EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS

Later on this page are game statistics for various types of mine, but as there are no existing rules for mines in the Phoenix Command game system, the following will be necessary to make use of the mines.

Mines are basically similar to grenades, but have some differing game statistics to reflect their different characteristics.

Detonating Mines

To determine whether or not a character movoing through a mined hex sets off a mine, use the Chance of Detonation (CD) given in the mine's game statistics. This is the basic chance, on a 000-999 roll, that a character moving through a mined hex will set off a mine. However, different movement modes each have a minimum chance associated with them, as the table at right shows; when checking for mines, always use the larger of the actual chance and the minimum chance.

When a hex contains more than one mine, add all the mines' CDs together and make only one roll when a character enters the hex. A successful roll means a single mine was hit. Modify the total chance for the character's movement mode. For example, in a hex with five mines, each with a CD of 009, a mine will be struck on a roll of 5 × 009 = 045 or less.

To further reduce the dice-rolling, especially in a role-playing scenario, the referee can roll only once each time a character crosses a minefield. Simply add up the CDs of all the mines that may be in a character's path (in other words, those in all the hexes the character moves through) and roll one 000-999 number. The minimum chance of a hit is equal to the basic minimum chance for the character's movement mode, multiplied by the number of hexes containing mines that are moved through.

The difference between the CD and the roll can be used as an indicator of the point at which the character hits a mine — for example, if the total CD is 152 and the roll is 073, a mine is struck when the character is about halfway through the minefield.

Mine Explosions

Obviously, when a mine is detonated, it explodes. In what way the mechanism works, is given by the Fuse (F) statistic. This can have either the letter I the letter R, or a number. An "I" means the mine detonates instantly when a character activates it; an "R" means it detonates when the detonator is released (in other words, the mine only explodes when the character steps off it), while a number indicates the delay, in Impulses, between activation and detonation.

The damage caused is applied similarly to that of a grenade, as explained under Explosive Damage in section 3.6 (page 30) of the Phoenix Command Small Arms Combat System. The character who set off the mine is considered to be in contact with it and always takes damage from the explosion.

Buried Mines: For characters nearby, the mine's Critical Ranges are used just as for artillery shells (see the Artillery System section 1.7, page 11). Check whether each character nearby is within the Critical Range for the character's stance; if this is the case, the character is subjected to damage from the mine. Characters who are outside the Critical Range corresponding to their stance do not take damage from the mine at all.

Note that this only applies to mines buried below the surface of the ground. Mines placed on top of the ground, as well as those indicated as "bounding" or "jumping" in their description, always cause damage to everyone in range.

Spotting Mines

The Detection Difficulty (DD) shows how hard it is to spot the mine. It has two values separated by a slash, the first being for when the mine is simply placed on top of the ground, while the second is used when the mine is buried. Both these values are modifiers to be used with the Percentile Skill System, and should be further modified for such factors as how well the mine is camouflaged, the distance between the spotter and the mine, and so on. Spotting a mine is done with an Intelligence roll.

Mines that are completely buried do not have a second DD. In this case, the second value is a dash (—). These mines cannot be spotted when they are buried, except perhaps by secondary signs such as poor camouflage…

Example

All of the above, and more, rolled into one example…

It is 1986 and Mahmud is walking to the other side of an Afghan plain where a Soviet helicopter has recently dumped a few (288, to be precise) PFM-1 anti-personnel mines. They've scattered into a circle of about 150 hexes across, which is an area of some 7000 hexes. That gives one mine per 24 hexes. Though Mahmud doesn't walk straight through the center of the mined area, he still crosses about a hundred of its hexes — that's four mines he might encounter.

First of all, he gets a roll to see if he spots the mines. Since PFM-1s are scattered from helicopters, they are not buried, and Mahmud makes an Intelligence roll with a –7 modifier, plus any additional modifiers that may apply. For the sake of argument, let's assume he fails all the checks and so does not spot any of the mines.

The PFM-1's Chance of Detection is 003. The referee can roll for every mined hex that Mahmud walks into (that is, a roll for every 24th hex), with the base chance being automatically adjusted to 060 because Mahmud is walking. The four rolls come up as 855, 380, 420 and 909, so he avoids the mines altogether.

The alternative is to make only one roll using four times the basic chance, which is 012. However, this chance goes up to 240 because there are four mined hexes, and the minimum chance for walking movement is 060. This time, the 000-999 roll comes up as a 115, so Mahmud hits a mine. As the roll is roughly half the chance, Mahmud gets halfway through the area before he steps onto the mine.

The damage taken by Mahmud is a single fragment with a PEN of 1 and a DC of 1 (basically, a part of the mine's plastic shell) plus 3400 PD in blast damage. That last thing is just about guaranteed to kill him.

Mine Game Stats Design

To design a mine's game stats, follow the same rules as for other explosive weapons.

Chance of Detection: This is easy to calculate if you see a 2-yard hex as being made up from 1,000 units. Since the area of a 2-yard hex is almost exactly 2 m², or 20,000 cm², all you need to do is figure out the surface area of the detonator mechanism of your mine in square centimeters. Divide that by 20 cm² (1 unit) and round to the nearest whole number (not lower than 1) and you've got your CD.

Detection Difficulty: For this you also need to know the mine's size. Just use the Target Size Modifier Table (4F) from the Small Arms Combat System to decide the ALM for the mine's size. Do this for both the whole mine and for when it is buried.