Casulty Indicators

[Nigel Heather]

Bases with multiple figures (ATGs, MMGs, Mortars etc.

I haven’t decided for sure yet, but I am inclined to fix the crew to base and employ some sort of marker system to show casualties.  One thought is a small dice frame and a dice to show the number of surviving crew.

But I have two questions

1) I don’t know the game rules that well.  Is there anything when inflicting casualties on a base to determine which crew member is killed or is it always defender choice or the gunner the last to go.  Clearly if the former then that messes with my idea a bit as it would need to indicate the specific units alive.

2) Any alternative solutions to marking casualties/survivors

I am a little torn too, because I am also attracted to the neatness of removing figures as they die, so I would be interested in any neat ways you do that.

 

Cheers,

Nigel

[SteveT]

I thought this would have a simple answer, until I checked the rulebook,  shooting section, taking damage:

“If the target is a weapons team, for example a bazooka or medium machine gun team, then exceptional damage indicates that the weapon itself has been damaged or rendered inoperable in some fashion, so remove the weapon and its firer as a casualty.”

This kind of implies that the surviving crew could run about independently…after the loss of the main gunner and actual weapon.

But either way don’t think we need to differentiate which crew is gunner or not.

Marking casualties: depends on the model’s geometry, but a subtle way is a matchstick, separating the living from the non-living. Also dead bodies placed near it, but that is quite grim, or tiny red beads on the dead ‘uns.

 

 

 

[Steeljackal]

The choice is yours. I prefer to use small bases and keep assistants separate. You can quickly and easily see how many servants are missing. I attach some photos.

A normal wounded, chosen by the defender. So an assistant is lost, it doesn’t matter which (it could also be the machine gunner in an MG, which is then replaced by one of the servants). It is noticeably only when there is only one man left to use the weapon with a -1 penalty.
An exceptional damage means that the weapon is damaged / jammed in addition to the gunner’s death, and the assistants flee. The whole unit is considered lost. Artillery weapons only suffer exceptional damage from heavy weapons (+1 penetration).

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Steeljackal.

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[Steeljackal]

Hi Steve,

you wrote “This kind of implies that the surviving crew could run about independently…after the loss of the main gunner and actual weapon.”

If I understand right, this is not correct. A team based weapon unit (like MG, mortar, bazzoka, sniper) after exceptional damage entire unit and dice is lost. Assistant can’t continue to fight. From rulebook “…crewmen have panicked and fled or else they have been caught in a catastrophic ammunition explosion and killed – either way we abandon them to their fate.”

The case of artillery units is somewhat different. If the weapon is put out of action by exceptional heavy weapon damage, and there is another artillery unit within 12 inches, then the unit is always lost along with the die but the crews are not fleed. By the end of the game they can move to replenish the crew of the other weapon (if it is left unmanned or has suffered losses).

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Steeljackal.

[Paul Nettle]

“If the target is a weapons team, for example a bazooka or medium machine gun team, then exceptional damage indicates that the weapon itself has been damaged or rendered inoperable in some fashion, so remove the weapon and its firer as a casualty.”

Given that MMGs were already suffering from the LMG upgrade, in my club we have a club-rule to ignore this rule.  Bullets can only kill people, not equipment, in my club.  It makes the MMGs a little more survivable.

[SteveT]

Yeah it was a confusion over team weapon crew losses vs artillery crew losses.  Wonder why they decided to treat them differently…

Cheers

 

[Kar98k]

“I am a little torn too, because I am also attracted to the neatness of removing figures as they die, so I would be interested in any neat ways you do that.”

The best way would be to have the figures on separate bases. See Steeljackal’s examples above, and I will try to take and post pictures of some other examples if I get a chance. But if you do not want to rebase your figures, then casualty caps is a good way to go, and I have seen all types and shapes. Something simple like rings work pretty good. Just take some colored (black or red) pipe cleaners, cut them in sections, and bend into a ring. How big of a ring you want is what you need to work out.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Kar98k.

[Steeljackal]

SteveT

“Yeah it was a confusion over team weapon crew losses vs artillery crew losses.  Wonder why they decided to treat them differently…”

 

It is one of many approximations, and it is not illogical.

An MG is more susceptible to jamming or damage than an artillery cannon.
MG and mortar could be damaged by a small caliber bullet hitting aiming or adjusting parts.
A mortar bullet that explodes and injures all assistants may be hit.
After a sniper kills the machine gunner, the assistants may panic and fee.
All these possibilities fall within the probability of exceptional damage.

The artillery is a heavy weapon, less susceptible to jams and damage, it does not suffer damage from small caliber bullets, usually the crew is protected by a shield (even under fire of a sniper who has just killed the gunner/leader maybe the crew does not run away but remains sheltered behind the shield).
Only large-caliber ammunition and HE bullets can damage the weapon and sufficiently scare/panic the crew (the .50 caliber is still used today in rifles, called antimaterial rifle, precisely to damage enemy equipment / weapons).

Bolt Action is not a precise simulation of the single event, but is a statistical approximation of what could have happened.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Steeljackal.

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