Fire & Move

About

Fire & Move is a platoon level World War II wargame. It was designed primarily for 28mm scale figures and models.

downloads

Fire & Move rules, markers, troops cards and the national decks are available as free downloads from the links on the right.

If you download a national deck don’t forget to download the Time Check PDF as well. This has the Time Check cards for all the nationality as they are not included in the national deck PDFs.

The national decks are best printed onto card, 200 GSM will work with most home printers. Once cut out the cards will fit easily into Standard American Board Game card sleeves (57 x 89mm). The troop card will print best onto quality photo paper. The better the paper the better the result. They have four cards per PDF. The front and back of each card is joined at the top. I suggest cutting out the whole image first; scoring lightly along the join line; make a preliminary fold; then cutting the four cards out. Finally fold and lightly glue the two halves together. The troops cards will fit nicely into Standard Card Game sleeves (66 x 91mm).

The card decks (but not the troop cards) are available from an online commercial printing service: MakePlayingCards.com. These cards are of high quality and in full colour but they are not cheap, being about $25 (Au$) not including postage. This link will take you to the A Stout Ensign store page at MakingPlayingCards.com.

the nations

Americans

The American player has a hand of six cards. This is the largest in the game and gives him options and the ability to plan. He can discard two card each turn (provided he takes no action) so his hand will not be cluttered with unwanted cards for too long. His rally cards are more effective than other nations and four of them are radio cards, more than any other nation. Movement is the Americans greatest weakness. There are only ten movement cards in the deck, and they have poor concealment values to boot. The two smoke cards will go some way to negating these movement problems. The American are further handicapped by having two cower cards.

british

The British player’s hand is five cards. He can discard two cards but only if he takes no action that turn. While British fire cards do not have an LMG to equal the MG 34/42, the British Bren has a respectable amount of firepower and it doesn’t require an assistant. At long range the British firepower is the best in the game. While this increase may only be small when facing the Germans, against the Japanese it is significant and against the Italians it is considerable. The British have two smoke cards reflecting their penchant for this tool and uniquely they do not have a cower card.

finns

The Finns have a five card hand with two discards if they take no actions. This discard/no actions limit is ameliorated by always being able to discard a cower card and by the playing of rally 1 cards not counting as actions. Sniper Checks are also free actions. Their leaders are good and when it snows their ski troops will glide across the table.

french

A six card hand allows the French player to continue to play cards while holding others and planning their upcoming move. This is limiting somewhat by their one card discard. As a result, the French seem to operate in fits and starts. It should also be noted the French can fight just about every other nation in the game, including themselves.

germans

The German hand is five cards and the German player can always discard one card regardless of the number of actions he takes. As a result, the German player can always do something and still get rid of an unwanted card. The Germans have the best LMG in the game and their fire cards reflect this. A German group with an LMG, at close or medium range is something to be feared.

greeks

The Greeks have a five card hand. They may discard up to two cards but only if they take no actions that turn. To reflect their courage when they charge, they gain +1 to their morale and +1 to their CCV in hand-to-hand. Also, when they close assault AFVs they also gain +1. Their lack of close support is reflected in their limited access to radio cards but uniquely amongst nations they have two hero cards.

hungarians

The Hungarians have a five card had but may only discard a solitary card and then only if they perform no actions. Moreover, they are burdened with three cower cards. Fortunately, they may always discard them and still perform actions. Also, two of the cower cards are possible smoke cards, though only with less than a 50% chance of working successfully.

italians

The Italians have very little to recommend them. A four card hand with only two discards combined with four cower cards, no smoke and only 10 movement cards make the Italians a real challenge to play. On the upside the cost of their troops is low and they do have an excellent AT rifle in the 2cm Solothurn.

Japanese

The Japanese have a four card hand. They may only discard two cards per turn and then only if they take no action that turn. There are two exceptions. They can always discard a cower card over and above their normal discard; even if they have performed actions that turn. Moreover, the Japanese can always play movement cards, for any reason, and still discard up to two cards. These two abilities mean the Japanese are the most mobile nation in the game. Japanese troops are also tough with a higher than average morale. Their knee mortars can be devastating particularly against groups in a wood or jungle. What Japanese platoon leaders lacked in tactical skill they made up for in fanatical courage. They do not break. Instead, they become wounded which will inspire the group they are with. The trade-off is their KIA value is not 9 but 6. Thus, they will die often but will do so gallantly.

romanians

The Romanians have a five card hand. They may discard one card but only if they take no actions that turn. Unlike other nations they have two morale/panic values. One pre-Stalingrad (41-42) and the other post-Stalingrad (43+). Post the August 1944 coup they should revert to the 41-42 morale/panic values. Nominally they have two cower cards, but their elite troop can use one of these cards as a smoke card (only Romanian elite troops have access to smoke), while Romanian second line troops (basically civilians) must treat the fear and the minefield cards as cower cards thus giving them four in total.

russians

The Russians player only has a hand of four cards. In addition, he may only discard cards if he takes no actions that turn. On the upside he may discard as many cards as he wishes, thereby refresh his hand completely each turn. The strength of the Russian deck is movement and concealment. Their weakness is rallying. Moreover, the two rally 4 cards (their best) are also the only two radio cards they get. The Russian player may often need to choose between rallying a broken group or calling in off table support. They have a good LMG, though not as reliable as the MG34/42, but their overall firepower drops off significantly at long range. To add to the these difficulties, there is no smoke card. Still the standard Russian soldier does have better morale than most and this will be boosted by the possible presence of a Commissar, although this personality will be a mixed blessing.

nationalist chinese

The Nationalist Chinese have a four-card hand. They may discard two cards if they take no actions that turn. These Chinese troop lack effective artillery support and their on-table support weapons are more susceptible to malfunctioning. Like the Russians and the Japanese, they do not have access to smoke cards, but they move like these nations having 13 movement cards, and their morale and panic values reflect their bravery. The support weapons they do have come from a wide selection of countries making them an interesting force to put in on the table.

cai & y force chinese

The CAI (Chinese Army in India) and Y Force were Chinese forces trained and equipped by the Allies. These units have a five-card hand with an ability to discard two cards provided no action is taken. For a variety of reason they have limited access to off table artillery.

the red army

The Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’s Red Army were the fighting arm of the Chinese Communist Party from 1928 to 1945 when it became the People’s Liberation Army. They were a lightly armed force that specialised in guerrilla warfare. They have a four card hand with the ability to discard two cards provided no action is taken, though they may play up to two fear cards and still discard two cards. They have many special abilities that reflect their mode of warfare and go some way towards making up for their lack of heavy weapons.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the members of the Blackwood Wargaming group. They are Mark Cook, Tim Cook, Norm Blunden, Martin Blunden, Andrew Toms, Brad Donaldson, and Les Hunt. Their advice, play testing, and recommendations have helped bring these rules to the level they have reached. Jaime Cabrera, our South American friend, has also contributed greatly to the development of this game.