RE: [SG]Unit Cohesion

On Thu, 20 September 2001, "Bell, Brian K (Contractor)" wrote:

> Rules Lawyer Mode (Full Power Armor):
> It appears that by the writ, it is possible. However,
> SG p.11 under Unit Integrity indicates that when a
> unit is disorganized "on its next activation, the
> first action by its leader must be a REORGANISE action
> in which the player must move any out-of-integrity 
> figures by the minimum necessary distances to regain
> integrity.

Ah! Okay, I misinterpreted the question, maybe. I assumed that the
Kra'vak player created 4 detached elements.

If all he did was move the squad out of unit integrity, then it doesn't
gain him anything. The squad members all move individually, but on the
next activation they all must move to minimum integrity distance and
then eat up a Reorg action. 

While disorganized (because they are out of unit integrity distance) the
squad still only gets 2 actions, but the squad members can't do anything
except move closer together and then do a reorg.

I'm trying to see why someone would do this. You might want to in order
to protect against artillery. But then you'd have to to move together on
the next activation and do a reorg, so that means the squad would be
stationary.

Personally, it sounds like doing this to protect against artillery is
almost like giving themselves a suppression. It eats up actions. If my
opponent did that every time I brought artillery to a game, I'd
willingly let him. I'd dance circles around him while he worried about
some small RAM mortars.

> Why was he doing this? Flavor? To be harder to hit?
> If it was to be harder to hit, it would do this
> (making the opponent target individual figures),
> but it would also eat both the unit's actions each 
> turn.

It makes him harder to hit for artillery. As per the rules, though, all
measurements are done to the centre of a squad's formation.

He may be trying a slight munchkin thing. You have, say, a squad going
through woods. There's a stone wall to your right, and an open road to
the left. You put three squad members behind the wall, two in the woods,
one in the open. Per the alternative rule on page 12, the firing player
may choose to fire separately at a group under the weakest cover.

In this case, the player has given the attacker a problem. He can attack
one figure in the open, but that one figure is the only possible
casualty. He can fire at two figures in the woods for soft cover, or he
can fire at three figures behind the wall for hard cover. If he wants to
attack all of the figures in a squad, he fires at the largest group,
which are the guys behind the wall.

The player has done the "munchkin" thing. He has half his squad in light
or no cover and half behind the wall. 

Does this really gain him anything? I personally don't think so. I'd
split my squad and fire at the guy in the open for the easy kill and a
suppression, and fire at the guys in the woods. The "munchkin" made it
harder to eliminate the squad, but made it much easier to get a
suppression.

If in doing this movement he moved squad elements out of unit integrity
range, he's also hamstrung himself. He will have to remove the
suppression, and THEN he would have to move within integrity range the
outstanding figures (one action) and THEN do a reorg (one action).

Either way, splitting up the squad as the Kra'vak player is not wise.

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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