Arc of Fire unit activation redux

This post, prompted by the solo game I played yesterday, is a revision of a piece I included in the Andreivian Tales blog back in 2017.

Arc of Fire (my go-to set of skirmish rules for small actions from at least the mid-19th century onwards) uses a card activation system. Each unit (typically squad-sized) is activated twice in a turn on the turn of a pair of nominated cards. 

Thus in a WWII game with three units a side we might allocate the two red aces to the first US infantry squad, the two red 2s to the second squad, and the two red 3s to the accompanying Sherman tank. Likewise the German units might be allocated the black Jacks, Queens and Kings respectively. A couple of Jokers are added to our abbreviated game deck and we're good to go.

This works fine for smaller games but we (the former SOTCW and current Crisis Point communities) have tended to use AoF for bigger, multi-player games. 

We therefore activate multiple units on each pair of cards with competitive Tac rolls to see who gets to go first in the event of a clash.

The following alternative method was designed to address the needs of a player who had trouble remembering which unit was which when comparing the units sheet with what's actually on the table. The next card's a red Ace... yes that's one of mine... Oh yes, it's second infantry squad... now which one was that...?

The approach is adapted from Buck Surdu's Combat Patrol. I haven't read these rules but they were described on the Meeples and Miniatures podcast.  

At the start of each turn we roll a D6 for each unit. This gives the unit its Activation Number. A micro-die in a die holder can be placed next to the unit to show this.

The new Activation Deck consists of:

• Red cards numbered 1 to 6
• Black cards numbered 1 to 6
• The Red Joker
• The Black Joker, and possibly
• The "Roll a D6" card.

Because I'm producing my own cards I can include all of the relevant info on them. Wounded figures previously didn't activate on their unit's second card. Now I no longer need to go back through the previously dealt cards to check this. 

Note the reference to "Command Chit" is now out of date - I'll be replacing it with "Units with Activation Number 2".

Similarly the Joker cards themselves remind me which sequence of cards triggers a random event and who is affected by it. Obviously there may be more than one unit with the relevant Activation Number. We dice to see which single unit is affected by the random event.

Finally we have the "Roll a D6" card. 

This triggers the eponymous die roll to select an Activation Number. Units with that Activation Number may get a special activation if designated in the scenario.  Examples from our Andreivia 1918 games included:

• If unit is rated Aggressive, it may activate a third time this turn (including wounded models).
• British Mark IV tank - one vehicle immobilised by engine failure, normal immobilisation rules apply.
• British Mark V Tank - crew must abandon one vehicle for two whole cards due to overheating.
• Early armoured car - get an extra move if on road, bog down if moving cross-country, normal immobilisation rules apply.

I'd been reading the book A New Excalibur about early tank designs. The peculiarities of some of them were clearly in the forefront of my mind at the time. You could use something similar for unreliable early Panthers at Kursk. 

I'm sure there are other characteristics of units that might be applied in this way. Perhaps "If unit is rated Steady, any Broken models may make an immediate attempt to rally"?

I'm tempted to go back to Arc of Fire. Maybe for Crisis Point 2025?