Cards Units Movement Combat Ordnance Vehicles
How do the cards work? Each soldier is represented by 1, 2 or 3 cards. If you had one squad of 8 soldiers, each with a 2 combat initiative, there would be a total of 16 (8 x 2) soldier cards.
Does everyone flip their card at the same time? Yes, everyone flips their card at the same time. There is no you-go-I-go. Players are ALWAYS involved in the action.
What happens if one or more players have cards left over when I finish my deck Occasionally players will finish their decks ahead of other players because someone forgot to flip the card. This is okay. The players with remaining cards just finish their cards as usual until all cards are 'flipped'.
What happens when two players flip and their soldiers can act at the same time? The rules explain what happens during 'simultaneous actions'. Activities occur half-way through each other. If a soldier was firing at another soldier that was going from standing to prone, the shot would occur half way through the move. Since the target was going prone, I would using the kneeling stance modifier. Of course there are tricky situations, but I can't handle every possible rule or event. Yes, you could get the 'Mexican stand-off' where someone will not do something until the other person goes, and vice versa. Put, in 5 years of play testing I have never seen this happen. The odds of two cards coming up, with two soldiers facing each other, with conflicting activities/goals, is almost impossible. Most likely they will just shoot each other. If the players/GM cannot resolve it, write down what they are going to do.
What is a good sized deck? A deck should contain roughly 30 cards. The game will play faster and keeps the turns shorter (in real time).
Can a player run more than one deck? Yes. Especially of the decks are small. It is common for a player to run more than one deck.
Should I remove INC or KIA soldier cards from the deck? No. This will make the decks uneven.
Can you double-action a unit through a leadership card and their own card on the same card draw from different decks? No.
According to rules, a leader must have a LOS in order to use a leadership card on a soldier. If the soldier is 1" behind the leader, can the leader give an action? The LOS rule was to prevent orders from being given through high walls, buildings, hills, etc. Put, if EITHER figure is within LOS of each other, the orders should work. A little common sense should apply.
In order to get the bonus/penalty of the leader quality during a moral check, the leader must be in LOS. If the leader is near the soldier (e.g. just behind), should the modifier be applied? The same logic as above applies. LOS in either direction. Again, the rules was to prevent leaders affecting units through walls, hills, ect.
What about the -10 for the good order soldier. Does the same apply? Yes.
Is "shaken" or "pinned" or "broken" still a MRT-Modifier with x2, like "wounded". Or do I use the +10 for being shaken, +20 for being pinned and +30 for being broken. There is NO modifier to a Morale Check due to existing morale conditions, including the old x2. The recovery modifiers of +10, +20, +30 are ONLY for removing morale counters.
On a self rally attempt I only use the +10, +20 or +30 and no multiplier. Is this right? Yes.
Is it possible to create a Mass Movement Card for only 1 squad. Because we mix "Veterans" and "Greens" so we could give a mass movement card to the green? Absolutely! You can do whatever you want... you could even make "move only" action cards for each soldier, if you desired.
How you handle targets in the beaten zone or fire lane of a machine gun or any weapon with a rate of fire greater than one? Do you randomize hits, or dish them out evenly? The attacker chooses the targets, starting with the closest and then working your way through the beaten zone.
In order to benefit from having a loader for an LMG etc, what can/can't the loader do? A loader cannot perform any actions while acting as a weapon "loader". If the loader performs non-loading actions (for example, engaging in combat), all the benefits of having a loader are dropped. For example, firing a belt-fed LMG without a loader incurs a +10 FRT dice roll modifier and drops the mishap to 91-100. Basically, the loader appears to be doing nothing since his cards will come and go. In reality he is assumed to be assisting the gunner and requires no explicit commands.

A loader may use an action to remove a "re-load" mishap.
Any differences for magazine-fed and belt-fed LMG? A belt-fed or large capacity LMG can open a fire lane.

Most magazine-fed LMG's do not have a loader. For example, a Bren Gun is a more like a S/LMG (sub/light machinegun) gaining some benefits of a submachinegun and some benefits of an LMG. The gun is mainly operated by a single man. If you wanted to have a loader with a Bren gun, he would only assist in removing "re-load" mishaps.
Does the game have opportunity fire? In TFoB there is no opportunity fire. At first many gamers find this odd since that is usually a standard rule in many games. The cards ARE the opportunity. To those unfamiliar with the rules, there are two forces that may use a special type of fire - snipers and machinegun crews. Snipers may hold a card and play it at any time - in effect creating an opportunity fire soldier. Also, targets are engaged half-way through there regular movement. So if a target was to cross an alley in front of a sniper he would still be able to shoot him. A machinegun crew may place a fire lane down an alley and immediately engage any target that crosses the lane, even when it is not their card. All other soldiers must follow the normal card sequence of events. The cards create the opportunity. Another note, soldiers usually have more than 1 card in the deck, most have 2, some have 3.

The opportunity to fire presents itself when a target wishes to engage the enemy. If a soldier runs into LOS and stops to engage, then there is a chance you will return fire before he fires. You have made a choice to engage and presented yourself as a target. Now, it is quite possible that the soldier waiting has already skipped by his cards. Such is the fortune of war.

Any other time it is pure luck to be able to engage an enemy avoiding to be fired upon. So, if a soldier runs across an alley way and you are waiting for someone to do so, is it entirely possible that the soldier crosses before you shot me - the opportunity is lost. But, if we both drew our cards (this does happen), then you would shoot me in mid-stride.

A suggestion as an optional rule: a leader may hold a leadership card (like a sniper) and play it anytime instead of drawing from the deck. This may satisfy those people requiring such opportunistic actions.

Now, some gamers do not like the random action sequence since everything does not always work out as planned. But the reason we like it is because events in the game can happen that give that interesting battle situations - a soldier runs up to an anti-tank gun crew tosses a grenade and fires his SMG at the machinegun crew supporting it before they could react (true story). But most likely he will get engaged by one of the enemy soldiers - but maybe not.

Are the cards an exact representation of a battle? Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on what is your expectation of how a skirmish/small force battle occurs.

As for the two soldiers in the alley. There is a lot of things that need to be known. Are they purposely looking for each other? Are they running from one area to another? Do they carry SMG's? For example, say the alley is 2" wide. The soldiers are 2" from the end and each carry a rifle. I also assume both are moving towards the intersection. Both are out of LOS with each other. If soldier's A card is drawn he enters the intersection. Soldier B is now in his LOS (and vice-versa). Soldier A can do two things movement-wise; continue to the other side of the alley and remain in LOS (in cover) or move completely out of LOS down the alley. Soldier B on his card can fire at A if A is in LOS or move to the corner of the alley and fire at A (in the back) on his next card. Upon entering the intersection A could have also engaged B in hand-to-hand or if he was carrying an SMG fire on A instead of continuing his move down the alley.

Now, if the both drew their cards prior to entering the alley, they would run into each other with these options: hand-to-hand, flee, or stop and fire on your next card, or if they had SMG's fire!

The question arises, what if B was waiting for someone to enter the alley. Rifle at the shoulder, finger on the trigger. So when A enters the alley, why did B not shoot him immediately? Again, I have to answer this with the sequence of cards. If you think that B should automatically shoot anything within his LOS, then perhaps some sort of additional rules are necessary (as another poster suggested). Or if you think the cards themselves are enough to achieve then end result (as I do), then no rule is necessary.

Finally targets crossing a waiting soldier may not be so lucky to have terrain blocking LOS for each begin and end move and may end their move in LOS. They will probably be shot.

Funny things happen in battle. To quote from the book Currahee! Page 100-101.

"We automatically spread out and fired as we ran through the fields, apple orchards and right up to the houses themselves. I saw my first Kraut running through the trees at an angle to our right flank. I stopped, took sight at him and squeezed the trigger. ... the German fell spun sideways and fell face first in the grass. Another Kraut stepped around the corner of a building, stopped and just stood there.... He was facing me. [the German was shot and killed]"
When do you apply the subsequent shot +20 modifier. What about an SMG firing spray fire? The +20 modifier only applies to subsequent single shots (SS) by a semi-automatic weapon (e.g. M1 Garand) listed as a weapon with a shots per action greater than 1. So for an M1 Garand, when a card is drawn the US soldier would be able to shoot twice due to the SS rating of 2.
First Shot: +0
Second Shot: +20

An SMG when spray firing does not suffer the +20 penalty. Only the -10 SMG modifier applies.
When firing at an enemy unit with a single shot, do you randomize who you shoot at? Or do you specifically target a man of your choice? Target of your choice.
Weapons with 3 targets per shot (e.g. SMG spray firing), if there is only one person present to shoot at, does he get shot at three times or just the once and the other two shots are wasted? Only once. They are not actual shots - just targets you can hit in the spray zone. The -10 modifier to the FRT represents a quantity of bullets potentially striking the single target.
I have a M60 LMG 2 8 8 and a average Sergeant with authority over him, 2 NCO cards. The leaders NCO card is turned over and he has the LMG fire a FL enemy does morale checks and then FRT results. Later in the turn the gunners card is turned over and the gunner shifts his FL to the L or R and enemy does MC & FRT. Later in the turn the NCO card turns up. Can he have the gunner shift his FL again and also when the gunners last card turns up? Yes. Everything as described above is correct. This makes any support weapon with a dedicated NCO or CO very powerful. Try the same MG with an Experienced Major.. yikes! Basically that calm, cool and collected Sergeant is scouting for targets and directing fire while the crew concentrates on operating the weapon.
A player wanted to fire the ATR at the wood building, but we cant find any hint in the rules about the armour value of a wooden building. Can you please make any suggestions about the armour value of wood, stucco and brick buildings? How can I integrate the PF of the ATR in the FRT? Or do I simply use the -20 modifier and ignore the PF of the rifle? Do not use PF and AV for buildings. The quality of the building (soft, medium or hard) is already factored into the FRT. Therefore shooting at a target in a door of a wooden barn is soft-partial cover (column B) while shooting at a target in the door of a brick barn is hard-partial cover (column K). Always subtract the FRT modifier. The - 20 for the ATR assumes it has some penetration capability.
If a Panzerfaust is firing at an infantry target, you simply place the Explosion template down and go straight to the ERT...no skill check is needed to actually hit the infantry target and no scatter is possible, since the blast effect is handled directly by the ERT....correct? Just use the ERT and apply direct fire modifiers for range, etc. Don't forget to include things like shaken, etc. The charts are designed with this style of firing in mind.

You can still use a skill check when firing at specific targets (e.g. firing through a window or something like that).
Do ordnance weapons like a 2cm German Flak have crew cards? Yes.
Do I have to write the exact position of the crew member on every card, like "gunner" or "loader? Yes, you must specify a 'gunner' and a 'loader'. The ordnance then operates like a vehicle main gun. It must be first loaded by the loader, and then fired by the gunner. Other ordnance crew members do not have to be identified in specific roles. They act as extra loaders/gunners if one is INC or KIA, help spotting, or help move the gun, etc.
Is it right, that a ordnance weapon could only fire if the gunner card is drawn or could it fire if any crew card is drawn? Only when the gunner card is drawn.
And what about reloading, could only the loader card reload the weapon? Yes. And he can also remove the re-load mishap.
Okay, I get the idea of "loader" and "gunner', but what do all the other ordnance crew do? I think people get a little confused when they get a nifty pack of gun crew and it contains 4 or 6 figures. It's like "Hey, what are all these guys doing?" They forget that besides the obvious roles of commander, gunner and loader, the other crew are moving the gun, unpacking ammunition, sitting on the gun legs/spurs, spotting targets or attackers, digging in, etc. It is just not as glamourous as pulling the trigger. So the other crew are constantly doing actions, just no game-related actions. When their card is drawn, just treat it as a blank, until they start doing game-related activity. The extra crew can also fill in for the gunner or loader positions if that crew member is INC or KIA.

There is a good anti-tank article at: Anti-Tank Crew In Action
Rolling the ERT for a bazooka HE round on two targets. The first roll KIA's one target and the second roll is a mishap (e.g. a dud). So, is one soldier KIA but the other has no effect due to the dud round? Only the first ERT roll applies for a mishap. Subsequent mishap are ignored - just use the dice roll as the ERT roll.
How are armour values calculated? TFoB armour values take into effect the angle of the armour as well as the thickness and composition. We don't want to post the formula for calculating AV, but we are sure you can make a best guess.
If a vehicle starts or stops on a vehicle movement card, it has to roll for break down. Does that mean that if a vehicle is currently moving at speed 1, it cannot reduce its speed to 0 without rolling for breakdown (i.e., use the "change speed by 1 up or down and move normally" option)? If you move from 1 to 0 (stop) or 0 to 1 (start) on a vehicle movement card you do not have to roll for break down. This indicates you are just naturally stopping or starting the vehicle.
A round penetrated a T34 and one of the hits was "Gunner". The T34 didn't actually have a "Gunner", but it did have a "Commander" who also fired the main gun. Do you re-roll the damage? Yes. If a component does not exist on the vehicle, the damage is re-rolled.
Can a tank commander ever be "unbuttoned" while also firing the main gun. Would it take the commander an action to go from "unbuttoned" to being in a position to fire the gun? No.
Would it take the commander an action to go from "unbuttoned" to being in a position to fire the gun? Yes.
Is an "unbuttoned" commander classed as being in good [75%] or substantial [90%] cover when being shot at or caught in an explosion? Good cover, hard terrain.
Does the variable penetration factor apply to HEAT rounds? No.
A tank is shot at when it is parked behind a wall, is the +20 "Partial Medium/Hard Cover" modifier the only one which would apply, would you make the vehicle one size smaller as well? Only the +20 modifier.
One round penetrated the turret of a T34 and got a "main armament" hit. Normally you would roll for damage on the Loader and Gunner, but the T34 doesn't have a Gunner. Do incidental hits apply to "crew members acting in that role"? Should we have rolled for hits on the Tank Commander? Yes. Unless the tank commander is unbottuned and doing commander-like actions (e.g. spotting).
AFV's firing HE - does the gunner have to make a check on the Skills Resolution Table to see if the round hits, the same as if he is firing AP at another vehicle? You do not need to roll a 'to-hit' to attack a ground/infantry target. Just place the template down and modify the ERT 1d100 dice roll based on conditions including the vehicle modifiers (e.g. speed, etc). You basically apply all the direct fire ERT modifiers to the 1d100 die roll.