Units Considered in the Impact Radius of Artillery?

[Anonymous]

It’s been some months since I played and there was no artillery in the last few scenarios, so as I reread the rules a question has come up. In particular, does an entire infantry unit have to be completely within the impact radius of an artillery salvo in order to be considered hit?   In the the rules on page 107 it just states this:

“If the salvo arrives as planned, all infantry units and soft-skin vehicles within the salvo’s impact radius take an attack using the salvo’s Firepower.”

I know that at least a Danger Close check would have to made for them, but is the whole infantry unit considered to take the full salvo impact even if only 1 of the unit’s figures are within the actual radius? That artillery hits against vehicles are considered as hitting their side armor, leads me to believe that only part of a vehicle within the radius equates to a complete hit. I’m just not sure about infantry?

 

[willz]

Anonymous wrote:

states this: “If the salvo arrives as planned, all infantry units and soft-skin vehicles within the salvo’s impact radius take an attack using the salvo’s Firepower.” I

I would interpret it as if ten figures are in the burst circle / radius then ten figures are hit but if one figure is in the burst circle / radius then one is hit.  An example I would give if you have you infantry unit is extended over a wide area (which would seem sensible to me) if you interpret as a hit on one man is a hit on the whole unit then you are giving your artillery a type of following fire.  I have not played force on force but for my WW2 games I use a clear plastic template for artillery burst circles, it stops any arguments.

[Anonymous]

willz wrote:

I would interpret it as if ten figures are in the burst circle / radius then ten figures are hit but if one figure is in the burst circle / radius then one is hit.

Except that in FoF attacks are never made against a single infantry figure, but are instead made against an infantry unit which is typically a fire team comprised of 4-5 figures.  Hence my question as to wether the full force of the salvo hits the fire team/unit, if only 1 of its figure is within the blast radius.

[willz]

Like I said I have not played this game but to me it seems practical if they are not in the burst radius they are not hit, otherwise it gives the artillery and unfair advantage.  If you are shooting you artillery at extreme range it means you can extend the range of artillery falsely by targeting one figure at the end of a fire team which is deployed in an extended line, thus hitting everyone in it (extended lines, movement and cover basic modern infantry tactics).  For myself I would not enjoy a gaming system that allows players to have an unfair advantage or false extending ranges.

[Mike Proudlock]

As a regular player of FoF, I use the same principle laid down for whether a unit is in cover – if more than half the unit is in burst radius it gets attacked as whole, if less than half no attack.  As is stated in the rule book, the figures indicate the area occupied by the unit rather than the exact location of each man, it’s one of the abstractions of the system.

With regard to Willian’s comment, its also worth remembering that this is a small unit game and at the scale of the game, which represent the area of a firefight (2-400m across) rather than a battlefield,  artillery is either called in and hits its target unit (a successful check by the observing leader) or is a random “miss” from a fog of war card.  Where the leader calling in fire fails his TQ check either the artillery didn’t fire or it landed somewhere off table.  There is no on-table deviation

[willz]

Mike Proudlock wrote:

As a regular player of FoF, I use the same principle laid down for whether a unit is in cover – if more than half the unit is in burst radius it gets attacked as whole, if less than half no attack. As is stated in the rule book, the figures indicate the area occupied by the unit rather than the exact location of each man, it’s one of the abstractions of the system. 

That seems pretty clear cut to me Mike, so good targeting and accurate observation pays dividends as does deploying your troops in cover and over a wide area.  As with most games system they have to have some abstractions in the system for play-ability.  As I have said before I have not played these rule sets only adding my information on how I use my artillery in my WW2 games. 

[Papasan]

Mike Proudlock wrote:

As a regular player of FoF, I use the same principle laid down for whether a unit is in cover – if more than half the unit is in burst radius it gets attacked as whole, if less than half no attack…

That’s how I play it too Mike, gives a clear & simple decision that can be dealt with quickly.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Mike Proudlock wrote:

As a regular player of FoF, I use the same principle laid down for whether a unit is in cover – if more than half the unit is in burst radius it gets attacked as whole, if less than half no attack. As is stated in the rule book, the figures indicate the area occupied by the unit rather than the exact location of each man, it’s one of the abstractions of the system.

That sounds like an excellent way to rule it and the one I’m going to run with – thanks. I did realize that there’s a level of abstraction around figure placement within units, but just wasn’t sure how to abstract in this situation.

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