WW2 Ottovski Kriegsspiel System
WW2 Ottovski Kriegsspiel System
Special thanks to GloriousRuse and the International Kriegsspiel Society for advising me on
this project.
Update log:
6.7.23, current version. Added Armor and Light Anti-Tank into the system, did changes to
the document like “Rolling the Dice” section, and updated the modules.
3.7.23. Added Wire Obstacles and Minefields and updated the modules.
1.7.23. Tweaked the Infantry Attacker Die and updated the modules.
21.6.23, new version of the system! Document updated to correspond with the changes to the modules, like
redone dice results, ammunition trackers for artillery, defence levels for urban areas…
5.6.23, added "(New) Sides of the Dice (Not in any module yet) and “Friendly Defence Level”
Communication Tokens 18
Incoming Light Artillery Token 20
Incoming Medium Artillery Token 20
Incoming Heavy Artillery Token 21
Artillery Ammunition Token 22
Artillery Smoke Ammunition Token 22
Artillery 23
Shell Weight 24
Suppression Mission 26
Destruction Mission 26
Smoke Mission 26
Fortifications 27
In-game Illustration 28
Trenches 29
Wire Obstacles 30
Minefields 32
Combat Dice Results 33
Hit 33
2x Hit 33
Suppress 33
Disruption 34
Combat Dice Modifiers 35
Disadvantage 35
Defence Level 36
Friendly Defence Level 36
Commander Die Results 37
Extra Roll 37
-1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppress 37
Nothing 37
Radio Broken 37
Wounded 37
Gravely wounded 38
Killed 38
Commander Die Modifiers 38
Danger Level (DL) 38
Sides of the Dice 39
Infantry Attacker Die 40
Infantry Defender Die 42
Light Artillery Die 44
Medium Artillery Die 46
Heavy Artillery Die 48
Commander Die 50
Infantry Light Anti-Tank Die 52
Light Anti-Tank Gun Die 52
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4
Normally when resolving combat in this system, each individual block has its own die rolled
for it, identical to the Napoleonic Ottovski System.
For example, if you have four German platoons fighting four Soviet platoons, you should roll
eight dice in total. After rolling a die for each one of the blocks, you apply the results, and
then you are done with the combat for the turn. One die and one die roll per unit.
There are special circumstances though when rolling the dice differs from the norm:
If the umpire deems that a unit is in a situation with that deems a Disadvantage Level greater
than 2, the umpire can decide not to roll any dice for the unit.
One of these situations could for example be an exhausted infantry unit fighting on the
front-line being attacked in the rear by surprise, in which case the umpire rolls only dice for
the troops attacking from the rear, but none for the defending unit.
Assaults
There are two ways to resolve an assault, both designed to make the combat faster to simulate
the quick decisiveness (and bloodiness) of an assault:
Rolling two dice each - The assaulting unit and the defending unit both roll an additional die
each, making it two dice per block. Once these additional dice have been rolled, the game
will move into the next turn.
Rolling until either side loses - The assaulting unit and the defending unit both continue
rolling and applying the results of their dice (no additional dice, one die per each unit as
usual) until the defenders or the attackers are destroyed/routed.
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Anti-Tank/Tank Combat
To simulate the quick decisiveness of combat between anti-tank guns and tanks, or between
tanks and tanks, combat between these units are resolved similarly to assaults. Both sides will
continue rolling their dice until either side loses.
The tank unit and the anti-tank gun/other tank unit will both continue rolling and applying the
results of their dice (no additional dice, one die per each unit as usual) until the either side is
destroyed/routed.
In circumstances where the other side gets to clearly shoot first, for example in a case of a
hidden anti-tank gun ambushing enemy tanks, it is recommended to get the hidden AT-gun to
roll first, without any rolls for the opposing side.
Resolving infantry anti-tank equipment vs tanks can be resolved the same way as the
aforementioned combat, with both sides rolling until either side is destroyed/routed, or by
rolling combat normally (only one die and die roll per unit).
Keep in mind, in real life most tank vs tank & AT gun vs tank combat are won by the side
who fires first!
Unit Sizes
Every unit piece in the system is a platoon, marked by three dots in the style of NATO
military symbology. In the system each platoon is standardised to be 30 men each and with a
frontage of 100 meters, with each artillery platoon having 2 field pieces, and each vehicle
platoon consisting of 3 vehicles. The module also includes large company unit pieces, with
frontages of 400 meters, which are there for purely aesthetic purposes and to help
higher-level-commanders plan.
The Commander Pieces that portray the players themselves are an exception, as they are
marked as squad size by a single dot. The Commander Pieces are unable to roll and are not
counted as a combat effective unit, portraying the commander and perhaps their adjutants or
messengers.
With each platoon consisting of 30 soldiers, each Hit can be translated to portray the loss of 5
men. This information can be used to count the strength of both sides prior to the battle and
the casualties lost after the engagement, for flavour purposes.
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Movement Speeds
Messenger/Runner:
Messenger in completely safe conditions: 2.5-3 km
Messenger near combat/cautious: 1-2 km
Messenger speed should be heavily affected by combat and by the assumed location of the
recipient. The messenger is moving on foot.
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The distance the player is from the unit that they are giving orders to, should be subtracted
from the movement of the unit that turn.
E.g. if a player gives orders to a unit 0.5 km away from them, the unit should be able to move
0.5 km less that turn than it could otherwise move.
These restrictions are to help simulate the realistic advantages and disadvantages of leading
from the front, and to add “weight” to the platoons as each one of them are made up of thirty
men organised into subgroups, all in all encouraging players to think ahead like in real life.
Sight Ranges
● Screenshots: ~2 km at maximum
○ Further information must be described relatively vaguely in a verbal report
● Naturally obstructed by nearby terrain
● Seeing enemy blocks in screenshots should be difficult and rare
○ To portray the difficult of correctly estimating the amount of enemy troops
● Defending/hidden troops should have much better vision
○ To portray prepared positions with clear sightlines, hidden scouts etc.
● Defending units should be automatically counted as concealed
● The player should be reliant on verbal reports by the umpire, portraying messengers,
unless they themselves are on the front-line
● Tanks being blind without infantry support should be heavily emphasised, with tank
commander players typically getting less specific information than their infantry
counterparts.
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Armor
Purely machine-gun-equipped vehicles are the exception, who at the moment can roll Light
Artillery Dice or Infantry Attacker Dice, according to umpire discretion.
One die and one roll per unit in usual circumstances, with the exception of Anti-Tank/Tank
Combat (see: Anti-Tank/Tank Combat).
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Armor Levels
Light Tanks, Half-tracks & Armored Cars: 1
Medium Tanks: 2
Heavy Tanks: 3
Situation between the target and the shooter should also be considered in the disadvantage. Is
the enemy tank obliviously riding through the countryside with its side completely open?
Keep in mind, in real life most tank vs tank & AT gun vs tank combat are won by the side
who fires first!
In the system two types of dice to represent the anti-tank capabilities of infantry: Infantry
Light Anti-Tank Die & Infantry Heavy Anti-Tank Die.
The Light Die represents infantry equipped with inadequate to very light anti-tank equipment,
e.g:
● Infantry with no real AT equipment at all, such as:
○ German Early-Mid War infantry which had to resort to using bundled grenades
to destroy tanks, or by simply climbing on top of tanks and chucking grenades
inside their hatches.
● Infantry with AT equipment on paper, but in inadequate supply or designed against
light tanks:
○ Soviet Early-Mid (and often Late) War infantry equipped with anti-tank rifles
in very limited numbers
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The Heavy Die represents infantry equipped with proper anti-tank equipment, e.g:
● Infantry with dedicated AT equipment in good numbers, e.g.:
○ German Late War infantry armed with panzerfausts.
Resolving infantry anti-tank equipment vs tanks can be done the same way as the
aforementioned combat, with both sides rolling until either side is destroyed/routed, or by
rolling combat normally (only one die and die roll per unit).
Tokens
Combat Token
In Combat
Automatically put on a unit once the unit is shooting or being shot at. If
the unit is hit, the unit goes down a HP-state.
The following token states, routed, shattered and surrendered, all serve the same purpose,
which is to portray that the unit is no longer combat effective (no longer able to roll
dice/fight).
Any of these three token states should be automatically put on a unit after it runs out of
HP-states.
Although, the tokens can be put on before going all of the HP states in dramatic
circumstances, according to umpire discretion, for example when a unit is totally overrun in a
short period of time.
The Routed token can be an exception, as in special circumstances routed units with HP left
can recover, according to umpire discretion. If routed units do recover though, they should
automatically get a 2/2 Disruption Level Token.
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Routed
Unit is retreating in chaos, possibly no longer combat effective. Applied
according to umpire discretion, e.g. when the men have lost their will to
fight e.g. after their position has been overrun or their attack has failed
disastrously.
Shattered
Unit is no longer combat effective. Can symbolise many things, e.g. the
remnants of a destroyed unit or a disorganised formation fighting to the
death.
Applied according to umpire discretion, e.g. after a unit has run out of
HP and/or after its position has been overrun.
Surrendered
Unit is no longer combat effective. Applied according to umpire
discretion, e.g. after a unit has run out of HP and its position has been
overrun.
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Disruption Token
The Disruption Token is encouraged to be used by the umpires to portray reduced fighting
capability.
Umpires are encouraged to put Disruption Tokens on units when they’re e.g:
- Moving through difficult terrain
- to simulate the men getting tired and formations becoming disorganised.
- Getting changes to orders
- to simulate effects of formations becoming disorganised due to new orders and
the officers having to reorganise their men.
- This should be nearly always done to Soviet units. Deviating from a
battle-plan should always be punished for the Soviet forces, as their
officer-centric military doctrine favoured clear battle-plans instead of
mission command type adaptive tactics.
Shows that the unit soon needs to get out of combat and recover, e.g. its
soldiers are becoming tired, they are running low on ammunition, the unit is becoming
disorganised, or for a variety of other reasons.
Shows that the unit needs to get out of combat and recover combat
effectiveness, because e.g. its soldiers are becoming tired, they are
running low on ammunition, the unit is becoming disorganised, or for a variety of other
reasons.
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Suppression Token
Represents that while not all of the units’ soldiers are completely suppressed and not shooting
at the enemy, the unit is unable to fire back effectively. The enemy has gained fire superiority.
If the unit is ordered to retreat, the enemy units targeting it will get to roll an extra die each,
and if the unit is SOVIET and successfully retreats, it will get a 2/2 Disruption Level -token.
If the unit is ordered to retreat, the enemy units targeting it will get to
roll an extra die each, and if the unit is SOVIET and successfully retreats, it will get a 2/2
Disruption Level -token.
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Defence Levels can be brought down one level by extensive artillery bombardment.
Only “Housing” and “Prepared” Defence Levels can be gained during a game without
pre-built defences, as building defences is not possible during the game.
Abandoned defences should be portrayed by leaving the Defence Level Token in its place if a
unit abandons it. Abandoned defences and fortifications can thus be manned by any unit,
although they do not grant a Defence Level to attacking units.
In-game there exists a shorter trench and a longer trench. The former can
fit one platoon, the latter two platoons.
The Prepared Defence Level is gained if a unit is stationary 30-60 minutes, at the umpire’s
discretion, and is lost if the unit moves.
A unit block may only have a Housing Defence Level token if the on-map buildings are at
least half the size of the unit block.
A large amount of small buildings spread over an area can also be adequate for giving
Housing Defence Level, even though a single building couldn't cover half of the unit piece.
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Soviet units that are prepared can reinforce defensive positions without
disruption, while the Germans (thanks to training) never suffer disruption
from such an action.
Communication Tokens
Radio Communications
Commander can communicate to other commanders via radio.
Typically, all German players should be in radio communications with each other, and the
Soviets should be completely without any radios.
● In real life, each German company commander was issued with a radio.
○ Some German platoon commanders were issued their own radios in the later
years of the war, but this is often not portrayed in the games of this system.
■ As such, you can assume the platoons themselves are getting orders
from the player by runner.
● The Soviets in contrast, majority of the time only had radios for regimental
commanders and tanks.
○ Therefore, the Soviet commanders in-game should always be entirely reliant
on runners, or in a rare case be supported by Field Telephone(s).
● The text-channel should be shared by all the players in radio communications with
each other.
● If a player is out of radio range or their radio is lost, they should be removed from the
text-channel by the umpire.
● The text-channel should have at least a 30 second delay.
● The players should be heavily encouraged to use strict radio discipline, call-signs etc.
○ The players should be told that breaking radio discipline can result in the
opposing team intercepting their messages,
○ or the players should be outright told that the players should encrypt their
messages so that the opposing players couldn’t understand the messages if
they intercepted them.
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● The players should be supplied a WW2 phonetic alphabet by the umpire before the
game.
○ This way the players can make their own call-signs etc. during the
planning-phase, or even before it.
To use the Field Telephone, the player must be in its direct vicinity.
It is recommended for scenario design, that defending forces are able to call in fire support
from artillery batteries only via Field Telephone.
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Indicates that the unit is taking artillery fire, in differing amounts. In addition to this token,
the use of different explosion and fire effects that can be found in the Tabletop Simulator
Steam Workshop are encouraged, for aesthetic purposes, mostly in the case of field howitzer
bombardments.
3/3 Ammunition
Unit has 45 minutes worth of ammunition left.
2/3 Ammunition
Unit has 30 minutes worth of ammunition left.
1/3 Ammunition
Unit has 15 minutes worth of ammunition left.
0/3 Ammunition
Unit has run out of ammunition.
Artillery
Unlike other artillery pieces, Infantry Support Guns may only be fired in direct fire mode
in-game, thus requiring a clear sightline to their target.
Unlike other artillery units, fire support can not be requested from individual platoons in the
case of Field Howitzers and other rear-line artillery units.
● This is due to the fact that in real life artillery is organised by batteries, and the
batteries themselves coordinate between their own platoons.
● Each battery is made up of two artillery platoons
○ Meaning in-game, that a battery fire mission will roll a die for each one of its
platoons
■ Meaning in the case of a default ammo loadout battery firing a
Destruction Mission, there will be six dice in total rolled!
Defence Levels can be brought down by one level by extensive artillery bombardment.
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Shell Weight
The real life shell weight of the artillery piece determines what Artillery Die it will roll.
Suppression Mission
Uses up one High Explosive Ammunition, as such, with the default ammunition loadout, an
artillery unit can be ordered to do three Suppression Missions during a game.
A Suppression Mission is representative of the artillery unit firing high explosive shells at a
steady pace with clear intervals, conserving their ammunition.
The Suppression Mission is the only Fire Mission available for Infantry Support Guns.
Destruction Mission
Can be ordered only once per game. The artillery unit will fire all of the High Explosive
Ammunition it has over a period of 15 minutes (1 turn).
● This naturally means that the artillery unit will also roll all of its dice as well.
Smoke Mission
The unit will fire Smoke Ammunition. The smoke will stay in the area for one turn before
disappearing.
The smoke can hinder the fighting capabilities of units (disadvantage) or totally stop them
from fighting effectively (rolling dice), according to umpire discretion.
Fortifications
Establishing more than a very limited amount of fortifications realistically requires for the
infantry to receive engineer support. Barbed wire, landmines and specialized entrenchment
tools were historically issued to engineer companies only, who the infantry naturally assisted
in establishing obstacles and fortification.
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In-game Illustration
Left: Two Soviet rifle platoons entrenched in a long trench that grants protection for two
platoons. In front of the platoons is 1 set of Wire Obstacle. There are no additional Wire
Obstacles or AP Minefields in a row behind or in front of the Wire Obstacle, thus the Wire
Obstacle is only Level 1, “Light Line”.
Center: 2 sets of Wire Obstacle deployed in a long line. There are no additional Wire
Obstacles in a row behind or in front of the Wire Obstacles, thus they would be only Level 1
by themselves. But, as there is 1 Level of AP (antipersonnel) mines set up behind the Wire
Obstacles, it ups both of the Wire Obstacles to Level 2, “Main Line”.
Right: A machine gun platoon entrenched in a short trench that grants protection only for one
platoon. In front of the platoon are 3 sets of Wire Obstacle set up in rows. Each one of the
three Wire Obstacle rows is equal of 1 Wire Obstacle Level. Thus combined the Wire
Obstacles are Level 3, “Obstacle Belt”.
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Trenches
The Trenches in-game portray well-prepared fighting positions which have likely taken at
least a week to prepare and have likely been at least partly built with specialised engineering
equipment.
Extensive trench networks that have been constructed likely for months can be portrayed by
multiple trenches, for example a fall-back trenchline. Incomplete or rushed works by granting
the players only one trench per company, while the rest of the troops are only on Dug in
Defence Level.
The Entrenched Defence Level should be portrayed by the Trenches game-piece in addition
to the Defence Level Token.
Abandoned trenches should be portrayed by leaving the Trenches in their place if a unit
abandons it. Abandoned defences and fortifications can thus be manned by any unit, although
they do not grant a Defence Level to attacking units.
In-game there exists a shorter trench and a longer trench. The former can
fit one platoon, the latter two platoons.
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Wire Obstacles
There exists 3 Levels of Wire Obstacle in-game, a single row of wire represents a single
level.
One Level of AP Minefield can be used to up the Level of 2 Wire Obstacles by 1. This
represents the difficulties in clearing Wire Obstacles spread out with mines.
The first unit going through a Wire Obstacle creates a clear lane, meaning any other units
going through the exact same path do not suffer any of the negative modifiers from the Wire
Obstacle.
Artillery can be used to create a breach to a Wire Obstacle, albeit very inefficiently. Each
Wire Obstacle Level requires 3 Hits from Medium or Heavy Artillery to create a breach.
If normal infantry is in combat while going through a Main Line, they will receive a 2/2
Disruption Level and a disadvantage to their rolls. Engineers/pioneers receive 1/2 Disruption
Level and possibly a disadvantage according to umpire discretion.
Minefields
A minefield deals 1 Hit and 1/2 Disruption Level to its corresponding target (AP against
infantry, AT against vehicles) if the enemy is unaware of the minefield or deliberately moves
into it.
AP Minefield
Creating a lane in one AP Minefield with normal infantry takes 45 minutes, with
pioneers/engineers 15 minutes.
AT Minefield
Creating a lane in one AT Minefield with normal infantry takes 30 minutes, with
pioneers/engineers no time.
A mixed minefield can be established by combining one level of AP mines with one level of
AT mines.
To create a higher density minefield, minefields can be set up in rows. The time for the
enemy to create a lane is thus increased as they need to clear each one of the minefields.
If normal infantry is in combat while creating a lane in a minefield, they will receive a 2/2
Disruption Level and a disadvantage to their rolls. Engineers/pioneers receive 1/2 Disruption
Level and possibly a disadvantage according to umpire discretion.
One Level of AP Minefield can be used to up the Level of 2 Wire Obstacles by 1. This
represents the difficulties in clearing Wire Obstacles spread out with mines.
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Hit
The enemy unit goes down a HP point (block becomes smaller by going down to the next
state) if the prerequisite modifiers on the side of the die are met.
If the unit is already on its last HP point, it will become combat ineffective (unable to fight
again) and its Combat Token will go down to Routed, Shattered or Surrendered, which are
chosen according to umpire discretion.
With each platoon in the system being made up of 30 men, each hit can portray ~5 casualties,
meaning a unit that has run out of HP states would have 15 men left and thus be at 50%
strength.
2x Hit
Same as the normal hit, but the friendly unit will be able to deal two hits to enemy units.
According to umpire discretion, the two hits can be split between two enemy units, meaning
one per unit, or both of the hits dealt to a single enemy unit.
Suppress
The enemy unit will get a Suppressed Token, meaning it won’t be able to move or fight (roll
dice) during the next turn.
If a unit which is already suppressed gets suppressed again, the targeted unit’s suppression
token will go to Suppression Level 2.
If a unit that already has a Suppression Level 2 Token is suppressed again, the suppression
will count as a hit.
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Disruption
According to the text on the side of the die, the unit that will get the Disruption Token may be
the Friendly Unit (the unit that rolled the die) or the Enemy Unit (the unit the rolling unit is
fighting against).
If the unit in question already has a Level 1 Disruption Token, the Disruption Token will go
to Level 2. If the Unit in question already has a Level 2 Disruption Token, the roll will have
no effect, unless decided otherwise by the umpire.
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Disadvantage
If the enemy unit’s Disadvantage Level is less or equal to the Disadvantage Level mentioned
on the rolled side of the die, the result applies.
Disadvantage levels can and should negate each other. Umpire should compare the units and
their circumstances to each other..
Disadvantage levels for artillery can be used to portray units being harder to hit, e.g. due to
terrain or inaccurate firing coordinates.
Units with special combat equipment, such as Pioneers and Machine Gun
Platoons, can according to umpire discretion negate a disadvantage level or
apply a disadvantage level to their enemy in combat.
Likewise, units equipped poorly for combat, such as rear-echelon units like
support troops, can according to umpire discretion gain a disadvantage level
themselves or have the enemy negate a disadvantage level in combat.
- The enemy has slightly better cover than the friendly unit, e.g. the friendly unit is in the
open, while the enemy is in a lightly wooded area.
- The friendly unit has to attack over slightly difficult terrain, e.g. across a small river, across
a small area of wetland, or up a small slope.
- The enemy unit is in a slightly better mental or physical condition than the friendly unit, e.g.
the friendly unit has fought for some time, while the enemy unit is fresh.
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Level 2 Disadvantage - The friendly unit is at a major disadvantage compared to the enemy,
e.g:
- The enemy has much better cover than the friendly unit, e.g. the friendly unit is in the open,
while the enemy is in a heavily wooded area.
- The friendly unit has to attack over very difficult terrain, e.g. across a sizable river, across a
sizable area of wetland, or up a sizable slope.
- The enemy unit is in a much better mental or physical condition than the friendly unit, e.g.
the friendly unit has fought for a long period of time, while the enemy unit is fresh.
In situations where one of the units can be considered to be even in disadvantage situations
even worse than level 2, e.g. the other unit is being ambushed in a hopeless situation, the
umpire can opt to not roll a die for the disadvantaged side.
Defence Level
If the enemy unit’s Defence Level Token’s Defence Level is less or equal to the
Defence Level mentioned on the rolled side of the die, the result applies.
If the friendly unit’s (the unit rolling the die) Defence Level Token’s Defence Level is more
or equal to the Defence Level mentioned on the rolled side of the die, the result applies (=
more damage dealt by the defender to the attacker).
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The commander die should be rolled every turn that the player is in very close proximity to
friendly units, close enough to realistically be helping their performance by the commander’s
inspiring presence, or by directly leading them.
The commander die should also be rolled every turn that the player is in considerable danger.
Extra Roll
A unit close to the commander gets one additional Combat Die roll.
-1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppress
A unit close to the commander gets one level of Disadvantage Level modifiers reduced when
rolling a Combat Die, or the unit gets one level of a Disruption Token or a Suppress Token
removed.
Nothing
Radio Broken
The player loses access to their radio-channel for the duration of the game, unless another
players gives them their own radio.
Wounded
The player suffers a (recoverable) wound. Player’s abilities are limited for a certain amount
of time, all according to umpire discretion.
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Gravely wounded
The player is seriously wounded and won’t be able to recover over duration of the game.
According to umpire discretion, the player may be too wounded to continue participating in
the game in any capacity (basically dead), or may be able to continue accompanying the other
players in some restricted form.
Killed
In order to make player death more dramatic and combat more intense, it is not recommended
that the player be able to rejoin the game as a new character. Instead, the player may be
permitted to spectate the game from the umpire-table.
The commander die should be rolled every turn that the player is in considerable danger.
Different circumstances, like defensive fighting positions, may affect the player’s Danger
Level, according to umpire discretion.
The following are examples of the differing 3 Danger Level situations, with 3 being the worst
and 1 being the safest:
1 (Safest) - Player is a few hundred metres behind friendly units that are being shot at.
2 - Player is directly next to friendly units that are being shot at,
or they are few hundred metres behind friendly units that are under artillery fire.
3 (Most dangerous) - Player is directly next to friendly units that are under artillery fire.
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Commander Die
10 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
11 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
12 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
13 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
14 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
15 -1 Disadvantage/Disruption/Suppression
16 1 Extra Roll
17 1 Extra Roll
18 1 Extra Roll
19 1 Extra Roll
20 1 Extra Roll
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