How to play 1918: Part 3: Orders, Stances and Gambits

Each game of 1918 simulates a tiny snapshot of a much larger battle - two companies doing battle over a small section of trench during a wider engagement stretching on perhaps for miles in either direction off the tabletop, but it can also represent the smaller platoon actions - from cutting the barbed wire at midnight, to capturing enemy prisoners and raiding supplies.

As we saw in our overview of the game, there are usually five or six turns in 1918, each split into three main phases: the Command Phase, the Tactical Phase and the End Phase. The first of these is the time for your officers to issue orders (as we discussed in last week’s article), while the bulk of the action happens during the second. The third is for game admin: scoring, rallying and suchlike. Today, we’re taking a closer look at what happens during the Command Phase

Orders

Every Section needs orders to act. These must be issued by Junior and Senior Leaders - your NCOs and officers. Junior Leaders - corporals and the like - can only issue an order to the Section they’re leading, while Senior Leaders must hang back from the action while remaining in bellowing range. Communication is a huge issue in the din of battle - radio was in its infancy, and command infrastructure relied instead on runners, riders, field telephones, signal flags, and perhaps most famous of all, the carrier pigeon. As such, Senior Leaders have a Command Range of 12” - any further away and their orders aren’t intelligible. They may, however, make one move each during the Command Phase.

Orders are made in secret, and players take it in turns to issue them by placing a token next to each unit. Units may be ordered to Fire, Advance, advance At The Double, and Stand To.

• Fire: allows a unit to remain stationary and aim at any eligible target.

• Advance: allows a unit to move forward and shoot at the nearest target.

• At The Double: allows a unit to sprint (move twice) or assault (charge an enemy in close combat).

• Stand To: sets a unit up for defence, making Reactive Fire at enemy units who get too close and earning a bonus if it is the target of an assault.

Leaders will automatically issue their orders to any unit in range which has no Pins (a measure of suppressive fire, and a key part of the game). To issue orders to a pinned unit, Leaders must make a Command Test: roll 2D6 and aim to equal or beat their Initiative (x) keyword value. If the roll succeeds, the order is issued. Otherwise, a unit does not receive clear orders and may only adopt a Stance.

Stances

There are two Stances: Regroup and Take Cover. The first of these allows a unit to rally or fall back, taking snap shots as they do (hitting on an unmodified roll of 6). The latter lets a unit hit the dirt, making them harder to hit and allowing them to make Reactive Fire within 12”.

Stances are a common risk in the chaos of battle: units which have been pinned down struggle to take orders, while those who’ve drifted away from their commanding officer will quickly become isolated.

Gambits

The Command Phase isn’t just for Orders, however. Units held in Reserve may enter at this juncture, while you also generate Command Dice - a pool of dice used to activate Gambits, special in-game abilities.

Gambits represent the influence of training, doctrine and leadership on the battlefield, and they vary according to faction and the theatre you’re fighting in. This means that the Americans act a little differently to the British, for instance, while an engagement on the Western Front (where 1918: Spring Offensive is set) will play differently to one set in the deserts of Jordan…

There are two types of Gambit: Doctrine Gambits and Leadership Gambits, and both are activated by spending Command Dice, as the diagram below shows.

Gambits represent a range of powerful abilities that can be played out of sequence. Some are reactive, allowing you to hit back at an enemy unit once it activates, while others allow you to improve your shooting or close combat prowess. A well-played Gambit can change the tide of battle - even during the Command Phase, when certain once-per-battle abilities allow you to attack a dangerous unit before the main Tactical Phase.

As it happens, we’ll be discussing the Tactical Phase next week…