How I Plan To Use These Sheets/Cards
The support weapon and the rifle attacks can (and will often be) directed at separate targets. The rifles, in most circumstances, will be anti-infantry only, having no effect against armored targets.
The Support weapon will function the same as its counterpart found on tanks, BA, and BattleMechs, although I include the extreme range as an option, and something that Infantry wouldn't know better not to do. If it is directed in an anti-infantry capacity, it'll get a x3 range boost against conventional infantry squad targets. (I'm tempted to keep this to fire weapon as listed in the TW list of Anti-Infantry Weapons. However, people are surprisingly squishy and easy to knock over or otherwise incapacitate, and I'm working from a direction that there's more to BT magic armor than just the armor. And I may include some caveats to the damage output, regardless.
It depends on how my group feels about it once we try it out, hopefully this weekend.)
The Free Rifles in the squad will each get their own attack roll. Following the example of A Time of War, which runs in 5-second turn increments, I'm wanting to give them 2 attacks in a Weapon's Fire Phase, but I'm tempted to link the extra attack to the Fatigue Chart. (More below.) Each successful hit from a rifle scores one point of anti-infantry damage.
For simplification, the whole squad is given one gunnery value to work with. However, if anyone is willing to run individualized gunnery per trooper/team, there's nothing stopping them. I may be doing that for hero/character or irregular squads. And they will be working with every modifier that regular units will have to, including AMM mods, which will be running for the GoAC.
The Support Team and the Free Rifles can engage different targets with no penalty. All Free Rifles in a squad must target one enemy unit, like an enemy squad, however. (Again, if your group wants to get fancy and allow each rifle to engage his own target, by all means.)
When taking anti-infantry damage, each point of AnInf damage is applied to the squad with a random d6 roll, consulting the trooper number to see which one got hit. Anti-Infantry damage will be applied to any armor boxes first, before the trooper is hit and is eliminated as a mission-kill. If a trooper is eliminated in an anti-infantry attack while damage is still being resolved, any further damage to that trooper does not get rerolled. If you're tracking trooper survival, the extra damage will count against that.
If the support team is hit with AnInf damage, and it wasn't enough to eliminate the whole team, roll 2d6. On an 8 or better the Support Weapon itself has been damaged and no longer functions and the team can no longer make any attacks for the rest of the game or until the weapon is replaced. Otherwise the support team will function until both troopers have been eliminated. (I may work in a roll to see if a Rifleman needs to be sacrificed to keep the team functioning.)
Anti-Armor Weapons targeted against a squad will hit one trooper or team for sure. However, there is a chance to catch a couple more. Roll on the determining critical hits table, and the number of crits indicated is the additional number of troopers damaged. Use any terrain's MP cost as a negative modifier to the roll. In the case of Buildings, use the CF damage reduction granted to armored units as a negative modifier, instead.
Divide the weapons damage value by the number of troopers hit, or the number of remaining troopers/teams, (whichever is smaller) with any remainder lost to indicate the travel of the beam or bullet stream. (Note: the double-damage applied to infantry squads out in the open still applies in this instance.) Randomly determine one trooper as per anti-infantry attacks. Then apply the damage as determined above to that trooper and each subsequent active trooper in the list going in sequential number order. If you reach the bottom of the list with damage remaining, start at the top of the list and continue down.
Targeting the Support Weapons Team is easy. When a squad is targeted the attacker can declare whether they are targeting the support weapon team or making a general anti-infantry attack. (Let's face it, they support weapon team is going to be conspicuous, and they usually have to set-up in order to make an attack with that weapon.) If the support weapon team is directly targeted, no roll on the squad is required, and no check to see if extra troops were damage is made. You were going for the weapon. This means any cluster damage would all get tallied onto that team. (The one exception would be LB-X cluster munitions.)
Fatigue
Whenever a squad spends MP on a fatiguing action, like running, they their fatigue level goes up by one. During the Heat or End Phases of a turn, they make a 2d6 roll with the roll number associated with the corresponding fatigue level as the target value. If the roll meets or exceeds the value, they overcome their fatigue and can spend MP normally during the next Movement Phase. If they fail, they can only expend MP to Recover during the next Movement Phase.
Actions that are fatiguing:
- Running (Spending MP to move 1 or more hexes)
- Doubling the squad's rate of fire. (MP spent to make an attack is not normally fatiguing. However, a squad may undertake a fatigue to double the rate of fire for their Free Rifles. They may only do this once per MP spent for an attack. Because Support weapons will have to spend MP to reload, they do not benefit from this, only getting to fire once a turn, nominally.)
MP Expenditure will determine what a squad does in its turn. MP is spent during the movement phase as normal, but what it is spent on will determine what is done during the movement and following phases. It is now a matter of coming up with a small list of MP costs, as well as how much MP a squad normally has to it.
I'm thinking that most standard squads will have 2 MP.
(I am contemplating having the support team and the rest of the squad. That could get a little complicated, but it would keep the list short. If it's too much, I can come up with a longer list of more comprehensive actions.)
MP Actions List: (This is subject to change based on testing and suggestions.)
2 MP - Enter an adjacent Hex (Whole squad moves.)
1 MP - Make a Support Weapon attack. (Note: Support weapons cannot use this unless they first spend an MP to Set-up/Load. This MP can be combined with another action.)
1 MP - Set-up/Load (Support Weapon Team action. This MP can be combined with another action.)
1 MP - Make a Free Rifle Attack. (The rifles make an anti-infantry attack. This Action can be combined with the Set-up/Load Action or Make a Support Weapon attack.)
Edit: (Whoops, hit the post button instead of the preview. Wasn't done yet.)
1 MP - Recover (Reduce the squad's Fatigue Level by one. This action can be combined with the Set-up/Load or Make a Support Weapon attack.) Note: The reason the squad can still benefit from recovery while still making support weapon attacks is because when the squad needs to move, the freshened troopers can pitch in to move the support weapon or aid with reloading as necessary. That's how I see it.
