SB guides and questions?

[Jeff Conner]

Bull

The mechanics of defensive fire are not detailed in the manual, at least I have never found them. However, from experience, I am fairly confident that it is an algorithm that includes the range of the enemy unit (probably as a ratio to the maximum range of the weapon) and the morale of the friendly unit that has a line of sight to the hex the enemy unit is moving into. So things that have an effect on morale, like being pinned, disrupted and tired have an effect on the possibility that a unit will fire during defensive fire. There is no limit to the number of times that a unit can defensive fire (and it is checked by weapon rather than by unit, so a unit with multiple types of weapons (like most infantry squads) can fire more than once for the same moved hex). Unlike many other Tiller games, assault does not trigger defensive fire. Not knowing when the enemy units will fire is part of the suspense of the game.

There are times you will not want your units to fire during your opponents turn. This may be to conserve ammo until the enemy is in more effective range or because you have a limited number of effective shots and you want to make sure they are taken at appropriate targets (this is often the case with single use weapons and those with low effectiveness). Or it could be because units that fire from concealing terrain become spotted. If you reveal your defending troops to advancing enemy, you may allow him to bring supporting fires onto your position that disrupt or pin your troops before they can affect his attack. Knowing when and when not to use "Hold Fire" is an important skill.

Spotting is explained in the manual and is pretty straight forward. Vehicles are always spotted if they are in the line of sight of an enemy unit. Any unit that moves or fires in the line of sight is automatically spotted. Any unit in an open hex or one with a height of zero are automatically spotted if in the line of sight. If the terrain has a height of two meters or more then non-vehicular units in that hex are hidden until they move or fire. If the height of the terrain is one meter, than the unit is hidden if it is on ground, but spotted if it stands up. If you move a unit into a new hex, it will not be able to spot units in the open until the beginning of your next turn unless they move or fire. You might want to try a scenario against the AI with the Fog of War rule turned off and use the spotted units command to see what is visible to your units and what is not.

One of the inherent questions in designing wargames is how much control/information to give the player as opposed to what a commander at the same level would have in real life. Very few games have been successful when the player only has a level of control/information that is consistent with history. I once offered to run a SB game where the player issued verbal/written commands to his units and what occurred afterwards was described to him. He would only be shown that portion of the map that the counter representing him could actually see. I didn't get a single taker. Players, myself included, generally like way more control than any commander has ever had. SB offers that. But it also offers some suspense. You are not going to know how many enemy soldiers are in those woods, but you can get some impression by how effective their fire is (and by the number of tracers emanating from those same woods). At the same time, the unit tray gives you ample information about your units, significantly more than my aged eyes could make out on a counter. And you if want to know the details of an enemy unit, you can look it up.

I am not a mod guy. I confess, I have a hard time seeing the changes in elevation, so I turn on the show contours option. I have read topo maps most of my life and I have no problem visualizing the terrain with this option turned on. I understand that map mods are important to many players, but I am not one of them so I can't help you in this area.

Again if you want a game, let me know. I am running behind in my turns right now, but I will try and find time to help you get started if you are interested. I am late for work and need to get going.

Jeff