what happens to buildings was RE: Bunkers in SG2

I think it really depends on what the building is made of. I saw many
buildings in Sarajevo (I served with SFOR FEB97-SEP97) that had taken
multiple hits of everything from RPG's to mortars to recoilless rifles to
direct fire artillery and tank guns and were still standing. There was
terrible spalling in the rooms that taken the hits, but the building was still
structurally sound. In particular, the newer buildings built under the
Communists (mostly west side of town toward Ilidza) were mostly intact. The
same could not be said of the 18th and 19th cent. buildings on the east side
of town (in or near Ferhadija or Bistrik). The Olympic Village in Dobrinje was
half and half. Some not too bad structurally, others totally demolished. Of
particular interest were the buildings on either side of one street that was
literally the front line. Thousands of bullet holes, a few RPG hits, no major
hits. I guess both sides were afraid of dropping rounds within 20 meters of
their own troops. (BTW: when I left in SEP97, that street still had triple
strand concertina down the grass median of the avenue.)
I think the main issue was a mixture of building materials/design and
volume of fire. The glass and steel towers of the Oslobodjenje (Sarajevo Daily
Newspaper) building were destroyed while the concrete and steel elevator
shafts remained. This building took months of shelling before the towers
collapsed. Zetra Stadium had many holes in it, but was basically structurally
intact. I have photos, will scan for those interested in what modern
architecture looks like after being hit by a 81mm mortar. Jay

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> Jay Arnold wrote:

I was refering to the rules Brian and I use for buildings:)

Fair enough. The point I'm trying to make, having not seen the rules, is the
relative fragility of buildings should probably be based on the materials used
in construction as well as general design. To that end, is it possible the
rules you use (again, having not seen them) treat buildings as just a bit more
fragile than they should be? Of course, all the buildings in your battles
could be made of cinder block without rebar and not filled with concrete.:)
40K Rogue Trader did a good job at this, delineating not only construction
materials for walls and primary structure but also doors and other points of
ingress. To be honest, I don't think there's a good system out there (yet, or
at least I've seen) for buildings, let alone MOUT. I would tend to think most
structures in a fully urbanized environment would be rigid enough to withstand
most hits from the weapons available in your average Stargrunt game. Assuming,
of course, there was no damage to the structure prior to its occupancy by
military forces, being fired upon, etc.

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