Area fire

[Thewood]

I have never played the board version or Matrix version of LnL, but am very familiar with ASL. Is there an equivalent of area fire or the ability to fire at reduced effect into a hex without spotting a unit?

[Adm-Thrawn]

This link is to a ASL to LnLT Reference Guide written by one of our players.
http://http://library.lnlpublishing.com/books/bphz/#p=1

[Adm-Thrawn]

Just so we are on the same page what is Area Fire in general in ASL.

[voltigeur]

Not for direct fire or on board mortars from what I can read. However for off board artillery the only requirement is that the spotting round is placed in a hex the spotter has a line of sight to. And then FFE affects all units in the FFE area (no mention of special rules regarding unspotted units).

So you could theoretically blast unspotted units that way if you're lucky enough to have OBA.

[Rael]

ASL has hidden units, which are written down and kept off the map. The owner may choose when to place them on the board, or must be revealed if an enemy unit attempts to enter their hex.

Then there are concealed units, if in line of sight, they can be fired upon at one half FP, or at a +2 penalty on the to hit roll. ASL and LNLT to hit mechanics are very much the same with some difference in the modifiers, and LNLT has snake eyes as always hitting and box cars as always missing. This is not necessarily so in ASL. I digress..

LNLT cannot shoot at unit that is not spotted. All units become unspotted at the end of the game turn. Moving, firing, or an enemy infantry or unbuttoned vehicle that is adjacent to a unit spots it. ASL has no equivalent. To answer the OP's question, there is a spotting mechanic that basically uses a units activation for the turn. Its in essence a one in three chance for MMC, a 50/50 for a leader, there are also a couple different modifiers for these rolls. If successful, that unit may also fire to the unit they spotted. All other units with LOS may fire at that spotted unit that turn. Also, units with to hit tables that get aqcquisition on a target may fire on it in subsequent turns but only that unit with acquisition. It is not a perma-spotted for all other units.

Back to the OP's question, you have to spot a unit before you can fire at it. There is no concealed status that lets your units take half fp. You have to flush the unit it out by getting it to fire, move, get a friendly unit adjacent to it, or last of all resorts, spot it.

Hope that helps.

[voltigeur]

yep use half squads to get the unspotted unit to reveal itself :)

[Thewood]

But what if I want to shoot at a suspected location. Maybe just to keep someone's heads down while I move.

btw, the first thing I checked was the ASL conversion book. Can you point to where this is mentioned?

[DropBear]

Originally posted by Thewood:

But what if I want to shoot at a suspected location. Maybe just to keep someone's heads down while I move.

When I first came across LnLT the spotting rule, and inability to just blast away at a squad I knew was in a building was a huge sticking point for me. But think of it this way: those guys in that building are keeping their heads down. They're not going to poke their heads up unless they see you coming at them. That's when they stick their heads up. And that's when you can see them well enough to fire freely.

As an old ASL player, I understand why you ask the question. However, I can't tell you the number of times in ASL I fired (Prep Fire Phase) with multiple squads, for no effect whatsoever. And then had to move, and copped it. OR, the enemy is under concealment counters. Then your firepower is halved, and there's a good chance you won't get a result there either.

Back to LnLT: similarly: you can attempt to SPOT an enemy location. If you succeed, have at it and shoot at them. If not, it's much like in ASL when you fired but got no result and have to move anyway.

Bonus: no debates about Skulking. You can't do it in LnLT :)

I could write an entire article about this kind of thing, and I wouldn't be the only one. There are more than a few ASL players, past or present, that enjoy LnLT :)

[voltigeur]

my fave asl tactic where I am facing concealed or possibly hidden units is put my fire stacks on Opportunity Fire, then send out a couple of half squads in the move phase next to the suspect hex.

If that doesn't reveal enemy units for defensive fire I then get the half squads to search the hexes to remove concealment or reveal. Then blast away with the fire stacks at full strength in the Advancing fire phase.

You can pretty much do this too in LnL due to the phasing system. Adjacent hexes are auto-spotted. Note that in LnL there is no need to fire on hexes that don't contain an enemy unit just because you think there might be something hiding in there - the rules don't allow hidden units similar to ASL.

[Thewood]

I'm more thinking tactical games like Combat Mission, Graviteam, or Steel Beasts. They mirror real tactics by laying down suppressive fire on that building and and advancing a team forward.

Kind of surprised that a game that goes to fairly great effort to force real world decision making would lack something that basic.

[Thewood]

I was also hoping the person who told me to read the manual would let me know where in the documentation it lays out area fire related ASL.

[DropBear]

Originally posted by Thewood:

I'm more thinking tactical games like Combat Mission, Graviteam, or Steel Beasts.

We're in a kind of golden age of wargaming at the moment I think. There are many choices, and they all try to do different things.

Those games are 3D, whereas LnLT is hex based, with counters, die rolls and chits. LnLTD is a digital representation of a board game played with components at the table. I know I'm stating the obvious, but it's by necessity a fair degree more abstracted than the games you mentioned.

The spotting mechanic is one of those abstractions. It's in the rules, and it, combined with the impulse system, are very unlikely to ever change.

[voltigeur]

this game system is definitely 'lite' in comparison with ASL. I haven't seen this document you're referring to but I would bet area fire hasn't been covered.

[Stéphane Tanguay]

Originally posted by Thewood:

I was also hoping the person who told me to read the manual would let me know where in the documentation it lays out area fire related ASL.

As far as I can telll there is nothing about Area Fire in that manual, and certainly not in the game, the closest being Off-board artillery

[Bullett]

I don’t think of the LnLT system as ASL lite. I think of it as ASL evolved. Real world tactics and maneuvers are rewarded or punished accordingly and the system is far more playable.

LnLT spotting rules within the impulse system simulate the difficulty of maneuvering troops in LOS of concealed forces accurately and with far less complexity than ASL.

You want realism? Enlist in the infantry. You want to play a great war game without bogging down in unnecessary complexity? Get LnLT.

[Thewood]

"You want realism? Enlist in the infantry"

Thanks for the constructive suggestion.