I just don't get Lethal Zones.

[RichJones]

Well in the engagement section in my book (one of the first run it may have been changed) the picture clearly shows the line being drawn 6" from the centre of the table for some of the deployments ... different in the scenario section.

But it says in the text it has to be 12" from the centre ... I am presuming it is 12" like most 'games' so the forces start at least 24" apart.##

 

[Iain McGhee]

Sorry, I was thinking of ACTA

With MC/WAW units aren't allowed to be deployed within 12" of the centreline, as it says in the text. That's not the same as the deployment zones shown in the diagrams. They show where you can deploy forces from in subsequent turns if your tactics allow you to.

 

[RichJones]

Cheers ... sort of makes sense

 

[Rolls Dice]

Even after reading the rule book, the players guide and all of the above I'm still not clear about LZ's in direct fire.

Is the following direct fire example handled correctly?

A Stug III, Multifire/2 fires its main gun, LZ 1", and it's pintle MG at enemy infantry.

1. I place the Firing Zone as normal within the range of both weapons.
2. I roll all the attacks, discarding 1's.
3. I allocate the highest damage to the nearest figure (not necessarily the main gun!)
4. I allocate the damage from the next highest attacks to the next nearest figure until they're all allocated.
5. All figures within 1" of the main gun hit also take a gun hit.

Problems:

Can a figure hit by the MG be hit again if it is in the LZ?
Do all figures in the LZ take the same damage roll or do I roll seperately for each?
If step 5 is carried out immediately after the main gun hit, and if the main gun hits first, how are MG hits allocated?

How about that, for starters?

 

[Iain McGhee]

You roll dice for the main gun and the MG at the same time (same as you resolve a squad's firing)and assign hits for the lot as in steps 1-4. Once all figures in LOS have dice allocated, you can allocate any remaining dice freely. Regarding the main gun, any figures within the LZ of that gun (measured from the figure it's die was allocated to) have additional dice rolled against them. The additional dice are rolled seperately for each figure within the LZ and do the same damage as that weapon normally does (unless the weapon description says otherwise). It's possible for a figure to be assigned multiple dice from every weapon fired in a Shoot action.

 

[Rolls Dice]

Thanks.

So finally... it's OK for some figures to receive hits from the MG and ALSO the main gun even when some figures haven't been allocated any hits at all?

E.g. Main gun - Damage 9, MG - Damage 4, 4, 5

The 9 goes on the nearest figure, the 5 on the next nearest, and the 4's on the next two nearest. The figure that received the 5 is within the LZ and so takes a second hit of d10+2. The other 6 squad members take no hits at all. Right?

 

[locarno24]

That's correct. 'Extra' hits from a lethal zone don't count towards the 'everyone takes one hit each first' limit.

I understand artillery (2xD6, Artillery or Dropped, Lethal Zone/2"); nominate an impact point, scatter it, and then roll the damage die or dice against each model caught in the lethal zone.

I understand single-die direct fire weapons (D6, Lethal Zone/2"). Roll all weapons in the shoot action, place the LZ-causing die in the appropriate place, then roll an extra die against the guys caught in the lethal zone (whether they have any other dice assigned to them or not).

What I'm not clear on is multi-dice direct fire weapons (2xD6, Lethal Zone/2") - the one that springs to mind most clearly is the Hydra rocket pack in Modern Combat.

If I have a hydra pack and a machine gun, I follow the standard shooting rules - nominate a fire zone, and roll 2xD6 for the Hydras and 2xD6+1 for the M2

Imagine the results are 2 and 5 for the hydra and 3 and 6 for the M2.

I now have a spread of hits that goes M2, Hydra, M2, Hydra, as you go back through the unit.

If I follow the rules right, the hydra hits then generate a lethal zone of 4", and roll 2xD6 against anything caught in it.


My questions:

1) This seems to mean two potentially overlapping lethal zones (especially given their size) so some unlucky sod catches double damage - is this correct?

2) How much damage does the lethal zone effect roll - Imagine a string of three ones instead in the example above, so only one hydra hits and no other damage is done. If one rolls 2xD6 against each model in the lethal zone, then it's 2xD6 for anyone within 4" of the rocket's detonation point but bizzarely only D6 for the person hit in the face by the rocket itself.

 

[Iain McGhee]

As I play it (by no means conclusive ), the initial target gets the 2xD6 rolled against it and hits from that are only assigned to that target, then you roll 2xD6 against each and every other target in the LZ. Same as you would work out a DX+X weapon like the MG in your example.

 

[locarno24]

Yes, but a "D10+D6" attack is essentially a single damage die (despite not being) - I get that that's rolled as one 'lump' and assigned at the appropriate point in the chain. The SST Tanker Bug uses this roll for its close combat, if I remember right.

2xD6, however, represents two seperate damage dice of a D6 each (rather than being written as D6+D6), so is rolled seperately and assigned to to different models - as per the MG (Which is 2 damage dice, each consisting of D6+1).

If it's meant to be a single damage dice 'lump', then that's fair enough, but would prefer a comment from a rules-writing type if possible.

 

[Iain McGhee]

I don't know which way it was intended, that's why I play it the way I do for XxDX LZ weapons since I think it works better than splitting the original dice then rolling the full dice against each model in the LZ. As you say, it depends entirely on whether they intended them to use one big damage lump.

Might be worth PM'ing Matt or Agis if you want a definitive answer.

EDIT:FYI, in the case of the SST Tanker, you'd add the D10+D6 together creating a score of up to 12 against one target. Not quite the same as 2xD6 where you'd create 2 scores of up to 6 (per target in my method).

 

[Agis]

Might be worth PM'ing Matt or Agis if you want a definitive answer.

I can only give my point of view, not the definite answer that is always up to Matt.
However all the above will IMO look clearer after re-reading Page 5/6 "Rolling Dice" of the WaW rule book. 8)

 

[Iain McGhee]

Given that you had a hand in WAW and have produced a number of add-ins and add-ons since, I'd take your point of view as at least the next best think as Matt's as far as rules questions go