Re: Full Metal AAR and more FMA thoughts

>In a message dated 8/4/99 2:44:53 PM EST, los@cris.com writes:
>
><<
> I think you take my comment out of context. By your definition there
is no
>need
> for a combat move becasue EVERYTHING is a combat move. (true) The RAW
(Rules
>as
> written) >>
>
>I didn't mean to take any comment out of context, I assure you. The
idea of
>using indeterminate movement to show the unplannability of a close
assault is
>a good one. It shouldn't have trained soldiers "freezing" in the open,
though
>it should reflect the possibility that they will discover the fire
incoming
>has  overwhelmed the assault and dive and roll now! reactions that are
more
>representative of combat situations than knowing precisely with a tape
>measure how far this figure will move on this occasion before I order
himj to
>move is NOT going to give me a feel for how combat works. Soldiers in
the
>field are not chessmen on the board and war game rules should reflect
that.
>
>There was a truly good post from a combat instructor for the US Army
showing
>how a combat rush works. I think I'll leave the last word with him.

All useful comments and discussion, guys, and rest assured it is all
being
stored away to haunt you in the future.... <grin>
Just one point I'd like to make: if a figure attempts a move across open
ground, street or whatever and doesn't make it that turn, the fact that
the
figure is left in the middle of the street till his next turn does not
actually indicate that he has stopped or frozen - you need to think of
it
as a moment of suspended time (geez, sounding like  a Brannon Braga
script
for STTNG here....) while other actions go on around him. Everything is
pretty much happening simultaneously, and is broken down into individual
figures' activations purely as a game mechanic (I know this is pretty
obvious, but it is easily forgotten in the heat of discussion). What the
figure's failure to complete the run in one activation really indicates
is
that he has mis-timed it, or not gone quite fast enough, allowing the
enemy
to get a shot or two at him in mid-run. If he survives this, then in his
next activation he will complete the run - to him, the two activations
would have been contiguous (I think that's the word?) and he will
actually
have been running all the time - not stopping for a minute and standing
there while people shoot at him!

Jon (GZG)