Some great questions came up on the Combat HQ Group yesterday. I’ve added them here along with my answers.
Played a few more games and I’m hosting a club game next week so a few questions have popped up 😉
1. Close Assault
Do units being close assaulted have the option to fire? In the rules it mentions the example of a MG firing to try to disrupt the attacker although I don’t see this in the close assault section of the rules. Perhaps the MG wasn’t the one being charged that would explain it!
Yes. Unless a unit is suppressed or it has a fire marker, it may use opportunity fire whenever an enemy unit moves or fires. Try to suppress enemy units before close assaulting them.
2. Movement and Firing
When a command group moves should all the actions for one unit be completed before moving to another (moving and firing, or firing and not moving), or should all units be moved before firing units in the command group? This can make a difference because your movement direction/path may vary depending on the result of firing for your previous unit in the command group.
Movement and firing are very flexible. Within a Command Group, some units may fire before moving; others may fire at the end of their move. However, you can’t fire on the move.
Similarly, not all units must move when activated. Some could fire, while others move. The easiest way to sequence this is to first conduct any fire from units that are not moving or firing before moving, then move the moving units before conducting any fire at the end of their move.
Example
Three Panzer IVs are in the same Command Group as a Pak 40. The group is activated and the Pak 40 fires at a Sherman 75mm. The three Panzer IVs than advance and fire at the end of their move.
Alternatively, the Pak 40 could have fired and one or more of the Panzer IVs could also have fired. The three Panzer IVs could then advance; the ones without fire markers could then fire at the end of their move. Or the German player could have decided not to move one or more of the Panzer IVs that fired.
Leader Location
All moving units must end within 6″ of the nominated leader. A dice or other marker is placed to show the intended destination of the leader. When a Command Group moves all units are moved together (one after the other). Once all units have moved, they may fire.
As the dice indicates where the leader is moving to, the leader must move towards this location. If the movement dice are higher than he needs, he stops at his nominated location; he cannot overshoot. If the dice roll is less than required, he moves the full distance rolled to the nominated location. It’s not possible to change the location, just because the unit is moving slowly.
Also, no unit may move further than the rolled movement of the group. You cannot move a unit that started in line with the leader an additional 6″ and claim that this is possible because it conforms to being within 6″ of the leader.
3. Going to Ground
Bit confused about Going to Ground (GTG). In my phase if the enemy fires on one of my units which hasn’t been activated then my unit gets the bonus for GTG. If my unit later in the same turn moves and get fired on it doesn’t. So we need to keep track of which units have moved?
There’s no need to keep track of a unit’s moving status as moving is only counted in the current Command Pulse. As long as a unit is not currently moving it can go to ground.
Example
Three US rifle platoons are ordered to advance across a field. Their movement dice is rolled and they move into the field where German infantry fire on them. The US platoons do not gain the going to ground ability as they are moving in the current Command Pulse.
During a later Command Pulse, a German machine gun platoon fires at the US infantry. The US are counted as going to ground as they have not moved this Command Pulse.
4. One Impact Marker Per Battery
If a battlegroup has 2 105mm guns does this mean they can keep two separate barrages going on different parts of the battlefield?
We have so far only played one barrage active assuming it is for two 105s.
Each battery has its own Impact Marker. So two batteries would have two Impact Markers.
Each Impact Marker is placed independently of the other.
To place two Impact Markers would cost 1 Staff Order for each marker (one-shot fire) or two Staff Orders for each marker (Continuous Fire).
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