your gains
to do so.
and using the reattempt.
Some activities in the game require a Command, and others
Some missions are almost impossible to complete without
are automatic. The automatic activities are a way to create
using a reattempt. When using a reattempt, the mission objec-
command challenges based on real world problems.
tives may be Secured in the first couple of turns, based on
For example, the way units automatically open fire (6.1). how far you got in the previous attempt. You still have to play
This creates a command and control problem for the player out the remaining turns, even if no enemies are present. An
to solve. Actual combat can rapidly devolve into an extended Enemy Higher Headquarters Event may trigger a counterat-
firefight that would prevent the company from advancing, so tack for example.
you must attempt to control fire and maneuver to accomplish
the mission.
Chaos
The game integrates this concept into its Higher Headquarters
The chaos of battle is a key part of the economy of Fields of
Events, Combat Effects and Limited Action Team restric-
Fire. At the company level, the great movements of armies
tions. All these create problems for you to prioritize and solve
lose the crisp arrows on large maps and disappear into deadly
adequately enough to enable you to accomplish or even just
ground where soldiers try to stay alive and junior officers,
survive the mission.
sergeants, and corporals push, prod, and cajole them into
It is also worth noting that in modern infantry warfare, situ- accomplishing their piece of the larger puzzle. The chaos of
ational awareness for the individual soldiers or marines is battle is built into how the enemy placement, enemy activ-
generally very limited. The Primary Direction of Fire (PDF) ity and combat resolution works. These game mechanics
game mechanic (6.3) is a real world problem, called in pro- impact units and activities on the map, providing the player
fessional circles “target fixation.” Targets are hard to identify with more demand for Commands, which adds stress to the
so everyone tends to shoot in the same general direction Command-to-Action equation.
even when they do not see a clear target. It takes effort to get
troops to stop shooting or shift the direction of their fire. This

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 4 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Planning for Mission Commander’s Estimate

“A plan is nothing, planning is everything” Estimate Component Example
– Dwight D. Eisenhower Secure Primary and Secondary Objec-
M – mission
tives on Row 4, in 10 turns
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”
Veteran German paratroopers, will
– Benjamin Franklin likely be entrenched and covered
There is always the temptation when getting a new game E – enemy by mines and mortars. Deliberate
to open the box, shuffle the cards, punch the counters and Defense tactics meaning they will
jump right into a mission. In Fields of Fire, you are strongly probably stay and fight
encouraged to resist that urge and take some time to plan for Daylight, low hills, small wooded
a mission. areas, compartmentalized by hedge-
T – terrain and
Every professional army has planning processes for leaders to rows—makes long range support-
weather
follow to ensure they have their act together before they cross ing fires difficult and enemy will be
the line of departure. A player can use them as a general guide encountered at close range
to prepare for a mission. The one used by the US Marine Full strength company, with artillery
Corps is the mnemonic ‘BAMCIS’. T – troops and
and battalion mortars. Two Line Expe-
support available
rience platoon HQs, one Green.
Troop Leading Steps
Real World Note that modern versions of METT add some components.
Action Action Fields of Fire Actions While this has changed over time, the basic core of the
Give warning order Setup needed com- estimate has not. The Commander’s Estimate is then used to
to subordinates, ponents for Mission finalize your plan.
B – begin
planning conduct mission and study the mission Sketching out a basic plan with a scheme of maneuver might
analysis instructions prove helpful:
Determine what
A – arrange for information is Situation:
N/A
reconnaissance needed and how to PRIMARY Secondary Mission 1, Daylight,
OBJ OBJ
get it 10 turns
Study the map and 3rd and 1st Platoons have
Conduct leader’s objectives. Look at the Line experience and 2nd
recon and collect enemy force packages Platoon HQ is Green, so
M – make AP
what information is to see what you might I will keep it in reserve
reconnaissance
possible. Complete come up against. where I can keep an eye
your estimate Come up with a rough on them.
plan The AP is on the left
Finalize your plan. center, so I will go heavier
C – complete Finalize plan and
You may write an on the left with the CO
the plan write order
order or make notes HQ and FOs.
Arrange Command I will attach a machine
I – issue the Display and units in gun to both 1st and 3rd
Issue order
order staging area according Platoons. I will attach
to your plan one bazooka team to
3 1 each platoon. The mortar
Supervise execu-
S – supervise Play the game 1 2 section will remain in
tion of order
general support with the
You should aim to understand the general situation provided XO. 1st Sgt will be with
2
from the historical notes, the characteristics of the terrain the reserve platoon.
cards, the experience of your units, and potential enemy con-
tacts. Each enemy force in each campaign has unique char- Scheme of Mission:
acteristics of their equipment and tactics that can shape how 1st Platoon on the right, 3rd Platoon on the left, 2nd Platoon in reserve.
you plan to organize and move your troops. These elements CO HQ with the FO will follow in trace of 3rd Platoon.
form your Commander’s Estimate. Officers formalize their
estimates with another acrostic, METT, for mission, enemy, Example Plan
terrain, troops (example from the Normandy Campaign).

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 Introduction 5

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy” Summary of Tactical Formations
– Helmuth von Moltke (paraphrased)
Formation Description Purpose
Your initial plan may not be feasible after the first turn or
Frontal attack, sweeping
two, but it gives a framework to adjust from. Do not get too
Skirmisher or All three ele- a large area, all firepower
attached to your original plan, as it is a common error to try to
Line ments abreast needed to the front, flanks
make the plan work and reinforce failure; adjusting to a new
are not a concern
path of least resistance can be the key to success.
Enemy contact is expected,
Wedge,
One up, two but enemy disposition is not
Formations Inverted Vee,
back known. Provides flexibility
or Arrowhead
Infantry units use tactical formations for ease of movement and flank protection
control and to reduce exposure to enemy fire. There are for- Two up, one
mations for squads, platoons, and companies. Squad forma- Primary attack formation
back (Most
tions are below the level of abstraction of the game, but all Vee with a reserve to reinforce,
common battle
levels follow a similar pattern. The Fields of Fire base rules exploit, or guard a flank
formation)
do not specifically cover formations, as they are not required,
Enemy contact is not
but they are presented here to serve as guidelines for com- One after the
Column expected and facilitates
manders to control their troops. other
movement
To implement formations in Fields of Fire, you must start
with basic dispersion. Dispersion, the space between indi- Formations do not have to be duplicated, nor should they be
viduals, is vitally important in modern combat where indirect between company and platoons. A company can be in a Vee
fire from mortars and artillery is the biggest threat. A mortar formation with each platoon in a different formation based on
or artillery burst can kill or seriously injure a standing man their terrain and enemy situation. A company looking to tra-
within 35-50m. The space between individuals should be 3 to verse an area relatively quickly could have their lead platoon
5 meters. in a Wedge formation, with the reserve platoons following
along behind in column.
There is a constant tension, however, between dispersion
and bunching up as it is easier to communicate when troops In practice, a commander does not normally specify the for-
are close at hand. Psychologically, men draw comfort under mation for the lower unit commander; it is expected that the
stress from the proximity of their comrades. local commander would adjust to the formation needed. How-
ever, with inexperienced subordinate leaders or for specific
In game terms, this means your normal dispersion should
purposes, the lower unit’s formation can be specified in the
be no more than 1 squad, 1 weapons team, and/or 1 HQ (or
order; e.g., a platoon could be ordered to move in a column to
around 5-6 steps) in a given terrain card that has the poten-
protect an open flank.
tial to come under enemy fire. The game allows you to place
more, but good judgment should guide you on when to place
too many steps in one card.
You will often be tempted to bunch up for ease of control
with Platoon Commands. The easiest way to learn other-
wise is to move an entire platoon into a mortar fire mission
and lose the whole platoon in a single combat phase. As a
solitaire game, you can learn without the pressure of face to
face competition.

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 6 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

CO HQ is equipped with
two radios, one for
communicating with the
BN HQ off-map (the
SCR300), and the other
for communicating with
Platoon HQs (the
SCR536). The CO HQ also has a smoke grenade asset for
emergencies. Finally, they have a Red Star Parachute Pyro-
technic which we have keyed to Phase Line 2 (4.4.1). This
will be handy to get units moving if time is running low. We
record it as “XPL2” (“Upon seeing the signal, cross Phase
Example of Play Line No. 2”) on the log sheet.

In this example, CO HQ will lead Green 2nd PLT HQ on a

single-platoon offensive into enemy territory with support
from Veteran 1st Sgt. An Arty FO is also attached to the
platoon. The units set up in the Staging Area and prepare
to advance into the 4x3 map. This example uses Normandy CO 1st Sgt is given a
terrain but is not based on any of the actual missions in this smoke grenade.
volume. Our task is to Secure a Farm on Row 3 of the map.
In order to convey how a game generally plays out, all of the
rules will be used; including radio communications, ammo
tracking and Experience Levels.
2nd PLT HQ has an
SCR536 radio (to receive
Attachments orders from the CO HQ).
In addition to the three rifle squads, two AT teams and an LMG We also assign smoke
team are Attached to 2nd Platoon. This means they can be given grenades and WP to 1/2,
orders by 2nd Platoon HQ as well as CO HQ and 1st Sgt. 2/2 and 3/2 squads. We’ll
place counters for these
Command Display and Assets on the Command Display
We place one Command marker on the Command Track for for convenience.
every HQ and Staff in play. We’ll use these to track Com- 1/2 squad is equipped with a Rifle Grenade (just
mands for the CO HQ, 1st Sgt and 2nd PLT HQ. one shot). We’ll put that on the map under 1/2 so
we can remember that we have it in the heat of
combat.
Finally, the Arty FO is given a radio, the SCR610
manpack, to communicate with off-map artillery
and mortar agencies. We’ll also place this with
the unit on the map.

Map at Start
See map diagram below. Our primary objective is the Farm
on Row 3. The hilly terrain means very limited LOS in this
mission. Phase Line 2 is set between Rows 2 and 3. When CO
HQ fires the Red Star Parachute, all units on Row 2 will cross
over to Row 3. A somewhat dangerous maneuver, but it might
come in handy in an emergency.
All of our units start in the Staging Area (represented here by
four cards from the Naktong River campaign). The sequence
of play on the back page of the rulebook and separate player
aid must be followed strictly. This example will step through
each Phase, Segment and Impulse in turn. Note that none of
what follows is necessarily tactically sound advice.

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Example of play 7

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 8 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Turn 1 • Activity Level (we get a +1 modifier because Activity is

No Contact)
Friendly Higher HQ Event Phase • VOF on the card (but that does not apply right now as the
On Turn 1 of the game, no HQ events occur, so we do not CO HQ is not under fire)
draw a card. A full list of Command modifiers can be found on the Com-
This is an offensive Mission, so the player will act first, then mand Draw Modifiers Chart.
the enemy. That’s a total of 6 Commands. We increase the CO HQs Com-
Friendly Command Phase mands by 6 on the Command track.
In this Phase, Higher HQs give orders to subordinate HQs. These Commands can be used or saved until the next turn.
Those HQs gain Commands and use them to order their units The Command Display indicates that our Line Level CO HQ
to take Action. can save up to 6 Commands during a Daytime mission.
• First the BN HQ will give orders to the CO HQ CO HQ spends 3 Commands:
• Then the CO HQ will give orders to Platoon HQs and CO • 1 to Activate 1st Sgt. 1st Sgt is on the same card as the
Staff. CO HQ so they can communicate directly without the
• Platoon HQs will then give orders to their own units and use of radios. 1st Sgt’s Command marker is flipped to
CO Staff will give orders to any units (including Platoon Commands Available.
HQs and lower ranking Staff). • 1 to Activate 2nd PLT HQ. 2nd PLT HQ is not on the
Although any of the actions in the Action menus can be given same card as the CO HQ, but they are in communication
as orders, Activate is the most common order for a higher HQ on the CO TAC radio network (using the SCR536 radios).
to give to a subordinate HQ. Being Activated by a higher HQ 2nd PLT HQ Command marker is flipped to Commands
makes that HQ eligible to draw for their own Commands in Available.
the Activation Segment. • 1 to order 2/2 squad to Move to the Church. It’s not
normally efficient for the CO HQ to give direct orders
Activation Segment to units, however in this case, there are very few HQs in
BN HQ Impulse play and the CO HQ has lots of Commands to spare. 2/2
Except in some rare cases due to Events, the BN HQ is squad immediately Moves to the Church. An Exposed
always off-map. BN HQ can communicate with the CO HQ marker is placed on the unit.
over the BN TAC radio network. First we check to see if the CO HQ has finished, 3 Commands are saved and the CO HQ
CO HQ has a BN TAC radio (they do, the SCR300), then Command marker is flipped to its Activation Completed side.
we have the BN HQ Activate the CO HQ (while off-map, We slide it down to the bottom half of the Command Track to
Activate is the only order available to the BN HQ). On the remind ourselves that the CO HQ has completed its Activa-
Command Display, we flip the CO HQ’s Command marker to tion Impulse and is not awaiting the Initiative Segment.
its Commands Available side.
PLT HQ/CO Staff Impulse
Gameplay Notes: Losing the BN HQ radio can be some- 2nd Platoon and 1st Sgt have been Activated so they can
what disastrous for a mission. With no way to Activate draw for Commands in this Impulse. It doesn’t matter who
the CO HQ, they are left with only Initiative Commands; we carry out Commands for first, but once we have com-
having to rely on Runners to Activate the Platoon HQs or pleted one HQ, we cannot go back. We decide that it’s best to
Staff every other turn. The radio is not easy to lose, but see what 1st Sgt manages to do before deciding 2nd Pla-
may happen if the CO HQ becomes a casualty (See 4.3.5 toon’s orders.
Combat Damage to Radios). In this case, you’ll need to find
another SCR300 radio to replace it. Often a Mtr FO will be An Action card is drawn, we check the large number in the
equipped with an SCR300 that you can requisition. Simply top left; it’s a 4. We modify by +1 because Activity Level is at
carry out a Switch Network (4.2.1j) action to replace the No Contact and another +1 because our 1st Sgt is a Veteran. 6
Mtr FD Net radio with the BN TAC Net radio. Unfortu- Commands to Spend or Save.
nately, our Mtr FO was not available for this trip, so we’ll As a Veteran unit, 1st Sgt can save up to 9 Commands in a
have to be careful. turn. However, the maximum any unit can use in a single
turn of a Daylight mission is 6 (as indicated on the Com-
CO HQ Impulse mand display).
We draw an Action card and check the large number in the 1st Sgt ends up spending all 6 Commands:
top left—it’s a 5.
• 1 to Move himself to the Church (he moves and is marked
This number is mainly modified by three factors: Exposed).
• Experience Level of the CO HQ (our CO HQ is Line • 1 to order 2/2 squad to seek cover:
Experience so no modifier) ○ 3 Action Cards are drawn (as indicated by the number
at the bottom center of the terrain card). We are

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 Example of play 9

looking for one which says “Cover” at the top. We • 1 Command is used to order the Assault Team forwards
don’t get it. The men of 2/2 squad are happy with their into the Orchard. 2nd PLT HQ saves the remaining 3
current positions in front of the sturdy stained glass Commands.
windows
• 1 Command is spent to Exhort. Any failed attempt can
gain one more card draw with this order. We draw and
fail again.
• 1st Sgt (somewhat frustrated now), spends a Command
to look for cover himself (something he likely should
have done in the first place). He draws 4 cards (3 base,
+1 since he’s a Veteran). One of those cards comes up:
“Cover”. We draw on the Cover chart for urban areas in
the campaign instructions and get a 2 - “Strong Building”.
1st Sgt has located a much better position in the Church
in which to take cover. We place a Strong Building
marker on the card, and a Church Tower (a high elevation
area with a stacking limit of 1 step).
Having spent 4 Commands, 1st Sgt now has only 2 left. Each
cover marker represents an entirely separate location, which
means he is no longer in communication with 2/2 squad.
1st Sgt spends 2 more Commands. One to get out of the cover
and back to 2/2 squad. And one final Command to order 2/2
to Move to the new cover. 2/2 are safely in cover, 1st Sgt just
has enough time to duck beneath a bench before the enemy
shows up (he’s Exposed and not in cover). 1st Sgt Command
marker is flipped to Activation Completed. No Commands
are saved this turn so his Command marker is placed in the
Activation Completed box at the top of the display.
Next up is 2nd PLT HQ.
We slide 2nd PLT Command marker into the 3 box of the
We draw an Action Card, it’s a 6. 2nd PLT HQ is a Green Saved Commands zone, and the PLT HQ/CO Staff Impulse
Experience unit, so we –1 to that number. Then +1 because is now over. To summarize, Commands were used to give the
we’re still at No Contact for a total of 6 Commands. Although following orders:
they can still spend 6 during a Day turn, a Green HQ can
only save 3 Commands in a turn, so any unused Commands Activate Allows an HQ to draw for Commands in the
beyond 3 will be lost. (4.2.1a) Activation Segment
2nd PLT HQ can order any of the units under his command Move Moves a unit to an adjacent card. This order
which are in Visual-Verbal communication (on the same card, (4.2.2a) marks a unit Exposed.
in the same area of that card). One option would be to order a Seek Attempts to find more secure locations within a
Platoon Move for 2 Commands and move everyone out of the cover terrain card (automatically moves units carrying
Staging Area and into play. (4.2.2e) out the action to that new cover).
However, let’s be a little more cautious. Outside of the built Move Moves between areas of a single card. Each
up areas like the Farm and the Church, basic Cover & Con- Within cover marker on a terrain card represents a sepa-
cealment ratings are quite low. a Card rate area. HQs will often find themselves moving
(4.2.2f) about different areas to give orders to their units.
2nd PLT HQ spends 3 Commands:
Some campaigns will feature complex terrain
• 1 Command to order 1/LMG to the Farm. This is a fairly
with separate areas printed directly on the card.
safe spot to set up. Although units cannot be ordered any
more after moving out of communication, 2nd PLT HQ Detach Removes one step from a 3 or 4 step unit and
trusts that the LMG Team are able to find a relatively Team creates an Assault Team or a Fire Team. Assault
(4.2.3g) Teams can be handy for scouting, although they
secure spot (the Cover & Concealment number represents
the cover which units will automatically make use of when can only engage at Point Blank range.
entering a card; they are not standing around in the open). Exhort This action can be ordered by an HQ after any
• 1 Command is used to detach an Assault Team from 3/2 (4.2.1b) failed attempt. It allows the draw of one single
squad. 3/2 is reduced from 3 steps to 2 and an Assault extra card for the attempt.
Team is placed on the card.

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 10 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Initiative Segment AT Combat & Vehicle Movement Phase

In this phase all HQs and Staff who were not Activated in There are no vehicles on the map, so nothing to do here.
the Activation Segment may draw for Initiative Commands.
Mutual Combat Phase
Finally, some units may be able to use General Initiative
Commands to take actions without the need for an order In this phase, first Fire Missions are updated, then new
from an HQ. enemy units may be placed on the map. Units on either side
with opposing units in LOS open fire on them automatically;
CO HQ Initiative Impulse this often happens in this phase but needs to be checked
CO HQ was Activated this turn, so does not draw for Initia- whenever something happens on the map in any of the previ-
tive Commands. ous phases too.
PLT HQ Initiative Impulse Fire Mission Update Segment
2nd PLT HQ was Activated this turn, so does not draw for There are no Fire Missions to update.
Initiative Commands.
Potential Contact Evaluation Segment
CO Staff Initiative Impulse
Every card with a PC marker and a Friendly unit is checked
1st Sgt was Activated this turn, so does not get an initiative
for Potential Contact. We have three occupied cards, all of
Command. (For Initiative, CO Staff do not draw for Com-
which have PC A markers. We choose the order to resolve
mands, they receive 1 single Command, unmodified.)
these Potential Contacts randomly.
General Initiative Impulse
Card 1: We draw an Action card and check the 3-column, the
We draw an Action Card and check the smaller number, result is a 3. That’s the Orchard with our Assault Team.
underneath the helmet icon. It’s a 4. We can use these Com-
mands for any unit (HQs, Staff and regular units) to take The Current Activity Level is No Contact, checking the
Actions with. Since this is a single platoon mission, we halve Potential Contact Draw Chart (Charts & Tables player aid) we
the result to make 2 General Initiative Commands. look for the number of cards to draw. The table says “Auto”.
Oh well, no draw, our Assault Team is definitely under attack.
First we’ll use one Command to Move 1st Sgt into better
cover. He has a choice of the main Church building where 2/2 We draw an Action card and check the result against the
is located, or the Church Tower. Stacking more than 3 steps Package table for the mission: “Strong Point (Squad under
in a single area of cover is dangerous (it induces penalties if Trenches / Squad + HMG Team under Bunker)”. The “/”
hit by Incoming artillery, mortars or Grenade Attacks). On the indicates that the squad in a Trench will be placed on a sepa-
other hand, 1st Sgt won’t be in communication with 2/2 squad rate card to the other units. The “+” indicates that the squad
from the Tower. and HMG will be placed on the same card (both in a Bun-
ker). We choose a German squad at random from all those
The Church Tower is also somewhat dangerous as it can draw available, and draw the two Fallschirmjäger MG42 armed
fire from a long distance if anyone notices 1st Sgt up there. units Gp1 and Gp2.
He heads into the building to join 2/2. +6 total cover is good Next we draw to see which direction each squad will be
enough to risk a stacking penalty. firing from. We draw “Left Front” and “Front”. (Any dupli-
With the 2nd General Initiative Command we have 1/LMG cate directions or directions which already have enemy units
seek cover. They draw 3 cards (unmodified as 1/LMG is a would be redrawn.) Enemy units are waiting for us in the hills
Line Experience unit). We fail to find cover. and things are about to get dangerous.
Enemy Activity Phase Placement instructions on the package list state that the
In this phase, enemy units check for actions. There are no package should be placed “At Close range on R#1-2/10 oth-
enemy units on the map right now though. erwise at Max LOS/Range“. We draw one more card, it’s a
1. So both squads are placed at Close Range (adjacent card)
Enemy Higher HQ Event Segment regardless of the range of the weapons available and LOS
In Turn 1, no Higher HQ events are drawn. on the map. Each has 6 ammo which we will track with an
MG ammo marker (though some more traditional players
Enemy Activity Check Segment may prefer to track ammo with a pen and paper to reduce
There are no Enemy units on the map, so nothing to do in this counter clutter).
Segment.
Note: The presence of the Hills means that, even if we had
Mutual Capture & Retreat Phase drawn “Max LOS”, both Front and Left Front would be
We check to see if any Paralyzed Teams or Litter Teams on placed on the Hills as that’s the furthest LOS possible in
either side are under fire (with a VOF marker on their card this situation.
affecting them) and see if they retreat. There are none right
now. Prisoners might also be taken in this phase, but there are
none this turn.

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 Example of play 11

The package list states that the enemy units will open fire We draw another card and check the HIT EFFECT section to
immediately and they are Unspotted, so our units do not find out the result, this depends on the Experience Level of the
return fire. unit. Assault Teams are all considered to be Line Experience.
PDF (Primary Direction of Fire) markers are placed indicat- The result is CF.
ing the direction which the enemy units are firing in. An Two letters means 2 steps of a unit are affected. In this case
Automatic Weapons VOF (Volume of Fire) is placed on the the Assault Team is a single step unit, so the second letter is
Orchard. Fire is coming from two different directions, so a ignored. The result is C: Casualty.
Crossfire marker is also placed.
Our Assault Team scout has been incapacitated and needs to
The Activity Level marker is increased to Contact (one occu- be pulled out and evacuated (once the Germans have been
pied card has a VOF marker). This will decrease the chance dealt with). A casualty is no longer considered a unit, it can-
of further contact. not be Rallied and takes no further part in the game (except to
Card 2: We draw a random number, it’s a 2, the Farm. be picked up by someone and taken to a Casualty Collection
The Activity Level is Contact, the Potential Contact Draw Point when the opportunity arises).
Chart says we must draw 7 cards to see if we make contact. If Clean Up Phase
the word “Contact” appears at the top of any of them, we’ve In the Clean Up Phase, we remove Exposed markers from all
found more enemies. units, and update any PDFs and VOFs. The Command mark-
A very lucky draw brings up no contact. The PC marker is ers are reset (CO HQ and 2nd PLT slide up to the Command
removed from the map. Oh, and a reshuffle card. We shuffle Tracking zone, 1st SGT Command marker is placed in its
the deck. holding box).
Card 3: The Church Any enemy units that are firing into a card with no valid tar-
Seven cards again. Thanks to some skillful shuffling tech- gets (a casualty is not a valid target) will automatically shift
nique, we draw no Contact cards again. fire now. We check the priorities in 6.1.1 and note that, given
multiple choices, enemy units will engage the card in LOS
Pinned Recovery Segment with most steps.
We check to see if any Pinned units can recover, there are The German squad in the Cemetery on the Hill has two cards
none right now. in LOS; the Church with 1st Sgt and 2/2 squad has the most
Combat Effects Segment steps, so it shifts fire there.
Combat effects are determined, one card at a time, by cal- The HMG and the squad in the Bunker have LOS to the
culating the Net Combat Modifier (NCM) for each unit. All Farm, however a Bunker can only fire in one direction.
Combat effects occurring in this Segment are considered The units cease fire and wait for someone else to enter the
simultaneous, so PDF and VOF markers are not adjusted until Orchard.
the following Segment (Clean-up). Turn 1 is over, the Game Turn marker moves to Turn 2 and
The cards can be checked in any order as the results of one we go back to the top of the sequence of play.
check will not affect the results of another. We’re going to See map on page 12 for the situation at the end of Turn 1.
start from the top of the map, checking each card in turn. If
you are using ammo counters on the map, this is a good time
to adjust the ammo levels.
First, each of the German units uses one ammo (the ammo
markers are rotated from 6 to 5).
Next, we calculate the NCM (see 6.4 for the formula) on the
Assault Team thus:
Most powerful VOF affecting the Assault Team: Automatic
Fire (–1)
VOF Modifiers: Crossfire (–1)
Unit Status: Exposed (–2)
Cover & Concealment of Terrain card (+1)
For a total of –3. (Note how the actual number of units firing
at a target has very little effect on the NCM.)
We draw an Action card and check the left column for –3:
The result is HIT.

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12 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 Example of play 13

Turn 2 Finally, the CO HQ orders the Arty FO to call for an artillery

strike on the Cemetery. We check the number of card draws
We have two German positions to Spot and knock out. The for the Arty FO to call an artillery mission in the mission
HMG in the Bunker could be quite dangerous, but since it can instructions. It says 2.
only fire in one direction, it’s easily outflanked. No units can
fire into or out of the Staging Area. We draw 2 Action cards and look for the Burst Icon - it’s
another Success!
Friendly Higher HQ Event Phase
A Pending Artillery Strike marker is placed on the Cemetery
We draw an Action card and check for the HQ Radio icon. It Card and an Artillery Concentration marker is also placed
is not present, so no random event occurs this turn. (making subsequent artillery strikes on the same location
Friendly Command Phase easier). One Fire Mission is deducted (from a total of 4 for
this mission, according to the mission instructions).
Activation Segment
Quite a successful turn for the CO HQ. It’s worth noting that
BN HQ Impulse in a regular company, the CO HQ would be dealing with three
BN HQ Activates CO HQ using the BN TAC radio. The CO HQ or four Platoon HQs and one or two more CO Staff, so this
Command marker is flipped to its Commands Available side. kind of direct control is not very common.
CO HQ Impulse PLT HQ/CO Staff Impulse
We draw an Action card and check the big number in the 2nd Platoon HQ was Activated by the CO HQ, so we can
helmet. It’s a 3. This is added to 3 Commands saved from last draw for Commands. We draw an Action card, it’s a 4. As a
turn to make 6. We are no longer at No Contact, so no bonus Green HQ, 2nd PLT HQ suffers from a -1 penalty. This is then
is applied. added to the 3 Commands saved from last turn for a total of 6.
CO HQ uses 6 Commands: Moving straight ahead into the firing arc of the German
• 1 to Activate 2nd Platoon HQ over the CO TAC radio. Bunker would not be a good idea, so 2nd PLT HQ orders
2nd PLT HQ Command marker is Flipped to Commands 1/2 to Move to the Bocage at Front Right. 1/2 moves and is
Available. marked Exposed.
• 1 to order the Arty FO forwards to the Farm. He moves 2nd Platoon doesn’t want to do anything else this turn.
and is marked Exposed. However, as a Green HQ they can only save 3 Commands
• 1 to order 2/AT bazooka team forwards. They move and (as indicated on the Command Display) so 2 Commands are
are marked Exposed. lost. The Command marker is placed in the Saved Commands
• 1 to move forwards to the Farm. CO HQ moves forwards, zone of the 3 box on the Command Track.
is marked Exposed.
• 1 to Attempt to Spot the German squad ahead in the Initiative Segment
Cemetery. CO HQ Initiative Impulse
To Spot we draw 2 cards adjusted by the factors on the Spot- CO HQ was Activated this turn, so does not draw for Initia-
ting Attempt Draw Modifiers Chart (Charts & Tables player tive Commands.
aid 1). This card draw is modified by –1 for the German PLT HQ Initiative Impulse
squad being under cover and +1 because the German squad 2nd PLT HQ was Activated this turn, so does not draw for
is an A-rated squad. We draw 2 Action cards and look for the Initiative Commands.
Crosshairs icon. It’s a Success! The Germans are now spotted.
CO Staff Initiative Impulse
The moment the German squad becomes spotted, all US units
1st Sgt was not Activated this Turn. 1 Command is added,
with LOS open fire. We place a PDF from the Church and
unmodified for a total of 1 (none were saved last turn).
from the Farm. The most powerful VOF of all units firing is
placed on the Cemetery (Automatic Fire from our LMG). In 1st Sgt feels pretty comfortable in the most secure spot in the
addition a Crossfire marker is placed. The current Activity Church so doesn’t consider retreating despite the incoming
Level increases to Engaged (more than one occupied card is fire. He spends 1 Command to order 2/2 to Concentrate Fire
under a VOF). on the enemy Trench.
It’s important to remember that all units are firing at the 2/2 draws 2 cards and looks for the crosshairs symbol. It
Cemetery; both S VOF from 2/2 squad and A VOF from the doesn’t appear.
LMG are being exerted onto the enemy card. The reason we
only place the Automatic Fire VOF is to remind us that only
the most powerful VOF is used in the NCM calculation in the
Combat Effects Segment later.

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 14 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

General Initiative Impulse The Friendly Command Phase is now over. To summarize,
We draw an Action card and check the small number, it’s a 4. Commands were used to give the following orders:
Halved makes two Commands.
Activate Allows an HQ to draw for Commands in the
1 Command is spent to have 1/2 attempt to spot the Ger- (4.2.1a) Activation Segment
man units in the Bunker. We draw 2 cards (Base 2, –1 under
Move Moves a unit to an adjacent card. This order
cover, +1 A-rated enemy unit) and look for the Crosshairs (4.2.2a) marks a unit Exposed.
marker: Success!
Spot Attempts to Spot hidden enemy units in LOS.
The German units in the Bunker are now Spotted. 1/2 opens (4.2.4a) The base draw of 2 cards is modified by vari-
fire on them, placing a Small Arms Fire VOF marker on their ous factors as noted on the Spotting Attempt
card. The US units in the Farm also have LOS to the Bunker, Draw Modifiers Chart.
but they are already engaging the German squad in the Cem-
etery so ignore them for now. Despite being under fire, the Call for Fire Attempts to call for fire from an off-map firing
(4.2.4i) agency. Mission instructions give the base draw
German units in the Bunker stick to their post. Surely there
are other units out there who will protect their flanks? for this attempt. It will depend on the unit call-
ing for fire and the type of mission.
The 2nd Command is spent by 1/2 to fire their Rifle Grenade
Concentrate Attempts to concentrate fire on a specific cover
at the Bunker. Two cards are drawn, and we look for the Gre-
Fire (4.2.4c) marker or one random unit out of cover on the
nade symbol. It does not come up. We place a Grenade Miss
card where a unit’s VOF is placed. Gives a -1
marker on the Hill with the Bunker. This will affect all units
modifier to the NCM if successful
on the card with a –1 modifier to the NCM in the Combat
Effects Segment (as opposed to a successful strike which Grenade Attempts to make a “Grenade Attack”. At
would have hit only the Bunker with a –4 VOF). The Rifle Attack range, this is used for Rocket and Grenade
Grenade Asset is a one-off, so it is removed from play. (4.2.4d) Launchers, at Point Blank it represents a
close assault with hand grenades and all
other weapons available to the unit.
Enemy Activity Phase
Enemy Higher HQ Event Segment
We draw a card and look for the HQ radio icon. It doesn’t
appear, so no Enemy random event occurs this turn.
Enemy Activity Check Segment
Every enemy on the map makes an Activity Check using the
Enemy Activity Check Hierarchies player aid.
Enemy occupied cards are selected in a random order and all
units on those cards make an Activity check.
The Enemy Activity depends on the tactics they are using for
this mission. Our mission instructions indicate that they are
using “Deliberate Defense” tactics.
There are two enemy occupied cards; we draw an Action Card
and check the 2 column:
It’s a 1, which is the Cemetery Hill. We check the Enemy
Defensive Activity Hierarchy from top to bottom and look for
a clause which applies to this unit. The 7th clause “Under fire
from a different direction than its own PDF” applies.
The column on the right is for Deliberate tactics, we draw an
Action Card and get a 3: Shift Fire. The squad shifts fire to
the Farm where our CO HQ is located. The PDF is moved
and the Automatic Fire VOF marker is moved from the
Church to the Farm.
The next enemy card is the Bunker. Two units are present
here, we check for an Action from each one.
However in this case, the 7th clause would apply again
(assume “LOS” even though they can’t actually fire in that
direction). The units in the Bunker are not capable of either

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 Example of play 15

Concentrating fire or Shifting Fire, and they will not fall back Card 2: Bunker Hill
under the current tactics. So neither unit does anything. The units in the Bunker are not firing, so use no ammo. NCM
Under Deliberate tactics, units in Bunkers will generally stay for each unit is +4 (+2 Cover & Concealment value of ter-
where they are until you are at Point Blank Range, at which rain, +3 Bunker cover, +0 Small Arms Fire VOF, –1 Grenade
point they will either run away or confront you with a full on Miss marker).
grenade wielding assault. We draw once for the 3-step squad: PIN (squad is marked
Mutual Capture & Retreat Phase pinned) and once for the HMG: PIN (HMG is pinned).
No Paralyzed Teams or Litter Teams are on the map, so noth- A Bunker cannot fire at point blank range, now would be the
ing happens in this Phase. perfect time to close in and finish it off. There are no demoli-
tion teams in this mission, but a few good grenades should do
AT Combat & Vehicle Movement Phase the trick.
There are no vehicles on the map, so nothing to do here
Card 3: Farm house
Mutual Combat Phase We reduce our LMG ammo from 4 to 3.
Fire Mission Update Segment Clean Up Phase
The Pending Incoming marker on the Cemetery Hill is flipped Finally, we remove all the Exposed markers, Grenade mark-
to Activated as artillery rains down on the units there. The ers (Hit and Miss) and any Concentrate Fire markers. The
German unit’s LOS is lost immediately. Its PDF is removed Activated Incoming marker will last until the Combat Phase
and its Automatic Fire VOF is moved from the Farm to its next turn, continuing to block the LOS of the units on Cem-
own card (to remind us that it is still firing and will use ammo etery Hill. Having no valid targets, they now cease fire so we
this turn). US units continue to shoot into the card. remove the squad’s Automatic Weapons VOF. PDF and VOF
Potential Contact Evaluation Segment markers can now be updated based on the results of combat
One unit (2/2 over on the right of the map) is on a card with a and clean up (in this case there are no more to be updated).
Potential Contact marker. There are two cards under VOF (the The turn marker is moved from 2 to 3, the Command mark-
two German cards), so our Activity Level is “Engaged”. The ers are reset and back to the beginning of the sequence of
Potential Contact Draw Chart indicates that we should draw 5 play we go.
cards for a PC A marker at Engaged. This concludes the example of play. With just one platoon
We draw, and the word “Contact” does not come up. Very we’ve managed to turn around a nasty ambush from the hills
lucky draws so far! into something a lot more manageable. In the following turns,
we’ll close in on the enemy to finish them off, set up a Casu-
Pinned Recovery Segment
alty Collection Point to evacuate our casualties and slowly
There are no Pinned units on the map, so nothing to do here. but surely make our way to our objective.
Combat Effects Segment Carrying on the mission
We work our way along the rows from top to bottom to deter-
This mission is intended as an example to demonstrate the
mine the combat effects.
sequence of play in progress. If you want to carry on the mis-
Card 1: Cemetery Hill sion by yourself, follow the guidelines below for drawing the
German units were firing at us before being distracted by enemy packages
artillery exploding all around them (reducing their range to Drawing for Enemies
Point Blank), so their ammo is reduced by one to four. The
Draw for enemy units on the Enemy Package List for Nor-
NCM for the squad is –3 (+1 Cover & Concealment value of
mandy mission 1. The number of enemies on the map is lim-
terrain, +2 Trench cover value, –5 Artillery Strike VOF, –1
ited only by the German counter mix. Any eliminated units
Crossfire). Note how the Incoming VOF takes precedence
are returned to the counter mix and can be redrawn as part of
over Automatic Fire in the NCM calculation as it is more
later packages.
powerful.
We draw an action card. –3 is a PIN result. The German Special rules
squad is marked Pinned. This will reduce its firepower but If there are not enough enemy counters to place the drawn
also make it harder to hit. Time to close in and finish the job. package, do not redraw. Simply discard the PC marker as if
there were no contact.

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16 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Situation during Clean Up on Turn 2 (Grenade Miss marker will be removed)

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 Vehicles and AT Combat 17

● Assets: The CO HQ is equipped with a BN TAC SCR300

radio and an EE8 Field Phone. 1st PLT HQ is equipped
with an EE8 Field Phone and one Phone Line.
● Mission Special Rules:
○ Anti-Tank Ambush (10.8.3): Anti-tank ambush rules
apply to all of the Sherman tanks.
○ Activation: All German AT Guns and the
Panzerschreck team will Activate for AT combat every
turn so long as they remain Unpinned (including after a
successful Rally attempt).
○ All enemy units will ignore an Action result of
“Remove unit; place PC marker”.
○ All terrain discovered on urban cover cards is a Strong
Vehicles and AT Combat Building.
○ There are no events for either side in this mission.
Vehicle movement and “AT combat” (meaning any fire ○ The enemy are using Deliberate Defensive tactics
against vehicles, not just tanks), can seem complicated at first ○ Since there are Spotted enemies on the map, the
as it takes place outside of the general sequence of play. This Activation Level begins at Contact.
training mission focuses on vehicle movement and AT combat ○ Due to the reduced size of the company, all General
and can be quickly set up and practised with variations until Initiative draws are halved, rounding down (as if
you get used to the sequence of play. playing a single platoon mission).
Let’s take a closer look at the German AT Guns. These have
Mission 1: Offensive vs Enemy AT weapons a few special rules that need to be taken into account. The
A US tank platoon with limited infantry support is attempt- first thing to note is that all of the AT units except the Panzer-
ing to move through terrain guarded by a variety of German schreck team are Immobile (as noted by the crossed arrow on
AT-capable units. the counter). While on their good order side, Immobile units
● Objective: Secure the terrain card at Row 3, Column 2 cannot move, either to other cards, or within their own card.
within 5 turns. When reduced to a Fire Team, the unit can move about freely
● Units involved: like other units.
German: 88mm FLAK Gun, 75mm AT Gun, 75mm The 88mm is a powerful 2-step gun. It places a
Infantry Gun, Panzerschreck team. Heavy Weapons VOF on infantry targets and will
US: CO HQ, 1st PLT HQ, 1/1 PLT, 1/LMG, Sherman use AT Fire against vehicles. It will use up one
tank platoon (four regular tanks plus one Tank HQ). point of ammo for every turn the VOF is on the
All units begin the mission as Line experience. map, plus a further point for each AT shot it takes.
The 75mm Infantry Gun places a Small Arms
VOF (representing the small arms of the crew
defending the gun). This is placed up to Close
range (adjacent card). It can also make ranged
Grenade Attacks up to Very Long range against infantry
targets and AT Fire against vehicles. The Small Arms VOF
● Setup: Make a 3x3 map using the Normandy deck (see does not use up ammo, but each Grenade Attack and AT fire
diagram on next page for an example). Ensure that there will use one ammo.
is a path for vehicles to move to at least Row 2 (not Finally the 75mm AT Gun places a Small Arms
blocked by NO trafficability terrain). VOF at Close range. This does not use up ammo.
Place the Command markers for the three HQ units on It does not have a Grenade Attack capability, as
the Command Track with their Activation Completed its operators have decided to save its main gun
side face up (to indicate that they have not been for firing on vehicles. Each AT fire uses one ammo.
Activated yet). Place the German AT guns on Row 3 (one The Panzerschreck team is a regular infantry unit
on each card) and the Panzerschreck team Unspotted on that places a Small Arms VOF (does not track
Row 2 in a Trench. Place the US units in a Staging Area ammo), can make a Grenade Attack against
in front of Row 1. infantry units, and AT Fire against vehicles.
● Ammo: Each German AT gun has 6 ammo. The
Panzerschreck team has 3 ammo.
Each US tank has 3 ammo. 1/LMG has 6 ammo.

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 18 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Example of Play
This example will follow the complete Sequence
of Play so you can see when the various actions
take place. Most of the detail will be during the
AT Combat and Vehicle Movement Phase. Set up
and follow the example through its two turns, then
try to complete the mission. After completing the
mission, try playing it again with new terrain, or
the enemy set up in different positions and also
experiment with different US vehicles.
Finally, see the end of the chapter for some instruc-
tions on adding an enemy tank or two to the mix.
Studying the terrain, I think our first priority will
be to knock out the Panzerschreck, then we can
hopefully pin down the AT guns with firepower
from our Shermans on Row 2, as our two infantry
units make their way into the forest to finish them
off and secure the objective.

Turn 1
Friendly Higher HQ Event Phase
This is always skipped on Turn 1. Besides there are
no events in this mission
Friendly Command Phase
Activation Segment
BN HQ Impulse
BN HQ Activates the CO HQ. CO HQ Command
marker is flipped to its Commands Available side.
CO HQ Impulse
CO HQ has been Activated so draws for Com-
mands. We get five. The Command marker is
moved to the five box on the Command Track.
We spend two Commands:
1. Activate 1st PLT HQ (visual verbal
communication)
2. Activate Tank HQ (over the BN TAC Net with
the SCR300)
Note: In WWII, vehicles use the BN TAC Net-
work to communicate with your company. The
tanks in the platoon can also communicate with
each other on their own vehicle network; see
rulebook 10.1.1.

We decide to save three Commands, so flip the Com-

mand marker to its Activation Completed side and
slide it down into the Saved Commands zone.
PLT HQ/Staff Impulse
1st PLT HQ has been Activated so draws for
Commands. We get six. The Command marker is
moved to the six box on the Command Track.

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 Vehicles and AT Combat 19

We spend all six Commands: 1. 1/LMG attempts to spot the German Panzerschreck. They
1. 1/LMG is ordered to Move to the Village (Column 3) draw one card, it’s a success! 1/LMG immediately opens
Immediately the Panzerschreck team on the hill opens fire on the Panzerschreck’s card. The PDF in between
fire. A PDF and Small Arms VOF is placed on the the cards is flipped to its double sided arrow and an
village. Automatic Weapons VOF is placed on the Hill. Activity
1/LMG is marked Exposed. level increases to Engaged.
2. 1st PLT HQ Attempts to Infiltrate to the Village. Two 2. 1/1 squad moves forwards into the Orchard. They are
cards are drawn for the attempt. It is successful! 1st PLT marked Exposed. 1/1 automatically opens fire on the
HQ moves without being marked Exposed. spotted Panzerschreck unit. A PDF is placed and a
Crossfire VOF modifier is placed on the Hill.
3. 1/LMG is now in visual/verbal communication again,
so is ordered to seek cover. Four cards are drawn for Enemy Activity Phase
the attempt—it is successful. 1/LMG is placed in a Since there are no enemy events in this mission, the Enemy
Strong Building (as per the mission special rules, cover Higher HQ Event Segment is skipped (and since this is Turn 1, it
discovered in villages is always a Strong Building). would be skipped anyway).
4. 1st PLT HQ Moves into the Strong Building and is
marked Exposed. Enemy Activity Check Segment
5. 1/LMG is ordered to Attempt to Spot the Panzerschreck - The three AT Guns on Row 3 have no LOS to any US units,
one card is drawn (Base 2 cards, -1 card as Panzerschreck and by special rule they will not be removed should the Activ-
is under cover). The attempt fails. ity Hierarchy indicate so. This leaves no possible actions for
6. 1st PLT HQ uses Exhort to make 1/LMG try again. them to perform. All three guns Activate in preparation for AT
Another card is drawn. The attempt fails again. Combat (as per the mission special rules).
1st PLT HQ has no more Commands. Its Command marker The Panzerschreck team are under fire from a different direc-
is flipped to its Activation Completed side and moved to the tion to their own PDF, and draw a 1, indicating No Action
Activation Completed box. on the enemy activity hierarchy chart. They Activate for AT
combat (which they would do in addition to any action drawn
Tank HQ was also Activated so draws for Commands. We get
on the Activity chart).
five. The Command marker is moved to the five box. Tank
HQ spends four Commands:
1. Activate Sherman 12 for AT Combat & Vehicle
Movement
2. Activate Sherman 13 for AT Combat & Vehicle
Movement Mutual Capture & Retreat Phase
3. Activate Sherman 14 for AT Combat & Vehicle
This Phase is skipped as no-one is in a position to be captured
Movement
or retreat.
4. Activate Sherman 15 for AT Combat & Vehicle
Movement AT Combat & Vehicle Movement Phase
One Command is saved, the Command marker is flipped over All units that have been Activated for AT Combat & Vehicle
and slid down into the Saved Commands zone. Movement take actions in this phase. In addition, all AT-
capable units, whether Activated or not, can Reaction Fire in
Note: During the Friendly Command Phase, there are a lim- response to vehicles moving in their LOS. This is optional, but
ited selection of actions available to vehicles such as Shift the enemy always Reaction Fires when given the opportunity.
Fire, Cease Fire and so on. The most common one you’ll
use is Activate for AT Combat and Vehicle Movement. Note: Consult the Vehicle and Anti-Tank Weapons Chart
This allows vehicles and AT-capable infantry units to take to see if a unit is AT-capable. All units listed on this chart
actions in the AT Combat & Vehicle Movement Phase. See that have figures in the Range columns (including zero) are
rulebook 10.1.2. considered “AT-capable”.

Beginning with the attacking side (in this case the US), one
Initiative Segment
unit takes actions, then a unit on the opposing side takes
All three HQs were Activated, so the CO HQ Initiative actions (select which enemy unit takes action randomly).
Impulse and PLT HQ Initiative Impulse are skipped. There are Play alternates between sides until all Activated units have
no Staff in this mission, so the Staff Impulse is skipped too. completed their actions.
General Initiative Impulse Some missions will dictate an order that vehicles and AT-
We draw four Commands for General Initiative. Halved capable infantry of specific types must be selected for actions
makes two. We spend both of them: (e.g., all tanks on both sides must take their turn before any
trucks etc). It does not apply in this exercise though.

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 20 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Unit 1: The player selects M4 Sherman 15 Gunnery Value: –2 (as per the Anti-Tank Weapons
From the list of possible vehicle actions (rulebook 10.5.2), chart)
we select Move. With a single action, a vehicle can move Moving Target: +1
between any number of terrain cards; however they can- Terrain cover: +3
not enter terrain marked “NO” for trafficability and must
Sherman Defensive Value: +0
stop when they enter a box marked “SLOW”. The following
Anti-Tank Ambush Modifier: +0
sequence applies:
Random card from the deck: +0
■ Declare a unit is going to Move
■ Resolve any Basic VOF affecting the unit on its current The total is +2: a result of Retreat. The Sherman is
card damaged and immediately retreats from the battle-
field. It is removed from play.
■ Move to an adjacent card (marking any passengers
Exposed)
Note: Tanks without infantry support are extremely vulner-
■ Resolve any Basic VOF affecting the unit on this new able to ambush from rocket launchers like the Panzer-
card schreck and AT Guns. In this case, the presence of our
■ Carry out Reaction Fire AT attacks from opposing units in LMG team (as a good order infantry unit) prevented an
LOS ambush from occurring. Even so, as shown here, one lucky
■ Repeat as necessary to move to further cards hit can knock out a valuable tank.
We move Sherman 15 into the village straight ahead. It imme-
diately opens fire on the spotted Panzerschreck, so we replace The Panzerschreck uses up one rocket ammo and is marked
the Automatic VOF on the Hill with a Heavy Weapons VOF. Moved/Fired (it may no longer Reaction Fire or take a
regular AT fire turn). The Heavy Weapons VOF on the Hill is
Note: Vehicles engage infantry targets (including AT Guns) replaced with an Automatic Weapons VOF.
with their Basic VOF in the same way as any other unit, Unit 2: There are no units in LOS of the German AT Guns,
and engage Vehicle Targets with AT Fire. and the Panzerschreck is already marked Moved/Fired, so
Because this card has a Basic VOF on it from the Panzer- there are no German units that can take actions.
schreck team’s small arms fire, we resolve an attack on the Unit 3: The player selects M4 Sherman 14
vehicle immediately. We carry out the attack on the Sherman ○ The Sherman moves straight forwards into the Village and
with the following modifiers (beginning with a base of zero): opens fire automatically on the Spotted Panzerschreck.
Automatic Weapons VOF is replaced with Heavy
Basic Small Arms VOF: +3
Weapons VOF.
Moving Target: +1
○ As established earlier, Small Arms cannot affect the
Terrain cover: +3
Sherman in the village so we don’t need to make a VOF
Sherman Defensive Value: +0 resolution check.
AT Value on an Action card drawn from the deck: +7 ○ There are no enemy units capable of Reaction Fire in
The total is +14: a result of Missed. LOS (since the Panzerschreck is marked Moved/Fired).
Unit 4: The player decides not to take any actions with his
Note: With the village terrain modifier of +3, it is impos-
remaining two Activated tanks.
sible for Small Arms fire to affect an M4 Sherman Tank
here unless it’s already Pinned (–1 bonus) and stationary The final stage of the AT Combat & Vehicles Phase is to
(no Moving Target penalty). resolve any VOF on vehicles that took no actions that turn.
There are none of those, so the phase is over.
Next we carry out Reaction Fire. The Panzerschreck team
fires a rocket at our tank. To attack a vehicle, G!-rated units Mutual Combat Phase
(such as rocket launchers) must first draw a successful Grenade The first three Segments are skipped as there are no Fire Mis-
Attack. We draw two cards and look for the Grenade icon—it’s sions, Pinned units or Potential Contact markers to deal with.
a success! Now we can carry out the attack according to the AT
Combat sequence (10.6). We look up the Gunnery Value of the Combat Effects Segment
Panzerschreck at Close range and resolve the attack: The Panzerschreck on the Hill has an NCM of +0, we draw an
Action Card with a result of PIN. A Pinned marker is placed
on the Panzerschreck team.
1/LMG and 1st PLT HQ in the Village have an NCM of +4.
We draw a PIN result for 1/LMG and a MISS for 1st PLT HQ.
Ammo is reduced by one for 1/LMG and Sherman 15.

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 Vehicles and AT Combat 21

ation and we’re already one tank down. Reset the

Command markers and move on to turn 2.
Note: So long as it is possible, all the German
AT Guns will Activate for AT Combat during the
Enemy Activity Phase, including after a success-
ful Attempt to remove a Pinned marker.

Turn 2
The Friendly Higher HQ Event draw is skipped as
per the mission special rules.
Friendly Command Phase
Activation Segment
BN HQ Impulse
BN HQ Activates the CO HQ. CO HQ Command
marker is flipped to its Commands Available side.
CO HQ Impulse
CO HQ has been Activated so draws for Com-
mands. We get four. Added to three saved from last
turn makes seven. The Command marker is moved
to the seven box on the Command Track.
We spend two Commands:
1. Activate 1st PLT HQ (using the EE8 Field
Phone)
2. Activate Tank HQ (over the BN TAC Net with
the SCR300)
Note: So long as the line remains intact, Field
Phones are more reliable than the SCR536
radios, so units under cover can use them. The
phone asset carried by 1st PLT HQ is also treated
like a phone line so it is connected to the adja-
cent CO HQ; see rulebook 4.3.4.
We save the remaining Commands, so flip the
Command marker to its Activation Completed side
and slide it into the Saved Commands zone of the
five box on the Command Track.
PLT HQ/Staff Impulse
1st PLT HQ has been Activated so draws for
Commands. We get six. The Command marker is
moved to the six box on the Command Track.
We spend five Commands:
1. We attempt to Rally 1/LMG. Two cards are
drawn for the attempt, but we fail.
2. We exhort 1/LMG and draw another card. But
the Rally fails again.
Clean Up Phase 3. 1st PLT HQ moves to the Orchard and is
Moved/Fired and Activated markers are removed, Exposed markers are marked Exposed.
removed. The VOF on the village is replaced with an All Pinned VOF. 4. We order 1/1 to move to the Farm House on
With 1/LMG pinned, our Sherman tank is now vulnerable to Anti-Tank Row 2. It moves and is marked Exposed.
Ambush penalties. The Panzerschreck is Pinned, but it may potentially Immediately the AT Guns on Row 3, Columns
Rally before the next round of AT Combat, so this is a precarious situ- 1 and 2 open fire on the Farm. PDF markers, a

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 22 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Heavy Weapons VOF and a Crossfire VOF Modifier are Unit 1: 88mm FLAK Gun
placed. 1/1 returns fire against the AT guns as they are On the Enemy Activity Hierarchy, the first situ-
already spotted. With two targets in sight, we refer to the ation that applies is “Under fire but not under
target priorities table in 6.1.1. Friendly units (meaning cover”. With deliberate tactics, there are two
those controlled by the player) will prioritise the units possible actions. However, since an AT Gun is Immobile (as
with the best VOF. In this case the 88mm. We place a indicated on the Vehicle & Anti-Tank Weapons chart, and also
Small Arms VOF on the Woods in Column 2 and flip the by the Immobile marker on its counter), the only option is for
PDF between the farm and forest to its double arrow side. it to attempt to Concentrate Fire.
5. 1st PLT HQ attempt to seek cover in the Orchard. We
We draw two cards for the attempt, but neither come up with
draw three cards for the attempt, and it is successful. We
the Crosshairs icon, so the attempt is failed.
place a Basic +1 Cover marker on 1st PLT HQ.
Unit 2: 1/75mm AT Gun
We save the remaining Command, flip 1st PLT HQ’s Com-
mand marker to its Activation Completed side in the one box In this case the first applicable situation is “Not
on the Command Track and slide it into the Saved Com- under fire but has valid target along PDF”.
mands zone. We draw two cards for an attempt to concentrate
Tank HQ was also Activated so draws for Commands. We get fire, and again no crosshairs icon appeared. We’ve been lucky
four. Added to one saved from the last turn makes five. The this time!
Command marker is moved to the five box. Tank HQ spends Unit 3: Pinned Panzerschreck Team
four commands: We consult the LAT/Pinned Hierarchy. The first
1. Activate Sherman 12 for AT Combat & Vehicle applicable situation is “Pinned under cover”. We
Movement draw a 4, which indicates “Fall Back”.
2. Activate Sherman 13 for AT Combat & Vehicle The Panzershreck Team prioritize a card out of LOS of US
Movement units first, so fall back along Column 3, and are marked
3. Activate Sherman 14 for AT Combat & Vehicle Exposed. We remove the All Pinned VOF from Row 1, Col-
Movement umn 3 and flip the PDF between the Village and the Hill to its
4. Activate itself for AT Combat & Vehicle Movement single arrow side.
One Command is saved, the Command marker is flipped over Note: Although the Panzerschreck has ceased firing in
and slides into the Saved Commands zone. order to move away, our units don’t know this yet and con-
Note: Except in certain campaign specific circumstances, tinue to fire at the hill.
vehicle platoons are always in contact with each other over
Mutual Capture & Retreat Phase
their own radio network.
No-one is eligible to retreat or be captured yet so we skip this
Initiative Segment whole phase.
All three HQs were Activated, so the CO HQ Initiative AT Combat & Vehicles Phase
Impulse and PLT HQ Initiative Impulse are skipped. There
We choose M4 Sherman 14 and decide that they will Move.
are no Staff in this mission, so the Staff Initiative Impulse is
skipped too. First we move them left into the Orchard, there is no VOF to
resolve on the starting or destination card, and no enemy AT-
General Initiative Impulse capable units are in LOS so there is no Reaction Fire. Then
We draw four Commands for General Initiative. Halved we move the Sherman again, up to the Farm where 1/1 squad
makes two.We spend both Commands: is located. They automatically open fire on the 88mm AT Gun
1. 1/1 attempts to seek cover. We draw three cards and are (being the enemy in LOS with the strongest VOF).
successful. They are placed under a Strong Building.
Note: You can continue moving from card to card with a
2. 1/1 attempts to Concentrate Fire on the 88mm AT Gun.
single Move action until you reach one with a “SLOW”
We draw two cards for the attempt but fail.
trafficability label. Remember to carry out Basic VOF reso-
Enemy Activity Phase lution and Reaction Fire on every card you move through.
There are three enemy units who could take actions this turn
(the 75mm Infantry Gun in Column 3 has no LOS to any US Basic VOF Resolution
units, and since they will ignore the result on the enemy hier- This card is being fired upon by the 88mm AT Gun (with an H
archy chart as per the mission special rules, there is no need VOF) and by the 75mm AT Gun crew with Small Arms.
to check them). We select each enemy unit randomly. The Heavy Weapons VOF is not resolved against the Sherman
as it is coming from an AT-capable unit (see rulebook 10.5.3).
The Small Arms fire is also not resolved as it is not capable of
affecting the Sherman right now.

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 Vehicles and AT Combat 23

Note: In the next turn there will be no +1 card, so there is no effect. 75mm ammo is reduced by 1 and it is marked
Moving Target bonus, so there will be a small Moved/Fired.
chance of a Pin result from Small Arms fire. Now the 88mm takes a shot. Its Close range gunnery value is –5. This
You might find it useful to place a Small Arms time we draw a 9 for another miss. The result does not allow a further
VOF on the Sherman to remind yourself that Quick Shot, so we mark the 88mm Moved/Fired and reduce its ammo
it’s there. by 1.
Finally we move Sherman 13 and the HQ up to Row 1 Orchard.
Reaction Fire
The two AT Guns are capable of Reaction Fire.
Since the results of one fire may affect what the
other AT Gun does, we select which one to resolve
first randomly. It’s the 88mm.
We reduce the 88mm ammo by one and carry out
AT Combat Fire as follows:
Gunnery Value (close range): –5
Sherman Defence: +0
Moving Target: +1
Terrain: +2
Anti-Tank Ambush: 0
Card from Action deck: +2
Result: +0 - Knocked Out!

We replace the M4 Sherman tank with a Wreck

counter.
Checking the Vehicles and Anti-Tank Weapons
chart, we note that there were 2 crew on board. The
two steps are both placed under the Wreck marker
as Fire Teams, then immediately Hit. We draw and
check the Green column of the Hit Effect table,
the first is an L so we replace the fire team with a
Litter Team and mark it Pinned. The second step
becomes a casualty.
Checking the Vehicles chart, we note that the
88mm Gun is Quick Shot capable. A result of +0
means it can continue firing. Right now there are
no targets in LOS, so the 88mm AT Gun’s turn
ends, however we do not mark it Moved/Fired.
Note: Successful Quick Shot results (a result of
–4, –2, 0, +2 or +4) could allow an AT Gun to
Reaction Fire several times in a single Vehicle
Phase while ammo lasts.

It’s the enemy’s turn to pick a unit, the AT Guns

have no-one in sight, so cannot carry out any
actions right now. Turn 2 AT Combat & Vehicle Movement Phase
We select Sherman 12. Move it through the Mutual Combat Phase
Orchard where it draws no Reaction fire, and on
There are no Fire Missions or Potential Contacts to resolve.
to the Farm (placing a Heavy Weapons VOF on
the German 88mm). Checking for Reaction Fire Pinned Recovery Segment
we see that both the 75mm AT Gun and the 88mm 1/LMG is no longer under a VOF, so we remove its Pinned marker. The
(thanks to its Quick Shot capability) are eligible. All Pinned VOF on the Hill is replaced with an Automatic Weapons VOF.
We choose randomly, the 75mm AT Gun goes first. The German Panzerschreck is also not under a VOF, so its Pinned marker
At close range it has a gunnery value of –3. We get is removed.
a result of Missed after drawing a 7 for our random

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 24 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Combat Effects Segment

German 88mm is Hit with an A result. It is reduced
by one step and marked Pinned. A pinned Assault
Team is placed on its card. It uses one more ammo
(because it is still firing at the infantry in the Farm).
US Litter Team is Missed
1/1 squad is Pinned
M4 Sherman uses one ammo
1/LMG uses one ammo
Clean Up Phase
Exposed markers, Moved/Fired markers and Acti-
vated markers are removed.
VOF on the Farm is reduced to Small Arms.
We’ll leave the example there. The 88mm Gun is
reduced and pinned which will help.
Tanks can be powerful, but can also be knocked out
very quickly by AT Guns, especially if they don’t
have infantry support.

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 Vehicles and AT Combat 25

Mission 2: Tank Attack Vehicle Action Order

Now try hitting a moving target! Some missions will dictate an order that Vehicles take their actions in.
For this exercise, place PC A markers All Vehicles of one group on both sides will take their actions before
on each card on Row 1. For each moving on to the next group. In this exercise, the following order will be
Contact revealed, place a Spotted M5 used:
tank with 5 ammo under enemy 1. Vehicles
control on a random card on Row 3, or on the left 2. AT-capable Infantry (AT Guns, Panzerschreck, etc)
or right card of Row 2 if Row 3 is inaccessible to
vehicles (trafficability “NO”).
Note: During WWII the Germans captured
numerous M4 Sherman tanks and put them to
use, so to face US-made tanks in battle would
not be unreasonable. In this case, we’re safely
training in the Welsh valleys far from the front
and have plenty of mini-tanks to spare. If you
own any Fields of Fire expansion sets with Ger-
man vehicles, feel free to exchange the M5 for
one of them.
Enemy tanks are Activated for AT Combat &
Vehicle Movement every turn. They do not draw
on the Enemy Activity chart for an Action (but
will shift fire along with other units on their card
as usual). In each AT Combat & Vehicles Phase,
they will take one of the available Vehicle Actions
(Move, Move & Fire, AT Fire) in order to achieve a
list of priorities that differ from mission to mission.
They Reaction Fire when given the opportunity in
the same way as AT Guns.

Tank Attack Training Course Enemy Tank

Priorities
In this exercise, enemy tanks will act according to
these priorities:
1. AT Fire against any US tank in LOS (random if
multiple targets are available).
2. Move towards the nearest card containing a US
HQ taking a route that avoids as much Reaction
fire and Basic VOF as possible. (Includes PLT
HQs, CO HQ and Tank HQ.)
3. Concentrate Fire on an AT-capable unit under
its VOF.
If no priorities apply, the tank will take no actions.
Note: As a unit with an A VOF rating, the M5
will open fire on any US infantry targets with
its Automatic Weapons VOF, choosing a new
target card each time it moves according to the
priorities in 6.1.1. It can carry out AT Fire after
a successful Grenade Attack draw (as indicated
by its G! Superscript VOF rating). During a
Move action, in order to satisfy priority 1, it will
stop moving to AT Fire on a US tank should the
opportunity present itself. AT Combat - Tank vs Tank Example

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 26 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Note: If an order is dictated, usually combat vehicles will Next the enemy takes a turn. Because of the Vehicle Action
get to take actions before transportation vehicles like Jeeps Order imposed in this mission, only the M5 is eligible to take
and trucks. AT Guns will generally go last. The most com- an action.
mon role for the AT Gun is to Reaction Fire against any The enemy tank’s first priority is to AT Fire on a US tank in
vehicles moving through their LOS. Quick Shot capable AT LOS, but right now it can’t see us, so it won’t do this. Its next
Guns may be able to Reaction Fire several times in a turn priority is to move towards one of our HQs. All three of our
by making successful Quick Shot draws, so can be quite HQ units (CO HQ, 1st PLT HQ and Tank HQ) are at the same
deadly while their ammo lasts. distance and both available routes (through the Church or
through the Orchard) will be subject to Reaction fire from our
AT Combat - Tank vs Tank Example Shermans, so we draw between the two randomly—the result
This is the situation after a couple of turns. We’ve taken out is the Orchard.
the Panzershreck already (it’s now a Litter Team), but an M5 There is no VOF on its current card so it moves straight to the
under German control has just turned up on the top-right card. Orchard. Our pinned units there shift fire on to it as it enters
All AT-capable units on both sides are Activated. the card. The M5 is hit by Small Arms fire from the 75mm
Infantry Gun (maybe they mistook it for a US tank). The Net
Mutual AT Combat & Vehicle Phase
Anti-Tank modifier is +4 (Small Arms +3, Cover +1, Moving
As the player is on the attacking side, we get to go first. The Target +1, M5 Defensive Value –1). We draw a card and get a
situation is not great; if we want to get anything done here 3, a result of Missed.
quickly, we’re going to have to drive into a wall of fire.
We can now Reaction Fire at it, and pick our Tank HQ to do
We’ll start with Sherman 12. They are Pinned which for a so. The Net Anti-Tank modifier is +1 (Gunnery at Close range
vehicle indicates that the crew have closed all their hatches +0, M5 Defensive Value –1, Cover +1, Moving Target +1,).
(known as ‘buttoned up’). They can carry out all their actions We draw an Action card, its a Zero making the total +1—a
without restriction but have various disadvantages in combat. result of Knocked Out. Great! We draw for a hit on the M5’s
Sherman 12 also has no infantry support so they may not last crew step, a result of L places a Pinned German Litter Team
long. We decide to do the last thing the enemy is expecting hidden under the wreckage of their tank. Our Sherman HQ is
and charge the 88mm FLAK Gun in the Village. marked Moved/Fired and its ammo is reduced from 3 to 2.
First we declare Sherman 12 is going to Move, and resolve Next we’ll try to close with the 75mm Infantry Gun in the
the Small Arms VOF on its card. The Net Anti-Tank Modifier Bocage. Sherman 13 will take a Move action. First they move
is +2 (+3 Small Arms, +0 Defensive, –0 Terrain, –1 Pinned). to the Church; there is no VOF on their current card, but they
We draw a card which gives an AT result of 6 for a total of will be accidentally hit by our LMG as they move into the
+8—Missed. So far so good. church terrain. That’s not a problem, as the Anti-Tank Combat
Sherman 12 moves into the Village. We ignore the All Pinned modifier would be at least +6, no effect (Automatic Weapons
VOF as it’s not capable of harming the Sherman. VOF +2, Terrain +3, Moving Target +1, Defensive +0).
All three AT Guns and the M5 tank are eligible for Reaction Note: VOF from H and A rated AT-capable units is not
Fire so we draw randomly between them—the 75mm AT Gun placed on vehicle targets (enemy or friendly-fire situations).
will go first. They have a Net Anti-Tank Modifier of –4 (–3 We place an Automatic Weapons VOF on Sherman 13 to
Gunnery at Close Range, +0 Defensive, +3 Terrain, +1 Mov- remind us that it is only being affected by the LMG, not our
ing Target, –1 Pinned, –4 Tank Ambush on Pinned target). We Tank HQ.
draw a card and get a 1. The total is –3, a result of Brewed
Up. The Sherman explodes into flames. Two casualty steps The 75mm Infantry Gun Reaction Fires as a response to our
representing the crew are placed on the card. Smoke from the first move. First we draw three cards for a Grenade Attack
burning Sherman prevents the 88mm from firing out of its (base of two, plus one for a Tank Ambush bonus), it’s a
card, so we replace its VOF marker in the Orchard with Small success. Next we calculate the AT Fire. The Net Anti-tank
Arms (from the crew of the 75mm Infantry Gun) and remove modifier is 0 (Gunnery at Close range –1, Defensive +0, Ter-
the Crossfire marker. The 75mm AT Gun uses one ammo and rain +3, Moving Target +1, Tank Ambush –3). We draw an
is marked Moved/Fired. Action card and get an AT result of 8—Missed. The 75mm
Infantry Gun ammo is marked Moved/Fired and its ammo is
reduced by one. It’s now out of ammo so we flip it to its Fire
Team side. Next turn, the crew will fall back as per the Out
of Ammo rules for enemy units, so we won’t need to worry
about them for much longer (8.11.1).
Finally the German 88mm gets to take a turn, but with the
smoke from our burning Sherman blocking its LOS, it can’t
fire at any of our units.

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Vehicles and AT Combat 27

And that’s the end of the

Vehicles Phase. Later in the
Combat Effects Phase, VOF will
be resolved against the German
Litter teams, and in Clean Up the
enemy 75mm AT Gun will shift
fire to put our pinned units in the
orchard under more pressure.
The burning Sherman tank will
remain until the end of the mis-
sion, effectively neutralising the
88mm unless any of our units are
brave enough to close to point
blank range with it.
Vehicle combat in Fields of Fire
is often over in a turn or two as
tanks try to out manoeuvre one
another, AT guns reaction fire at
their every action, and both sides
burn through their ammo with
capabilities like Quick Shot.

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 28 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Check the Campaign instructions

Experience Points
First we take a look at the Experience Points table. This
indicates what is expected of us, beyond the straightforward
Mission objective (Secure 6 of 12 cards behind the Main
Line of Resistance). The more Secured cards we have by the
end of the mission, the better. So we’ll try to hold on to both
rows for as long as possible. We also get points for destroying
tanks (which it’s usually a good idea to try to do anyway), and
also trucks. The more trucks that make it through our lines,
the more trouble they will cause for companies elsewhere to
our rear. We also get points for capturing enemy casualties,
which is not always easy in a defensive mission, but we can
possibly make some daring raids across the MLR to capture
prisoners to gain these points.
Defensive Setup As usual, none of these are strictly speaking necessary to
complete the mission, but they should be taken as a guide to
what you should be aiming for.
Defensive Missions
Up until now, this guide has covered the basics of handling Organizing the Company
your troops in an attack on enemy positions. A Defensive Fill out the Mission Log
mission plays out quite differently, with the enemy assault- First we check the Table of Organization & Equipment
ing your units and trying to break through your lines. The (TO&E) to see which units make up the core of our company.
tactical focus will be on setting up a strong defensive line, These are our core units; three rifle platoons made up of three
adapting to changing circumstances and ensuring that there rifle squads, an MG team and a bazooka team each, a weap-
is a good rotation of fresh units being sent to the front line as ons platoon made up of three 60mm Mortars (represented by
LATs fall back. one 3-step unit) and three 57mm RCLs, and finally a head-
The sequence of play for defensive missions is quarters platoon represented
slightly different to that of offensive missions by our HQ and Staff units (CO
and combat patrols; the enemy will take their HQ, CO XO and 1st Sgt) and
actions before you, which will give you a chance two runners which we place on
to react. In addition, new PC markers are placed the CO HQ assets box on the
on every turn. Command Display.
For this example, we will work through the set As noted in the Table of Orga-
up and opening of Naktong River Campaign, nization & Equipment, each
Mission 4; a daylight defensive mission. of the units in the weapons

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 defensive setup 29

platoon can be attached to one of our rifle platoons (or left The campaign instructions indicate that there are more
unattached). pyrotechnics available than this, and also a Jeep. However,
We also receive some additional attachment units specific for we decide that we don’t need any more signals and the Jeep
this mission. A Mortar FO, Artillery FO, two .30 cal HMG will be of little use here, so will be left behind. We place all
teams, one .50 cal HMG team and two 75mm RCL teams. of the assets on the Command Display, plus the two runners
and CO HQ’s BN TAC radio. Assets can be placed under the
We decide to attach our three 57mm RCLs to each of our units themselves on the map if you prefer, but the Command
rifle platoons, and the mortar section to 3rd platoon. Look- Display is helpful for reducing clutter.
ing at the additional attachments, we’ll attach the Arty FO to
1st platoon and the Mtr FO to 2nd platoon and a 75mm RCL The Parachute Flares which CO HQ is assigned will be used
each to 1st and 2nd platoons. We leave the three HMG teams to trigger Final Protective Lines (FPL) and Final Protective
unattached (they can be given orders from the CO HQ and Fire (FPF). The XOs Red Star Cluster will trigger a general
CO Staff). Cease Fire order, purple smoke will be used in an emergency
by 1st Sgt to make anyone nearby Move to his position. We
1st Platoon 2nd Platoon 3rd Platoon General Support
note the designations on our log sheet.
In your first few missions, it can be hard to judge what pyro-
technics you need to assign. Don’t feel that you have to use
any of them. Chances are they won’t be used unless a very
specific situation occurs in your game. It’s highly recom-
mended that CO HQ has some flares to trigger the FPL in
defensive missions, though.
Assign Assets
From the list of assets we assign the following: The complete list of orders you can assign to pyrotechnics
can be found in 4.4.1.
6 EE8 Field Phones - CO HQ, CO XO, 1st, 2nd, 3rd PLT
HQs and the Mortar Section. Setting Up the Map
4 HC Smoke - One for the 1st squad in each rifle platoon, We set up the map as described in the mission instructions.
one for the 1st Sgt. We place a Main Line of Resistance (MLR) marker between
4 WP Smoke - One for the 3rd squad in each rifle platoon, Rows 2 and 3. According to the campaign rules, we can place
one for the 1st Sgt. a Casualty Collection Point on any face up card, or in the
Red and Green Star Parachutes for the CO HQ. Staging Area. The Staging area seems like a good place for it,
Red Star Cluster for CO XO. we place it on Column 4. During the mission we’ll try to fun-
Purple smoke for 1st Sgt. nel our casualties back here.

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30 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Map at setup—and considerations on potential FPL placement.

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 defensive setup 31

Our Company Positions Other Unit Positions: We set up 1st Platoon to cover
Now comes the most important part of the defensive mission; Columns 1+2, 2nd Platoon to cover Columns 5 + 6 and 3rd
where to set up our units. This requires a little more consid- platoon in the middle to provide support from whichever
eration than an offensive mission or combat patrol. We’ll direction is needed. The mortar section is placed on Row 1.
divide the process into a few steps to show how one might They carry an EE8 Field Phone that 3rd PLT HQ can call
consider placement. them on to place indirect fire on any enemies the HQ can see
from their position on Row 2. We keep the .50 cal HMG in
Final Protective Lines (FPL): The reserve. 1st Sgt is nearby and can quickly push them to the
first thing we will do is think about front line if needed.
our Final Protective Lines—pre-
agreed emergency firing zones to try Final Protective Fire (FPF): Mission instruc-
to stop us being overrun. Any tripod mounted machine gun tions state that we have Artillery FPF available in
(indicated by an Arrow over the VOF rating) can be desig- this mission. Similar to FPL, this is intended as
nated for FPL by placing one of the two FPL markers on it. emergency last-ditch fire from our supporting
Unlike other units, these guns do not fire at enemies automati- artillery. We can place an FPF marker anywhere within LOS
cally, they wait for a signal from CO HQ before exerting an H of an eligible spotter (CO HQ, Arty/Mtr FO). When activated,
VOF (regardless of the actual rating of the machine gun) in the Field Artillery Battalion will continue to bombard the
the direction of the diagonal arrow indicated on the FPL marked card with its 105mm guns until it runs out of ammo
marker (ignoring any other PDF from their card). (or is ordered to stop). Another useful way to slow down the
oncoming enemy - so long as they head in the direction you
This can be a great way to slow down an oncoming enemy, expect them to.
especially at night as they are not affected by limited visibil-
ity. Looking at the map we’ve drawn, it seems that the oppor- We place our FPF marker on the big hill on Row 3, Column 5.
tunities are somewhat limited by the hilly terrain. We’ll set up Phone Lines: Since we are using Field Phones, we receive 4
the FPL guns (our two .30 cal HMGs) on Row 1 as shown in phone lines for use in the mission. As our units and HQs are
the illustration opposite. They will be used if we’re forced to already in position, we place three phone lines directly on the
fall back. And if it seems like we’re well in control of things map in Row 1, Columns 1, 3 and 5. We give the 4th line to 1st
towards the end, we can always repurpose them as regular Sgt in case we need an extra in an emergency. It is placed on
guns (a Shift Fire order will have them open fire along the the 1st Sgt Assets box on the Command Display.
regular PDF from their card and remove their FPL marker). Note: Keep an eye on your phone lines during defensive
Rules on using FPL can be found in 7.2.4. missions. A lot of artillery will be dropping on your front
Another option might be to keep them aimed at one of the line, and enemy units will be attempting to infiltrate; both
hills on Row 3 or 4 in the expectation that the enemy will are capable of cutting your phone lines and hampering
appear there. But that would have them fire over the heads your command structure (4.3.4). Phone lines are never lost
of any enemies in between, making them less effective as the permanently, but be sure to quickly fix any that get cut in
enemy advances. this way.
Fortifications: The mission instructions inform us that we get
HQs: Our CO HQ and CO XO will begin the mission in the
two Foxholes per card on Rows 1 and 2. The mission objec-
staging area in Column 4 (our designated CCP). They are
tive is to have 6 cards Secured (cleared and occupied by our
in communication with our HQs via field phones (all of the
units) by the end of the mission. We’re going to aim for 12,
cards of the Staging Area are connected by phone lines, and
so we place two Foxholes markers on each card (24 in total)
these lines can connect to phones or other lines in Row 1).
ready for our units to take position in them. Some missions
They will enter the map when needed, but otherwise will be
have Bunkers, or allow you to place buildings on the map,
responsible for rallying retreating LATs and sending them
which can be useful for your CO HQ and CO Staff to set up
back to the front line.
in. In this mission, it’s just Foxholes.
AT Weapons: We decided to place our AT-capable units The Staging Area
(Bazookas, RCL) up front, as there seems to be an awful lot Some thought is needed as to how the Staging Area will be
of enemy vehicles in the package list. AT-capable units can utilized in this mission. To a certain extent we need to con-
Reaction Fire at vehicles in the AT Combat & Vehicle Move- sider the mission as a whole and the kind of game we want to
ment phase without direct orders from HQs, so all we have to play. As a safe area which cannot be fired into, it could easily
do is ensure they are in position. be overused to quickly retreat important units every time

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32 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

FPF Marker

1st Platoon front line 3rd Platoon front line 2nd Platoon front line

1st Platoon Reserve 3rd Platoon Reserve 2nd Platoon Reserve

Unit Setup. Dotted yellow lines indicate phone connections.

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 defensive setup 33

things start looking dangerous. It’s up to you, of course, but Defensive Missions: Enemy Activity Phase
pulling back the entire mission to the Staging area for several We skip the Enemy Higher HQ Segment, since we are still on
turns will lead to a dull game. Turn 1.
Just remember that at the very least, you must set up a defen-
Enemy Activity Check Segment
sive line to begin the mission (2.3.5).
The first thing we do at the start of every Enemy Activity
As a guideline for this mission, we’re going to impose the Check Segment in a defensive mission is to place PC markers
following restrictions on how we use the Staging Area (these on the map. We look at the PC Placement Timing chart for the
should not be taken as a set of strict rules, as every defensive mission:
mission is different).
1. Besides CO HQ, CO Staff and units transporting Attack Timing Table
casualties, only LATs can move into the staging area. Turn
2. A reserve can be set up in the Staging area, so long as Row 1 2 3 4 5 6
most units are defending the MLR. (Although, after
4 N/A A A C B A
considering the width of the map and our available units,
we have opted to place all combat units on the map 3 B B A A C B
anyway). 2 C B B A A C
1 C C B B A A
The Main Line of Resistance
Unlike map boundaries in an offensive mission, the MLR It’s Turn 1 which means we’re going to place PC C markers
is not a fixed unpassable line. For the most part you are on all of the cards in Rows 1 and 2 and B PC markers on Row
expected to stay behind it (and oncoming enemy forces will 3. These PC markers will be resolved normally in the Poten-
generally not give you the breathing space to consider counter tial Contact Evaluation Segment. We don’t have any units
attacking). However, the line may shift due to events (there who might trigger PC markers on Row 3 at the moment, but
are two in this mission, Flanks are Open and Fall Back), potentially we could send assault teams over the line.
and the MLR may be crossed at any time by Assault Teams Now, that may look like a lot of PC markers to place every
(although they cannot advance further than the row adjacent turn, but most of the time, we’ll skip placing markers on
to the MLR). This can be handy for capturing prisoners, slow- Rows 3 and 4. There is no chance of a US unit being on Row
ing down oncoming human waves, placing smoke-screens or 4 in the PC Evaluation Segment unless an event occurs to
illuminating terrain at night. Campaigns may allow more or shift the line, and we don’t intend on having anyone scout
less flexibility by special rules. over the MLR to Row 3 for a while. If we change our minds,
And now we’re ready to face the enemy. we can always add PC markers later.

Defensive Sequence of Play & Potential Contact After this, we would make Enemy Activity checks for all
enemy units on the map, before moving on to the Friendly
In a defensive mission, there are two main gameplay changes:
Command Phase where we can react to the situation. Here at
● The Sequence of play changes. Enemy units on the map the beginning of Turn 1 there are no enemies on the map, so
take their turn before Friendly units (on the sequence we move on.
of play we use 3.2 Defensive Missions Enemy Activity
Phase, and not 3.4 Offensive Missions/Combat Patrols PC markers will be resolved as usual on all US occupied
Enemy Activity Phase). cards in the Potential Contact Resolution Segment. Finally in the
● The map begins with no Potential Contact markers. Clean Up Phase, any PC markers that were not triggered are
Instead they are placed on the map in every turn. removed.

So let’s take a look at how we begin this mission. Our units

are all set up, the Game Turn marker is in the Turn 1 box and
Activity Level is at No Contact.
Higher HQ events do not begin until Turn 2, so we skip the
Friendly Higher HQ Event Phase.

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 34 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Afterword
Each defensive mission has its own unique twists. Some
are night missions, some begin with you surrounded by the
enemy with no Staging Area to fall back to. Many feature
enemy vehicles attempting to smash through your lines. It is
best to become comfortable with offensive missions before
attempting a defensive; you will have a better idea of what the
enemy is capable of, how the various rallying actions work
and what the capabilities of your units are. The epic 12-turn,
8-column wide Defensives can take a significantly longer
time to play than the average offensive mission.

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 preparing for an air assault 35

We refer to the Multi-Step Unit Experience Levels chart

(Charts & Tables player aid) to determine the final Experience
Level of multi-step units after assigning steps. For example,
we can see from the 3-step units row on the chart that assign-
ing two Veteran steps and one Line step to a squad results in a
Veteran Experience Level unit.
After the initial calculation, we do not need to track individ-
ual step Experience Levels.
We distribute our flexible Experience steps as follows:
1st Platoon 2nd Platoon
Unit Steps Result Unit Steps Result
1/1 VVL Veteran 1/2 VVL Veteran
2/1 LLG Line 2/2 LLG Line
3/1 LLG Line 3/2 GGG Green
1/W/1 V Veteran 1/W/2 V Veteran
Preparing for an Air Assault 2/W/1 L Line 2/W/2 L Line
The use of helicopters was a defining feature of the Vietnam
War. They introduce a new set of activities for the Fields of 3rd Platoon 4th Platoon
Fire player to manage. In this example of play we will step Unit Steps Result Unit Steps Result
through the setup of Vietnam Campaign Mission 1, Operation 1/3 LLG Line PLT HQ L Line
Ala Moana Part 1. This is a pre-planned air assault mission
2/3 GGG Green 1/4 LL Line
where the company enters the map via a single Landing Zone
(LZ) in 4 waves. The full set of air assault rules can be found 3/3 GGG Green 2/4 LL Line
in section 11 of the rulebook. 1/W/3 V Veteran Mtr Team. L Line
2/W/3 G Green
Equipment & Organization V= Veteran Steps (7) L=Line Steps (18) G=Green Steps (14)
First, let’s take a look at the instructions in the Vietnam Mis-
sion Book. The Table of Organization & Equipment gives us Assigning Assets
two options for set up: we can bring along the 81mm mortar
section, or we can use 4th Platoon instead. We opt to use the The mission instructions list the available assets. We will
4th Platoon set up. As the design note states, this was the distribute them amongst our units, placing them on the Com-
more usual set up for most of these missions. mand Display. Refer to illustration on following page.
First, we have 10 CO TAC radios to distribute as we like.
60mm Mortar Team and Mission Attachments We’ll hand out the first 7 to our HQs and Staff as it’s impor-
tant that they are always in communication. We will also give
We will assign the mortar team to 4th Platoon, FAC to 1st a radio to one squad in each platoon which will give us some
Platoon, Arty FO to 2nd Platoon and Mtr FO to 3rd Platoon. flexibility in moving around the map as we try to Clear the
mission objectives.
Experience Distribution We decide 2/1, 2/2 and 1/3 are the best choices to assign
The Table of Organization & Equipment indicates that we radios to. Three Line rated squads. The thinking being that
have some flexibility in assigning Experience Levels to some the Veteran squads will do just fine on Initiative if they
of our company units. need to strike out alone, and the Green squads are just not
CO HQ, 2nd PLT HQ, 3rd PLT HQ begin the campaign reliable enough.
with an Experience Level of Green, CO XO and 1st PLT Next, we hand out HC Smoke to 1/1, 1/2, 1/4 and 1st Sgt and
HQ are Line and 1st Sgt is Veteran. Our Attached units all WP to 2/1, 2/2, 2/3 and 2/4. CO HQ has a Red Star Parachute
begin at Line. and CO XO has a Red Star Cluster. These flares are one-off
The remaining units’ Experience Levels are determined by assets keyed to Cease Fire orders, to be used in an emergency
assigning each step an Experience Level. Since we are using when too many squads are firing at shadows in the jungle to
the 4th Platoon option, the TO&E states that we must assign 7 no effect.
Veteran steps, 18 Line steps and 14 Green steps.

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 36 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Finally, we distribute the colored smoke amongst the CO

HQ, PLT HQs and Staff. All of these will be used to mark
Landing Zones for our helicopters in case the Primary LZ
becomes unusable.

Map Setup
Next take all of the PC markers (A, B and C
We set up the map as shown in the mission markers) and turn them over to their ? side. Pick
instructions. The center card must be “LZ 24 of them at random and place them on all of the
Capable”, this is indicated by a helicopter mark in terrain cards except for the LZ.
the bottom right of the card.
Our mission instructions inform us that we must
If the card drawn isn’t LZ capable, we can simply clear 12 cards (meaning 12 cards which began
swap it for one of the face-up cards which is. with PC markers must have no PC marker and no
Or discard it and draw new terrain until an LZ enemy units at the end of the mission—US units
capable card turns up. do not have to be present).
A Primary LZ Tactical Control is placed in this center card.

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preparing for an air assault 37

Map at the beginning of Turn 1.

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 38 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Loading Plan
Before any air assault mission begins, you will need to plan You can detach teams from squads to increase the flexibil-
for how to load the company into the aircraft. Likely the first ity of your load, or even leave units or single steps behind
thing you will notice is that they do not all fit neatly. The altogether. In some missions, this may be necessary due to
Landing Zones (LZs) can only accommodate a few aircraft limited transportation capacity.
at a time, and the aircraft themselves have limited capacity.

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 preparing for an air assault 39

automatically through
the staging areas before
being placed on the
map. We can intervene
if the LZ suddenly
becomes dangerous by
use of the Loiter box
(this too is considered
part of the assault
sequence and also does
not require Commands
from the CO HQ).
Events during the game
may place ammo in
the Pick Up Zone. This
will have to be moved
manually to the map
using CO HQ activa-
tion orders and colored
smoke to mark the LZ
as described in section
11 of the rulebook.
Setup
Final preparation & Checking of CSR Rules
Since we elected to use 4th Platoon, our company consists
of 48 steps (including the three attachments). The total lift We are about ready to start, first we take a read through the
capacity available to us is 60 steps (12 x UH-1’s with a campaign special rules to see if there is anything impor-
transport capacity of 3 each and 2 CH-47s with a transport tant to bear in mind. The biggest difference compared with
capacity of 12 each) so the entire company can eventually be Normandy, Naktong River and Heartbreak Ridge is CSR 5:
brought into play. Tunnels. Usually the Potential Contact System requires that
the enemy is placed in such a way that it can fire upon the
Using the Mission 1 assault planning chart we divide up the unit which triggered it. In Vietnam, an enemy package might
company as shown on the opposite page. be triggered by one unit, but the placement direction may put
Mission 1 is a cold LZ (no PC marker is placed on the central it on a card with different US units, which the enemy package
LZ card), so forces can flow into and out of the LZ uncon- will open fire on instead (as per 6.0 Basic Combat Principles).
tested. This plan front loads the company command post with This makes it very hard to locate safe positions for HQs to
Arty FO and FAC. In a contested LZ, a more conservative control the company from.
plan may be more advisable. The detached Assault Teams can We note that there are three different types of VC squad, so
be used to supplement our squads on landing, or they can be we place them in a cup ready to be drawn randomly. And
used independently depending on how the situation develops. also that some of them are armed with one-shot RPGs. We
Although they can fit on one CH-47, we divide the final 12 shall have to bear this in mind as any RPG armed squads in
steps into two helicopters to reduce the risk of losing a large LOS of our LZ will Reaction Fire on our helicopters as they
portion of our company in a single RPG strike. come in to land.
This will be a complex mission that will put together several
Setting up the Helicopter Control Card of the concepts that you have learned over the past three cam-
The units in this mission do not enter the map from a regular paigns. Vehicle mechanisms, complex packages with excep-
Staging Area, instead they move through the staging areas tions, complex communications and so on. It’s not a problem
of the Helicopter Control Card, without the need to spend to get some of it wrong, or forget the exact sequence and need
Commands, as described in section 11. We place the 1st wave to draw a random card to determine what should happen next.
of UH-1 helicopters in the Inbound box (ready to move to the Don’t forget that this is your game; you’re the one in charge.
map in Turn 1). We place the 2nd wave of UH-1 helicopters
in the Pick Up Zone. Each turn, helicopters will advance

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 40 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Plan on spending 30 to 40 minutes on this activity after com-

pleting your mission. There is no right or wrong answer to
how you reorganize your company after a mission. The more
damage the company has sustained, the harder the decisions
become as you decide where you can afford to leave “holes”
in your company. Conversely, you cannot have more than
your full structure (TO&E). So, if you had a “milk run” mis-
sion and there are more Replacements available than losses,
you cannot over-subscribe your starting TO&E.
As a guideline to making decisions, there are some basic
principles. In priority order you should:
1. Reconstitute/Promote your HQs and Staff.
2. Reconstitute/Promote your company weapons teams -
these generate volumes of fire greater than small arms.
3. Reconstitute/Promote rifle squads last.
4. Retain three platoons; it is better to have 2 squads per
platoon than 2 platoons of 3 squads.

Reconstitution & Replacement Reconstitution & Replacement Example - End

of Vietnam Campaign, Mission 1
Reconstituting your Company
For this example we will reconstitute a company that has just
The construction of Fields of Fire as a campaign with a series completed mission 1 of the Vietnam campaign. The company
of missions is a fundamental precept of the design. Most began their mission with 48 steps (including three FO attach-
tactical level board games are scenario based, where a player ments). For guidance, the units in the following diagrams
is “all in” for a particular mission and does not have to worry have been labeled with markers indicating their Experience
about what happens next. In Fields of Fire, the actions you Level (Green, Line or Veteran).
take after a mission are as important as those within the mis-
Shortly after landing, the company came under heavy fire
sion, and they are just as much a part of the game. This need
from multiple directions. We held out for ten turns, keeping
to balance between mission accomplishment and sustaining
the central LZ clear and achieving our objectives but were
the company across the whole campaign is a completely dif-
hit hard.
ferent dynamic than scenario based games. The player sets the
conditions for the next mission based on how Experience is
distributed, and Replacements are integrated. G

L V L

L G G

V L G V L G L L G

V L V L V L

Company at the beginning

L
of the mission—fresh, naive
and ready for action.
G L

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 reconstitution & replacement 41

Situation at the end of Turn 10. The enemy are holding on; it’s time to get the hell out of here!

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 42 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

The Tally: The first thing we need to do is to check that the number of
10 Casualty steps (only half successfully evacuated) LATs and good order units remaining on the map and on
5 Paralyzed Teams (including 1st PLT HQ) the Command Display match the number of steps that the
3 Litter Teams company started the mission with. We can do this visually
3 Fire Teams with the counters. We know the company began this mission
with 48 steps; CO HQ, CO XO, 1st SGT, a one-step mortar
3 Assault Teams
team, Mtr FO, Arty FO, FAC, three platoons made up of an
24 of 48 steps were affected; half the company!
HQ, three 3-step rifle squads and two MGs each, plus a 4th
With its hard-to-spot Veteran enemy units, unpredictable platoon made up of an HQ and two 2-step squads.
enemy placement, and no safe Staging Area to rely on, this
Laying out the counters we can see that no mistakes were
mission can be absolutely brutal on new commanders. It’s
made, we have the same number of steps (including casual-
important to keep a clear head and not let the escalating
ties) as we started with.
breakdown of your units get to you.
Fortunately, we picked up a lot of Experience Points over Note: Keep a record of how many steps you started the
the course of the mission. We’ll use this to reconstitute the mission with and don’t forget to take into account steps the
company: enemy has taken prisoner, steps removed due to events,
and any extra LAT steps you may have placed on the map
14 Cleared cards: 18 points (1 each for the first ten, then 2
as a result of vehicles being destroyed. If you do happen to
points each for cards 11-14)
have made a mistake, simply add or remove LATs from the
5 Enemy casualties (2 captured): 7 points
company to get the total amount (or you can be harder on
2 Successful Point Blank Grenade Attacks: 2 points yourself and assume any missing units have gone AWOL
5 Evacuated casualties: 10 points and replace them with casualties).
Total: 37 points

L V L

G G G

G L G V L G G

G G G G G G G

G G

V G V L

Company at the end of

L
the mission—battered but
determined.
G L

Note that in between missions,

every LAT, including Assault
Teams counts as one Green step.

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 reconstitution & replacement 43

Important! LATs and casualties are never tracked during

L V G L L V V
the mission. It doesn’t matter where a paralyzed team or a
casualty came from originally; simply arrange your LATs and
casualties anywhere you like to account for all of the gaps Next let’s look at our three main rifle platoons.
in your company. Bear in mind that any steps you note as
being casualties cannot be Reconstituted. These gaps in your
1st Platoon
company will need to be filled by Replacement steps later. The casualties indicate gaps that we will need to fill later with
Replacements, in 1st platoon that’s the 3rd step of squad 1/1
Before we begin, the Vietnam campaign has a Campaign and 2/W/1 machine gun.
Special Rule that we must adhere to: the removal of two Vet- • We spend 2 points to reconstitute two steps of squad 1/1
eran steps as a result of troops being rotated home. Any two and promote them both to Line Experience. This results in
steps will do, they don’t have to be picked at random. We can a single 2-step, Line rated squad.
choose between our two Veteran MGs and the Veteran 1st Sgt.
• 7 points to promote the first
That’s a tough choice. I don’t really want to leave 1st platoon
two steps of squad 2/1 to G
with no MG (or entrust the MG to a new recruit later), so I
Veteran (3 points each) and
pick 1st Sgt and 1/W/3 MG. I may regret this choice later.
reconstitute the third step,
Never mind.
promoting it to Line (1 L V L
point). Two Veteran steps
Reconstitution of the Company plus 1 Line step results in a
So let’s get on to spending our Experience Points and reconsti- single Veteran Experience V
tuting the company. As mentioned above, there are no correct 3-step squad.
answers, and you should reconstitute your units in the way you • 2 points to promote the first
think you can make best use of them. The following example two steps of squad 3/1 to Line and reconstitute the third
disregards some or all of the principles above as I rely on my step. We don’t need to promote the third step as two Line
own, no doubt misguided, instincts about what is best. steps plus 1 Green step results in a single Line Experience
3-step squad.
Remember that Reconstituting units from LATs is free. Only
Promoting steps (increasing their experience level) costs expe- 2nd Platoon
rience points.
This platoon is also 2-steps down.
Note: It costs 1 point to promote a Green unit to Line, and • We spend 1 point to reconstitute 1/W/2 MG team and
3 points to promote a Line unit to Veteran. Units cannot be promote it to Line Experience.
promoted twice during this process. After promoting your • 1 point to reconstitute the
steps, work out the overall Experience Level of the unit by third step of 1/2 squad and L
using the Multi-Step Unit Experience Levels chart on the promote it to Line. This
Charts & Tables player aid. results in a 3-step Veteran
unit. Veteran + Veteran + V V L
HQs Line = Veteran.
Let’s take a look at our HQs and Staff first. I want to promote • 6 points to promote both
CO HQ to Line Experience for 1 point. This will make things remaining steps of 2/2 squad L
much easier going forward. I’ll also promote 2nd PLT HQ to Veteran. This results in a
and 3rd PLT HQ to Line for a point each, CO XO to Veteran 2-step Veteran unit.
for 3 points and 4th PLT HQ to Veteran for 3 points. We also • 2 points to promote the first two steps of 3/2 squad to
spend three points to promote the mortar team to Veteran. We Line. This results in a 3-step Line unit (Line + Line +
can’t do anything about 1st Sgt right now as he’s gone home. Green = Line).
We’ll just have to make do with whatever Green Replacement
the battalion deems to send us later. 3rd Platoon
Company units that we lost during the mission can be recon- This platoon took a real beating during the mission. We’ll try
stituted from LATs. Each LAT counts as one Green step. For to salvage it as best we can.
all units except HQs and Staff, after reconstitution we can • 2 points to reconstitute all three steps of 1/3 squad and
then use an Experience Point to promote them to Line Experi- promote the first two steps to Line (Line + Line + Green
ence. New HQs and Staff however must remain at Green = Line).
and cannot be promoted. We use the Paralyzed Team that we
placed in 1st PLT HQ’s spot when we laid out the counters
earlier to reconstitute our new Green 1st PLT HQ. This costs
no Experience Points.

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 44 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

• 2 points to reconstitute the remaining fill. The remaining steps are lost as they are sent off to other
two steps of 2/3 and 3/3 squads, L companies.
promote them to Line and combine We’ll replace 1st Sgt first with one of the Green Replacement
them together. This results in a 2-step steps. New HQs and Staff are always rated Green, so it would
Line squad (we’ll call it 2/3). L L be a waste to expend one of our two Veteran steps for this.
• We have no 3/3 squad. Hopefully we Green Staff don’t tend to be very useful, but they are better than
can entice some new recruits into the nothing, and we can promote them if they survive mission 2.
company later to make a brand new V
In 1st platoon, we’ll add a Green step to 1/1 squad (their
squad.
Experience remains at Line) and use a Veteran step to form a
Note: An alternative at this stage for 3rd platoon might be new Veteran 2/W/1 MG team.
to leave two single step fire teams without forming a squad In 2nd platoon, we’ll add our second Veteran step to 2/2
from them. When we get our Replacements, we would squad. According to the Multi-Step Unit Experience Levels
be able to combine two steps with them to form two new chart, adding a Green step would cause their overall Experi-
squads. Generally a platoon of three squads, even reduced, ence Level to drop to Line, so we don’t want to do that. A Line
is better than two. Replacement would also allow the unit to remain as Veteran
(V+V+L), but we don’t have any, and Green Replacement
4th Platoon steps cannot be immediately promoted to Line even if we had
We’ve spent all 37 of our Experience Experience Points left over from Reconstitution. We’ll use the
Points. The one step remaining of 1/4 is V third Green step to make a new Green 2/W/2 MG team.
reconstituted as a generic fire team, while
no changes are made to 2/4 squad. Note: Line steps are rare, but you may have steps that
G L were removed from the company due to events or because
they left to guard prisoners, or you may just have left them
Attachments behind in the last mission. These steps retain their original
Attachments are units that have been assigned to our platoon Experience Levels.
by the battalion command. Their reconstitution, promotion For 3rd platoon, we’ll add the 4th Green step to 2/3 to make a
and replacement in case of destruction is entirely out of our 3-step Line rated unit.
hands. When we start the next mission, a fresh set of Attach-
ments will be prepared for us, so we can ignore these units (in And finally we’ll add the 5th Green step to the fire team we
this case the Mtr FO, FAC and Arty FO). had left over from 4th platoon to form a Green 2-step 1/4 unit.
And we’re all set for mission 2.
Replacements
The Vietnam campaign gives us a generous 6 steps of Green
Replacements at the end of each mission. In addition, since L
we suffered 10 casualties in the previous mission we receive
two extra Veteran Replacements (one per four casualties,
rounded down). V G V
All campaigns have their own rules for Replacements depend-
ing on the historical situation and time
scale involved. One of the requisites for
Replacements in the Vietnam Campaign G L G
is that one of the Green steps is used to
replace a Line or Veteran level PLT HQ.
Again this represents units being rotated L V L V V L L L
home or sent on R&R. We’ll replace 3rd
PLT HQ. A bit of a blow as we just spent
an Experience Point on them. Perhaps V V L G V
we should think more carefully about
who we promote in the future…
That leaves us 5 Green and 2 Veteran
Replacements to make use of and 11 Company after V
gaps in the company to fill. There are reconstitution. Battle
times (rarely in the Vietnam campaign) hardened and ready to move
that you receive more Replacement on to the next mission
G L
steps than spaces in the company to

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 design notes 45

Designer’s Notes rules have two basic functions. One is to have simple appli-
cation and the other is the fixed lines, the sides and corners,
This journey began in earnest around 2005. I toyed with which is meant to enforce a linear deployment, which is how
the design idea for many months before pitching it to GMT combat units train to move and fight. This allows more realis-
Games. It started as handwritten notations on note cards tic deployment without formation rules forcing the player to
and has come so far since then. While I will always think of deploy a certain way.
Fields of Fire as my baby, I was not a single parent. It has Ultimately the design is intended to give the player the same
been a team effort the whole time. When the first edition was considerations and types of choices as an actual company
published in 2008, I was mobilized to serve in Operation Iraqi commander. To feel, even for a moment, the burden and
Freedom, which made it rough timing. It got there through responsibilities. To generate a narrative, a paper time
my dedicated wife, Stacy, and my understanding children machine, a window to the past, tell the story of these men
and through countless hours from the first and second edition in distant lands in the heat of battle. If you experience any
developers, David Gee, Dick Vohlers and Ricky Gray. And of this, then the team and I have accomplished our mission.
now, a truly deluxe third edition. It is extremely humbling to Good luck.
see the amount of effort and care poured into this. Andrew
Stead and Colin Parsons cannot be praised or thanked enough Suggested Reading
for this edition. What is better is, as amazing as this is, its just
the beginning; there is more to come. I saw online a player suggesting that learning to play Fields of
Fire is like attending a Service Academy. Despite the hyper-
Early on, I wanted to design a game engine that was open
bole, there is a grain of truth in this. There are lots of details
ended. I wanted it to be as different as possible from other
of military structure, doctrine, and tactics under the hood. The
tactical games. Based on my own experiences and research,
game is large, there are hundreds of pages of printed material
I saw it as the “anti-ASL.” A game of command and control.
in each volume. As a designer and with the help of a dedi-
From enforcement of unit structures—battalion to company
cated team, we wanted to present an immersive, role playing
to platoon to squad; having soldiers all belong to a formation;
experience. Approaching it with a broader base of general
right down to the unique artwork style.
military knowledge is helpful. Here are some books that are
The solitaire approach provided a subtle nod to the challenge worth reading that may give more insight into what the game
of command, the profound loneliness. There is only one com- is depicting and help bridge the institutional knowledge gap.
mander, all eyes are on you. You must struggle to balance the
mission and the lives of your soldiers. How to make sense of MacDonald, Charles B. Company Commander
the chaos of modern warfare. The play of the cards is meant MacDonald served as a young rifle company commander in
to be similar to solitaire as well. Actual combat is rarely bal- the Battle of the Bulge and to the end of the war in the 23rd
anced, but two-player games need it to be for both players Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division. His unflinching account has
to have a challenging experience. In combat, leaders strive been required reading for officers since its publication in
to ensure that combat is not balanced; on offense, force is 1949. The book propelled MacDonald into a career as a mili-
massed on a narrow frontage to achieve superior numbers. tary historian, and he penned many other excellent histories.
The cards provide an abstraction of terrain that is not like
geomorphic map boards. World War II was not a succes- Johns Jr., Glover S. The Clay Pigeons of St. Lô
sion of ASL Board 3 villages. Terrain is a profound aspect of As a Major, Johns commanded the 1st Battalion of the 115th
infantry combat and can be very subtle, infinitely unique, and Infantry, 29th Infantry Division in the Normandy Campaign.
well below the details of a map. Cover is found within a card The memoir was written not long after the war and provides
and represents much of that complex variation. Even when an excellent overview of infantry tactics.
using cards, each campaign needs a unique deck.
Webb, James. Fields of Fire
The communication requirements to pass commands are an
A work of fiction, but Webb served as a Marine rifle platoon
integral part of command and control. I must be able to com-
commander in the 5th Marines in Vietnam, was wounded and
municate with someone to tell them to do something. When
awarded the Navy Cross. He later served as a U.S. Senator
everyone is taking cover and dispersed, it becomes infinitely
and Secretary of the Navy.
more difficult.
The Volume of Fire (VOF) concept of diminishing returns is ~Ben Hull
based on the concept of an empty battlefield and area fire. In
modern combat, small units deploy in loose, skirmisher for-
mations and use cover and concealment as much as possible.
This leads to an empty battlefield with fleeting targets. The
byproduct is that most fire is directed at an area, as opposed to
a specific target. Leadership is not required for troops to open
fire, but it is necessary to control, shift, or cease fire. The LOS

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 46 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

Developers’ Notes
Fields of Fire can be a challenging game. Though not as
difficult to play as its reputation would suggest, and cer-
tainly not as complex as games like ASL or A World at War.
However, unlike other heavy wargames, as a solitaire game
the new player often found themselves alone with only the
rulebook and assistance from a bewildering number of hints,
tips, guides and videos scattered across the Internet, many of
which seem to contradict each other.
With this new edition, our intention as developers was to first
and foremost maintain the integrity of the game. As long-time
players ourselves, we already knew that the journey through
learning the rules and looking up clarifications was worth it.
Fields of Fire is a terrific game, with a level of simulation
that feels like we’re making important decisions at every step
and not simply solving a puzzle. Volume I has four detailed
campaigns with a high level of replayability and the system
has immense potential for future expansions.
Since Fields of Fire was first released, the market for slick,
streamlined solitaire games that you can quickly learn and
play in a lunch break has expanded immensely, so there was
no intention to cut down, streamline, or as fans of the game
might say, “dumb down” the system. Anyone wanting to
play a less complex tactical solitaire war-game has plenty of
choice. Our goal was to present the player with everything
they might need to know to play the game in the box: a rule-
book packed full of examples, even if this meant expanding
it to an intimidating number of pages, a beginner’s guide that
would take you by the hand and teach you the flow of the
game a few pieces at a time, examples of play covering the
different styles of mission you may come across, and mission
books that would take the time and space to explain every-
thing the player needs to know to start playing.
We’d like to thank Jason Carr and GMT One for putting out
the call for people to work on a new deluxe edition of Fields
of Fire. Also, of course, Ben Hull for not only supporting a
reworking of his game but for being on-hand to discuss game
mechanics and intentions with us in detail, and actively cre-
ating new material, detailed guidelines and updated informa-
tion on the historical battles included in this volume to take
Fields of Fire Deluxe beyond a “clarifications project” to a
true third edition of the game. In doing so, we have ended up
updating almost every component in the game, and we hope
you enjoy the final product.
Andrew Stead, Colin Parsons

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC

 Game Credits 47

Fields of Fire Deluxe Edition Credits:

Game Design: Ben Hull
Deluxe Edition Development: Andrew Stead and Colin
Parsons
Project Coordination and Additional Development: Jason
Carr
Deluxe Edition Playtesters and Proofers: Jerad W.
Alexander, Pete Ampudia, Jose Miguel Criado, Roberto
Degl’Innocenti, Maurice Engel, Michael Gustavsson, Hesy,
Kevin Hinners, Jonathan Holen, Lee Hook, Jordan Kehrer,
Andrew Keith, C. Scott Kippen, Dominick Lauzon, Richard
Lloyd, Nicola Marangon, Aditya H. Martodiharjo, Jeff Mer-
lin, Shaun O’Keeffe, Salvador Perejón, Brent Pollack, Mi-
chael Roth, Rami Saarinen, David Spangler, Cesar Rebollo
Vadillo, Michael Williams, Eric Wooley, Jérémy Zurcher,
and the dozens of testers who participated in the playtest
Discord server—thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
Special Thanks to: Mike Bertucelli, Bruce Mansfield, and
Scott Mansfield for their contributions in helping with very
early drafts of the rules and other materials.
First & Second Edition Developers: Dick Vohlers, Rich-
ard Gray
Booklets, Charts, Card & Counter Art: Donal Hegarty,
Charles Kibler, and Mark Simonitch
Box Art & Art Director: Justin Martinez
Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger B. MacGowan, Andy Lewis,
Gene Billingsley, Mark Simonitich

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48 Field Manual: ADVANCED OPERATIONS

© 2024 GMT Games, LLC