[kcdusk]

your post has an "urban combat" feel to it. Heres some ideas i wrote up and kept in a word doc. re optional rules that might suit you.


Urban Combat
Reduced AGL if wearing body armour. Agility is reduced by 1 (or 2 if its old and/or bulky armour). Also, increase the amount of AGL D10 checks a PC needs to take for some tasks like getting over a wall or fence, climbing up onto the side of a tank … there will be others. Failure might see a PC sprain an ankle, back pain or break an arm depending on the action and another die roll (ie slight wounds from these non-combat type actions. But they could add up).

Increased fatigue for wearing body armour in urban environment. For each 4 hour period on patrol or on watch, it qualifies as a period of “hard work” as per the RB. In addition, roll D10 v CON. A failure means it counts as an additional period of hard work (in effect that 4 hour period is equivalent to 8 hours of hard work). If the soldier is not adequately rationed with water/food, a D10 roll equal to CON is assumed to have failed the CON test. If the soldier is adequately rationed and rolls equal to CON they are assumed to have passed the check.

Also, only half a PC’s load capacity can be carried in urban combat/patrols to reflect the hard work required in MOUT. If more than half but up to the normal load capacity is carried, then another –1 to AGL & CON applies to tasks and another fatigue point per time period is added (ie a 4 hour patrol is hard work as per RB, and if a PC has > half load capacity then when he takes his CON it is at –1 for carrying > half load capacity, and if that CON check fails he is said to have had 1 additional period of hard work if wearing body armour and possibly another fatigue point for being encumbered. So a single 4 hour period of duty in urban could equate to 3 levels of hard work for the day).

The effect of the rules above is to reflect the hard work and nature of MOUT operations and make PC’s choose between body armour or not (a trade off) and also equipment to carry on patrol (another trade off). From all my readings it seems that MOUT is hard (hence CON and fatigue effects), patrols carry the least amount of gear as possible (hence half loads) and also some soldiers chose not to wear body in MOUT due to its fatiguing effects and also reduced flexibility (AGL).

Communication difficulties in city/high rise/large amount of other electrical items in small area. For every radio contact, a radio check is required to contact the other party. This reflects the difficulty in the environment and it may be only half or so radio contacts are able to be made leaving groups in the dark re some important issues in MOUT (what are the rest of your forces doing? What reports on enemy movement are you missing? Where are you moving in relation to your own forces? Into their fire lane maybe?).

Reduced LOS (closer encounters) - table below requires two rolls to determine city encounter ranges. Roll D6 to see which range increment to roll. Some encounters will be very close (D20M) and simulate “bumping” into an enemy (like rounding a corner) and maybe Melee is a better option than rifles? Also, Pistols and SMG’s come into play more over Sniper rifles etc if a quick draw is required at short range.

And range is less likely to be long but it could be (10D100m = 1,000m) which reflects seeing a target down a road or in an upper level of a building.

1st roll D6 2nd roll for actual distance
Range
D6 Urban
1 D20m
2 2D20m
3 D10X10m
4 D10X25m
5 D10x25m
6 D10X100m


Navigation problems streets/alleys, knowing where both friend and foe locations, destinations and firelanes are. Make navigation checks more regularly where friend or foe movement is concerned. Also a failed Nav check could mean you get lost, stumble into a fellow units fire lane or your own group thinks they have found a building where the enemy should be but really it’s the wrong building and is full of your own friendly troops. This reflects real life reports of blue on blue fire and also how difficult it can be just to move to where you want to go (Mogadishu/Blackhawk down example).

3 dimensional combat (underground, ground, upper stories) Have encounters come out of nowhere (D20m range?) like man holes, side rooms, from around corners, from the rear (is anyone watching the 6? Or staying back to ensure that cleared room stays clear for exit?).

NPC’s & PC’s have more hard cover available than normal.

Some of these items require radio or navigation checks which I hope is another way of encouraging PCs to take non-combat skills that are essential to have. Also, in a multi person party it means specialists can be played like Radio-man is not just someone with a “1” in electronics making “automatic success” tasks like contacting HQ or your covering group on the radio, and a navigation man (or local guide) is needed just to make sure you get to where you are going (little own the other challenges your party may face). He will need a high electronics skill and need to pass real skill checks at difficult, formidable or impossible levels (as opposed to automatic success’s).

I hope these ideas add some more flavour to MOUT combat and encounters.