Re: Friendly Fire was RE: Back to Platoon Leaders

G'day guys,

At 08:33 21/05/98 +1000, you wrote:
>
>>That brings me to another interesting observation about wargames. You
>>really miss the danger of friendly fire in them. Something like if
your
>>manuever element is within x cm of the target, there' is an XX% chance
>>that some/all fire will shift and hit them. Of coursethen your into an
>>ASL-thick rulesbook. <g>
>
>YES! Every weapon has a Dangerous Space that just doesn't stop at the
>target. ASL was very good in that repsect. I think you could factor in
>something to reperesent this at least toa small degree. eg draw a line
>from centre of firer to each edge of target - this will form a traingle
>or zone; any other units wholly within this (frienly or enemy) have a
>chance of taking rounds. What sort of dice resolution? More thought
need
>but perhaps the bystanders do a roll with die shift up one or two?
>
>Owen G
>

Actually I have played in system where there was a simple rule about
friendly fire. Necromunda. Now please don't flame me for mentioning the
unmentionables as I think its applicable here and I'd prefer not to
throw
the baby out with the bath water. 
Anyway the rule went something like. Roll to hit. Ooops missed. Any
friendlies within 1" of a straight line between firer and target? Yes,
then
roll to see if he's hit. I forget what the roll was (off the top of my
head
I think it was a 1 on a D6), but bang down goes your own man (damage
done
as usual). If anyone is actually interested in the exact details of the
rule I can dig them out.
I think this worked rather well as it got rid of the simple "no firing
friendlies are within the general area" or "blaze away friendlies are
immune" attitudes most other rules I've played/encountered seem to
encourage. It really did bring home some of the risks - well it did for
me
anyway.

Cheers

Beth