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Wargamers! Today we dive into the most critical psychological layer of the game: Pins, Morale, and Indirect Fire. They represent the stress, fear, and survival instincts of your troops under pressure.
A Pin represents the mounting pressure on a squad. Unlike many strategy games where a unit is either "alive" or "dead," our units suffer the consequences of every successful hit. When a unit is hit by enemy fire, it receives a Pin marker — even if it does not suffer any casualties, reflecting the suppressive effect of incoming fire.
Pins are not limited to infantry squads: vehicles can also accumulate Pin markers, representing the impact of sustained enemy pressure on their crews.
Pins provide a flat -1 penalty to Accuracy, but their effect on Morale is cumulative. A squad with several Pins isn't just slightly shaken—they are becoming increasingly difficult to command.
When activating a pinned unit, they don't immediately act; they must first pass an Order Test .
A 2D6 roll against the unit’s Current Morale (calculated as Base Morale minus the Number of Pins).
If you roll equal to or under that target number, the men pull themselves together, clear one Pin, and execute the order. If you fail, the squad refuses to budge, goes Down, and focuses entirely on staying alive rather than following your lead.
This creates a high-stakes decision for the player: Do you try to force a suppressed unit to make a heroic charge, or do you give them a 'Rally' order to clear those Pins and stabilize the line?
While Order Tests determine if a unit will follow an order, Morale Checks determine if they stay on the field at all. These are triggered by significant trauma, such as a squad losing half its men or being attacked by a Flamethrower!
Like an Order Test, you roll 2D6 against your Current Morale. But the stakes here are total—failure means the unit breaks, panics, and is removed from the game. They haven’t all been killed, but their will to fight is gone.
Managing your Officers’ Command Range becomes vital here, as their leadership can provide a bonus to both Order and Morale rolls.
Indirect Fire—from Mortars and Howitzers—is the ultimate solution for an enemy that refuses to leave cover. Unlike direct fire, which travels in a straight line, indirect fire can arc over obstacles. However, the firing unit must still have line of sight to the target point, or rely on a spotter who can see it. These weapons utilize Area of Effect (AOE) damage, capable of hitting multiple models and stacking multiple Pins at once.
Indirect Fire uses a Ranging In mechanic to determine the hit roll. A mortar starts out as inaccurate but becomes more accurate every turn if it focuses on the same target. Great for flushing enemies out of defensive positions.
In the digital version*, we’ve translated the "Ranging In" mechanic into a visual Targeting Circle. Instead of just clicking a unit, you select a blast zone. At first this circle is large but it shrinks with every shot until it becomes a perfect bullseye. Interestingly, because the shell can land anywhere within the targeting circle, a "miss" can result in partial damage to nearby enemies caught in the blast.
*As with all mechanic changes, this is subject to playtesting but we feel it better represents the chaos of a battlefield.
We’ve reached the end of our Diaries that explain game mechanics. In the next diary, we’ll dive into how players will build their army. Hard choices and impossible trade-offs!
In the meantime, in case you missed it, you can dive deeper into curiosities and insights about the video game by reading our FAQs and/or watching OnTableTop’s interview with the leader of our dev team:
Community Question: When your squad is sitting on three Pins, what’s your go-to move? Do you play it safe with a Rally order to clear the suppression or do you trust the dice and force an Order Test to keep the pressure on?
Wishlist Bolt Action: https://www6.slitherine.com/game/bolt-action
