Sorry if this has been dredged through the mud too many times, but I am struggling with what I see as problems with the effects of normal and suppressive fire. I did search for a thread, but these forums do not seem to accept a search filtered by game.

I accept that there are separate types of fire action, and really have no problem with that. The problems I have are that it is easier to cause casualties than to affect morale and that causing casualties has no effect on morale. Is there a place where this is addressed? Has anybody found a simple workaround?

I am toying with just adding the ability to convert casualty hits to suppressive hits, but have not decided how to do that without affecting game balance.

Also, to make the game more interactive, does anybody let the target player roll the red dice?

Upon further review, I think the solution may be as easy as adding some sort of follow up or after effect roll. Roll the number of dice equal to the hits inflicted and for each '6': Normal Fire is pinned if only one and Disrupted if two or more; Suppressive Fire is a casualty.

martimer said:

It's always the defender rolling his red dice, not the attacker doing it for him. Exception: Assault.

martimer said:

I think that's the issue. Tinkering with this would affect the balance of the game.

Rather than just mowing down anything that moves, critical game winning/losing decisions are often decided upon with the suppress/kill dilema.

Just 1 hit will pin a squad. Its easier to pin regular infantry as opposed to elites or squads with officers, so dispersing elites throughout regular squads will give the green troops more of a chance.

I do agree though that a regular soldier who has just lost 3 buddies would probably be feeling somewhat anxious, but he only gets 1 dice to fight back with, perhaps this is enough of a penalty? Or maybe roll a dice 1-3 he pulls himself together, move as normal. 4-6 immediately fatigue while he changes his pants.

I think the suppressive Vs normal shot issue is one of the key mechanics of this game and could cause a lot of knock on effects if modified.

Play balance is definitely one concern. Maybe I just have played too many other games and this one not enough. I certainly can see how the current mechanic would work quite well in a game with lots of units, but sometimes smaller scenarios with just a few units are also a fun challenge and the suppression mechanic of this game does not seem conducive to such a thing.

Perhaps I oughta shut my mouth and play it a bunch to figure it out?

Also bear in mind that casualties are abstracted. The four figures does not represent four individual soldiers. More likely each is a "squad" or so. Killed models would be a combination of kills, wounded men, panicked men and the few that just get lost and confused.

Play balance wise, the rules for rout, will have considerable effect if fire is allowed to both cause casualties and suppress squads( and vehicles now)

When I am trying to decide whether to suppress or kill, I ask myself 1. How bad can that squad hurt me? 2. What is the likelyhood that I can blow it away ?

You have to get 4 kills to reduce the threat, usually you will need only one suppression to do the same. The better the target is protected swings the choice to suppression. The fewer figures left on the stand swings the choice to kill

My consideration is usualy how Fast du want that unit out of action. Do I need to get rid of OP-fire, Prevent an Anti-tank attack or set something up for an assault perhaps.