One of my pet-peeves with board games and miniature games is when the combat mechanics allow for situations where units within close range of each other cannot conduct combat without command points or cards or an activation die roll allowing them to do so.

It just does not make sense to me when a unit of capable soldiers, with adequate officers, just stands there, observing enemy’s maneuvering across their front, or simply stare at an enemy force within small arms range.

With that said, my solution for my rules is to include “friction” as small-scale combat, varying between a minimal amount of formed volley fire and actual dedicated skirmishers doing their best to disrupt the enemy.

Thus, units in base-to-base contact (or in adjacent square) with an enemy force, that were not activated by a combat tactic card that turn, will conduct friction combat following both players passing in the activation phase.

Friction combat is where each player rolls a d6 and modifies the result by the lead battalion quality rating, plus a couple of other possible modifiers. The sum of each player’s roll is compared.

If the modified friction roll is positive, the enemy gains a fatigue; this will likely result with both sides’ units gaining a fatigue point as a result of friction.

If the friction roll ratio is ≤1.5 but less than 3.0, the higher scoring side gains “advantage” for the next turn. If the ratio is ≤3.0, the lower scoring side suffers one hit against their unit which the owning player may then opt to retreat one movement (or one square) instead. When determining the ratio, a negative sum is treated as 1.

When a unit has dedicated skirmishers and their opponent does not, they roll an additional d6 when making the friction roll. The owning then player chooses which die to use for friction resolution. If both sides have dedicated skirmishers, neither player receives this additional die.

The modifiers to the friction roll are likely to include:

·         -1 if no light or skirmisher troops in unit

·         -1 for each flank in contact with an enemy force.

·         +1 if on enemy flank or rear

·         +1 if superior skirmishers

·         +1 has advantage

Having advantage over an enemy provides a small and temporary die roll modifier for any combat the following turn. At the end of the turn following gaining advantage, the advantage is lost. This represents some circumstance that a unit may make use of, to its benefit.