SG2 Smoke Screens

Hi All

Someone was talking about smoke screens, and the suggestion was they
take an action on behalf of the squad or vehicle to deploy, they only be
allowed to deploy 4 or 5 times per squad or vehicle, and they be limited
in application to avoid the "shoot, smoke to hide" course of munchkinish
action.

I have a couple of comments:

If you used some form of reaction fire/snap fire or overwatch, this
"shoot then smoke" option is less likely as a reaction will usually
reduce the benefit of smoke by hitting home before the screen goes up.

Secondly, I find it fascinating that every smoke screen is well laid. RL
being what it is, sometimes you misjudge the winds. Sometimes your
grenades just don't quite end up where you tried to deploy them.
Sometimes people make mistakes. Anyhow, sometimes a smokescreen isn't
that well formed. My idea for this might be as follows:

To Deploy A Smokescreen requires a LAY SMOKE action from a unit or
vehicle. In the case of an infantry smoke screen, roll a QUALITY die vs
the leadership level (communicating the instructions, estimating the
winds, all that jazz). If you can't beat the leadership, your smoke
screen forms, but it is patchy. Instead of obscuring LoS, all it does is
provide 1 cover shift. For a vehicle, roll a system QUALITY die and
don't roll a 1 (automated discharger sets are more coordinated and have
more "overkill" to compensate for weakness too).

Just some ideas for how to deal with the elusive foe who will shoot then
smoke.

BTW, does anyone have a good suggestion on how to handle specfire
through smoke or through shrubs which might block LoS but not LoF?

Tom B (who has realized Tom is in itself insufficient on this list....
Right Messrs Anderson, Granvold, Pope, McCarthy, etc?)

PS - I'm looking forward to seeing a good turn out at GZG ECC III. I
won't get to see Noam (buried in satellite data apparently), but I hope
to see a lot of you others, and hopefully wow a few folks with the "Grey
Day To Die" scenario me and Los have cooked up. It's a bit of a trip,
but I'm sure it'll be worth the journey, as it was the first time! :)

--
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash, Army of Darkness

Homepage: http:\\fox.ntsn.ca\~kaladorn\index.html
ICQ: 58316640 (Tomin8tor)

"Ah. I see. Inform me if there is any change in his condition."
<hangs up the phone>
"How is he?"
"He's dead."
-- The movie Top Secret