A Bunch of Errata Questions

[hammerzeit]

So, I've been playing for a while and I've just now thought to register on the forums...

Anyway, I have several questions for the mods that have been bothering me for a while now, and I would very much appreciate some arbitration on them.

1. T-4 Tumbleweed Tank
First of all, why does it have three weapons but only two gunners? The center .30 is positioned as if the Driver could fire it, but the core rulebook specifically states that Drivers can only take Move actions. I really want to use this unit, but this seems like a major flaw in its design.
Second, I have never been very clear on the firing arcs for vehicles. The diagram in the core rulebook does not show any firing arcs at all, and I interpreted the arc diagram like this (excuse the MSpaint drawing) :

If this is the case, what does the firing arc look like for the Tumbleweed tank? It has weapons in what look like two side sponsens, which in reality act as 180^o turrets, but the rules for the tank say they are Left and Right mounted. Strictly speaking, it looks like the arcs for the side-mounted guns should look like this:

The red areas are the pure 180^o arcs, with the green lines showing an arc closer to 270^o that would make sense if the guns were on a pivot. With the rules as written and with just the 180^o arcs, the T-4 would be incredibly weak as it would only ever be able to bring one of its weapons to bear on a target at once most of the time. With the green line firing arc, the tank only has a small wedge-shaped 'blind spot' front and back, which makes it much more dangerous. The blue arc is what I perceived the Front arc to look like for the center M1919. Can someone clear this matter up?

2. BARs and Support Teams
Both the BAR upgrade and Support squad have a similar restriction: a detachment may only have one per three Infantry selections in the detachment. In both cases, does this mean that you must have three Infantry selections already before you can take one, or if you only have one Infantry selection you can take one? As an example: the way I interpret the rules, this detachment is legal:

Tank Detachment
Regular T-4 Tumbleweed Tank
Elite* OSS Agent (with Rocket Hero)
Veteran** ARPA Mechanic
Regular Airborne Infantry Squad (with BAR)
Green Selection Dropped to upgrade Veteran selection to Elite*
Green Selection Dropped to upgrade Regular selection to Veteran**

I only have one Infantry selection, but I have taken only a single BAR. In the same sense, can I use a Regular Airborne Support Squad in place of the Infantry Squad?

3. Skinwalkers
The rules entry for the OORD Skinwalkers show them in squads of 2, but they also have the Solo ability. What gives?

4. Soviet Anti-Tank Dog Squad
I know this was technically ruled on, but can someone explain why the handler will incur a drive loss when his dogs, which he has trained specifically so that they would explode, actually explode? This seems like a really weird way to interpret the rules.

5. Figure Bases
I have noticed one major issue with the Occult Expansion. Since most of the new units do not have official figures, we as players have to come up with replacements from other figure lines. The issue is that for all the new units, it does not specify what size bases to use. For example, what size base does the Wendigo use? Or the Skinwalker? A chart would be quite handy.

6. Vampires
The rules entry for Vampires states that if the battlefield condition is changed mid-battle so that it is no longer nighttime, Vampires are automatically suppressed. How does this work? What kind of cover can they take that allows them to break suppression, or do they just flee the battlefield?

7. Golem
Why does the golem have pants?

[xGIxJOKERx]

I think I can help with a few of these.
1: Your second chart looks reasonable, if a bit complicated. I'm going to wait on the official ruling for this one.
2: You need three infantry units before you can have a BAR in one of them. However, it does not matter what infantry unit it is, so if you had an OSS Agent, an Officer and an Airborne team, the Airborne team could have a BAR. In the above example, you could also select a support unit in addition to the BAR.
3: Solo is a special rule from the main rule book. It means that they cannot be joined by individuals.
4: That is a bit odd, maybe it takes a psychological toll on the handler to actually see fluffy blow up?
5: A chart would be helpful, but to my understanding, nothing in the Occult book is on a base larger than the one the Buffalo and Rholingsoldat is on (30mm?) Skinwalkers, vampires, and dahgur are all roughly man-sized and so are on the standard infantry base, where as wendigos, werewolves and the like are one step bigger.
6: Druids can bring the sun out. It is limited in length, I think. If not, kill the Druid. There may also be some scenarios that specifically start at night but it turns to day after a set number of turns (or vice-versa.) In that case it would just be a race against the clock before you vampires become useless (or the enemy's awaken and start wreaking havoc.)
7: Dr Manhattan has the market cornered on bald super humans with their wangs hanging out.

[mkcontra]

Jan 6, 2010 19:19:27 GMT -5 hammerzeit said:

S

1. I'll let Robert answer this.

2. BARs and Support Teams
You need 3 infantry selections. These can be any unit of the infantry type (airborne, GI, Airborne officer, OSS Agent, etc.), but you must have 3 to be able to take a BAR or Heavy Weapon. Note that the same 3 units unlock both a BAR and HW for you.

3. Skinwalkers
This simply means that individuals cannot join this unit. The 2 of them are still a unit together.

4. Soviet Anti-Tank Dog Squad
Because? Didn't write em, so I don't have a reason.

6. Vampires
They are forced into cover and can only move within cover until it returns to night. They cannot break suppression like normal units when it's daytime.

7. Golem
Because you gotta have pants!

[Darkson]

So to keep the game running smoothly the firing arcs are 180 each as seen on the following diagram:



If you were in the right position you could fire 2 weapons on a single target to on side or the other. With targets to the front you could fire three. But more than likely 3 different targets.

In the case of the template weapons use the weapon as your starting point and have at it just don't cross over the vehicle it self.

4. The handler gets a some trauma from the break in PSI contact. It would be like loosing a limb. Its gonna hurt for a bit.

5. We will start to address this in the new site which we are working on now.

7. That is the artist vision so that is what was done. I like it. (Roger from BPRD has a vest? Why?)

[hammerzeit]

Jan 7, 2010 0:19:17 GMT -5 Darkson said:

So to keep the game running smoothly the firing arcs are 180 each as seen on the following diagram:



If you were in the right position you could fire 2 weapons on a single target to on side or the other. With targets to the front you could fire three. But more than likely 3 different targets.

In the case of the template weapons use the weapon as your starting point and have at it just don't cross over the vehicle it self.

This is a fair compromise, and it makes sense. I'm just a little sad (as an American player) that it can't bring all three .30's to bear on a single target ;D Judging by my previous opponent's armor rolls, that may not eve have been enough against his Rohlingsoldats...

Jan 7, 2010 0:19:17 GMT -5 Darkson said:

4. The handler gets a some trauma from the break in PSI contact. It would be like loosing a limb. Its gonna hurt for a bit.

Ok, but what Psi link? They're not psychic bomb dogs, are they?

Jan 7, 2010 0:19:17 GMT -5 Darkson said:

7. That is the artist vision so that is what was done. I like it. (Roger from BPRD has a vest? Why?)

Jan 6, 2010 20:02:26 GMT -5 xGIxJOKERx said:

Dr Manhattan has the market cornered on bald super humans with their wangs hanging out.

Jan 6, 2010 20:11:05 GMT -5 mkcontra said:

Because you gotta have pants!

Points taken. I just think it makes the golem look more like a big clay superhero and less like The Golem.

[Darkson]

For the T4 try using Flamethrowers or Tesla guns. You will be able to bring all three guns to bear on most targets to the front of it and you will lay down some hurting.

I think the pants thing is more to make the Golem more human to the troops around it and make it easier for them to not be scared shitless. After all he is in the same uniform as the rest of them so it must be ok!

I kind of like thinking of the Golem as a super hero. Have you seen one in action on the table.

The Soviet dogs are PSI trained and PSI guided to there targets and than bomb that connection is broken. No more rover. It can be a rough thing.

[Scorpio]

Jan 6, 2010 19:19:27 GMT -5 hammerzeit said:

7. Golem
Why does the golem have pants?

Did you see the issue where they gave Roger pants?

[hammerzeit]

After playing a few games with my new T-4, I have two questions:

-When a vehicle uses the Sprint action, it spends all of the Driver's AP to move. At the same time, the rules for vehicles state that the entire crew must spend an action point at once before any one crew member spends another, so what is the timing on spending AP for gunners when the driver is sprinting?

-My OSS Agent with the Rocket Hero ability was hit by a Gremlin from a Krieghexe. Even though it says all of his mechanical gear malfunctions (ie his Rocket pack), can he still move with his normal foot movement of 3?

[xGIxJOKERx]

-The way the sprint action works in regards to vehicles is that the driver spends his first action point and nothing happens. At this point the gunner(s) spends his first. Then the driver spends his second and (typically) last action point. When this happens the vehicle moves triple. After the vehicle finishes moving, the gunner can spend his second point. You also have the option of shooting before the drive spends his second AP, any order really. The same applies to weapons that take 2 AP to fire. The shot goes off on the second AP the gunner uses, the first used to prime the weapon.
-I would say that is perfectly reasonable for to be able to walk.

[Darkson]

-My OSS Agent with the Rocket Hero ability was hit by a Gremlin from a Krieghexe. Even though it says all of his mechanical gear malfunctions (ie his Rocket pack), can he still move with his normal foot movement of 3?

If you check out the entry for Gremlin it mentions Rocket Troopers and that they would not be able to move if a target of this spell.
Your Rocket Trooper Hero would be treated like a normal Rocket Trooper and not be able to move.