Teach the Game

Teach the Game for Ambush!, the solitaire squad game of World War II.

How you win

You command an eight-man US rifle squad in Normandy and beyond. A paragraph booklet and a set of hidden mission cards play the Germans: every hex you enter may hide a sniper, a patrol or nothing at all.

You play alone. Each mission has a briefing with a Victory Point target. Earn by activating, capturing and killing Germans and by reaching the mission’s objectives; lose for every soldier killed or left incapacitated. Finish with gained minus lost at or above the target and the mission is won (rulebook p. 8, 27).

The components

Two map sheets of 10-metre hexes (A: a farm, B: a village), 218 counters, a View Sleeve that hides the Mission Cards, a Paragraph Booklet you never read unprompted, German soldier cards, a Squad Record sheet and two ten-sided dice (rulebook pp. 3–6).

The map and AR Track — where the squad moves and who acts first.
The View Sleeve — the hex grid that tells you which paragraph to read.
The Squad Record — your soldiers’ ratings, weapons and ammo.
German soldier cards — how each German reacts.

A mission

Read the briefing, slide the Condition 1 card into the sleeve, write the Activation Levels on the Squad Record and set up your squad (Setup).
Operations: no Germans are active. Move one hex at a time and make a Paragraph Check for every hex entered; time does not pass (Operations).
A paragraph activates a German: Action Rounds begin. Each Round, check who is aware, roll for an Event, roll initiative and act in AR Track order, one action per turn (Action Rounds).
When no active German remains on the map, go back to Operations.
The mission ends when the briefing says so: usually all soldiers have left the map or the objective is held (The Missions).

How the game ends

Each briefing states its own end condition and VP requirement (rulebook p. 8). Compare VP gained with VP lost; the difference must reach the requirement. Played as a campaign, the survivors earn Combat Points between missions to raise their ratings (Game End and Scoring).

Ways to score

Source	How
Activating a German	The VP printed on his card, the moment he appears (rulebook p. 3).
Conditional VP	Extra VP on the card for capturing, killing or disabling him.
Mission objectives	The briefing’s own awards, such as holding an area or exiting with documents.
Soldier killed or incapacitated	−2 VP each, unless the briefing lets you evacuate him (rulebook p. 27).
Mission special rules	Some briefings double the loss for leaving the map, or award VP for destroyed bunkers.

What each resource is for

Rating	Why you need it	How it works
Initiative 0–5	Turns per Round, panic risk, movement	Sets the AR Track column; the sum of Initiative in a hex keeps soldiers in command (rulebook p. 6, 12).
Perception 0–9	Noticing Germans, traps and grenades	Roll one die at or below PC to succeed; 0 always succeeds, 9 always fails (p. 10–11).
Weapon Skill −2 to +2	Hitting and assaulting	Added to the hit chance of fire and assault (p. 6, 20, 25).
Driving Skill 0–8	Driving vehicles	Checked when a vehicle does something risky (p. 6, 30).
Movement Points 3–5	Moving during Rounds	Terrain costs Movement Points; running uses all of them, crawling moves one hex (p. 16).

Teaching tips

Teach it to yourself with the pre-generated squad and Mission 1; the paragraph system only makes sense once you have been ambushed.
Keep the View Sleeve and Paragraph Booklet closed until a check sends you there. Reading ahead spoils the mission and cannot be undone.
Learn the Operations loop first (enter hex, check sleeve, read paragraph), then the Round sequence.
The Chart Reference Screen holds every table: weapon ranges, terrain costs and modifiers are read from it, not memorised.