Operation Dauntless - Tutorial 5 - Let the Shells Fly - Part 1 of 5

Описание: Part 1 of a playthrough of tutorial scenario T5: Let the Shells Fly, combining rules from T1-T4 and adding ranged attacks.

Comments on this playthrough from the designer:

1. There is a -1 DRM to Ranged Attacks (including Friction Fire) vs. Carrier Platoons.

2. The Ranged Fire DRM "+1 per company-sized infantry unit" never applies to FF. (Otherwise it would be too hard to accomplish anything. The rationale is that company-sized units, while easier to hit than a platoon, are also much harder to halt.)

3. Woods costs 2 MPs for leg units. Also, you can't see into woods from higher elevation. It's the only close terrain type that isn't included in the over/into LOS rule for high ground. fyi, the rationale is that the trees in this region are much higher than the hedgerows and low hills.

4. 41:15 There is no -1 DRM for firing into a concealed location because all combatants are always revealed during a Combat. But even if they weren't, your unit on higher ground can see into that bocage hex 2 hexes away. So your comment that the Ranged Attacks "don't pan out a lot" may be in part influenced by the fact that all those firing units should have been at +1. Finally, your MG platoon doesn't need a spotter because he uses direct fire (so adjacent vs. non-adjacent spotter is irrelevant).

5. 43:10 The Germans should receive a +2 DRM for two British companies in the hex (it's +1 per company, not +1 for at least one company). This will also help to make the Ranged Attacks deadlier.

6. 45:35 You're correct. Both German units are dead.

FWIW, FF is a bit of a rarity in the campaign game. The reason is that the Brits are mainly advancing over open fields only during the first few turns of the campaign, and that's when the heavy fog + smoke reduce LOS to zero. This is a good thing IMO because, otherwise, all the FF would slow down the game too much, just like it does in the FF variant of this tutorial.

Food for thought. Ranged Attacks may seem like a long-shot, based on the low-odds FF attempts in this tutorials, but they can be quite effective in certain situations. Consider a mortar platoon (RAS 5) that can self-spot (+1 DRM) vs. a moving unit in field (+1 DRM). That's an effective RAS of 7, so you only have to roll a 7 or higher on 2d6 for a Suppressed result, or a 10+ (1 in 6 chance) for a Suppressed + step reduction. Also consider that the mortars are some of the weaker ranged units. Artillery batteries, which are plentiful in this game (especially for the British!) have RAS ratings ranging from 6 to 9.

Technically, when you make Ranged Attacks as units' sole actions during your Action Phase (even by off-map units), you declare all such attack up front before rolling any dice. This avoids the gamey tactic of making one roll at a time until you've committed exactly the number of units needed to achieve a Suppressed result. I can't claim that we always did it this way during our playtests. Haha. In fact, we added this rule rather late in development. Apart from eliminating the aforementioned gamey tactic, we rationalized that it would give the Germans a wee bit of help over the course of the 3-day campaign game.