Basra Arab Officers

[muddypaw]

Basra was part of my Christmas bundle of joy and I am enjoying it very much. Great storyline and inspiration for some 8th Army/Lawrence of Arabia style desert action. The fluff and fiction spread throughout the book are fantastic stuff and give me a good excuse to use my desert board instead of my usual green rolling fields.

A few questions.

Should the Arab Legion Naib and the Kodat Feldwebel have the Command ability? They fill the NCO/Officer slot seen in other army lists but lack this skill to fulfil their role. It may well be deliberate as I see they also lack the option of a Hero upgrade.

Secondly, the Tank Hunter hero upgrade. It says he comes equipped with a weapon that has the Armour Piercing trait. Can this be any weapon in the nations list? For example, can a British Tank Hunter equip himself with the 3.45 inch RCL or the Blacker Bombard, or is he restricted to the Specialist weapon only, the Boyes Anti Tank Rifle?

[skorzeny]

I could see the Tank Hunter hero lugging about a Recoliless Rifle. a Blacker Bombard is a much harder image to get my head around, but then heroes do weird things.

As for the two Arab troops in question - I'd say yes, they shoudl have a Command ability - in fact my draft for the rules does include that alongside Acclimated for the Feldwebel's special rules, though it does seem to have been missed out on the Naib for the Arab Legion.

[muddypaw]

I guess the Tank Hunter is a bit like the One Man Army hero but hunting tin cans instead of squishy things.

Thanks for the clarification about Command ability. That makes sense, and makes the Arab officers viable choices for my Brits. I was uum'ing about them before now.

Can I just say, Basra is turning into my favourite book. Before I got it, I wasn't that thrilled with the idea of a Middle Eastern front, but the plot and story spread throughout the book make for a cracking inspirational read. Artizan Arabs are my next order ;D

Oh and one more question (I am starting to feel like Columbo...). The SMLE Mk III used by the Arab Legion has an asterix by it, but no reference relating to it. Also it doesn't not appear in the Quick Reference list at the back of the book. What are it's stats ?

[skorzeny]

The SMLE Mk III* is the actual designation for this rifle. Its stats are below:

SMLE Mk III* Range: 26" Strength: 4+d6 ROF: 1:2


We will most likely be reprinting the Arab Legion in an upcoming book devoted solely to the British Empire, so things like the missing Command abilities will be resolved then.

[muddypaw]

Hah so the * is part of the weapons name. It had me very confused looking for a footnote ;D

I do like the direction Basra has taken AEWWII and I hope for similar stuff in the future. An Empire book especially would be top of my list. God Save the King!

[abbysdad]

That is already in the works. The first pacific book is our top priority at the moment but Clint and Rob and I are keeping an eye in the horizon for the British. There might be another British list coming in OTW to expand some of the options available to the Commonwealth. We'll have to see. The OTW issues we have planned for this year are already stacked and we have a backlog from last year to work through!

[Scorpio]

Jan 4, 2011 21:40:17 GMT -5 abbysdad said:

The OTW issues we have planned for this year are already stacked and we have a backlog from last year to work through!

You guys should totally post a 'here's what's hopefully coming out in the next six months' list, to get people interested, and get more people bugging you for updates.

[abbysdad]

That is something I can get behind once my daughter is no longer sick! Family duties trump all my other responsibilities. But I think you'll like what's in this next otw. Ask Maurice for the plain text if he hasn't shared it with you already.

[muddypaw]

Hope your daughter gets better soon.

Looking forward to seeing all the new stuff. You lot seem to have so many OTW issues and books in the pipeline I'm surprised you dont burst ;D

Also, can I just say....Tank Hunter Sniper hero with a 3.45 inch RCL...Just EVIL! I almost feel guilty fielding him

[muddypaw]

Ok, a few more questions ;D

-Should the Arab Legion Naib have the option to be upgraded to Hero?

-The Arab Legion Troopers. Nice solid choice, but why ever choose them over Arab Legion Cavalry who have the same stats and abilities with the addition of a sword, lance and a horse? Dismount them and you have sword armed Arab Legion Troopers with no down side I can see, and no benefit of choosing Troopers.

-A Mounted Hero given a camel, does he gain the immunity to Desert conditions his mount enjoys?

-An individual joins a unit. Can the unit use actions to reload a weapon used by the individual (for example, a Boyes rifle armed sniper or PIAT using Tank Hunter hero).

-Is the Hunter (X) ability in Shadow War to be changed in line with the rules in AE Bounty which give a bonus to S for shooting attacks as well as CC attacks?

-The Lethal ability granted by the MoAA Agents Fang of the Lambton Worm. Is it applied to all attacks or just those inflicted with the Fang?

[skorzeny]

The Naib doesn't have the option to be upgraded to Hero. That isn't an oversight.

Troopers are Infantry while Cavalry are Mounted Infantry, so it makes a difference which kinds of detachments will have room for them.

The Mounted Hero with a camel question is a good one. For ease of rules, I'd say yes. He'd be treated just like a normal camelry trooper.

On an individual joining a unit, I'd say yes, but probably best to wait for a ruling from Chris on that one because I can see it going either way and could lead to some abuses.

We'll see about the Hunter hero type in AE but as of now, it still applies only to CC attacks.

The Lambton Worm's lethal qualities are just with the Fang, so that would mean close combat.

[muddypaw]

Thanks for the speedy reply

Good point about Mounted Infantry vs Infantry unit types, thats something I'd overlooked.

My Camel mounted Lawrence lookalike will be pleased about the camel answer.

All the other answers make perfect sense. For now we will play it that Units cant reload for an individual to avoid potential abuses.

Thanks again for Basra. I can honestly say it's sparked a whole bunch of new ideas and is now by far my favourite of the AEWWII books.

[abbysdad]

Jan 19, 2011 15:50:58 GMT -5 muddypaw said:

Thanks for the speedy reply

Good point about Mounted Infantry vs Infantry unit types, thats something I'd overlooked.

My Camel mounted Lawrence lookalike will be pleased about the camel answer.

All the other answers make perfect sense. For now we will play it that Units cant reload for an individual to avoid potential abuses.

Thanks again for Basra. I can honestly say it's sparked a whole bunch of new ideas and is now by far my favourite of the AEWWII books.

You're welcome!

Clint, Rob and I had a lot of fun putting the ideas and story together.

Rob really encouraged Clint and I to go crazy on some things. Clint was responsible for the whole City of Pillars angle. Clint also did the awesome "Immortal" mummy story. I love that story!

The result of all our effort was something that we thought was very different and interesting for wargamers. I have to say that although I'm proud of the work we did there the next book is going to be even better.

We're hoping to do a similar kind of campaign treatment for the Pacific and Europe too. But we've got a lot to get through first.

Keep telling us what you like and don't like though. It is very helpful. It's hard to strike the right balance between enough rules and enough background in a book like that.

Cheers,

Chris

[Cilionelle]

Ah ha! I found answers to some of my questions!

But it's sad that the Naib can't take a hero upgrade.

I was reading about the SMLE MkIII* on Wikipedia; can we have the De Lisle variant please?