Action Rounds
The Action Round sequence of Ambush!: awareness, initiative, the AR Track, actions, command, panic and German behaviour.
A paragraph that activates a German and says “commence Rounds” switches play to Action Rounds at once (rulebook p. 11). Rounds continue until no active German soldier or vehicle is on the map; then Operations resume. During Rounds, soldiers still make a Paragraph Check for every hex entered, but an Event result only places an marker.
Activating Germans
An activation paragraph names a German by number and a hex (p. 12). Take his soldier card; the letter next to the number identifies his counter. Place the counter in the hex, in the stance the paragraph gives, with any weapon marker it mentions, and put his AR marker (showing his ) in the Complete space of the AR Track. Score his activation now (p. 3).
If some US soldiers have not entered the map yet, they stay off-map for Round 1, out of sight; in Round 2 they make Awareness Checks and may enter with a movement action, paying the edge hex’s cost. Off-map soldiers count as one hex for command and panic and can never be attacked (p. 16).
The Round sequence
Each Round runs these steps once (p. 11–12). If a German is activated during any of them, apply Activation during a Round and continue.
1. US Awareness (Rounds 1 and 2 only)
Germans are always aware. Your soldiers must notice them (p. 13):
- Round 1: every active US soldier who can see the German just activated makes a Perception Check. Success: his AR marker goes to Complete (aware). Failure: Unaware.
- Round 2: every soldier still unaware checks, wherever he is.
- Round 3: everyone is aware.
An unaware soldier cannot act. Any attack, or attempted attack, on a hex makes every US soldier in it aware; a scattered grenade wakes both hexes (p. 13). An aware commander may spend a turn to make an unaware soldier within two hexes aware; a wounded soldier cannot be made aware this way (p. 13). When Rounds end, everyone becomes unaware again for the next time.
2. Event Phase (not in Round 1)
Roll two dice, add them, and read the Event column of the Mission Card. Resolve the paragraph exactly as an Operations Event Check, skipping it if its sighting has already occurred (p. 11).
3. Action Phase
Initiative: roll two dice, one for each side. The higher result has the advantage this Round; ties go to the Germans. The activation paragraph may fix the advantage for Round 1, but you still roll to place the markers (p. 11–12).
AR marker placement: find each side’s die result in each of its soldiers’ columns on the AR Track and move the marker there (p. 12):
| Result lands in | Effect |
|---|---|
| 2-Turn space | Two turns this Round. A wounded soldier gets one turn instead. |
| 1-Turn space | One turn. |
| Panic space | The soldier panics, in or out of command. |
| Red number (US only) | Out of command: panic. In command: the turns of that space. |
Markers of both sides may share a Turn space but never the same Advantage or Disadvantage half. A paragraph that grants a side two turns in Round 1 replaces the roll for that side.
Perform actions: soldiers act from the top of the track downward: 2-Turn Advantage, 2-Turn Disadvantage, 1-Turn Advantage, 1-Turn Disadvantage (p. 12). Each turn is one action or a pass; either way the marker drops one space. A German’s marker drops the same way, so every soldier with two turns takes his first before anyone takes a second.
4. New Round
If an active German remains on the map, start another Round; otherwise return to Operations (p. 12).
Order of action
Within a space, US soldiers act in any order you choose; Germans act in the alphabetical order of their letters (p. 12). At the start of every turn in which a German can act, roll one die for a new German Action Number (p. 12).
Whenever a soldier is wounded or panics, his marker goes to Complete (Panic if the panic came from combat); whenever he is incapacitated, killed or captured, to Inactive (p. 12).
Command and commanders
A US soldier is in command when his plus the of every other active US soldier in his hex is 5 or more (p. 12). A commander also projects his into every hex within two of him, and the soldiers there project theirs back to him. A panicked or inactive commander has no Command Radius.
Being out of command matters only during AR marker placement: a red result then means panic (p. 12–13).
A commander may use a turn to give a turn: his marker drops as if he had acted and the receiver’s marker rises one space. Only a soldier in the 1-Turn or Complete space can receive it, never a wounded one, and he must use it this Round. German commanders give turns only when a paragraph says so (p. 13–14).
Panic
A soldier panics when the initiative die lands in his Panic space, or, for a US soldier out of command, on a red number (p. 13). Germans never panic on a red number. A panicked soldier does nothing until the end of the Round, then falls prone and his marker goes to Complete. He can be attacked normally. Combat can also cause panic; see Damage.
Actions during Rounds
A turn is one action from this list, or a pass (p. 14). An unwounded soldier also gets one free stance change at any point of his turn; a wounded soldier pays a Movement Point instead. A soldier who enters a hex makes its Paragraph Check before changing stance.
| Action | Stance | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aimed fire once | Standing or crouching | Personal weapon or prepared bazooka. |
| Snap fire twice | Standing or crouching | Personal weapon only; same or different targets. |
| Aimed fire, crew weapon | Two crouching soldiers | Both spend their turn. |
| Snap fire, crew weapon | One crouching soldier | A lone operator always snap fires. |
| Assault | Standing, in the enemy’s hex | See Assault. |
| Prepare satchel charge | Standing or crouching | |
| Throw satchel charge | Standing | One to three hexes. |
| Prepare and throw grenade | Standing or crouching | Shorter range crouching; never move and throw in one turn. |
| Prepare bazooka | Standing or crouching | Loads a charge. |
| Clear jammed weapon | Standing or crouching | |
| Remove live grenade | Standing or crouching, out of turn | Needs a Perception Check. |
| Prepare crew weapon | Standing or crouching, all parts in the hex | Stays prepared until moved. |
| Move | Standing: up to ; crouching: one hex | See Movement during Rounds. |
| Move crew weapon | Two carriers | They split its three Port Boxes. |
| Move / snap fire | Standing | Up to half MPA (round down) and one snap shot, in either order or split. |
| Move / charge assault | Standing | Up to half MPA, then assault. |
| Drag inactive soldier | Standing, one empty Port Box | One hex for the whole MPA; an incapacitated soldier dies on a 0. |
| Pick up or exchange equipment | Standing or crouching | Crouching to take from an inactive soldier. |
| Load or unload a vehicle | Standing | An incapacitated soldier dies on a 0. |
| Give turn | Commander | Receiver within two hexes. |
Movement during Rounds
Each soldier’s is the Movement Points he may spend in one turn (p. 16). A crouching soldier crawls exactly one hex for all his points, whatever the terrain. A standing soldier pays the cost on the Movement Point Cost Chart for each hex entered and must stop on entering a hex that holds an enemy. Unused points are lost. Only two vehicles can share a hex. A US soldier who leaves the map cannot come back.
Some German paragraphs order evasive movement: the German moves until no US soldier can see him and is then removed from the map; he may come back later. A German who leaves and re-enters does not give his activation again (p. 17).
German actions
When a German receives a turn you must act for him (p. 14–15):
- Cross-reference the German Action Number with the current Condition on his card to find a paragraph.
- Read it literally. Bulleted options: the one that applies. Numbered: the first that applies.
- Where it moves him, follow the red references on the Mission Card hex by hex until a hex costs more Movement Points than he has left.
Some cards have Special Reaction letter columns: when the named situation arises (for example a US soldier moves into sight), look the letter up and reroll the Action Number. The Self-Preservation column (S) takes precedence whenever the German is in or adjacent to the hex of an active US soldier. A German told to surrender becomes captured (p. 15). Germans fire their best weapon at the “closest” or “easiest” target as the paragraph says; ties are random (p. 15–16, 22).
Activation during a Round
When a paragraph activates another German mid-Round, interrupt, place him as instructed and ignore the parts about advantage and US awareness. If the paragraph grants two turns, his marker goes to the 2-Turn space in the current Advantage or Disadvantage half; otherwise roll a new German Action Number and place his marker as it indicates. A US soldier interrupted mid-move may finish his action first (p. 13–14).
Condition change during Rounds
Replace the Mission Card, pause the Round and make a Paragraph Check for every US-occupied hex, lowest number first. Ignore Event results (place markers), read everything else, activate Germans with the procedure above, then resume the Round (p. 16).