Night Combat Rules

The original rulebook did not specify how to fight battles at night. Here are some "semi-official" night combat rules collected from forum discussions by Mark Hayes that describe how to play the game at night. We welcome your suggestions for improvements.

DAY - GOOD VISIBILITY

No change to rules

DAY - POOR VISIBILITY

Spotting-Down 1 spotting modifier
Maneuver-No +2 enemy proximity modifier for no LOS to spotted or suspected enemy

NIGHT - GOOD VISIBILITY

Discipline Rating
All units are rated one level lower than normal unless they are considered "night combat-trained (a)"

(a) Examples of "night combat-trained" would be American, British, and Polish airborne units; commandos and rangers; and Elite and Veteran Japanese infantry.

Spotting

1. Down 2 spotting modifier
2. No Up 1 modifier for higher elevation

Fire Combat Modifier of -1 for all direct fire

Maneuver

1. No rapid advance
2. No +1 command modifier for troops unless within 1 inch of commander
3. No +1 command modifier for vehicles unless within 4 inches and line of sight (LOS) of commander
4. No +2 enemy proximity modifier for no LOS to spotted or suspected enemy
5. Modifier of -1 on Bog Down table

NIGHT - POOR VISIBILITY

Discipline Rating
All units are rated one level lower than normal unless they are considered "night combat-trained" (a)

Spotting

1. Down 3 spotting modifier
2. No Up 1 modifier for higher elevation

Fire Combat Modifier of -1 for all direct fire -

Maneuver

1. No rapid advance
2. No +1 command modifier for troops unless within 1 inch of commander
3. No +1 command modifier for vehicles unless within 2 inches and line of sight (LOS) of commander
4. No +2 enemy proximity modifier for no LOS to spotted or suspected enemy
5. Modifier of -2 on Bog Down table

Close Combat

1. Modifier for "DEF/ATT: vehicle vs. troops in concealment" changed to -3
2. Modifier for "DEF: outflanked" changed to -2

FLARES

• Generally, a unit that can fire smoke can fire a flare out to its maximum range.
• A commander (troop stand) may also fire a flare out to 10 inches using a small template.
• Normally, like smoke, a unit may only fire a flare once per game, although many night scenarios may have reason to allocate more.
• Flares are fired in the Indirect Fire segment. The Call for Fire proceedure is used if using a spotter.
• Each firing section gets 2 templates of the same size as its indirect fire template.
• The firing player places the center of the beaten zone over a target just as in normal indirect fire.
• Any unit with an aiming point within the beaten zone is considered to be in Day - Good Visibility for purposes of being a TARGET for spotting and fire combat. In addition there is a modifier of +1 to the spotting table.
• Flares may only be fired at SUSPECTED or SPOTTED units or a prominent terrain feature.
• A flare template remains on the table until the begining of that player's next Indirect Fire segment.
• A unit with an aiming point inside a placed flare template suffers an ADDITIONAL "DOWN 2" modifier on the spotting table when trying to spot an enemy target. (loss of night vision)

This page was last updated on 01/05/2020 at 07:25AM [an error occurred while processing this directive]