Atomic Africa (Pt 9): Clean-Up Phase

Players in Atomic Africa repeat multiple Activation Phases, alternating roles as the Activating Player and Reacting Player until no units eligible to activate remain.  The final phase of the game turn, the Clean-Up Phase, follows the last Activation Phase.

The first part of the Clean-Up Phase involves splitting units, whether compulsory or by player choice.  Every wound counter assigned to a unit causes its Morale die to shift one type lower.  If a unit's wound counters force a Morale die shift lower than a d4, that unit must split or be removed in the Clean-Up Phase.  Split a unit into two adjacent groups, as equal in number of figures as possible.  Assign the split unit's suppression markers and wound counters equally among the two new units.  Units smaller than six figures cannot split and still meet the minimum figure requirement; therefore these units are considered destroyed and removed from the table.  Example: a motivated, well-rested 11 man squad (base Morale d10) with two wound counters from a previous attack suffers another three wounds when struck by rifle fire.  The attacks also leave the squad with four suppression markers.  Three wound counters shift the Morale down to a d4, therefore the fourth wound forces the squad to split.  The squad splits into two fireteams of six and five troopers, with the player assigning two suppression markers to each.  The player also divides the five wound counters, assigning three to one fireteam, two to the other.  Players may also voluntarily split any unit (of six figures or more) during the Clean-Up Phase, using the same procedures as above.    

Players attempt to eliminate suppression markers during the Morale Sub-phase, the second part of the Clean-Up Phase.  Players roll one die for each unit with one or more suppression markers.  The die type is determined by the unit's Morale Attribute.  As described above, wounds adjust any and all Morale rolls, including this one.  Shift the Morale die one type lower for each wound counter the unit has.  If the die score rolled exceeds the number of suppression markers assigned to the unit, the owning player may discard one suppression marker.  For Example: a motivated, well-rested squad with a previous wound and suppression marker meets an enemy machine gun nest and receives another two suppression markers and two more wound counters.  The squad's controlling player makes a Morale roll at the end of the turn, using a single d4 (d10 shifted three dice types for the three wounds).  The player therefore only has a 25% chance (roll of "4") to eliminate one of the three suppression markers.

Players complete Morale rolls and then finish the Clean-Up Phase by collecting up all their respective cards and thoroughly shuffling them.  Players cut their opponents shuffled decks and begin the next turn.

Now that the turn sequence has been fully described, the next posts will focus on specific rules.  First up: Special Actions.