Announcing the Release of the South Pacific Supplement for Combat Patrol™: World War II.
Like all the previous supplements for Combat Patrol™, this supplement is FREE to download as a .pdf.
Why a South Pacific Supplement? Fighting in the South Pacific during World War II was unique compared to other theaters, even other parts of the Pacific. This supplement includes rules that represent the unique nature of Japanese morale, Banzai! charges, suicide anti-tank attacks, night infiltration, vehicle-mounted flame throwers, and other rules.
This supplement has been almost a year in development. During that time, several other supplements have been developed and released. These are all free and can be downloaded from the rules' Web page: link During development I shared the draft supplement with geographically distributed Combat Patrol™ players to play test the new rules. Feedback has been quite positive. In particular, play testers have commented that both the Banzai! charge rules strike a good balance between effectiveness without overpowering the charge and making the Japanese invincible.
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Of these new rules, the most significant are those for Japanese morale. The basic morale rules work very well for other theaters, including China, Burma, and India. In Combat Patrol™ morale failure is represented more as a loss of cohesion than a sudden, unexpected retreat. As units take morale checks, the unit gradually dissolves or stops responding to commands. Japanese morale failure in the South Pacific seems to have been more unit oriented than individual; the unit leader will decide to retreat, take cover, or assault the enemy in response to fire rather than individuals melting into the jungle. The new morale results reflect this.
In Combat Patrol™: World War II, cards in an Action Deck are used by players to resolve shooting, determine movement distance, conduct hand-to-hand combat, and check morale. This eliminates the need for charts and tables. Each player has an Action Deck that he uses to resolve these actions. While each player has his own deck, all decks are the same. The only difference is the color of the card backs between decks so that players can keep their decks separate during game play. Each card has a unique serial number. The South Pacific supplement includes a table that enables players to look up Japanese-specific morale results.
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Along with the free supplement, I have also created two new, Japanese-specific Action Decks. The new South Pacific set of cards includes two new Action Decks.
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Most of the cards are exactly the same as the other 10 Actions decks that are available for purchase from either DriveThruCards (Set A [http://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158116/Combat-Patrol-Set-A] or Set B[http://www.drivethrucards.com/product/158122/Combat-Patrol-Set-B] are needed to play Combat Patrol™: World War II) or Sally 4th (http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/Combat-Patrol). Only the morale portion of the cards is different.
While not strictly necessary, players who use these cards will find doing so much easier than using the morale table in the free supplement. For players who want to play Japanese forces in the South Pacific, I highly recommend these new Action Decks.
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For more information on how the game works and to see some demonstration videos of the unique, streamlined mechanics of Combat Patrol™: World War II, see the rules' Web page here: link
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You can download the supplement for free from the rules' Web page: link
You can order the cards from DriveThruCards (http://www.drivethrucards.com/product/217095/Combat-Patrol-South-Pacific-Action-Decks) or Sally 4th (http://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/Combat-Patrol).
Don't wait to get your copy of the supplement and your South Pacific Action Decks!
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The new rules in this supplement are also useful for representing other historical periods, such as Moros in the Philippines.
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