DRAFT RULEBOOK
“...they had seen and smelled death around them all day but never even dreamed of applying the term to themselves. They hadn’t come here to fear. They hadn’t come to die. They had come to win.” -- Stephen E. Ambrose, E Company, 101st Airborne Division, From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest.
All Rights Reserved. This is a draft rulebook, confidential and not for public release as of March 21, 2019.
GAME SUMMARY The Company of Heroes Board Game closely captures the choices, tactics and mission strategies of the video games. In teams, or as individuals, players will maneuver units and battle for control points to collect manpower, munitions and fuel. Players spend these resources to construct new buildings, purchase units and upgrade abilities, eventually unlocking the powerful end-game units of their nation. To win, players will either attempt to collect enough victory points before their opponent does or totally annihilate the enemy’s base.
PLAY IT YOUR WAY The Company of Heroes Board Game can be played in either turnbased or real time modes. Players can switch between these modes on the fly as long as all players agree. Complexity Level. Multiple game variations are included to adjust the desired complexity and game length. These variations utilize different sets of building tiles and allow players to use a simplified “beginner mode”, the recommended “standard mode” or the “purist mode”, (the closest experience to the video games). This prototype uses standard mode only.
SETUP Each scenarios will identify starting bases and objective ponits. Place a flag pole on each resource and victory point. Place a building on each green bordered building hex. Each building has a health of 4 in the prototype mission which are marked with the small pip dice once a building takes damage, they do not need to be placed before then. Players choose a faction. Collect a double layered HQ board, your country’s 3 building cards, unit miniatures and trays. Collect 9 command point cubes and flag tokens of the same color. Place the orange damage cubes and white experience cubes to the side HQ Board Setup. The HQ board tracks the team’s income levels and the individual player’s supply of resources. Income tracks how much a player collects each round while stockpiles track what the players can spend. Place the gold income cubes on level 1 of the income tracks for manpower, munitions and fuel. The victory income track is left empty until a victory objective has been captured. Use the silver cubes to set the stockpile levels to 3 manpower, 1 munitons, 1 fuel and 0 victory.
Headquarter Building Cards. Each player begins with their nation’s HQ card face up. The other building cards are placed face down until they have been constructed. Starting Units and Bases. In victory point games, your base is represented by a single numbered hex. Player 1 uses #1, player 2 uses #4. You will begin the mission with two tier 1 infantry squads. (See unit introduction on the next page.) Place one tray on your starting hex and the other adjacent. Annihilation and four player games use the base board extenders that add specific building hexes to the map . Commander Card. If playing with Doctrinal Commanders, choose one and place your commander card into this cutout section.
GAMEPLAY ROUND
UNIT INTRODUCTION
The Company of Heroes Board Game is played over a series of rounds divided into three phases: maneuver, combat and supply.
Units are represented by figures placed on unit trays. These trays help organize the miniatures and hold unit upgrade and stat dice. Infantry health points are represented by one figure per health. Note that vehicle damage is tracked by placing damage cubes onto or next to the vehicle tray. The amount of starting health a unit has is identified on their building tile. The prototype’s mission begins with 2 x tier 1 infantry with four figures each.
Maneuver During the maneuver phase players spend command points called CPs, represented by their colored cubes to move units. This round can either be played simultaneously like in the video games (RTS mode) or in turn-based mode. The RTS mode is timed with a 3 minute sand timer or until all players have called done. Combat During the combat phase each unit calculates how much damage it receives subtracted by any defenses like cover or defensive upgrades it has, removing a figurine or placing a vehicle damage cube for each point received. Damage is considered simultaneous. After all units have taken damage, the dead figurines and destroyed vehicles are removed from the board. Supply The supply phase begins with players collecting resources according to their current income levels. Then players purchase new units and upgrades. Lastly, occupied resource points on the map are captured or neutralized and income rates are adjusted accordingly.
Unit Defaults Most units in the game share common defaults for movement (3), damage (1), range (2) and sight (2). Differences from those defaults are identified with ability and stat dice on the unit tray. This unit has been upgraded with a flame attack. It will now do an additional damage during the combat phase. The dice in the CoH board game are commonly used as unit markers, but are occasionally rolled as well.
MANEUVER PHASE Command point cubes, referred to in this rulebook as CP’s are used to maneuver units. By default each player begins with 9 CP’s. Default Movement Rules: All units may move 1 hex per CP All units can use a maximum of 3 CP per round. (Unless they have a Speed upgrade or a Slow stat die.)
Turn-Based Mode This mode differentiates between ‘round’ and ‘turn’. A round is the full cycle of maneuver, combat and supply phases. A turn is a rotation between active teams during the maneuver phase. You move on your ‘turn’ while everything happens over the course of a ‘round’. 3 CP’s Per Turn. During the maneuver phase, each team takes turns spending 3 command points per player. (Thus a two person team would spend 6 CP’s a turn.) Like in the RTS mode, units may move one hex per CP and each unit can use a maximum of 3 CP’s per round. Each turn, CP’s may be distributed amongst separate units, spent all on one unit or any combination. All 3 CP’s must be spent or discarded each turn. Units activated on a previous rotation may be activated again as long as they have not used up their max that round. Who Goes First? This can be important tactically. At the beginning of the maneuver phase the team with the fewest victory points in their stockpiles may choose to start first or second. Break ties by the lowest victory income, then fuel income, manpower and finally munitions income. Break further ties (like in the beginning of a game) by rolling three dice and the choice going to the player with the most green symbols. Note that heavy armored vehicles and weapon teams have some extra movement restrictions. (See Armor & Weapon Team Movement)
Obstacles and Routing Units may not move over water or through buildings. In turn-based mode, units can move through enemy units without penalty.
Speed Upgrade Most light vehicles have a speed upgrade. Speed boosts allow an extra free movement without spending CP or affecting a unit’s CP max. Speed boosts can be used on a player’s turn in addition to their 3 CP’s. (See Speed Upgrades in the Advanced Rules) After becoming familiar with the Company of Heroes board game rules and a couple games, try out the RTS mode found in the advanced rules section.
COMBAT PHASE The CoH board game uses a mostly diceless system for damage resolution. All units do 1 damage by default but this can be increased by upgrades, abilities or flanking. This means that combat is often determined without any dice rolls except for the possibility of rolling a defense die under certain conditions. The exception is Explosive (HE) damage which is rolled to see if it hits, misses or crits. (See Damage Types)
Pin Units At the beginning of the damage phase, deployed machine guns pin all infantry, mortars and anti-tank gun teams in their firing arc unless the targeted infantry squad is in a building. Machine guns do not pin other deployed machine guns. Some units have a pin ability which takes place now as well. Place a pin die next to each pinned unit. Pinned units cannot attack or use any ability while pinned. Units will continue to stay pinned the following round as long as they are within the firing arc and sight of the machine gun. (See Pinned)
Place Artillery Fire and Activate Abilities Players place HE dice on all of their artillery’s targets. This step is performed simultaneously. Note that indirect weapons like artillery and mortars do not need line of sight to their target as long as an allied unit can see the target. (See Sight)
Damage Types
Calculate Damage After pinning and placing artillery fire, players go through each unit one at a time and calculate how much damage is being assigned to them. All damage is considered simultaneous so can be done in any order the players choose. Step 1. Add up all of the damage targeting a unit. Attacking units that have more than one possible target will need to specify at this moment if they are attacking the current unit or not, and if so, place a red check mark die next to the unit that fired. (Attacking units cannot change their mind later.) If a unit is being attacked with explosive damage (like mortars) then the attacker rolls a die to determine if it misses, hits or crits. (See Damage Types) Step 2. Roll for any defense conditions and reduce the damage total. Infantry units remove one figurine for each damage point, vehicles receive a red damage cube. (See Defense Condtions) Players move on to the next unit and perform the same steps. When every unit has been checked, remove any destroyed squad trays from the board and move on to the supply phase.
A unit’s damage type is identified on its building tile and any upgrade dice it is carrying.
Infantry Damage. This is the default damage type of most infantry units. Infantry damage has a chance to be deflected by light vehicles and has no effect on armor. Armor Piercing Damage (AP). Fired by tanks, tank destroyers, anti-tank guns and special equipment like panzerfausts. AP damage has a chance to be deflected by infantry units (i.e. it misses) and frontal hits to armored vehicles. (See Defense Conditions) Explosive Damage (HE). Used by mortars, grenades, artillery and some assault guns.This is the only damage that has a dice roll involved. A regular upgrade die is used for the roll. It has a chance to miss (red), hit (black) or crit (green). Each crit does double damage to infantry and weapon teams and one damage to vehicles (Crits are the only way to damage vehicles with HE damage). Each explosive die assigned to a unit inside a building damages the building for 1 point. Flame Damage. A damage type from upgrades like the flamethrower and special doctrinal vehicles. Flame damage removes all defensive bonuses and damages buildings but has no effect on vehicles.
SUPPLY PHASE
WINNING THE GAME
The Company of Heroes board game utilizes a resource system to purchase new units, upgrades and collect victory points. Supply incomes and stockpiles are tracked on your HQ board.
The Company of Heroes board game is won by the first team to complete the scenario objectives.
Supply Phase Order The supply phase has a particular order summarized as Collect, Purchase and Capture. 1. Collect Supply. Increase your stockpile levels according to your current incomes. Both players on a team always have the same income. 2. Purchase Units and Upgrades. Deduct supply from your stockpiles then construct units, upgrades or buildings by placing them on the relevant base hex or flipping over the new building tile. Note that only one unit can be purchased from each building per round and only from buildings that were previously constructed. 3. Capture or neutralize resource points on the map if there is an infantry based unit on it. If a point is controlled by an enemy then your unit only neutralizes the point by removing the enemy’s flag from the flagpole. If a point is already neutral then your units capture it by adding your flag. A resource point stays captured until an enemy unit neutralizes it. 4. Adjust your incomes according to the resource points you gained or lost. This is an important point: changes to the income rates only occur at the very end of the round. Unlike stockpiles where the marker moves up and down, mark incomes by adding an extra cube to the income track; this helps differentiate incomes from stockpiles.
Victory Point In this mode teams must capture victory objectives to begin earning victory points. Victory points are tracked on the HQ board like other resources. A team is victorious if they reach the total victory points required by the scenario, and has more victory points than their opponents. i.e. they keep playing until a tie is broken. When starting the prototype mission, choose 12 or 15 Victory Points. (12 for a shorter game, 15 for more end game content.)
Annihilation
In this mode teams are attempting to destroy the opponent’s base buildings. Each player places the Annihilation mode board extension next to their side of the map, adjacent to their normal spawn hex. This board extension shows the different buildings of a player’s base and has a cutout for each to hold a health die. It is also where new units spawn. Allied units can enter these hexes but enemies cannot. Place a building health die in the slot when each building is constructed, according to the levels of the scenario. When a building takes damage, adjust the die accordingly. When all of the buildings of a team are destroyed, the attackers win. Like the three dimensional map buildings, units can target and damage these base buildings with HE or Flame damage, but they do not provide any cover. Base buildings other than the starting HQ can be rebuilt as long as there are no adjacent enemy units and the HQ is standing.
ADDITIONAL STANDARD RULES These three pages cover the other rules necessary for basic play.
ARMOR AND WEAPON TEAM MOVEMENT Armored Vehicle Movement and Rotation. Armored vehicles like tanks, assault guns and tank destroyers can only advance into the hex they are facing, or reverse into the hex directly behind them. They can rotate one hex section each time they move, either before or after they move hexes. Alternatively they can pay 1 CP to rotate fully within their current hex. Armor and weapons teams must always face towards a flat side of the hex. (See Facing and Firing Arcs) Weapon Teams Movement. These teams, which include mortars, anti-tank guns and machine guns have two states: packed up and deployed. It costs 1 CP to switch between these states. These weapons teams also have firing arcs. Packed Up: the weapons team cannot fire but can move normally with 1 CP per hex. This state is marked by the “No Fire” symbol. Facing and direction has no impact. Deployed: In this state the weapons team can fire but it costs 3 CP’s to move 1 hex and 2 to just rotate in place. (Whenever a team moves a hex they may also rotate to a new direction). Mark this state with the “Fire” die.
BUILDINGS Buildings on the map provide heavy cover to infantry and machine guns. It costs 2 CP to enter or leave a building. (3CP for a deployed MG). A building loses 1 health for each point of HE or Flame damage assigned to a unit inside, regardless of defense rolls. If a building’s health reaches zero it is destroyed, along with any unit inside. Remove the building; its rubble is now impassable and continues to block line of sight. Unoccupied buildings can also be directly targeted with Flame or HE damage.
DEFENSE CONDITIONS Some conditions will allow a defender to make a defense roll. Defense rolls are made with standard upgrade dice. Any green or black icon results in a success and reduces the total damage by one. A red icon has no effect. Defense conditions do not stack with each other, even if more than one condition is present. The exception is the defense upgrade or ability that some units can purchase or earn.
Cover Only non-vehicles benefit from cover. Cover is marked with green or yellow lines in the defending unit’s hex. If any attack fully crosses through a defense line in the defending unit’s hex it receives a defense roll. Attack lines are drawn hex center to hex center. Heavy cover (green) receives two defense dice, light cover (yellow) receives one die. Buildings represent heavy cover from all directions. Note that only infantry and machine guns can enter buildings.
Other Defense Conditions These conditions provide 1 defense die but do not stack with each other or with cover. Armor Piercing damage against infantry. These heavy shells have a chance to miss infantry and special weapon teams. Infantry damage against a light vehicle. Although these vehicles have little to no armor they do provide some cover from infantry fire. Light vehicles’ health is marked with a yellow heart. Forward Armor Deflection. If any AP damage passes through an armored vehicle’s forward arc it has a chance to be deflected. Heavy armor vehicles’ health is marked with a red heart. (Infantry and flame damage have no effect on armored vehicles.)
Defense Upgrades and Abilities Some units are able to unlock a permanent defense upgrade or use a pay-per-use defense ability. The defense upgrade adds an additional defense die and is the only defense to stack with other defense conditions. (See Upgrades and Abilities)
FACING AND FIRING ARCS
PINNING
Armored vehicles and weapon teams have facing and firing arcs that point outwards from their forward hex lines that hit any hex it crosses. This can determine what hexes they can target as well as possible defense rolls. Note that MG teams have wider firing arcs.(See Machine Guns in the Advanced Rules section.)
Damage Phase: Non-vehicle units are pinned at the beginning of the combat phase. Maneuver Phase: Non-vehicle units moving into the firing arc of a deployed machine gun team become pinned during the maneuver phase. Pinned units will remain pinned forever as long as they remain in the sight and range of a deployed enemy machine gun. Pinned units can still move, but it costs +1 CP and 1 health per hex. Only infantry and weapon teams can be pinned but deployed machine guns are immune.
Regular infantry and light vehicles do not have firing arcs and their facing has no impact on the game. (They are quick enough to change facing in the midst of combat.)
FLANKING AND DAMAGING VEHICLES Rear Attacks to Heavy Armor. AP attacks from the rear arc of a heavy vehicle cause 1 additional damage per AP attack source. (Not per AP point but per attacking unit.) Explosive Damage only affects vehicles on a crit, which causes 1 damage. Explosive damage is not affected by whether it hits the front or rear sides of a vehicle. Flame has no effect on light or armored vehicles. Infantry damage has no effect on armored vehicles.
SIGHT DISTANCE AND LINE OF SIGHT All units have a sight of 2, which means they can only see units that are two hexes away. This can be different from range. For example tank destroyers may have a range of 3, so will need an ally to spot for them to capitalize on the extra range. Spotting occurs automatically for all allied units. Line of sight is determined by drawing an imaginary line from hex center to hex center. If this line runs along, but does not intersect an obstacle, there is line of sight.
TURRETS
Machine Gun Teams’ Wider Arc
Machine Gun Teams’ Wider Arc
Some armored vehicles have turrets, which is identified on their building tile as well as their model. Turrets can target enemies in any direction regardless of the vehicle’s facing. Most armored vehicles will have a turreted main attack plus a non-turreted secondary attack. (For example a Sherman’s main gun and its hull mounted machine gun.) The turreted attack can fire on any target, but the secondary attack is limited to the vehicle’s forward firing arc. Only tanks can fire on different targets with their different damage types. Infantry can only target one unit (i.e. they can’t throw a grenade at one unit and fire at another). This Jagdtiger has the extra range of most tank destroyers, but still has the standard sight distance of 2. It will need a spotter within 2 hexes of targets at its farthest range to be able to fire at them. (See Sight Distance)
This Jagdtiger does not have a turret; so it can only fire on units in its forward firing arc. Even if it did have a turret, its facing would still be important as it has a chance to deflect attacks from the front and, like all armored vehicles, it takes extra AP damage to the rear. (See Flanking Armor)
UPGRADES AND ABILITIES
UNIT EXPERIENCE
Upgrades are permanent and represented by adding an upgrade die to the unit’s tray while abilities are pay-per-use. These are differentiated by whether the symbol in question has a dice background (permanent upgrade) or just the plain symbol (ability). Pay-per-use abilities can be activated at any time, once per round, but must be paid for each time.
Each round a player does damage to an enemy unit they gain 1 experience which is marked by placing a cube into the experience box of their HQ Board.
Most units have two possible permanent upgrades: a veteran upgrade that costs experience and an equipment upgrade that costs munitions. Both upgrades may be purchased, once per unit. Place purchased upgrade dice onto the unit’s tile. Upgrades are purchased during the supply phase; but veteran upgrades may only be purchased for units that have been involved in combat, while other upgrades can be purchased for any unit, even new ones spawning this round. Permanent Upgrade This die is added to the unit’s tray and will always perform an extra HE damage.
Pay-Per-Use Ability The unit can pay to add 1 HE damage to its attack.
If a player is part of an attack that destroys a squad they earn 1 additional experience. If both allies attacked a squad that is destroyed, both earn the extra experience. (The attack must be made the same round it is destroyed.) A player earns one experience for each destroyed squad. Experience is spent like other resources except that it can only be spent on units that have been involved in combat. This is not tracked by any markers because it is generally very obvious. This limitation prevents newly constructed units from purchasing veteran upgrades.
UNIT STARTING STATS VS UPGRADES The top row of a unit’s section are the stats it spawns with. In this case the elite Panzer Genadier spawns with with four health, the standard range of 2 and a standard attack of 1 plus an additional damage when it is adjacent to a target. This would be marked with an upgrade die in its tray when it spawns. It costs 5 manpower. The bottom row identifies the unit’s possible upgrades. In this case the Panzer Grenadier can spend experience to gain a defense upgrade. It can also spend four munitions to equip a panzerfaust which will add an AP damage to their basic attack. They may equip two panzerfausts noted by the repeat upgrade icons. This Anti-Tank Gun spawns with 3 health, 3 range and does one AP damage. (All anti-tank guns have this range so this difference does not need to be marked with an upgrade die.) The Anti-Tank Gun can spend 3 experience to add an AP die to its unit tray. It will now do two armor piercing damage! It also has a pay-per-use ability: it can spend 2 munitions once per round to ‘hunker down’ and gain an additional defense die for that damage phase. You can tell this is an ability vs a permanent upgrade because it does not have the dice icon behind it.
ADVANCED RULES This section will contain rules for advanced play, in particular, Fog of War, Doctrinal Commanders, retreat and reinforcement.
POPULATION CAP Similar to the video games, there is a maximum army size. Players can have a maximum of 10 population with heavy armor vehicles counting as two and everything else counting as one. Population is also controlled by the number of infantry trays you have (6) as well as model counts. (You only have two Panzer IV models so can only field two Panzer IV’s.)
REINFORCE Reinforce means to replace missing figures from the squad. Non-vehicle units may reinforce during the purchase step of the resource phase. It costs 1 manpower to reinforce 2 figures, up to the squad maximum. Any extra figure is wasted. To reinforce, units need to be adjacent to a headquarters building or another unit that has the reinforce ability such as most tier 1 light vehicles, (jeep, kubelwagen, universal carrier).
REPAIR All infantry can repair vehicles in standard mode, (purist mode requires an engineer unit). Infantry can repair 1 health of an adjacent vehicle during the damage phase, instead of attacking that round. The repair takes place at the end of the damage phase, if the vehicle survives until then. A vehicle
RETREAT Retreating units is an efficient way to quickly remove your units from danger and move them back to your base. Non-vehicle squads (infantry and weapons teams), may retreat at any time during the maneuver phase, even while pinned. Declare a unit is retreating by placing the retreat die onto the squad. The squad can then immediately move 3 hexes towards its base in as direct a line as possible; this does not require any CP. Each round they will continue to move 3 hexes towards their base until they reach it. Remove the retreat condition at the end of the round that the unit arrives at the base. Retreating units cannot attack or use any abilities but can still be attacked.
SPEED UPGRADE All light vehicles and some armored vehicles have speed boost upgrades or abilities. Speed allows a unit a free move that does not count towards its CP limit. It is not required to keep the speed boost die on the unit, instead speed dice are kept to the side and placed like it was a CP onto the hex it was used for. Speed dice are returned along with CP’s at the end of the damage phase. Speed dice do not count towards a players 3 CP’s during their team’s turn.
SMOKE Smoke is placed directly on the target hex which can no longer be seen into or out of. This immediately breaks pin. Like most abilities, smoke can be used during the maneuver or damage phase.
Doctrinal Commanders
RTS Mode
At any time during the mission players may choose a Commander card and place it on their HQ board. It cannot be changed afterwards. Commanders provide extra benefits and abilities. Each level of a commander must be unlocked in order, and it costs two experience per level. Place a cube in the first square for level 1 and so on. Only one level may be unlocked per supply phase.
In this mode players maneuver simultaneously. To do this, players create routes with CP cubes by placing them onto hexes, then moving the unit to the final hex.
Active commander abilities like artillery barrages, P47 Rocket Strike and Infantry Rush (as opposed to persistent upgrades) may only be used once per round.
Each hex requires 1 CP, and a maximum of 3 can be used to make a route (because that is the maximum number a unit can use per round). Routes must be plotted along adjacent hexes and cannot be placed in hexes with enemy CP’s or enemy units. After creating the route, move the unit into the final hex. Shift the CP’s into the final hex as well to show how many it has spent. The current unit must finish moving before starting a new route. Units that have moved previously may be moved again, up to its max of 3 CP’s per round. Routes Cannot Intersect Water or Obstacles. Players may not place a CP in a water hex, or route over water unless there is a clear land path. Routes may not cross over buildings, but infantry and machine guns can enter them for 2 CP’s. (See Buildings) Routes Can Intersect Allies. Players may intersect routes with allies and move over allied units but only one unit may ever finish its movement in a hex. Placement Ties. In the unusual case of ties where players drop a CP cube into the same hex at the same time, break ties as normal. (Victory points, then incomes, then dice roll.) Like clicking to move, CP cubes are placed to lock in a unit’s movement in RTS Mode
SPECIAL SCENARIOS We hope to unlock special scenarios over the course of the KickStarter campaign. Some of these will play like traditional skirmish games with set amounts of units, others will re-create historical battles and settings.
APPENDICES The back of the ruleboook will also contain several pages with detailed lists of each unit, example diagrams and an FAQ.
APPENDICES The back of the ruleboook will also contain several pages with detailed lists of each unit, example diagrams and an FAQ.
APPENDICES The back of the ruleboook will also contain several pages with detailed lists of each unit, example diagrams and an FAQ.
UPGRADE AND STAT DICE These dice symbols are used to convey unit upgrades, stats and conditions. The first row of upgrade dice are used to roll for HE damage as well as Defense rolls; the result is determined from the color of the symbol: Green = Crit / Success, Black = Hit / Success Red = Miss / Fail.
HE DAMAGE Rolled: Crit / Defense
SPEED Rolled: Crit / Defense
INFANTRY DAMAGE Rolled: Hit / Defense
AP DAMAGE Rolled: Hit / Defense
UNIT FIRED
UNIT PINNED Cannot fire or use abilities.
IN RETREAT Moves three hexes towards base (no CP cost.) Cannot perform any action.
Slowed Units receive -1 CP per round and only rotate 2 hex ticks when rotating in place.
TIER 2 INFANTRY MARKER
SIGHT +1
SIGHT +1 RANGE +1
ENGINEER Purist Mode: Unit has upgraded repair and construction abilities.
RANGE+1 Rolled: Miss / No Defense
FLAME Rolled: Miss / No Defense
CAN’T FIRE (Packed Up)
CAN FIRE (Deployed)
DEFENSE Provides an extra defense roll to this unit. Stacks with other defense conditions.
SMOKE A common mortar ability; hexes with smoke cannot be seen into or out of.