Off-Board Artillery Question

[Gorby]

Hi,

Rule 14.2 (p. 73) says "An Off-Board Artillery Strike can be used only once per scenario." I don't understand this sentence. There is an artillery counter track but rule 7.5 (p. 42) says that "A formation may now attempt to use a maximum of two Off-Board Artillery Strikes," not to mention that some OffBA have number counters.

Does this simply mean that strikes can never be reacquired once used (even if they never actually fire, per 14.5/FFE rules) or is there something I'm not getting?

Thanks

 

[Keith Tracton]

Hi,

Rule 14.2 (p. 73) says "An Off-Board Artillery Strike can be used only once per scenario." I don't understand this sentence. There is an artillery counter track but rule 7.5 (p. 42) says that "A formation may now attempt to use a maximum of two Off-Board Artillery Strikes," not to mention that some OffBA have number counters.

Does this simply mean that strikes can never be reacquired once used (even if they never actually fire, per 14.5/FFE rules) or is there something I'm not getting?

Thanks

High great question! the artillery strikes track indicates the number and type(s) of Off Board artillery strikes you have in a scenario. sc those strikes you can use a maximum of 2 / formation / activation. Each time you use an individual type, the number of strikes of that type is reduced by one. That means you won't be able to use the strikes that remain later in the scenario. Let me know if this helps or if you need further clarification. Thanks for looking into this!

 

[Gorby]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, but I do need a little more clarification. So, let's say I start the scenario with 2 off-board HE strikes, 2 artillery smoke, and 1 artillery mine. So the rule is that, one time per scenario, I can use any 2 of those 5 and the rest become unavailable. Is that correct?

 

[Keith Tracton]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, but I do need a little more clarification. So, let's say I start the scenario with 2 off-board HE strikes, 2 artillery smoke, and 1 artillery mine. So the rule is that, one time per scenario, I can use any 2 of those 5 and the rest become unavailable. Is that correct?

Not at all! Happy to help!

Reverse that: You have five (as you designated), and each of the 5 may be used once in the scenario. A formation on the board may attempt to use no more than 2 of what is left available in any one if the formation's activations.

So as an example:

- You have the 5 strikes you designated available off-board for the scenario, on the artillery tracks: 2 HE; 2 Smoke; 1 ADM.
- One of your formations activates. During its Off-board Artillery step its Formation Impulse, the formation uses an HE strike, then after that is resolved, also uses the ADM strike. Two OffBA strikes is the maximum that formation can call in during its OffBA step, so no more OffBA for that formation right now. You now have left only one HE strike left, 2 Smoke strikes, and no ADM strikes, for the scenario.
- Lets say the very next activation (i.e. the next formation card drawn) is again the very same formation. There are three strikes left on the arty tracks: 1 HE and 2 Smoke. Each Formation Impulse (i.e. activation) includes an OffBA Step, so the formation may now use two MORE strikes. Let's say it uses both smoke strikes. Now there would be 1 HE strike left for the scenario for your side.
- The turn ends. The next turn begins and another of your formations activates. During its OffBA strike step, it may use the last HE strike, and it does. Now you have no more OffBA strikes left for the scenario.

Let me know if you need anything else! Thanks again for reading through and definitely let me know if you have more questions!

 

[Gorby]

Got it. Thanks, again.