From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 20:13:32 -0500
Subject: Snow Job
My thoughts on winter weather FX: Decrease motivation of troops 1 level. No one likes crappy weather. (A few spec ops freaks who love bad weather because no one else does to the contrary). If the snow is ankle deep, no impact on infantry or vehicle movement. If it is knee deep, drop infantry movement one die type (if have snowshoes, or other snow mobility, no penalty). (6" -> 4"). Vehicles treat terrain as one class worse (walker, wheeled or GEV) - tracked or grav ignore. If snow is waist deep, infantry may not move without snowshoes or grav belts (or move at 1"/move). Vehicles treat terrain as two classes worse (grav unaffected, tracked 1 class worse). Snowing: Light snow - no penalty Heavy snow - visibility may be restricted to 10" or less. Blizzard - visibility may be 2" or less. Wounds: For each two turns a casualty goes unresolved, add a 1 point penalty to the resolution roll. Dangers in snow include 1) getting lost, 2) getting stuck, 3) going through ice, 4) vehicle stalling and not starting, 5) hypothermia/frostbite if you get wet and don't get dry and warm fast, 6) avalanches in alpine regions and 7) Polar Bears! Temperature/Weather tolerance is also relative. A temperature and snow conditions bad enough to drop the average LLAR soldier 1 motivation level may not even be noticed by an IAS or ScanFed soldier. Canadians are known to wear shorts and T-shirts in December.... This thought also applies to soldiers fighting other foreign climates, like the CampCon scenarios that pit the ESU against the New Providence Militia. New Providence is a wet, chilly world. If the ESU are forced to fight a lengthy campaign, they will rather rapidly lose heart based on the singularly unpleasant weather. The New Providence Militia, OTOH, are very used to the weather and can keep going in rain and storm conditions that will render the ESU virtually immobile.