So here we are with a depleted German company holding the back edge of the village. One platoon holds the side of the village facing east, one platoon holds the rear of the village facing north.
One Canadian company attacks a German platoon (A) on the side of the village. The German unit has a section of mortars (B ) and its HQ (C) within supporting distance. Th close assault goes in but bounces.
A second, quite separate, Canadian company attacks a second German Platoon (C) from the centre of the village. The German platoon has the mortars (B ) and HQ (C), both of which acted as supports in the earlier defence, within supporting distance.
Can the German mortar unit and the HQ lend support to the second German platoon as well as the first, or will they be in the estaminet with bockwurst and pumpernickel and the oompah band celebrating their earlier success, and sadly not available to support the second defence?
Finally, it occurs to me that, although we have an admirable vignette of British Tank crew loafing around drinking tea, the German vignette just described above has yet to be cast. This represents a significant gap in the otherwise comprehensive range.
Not sure how I got emojis? I was trying to label the supporting mortars as B and the supporting HQ as C.
Quote from: holdfast on 16 February 2021, 01:01:11 PM
Not sure how I got emojis? I was trying to label the supporting mortars as B and the supporting HQ as C.
I've fixed that, no worries. It's a bit of a bug in the emoji code where a B and a close bracket contitute a smiley face, so B ) becomes B).
B ) is B)
8 ) is 8)
I could be wrong on this but I doubt the HQ can lend support - it's CA rating is for it's defence
No Command units can lend support in either attack or defense of a close assault (that includes: Snipers and Recce as well as CO, HQ's, FAOs and FACs).
The mortar unit - assuming it is classified as an Infantry Support unit (& not an Artillery unit) - can support in defence of a close assault.
So far so good, thanks. So the HQ CA value is only if it is itself assaulted, which one hopes will seldom happen.
But can the same mortar unit support Platoon A when it is defending itself, and then later in the same move, both having survived, support platoon D when it is assaulted by a completely different attacker?
All your answers are on Page 40. ;)
in the 1st paragraph of the section titled SUPPORT:
"Any unit with a ranged value (either AT or AP) can support an assault, even if it can't normally cause hits against the enemy. The exceptions to this are command units and recce units - they may not support an assault."
NB: Sniper units are classified as Command units - so cannot support assaults. Also units with the Slow Firing special ability can only fire once per game turn - so can in effect only support one assault action per game turn.
next paragraph:
"... each unit may only support one assault during the initiative phase and one assault per order during the command phase"
So in your example if the two assault actions were initiated as either an Initiative action or as 2 separate Commanded actions, then the mortar can support both assaults.
The key point here is the phrase "per order".
Hope that helps?
Got it. So since they were two separate commanded actions they can assist each time, although they will be a bit pooped at the end.
That was how I played it, albeit with the mistake of adding the HQ CA as support to the defenders.
In summary, I was right on mortars and wrong on HQs.
Add one more to the list of things that HQs aren't good at, which already includes 'a woodpecker's NAAFI break in Sherwood Forest'.
Again, think of your HQ units as command networks - not 'units' as such - it helps that way.
Unless you choose to use the Line Commander rules, from the SCW supplement instead of the standard Command rules in BKCIV, most command units just to that - they command and not much else. Getting them anywhere near an assault is usually not a great idea.
Got it, thank you.