Actions when Teak Break card drawn

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dsenebrecht
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Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by dsenebrecht »

Hi all: One specific question first and then a request for ideas

Let's say in previous turns, an Artillery / FO card has already been drawn and had diced successfully so that it can arrive. However, in the next or subsequent turns, the card is never drawn.........so does that mean the Artillery doesn't fire.....even at the end of a Tea Break....

Also, what house rules have people come up with to deal with the problem of
-start of game through turn #3 or more but card for a given unit never gets drawn.
-it seems odd that a unit, especially if it has not been fired upon, and already has advance orders on what its objective is....(we are going to take that village ahead of us or we are going to make a big flank move around these woods).........doesn't get too move at least a few inches, say, roll 3D6 but count 5 & 6 as 4's

Thanks, Dan
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Vis Bellica
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by Vis Bellica »

Hi Dan

Your questions really all roll up into: "what do I do if a unit card never comes up?".

The answer is "Nothing: the unit doesn't get to act. Unlucky!"

If you read a lot of WW2 histories, autobiographies, historical accounts etc, you will see there are loads of occasions when a unit, for whatever reason, just did nothing...especially in the timescale involved in a game of IABSM.

Your off-table guns, for example, might have been re-tasked whilst you were trying to get through to them, or even hit by counter-battery fire and wiped out. The unit going around the wood might have got lost and be trying to work out where it is, come across a briar patch and realised they aren't Brer Rabbit, decided that hunkering down and not advancing is rather a good idea given that there are people trying to kill them out there somewhere, not understood the urgency of their advance and have stopped for a brew-up etc

It's more realistic than moving your units around the table like chess pieces!

Hope that helps

Cheers

R
dsenebrecht
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Re: Actions when Tea Break card drawn

Post by dsenebrecht »

Thanks, R. Excellent answers! Will help me to explain to my gaming pals why IABSM is different and more realistic than other games...... the point about time scale is very crucial..........and I think once people focus on that .............then it makes perfect sense!.............. That's what made me okay with how rare Air Strikes are.......(at best a 5 or 6 on the die roll to try and make an attak) which makes perfect sense if a game turn is roughly considered to be 30-60 seconds.....
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TroubleAtTheMill
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by TroubleAtTheMill »

Excellent points :D

The mindsets I encourage my players to adopt are:

1) Don't expect every unit will activate each time through the deck
2) If you want to make it more likely that a given unit will activate, that's what Big Men are for.

:D
Mike Whitaker
Blog: http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.com/
Podcast: The Miller's Tale (see blog)
Club: http://www.peterborough-wargames-club.org.uk/
Archdukek
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by Archdukek »

Remember that you will usually start the game on Blinds and all units on both sides get to move on their respective Blinds cards. Personally I usually do not include the Tea Break card until at least one unit is spotted or firing breaks out, to represent the greater ease and control over units initially until contact with the enemy is made.

When you move to individual unit cards then friction can result in units not activating, but as Mike has said that is when you need to use your Big Men to keep the attack or defence going. If you just had a Platoon card in the deck, then there would be a 50% chance it won't be activated in a turn, but add in the Platoon Leader's Big Man card and the chance of you not activating at least part of the platoon drops to 25%. Using Big Men effectively is critical to the game.

Finally if the friction is too high for your taste you can always add a second Tea Break card and only end the turn when it's drawn. That reduces the basic chance of a card not coming out to 33%.

John
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TroubleAtTheMill
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by TroubleAtTheMill »

Archdukek wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:48 pm ...if the friction is too high for your taste you can always add a second Tea Break card and only end the turn when it's drawn. That reduces the basic chance of a card not coming out to 33%.
Tricky one this - I don't on principle, because I like that level of friction, and if you adopt the right mindset it's not insurmountable any more than it would be in a real world context. Your/others mileage will undubtedly vary :D
Mike Whitaker
Blog: http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.com/
Podcast: The Miller's Tale (see blog)
Club: http://www.peterborough-wargames-club.org.uk/
Archdukek
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by Archdukek »

TroubleAtTheMill wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:52 pm Tricky one this - I don't on principle, because I like that level of friction, and if you adopt the right mindset it's not insurmountable any more than it would be in a real world context. Your/others mileage will undubtedly vary :D
Yep, fair point. Wee Derek will call me a wimp for even suggesting it! :D
But it is in the rules and if it makes the difference in getting people to play then it's not an option to ignore in my view.

John
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TroubleAtTheMill
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by TroubleAtTheMill »

Archdukek wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 7:20 pm Yep, fair point. Wee Derek will call me a wimp for even suggesting it! :D
Well, I might not go quite that far, but... :D
Mike Whitaker
Blog: http://troubleatthemill.blogspot.com/
Podcast: The Miller's Tale (see blog)
Club: http://www.peterborough-wargames-club.org.uk/
dsenebrecht
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by dsenebrecht »

Quick Question:
does the firing at the end of a Tea Break happen simultaneously?
or do Units with Reserved Actions get to fire first (and if there are 1 German and 1 Allied both with reserved dice, then flip a coin to see who shoots first)
then followed by units within 9 inches firing both those so that casualties are applied equally?

Thanks!
Archdukek
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Re: Actions when Teak Break card drawn

Post by Archdukek »

All firing on Tea Break is simultaneous. Keeps things simple. So no need for coin flipping.

John
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