Very cool counters, good job!
I see a very interesting thing in those countersheets...POWs! Are they too into the main module or they are new?
Thanks, Rydo!
These POW counters are new and are my own invention.
Two ways I envisioned using them:
1. Since it is possible for units to surrender in LnLT (Rule 5.1, when Shaken units are engaged in a Melee and no other friendly, GO, Melee Eligible units are with them, they surrender), it seemed to me that it might enhance play to have them turn into a POW counter. Also, under Rule 8.1 after a Melee, any Non Melee Eligible units (Leader, Hero) and non-Hero SMC are removed if all the Melee-Eligible counters are gone. Those could be considered captured, too, if you like -- or, if you don't mind the added complexity, you could make some kind of dieroll check and they become POWs if they fail, or get killed if they pass because they resisted to the end.
2. Friendly or enemy POWs can also become an objective in a scenario. For example, the LRDG might be raiding an Italian outpost with the goal of freeing British POWs who are being held in a building under guard.
You'll notice that the POW counter has a very low morale (3), which seems reasonable to me since they were captured, may be far behind enemy lines and likely to be feeling pretty hopeless. So they will shake easily, and when flipped to Shaken they simply cower and don't move at all. Notice that they have a movement allowance, but it's only 1 because they're likely to be tired, hungry and thirsty, possibly wounded, and they're a sullen lot who shuffle along only grudgingly and at gunpoint.
But I also like the idea that a POW counter can turn back into a combat unit under certain circumstances. What would make that happen? Well, how about if a friendly GO Melee-eligible unit enters their hex (and, if they are Shaken, a friendly Leader has to successfully rally them)? I think in that case the POW counter should be replaced by a good-order Crew counter -- representing their rescuers having given them some pistols or other light weapons.
Also, I think a POW counter that isn't guarded (it's not in weapon range of any GO enemy unit) should consider trying to escape if it's within LOS of a GO friendly Melee-eligible unit. Perhaps a morale check determines whether the POWs try to escape, with a +1 to their morale rating for every GO friendly Melee-eligible unit they can see. Escaping POWs are still hampered by that very slow movement allowance, because they still have to reach a friendly unit's hex to turn into a Crew.
I can see how this could make for some realistic tactical tradeoffs (guarding prisoners is a distraction and takes trigger-pullers away from your combat troops) and some highly dramatic situations -- POWs trying to escape under fire, or troops fighting their way into a compound and trying to eliminate the guards without harming the POWs, etc.
Also, some LRDG or SAS missions involved capturing a prisoners for intelligence purposes and bringing them back safely to base for handover to HQ. The prisoners could be just hapless survivors of an enemy patrol, or Erwin Rommel himself! So in a campaign game you would not only have to successfully accomplish your objective in a battle to capture the prisoner; you'd also need to carry the POWs back across the desert on your vehicles and make sure your precious cargo makes it back to base with you in one piece, even if you have battles to fight on the way home (where they could get killed or escape).
There you have it -- lots of new play value in a simple new counter!
