Ideas on using western civilians

[Pekedog]

I like the idea of using zombie figures as casualties. This would also be good for single sided games for a customer where you want to have the visual effect of causal ties, not just say there are injured at this location

Started painting some civilians. Planning to mount them on 5/8 inch wooden squares (had them handy). Stands with one figure would be 'fit' civilians that can move up to 2 miles per hour. Stands with tow figures would be 'families' moving at half mile per hour. Those moving would travel along nearest road 180 degrees from threat axis. They would scatter to cover if fire or explosions nearby. Debating whether to have a mob stand. Relatively immobile but capable of aggression if incited, but could be scattered into a number of stands, difficult to reconstitute.

[Mk 1]

I think that there are several ways that civilians can be added to otherwise conventional scenarios.

One that comes to mind, which I tried in years-gone-by to implement without useful civilian figures, is a conventional cold-war era NATO defends/delays v. WARPAC advances battle, with local civilians thrown in as one potential source of scenario victory points.

To wit:

Build your favorite hasty-attack vs. hasty defense/delaying positions scenario.

Now add: the NATO commander gets victory points for getting civilians OFF the game board. And LOSES victory points for civilians NOT evacuated.

Set up an assembly point. Typically at the town hall or town square. One or two MUTTs, with two half-squads of MPs. Or use a recon platoon. Whatever.

Put a few military trucks and some civilian vehicles at the assembly point. Scatter civilian half-squads around in the town. When they get to the vehicles at the assembly point they may board them. Put some half-squads of civilians with their own vehicles in outlying villages / farms / industrial complexes.

Now simple rules. Game referee moves the civilians until they come into command radius of the MPs. Only then does the NATO player(s) get to control them. Civilians outside of command control move only two ways. 1) half-move towards the assembly point. 2) full-move towards the nearest concealment IF within 500m of visible WARPAC vehicles, or 100M of visible WARPAC ground forces, or triple those distances if the WARPAC units are firing or under fire. Once line of sight is blocked (or WARPAC force moves away or is destroyed), they may start moving towards the assembly point again.

The NATO player must chose when the MPs and the vehicles at the assembly point to move out. Civilians not under command control of the MPs continue to move (pointlessly) to the assembly point even after the convoy has departed. Again, points are gained only for those civilians who EXIT the battle board. And points are LOST for every one that doesn't.

Want to add a little spice? One or two of the outlying civilian vehicles could have a squad of Spetznaz in it, rather than civilians. These move just like civilians, under the control of the referee. They are only revealed when a) the WARPAC player choses to take control of the vehicle away from the referee and go where he wants, or b) they reach the assembly point and attack the MPs (they are revealed by the MPs after one turn of contact if they do not attack).

If you don't have a referee, either player can move the civilians. Their actions are fixed until they reach the assembly point. It just gives the referee something to do, but doesn't require a referee to work.

It doesn't add much game-play complexity to a company- or battalion-sized battle. But it complicates the NATO commander's decision processes. Blow the bridge? Not yet you don't! Lay ADAM minefields across the access roads? Better wait a bit. Even paying attention to when the convoy should skedaddle takes attention away from the battle -- and mindshare is the commander's most valuable resource.

Same thing could be done for WW2, except that the question of vehicles might take some more thought ...

Just some musings...

[Pekedog]

My first attempt at civilians. A lot a grey in the wardrobe, I am painting WWI British ships right now.. Civilian stands in front have 2 or 3 figures per stand, so they are limited to half a mile an hour. The ones in the back have a single figure so they may go 2 miles per hours.

They are controlled by the referee, they are not placed on the board until sighted



In this vignette, similar to what Mark I was describing. Soviet forces are attacking, and some civilians have fled a city. Because there is an MP jeep, the civilians are neatly lined up, waiting to load up in the truck, then off the battlefield to gain victory points. Had the T-62 been alive and not brewed up (and being photographed by news crew), the civilians would be scattered in the woods, unknown to NATO, and possibly in danger of receiving fire.

Because an MP is there, the civilians are off the road and if the M60s wanted to pass through, no problem. No MPs, the M60s would suffer a movement penalty trying to get past them.

[Pekedog]

Some thoughts on painting the civilians. I'll never be accused of having talent, but I did enjoy painting the civvies. I used sharpened toothpicks to paint. Tried a wash but did not have enough pigment. Even as small as they are, each started having a character of its own. How to base them was a challenge. This set was flocked in blended turf, which comes almost to their knees. A fellow in a suit walking in tall grass tells a story which I found compelling

I need to stop by hobby store and get a variety of skin tones. Sand will only take you so far. I also need some...pastels. I had the light blue that I put in core of ship wakes before I dabble on the white, but no pink or purple. Going to raise some eyebrows when I park in front of the pastel section of the paint display

Also need to check with my wife (a nurse) for injury colors. A pack of zombies could simulate a mass casualty event, if it looks convincing

[chatto]

Great work!

For movement I found a particularly good way of doing it is semi-random... will of the dice gods for both direction and distance (I use the same rules for direction as were used in Flames of War Verison 5 for smoke), with a second six-sided die being rolled where each opponent has chosen a number, if it lands on that number they can control D6 worth of civilians to make them do something *represents the chaotic nature of battle*

I have gone into greater detail in my own rules as to better controlling civilians/ sheparding with troops/ inciting riots and even use as human shields... but I'll leave that for now unless you're interested

[Quartette]

In addition to specific scenario uses, eg for NGO workers, refugees, politician / VIP, arms dealer, civilians are a fairly integral part of Intervention, especially if playing usig the Rebel rules.

In the Rebel army list, which is currently in production, the civilian models can be used to represent three 'infantry' units and various specailist personnel:

Spotters - extend line of sight for nominated rebel units.
Angry mobs - amorphus unit that grows in firepower as it gets larger
Sympathetic civilian units - semi random units that can be used to complicate the opponent's decision making.

** CENSORED ** Personnel can also be attached to infantry units. Exaples include: journalists, doctors, intelligence officers, ideologues etc.