Instant War Rules

 

The Playing Pieces The square game pieces represent platoon-sized military units of various types. The tan-coloured pieces represent Commons forces, while the blue-coloured pieces represent Liberation forces. The symbol of silhouette identifies the type of unit represented by a given counter,  while the three numbers represent are called "factors" and represent the capabilities of the unit in three categories: attack, defence, and movement.

The identification and description of all unit type symbols and silhouettes may be found in Appendix B of this rule set.

General Outline of Play Instant War: Tank Battles I (TB1 hereafter) is the first in a series of war games set in the fictional world of the Third Colonies, a collection of small states that are perpetually at war with one another. another. In the period you are playing in, the Colonies are split into two factions: the Pro-Commons faction, which favours bringing the Colonies together in a confederation, and the Liberation forces, which prefer the loose style of alliances and partnerships that currently holds. In TB1, you control the Commons forces as they begin to mount a counterattack against Liberation, which had taken possession of several Commons states, including Estremera, Adrada, Adrada, and Landete. Each scenario presents a different battle from this counteroffensive, generally following the campaign temporally. Each scenario is played out on a unique map that also serves as a game board. The player and the computer take turns moving the pieces allotted to their forces for that scenario, attacking the opposition when possible and advantageous. After combat odds are calculated, a random "roll" of a 6-sided die, plus or minus relevant modifiers, determines the outcome. The object of each scenario is to defeat as much of the enemy force as possible within the allotted turns, while also protecting one's own units. All scenarios are open to to the player from the outset, so victory is not required; only

Factor Definitions Movement Factor (MF) – The movement points the unit is allowed to use each turn. Each plain hex "costs" 1 MF to move, while others can cost more (such as forest and swamp) and less (such as roads).  Attack Factor (AF) – The offensive power of a given unit. Defence Factor (DF) – The defensive power of a given unit.

The Map Each scenario plays out on its own map of an area of the Colonies under dispute. dispute. Most maps connect, so that that the content on the southeastern corner of one map, for example, will appear in the northwestern corner in the next scenario. This area of the colonies lives under a temperate climate, so there should be no surprises in terms of terrain.

Scenarios TB1 comes with ten scenarios, each capturing a different battle in the Pro-Commons counteroffensive. More scenarios will be available in later editions of Instant War.

desired.

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Starting TB1

Movement

 When TB1 is started up, scenario #1 is loaded, and the Instant War splash title graphic is displayed. displayed. Click anywhere in the window to remove the graphic.

Terrain Features

Instant War Console  Any business you have with TB1 TB 1 may be managed via the Instant War Console. This is the command-line prompt available at the bottom of the window. prompt to begin entering commands.

Click at the

Console Commands next – Ends the current player turn. The computer will take its turn, and then the next turn will begin (or the game will end if all turns have been used up). new – Starts a new new game in the the current scenario. Player  will be asked to confirm confirm this command.

Each scenario map is divided into hexes, each with a dominant terrain feature. Common features include forest, road, river, and and swamp. Hexes that are pale pale green or brown are fields, and are considered to be essentially "neutral", in that they impose no movement penalties or benefits. Generally, forest and swamp hexes will slow units down,  while roads will allow them to travel more more quickly. Rivers are impassable for all but amphibious units. Terrain may be at three different levels of altitude. Generally, most hexes are at the lowest. Hexes at the second altitude level are highlighted highlighted in green. green. Hexes at the highest level are highlighted in light green. Changes in altitude affect unit movement to varying degrees. Generally, moving up in altitude imposes a movement penalty, while moving down allows the unit to move faster.

save – Saves – Saves the current game using filename supplied by player (e.g. 'save "game1"').

How to Move Units load –  –  Loads a game with the filename supplied by the player (e.g. 'load "game1"'). scenario – Loads a scenario file with the supplied filename (e.g. 'load "sc2"'). card – brings up the scenario card for the current scenario being played. score – displays the current score

Each unit may be moved once per turn, but the player may elect to not move a given piece.  piece.  To move a unit, click on its hex. TB1 will calculate all the potential moves the unit may make, and highlight them on the map in blue. Click on any of the highlighted hexes to move the unit to that hex. Click anywhere else to to cancel the move.

help – displays the list of commands, or description of a command if supplied (e.g. 'help scenario'). quit – quits the game. confirm.

Player will be prompted to

Load Scenario  After TB1 has loaded up, and you have cleared the title graphic, you may load any scenario you wish to play. e.g. scenario "sc2"  will load scenario 2 into the system, ready to play. The scenarios are named sc1 through to sc10.

Scenario Card card   to read more about the scenario you have Type card loaded. The card provides back background ground text, and tells you the location of the battle, and how many units are given on each side.

Combat How to Have Combat Combat is initiated by the player or the computer. A unit may attack before or or after it moves. If it attacks before it moves, however, it cannot move for that turn. To attack an enemy unit, click on the hex of the attacking unit. Enemy units that are in range to attack will be highlighted in red. Click on the red hex to attack. attack. Combat pits the attacker's AF against the defender's DF. The difference between them is expressed as the ratio  AF/DF, rounded in favour of the defender to match up  with the ratios listed on the Combat Results Table (CRT), as shown in Appendix A. Combat results are decided by the simulated roll of a 6sided die. CRT Modifiers are then applied and the is consulted. There (see are are next four section), possible outcomes:

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No Effect – Nothing happens. Dispersal – The defending unit is dispersed. It cannot move or fight for one turn, and becomes "ghosted" onscreen. Subsequent attacks on dispersed unit hav havee -2 modifier.

 Appendix A Combat Results Table Odds Ratios Roll

1:4

1:3

1:2

1:1

2:1

3:1

4:1

-1

D

DD

X

X

X

X

X

0

-

D

DD

DD

X

X

X

1

-

D

D

DD

X

X

X

2

-

-

D

D

DD

X

X

Modifiers

 3

-

-

-

D

DD

X

X

Based on various game situations, modifiers may be applied to the combat die rolls, as listed below:

4

-

-

-

-

D

DD

X

5

-

-

-

-

D

DD

X

6

-

-

-

-

-

-

X

7

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

DD – Special dispersal. dispersal. If the defending defending unit is already dispersed, it will be killed. Otherwise, it is disp dispersed. ersed. Kill – Defending unit is killed, and removed from the map.

/2: applied when attacking unit is higher altitude  altitude   -2: applied when defending unit is dispersed. -2: applied when defending unit is in town hex and attacking unit is infantry

Explanation

+2: +2: applied  applied when defending unit is in town hex and attacking unit is not infantry.

 X – Unit eliminated DD – Special Dispersal

Playing the Game Ending a Turn  When you have finished moving moving your units, and finished attacking enemy units, you may type next to end your turn. At this point, the computer will control the enemy units, moving them and using them to attack your units. The results of each computer attack will be displayed at the top-left of the window.

D – Dispersal - – No effect

 Appendix B Unit Types Commons Tank. Tank. Slow moving but powerful. Cannot move on water. Commons Armoured Truck. Truck. Fast and relatively strong. strong. Cannot move on water. Commons Amphibious Armoured Truck. Truck . Somewhat fast. Can move on water.

Score Scoring is quite simple in TB1. You get +1 point point for every enemy unit you kill, while you lose -1 point for every Commons unit that the enemy kills.

Commons Infantry . Relatively slow and  weak, but strong in urban areas. Liberation Tank. Tank.

End of Game Each scenario has a maximum maximum number of turns. turns. At the end of these turns, turns, your final score will be displayed. displayed. The scenario will end early if either side loses all of their units.

Liberation Armoured Truck. Truck.

Liberation Amphibious Armoured Truck. Truck .

Liberation Infantry .

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 Appendix C Terrain Types Green Field. Field. Easy to move through.

Brown Field. Field. Easy to move through.

Forest.. Difficult for vehicles to move through. Forest

Swamp. Difficult for all to move through. Swamp.

River. Impassable for all except amphibious River.  vehicles.

Paved Road. Road. Allows for faster movement.

Dirt Road. Road. Allows for faster movement, except for tanks. Urban Area. Area. Allows for fast movement. Difficult to attack in, except for infantry. i nfantry.

Bridge. Treated as a road tile. Bridge.

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