I've noticed that a number of historical games and gamers seem to include non-combatants on the tabletop, as well as support personnel. This is something that seems to lacking in most SF games, even though war always tends to involve more than just the front-line troops. This article is an attempt on my part to explore the addition of these elements to Warzone (though it should apply to any other SF game you happen to play). The mechanical aspects are only briefly addressed as they will vary depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

Civilians might seem to be unlikely occupants of your tabletop, but a brief review of military history will show that they are often caught up in or around battles. Refugee columns may clog roads, delaying the swift deployment of troops and supplies. Military bases often have the families of soldiers living on or nearby them. These, as well as the general citizenry living in towns, may need to be evacuated in time of danger. This is especially true when dealing with hostile forces that are known (rightly or not) for treating prisoners badly or not taking any at all. In some circumstances, civilians may be the target of an enemy who seeks to spread terror (Dark Legion, anyone?) or has another reason to attack (the Brotherhood may want to take out a scientist or three they think is delving into 'forbidden' technologies, for instance).

As an example, take the small Bauhaus town of Hamdorf, nestled on the banks of a Venusian river. Dark Legion forces are preparing an assault on the town; the local commander must evacuate the populace. He may get points for every civilian model safely removed across the river (by bridge, ferry, etc.) in addition to the usual points for models killed. A different idea would be a surprise attack that has the objective of causing as much chaos as possible to the defenders. In this case the attacking force may have several targets beyond troops: civilians, public works (government offices, monuments, bridges, etc.), communications stations, etc. Examples of these sorts of game can be found on Ian Croxall's Red Shadow page (as the "Tukulor Ghosts"), the Major General's page (the "Second Battle of Tel-Debi") and the Ratnest ("And Sometimes ... The Innocent Die").

Civilian stats should be fairly low - less than or even with a standard grunt trooper. Children of Ilian with a size of 2 and a leadership of about 6 should work; they will most likely be unarmed and will flee if attacked. Whichever corporation they are part of should control them.

As a brief aside, if you use a GM or referee in your games not all the civilians may be what they seem. Assassins, cultists and Infiltrators may hide amongst refugees and that innocent-looking group of townspeople may turn out to be Etoiles Mortants as Bauhaus springs its trap on the on the enemy (who thought this was a 'sneak' attack ...).

Leaving the general populace aside, we have support personnel. Every army has a large percentage of men and women who handle paperwork, repair vehicles, cook, transport supplies, act as war correspondents, etc. Now, in many cases these may be just as well shown on the board by using normal grunt troops. If the supply depot gets attacked, the clerks and cargo handlers grab rifles and fight like anyone else. No real point in doing up new stats or anything for these guys. I think some interesting things could be done here anyway. If we return to the little town of Hamdorf and find it besieged what could we add in terms of support personnel? How about stretcher bearers? Give the Bauhaus player one team of bearers per squad and define one building as the hospital. For every wounded (zero-wounds) trooper carried into the hospital, the defender gets half his points value. This would probably work better in a long battle. A little bit of work with the plastic figures from the box set could supply Bauhaus or Imperial with stretcher teams easily.

War correspondents might be added in as well, if you have the figures for them. (These might be civilians or military personnel, actually.) Oh, remember those refugees? Wouldn't it make more sense to have some MPs handling the traffic? Paint up a squad of grunts with white helmets or add brassards and there you go! Perhaps a high-ranking officer is in the area as well - he would have to be kept alive, but might offer some bonuses to his side (unless he's Imperial ...). Remember that he needn't be extremely tough; by the logic that some games use (no names, now ...) Dwight Eisenhower should have been capable of taking out a company of Panzers by himself! For Warzone, using the statistics of a hero or even a trooper (possibly with 2 wounds) ought to suffice.

If there are specialized facilities on the board, they have to be operated by someone. An airfield has pilots, air traffic controllers and ground crew. Missile bases have to have someone to fuel, target and launch the missiles (and note that something like a V-1 Buzzbomb would not be affected by the Dark Symmetry).

Military engineers might be building a bridge across a river before an assault or throwing up fortifications. Grunt troopers (possibly modified) could be used for them; a little kitbashing or conversion of plastic toys could provide construction vehicles. In this case, you might want to set the statistics for some of these. After all, if you have a bulldozer and there's a Pretorian Behemoth in front of you ...

Continuing on these lines we come to noncombat vehicles. Little things like staff cars, bulldozers, trucks and the like can make interesting additions to the game. In some cases they may just be scenery. In others they may the objective. Supply vehicles are great targets for attacks. Things like the V-1 mentioned above fall into this category as well. While not really classified as 'noncombatant', it can't be used against anyone on the table. As another example, I have a toy helicopter that is going to be converted into a VTOL ground attack craft. It probably won't ever be seen flying over the table; but placed with some fuel drums, crates and a couple of buildings it will help create a nice forward airstrip for someone to blow up.

So there are a few of the ideas I've had in this area. Most of them haven't been tried (yet!) and doubtless you can come up with some ideas that haven't occurred to me. However you prefer to approach wargaming I hope you find something of occasional use in all this. Remember that war knows bounds ... and, at least on the tabletop, that's a good thing.