Quick thing that came up in an SGII game last night.
Basically, the situation was this. A squad had one figure equipped with a
sniper rifle. The player detached that figure from the unit and headed him for
cover, with the intention of going in position or hiding and having a few
shots. Before he could *get* hidden, he came under fire. Does this cause the
unit as a whole to make a confidence check (first time that game they'd been
shot at) or is it only when the main body of the squad takes fire?
Secondly, is thhis practice (detatching snipers) a breach of the rules? The
rules say units should only be detached 'for a specific purpose' does sniping
make that grade? Another example is someone detaching an infantry rocket
trooper to get to high ground and provide cover to an advancing unit. I get
the feeling detached units should go off, do something and come back, not stay
permanently detached?
TTFN
Jon
Hi Jon
> ----------
Does this
> cause the unit as a whole to make a confidence check (first
As I read it the detachment only tests. If it drops CLs then on rejoining the
parent unit, you would have to average the CLs as in a regrouping.
> Secondly, is thhis practice (detatching snipers) a breach of
These two examples are precisely the use for detachments. Bear in mind that if
the det is more than 6" away (out of unit integrity) then a Comms roll will be
required each turn that you want it to do anything. A Sniper is the one thing
I think the detachment is not meant to cover. A sniper is a specialist
trooper. So really when he is with the unit he is actually only temporarily
ATTACHED for administrative control. Detaching him is really setting him free
as an individual unit again. Please note that in most armed forces, that there
is a huge difference between a trained specialist sniper and a soldier armed
with a sniping rifle. I've
worked with snipers (my bother-in-law is one!!) and the idea of facing
one on operations is really chilling. Back to the detachments. If you use them
as a temporary measure eg provide covering fire then they can be very useful.
Just don't leave them behind!! At platoon level though
you are still better co-ordinating squad movement and covering fire.
Cheers,
> Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 08:22:10 +0000
> Quick thing that came up in an SGII game last night.
We let the detached unit test separately and then use the rules for combining
units to determine morale level after the detachment rejoins its squad.
> Secondly, is thhis practice (detatching snipers) a breach of the
Yes indeed, and the rules are strong suggestions only. Actually you are MUCH
better off running snipers as individual figures.
Another example is someone detaching an infantry
> rocket trooper to get to high ground and provide cover to an advancing
Yes, the rules do give that impression, but I have seen the "parent" squad
rout and a detachment remain behind! I had to rule that the detachment became
a squad for all practical purposes and let the game continue.
What I tell people in my scenarios is that I allow detachments if they contain
a specialist, in which case they need only detach one or two figures; or if
they detach a couple figures for a "specific" task (they have to tell me what
it is!!) such as setting up an observation post or laying down flanking fire
in an ambush.
What we have found is that while useful in some situations, the loss of an
action to activate a detachment makes them chancey and often difficult to
deploy and use successfully.