Cambrai to Sinai

This booklet is a completely new edition of the Cambrai to Sinai Rules first published in 1978 and themselves a development of earlier infantry action rules. The previous edition was used with success in the 1978 British National Championships and in the Armageddon Wargames Championships in Reading from 1979 to 1982. The rules have thus received several years of play-testing under exacting competition conditions, that experience has been put to good use in the development of this new edition.

The basic principles and mechanisms embodied in Cambrai to Sinai have proved themselves flexible, detailed, realistic and relatively easy to use. The authors decided to build on these secure foundations and concentrate in this edition on larger scale brigade or divisional level actions best represented on the table by using 1:300 scale models, though other scales can be used with success. The system for detection and location on the battlefield and the infantry combat mechanism have been developed and improved to make them quick and simple to operate with large formations while still retaining the realism of the first edition. The authors have also introduced an entirely new and novel mechanism for speedily determining the results of aerial combat over the battlefield. The sophisticated anti-tank and artillery fire mechanisms have been further improved and now cover even more weapon types, whilst the reaction test system has been streamlined for rapid use. As with all rules published by Newbury Rules this book is fully cross-referenced for ease of access to the necessary date and there is a Glossary giving clear explanations fo many of the terms used. The list of AFV data incorporated in Appendix 2 has been expanded to make it as comprehensive as possible. An Appendix of optional extra rules has been included to provide even greater flexibility and realism if required. You will find the bibliography a useful introduction to the literature covering the period encompassed by the rules. Illustrations have been incorporated in the book to add flavour, they are all originals. Finally, this edition also incorporates play sheets for the first time, which together with an improved layout of the tables considerably improve the speed of play.

The rules are particularly designed for World War II battles in all theatres but can be used equally well for pre-war and even post-war conflicts up to the mid 1960s. The platoon level infantry action element of the rules has been extracted and will be published separately as a supplement to this set, thus avoiding some of the complexity and duplication of the previous edition and making the rules easier to use. The supplement for infantry action will integrate fully with this set when it appears. The authors also plan to produce a rule book dealing with modern warfare, based on this edition.

A relatively recent addition to the Newbury Rules range was the publication of Army Lists for World War II designed for use with the first edition of Cambrai to Sinai. A few amendments to those lists are now necessary as a result of the changes introduced by this set. A second edition of the Army Lists will be published in due course, in the meantime the existing lists can be easily modified. The authors hope that army lists for other periods will follow. It is their intention following the pattern recently established by Newbury Rules to introduce further detailed amendments in the army lists to enable the accurate representation of subtle variations of individual weapon types etc. without cluttering the rules themselves. Detailed amendments should thus be anticipated as an essential component of the army lists, they may in some cases only apply to specific armier or nationalities. The authors will of course continue to develop the rules and look forward to an active contribution by their readers, please do write to them with your ideas, comments and criticism.

They recommend that when using these rules you use your troops in the manner in which actual combat commanders found necessary at the time, if you don't your troops will be punished severely. Don‘t be afraid to be aggressive, make full use of potentials of mechanized warfare, strike hard and fast. It is the authors‘ hope that you will find the rules easy but satisfying to use giving games that are both enjoyable and realistic. If they succeed then the many hours of preparation and development have all been worthwhile.

Contents

• Title: Cambrai to Sinai
• Period: 1917–1967
• Type: Tactical Wargame
• Time Scale: 1 Turn = 30 Seconds
• Ground Scale: 1:1000
• Troop Scale: 1 figure = 1 man
• Basing: 5 × 10 mm per Figure in 1:300 Scale
• Armour penetration benchmarks
  • Sherman vs. Lingèvres Panther: 17 % per game turn
• Authors: Trevor Halsall, Graham Hyland
• Format: 64 Pages, Softcover
• Language: English
• Publisher: Newbury Rules, Newbury, Great Britain
• Published: 1983

Chapters

1. Introductory Section
2. Force Composition & Organisation
3. Terrain
4. Play Sequence
5. Battlefield Conditions
6. Orders & Communications
7. Detection and Location
8. The Move
9. Movement and Transport
10. Chance
11. Firing in General
12. Small Arms Fire
13. Melee
14. Heavy Weapons Fire
15. Smoke
16. Mines, Minefields and Booby Traps
17. Engineers and Signals Operations
18. River Crossings
19. Casualties
20. Night Actions
21. Air Warfare
22. Reaction

• Glossary
• Appendix 1 – Data for Troops, Soft Equipment and Aircraft
• Appendix 2 – AFV Data
• Appendix 3 – Additional Optional Rules

Tables

• Detection and Location Ranges
• Infantry and Cavalry Move Rates
• Infantry and Cavalry Move Penalties, Deductions and Restrictions
• Soft Transport and Vehicle Move Rates
• Vehicle Move Penalties, Deductions and Restrictions
• Weapon Values for Small Arms and Infantry Support Weapons etc.
• Basic Factors for Fire and Melee
• Tactical Factors for Small Arms and Support Weapons Fire and Melee
• Casualties
• Heavy Weapons Direct Fire Factors
• Direct Fire Tactical Factors
• Target Categories
• Percent Hit Chances
• HE Strike Values and Barrage Hit Chances etc.
• Defence Values – Soft Targets, Buildings etc.
• Modification to AFV Defence Values
• Anti-Tank Strike Values
• Air to Air and Ground to Air Fire
• Reaction Factors – Infantry, Cavalry, Weapons Crews and Soft Vehicles
• Reaction Factors – AFVs
• Reaction Results
• Summary Definitions of Reaction Responses

Evaluation

Cambrai to Sinai is a complete set of wargame rules, covering almost every aspect of 1917–1967 land warfare without the need for additional, expensive supplements.

Cambrai to Sinai uses the same figure basing as War Games Rules: Armour & Infantry 1925-1950 published by the Wargames Research Group in 1973.

In Cambrai to Sinai, the 75 mm L.41 Sherman tank gun has a mere 17 % chance of hitting the fully exposed turret side armour of a hull down and stationary German Panther medium tank at 400 yards range. However, if that Panther turret were used as a pillbox, as was done in 1944 and 1945, the 75 mm L.41 Sherman tank gun would now have a 59 % chance of hitting this identical target; the only difference between the targets being that one is bolted to a below ground level tank hull and the other to an underground steel, concrete or wooden emplacement. The Panther‘s large turret side is a bigger target than a Jeep, but Cambrai to Sinai gives the 75 mm L.41 Sherman tank a 53 % chance of hitting the Jeep. Clearly, the hull down mathematics in Cambrai to Sinai are flawed, resulting in vastly different to-hit probabilities of similarly sized targets, all else being equal.

Cambrai to Sinai does not allow for vehicles to be deployed in a turret down position behind a crest line or linear obstacle, in which case the vehicle‘s anti-aircraft machine gun, “Rabbit Ears”, or a partially exposed vehicle commander with binoculars might be the only visible target.

The small print on quick reference sheets can be difficult to read, especially the tiny “+” and “-” signs in front of important modifiers, requiring occasional reference to the full-scale charts inside the book.

Cambrai to Sinai treats tank traps and anti-tank ditches as “impassable”, despite the fact that tanks often do drive into these obstacles, accidentally or with the faint hope of actually making it across, only to become immobilized. The engineering rules do not mention fascine bundles carried on tanks for the very purpose of crossing “impassable” anti-tank ditches or trenches, nor are there tanks with dozer blades which might attempt to cut and fill the ditch to create a crossing.

The picture show Heroics & Ros 1:300 scale British paratroops and vehicles compatible with Cambrai to Sinai wargame rules. The 4-man para group is mounted on a 20 × 10 mm stand, the Bren LMG and P.I.A.T. teams are on 10 × 10 mm heavy weapons stands. A British 10-man infantry section may be recreated using two 4-man infantry stands and a Bren LMG team. The heavy mortar team has been mounted on a round base for ease of identifaction. Vehicles are easier to handle if they are based as well.

Wargame Rules