Snipers, Mr. Sarno!

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Mr. Bell speaks sagely
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Mr. Bell made an excellent point about how to use sniper suppression. If
it is part of a firefight, it won't suppress. If a unit is not otherwise
under fire, it probably will. Even ineffective sniper fire is probably
almost effective enough to make the troops want to find a stone or
concrete berm to hide behind....

Though I have a question: What did you mean here? is this SG2 and am I
missing something? Cover die? You mean the range die?
"
 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.
"

I'm good with the die shift for spotting. I don't like the other part.

I think I'm going to try to collect some of these posts and put up an
SG2 sniper page.

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On to Mr. Sarno
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From: Michael Sarno <msarno@ptdprolog.net>
Subject: Re: Snipers, Mr. Sarno!

Tom,
	I thought we were on a first name basis. <g>

** Mike, did you check the last turn of our PBEM? We might not be on a
first name basis after that.... :) <g>

    In the ground scale, though, that's 1120 meters.  It does seem odd
that you'd be able to pick out a sniper at such a long range, but then
again, the sniper may have to expose himself to take such a long shot.
It
also means that there is a longer flight time for the projectile or
beam,

** the difference for a laser between 1120 meters and 1 meter is in
terms of microseconds... I don't think that'd matter too much.

which might make it easier to track.  There is also a longer time
between
when the round or beam hits and when the sound arrives.  This may give
some advantage in determining the direction of the sniper.

** From experience, I can say knowing that someone is sniping at you is
NOT the same as knowing where from.... even in paintball ....

    Michael Lee Lanning concludes in his book, _Inside the Crosshairs:
Snipers in Vietnam_
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0804116202/qid%3D945181144/103-6
818742-4531822),

that snipers, while individually impressive, contributed very little to
the effort in Vietnam.	 From reading your post, I think you've read it.

** Guilty as charged. I think this should be mandatory reading for
anyone interested in sniping. That and a few web pages on the net
devoted to both Law Enforcement and Military Sniping.

    This sounds like an excellent variant.  We might put this to use
around here.  How many "marksmen" do you usually assign to a platoon?

** Well, in my NSL platoon, I had plans to attach real sniper teams at
the company level (part of the scout/sniper platoon). In my FSE, I was
planning to say that the la Legion Etrange Colonial used one per ten man
section. So probably 3 in platoon. But it would vary (as real sniping
does) from commander to commander - some wouldn't want the logistics and
expense in keeping up a separate weapon, others would just not like it
or find it effective, while others might gladly seek 3 marksmen per
platoon. 1 is a conservative number and quite useful. 3 makes for an
interesting variant of the game... and you find that it makes units
effective at much longer ranges.

========================
Someone mentioned good troops reacting faster to a sniper. Well, that's
true. Here's how that works in a game. They get suppressed just like
everyone else. But they remove suppresion easier (bigger Q die to remove
sup). They then spot on this bigger Q die. Then they fire on a more
effective set of dice. So they already have an enhanced response built
into the system. And don't ever let anyone tell you veterans (other than
the few suicidal ones who just are too tired to give a flying fart) are
ever blase about being shot at. Training dictates the response, as does
experience, but no one stands out in the open to take fire from a sniper
when they can get in cover and drop arty on the bugger, call an air
strike, or use cover to flank him and then shoot his ass. Good troops
aren't immune to the feeling of mortality caused by a bullet whizzing
past your head, they just deal with the stress in a more constructive
manner... and they tend to (as a result) be more effective and survive
more often. Good troops are great - I love working with pros in any
field. But they aren't (and I wouldn't wish them) fearless automata.

T.