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Return to Hammers Slammers Galleries page Specialists: ARV, Ambulances and Combat Engineers
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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RULES  RULES  is
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
Thunderbolt Division ARV the Br48PS
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).
Thunderbolt Division ARV the Br48PS