RE: Snipers, Mr. Sarno!

Greetings!
 I'll preface my comments by stating that I have only played one SG2
game
and have not served in the military (so you can weight my comments as
appropriate).

  A lot of good comments were presented in this thread. The comments
about
Snipers vs. Marksmen is very helpful.

  I would also suggest a distinction between the role of a sniper and an
assassin. The primary role of a sniper is to delay and demoralize an
enemy
unit. The primary role of an assassin is to eliminate a specific target
(element). I would limit the assassin role to FMA Skirmish as it is a
much
smaller scale.

  If the role of the sniper is to delay/demoralize an enemy,  I would
think
that the sniper would only fire from within effective range (a range
where
he has a chance to hit a target). Otherwise, he might not get a
suppression
marker.

  I would suggest the following changes to the rules: if a sniper in
range
makes an attack against a unit, and the sniper is the only unit firing
on
that unit, the target unit receives a suppression marker even if the
sniper
misses.
Reasoning? A sniper does not have to hit a target to make the entire
unit
take notice. This usually makes the unit head for cover until it can
spot
the sniper (even if no one was hit). However, if the unit is under
attack,
one extra shot may not be noticed (hence the provision that the sniper
is
the only unit to attack). Of course, if the sniper hits the target, the
unit
should receive a suppression marker, regardless if another unit is
attacking. This also keeps the unit busy while the sniper makes a
concealed
movement.

  One last suggestion. For each round a sniper fires without moving
(after
the first), its cover die is shifted Down one for fire against hidden
targets directed against the sniper and an observer's quality die gets
shifted UP one if trying to spot the sniper.

  Again, see notes on qualifiers to my comments.

-----
Brian Bell
bkb@beol.net
http://membes.xoom.com/rlyehable/sg2/	  
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