John Tiller/HPS Modern Campaign Series

[JDR Dragoon]

I think he is confusing "Recon Spotting" with "Patrolling". Both are of course valid tehcniques for seeing into hexes that would not otherwise have revealed their content.

[Liebchen]

Patrolling is a great resource, especially in closed terrain, or in bad weather, but not if you're army's on the move.

[Mr Grumpy]

Continuing with Recon Spotting questions ...

I recently played Salerno and found when units were placed in Recon Spotting mode, black text would appear on the unit info box telling me such.

As stated in post #11 i believe in Salerno you were using the "Patrolling" feature, when you use this feature "Patrolling" is displayed in black text across the unit,

you should be aware that Patrolling is a standard rule and Recon Spotting is a optional rule, Recon Spotting works as i described in my post and to find out how that differs from Patrolling you need to read this next section.....
"It is possible to put a unit with men (not vehicles or guns) into a Patrolling state. To do this requires the full movement allowance of the unit and the unit cannot be Broken. While Patrolling, the unit will negate the ability of any Partisan unit within Deception range of having any Deception effects. In addition, a Patrolling unit will be able to spot any enemy unit within 2 hexes, regardless of line-of-sight restrictions. While in a Patrolling state, a unit has a 3/4 assault and fire value. It costs 1/2 of the movement allowance of the unit to recall Patrols. This is done automatically when the unit moves."

And what's the "alternate Unit Box display" as mentioned in the user guide?

I am 99% sure that what they mean is the reverse side of the unit which Rick has shown in his post, it tells you the units is a "Recon Unit" and is able to use the optional Recon Spotting feature (assuming it is selected).

Just in case anyone is still confused, Patrolling is a standard feature and can be used by any unit with men (not vehicles or guns).

Recon Spotting is an optional feature and if selected can only be used by units that are shown as a "Recon Unit" on the reverse of their counter.

So in very general terms Recon spotting is for Mech/Cavalry units and Patrolling is for Infantry/Cavalry units.

I hope that helps everyone.