The Eight Missions

Briefing summaries for the eight Ambush! missions: map, entry, special rules and victory conditions, without spoiling the paragraphs.

Each mission is played once: afterwards you know its plot (rulebook p. 3). The briefings below are what the rulebook tells you before you start (pp. 28, 34–39); everything else is revealed by the paragraphs during play and is not repeated here. The missions are not in date order; play them in the printed order to meet special rules gradually (p. 28).

Mission 1: Bloody St. Mick

Normandy, late June 1944: take control of the St. Michaux road after another squad was driven off by snipers. Use the pre-generated squad or your own with its equipment. Enter the north edge, A1–J1; no markers start on the map; the water is a stream. Activation Levels c1 0–1, c2 0–3, c3 0–5, c4 0–8. You need 13 VP. The mission ends when you hold T8, K13/L13 and a hex on the south-east heights that sees every road hex with no active German left (+4 VP), or when every active soldier has exited through A1–J1. Incapacitated men exited that way (or moved into either building after ending 1) cost no VP (p. 28).

Mission 2: Advance on Chasoul

August 1944: scout and occupy a village the Germans are expected to have left. Buy new equipment with your Equipment Points. Enter the west edge of Map B, A6–A15. Activation Levels c1 0–1, c2 0–3, c3 0–5, c4 0–6, c5 0–7, c6 0–6. 25 VP; one VP per building hex any soldier enters. Ends when every building hex has been entered and all active soldiers are in the railway station (O6, P5, Q5), or when all have exited through A6–A15 (p. 34).

Mission 3: A Cold Morning in Belgium

A snowy patrol of bombed-out buildings near a river. Buy new equipment with your Weapon Points and take a free radio. Set up in three buildings of your choice on Map B, east edge at the top, with a jeep in a clear hex by a road; L10 holds a fuel dump. No Activation Levels: Germans enter only by Random Event. Special rules: mist limits visibility to six hexes; no Paragraph Checks for hex entry during Rounds; the water A6–Y17 is a river crossed only by intact bridges. 25 VP, one per listed edge hex entered (A3, A4, B3, C3, T3, U4, V3); the ending is revealed in play (p. 34).

Mission 4: D-Day Night Drop to Destiny

6 June 1944: paratroop in and capture two bridges intact. Only carbines, sub-machineguns, automatic rifles, pistols, grenades and bazookas; one Port Box of weapons per man, no bazooka ammo carried; a weapons cache (4 Port Boxes, 8 Ammo Boxes) drops with you and must hold the bazookas, automatic rifles and rounds. Activation Levels c2 0–2, c3 0–5, c4 0–8, c5 0–8, c6 0–8; none in Condition 1 (pp. 34–35).

Paradrop (p. 35): place each counter on Y6–Y15, then one at a time drift it a hex north-west (even roll) or south-west (odd) with a Paragraph Check per hex until a paragraph says “Land”. Roll for the landing on the terrain table of p. 35: rivers may drown a man or strip his kit, buildings may wound, incapacitate or kill; the cache is lost only in the river. Landed soldiers are prone with a 2-side-up Parachute marker: two actions, crouching or standing, remove it, or it comes off automatically in Operations. After all have landed go to Condition 2 (3 if fired on), make a Paragraph Check per occupied hex, and if any German activates start Rounds using the single most favourable Activation result (p. 35–36).

Special rules: visibility five hexes; the river is crossed only on intact bridges. 10 VP: 4 per bridge unwired (four turns, shared between soldiers), 10 for both; VPs for activations and captures as revealed. Incapacitated losses cannot be avoided. Ends in Condition 4–6 with no active Germans and both bridges captured or blown, or when all active soldiers exit any edge, or when all are dead (p. 36).

Mission 5: Operation Pickpocket

4 July 1944: a commando raid on a rocket base in Holland. No automatic rifles, bazookas or medium machineguns; two free satchel charges. Enter the south or west edge of Map B between A12 and L19. Activation Levels c1 0–1, c2 0–3, c3 0–5, c4 0–7. Special rule: the river is crossed by intact bridges or at fords revealed by paragraphs (place a ford landmark; enter from any adjacent land hex). 15 VP for documents and destroyed installations as revealed; document VPs count only if the carrier exits, and another soldier may pick them up from a dead one. Ends only when all active soldiers have exited through A12–L19 (p. 36).

Mission 6: Pleasure Boating to the West Wall

16 January 1945: canoe up to the West Wall at night and knock out bunkers. Four canoes and four satchel charges free. Enter Map A at H1 by canoe; craters start at G7, K8, L12, L15, K18, M17 and rubble at K13, L13. Activation Levels c1 0–1, c2 0–3, c3 0–5, c4 0–7 (p. 37).

• Canoes: two soldiers (plus two Port Boxes, or a third soldier), 4 in Rounds, one river hex per MP, move once per turn when either paddler acts, beach for 1 MP; occupants fire as crouching in clear terrain; a German miss hits the canoe on an even roll and it must beach on its next turn or sink (p. 37).
• Bunkers: hidden until activated, all six faces count as windows, the door side is named by the paragraph; +2 to hit the bunker itself, then roll on the Bunker Hit Tables (p. 38) for wall, aperture, door or crew. A bunker is knocked out when its original crew is dead or incapacitated and it is rubbled or a satchel charge has gone off inside.

12 VP: 6 per bunker knocked out, plus VPs for German appearances. Incapacitated men exit the north edge (by canoe without the per-hex death roll). Ends the instant no active US soldier is on the map (p. 38).

Mission 7: Bait for the Trap

8 August 1944, Mortain: delay the 2nd Panzer Division, then withdraw. Free jeep and two anti-tank mines (minefield markers). Set up anywhere west of the river or within three hexes east of it on Map A, south edge at the top; bazookas and medium machineguns may start prepared. Special rules: the water is a stream; anti-tank mines go off only under vehicles (car disabled, occupants roll as bazooka outside; tank immobilised); no Activation Checks, Germans enter by Random Event, so roll events until Rounds begin. 5 VP for activations and vehicle kills; you lose twice a German’s VP value for each one that exits the west edge before the mission ends. Ends only in Condition 4, the instant no active US soldier remains on the map; incapacitated men exit through Y1–Y19 (p. 38).

Mission 8: Dash for the Sambre

September 1944: clear the raised road to the only bridge so a Sherman can cross. Buy new equipment. Enter the west edge of Map A, A1–A6. Activation Levels c1 0–1, c2 0–4, c3 0–5, c4 0–6, c5 0–7. Special rules: the Sherman arrives when a paragraph says so, at A6 only; the river is crossed only on intact bridges; vehicles cannot cross embankments; a roadblock is removed in Operations by three active soldiers in its hex and an Event Check; hexes keyed “XXX” on the Mission Cards cannot be entered. 18 VP, one per active soldier exiting at Y8. Ends when all active soldiers have exited at Y8 or through A1–A6; the tank may stay (p. 39).