Ranged Combat...a campaign design update

Shooting

Although the shooting stats will mostly follow those in Black Power, the mechanisms whereby they are utilized do need some modification and likely some further adjustment after playtesting.

Range combat occurs on just two occasions during a turn. The first being when a unit moves into contact with an enemy unit, if the enemy is allowed to give closing fire, then it may do so, at the owning’ player’s choice. The second is during a unit’s activation.

When a unit is contacted at its front by an enemy, during an enemy unit’s activation, the owning player may choose to hold fire or to give closing fire. If the fire is held, then shooting dice are added to the number of hand-to-hand dice and rolled as one, when melee combat is resolved. If closing fire is given, then the shooting dice are rolled immediately and the results are resolved before melee, if any.

Closing fire is handled differently than normal shooting and so is described here.

The player delivering closing fire will roll a number of dice equal to the shooting stat of his contacted unit, plus any modifiers, adding up the number of dice that come up as a 6, then comparing that result to the table below.

 

# of 6’s	Outcome
One	Disordered
Two	Disordered+ halt
Three	Disordered+ fall back
Four or more	Disordered+ loss of 1 SP

The unit receiving this fire does not have the opportunity to attempt a morale save.

During its activation a unit may move, shoot, move and shoot, or shoot and move. If the unit shoots and has already moved, or the player intends to move it during that activation, then it loses one shooting die for that ranged combat.

To resolve ranged combat (shooting) the owning player rolls a number of dice equal to its shooting state, plus or minus any modifiers, looking for modified results of 4, 5, or 6, setting those aside after the roll. These are the “hits.”

The player whose unit is the target of this ranged combat will roll a morale save, using dice equal in number to the hits received, plus or minus any modifiers. Each die showing a face equal to or greater than its morale “saves” the hit, which is now ignored. Any “unsaved” hits are added together and the sum is compared to the chart below.

 

# of unsaved hits	Outcome
one	Fall back
two	Fall back + Disordered
three	Loss of 1 SP
four	Loss of 1 SP + Disordered
five	Loss of 2 SP
six	Loss of 2 SP + Disordered
Seven or more	Loss of 2 SP + Disordered+ fall back

Units that have to fall back simply move backwards 1 square. If that square is occupied by an enemy unit, then lose 1SP instead. If the unit retreats into a square occupied by a one or more friendly units, then all are disordered.

Legal targets for shooting, ranges, and all modifiers to shooting/ranged combat will be explained in the near future.

This is but one of the three shooting systems under development. Another, one which a single die is rolled, with the result added to the shooting stat, is the currently under consideration. I need to take a closer look at how Hail Caesar shooting would work with this change.

Terms: 

Disordered has the same meaning as in HC/BP, although it is handled slightly differently in my hybrid rules.

Fall Back: Unit is moved directly one square to its rear, maintaining its facing. If an enemy unit or impassible terrain occupies this square, then the unit losses an SP instead. If this square contains a friendly non-light infantry unit, then both are disordered.