Night of the Hunter

British Briefing 1 Date : September 1917 Location: Hulluch, somewhere in No Mans Land, near to Soldiers Copse Time: 2 am +++++++++++++++++++++

To: Lieutenant Charles Whitechapel, A Company, 17th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (Poplar & Stepney) Rifles Sir, You are ordered to make a reconnaissance of the area around the old chalk pits and Soldiers Copse. You will know that this area has been the scene of increased enemy activity over the past week. It is suspected that the enemy may be attempting to use the old abandoned trenches in the chalk pits as a staging post for renewed attacks in this area. It is possible that the enemy have a more vigorous commander who has been located to this sector of the line. You should reconnoitre the abandoned trenches, engage the enemy if present, and if possible secure an enemy prisoner. Battalion Command has also informed me that friendly snipers may be operating in the area of Soldiers Copse and the chalk pits. Watch out for these and try not to give away their position as you go about your mission. Good luck, Major B. Audley-End
+++++++++++++++++++++++ Less is more when it comes to this sort of caper. You are Lieutenant Charles Whitechapel (Status III). You are accompanied by Sergeant Alf Blackwall (Status II) and Corporal Vince Shadwell (Status I). You can choose another 24 men, and arm them as you wish. The Company stores can offer the following weapons bombs, rifles, a Lewis Gun, 1D4 handdischarged flares (to be carried by Lieutenant Whitechapel), a selection of evil-looking clubs and knobkerries, pistols. You cannot take any rifle grenades. Mission: (1) Reconnoitre the old abandoned trenches in the chalk pits; (2) capture an enemy prisoner.

Night of the Hunter

British Briefing 2 Date : September 1917 Location: Hulluch, somewhere in No Mans Land, near to Soldiers Copse Time: 2 am You are Major The Honourable Archibald Barrington-Smythe, famous bon viveur, minor aristocrat, rake-hell, horseman of note and big-game hunter. Your reputation is preceded only by your slightly over-blown opinion of yourself. You have spent the last year stalking the Hun on the Somme and in Flanders. Your dark leather clad, monogrammed game book, once filled with details of the number of pheasants, grouse and wood pigeons shot out of the sky by you on hunting shoots, is now annotated with a grisly list of German victims. Although you have an inflated view of your own genius, even the most churlish observer would admit you have nerves of steel when talking your prey and have honed your skills as a deadly shot. You have taken license to tour the front lines, inspiring British troops to snipe at the Hun. You are accompanied by your spotter, a grim, dour-faced Suffolk gamekeeper known to everyone as Gunny. Your modus operandi is to crawl out in the darkness and locate yourself at a suitable location in No Mans Land and wait sight of the enemy in the early dawn. You do not generally co-ordinate your stalk with British forces (after all, youre more of an artist than an artisan), although you routinely ask Gunny to inform local British companies of your presence in the area. Tonights stalk is near to Soldiers Wood. Its a miserable, shattered place, set in the wide No Mans Land close to Hulluch. You swear that you saw some woodcock in their yesterday... Major The Honourable Archibald Barrington-Smythe (Status II), and one ghillie/gamekeeper (Private Thomas Gunne, Gunny). Major Barrington-Smythe is armed with a hunting rifle and telescopic sights, Gunny with a pair of binoculars and standard issue rifle. Mission: (1) Add a brace of Huns, and up-date your game book with the details of the kill; (2) remain hidden from the enemy.

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Night of the Hunter

German Briefing Date : September 1917 Location: Hulluch, somewhere in No Mans Land, near to Soldiers Copse Time: 2 am You are Fahnrich Lothar Schmidt, a junior officer in the 4th Company, 14th Reserve Infantry Regiment. You were catapulted into the War in 1916. Before the War, you had a thriving business as a commercial traveller selling toys and rubber novelties in Hamburg. But alas, the wartime blockade was bad for business and by 1916, the bottom had fallen out of the rubber novelty market making your call to the Front inevitable. Your regiment has recently moved to the Hulluch sector of the front line. It is a grim, desolate place, pockmarked by abandoned chalk pits and quarries and towered over by disused mine workings. Your companys position is close by a shell shattered wooded area known as Soldiers Copse and a set of abandoned trenches (German built, but now abandoned owing to battle damage and flooding). The British have been fairly active in this sector, and your regiments new commanding officer is demanding that your company replies in kind. You are to lead a night-time reconnaissance party to occupy the abandoned trenches and evaluate their use as a staging point in future attacks. If possible, you are to identify if the abandoned trenches have been used by the British recently (check for signs of recent activity candles, lanterns, footprints those sort of things which commanders think will be to simple to find on a pitch-dark night). If you encounter any British troops in No Mans Land (which is possible), you should engage them vigorously. A British prisoner would be a very valuable catch, and would undoubtedly help your promotion prospects. You will also be joined by a sniper team (Gefreiter Franz Heschendorf) of two men, who hope to establish themselves in the abandoned trenches once they have been searched. Less is more when it comes to this sort of schrecklicher Traum. You are Fahnrich Lothar Schmidt (Status III). You are accompanied by Gefreiter Hans Regelberg (Status II) and Gefreiter Johann Kleist (Status I). You can choose another 24 men, and arm them as you wish. The Company stores can offer the following weapons stielhandgranate, rifles, a captured Lewis Gun, 1D4 hand-discharged flares (to be carried by Gefreiter Regelberg), a selection of evil-looking spiked clubs, machine-pistols and standard Lugers. You cannot take any flamethrowers or granatenwefers. Mission: (1) Reconnoitre the old abandoned trenches in the chalk pits; (2) capture an enemy prisoner.

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Night of the Hunter: Players Notes/ Playtesting

Night Fighting Spotting at Night: Ignore the its night entry on the Spotting Chart. Use a column shift instead. Night Condition Total Darkness Partial Darkness/ Night with Illuminations Effect Shift the spotting column two spaces to the right Shift the spotting column one space to the right Maximum spotting distance 9 24

Auto-spot range is reduced to 4 (same distance as for close combat). Note that there is no spotting modifier for sighting muzzle flashes, as the unit designated with muzzle flashes is no longer on a blind (and is therefore already spotted see below). Dummy Blinds: Dummy blinds can be used in a night fighting action. As a general rule, the same number of dummy blinds can be used as the Status Level of the leading Big Man on a side. Example: Captain Hastings of the Royal West Kents is a Status IV Big Man. The British player will be able to deploy four dummy blinds at the start of the game. Muzzle Flashes in Darkness: Once a unit opens fire in darkness, mark their position with a muzzle flash. That unit is no longer on a blind. The unit can fire, and can be fired upon in other words, the enemy knows their position. Add one figure to the tabletop where the centre of the blind was located. Add the Big Man card for the unit (or the units card if no Big Man is present) to the card deck. If the unit continues to fire for three turns without moving, deploy the unit fully on the table after firing and before the turn of the next card. If the firing ceases for one turn and moves with at least one movement dice, remove the single figure and replace its blind in the table before the turn of the next card. If there are any unused or spotted dummy blinds, an extra dummy blind can be deployed within the same movement distance covered by the real blind.

Example: The section led by Lieutenant Hythe of the Royal West Kents has fired twice at the enemy, and has marked its position with a muzzle flash indicator. On the next turn of Lieutenant Hythes card, the British player decides not to fire, but to move Lieutenant Hythe to a new position (rolling 8 movement). The muzzle flash marker can be removed, and a blind deployed in Lieutenant Hythes sections new position 8 distant from the old position. If the British player has an spare dummy blinds (which was previously spotted or which is as yet unused), he can add a dummy blind to the table. The dummy blind can be placed anywhere within 8 from the old position. Reasoning: this simulates a unit which has been firing in the darkness withdrawing or moving and no longer being in the same, easy-to-target position. The ability to deploy dummy blinds simulates the confusion which is present in night fighting. Just because you knew where your enemy was, it doesnt mean you know where it went. Re-cycling a limited number of dummy blinds gives the slight advantage to the side with the higher status Big Men.
Firing at night: Firing is affected by the night conditions. On the Western Front, unless the sector was very quiet (perhaps with both sides pursuing a live and let live approach), very few nights would be completely quiet. Star-shells, trench mortars, some machine gun and small arms fire would be fairly commonplace, and routine on some active sections of the front line. (i) Total Darkness: a quiet night with little or no action, or an area of unilluminated ground adjacent to an area of flare illuminated ground. Make an adjustment of +2 to hit on any firing, making it harder to hit a target.

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(ii)

Partial Darkness (moonlit)/ night with illuminations: A typical night on an active section of the front line with star-shells and flares appearing randomly. Make an adjustment of +1 to hit on any firing, making it harder to hit a target.

Maximum range of firing is limited to 24 for all sighted hand-held weapons except machine guns firing in a sustained-fire role. Snipers: While most sniping was conducted during the day, snipers did operate at night. New positions in No Mans Land would be scouted and opportunity fire would be possible in the twilight, dawn or at times when the enemy was illuminated by flares. As an alternative to moving by blinds, on an area being illuminated by a flare both sides can redeploy their snipers to within 12 of the perimeter of the illumination. As two additional rules: (i) Big Men who are snipers can spot; and (ii) any unit in which a figure is killed under fire from a sniper increases the resulting roll to hit any Big Man with that unit by +1. ---------------------------------------------------------------Hand discharged flares (Very pistol or similar): Each hand discharged flare may be used to illuminate an area 12 square in front of the Officer or senior NCO releasing the flare. Each flare will last until the second snifter card following the move in which the flare was fired. When the flare is intended to illuminate an already spotted unit (so as to increase the effectiveness of fire), such a flare can be used at no cost in action dice. If the flare is used to illuminate a blind, it can only be deployed at the cost of one action dice. Random Events: There is a chance that once fighting starts, other sectors of the front might open up. This could lead to bombardment along No Mans Land, or to flares being fired. If a large flare is fired, it will illuminate an area with a 18 diameter for the remainder of the current turn and the next two turns (three turns of the Snifter Card). It is removed on the third Snifter Card. Everything in the radius is considered to be in daylight. Everything outside of the radius is considered to be in total darkness. The location of a large flare fired from one of the front lines will be determined by the umpire randomly. Depending on scenario, either side may also be able to fire large flares (essentially star-shell rockets) on the turn of a Flare card, or at a pre-arranged time. The Random Events table is as follows:
Random Event Large Flare Rolls on 1d10 1,2 Effect Randomise table section and size of flare (12 to 18 diameter) Randomise table section. Effect as per Artillery Table Randomise table section. Effect as per Artillery Table Randomise which table edge (British/ German) and randomise point at table edge and direction of fire lane Randomise table section and type (phosgene, chlorine or mustard). Effect as per Gas rules. Add Poor Gas Discipline card to deck

Artillery (trench mortar)

3,4, 5

Artillery (toffee apple/ flying pig/ large trench mortar, etc.) MG burst sustained fire lane

7,8

Gas Shell

9,10

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