Follow up question to my K9 troops movement question.
A squad can have up to two "canines," and having both slows the unit down like having two support weapons. So, how is the damage bonus from the animals applied?
Beast-mounted infantry, as the closest rules parallel, applies the damage bonus flatly across the platoon. It's not based on the number of animals in the platoon, like standard infantry weapons. If all the troops are riding tabis, the entire platoon gets the +1d6 anti-infantry damage bonus.
Support weapons are probably the next closest rules parallel, applying extra abilities when there are two support weapons per squad. For example, the extra +1d6 anti-infantry damage from two machine guns, or the extended squad range from two LRM launchers. Those bonuses aren't applied if there's only one support weapon in the squad.
So, if a squad has a single "canine" with a 1d6 anti-infantry damage, does the squad have that damage bonus? Is the second canine required to gain the bonus? Does the second canine maybe increase the bonus to 2d6? I'm guessing no, and assuming the second animal serves more as a "backup," so the bonus persists in case one of the two is killed.
