How do I play Mark Walkers Lock'nLoad? By Peter Bogdasarian

What do I need to know about the units?

What happens in a turn of Lock'nLoad?

All turns have four parts. Each part will always happen in the same place each time. First off, you roll initiative. Each of you rolls a die the high roller wins. Whoever had the initiative last wins a tie.

Next, you have a rally phase. Here, shaken units try to recover but you need an individual to help them. A hero or a leader is enough to do the job. You roll two dice and try to roll equal to or less than the morale of the units in the hex. Medics also do their thing here. You get to subtract 2 from the die rolls if you are in terrain with a positive terrain modifier.

The next part of the turn is the largest. It is called Operations. Here, all the stuff happens. The players take turns moving, firing and passing, starting with the player who has the initiative. Each unit may normally do one thing a turn. This continues until there are three passes in a row.

Finally, there is a clean up phase. Markers for moving, firing, etc. are removed. Also, all units in degrading and blocking terrain hide and will need to be spotted in the next turn before they can be fired at. How do I tell if a hex has a positive target modifier? Look at the Terrain Effects chart & figure out what kind of terrain surrounds the center dot of the hex. Now cross-reference that with the target modifier column. What can I do in the Operations phase? When its your turn, you can do 3 things. First of all, you can always try to spot the enemy

this does not use up your turn, though it does take the turn of the unit trying it. After this, you have a choice you may (1) activate one or more units to do stuff or (2) pass. If you pass, the other player gets to go. How do I activate one or more units? You can activate all units in a hex (to do one or more things) on your turn. A leader, when activated, may also activate units in adjacent hexes. What can I do with an activated unit?

Each activated unit may do one of the following: (1) move (or crawl), (2) shoot, (3) try to spot and, if successful, shoot (if failed, provide opportunity fire), (4) attempt to lay smoke and also provide opportunity fire. How do I move units? Units spend movement points to move. Each hex entered costs some of these points. (see the terrain effects chart) A unit may enter a number of hexes whose cost is equal to or less than its movement factor. A unit which moves with a good order leader may move an extra two movement points. Units must move together. Note: units which more are automatically spotted and are vulnerable to opportunity fire. A unit may choose to low crawling which case it only moves one hex but does not give away its position. How do I see something (so I can shoot it)?

Units in Lock'nLoad are either spotted or hidden. A unit is spotted if (1) it is in a open hex, (2) it has moved/fired this turn, (3) it is next to one of your units or (4) it has a spotted counter on it!

To spot a hex with enemy units in it, you only need to roll a die and have a unit that can see the hex you wish to spot. To figure out if you succeeded, you compare the modified die roll with one-half your morale (rounded up). Only two things modify the die roll: (1) degrading terrain in between your unit and what you want to see (add 1 to the die roll per hex) and (2) the leadership modifier of a unit trying to spot (subtract from the die roll).

If you can roll below your modified morale, you spot the hex. If you roll above your modified morale you do not. If you roll equal to your modified morale, then and only then you

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How do I play Mark Walkers Lock'nLoad? By Peter Bogdasarian

need to figure out if the hex youre looking at is degrading or blocking terrain. If it is degrading terrain, you spot. If it is blocking terrain, you do not. How do I tell if a hex is clear, degrading or blocking? Look at the Terrain Effects chart and figure out what kind of terrain surrounds the center dot of the hex. Now cross-reference that with the type column. How do I shoot something?

In Lock'nLoad, you can shoot at hexes which your units know contain the enemy. Thus, to be able to fire at a hex, you need 3 things: a unit (1) capable of seeing and firing into a hex that (2) contains spotted enemy units. The hex must (3) be within range of the weapons to be fired at it. Okay, so Im shooting now how do I figure out if I hit?

The basic concept for resolving all small arms fire in Lock'nLoad is pretty simple you and your opponent each roll a die. The die rolls are then modified for firepower, terrain, etc. If the attacker rolls better than the defender, then the difference between his roll and the defenders is the amount of damage inflicted. Because you shoot at hexes in Lock'nLoad, every unit in the defenders hex is hit by a successful attack. Like movement, all activated units must fire together at a single target hex. Where do I look for these modifiers? The bottom of the Direct Fire table. Okay, so hes hit what did I do?

To figure out what happens to infantry units, leaders or other personnel units in Lock'nLoad, you roll a die and add the amount of damage inflicted. You then compare your damage roll to the targets morale. If you rolled less than or equal to the targets morale, you accomplished nothing. If you rolled above the targets morale, then you look at the Direct Fire Table. Once there, you need to know two things (1) how far you rolled above the targets morale (is your roll more than twice his morale? triple?) and (2) whether you shot a squad (called an MMC on the table) or an individual (called an SMC on the table).

A leader can help! If your leader passes the damage check, you can subtract his leadership mod from the other damage checks made by units in the stack. Fire Combat sounds nasty. How do I get some cover? To lay smoke: nominate a squad or half-squad as placing smoke and roll 1 die. What you need to roll depends on who is attempting to lay smoke. American units need a 3 or less, NVA a 2 or less and Viet Cong a 1. Smoke may be placed in your hex or in an adjacent one. See the terrain effects chart. Fire Combat sounds wimpy. How do I fix bayonets? To engage in melee, move into an enemy hex. Melee is normally simultaneous. (both sides fight) The attackers firepower (both units and machineguns) is compared to the defending units attacked and a kill number determined from the melee table. 2d6 are rolled. If your roll is equal to or greater than the kill number and the other guys dead. Viet Cong can ambush. If they move into melee from outside the attackers line-of-sight (whether they are hidden or not does not matter), their firepower is tripled and they get the first strike. Also, shaken units and SMCs without firepower ratings are killed/surrender automatically if all other units stacked with them die. Ive got a sniper what does he do? A sniper may be placed at any time even during the opponents impulse in any hex with a positive terrain modifier that is not occupied by any enemy units. Unlike normal fire combat, he rolls 2d6 to hit, but he only attacks one unit (determined randomly) in the enemy hex.

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