ASL First FireThursday, April 01, 2004
More Forgotten Rules
A couple more. OOTW review of the Starter Kit coming soon.
6. Inexperienced Personnel have a basic MF Allotment of 3. (A4.11, A19.31) - Maybe not that easily forgotten, especially if you start a scenario with Conscript troops, but in the heat of battle, once unit quality begins to decline due to ELR failure (and you "acquire" new Conscripts), the restrictions on Inexperienced Personnel can easily be overlooked. In addition to the MF restriction, remember that these units reduce the breakdown number of SW by one (turning the original B# into an X# as per A.11) and also lose two columns (instead of one) on the IFT for Cowering. The other restrictions are listed under A19.3. Also important to remember is that a Green unit stacked with a leader is exempt from these restrictions, but a Conscript unit is not.
7. The Assault Fire bonus is not applicable to Long Range Fire. (A7.36) - Okay, this wasn't on the original list, but is one I just noticed. Assault fire is a wonderful thing to have, permitting units such as the German 5-4-8 squads to use 4 FP in Advancing Fire, a full column better on the IFT than would otherwise be the case. However, this only applies to shots in normal range. This is kind of comparable to a Hero's DRM only applying if the Hero is firing at normal range of either his inherent FP or his weapon. Can't say how long I've played this (Assault Fire) wrong, one of the hazards of most of my playing not being Face-to-Face. What makes it even more interesting is that I figured this out by reading the rules from the new Starter Kit. It seems there are some added benefits to a streamlined rulebook.
6. Inexperienced Personnel have a basic MF Allotment of 3. (A4.11, A19.31) - Maybe not that easily forgotten, especially if you start a scenario with Conscript troops, but in the heat of battle, once unit quality begins to decline due to ELR failure (and you "acquire" new Conscripts), the restrictions on Inexperienced Personnel can easily be overlooked. In addition to the MF restriction, remember that these units reduce the breakdown number of SW by one (turning the original B# into an X# as per A.11) and also lose two columns (instead of one) on the IFT for Cowering. The other restrictions are listed under A19.3. Also important to remember is that a Green unit stacked with a leader is exempt from these restrictions, but a Conscript unit is not.
7. The Assault Fire bonus is not applicable to Long Range Fire. (A7.36) - Okay, this wasn't on the original list, but is one I just noticed. Assault fire is a wonderful thing to have, permitting units such as the German 5-4-8 squads to use 4 FP in Advancing Fire, a full column better on the IFT than would otherwise be the case. However, this only applies to shots in normal range. This is kind of comparable to a Hero's DRM only applying if the Hero is firing at normal range of either his inherent FP or his weapon. Can't say how long I've played this (Assault Fire) wrong, one of the hazards of most of my playing not being Face-to-Face. What makes it even more interesting is that I figured this out by reading the rules from the new Starter Kit. It seems there are some added benefits to a streamlined rulebook.
