Fire and Fury Games' Battlefront:Engineering Playtest Rules

Battlefront WWII
Bovington 2010 Engineering rules

Bovington 2010 Engineering Rules

In a massive convention game put on at Bovington 2010, Battlefront UK (RMD, Richard de Ferrars, Ken Natt, Paddy Green, et al.) put on a massive scenario involving a set-piece attack on a fortified position. Engineers played a major role in the assault, they developed some more detailed set of engineering rules to cover the equipment and fortifications involved.

Table of Contents

Anti-tank Ditches and Fascines
Clearing KO'd Vehicles from Defiles with bulldozers
Clearing Minefields with Flail Tanks
Clearing Minefields with Engineers

Anti-Tank Ditches Table of Contents

An Anti-Tank Ditch ordinarily counts as a Wide " Deep Ditch - passable to Troops with a Breach " Bog-Down Check, but impassable to all other unit types. It will continue to be an obstacle to movement until it is successfully breached by an engineering action.
Breaches across AT ditches are considered defiles for triggering opportunity fire.
An Anti-Tank ditch can be breached by a Fascine, SBG (Small Box Girder)or ARK (vehicle carried bridge). The unit carrying the breaching equipment must first conform to the ditch and then emplace its breaching equipment with one manaeuver action. Troops crossing an ARK or SBG do so at full speed. Troops crossing a fascine do so at 1/2 speed. Vehicles and guns crossing an ARK or SBG do so at 1/2 speed. Vehicles and guns crossing a fascine must conform and breach to cross, but do not check for bog down.
(SBG) bridges are large and clumsy. Vehicles carrying SBGs may only move at half-speed and may not traverse any form of woodland or orchard. Once the SBG has been used, the vehicle may move normally.
Once used, SBGs and Fascines may not be re-used.
ARKs may be re-used if they are successfully recovered. To recover an ARK takes one action (two attempts may therefore be made per turn). There must be an AVRE, Dozer or ARK within one inch, acting as a recovery vehicle. The recovery vehicle may not perform any tasks during the turn, other than movement. Once a recovery vehicle is in place, roll on the Bog-Down table, without any modifiers. A successful roll recovers the ARK (and the Anti-tank ditch becomes) active again).
It is also possible to breach an AT-ditch by knocking down the sides. This may be done by bulldozers, bulldozer-blade equipped tanks, and engineer/assault pioneer troop units. To knock down the sides of an AT-ditch, the breaching unit must conform to the ditch and successfully perform an 'Improve Position' roll. A dozer equipped unit creates a 1 vehicle wide breach. A troop unit creates a troop stand wide breach. It takes 3 adjacent troop breaches to create breach that can be used by vehicles (some sort of marker will be required for this).
A breach that has been created in a ditch by a Dozer or Engineers/Pioneers is classed as a Shallow Ditch - passable at half-speed to Troops, passable to Tracked " Half-Tracked Vehicles with a Breach action or to Wheeled Vehicles and Guns with a Breach and Bog-Down check.
There are always exceptions to the general rules that can be added to your games. The Bovington game featured an 18th Century defensive ditch south of Fort Alexander that was impassable to all unit types and was breachable only by an SBG or ARK. Fascines, Dozers and Engineers/Pioneers were not up to the job.

Clearing KO'd Vehicles from Defiles with bulldozers Table of Contents

Dozer and dozer-blade equipped tanks may clear KO'd vehicles from defiles, taking one action to do so.

Clearing Minefields with Flail Tanks Table of Contents

Flail tanks may move through 2 inches of minefield per movement action.
'Rapid Advances' (i.e. two clearing actions per turn) are permitted.
For each inch of minefield, roll on the Mine Passage Table with a +2 modifier. If the Crab passes through the minefield safely, it also creates a 1 inch-wide safe path for others to follow. Mark the safe path on the table using thread or wire. Treat unsuccessful rolls normally. Once a safe path has been cleared through a minefield, units may only pass through in single file and may not perform a Rapid Advance through the breach.
If the minefield is in terrain that requires a bog-down test, conduct the bog-down test before attempting to clear the minefield. A 'Bog' or 'Displace' result will prevent the Crab from clearing mines for that action.
The flail tank may not perform Defensive Fire in its front arc if it was attempting to clear mines in its last turn. However, it may engage targets in its rear arc, with the usual modifier.
A Crab may always opt not to clear mines for a turn and may then engage in combat as normal. However, this does not apply if the Crab stayed stationary due to bogging down while trying to clear mines.

Clearing Minefields with Engineers or Assault Pioneers Table of Contents

Engineers/Assault Pioneers may clear up to 1 inch of minefield per movement action.
'Rapid Advance' (i.e. two actions per turn) is not permitted.
For each inch of the minefield, roll on the Improve Position Table with a +3 modifier. If the Engineer/Assault Pioneer section succeeds on the 'Improve Position' table, the Assault Pioneer section moves forward 1 inch and clears a safe path wide enough for one unit of any type to pass through. Mark the safe path on the table using thread or wire.
Ordinary (i.e. non Pioneer-trained) Troop elements may also attempt to clear mines using this method, but do so without applying the +3 modifier. However, Veteran and Elite troops may apply a +1 modifier.
Engineers/Assault Pioneers may conduct Defensive Fire as normal while attempting to clear mines (we've all seen Kelly's Heroes!).
If the minefield is in terrain that requires a bog-down test, conduct the bog-down test before attempting to clear the minefield. A 'Bog' or 'Displace' result will prevent the unit from clearing mines for that action.
Once a safe path has been cleared through a minefield, units may only pass through in single file and may not perform a Rapid Advance through the breach.
Engineers and Assault Pioneers may always attempt to rapidly cross the minefield as normal, rolling on the Minefield Passage Table for every inch of mines crossed. As they are equipped and trained to detect mines, they will apply a +1 modifier on the Minefield Passage Table. Any Troop units following the same route may also then gain the +1 Minefield Passage bonus, but the route will not be safe for anything larger. Note that this method is a lot quicker, but it's risky and it will not create a safe route for vehicles.