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How abut some formalised rules for these specialist units?
A question was raised by Patrick Sexton and his group for how best to address using specialist
TUs in a game setting so, based on that, here are some ideas to try out...
John Treadaway - October 2016
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Previously, some forces have had a vehicle or
team added which can be a recovery vehicle but
it's all been a bit vague as to what these TUs
actually do, and certainly they’ve not been
handled in a consistent way. Ambulances are not
covered at all and nor are combat engineers
except that mine clearing is covered in the basic
rules.
So, dealing with these issues:
ARVs
Any force can have an Armoured Recovery
Vehicle on the basis of adding one per
detachment. Those that have them already
optioned in their force listings (the Thunderbolt
Division, for example) may add a second
vehicle. They should not be heavily armed but
are generally about the same - points cost,
movement, defensive value and armament - as a
command vehicle. They should be modelled with
a crane, dozer blade etc.
Effect
An ARV functions much like the detachment Elite
Skill Field Mechanic but tends to be cheaper
(points wise). It can fix a vehicle's damage - the
1-4 rolls though not the 5 and 6 rolls - in game
on a quality roll. Movement must be paid for by
the allocation of leadership points from a
commander or a pool. In any given turn the ARV
must draw along side (within Point Blank range)
a vehicle during it's movement phase and stop.
A quality roll is then made to achieve a success.
If the ARV can stop alongside more than one
vehicle (maybe two or even three are parked
close enough together) it may simultaneously
work on as many as it has within Point Blank.
In a campaign game, vehicles destroyed on a 5
(not a 6) on a winning side may also be
recovered on a quality roll as battlefield wrecks
and put back into service. Obviously those
destroyed on a 6 are so much scrap metal…
Combat Engineer Vehicles
Tending to look more like armoured bulldozers
than the ARVs, these can be employed on
exactly the same basis: one per detachment,
weapons, cost and defensive stats as the regular
command vehicle. However, these specialists
are graded one training level higher than
regular troops: Untrained have Trained CEVs;
Trained have Veteran; Veteran have Elites but so
do Elites (there's are not one level better).
Effect
There function is to move to an area and - for the
application of a Quality Roll (costing a
Leadership Point) dig some sort of infantry
scrape or vehicle hull down. These would be big
enough for two infantry TUs or one vehicle TU,
irrespective of size (assuming that the forces
involved buy suitably large machinery to handle
their own AFVs…). If the QR is failed (maybe the
ground was a bit rocky) then a second attempt
may be made using the 1-2-4 rule costing 2LPs.
Similar a Third can be tried and - if that fails - the
solid rock your men have deployed on is going
to need explosives or similar and is outside of
the scope - and the timescale - of a game.
A scrape/foxhole can be a single big one for two
infantry TUs or two smaller ones (1 TU each)
within Point Blank of each other. Each will add
obscuration to hit (+1) and Soft Cover (+1) for
the infantry. A second turn could be spent
deepening these meaning the latter is increased
to Hard Cover (+2).
An AFV can occupy a position scraped by a
CEV and it will become 'Hull Down' and gain
1DV (usually to the front) and obscuration
making them - again - harder to hit (+1).