Re: Re[2]: Stargrunt II question - Linear cover

[snip]
> I think you are falling into the trap of not thinking at the right
scale.
> Weapons in the hands of regular troops are effective out to 40"
(400m),
> which is not unreasonable for SF weapons. Thus the firefight is going
to be
> engaged much further out than your 140m. In fact, if an attacking unit
has
> got to within 140m of its target and has suffered no casualties and is
not
> suppressed, they _deserve_ to get in close and take them out.
> 
> Have you actually tried it out in practice? I suspect from your
comments
> that your examples are pure theory. Try it in an actual game and see
what
> happens. [snop ...]
> Mike Elliott

	I agree completely with Mike Elliott on this point. There is a
flow to
the game that makes it difficult to imagine troops concentrating on only
one
threat to the exclusion of all else. Any overwatch rule should include
some
restrictions on the overwatching unit. For example, The overwatch takes
up the
units entire activation, it looses the overwatch upon its next
activation ( to
include a leader activation ) and is limited to an area of 'unit
quality'
inches in diameter, centerd on a point represented by a marker. If it's
not
too much added complexity, allow for two bogus counters to keep the
opponent
on his toes. Something along these lines might add the kind of feel the
original poster was looking for.

	I wonder what people think of a slightly different situation,
where a
squad tries to share a linear defensive position ( a low wall, burnt out
building, etc.) with an enemy already occupying the opposite side of the
barrier? In a game of SG2 I played recently ( Hi Phil! ) a particularly
unfortunate squad was pinned along one side of a wall and taking quite a
pounding ( it was our first game with light artillery support, which BTW
favorably changes the character of SG2. ) One of my squads advanced into
some
nearby woods. I wanted to activate them to close to the other side of
the
obstacle to remove it as a bonus for the target squad and to use it as a
bonus
against other supporting enemy units. The argument was made that to
approach
that closely required a complete close assault to keep it within the
spirit of
the game, otherwise the manuever is simply 'gamey', taking advantage of
coner
cases in the rules, etc.

	So, is such a move reasonable? Would the obstacle count for both
squads if they exchange fire or would it be nullified. BTW, we were
counting
it as hard cover.

=================
Miguel Echavarria
mech@arm.com