Re: [FMA] Unengaging game

Tom McCarthy wrote:

> High Explosives, Long Grenade Throws and no Spotting:  No spotting
meant
> each model acted as if all target positions were perfectly known. 
Long
> Grenade Throws meant you could throw a grenade 30" (60m ground scale),
a
> significant fraction of the board width after a combat move.	Since
they're
> grenades with a 12" radius of effect and scatter less than 12",
targeting
> the ground in the middle of a squad was quite effective.  After all,
they're
> all within 6 to 10 inches of each other to avoid being isolated...  8
> grenade casualties and one guy shot after 2 turns.
>
> Seriously Dangerous Overwatch:  A bit extreme perhaps, but we were
allowing
> as an activation a combination of Combat Move/Overwatch and then
resolving
> overwatch as a full automatic shot.  One guy who tried to draw line of
sight
> to the enemy got hit 5 times and by some fluke was only suppressed 3
times.
>

We usually make going into overwatch a 2 action event and that's all you
can do.

>
> On discussing the game, one comment was that the game scale was within
the
> close range band of SG2, but these two forces on that terrain would
have not
> have closed to that range until having decisively pounded each other. 
They
> were just too well-armed to risk closing with each other like that.
>
> We agreed that denser terrain or urban terrain might have made for a
better
> game.
>

Yes, most of the FMA games we do have lots of terrain. A large open area
is
usually a  one off thing.

>
> We definitely needed spotting to reign in grenade strikes against
hidden
> troops, and to open up isolation distances (quality OR 2x quality +
line of
> sight ?).

We handle it like this. usually one side is set up on Defense so they
may not
even have the figures on the board, just counters (Some dummy some real)
Though
sometimes (solitaire) the figs are set up but always considered hidden
if they
are in decent terrain. All forces not moving or in the open have to be
spotted
before engagement (though Tom posted some recon by fire rules earlier).
Once a
unit is spotted they are fair game though there has been times when
we've
required a call onto the net (to LT or whatever) if somebody from
another group
wants to shoot the target that turn. Also you can only try and spot one
area
once per activation (you can try and spot two different areas per
activation but
not the same one twice. If you don't see anything you don't see it.) Of
course
these spotting rules can be modified by tech level.

All that being said if guys are whipping grenades into hidden locations
(rooms
and windows not included) then there should be further range band shift
or
something to see if the grenade bounces back or whatnot. Also keep in
mind that
grenades have very poor penetration over distance through any kind of
cover.

> I am assured that many people enjoy FMA skirmish.  Without those
> reassurances, I would not play the game again.

The things obviously in it's rarest form of beta right now. We've had
great fun
with the game, but without knowing more about your specific event, it's
hard to
gauge what the other issues were. Note that the FMA that we play (or up
by
Tom's) has mutated more into a version of stargrunt/ FMA than using
rules as
written.(i.e activating multiple figures with the help of an SL etc
etc).

Cheers...

Los