Rules Questions

[Matt]

Hey there, im looking at building an army list from the new Western Desert book. Specifically im looking at using the british armoured brigade 1942. Question is can I use this armoured brigade list alongside the new commonwealth rules described on pg 102? Or are the Commonwealth rules literally for the Commonwealth infantry brigade list?

Thanks

[Teafloy]

In the Soviet army book theatre selections, the SU-76 is often an option

But never the Su-76i.

Can you use the Su-76i if a theatre selection says you can use the Su-76?

[Stuart Harrison]

@ Rob Lemay – check AoSU p79, Operation Star: Third Battle of Kharkov – SU-76i is an option listed straight after the SU-76. Also p80, Battle of Kursk.

[Master Chief]

I am looking at the Hidden unit rules. When a sniper shoots at a hidden unit, it seems it will ignore the hidden unit’s to-hit modifiers of -4 for soft and -5 for hard cover. Is this right?

[Stuart Harrison]

@MasterChief – yes – hidden is a negative to hit modifier, snipers ignore all negative to hit modifiers except pins and lost assistant.

[ADrokk]

Question around intent of forward deployment vs mission deployment rules.

As currently written forward deployment is only applicable under the following three conditions
1. The mission is an attacker defender scenario (defender gets first drop)
2. The unit can be deployed on table prior to turn 1
3. The unit is in the first wave, pending the requirement to be deployed on the table before turn 1

So a simple example is a sniper being deployed under the mission meeting engagement. Does forward deploy override the mission deployment rules which state no units are deployed on the board at the start if the game?

My current reading as a TO says no, but I have a few players attempting to convince me otherwise.

Cheers

[Scott]

Combat Jump question:

In a game today we had a question about how combat jump interacts with models from an enemy or friendly unit. While impassable terrain forces the loss of a model, how do you handle paratrooper models in the “stick” which would violate the 1″ gap between models rule? Are they lost as well? Do you place so they’re more than an inch away (thus violating unit coherency)? Thanks in advance

[Stuart Harrison]

“As currently written forward deployment is only applicable under the following three conditions
1. The mission is an attacker defender scenario (defender gets first drop)
2. The unit can be deployed on table prior to turn 1
3. The unit is in the first wave, pending the requirement to be deployed on the table before turn 1”

Several miconceptions there. There is no specification that it has to be an attacker/defender scenario, just that when it is the defender goes first. “In an attacker/defender scenario (defender first)… Otherwise (alternate and roll a die to see who) places first” (paraphrasing for brevity in brackets) the first sentence is if attacker/defender and the very next sentence is if it’s not. Both allow forward deployment.

Forward deployment applies whether the unit is deployed on table or allocated to first wave. The only scenarios where it doesn’t apply is when all units start in reserve, or you choose to allocate the forward deploying unit to reserve.

Forward deployment rule take precedence – stated in the rule, “If, on the other hand, they are chosen as one of the units you set-up on the table, or they are in the first wave, then their own special set-up rules take precedence.”

[Stuart Harrison]

Addition to my last:

An example of a scenario with no forward deployment is Top Secret – all forces start in Reserve, no first wave, no units set up on the table.

[ADrokk]

Hi Stuart,

Fair point to attacker defender scenarios. I definitely had that misunderstood.

I’ve been chatting with quite a number of people trying to grapple with the interaction and I think I’ve just found a way to explain it that is on the same page as everyone else and that I’ve understood.

I agree that when in first wave or double to deploy (ie not in reserve), they are eligible to forward deploy.
Once the normal deployment is done, even if it is zero units, the players may forward deploy. Then there is no interaction between the deployment restrictions and forward deploy as one occurs after the other is resolved?

[Master Chief]

We noticed this difference between Soviet/Finnish snipers and US/British/German snipers. Does it mean Soviet/Finnish snipers only have the one sniper rifle and no pistol?

Soviet/Finnish snipers;
Weapons: Rifle

US/British/German snipers;
Weapons: Sniper has a bolt-action rifle and a pistol, spotter has a pistol
Options:Each man can have a submachine gun instead of a pistol for +2pts per man.

[Stuart Harrison]

@ Masterchief, correct – the default for a sniper team is a single weapon snipers rifle and no weapon for the observer.

The MRB snipers all follow the original intent, as do many of the Armies of books. A few authors allowed alternate weapons/weapons for the observers without regard to the effect of the team weapon rule (AoGB and AoUS were the first). Provision for these was only made via FAQ and later written into second edition in the sniper rules.

[Sparkr]

I’m confused by Flamethrower rules. In the first edition of the rules it was clear that Flamethrowers always hit and that you were really rolling for damages. However, in the new rules (2nd edition) it doesn’t specifically say (that I can find) that Flamethrowers always hit, in-fact it says more or less what to do in terms of determining the number of hits IF IT DOES HIT… However, in the schedule showing the shots per weapon it only shows D6 and/or D6+1 which is what you also roll to determine the number of hits. Can you please explain if the rules have changed, and if they have how many dice(shots) a flamethrower rolls to determine a hit? Thank you.

[Master Chief]

For infantry flamethrowers, roll D6 to hit. There are no cover modifiers, but I believe the -1 for movement and -1 for target being small team still apply on the base 3+ to hit. If you managed to hit the target, roll D6 to determine the number of hits. The rest of the rules should follow as stated (target takes pins and morale check, attacker rolls for flamethrower out of fuel, etc).

The same applies to vehicular flamethrowers except they do D6+1 hits.

[Sparkr]

Thank you! I was going to resort to a single D6 roll but then just wondered why the rule changed. Regardless, thanks again.

[Author]

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