Number of attacks: Page 316; Combat Phase; Types of Attacks; Number of attacks - states each Formation gets one standard attack per Combat Unit. So if a Formation has four CUs then it will make four attacks.
Attack Declaration: Yes, if both sides in the hex have a Formation(s) then they declare attacks by the Formation. Since two Formations can be in an ACS hex there are options, especially if AS are also in the hex.
Combat Tactics: Yes, formations declare their chosen tactic. The rule is very badly written as it seems to imply an attack that misses still does damage. We had to decide what we thought was the *intent* of the rule. Not sure our solution was right but it makes sense to us (see below).
1. Determine Range: should be self explanatory,.... resolve one formation at a time as per SBF (page 239). Make your manoeuvre roll. For our purposes lets assume Side A wins with a MoS of 2 over side B and choses medium range. Side B also was successful so is not out manoeuvered. If you want a bit more detail do the manoeuvre rolls by CU.
2. Determine to hit number: done by CU as different battalions may have different experience levels or TMMs that effect final hit numbers. (see below)
3. Roll to hit: again it is CUs who do the shooting (we choose targets by CU) or withhold fire from some CUs to improve to hit chances of other CUs. Refer to page 240 in SBF rule section but use the to hit modifiers from pages 308-311 and 316. See page 317 step 3: Roll to Hit rule where it states CU do the shooting. (see below)
4. Roll to apply damage: if you go by the "tactics check" rules the hits scored by CUs are applied by the winner of that dr up to the limit of two hits per CU per turn. It slows play a lot. If you bypass the 'tac check' rule damage is applied randomly, again with the two hit limit per CU. In our games since we are choosing who to engage the damage is applied to that target. This speeds play along as we do not need tac checks or time to make the random die rolls. (see below).
Taken altogether here is a simple example between two Formations each of three CUs. Side A is a LC medium mech regiment of 3 battalions. Side B is a FWL medium mech regiment. Both sides are regular/reliable. The LC regiment contains 1 light, 1 med, and 1 heavy battalion. The FWL regiment has 2 medium battalions and 1 heavy battalion. The formation is in open country.
Attack Declaration: keeping it simple they attack each other in the same hex.
Combat Tactics: let's bypass this for later and assume the rule is not used
Determine Range: as per page 239 manoeuvre rolls we will assume the FWL wins the roll with an MoS of 2 and that the LC also succeeded in passing the DR. Noting the make up of the LC Formation the Marik player choses long range
Determine To Hit: referring to pages 308-311 and 316 the players have the following DR modifiers. Common sense needed here as the +/- numbers can seem backwards. Go with presumed "intent":
LC: -1 for regular, +1 for flawed doctrine, +4 for long range, +TMM
FWL: -1 for regular, +4 for long range, +TMM
The TMMs are what convinced us to choose a target. If done randomly or by 'tactics check' you may not know if you hit until the target is determined. It slows play down. We will assume players chose targets.
LC CU 1 (lt battalion) is out of range so no attack
LC CU 2 (med battalion) attacks FWL CU 1 (medium, +4 TMM): base 4, +4 long range, +4 TMM, -1 regular - final TH# is 11. The roll is a 12 so it is a hit.
LC CU 3 (hvy battalion) attacks FWL CU 3 (hvy, +3 TMM): base 4, +4 long range, +3 TMM, -1 regular - final TH# is a 10. The roll is a 7 so the attack misses.
The FWL CUs shoot back. Knowing the LC light battalion is out for this round due to range he attacks the hvy battalion twice and the medium once.
FWL CU 1 (med battalion) attacks LC CU 2 (medium, +4 TMM): base 4, +4 long range, +4 TMM, -1 regular, +1 flawed doctrine - final TH# is a 12. The roll is a 10 so its a miss.
FWL CU 2 attacks LC CU 3 (hvy battalion, +2 TMM): base 4; +4 long range, +2 TMM, -1 regular, +1 flawed doctrine - final TH# is 10. The roll is an 11 so the attack hits
FWL CU 3 also attacks LC CU 3 (hvy battalion, +2 TMM): base 4; +4 long range, +2 TMM, -1 regular, +1 flawed doctrine - final TH# is 10. The roll is a 3 so the attack misses.
Determine and Apply Damage: if using the written rule you now roll tactics checks or random dr to see who gets hit or not. The hits in our case are FWL 2 hits LC CU 3 at long range LC CU 3 take 3 points of damage. LC CU 2 hits FWL CU 1 at long range so FWL CU 1 takes 2 points of damage. Determine critical hits .
Now,..... about that bit regarding tactics that we did not use here. Our solution was thus:
Assume aggressive tactic chosen by a player for +2 to the TH# for an extra 0.2 damage. We will assume a final TH# of 7 becomes a 9 for the extra damage
- if the player hits with the +2 there is no issue. His theoretical 10 point damage from the attack becomes 12.
- if the player rolls a 7, he misses the number for the additional 0.2 damage but still hits for the base TH and will be penalized and his damage is multiplied by -0.2. In our case 10 points become 8 points of damage.
- if the player rolls a 6 or less he simply misses.
Had the opponent chosen defensive tactics for a -0.1 and succeeded (hit) then the damge inflicted by the above attack would have been reduced by a further -0.1 for a total of 7 points.
That's the way we've gone. However, because we are dealing with the 3rd SW numbers of CCs we have dispensed with a lot of the tactics bits to speed play and reserved them for special cases and player's personal units.
Cheers.