How a Mission Works
The components of Ambush! and how the paragraph system runs a mission.
Ambush! is a solitaire game: you play the US squad, the game plays the Germans through hidden Mission Cards and a numbered Paragraph Booklet (rulebook p. 3). Each of the eight missions is designed to be played once, because its surprises are the game.
The maps and tracks
Map A shows a Normandy farm with hedgerows and a stream; Map B a village with a crossroads and a railway station. A hex is about 10 metres across. A hex with any woods in it is a woods hex; otherwise the terrain filling most of the hex counts (rulebook p. 4).
Each map carries two tracks:
- Action Round (AR) Track: one column per Initiative value 0–5. Rows are Inactive, Unaware, Complete, the Turn spaces (2-Turn and 1-Turn, each split into an Advantage and a Disadvantage half) and Panic. Each soldier’s AR marker shows his letter and Initiative and sits in his column (p. 4).
- German Action Track: holds the German Action marker as a reminder of the Action Number rolled this turn (p. 4–5).
The rulebook’s command example: soldier D is a commander, so his Initiative reaches every hex within two of him (B, E, A), but not C (p. 13). See Command and commanders.
The View Sleeve and Mission Cards
Each mission has two or three Mission Cards, each side printed for one Condition (p. 3–4). Only the card for the current Condition sits in the View Sleeve, which hides everything except a grid of small windows: one per map hex, a row of Event windows and the German movement references.
- When a soldier enters a hex, line up its letter and number on the sleeve. A black three-digit number is a Paragraph Check: read that paragraph. “None” means nothing happens. “Event” means an Event Check (Operations only). “Exit” means the soldier may leave the map there.
- A sighting reference such as
s2in front of a number means “only if sighting 2 has not happened yet”. - Red numbers are for the Germans: a red hex or paragraph number tells an active German where to move during Rounds (p. 3, 14–15).
The Paragraph Booklet
The booklet is the brain of the game. Every entry is a numbered paragraph: a statement to carry out, a die roll with branches, a Perception Check, an Activation Check, or a German’s behaviour for this turn (p. 6, 9). Options separated by bullets: pick the one that applies. Numbered options: take the first that applies. Never read a paragraph you were not sent to.
The Squad Record
One sheet per mission (p. 5):
| Section | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Soldier boxes A–H | IN, PC, WS, DS, MPA; Commander box; Cost in Squad Points |
| Port Boxes | Weapons carried. A soldier carries at most two Port Boxes of weapons; a three-box weapon is split between two soldiers (p. 9). |
| Ammo Boxes | Clips, grenades, bazooka rounds and pistols, one per box, at most six. Cross out a box when it is spent. |
| Combat Boxes | Combat Points earned in a campaign (p. 28). |
| Squad Points, Weapon Points | The squad’s overall and equipment ratings. |
| VP gained / lost | Tally marks during the mission. |
| Condition track and Activation spaces | Which Conditions have happened, and the Activation Level of each. |
| Sightings 0–9 | Tick a sighting when its paragraph tells you it occurred. |
Soldier ratings
Every US and German soldier has these characteristics (p. 6):
| Rating | Range | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative | 0–5 | Column on the AR Track, command, Movement Point Allowance. |
| Perception | 0–9 | Perception Checks: roll one die, succeed at or below PC. |
| Weapon Skill | −2 to +2 | Modifier to fire and assault. |
| Driving Skill | 0–8 | Driving checks. |
| Movement Point Allowance | 3–5 | Movement Points per turn during Rounds. |
A commander has a Command Radius of two hexes (p. 6, 12). The rulebook defines a target as any active soldier or vehicle, and an active soldier as one who is neither incapacitated, killed, captured nor off the map (p. 6).
Dice
Two ten-sided dice (p. 6). One die reads 0–9. Two dice added read 0–18 (initiative, Event Checks). Two dice as a percentile read 00–99 (jams, duds, ammunition). On any check, 0 always succeeds and 9 always fails, whatever the modifiers (p. 6, 11).
Squad generation
Mission 1 can be played with the pre-generated squad in the rulebook. For any other mission, or a fresh campaign, build a squad (p. 8–9):
- Read the briefing for restrictions.
- Roll on the Squad Quality Table for your Squad Points.
- Roll on the Weapon Quality Table, adding the Squad Quality die, for your Weapon Points.
- Spend Squad Points on soldiers: each is a commander or a private with an from 0 to 5 at the cost on the Cost Table. Letter them A to H with the highest Initiative as A.
- For each soldier roll once on the Perception Table (by IN), once on the Weapon Skill Table (die + IN) and once on the Driving Skill Table (die + IN); read his off the Movement Point Allowance Chart.
- Spend Weapon Points on the Equipment Cost Chart. Each weapon comes with one free clip and fills one to three Port Boxes (a pistol fills an Ammo Box instead). One Weapon Point buys three grenades or five clips of any kind except bazooka; a bazooka round costs one Weapon Point. Ammunition is weapon-specific.
The tables live on the Chart Reference Screen. See Campaign play for how survivors improve.
Operations and Rounds
The mission alternates between two modes (p. 8):
- Operations: no active German on the map. Soldiers move one hex at a time in any order; no time passes.
- Action Rounds: at least one active German. Every Round the squad and the Germans act in AR Track order with a fixed number of turns each.
The mission ends as the briefing describes; see Game End and Scoring.