RE: (SG2)Question on Firing Twice

Good evening folks,

>different squads (using up two actions). In fact, it's nastier than
that.
Your Platoon Leader has to announce which squad or squads he is going to
activate BEFORE he attempts to activate either.

Well, it doesn't actually say that anywhere...

What it does say is that "...when a player decides to do something with
any...unit...that unit gets to perform all of the actions it wishes to
do
for that turn at that one point, and in effectively any order the player
wishes - the unit may...conduct any other combination of permissible
actions."

I read that to mean that the player is free to take an action, and then
based on the results of that action, take another one.	It never says
that
the player has to announce what both actions are going to be before
undertaking either of them.  Where this gets a bit confusing is in the
wording of the paragraph in the transferring actions section that talks
about transferring actions to two subordinate units.  The paragraph
above
says that if the commo action is successful, the subordinate unit may
*immediately* take it's new activation (two full actions) - which
suggests
before the command unit makes it's second transfer action attempt.  The
following paragraph says that the commander may attempt to transfer
actions
to two units in the one turn, "though both must be resolved at the same
time".

I always thought that this bit was just an example of what could be done
with transferring actions, not the only allowable method of transferring
actions.  In other words, it is saying that if you want to, you can
re-activate two units, and if you try to activate two units, you resolve
both at the same time.	It doesn't say, anywhere in that section, that
if
you fail to transfer an action to a single unit, you can't try again
with
the same unit.

>> http://www.cowell.org/~andy/min/sg2/qna.html:
>> Q:Is there a limitation to how many times a unit may be activated in
>> one game turn ?
>> 
>> A: No. [Mike Elliot]
>
>Strictly speaking, true. But the Transfer Action rules state that the
same
squad can not be activated twice during a leader's activation.

No, it doesn't state that anywhere.  It says that the leader may attempt
to
activate two units if he wishes, and if he does so, he does it at the
same
time.  It doesn't say he can't activate the same unit twice.

It only gives maximum limits of what transferring actions can achieve in
terms of the number of units a commander can transfer actions to, in all
of
the examples given.

Though I play it that way, and so does just about everyone else - it
makes
things silly if the platoon commander can transfer actions to the same
unit
over and over...  All of a sudden that PA Squad hiding at the back of
the
table has sprinted across the board and close assaulted the opposing
command squad...

And that sort of thing reeks of munchkinism.

>> I should probably wait until I have my rules handy, but IIRC there's
>> nothing to stop platoon leaders from trying to activate squads in
>> other platoons, it's just harder.
>
>Ah! Okay, that's a good point. I rarely run more than a platoon, and
when
I do I usually have a scenario rule outlining the chain of command. 
>
>Correct, if you had a couple of platoons, you could have both platoon
commanders activating the same squad more than once in a turn. I'd be
tempted to only allow that in the case of a platoon leader squad
destroyed,
broken, or routed, but that would be a scenario/house rule. The rules
don't
forbid it. 

Allan's limits here are smart ones.  It doesn't make much sense to have
one
platoon commander activating squads in another platoon.

>From a rules point of view, this depends on strictly you interpret the
idea
of chain of command.  The rules about transferring actions are very
specific in that it only works for superior commanders transferring
actions
to a subordinate unit (uses those terms exactly, as a matter of fact). 
The
examples are Platoon Commanders activating a squad, or a Company
Commander
activating a platoon commander, or a squad in the company.  And for the
leap from Company commander to squad, you pay a penalty (drop a die type
on
the commo roll for skipping a level in the chain of command).

Strictly speaking, one platoon commander couldn't activate a squad in a
separate platoon unless the company commander and the other platoon
commander were out of action, and the first platoon commander was
assuming
command of the whole formation (ie taking over as company commander) OR
if
one of the platoons joined the other one...  Which is really a bit
beyond
the SG rules, as written.   With the rules for replacing leaders (pg 10)
someone from within the immediate unit will usually take over (ie within
the squad, or platoon command squad, or company command squad).  Unless,
of
course, you want to play it *really* realistically, in which case you
might
want to have another officer (ie a platoon leader) actually move to take
over the company command squad OR say that he has the ability to assume
the
functions of the company commander, and then nominate one of his squad
commanders to take over his platoon....  Again, a bit beyond the usual
run
of SG games...

So, normally one model in a platoon will assume command of that platoon
if
the platoon commander goes down.  And so, a platoon commander cannot
transfer an action to the squads outside his platoon - they are never
going
to be a subordinate unit - unless you have one of the examples that
Allan
suggested - such as a platoon command squad being entirely wiped out.
But
even then, it would make more sense for one of the other squad
commanders
(the senior surviving NCO) to take over the platoon.  Merging one
platoon
and another would seem to me to be something that would take place
outside
the scope of a SG battle, normally.

Anyway, my $0.02...