6th Airborne Division

The 6th Airborne Division, nicknamed the Red Devils, was the British elite parachute division. Using these rules, players can now alter their setup by using an air deployment. While this allows for greater flexibility, the ramifications can be catastrophic if squads do not land where they are supposed to.

Think you are brave enough? Then take to the skies!

The following Initiative card and Smoke token can be used in any Tide of Iron campaigns and scenarios:

To download the pdf, right click here and save link as (pdf, 1.5 mb)

To download these tokens, right click here (division 1 png, 275 kb)
and right click here (division 2 png, 275 kb) and save link as

The Initiative card follows similar rules to 29th Infantry Division Initiative card found in the Normandy expansion. The card replaces the normal British Initiative card if both players agree. Before the start of a single scenario or a campaign, the British player using the 6th Airborne card must decide whether to use the text side or the non-text side. The British player must use the chosen side until the completion of the scenario or the campaign.

If the text side is chosen, the British player may alter his setup as follows:

1. Before placing his units during setup, he places up to 2 Smoke Signal tokens on the board. The Division 1 Smoke token can be placed into any legal placement for a Division 1 unit and the Division 2 Smoke token can be placed into any legal placement for a Division 2 unit.
2. British vehicles and equipment are placed normally.
3. British infantry squads are now placed anywhere on the map within 6 spaces of that squad’s division’s Smoke token. However, when placing squads, it is important to keep in mind the squads relative position to it’s division’s Smoke token as this will determine if the squad is in supply or not.

This completes the British setup. When both players have setup their units, the British player immediately performs the Landing Phase detailed below.

Landing Phase

The British player now checks on the the success of his proposed air drops (the placement of his infantry squads). To do so, the British player does the following:

1. Roll a black and a red die for Division 1.
2. Check to make sure that each squad is in supply as follows. First, count the number of hexes each squad is from its Smoke token. Compare this number to the number on the black die. If the number on the black die is equal to or greater than the number of hexes the squad is from the Smoke token, the squad has successfully landed. Otherwise, the squad is out of supply. For each out of supply squad, the British player must take damages according to the red die. Remove X units from each out of supply unit where X equals half of the number on the red die (rounded up). Then remove all Smoke Signal tokens.