Special Rules

• Command Decision III Tactical Rules
• Special Campaign Rules

Command Decision III Tactical Rules

Headings are numbered to correspond with sections in the Command Decision Rules that are being amended or modified.

1. Scale

Ground scale is 1 cm = 50 yards, and all distances and ranges will be expressed in centimeters. Figure scale is 15mm, and the standard CD basing scheme will be used. Double-sized stands will not be used, since the scale already results in stands covering more ground than usual.

2. Terrain & LOS

All range measurements and LOS checks will be made from base to base; try to get as close to the ground as possible, since an actual person would be only 1/10th of an inch tall in this scale! Real line-of-sight will be used. All terrain contours and elevations conform to the ground scale and hills will not be treated as plateaus. Terrain features such as orchards or buildings are generally NOT in scale and LOS must touch the terrain in these areas to be considered blocked. Figures DO block Line of Fire, but not Line of Sight, if it passes through them. All other terrain effects are as per standard CD3 rules.

Referees will determine their effect on fire and LOS on a case by case basis, and in general will have the final word on all LOS checks.

2.1 Terrain Types

Some special terrain types include:

OLIVE GROVES are orchard/vineyards. Stationary units may not be spotted from the air while within an olive grove.

MONASTERIES are stone buildings. Only one stand touching a monastery may receive the defensive benefit.

HILLS do not have a plateau effect; LOS is true. Movement rates are doubled for all units when moving up OR down a hill.

ROADS: The only true ROAD is the coast road, and all road rules apply to units traveling along it. All others are TRACKS. Wheeled vehicles may ONLY move on roads and tracks, i.e., they may never go cross-country. They move at the cross-country rate on tracks.

CANALS are entrenchments. They are narrow enough to be crossed by tracked vehicles.

BOFORS PITS are entrenchments.

CW Coastal Defense batteries are statically mounted in concrete BUNKERS.

3.0 Turn Length

Day turns are a half hour long, not 15 minutes. THIS DOES *NOT* AFFECT MOVEMENT RATES, ROF, PIN DURATION, ENGINEERING TASKS, etc. It's the same old turn, now it's just longer.

19. Engineering

Only certain engineering tasks may be performed, due to an overall lack of equipment on both sides.

19.3 German Engineers may lay minefields if sufficient material is airlifted to the island. One ton of supplies is required for every eight 1cm x 1cm minefields. All other provisions of Rules 19.31-19.33 apply.

19.4 Engineer units may help construct field works in accordance with Rules 19.41 (emplacements), 19.42 (entrenchments and weapon pits).

20. Night

Rule 20 applies except as follows:
* New Zealand units (only) are exempt from the provisions of Rules 20.13 and 20.14 (i.e., they suffer no Quality or Morale reduction, and may recover from pin results normally).

20.4 Twilight

Each day there will be two half-hour dawn turns and two half-hour dusk turns.

21. Weather

Weather is clear throughout the campaign.

21.7 Climate

Conditions are dry and dusty. Effects TBD.

22. Damage & Destruction of Structures

Maleme airfield, individual monasteries and bridges, and CW coastal defence gun emplacements may be damaged by artillery or air attack. No other terrain features may be damaged.

23. Amphibious Operations

German convoys may only land in Canea or on the coast between Maleme and Platanias. They are composed of Greek caiques which are considered Coasters. Only infantry type units may land on the beach. Guns and vehicles must unload in Canea (assuming it is in German hands).

Convoy arrival will either be random or initiated by the referee as a play balance mechanism.

All other provisions of Rule 23. apply.

23.7 Fire by Vessels

Commonwealth (only) destroyers may arrive to perform shore bombardment during night turns. One or two ships (50/50 chance) will arrive at 2000 plus 1-4 hours (roll d4). The ships will only stay until midnight and can perform one indirect fire mission each turn. Valid targets are the bridge over the Tavronitis River and Maleme airfield. This is considered unspotted map fire.

24. Airborne Operations

All provisions of Rule 24. apply. We will use the "paper square" method.

25.1 Random hits on personnel will be in effect. The target unit for SA fire always receives the first hit, and the remainder are assigned randomly to all eligible targets (including the original target).

No other Optional & Experimental Rules are in effect.

4.0 Air Power

4.1 Interdiction

The Luftwaffe enjoyed complete air superiority over Crete during the day, to the extent that Commonwealth forces found it very difficult and dangerous to move outside the protection of their entrenchments. To simulate this effect while avoiding the hundreds of individual attacks that would be necessitated by the standard CD3 air combat rules, and additional air mission has been added: Interdiction.

4.2 General Support

Stukas and/or Bf-110 Zerstorers will be available to the German side from time to time. The referee will give the German commander one hour advance notice of the arrival of these assets. Arrival may either be random or determined by the referee for play balance.

4.3 Spotter Aircraft

The Germans employed a number of observation aircraft over Crete, which function according to Rule xx. Spotter aircraft may automatically call in Stuka strikes on any stands they spot.

Additionally, any ordnance firing in range of ANY plane is automatically spotted. Special Campaign Rules

Commonwealth

Commonwealth units draw supply via the coast road where it exits the east edge of the map. This route must be open for at least 4 hours during the Night for the Commonwealth force to be considered in supply, i.e., it must not be within Medium range of any German stand.

In turn, battalion HQs must trace a similar path to the coast road. If a battalion HQ is in supply then all platoons directly attached to it are in supply.

Finally, company HQs must trace a path to their battalion HQ. If a company HQ is in supply then all its platoons are in supply.

German

German units are resupplied by airdrop or airlanding. Resupply missions must be allocated 24 hours in advance, including selection of the drop zone or airfield. The German commander is responsible for allocation and planning of airborne resupply.

Reinforcements

German airborne reinforcements must be committed 24 hrs in advance, including selection of drop zones or airfield.

German transports may crash land on the beach instead of landing on the airfield. All planes are lost and the aircrew must roll vs. their quality or transported stands each take 1 hit and are pinned.

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Special Campaign Rules

Airborne Landings

Glider

• Designate landing zone for each stand
• Roll Close Range to hit number, modified by quality
  • Succeed: land at correct spot and receive P1
  • Fail: drift, random direction, (d10 / 2) cm distance
  • Natural 10: Eliminated en route
• Gliders drifting onto orchards, gullies, canals, towns, monasteries and bridges take 1 hit, and must make another roll against quality - if failed, take another hit and take one turn to extricate passengers

Parachute

• Designate landing zone and direction for each company
• Drop units; stands are pinned for the # turns indicated on their drop counter; recover one pin level if out of range of all enemy stands
• Guns/ammo/crews are dropped separately. Once a stand is unpinned and not in contact with an enemy stand it is assumed to have recovered its small arms weapons and ammo. If a stand is forced back before it unpins, the ammo is lost, and may be recovered by any CW unit in contact with the forced back stand.
• Only designated crew stands may retrieve and fire mortars, HIW or ordnance. Any units may fire small arms, i.e., rifles or SMGs. Opportunity Fire

During the initial landing turn, resolve Opp Fire against airborne troops as follows:

• Paratroops receive no cover or pin modifiers
• Paratroops are considered in Road March
• All hits are doubled

Bofors

• CW Bofors crews must pass a Morale check before they may take any action other than firing in Close Assault (including firing at the paradrop)
• Maximum one check per turn, repeat each turn until passed
• Those who pass may act normally

AA Effects

Commonwealth

MMG and mortar stands run out of ammo if they roll a 10 while resolving direct fire. Unused ROF is lost once a 10 is rolled.

Aircraft

Only the German side has aircraft. Each turn, at the end of the Command Phase, the German commander may allocate each aircraft to one of three types of missions: Interdiction, General Support or Direct Support. Once allocated, they are committed to that mission until the next Command Phase.

Interdiction (INT)

• The German commander may place F, FB and/or Stukas on the board to perform Interdiction. Interdicting aircraft remain in play indefinitely
• The INT zone is a 10cm radius circle around the aircraft or a 40cm stretch of road/trail. Each stand within the INT zone has its movement allowance halved; this halving is cumulative if the stand is in multiple overlapping INT zones (e.g., halved, halved again, etc).
• INT aircraft are not subject to AA or collective ground fire -- they are merely markers that represent a large amount of air activity in a given area, not individual aircraft or groups of aircraft.
• INT prohibits Regrouping

Certain stands are immune to INT:

• Stands moving within towns, gullies, canals or orchards
• Stands that begin the Movement Phase within 5cm of a German stand
• Stands which Fall Back due to combat or morale checks

General Support (GS)

As per CDIII rules.

Direct Support (DS)

As per CDIII rules. Only Stukas may perform DS missions. Missions may be called in by any command stand or observation aircraft. Loiter time is 1 hour, after which the aircraft is removed from play. Prior to aircraft placement in the Command Phase the German side rolls a d10 for each Stuka currently out of the game -- they return to play on a 3 or less.

Regroup

Terrain

• Canals are entrenchments
• Olive Groves are orchards
• Monasteries are stone buildings. One stand touching the building may claim the defensive benefit.
• Stands may only gain the movement benefit of road column on the main coast road
• Wheeled vehicles are restricted to roads and trails; AFV may also traverse clear, level ground

Ammo

• Move over an unclaimed ammo cannister
• Force back a unit that never recovered its ammo (i.e., never unpinned)
• Destroy an enemy unit in Close Assault

The chart shows which units may use which weapons:

Cretan Partisans and Militia

• At the start of the game the CW player may secretly record the location of 4 stands of Cretan partisans (or armed civilians). They may be placed in any town or monastery.
• Partisans are self-ordering
• Each Command Phase the number of stands may automatically be brought up to 4. Same setup restrictions apply.
• Stands in excess of four may enter play on a roll of 1 during the Command Phase, max one additional per turn. Same setup restrictions apply.
• Partisans are considered to have No Order until they are visible. They become visible by attacking the Germans using Direct Fire or Close Assault.
• They are never spotted by the Germans until the CW player chooses to attack with them, even if the Germans completely occupy their setup location
• Partisan stands must roll randomly for quality and morale on the following chart. Roll separately for each.

'I' Tanks Mechanical Reliability

During any phase in which a Matilda II attempts to move or fire roll a d10:

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