ATTACK - Combat - Missle

A unit equipped with missile weapons has an obvious and important advantage in combat: It can attack from a distance, inflicting damage on the enemy without necessarily exposing itself to attack—unless, of course, the enemy also has missile-firing capability. Unlike melee combat, missile combat can take place during more than one step in a turn.

Attack Eligibility

The movement rules (Chapter 4) detail when and how often missile troops can use their missiles during a turn. Within those rules, these conditions also apply:

Missile-firing figures can only attack enemy figures located in front of them, within an arc 90 degrees wide (45 degrees to the right and left of the center of the figure's base). This target area is determined on a figure-by-figure basis, which means that in some cases not every figure in an attacking unit will be able to fire, and not every figure in the defending unit will be within an attacking figure's target area. (See the illustration on the top of page 43.)

In addition, the target figures must be within range of the missile troops. Ranges for missile weapons (recorded on the unit roster) are expressed as three distances, indicating short-, medium-, and long-range shots. For example, longbow range is 7" /14" /21" . A target more than 7" distant, but 14" or less away from the firing unit, would be attacked at medium range. A target more than 21" away could not be fired upon.

Unlike the determination of target area (which is done on a figure-by-figure basis), the determination of range is performed once. The distance from the center front of the firing unit to the nearest figure of the target unit determines the range at which all attacks are made. (See the illustration on the bottom of page 43.)

A missile unit on higher ground than its target receives a bonus to its range limits; see the section on Elevated Attack, page 44.

Up to two rows of missile troops can fire at a target. Figures in the third row or deeper cannot fire. Thus, a missile-firing unit with a frontage of 6 and a depth of 3 ranks could fire with as many as 12 figures (the number of figures in the front and second ranks combined). If the same unit made a right face turn so that it had a frontage of 3 and a depth of 6, then only 6 figures would be eligible to fire.

No missile fire is allowed into melee; that is, a unit with missile weapons that is engaged in melee cannot use its missiles, either against the unit it is in contact with or against a different enemy unit that happens to be within its target area. Also, a missile unit cannot fire against an enemy that is being engaged in melee by another friendly unit.

Ammunition

Missile units equipped with normal (nonmagical) projectiles are assumed to have an unlimited supply of ammunition, unless the unit roster for a certain scenario specifies otherwise. Units that are carrying magical projectiles generally do not have an unlimited supply of those weapons. Unless the scenario rules specify a different amount, assume that any unit so equipped has enough magical projectiles for two volleys. The magical weapons can be used whenever the owning player desires; before and after the special weapons are fired, the unit uses nonmagical weapons for its attacks.

Line of Sight

Before a missile attack can take place, a line of sight must be confirmed: Can the missile troops see the target unit? Line of sight applies to each attacking figure—it is quite possible that half of a unit will be prevented from shooting by a blocking feature of the battlefield. A line of sight is good if any figure in the target unit can be seen by the attacking figure. However, casualties must be removed from among figures that are in the attacker's line of sight, and if the attacker scores more hits than the number of figures that are eligible targets, then the excess hits are lost.

Note: If part of a unit shoots missiles, that attack counts as an attack for the entire unit.

Line of sight is blocked if there is a hill or high ground between the attacker and his target, but not if either the attacker or target unit occupies the high ground. Line of sight is also blocked by other units—generally, missile troops cannot shoot over a unit to hit a target beyond. (Exceptions: see the sections below on Elevated Attack and Indirect Fire.)

Dense woods also blocks line of sight, if at least 2" of woods separates the target and attacker. Light woods will block missile fire if a 6" or greater barrier exists. Buildings and walls block line of sight, except if the target is behind windows, doors, arrow slits, or other apertures (see "Modifiers to Missile Combat" on the next page).

Elevated Attack

A missile-firing unit on high ground (or on some kind of a platform) can sometimes shoot over an intervening unit, at a target unit beyond. If the intervening unit is closer to the attacker than to the target, it has no effect on the line of sight of the elevated missile troops. This opportunity is also available to large-sized troops at the same elevation as the target, as long as the unit they shoot over is composed of man-sized or smaller creatures, and to man-sized troops firing over smaller than man-sized creatures.

A missile-firing unit at a higher elevation than its target enjoys a benefit to the range at which it attacks, equal to 1" of extra distance for each 1" difference in elevation. For example, the normal range for a longbow is 7" /14" /21". For a unit firing down upon a target from a 2" elevation, the range figures for its longbows are increased to 9" /16" /23.

Indirect Fire

A missile unit can sometimes shoot over a unit that would otherwise block its line of sight, by using indirect fire. The intervening unit must be friendly to the missile troops; indirect fire is never allowed over enemy troops. In addition, the intervening troops can be no closer to the target than they are to the attacker. Figures attacking by indirect fire suffer a 1/2 AD penalty to their attack dice; that is, they only roll half as many attack dice as they would for a normal shot.

Modifiers to Missile Combat

Several factors some of which are described above) can affect the success of a missile attack, either by reducing the number of dice the attacker rolls; by altering the range of the attacker's weapons; or by changing the armor rating of the defender. These factors, and the modifiers that apply to them, are listed below.

Range

Against a target at short range, the attacking unit receives its normal number of attack dice.

For an attack at medium range, the attacker suffers a penalty of 1/2 AD, or one attack die for every two figures rounded up).

For an attack at long range, the penalty is 1/3 AD, or one die for every three attacking figures.

Indirect Fire

As stated in the preceding section, an attacker using indirect fire suffers a penalty of 1/2 AD.

Elevation and Range

A missile-firing unit on higher ground than its opponent can shoot farther than usual. For every 1" of elevation of the attacker over the target, the upper limit of each range category is increased by 1", up to a maximum benefit of 3" .

Target AR Modifiers

For any of the following conditions that apply, the armor rating of the target unit is altered. (Remember that an addition to AR is a penalty, a subtraction is a benefit.)

+ 1 for a target at a lower elevation than the firing unit

+ 1 for a target consisting of larger than man-sized creatures

- 3 if the target is screened

A target is screened if it is enveloped by darkness, fog, or smoke; if it is behind a hedge or some other low obstacle; or if it is separated from the attacking unit by less than 2" of dense woods or less than 6" of light woods.

- 2 for target figures protected by a wall, parapet, doorway, or window

Rules on buildings, walls, and other constructions are covered in detail in the advanced rules, Chapter 7.

- 4 for target figures protected behind arrow slits, loopholes, or some other kind of small opening.

Penalties to a target unit's armor rating are cumulative, so that (for instance) a unit of large creatures at a lower elevation than the attacker has its AR modified by +2. If that same unit is in a valley that is cloaked in fog, then it also receives a -3 benefit for being screened; taking all of these factors into consideration, its AR for purposes of this attack is adjusted by -1.

However, the listed benefits to AR are not cumulative; if more than one of the conditions applies, only the modifier giving the greatest benefit is used. For instance, a target behind a wall ( - 2) and also protected by arrow slits ( - 4) receives a modifier of -4, not -6.