Modifiers to Spotting, confusion

[dsenebrecht]

Hi folks: I'm really confused by this modifier in the Spotting section 3.2 (page 28)
"add +1" to attempt to spot role if target fired this turn."

Why would you need to try and spot this unit at all? Once it opens fire, it is placed on the table...right?

Section 2.1, page 22, clearly states:
Blinds are replaced with figures when they are spotted by the enemy or when the troops they represent open fire.
and
Section 3 states:
(page 27) Spotting is only used against Blinds or areas of terrain that may hide unspotted units.

(page 28) To spot the player first states which enemy blind or area of terrain he is attempting to spot.

Thanks.

[Truscott Trotter]

Maybe a unit firing from terrain is unspotted?

[Truscott Trotter]

Yup spotting applies to terrain
See 3.1 WHO CAN SPOT?

FWIW the blurb about firing and deploying should have used another word than spotted - as you deploy from a blind when shooting but if you are in terrain you are not spotted?

[JimLeCat]

No, it just means that an unspotted unit in terrain that hasn't moved doesn't put its blind down -so any piece of terrain may contain unspotted troops.

If a unit starts firing from a blind it is deployed on the table and is automatically spotted, unless the scenario notes say otherwise, which us when this modifier comes into play.

Cheers,
Jim

[Archdukek]

No, it just means that an unspotted unit in terrain that hasn't moved doesn't put its blind down -so any piece of terrain may contain unspotted troops.

If a unit starts firing from a blind it is deployed on the table and is automatically spotted, unless the scenario notes say otherwise, which us when this modifier comes into play.

Cheers,
Jim

Jim,
Where does it say in the rules that a unit firing from a Blind is automatically spotted unless the scenario notes say otherwise? I have been telling Dan differently on Facebook because I have always played that the firing troops need to be spotted before they can be engaged. So that modifier for spotting a firing unit applies generally.

Can you or anyone else remember if there was ever an FAQ published for IABSM? I can’t find one.

John

[Truscott Trotter]

I have one dunno if it covers this point tho.

[JimLeCat]

Hi John,

To answer your questions in reverse order, there was at least one FAQ for IABSM v2, although I'm not aware of one for v3. Having said that, most of the rules didn't really change between the two versions.

There is also 'The Thoughts of Chairman Mao' a compilation of answers given by Rich on the yahoo group in the early days of discussion about IABSM. Some of it is now obselete, where rules changed for v3, but a lot of it is explaining general principles and the reason for them. Still worth a read I think.

As to units firing being automatically spotted, that is a consequence of them being deployed on the table. Section 2.1, para.3 indicates they must be deployed to fire, section 4.1, para.1 indicates that the sole requirement for being a possible target is being deployed on the table (it makes being spotted and being deployed the same thing). There's also the example on p.17 where tanks on overwatch fire on a deploying AT gun immediately after its first shot, without needing to spot.

If you mean the bit about scenarios changing that, that's my interpretation based on years of scenarios having special rules for all sorts.

Cheers,
Jim

[dsenebrecht]

Hi Jim: Be great if you can add this comment to the thread on the IABSM Facebook page that I started.

better yet if you can find the old FAQ or Chairman thoughts even better.

Thanks, Dan

[JimLeCat]

Hi Dan,

The old IABSM v2 FAQ is one of the files that got moved from yahoo to groups.io, it's in the top level files folder.

The thoughts of chairman mao doc was on the old toofatlardies-resources group, I have a copy of it but I can't upload it to the new groups.io site since the upload permissions are locked.If you PM me you email address, I can send you a copy.

Cheers,
Jim

[dsenebrecht]

Thanks, just sent you my regular email address via a PM