(Classic) Special Forces - New Optional Unit for Classic

[Midnight_Reaper]

Here is 9 of n for discussion of my Classic House Rules

Special Forces in Classic
Unit Name      IPC Cost ATK DEF MOVE Notes
Special Forces    8    3*  3*  2*  Cannot be transported with any other type of units. See below for rules and uses of this unit.

Special Forces - The truly elite, the best of the best, the Special Forces of a nation. Special Forces attack value increases to 4 when doing an Airborne Assault. Cannot be transported with any other type of units.

Special Forces are unique units with many and varied powers. These units and their associated rules are entirely optional for play. If Special Forces are in play for a game, the United Kingdom starts play with 1 SF in the United Kingdom territory. The other four nations will need to establish their own Special Forces units if their players want to use them. If the optional rule “New Unit Surcharge” (Post #8) is in effect, UK would not need to pay the fee for more SF but the other 4 powers would need to pay the fee before building any SF.

What to use to denote these units on the board? Much as Paratroopers can be seen as an evolution of Infantry, Special Forces can be seen as an evolution of Troopers. So, take what pieces your power are using for Troopers, and place a Country Marker or an Airborne marker underneath that piece. Viola, Special Forces. Alternatively a player could use special tokens or specially painted infantry pieces. As there are a total of 15 possible Special Forces in a game (3 per country, 5 countries in the game) using some unique method to designate them is probably more important than giving them period-accurate appearance.

Rules for Special Forces
Special Forces units have many uses, some of which are optional. In light of their many uses, no country may possess more than 3 Special Forces at any time. Once this limit has been reached, no more SF may be purchased by that country. Not more than 1 SF per country can purchased in a single turn. Regardless of the location of any other Industrial Complex that may be owned by the purchasing country, Special Forces must be placed on the capital territory of the purchasing country when they are put into play at the end of the turn. The sole exception to this rule is that US SF can be put into play on both the Eastern and the Western United States territories.

Special Forces may assist other units on the attack and on the defense. When SF attack or defend in the company of other units, the SF can enhance the attack or defense value of up to three other ground units by 1, provided that the SF gives up its own attack or defense in the process. This decision is on a roll-by-roll basis. (e.g. First round, attack normally; second round, assist attack; third round, attack normally; etc…) This assistance does not stack with any support from Artillery units.

Special Forces units can use Submarines (1 SF per normal Submarine, 2 SF per Super Submarine) to move around the board as if they were on Transports. If a Submarine carrying SF is sunk, the SF are lost along with the Submarine.

Special Forces can conduct a short-range amphibious assault, without aid from Submarines or Transports. SF have a movement of 2 and can use this movement to cross narrow bodies of water, such as from Great Britain to Western Europe, provided that SF never end their turn on a sea space without being transported by a Submarine or a Transport.

Special Forces are elite units and as such are a rowdy lot. They cannot be transported with other units on the same transport (either on Transports or on Heavy Cargo Planes, if available). A convoy of two transports carrying 1 Infantry and 1 Armor in one transport and 1 (or 2 or 3) Special Forces in another transport is okay. A convoy of two transports carrying 1 Infantry and 1 Armor in one transport and 1 (or 2) Special Forces and 1 (or 2, space permitting) Infantry in another transport is not okay. If this is attempted, whatever else is with the Special Forces will be destroyed before the units get anywhere. The Special Forces will be fine but everything else will be gone. No one knows why this happens that way.

Optional Rules for the Optional Special Forces
Will be listed in Post 9a - More Special Forces Options

There are thoughts on turning commandos loose on my enemies, on “set[ting] Europe ablaze” as Winston Churchill allegedly ordered the Special Operations Executive.

-Midnight_Reaper

[CWO Marc]

@Midnight_Reaper:

In light of their many uses, no country may possess more than 3 Special Forces at any time. Once this limit has been reached, no more SF may be purchased by that country. Not more than 1 SF per country can purchased in a single turn.

Just a comment on this element, which caught my eye while I was having a quick look at your proposal for special forces. I think this is a very sensible and credible way to handle SFs.  There’s been some previous discussion of SFs on this forum, and one of the points that was raised was the fact that SFs should never be treated as regular troops in terms of their cost and their allowable numbers.  SFs are expensive to train and equip, and only a small subset of any group of conventional troops are capable of qualifying for SF units (I think that only 15% of SAS applicants – all of whom are already experienced soldiers – end up passing all the tests), so it’s not possible to create mass armies of elite troops.

[General 6 Stars]

Nice ideas for all suggestions posted but way to many things involved here for most people. It’s your game so no knock against it. You want to get away from KISS that’s fine too. I would not use somethings and make it all more simplified. Why not just try the reduced costs and a tech tree for starters ?

[Midnight_Reaper]

@CWO:

@Midnight_Reaper:

In light of their many uses, no country may possess more than 3 Special Forces at any time. Once this limit has been reached, no more SF may be purchased by that country. Not more than 1 SF per country can purchased in a single turn.

Just a comment on this element, which caught my eye while I was having a quick look at your proposal for special forces. I think this is a very sensible and credible way to handle SFs.  There’s been some previous discussion of SFs on this forum, and one of the points that was raised was the fact that SFs should never be treated as regular troops in terms of their cost and their allowable numbers.  SFs are expensive to train and equip, and only a small subset of any group of conventional troops are capable of qualifying for SF units (I think that only 15% of SAS applicants – all of whom are already experienced soldiers – end up passing all the tests), so it’s not possible to create mass armies of elite troops.

CWO Marc,

Thanks for your comments. I wanted to give myself the room to craft a commando force with a lot of uses. I knew that if I made them the answer to all your problems, why would anyone buy anything else? Limiting how many could be made and how fast new ones could be made seemed like the answer to me. At a cost of 8 IPCs, most countries couldn’t afford too many anyways. But I figured some hard limits would be a couple cons to help balance out the unit’s many pros.

Does this proposed optional unit have too many abilities? Probably. But I wanted to put out what I had, so that I could get the judgment of others as well. It may seem odd to say that I’ve been working for years on these rules and still feel they’re not completely done but it’s true.

As for recruiting the next generation of Special Forces, I am aware of just how hard that can be. I was approached to attend the Green Beret selection process - but so was everyone else attending the US Army sergeant school I was at. I turned them down - I told them ‘I like my knees in one piece, thank you.’ But it was as much that I knew that I wasn’t up to their standards and didn’t need to waste their time.

-Midnight_Reaper

[Midnight_Reaper]

@SS:

Nice ideas for all suggestions posted but way to many things involved here for most people. It’s your game so no knock against it. You want to get away from KISS that’s fine too. I would not use somethings and make it all more simplified. Why not just try the reduced costs and a tech tree for starters?

I had a lot of ideas, and went to write them all down. These posts are the end product of all that. I have tried the combination of the reduced costs and the tech tree myself. But it was playing against myself, solo. So I don’t know how well it would work against a good face-to-face opponent. I liked them, but that’s not saying much.

I do group them into rules I always want to play, and rules I only sometimes want to play. I would list these as follows:

Always
Cruisers; Paratroopers & Cargo Planes; Armored Cav., Troopers, Heavy Art’y; New Unit Surcharge; Revised Strategic Bombing Raid rules; & Unit Price Reduction (I’ve tested the reduction in costs against myself but not the balance of a larger Axis setup). These rules, minus the Strat. Bomb rules, are the core of my original ideas. And these rules amount to 6 new units, a fee that almost never comes up, cheaper units (I have player’s aids with the correct pricing information so that comes easy), and remembering to add a 2 to every die thrown for a result in Strat. Bombing. I don’t think they’re all that much.

I then got some other ideas and wanted to see where they went. Thus, the sometimes or optional rules

Optional
New Research Rules; New Research Tech Tree; New National Advantages; and SF and all of their rules. These rules sound like something I’d really like to try out, but I’d need a good gaming group first. Chickens, eggs, and all that. These rules really re-write some rules for A&A - which can be a good thing if you’ve an established group that is looking to shake things up. I won’t say that tossing a new player into all of these rules would be a good idea. But as they’re options, and listed as such, your group can take what you like and leave the rest behind. As you do.

Once I’m happy with these rules, I would like to eventually write up versions for A&A 1942 and A&A 1940. But first, I want to get them in their best shape for this game before expanding the beachhead.

I hope that clears things up for you, SS.

-Midnight_Reaper