Is the cover provided by medals cummulative during an assault? EX: two squads with bronze medals assault a target hex. Does the attacker gets 2 cover roll due to 2 medals, or just 1?

thanks for the help.

Attackers do not get to roll cover dice for assaults. This is the same line of questions being answered in the other thread on assaults.

I have heard they got one. see the "Medals" topic.

Having +1 cover and it getting used in assaults are two different things, see the assault topic.

Maedhros said:

It says that a squad with a medal(bronze, silver or Honor) gain +1 cover and ther cover cannot be reduced below 1.

My question is: Does it mean that during an assault (the attacker never as cover) the Medal squad will get 1 die of cover?

Thanks for the help.

I (Klausfritsh) sent the same question to FFG and got the answer below.

Question: Normandy: The rules for the campaign specialization tokens state that the +1 cover gained by such units cannot be reduced below 1. Does this also apply if such a unit is the attacker in an assault? I would say it makes sense that it does.
Answer: You are correct as this reflects the experience (tactical and otherwise) of the soldiers.

So, yes, the attacker will have one die of cover.

It might be instructive if someone could site the page number and quote the passage where it says that the 'attacker' in an assault gets cover for themselves. The information we've seen in these questions have only stated a general situation 'involving' cover. If these units were attacked, as defenders their dice couldn't go below 1. If they get cover for assaults, do they also get cover dice for other kinds of attacks? If their cover never goes below 1 in an assault, does that mean it could be more? Do other units also get cover dice with the possibility that there dice could go below 1? As I only have the base game, I'd like to read the citation that says the attackers in an assault get cover dice. The quotes I've read so far say nothing about that issue. I have a feelilng that the FFG responder didn't quite get the question, so they were answering for them being in a 'defending' position.

There is no additional rules presented in DotF or Normandy modifying how Assaults work. Not even any new Ops cards, so what you see in the base set rules is what there is.

From a base set perspective, imagine that the scenario is a medic assaulting a hex. The medic trait could potentially give the assaulting squad and it's two supporting squads (assuming all in the same hex) +1 cover. It doesn't matter.

I wonder if the bandage trait is cumulative so that if I had two medics in a hex the squads would get +2? I don't recall seeing anything that says it is not so for the moment lets assume that it is. So just to go all the way rediculous, we assault with our Bronze Star Medic squad +2 cover, supported by two medic squads in the same hex, now the assaulting squad has +4 cover. It still doesn't get to roll cover dice when the Assault defender rolls to inflict casualties.

sloejack said:

I sent the question to FFG and they explicitly stated that the one defense die for the campaign specialization applies to attackers in assaults because it represents experience and skill.

The FAQ states that the medic specialization does not apply to attackers in assaults. Probably because it represents medics doing their work which they are unable to do in the final rush of the assault.

Then perhaps you should ask them when exactly the assaulting squad gets to roll their cover.

You're right about the FAQ stating that which is why I wrote what I did but you jumped to a unsupported conclusion instead of drawing the conclusion I had hoped you would. MY bad, it was late and I was being snarky.

When you ask the question of FFG again, the reason the * Star/MoH does not give the attacking squad cover is the same reason the medic ability doesn't provide cover. The point has always been that it does not matter how much cover the attacking squad has, it does not impact the casualties they take because cover isn't rolled during an assault for the attacker, only the defender.

Hi,

I was asking about the "cumulative cover" because of that: "Cover bonuses from fortifications are cumulative"-Rulebook,page 33(page 34 for an exemple.

Since in that special situation(Medal) an attacking squad does get cover(but only 1 die du to their experience, no cover by terrain(maybe cover is not the ideal word here,but...) i wanted to know if its cumulative. EX: An assaulting squad with a silver medal and two others with each a bronze star supporting the assault will roll how many "cover dice"? Only 1 or 3?

What do you think, sir?

The answer FFG gives carries weight.

But the entire question is moot, since no dice are ever rolled for the attackers cover. So thy could have a cover bonus of 10 dice, and STILL not get any cover during an assault.

An assault squad will roll 0 (zero) dice for cover regardless of how much cover they have. The cumulative cover for entrenchments and pillboxes only applies to the defender. See step 4 on page 33 and the following example at the top of page 34.

Step 5 clearly states that only black dice are rolled by the defender to inflict hits on the assaulting force impacting the active squad and then, if eliminated, affecting the supporting squads.

I know that only defenders get cover, but FFG themselve said that a medal allow a "medal cover" (not a terrain one) to the assaulting squad.

Lets hope FFG put some light on the Medals specialization soon.

For the time being, lets just play as we want.

Maedhros said:

FFG are just people. They can easily get confused by a question, just as players can get confused by a rule. I think that the suggestion to ask 'how' an attacker could benefit from cover (since they roll no cover dice) is a good one. If there has been no official published statements, only a suspicious email response, I'd hold off on taking a firm stand on re-writing the base set rules.

Yes, and I fully understand your reasonning, sir.

Hi All

I asked Rob Kouba again, and he confirmed his first answer.

Here is the text from the e-mail:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Klaus,

No. I answered correctly the first time. Campaign specializations
refer to superior tactics from veteran soldiers. With a more efficient
attack comes less loss of life. It is not like the bandage ability of
the medic (hard to do when assaulting) or terrain which you would be
leaving.

This is the design intent of the campaign specializations.

Thanks!

FFG

On Jan 15, 2009, at 12:37 PM, Klaus Fritsch wrote:

> Hi Rob
>
> Sorry to bother you again, but the consensus on the message board
> seems to be that I misundertood your answer, and no cover dice are
> ever rolled by the defender when firing on the attacker during the
> assault resolution, regardless of the attacker having a campaign
> specialization or not.
>
> So, just to be sure, is the attacker without defense dice during an
> assault resolution even if he has a campaign specialization?
>
> Klaus
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Kouba" <[email protected]
> >
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 9:23 PM
> Subject: Cover for Campaign Specializations
>
>
>> Klaus,
>>
>> You are correct as this reflects the experience (tactical and
>> otherwise)
>> of the soldiers.
>>
>> Thanks for the question!
>>
>> Rob
>
>

For me and my games I'll continue to play it as written, there is nothing in the rules to even support that email exchange (and frankly nothing in that email exchange that actually changes the rules) and until there is, I'm not willing to have this debate in every game with new people when I'm personally not in agreement with what's been said.

I accept what is being said at face value, the * Star/MoH advancement tokens model what we've experienced to a certain degree in DotF and the Bravo advancement token (which is also an effect of experience and improved tactics), but the rules still don't provide cover for assaults to the attacking squad. If they want to put that in a FAQ then I'm happy to abuse it all day long but then it also needs to expanded to Bravo specializations due to the same rationalization that is being provided. And frankly while we're at it, it should be opened up to medics too since the bandage trait keeps wounded troops from becoming casualties.

KlausFritsch said:

I'd still have liked to have had an additional line, such as, 'Therefore, in the case of an assault by these veterans, they get defensive dice when the defenders of the assault roll their attack dice in Step 5.'

longagoigo said:

I would have liked that, too. I am a fan of "precise terms used precisely". Maybe they will include it in a future FAQ.