Re: [SG2] Assaulting from IP

On Fri, 28 Jun 2002 22:35:46 -0400, "Laserlight"
<laserlight@quixnet.net>
wrote:

>Three of them, seven of mine so I decided to close assault.  Now, you
>have to declare close assault before anything else, so I'm starting
>with my squad In Position.  I passed the reaction test to launch the
>assault, and as it happens I also passed the
>"leave-IP-and-move-in-one-action" test.  But what if I hadn't?  Would
>I just try again--failing twice just means we're eager to close to
>hand to hand, but too clumsy to climb out from under the bridge?  Or
>what?

That's a good question. I don't think I've had it happen. I'd handle it
this
way. 

Declare close assault. Make test for leaving IP without spending an
action.

If the IP test passes, the squad is out of IP. Make the test for close
assault. If they pass the close assault test, close assault occurs. If
they
fail the test for close assault, they have used up their one action as
per the
usual close assault rules. They have one action left which they could
use to
go back IP (if they wished) or something else as per the usual close
assault
rules.

If the IP test fails, the squad has used up their first action as per
the
usual "attempting to move while in IP" rule. Since close assault is
required
to be done on the first action, the unit can not close assault this
activation, either. They do still have an action to do something,
though, and
they are still in IP. 

I would do the tests in that order: moving out of IP, then doing close
assault. You _could_ do it the other way around. It's actually safer to
do it
the other way around, because if the close assault test fails the unit
is
still in IP. However, it just seems to me to make more sense to test for
leaving IP first. I can see a squad leader yelling, "Hey, get ready
boys,
we're charging that hill over there!" and the squad members having to
stick up
from behind whatever little cover they found in order to see what the
squad
leader is talking about. In other words, they'd have to risk peeking
(leave
IP) before they could even start to consider rushing for that point.

That's how I'd do it without any house rule, just as a straight
adaptation of
Jon's rules. It does leave the squad members out of IP, though, for a
failed
attack, it requires two rolls instead of one. Another idea would
probably be
to introduce a house rule. Make only one test (the enter into close
assault
test), but make it at, say, a +1 to the TL for moving out of IP. If
failed,
the unit does not close assault but remains in IP.

It depends on how you see IP. If, as per my above description, you feel
that
squad members have to stick their heads out of IP (or lose their
concentration
for a moment, or the squad leader and assistant squad leader have to
move
around about the squad members to describe the plan, or the squad
members have
to move closer to the squad leader to here the plan, or other such
things),
then it makes sense to have to test for IP loss first, then close
assault.

Jon can maybe give his thoughts on this. At any rate, it should go in
the list
of questions TomB and I were making.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
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