Good and light cover for spotting

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dakkadakka
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:44 pm

Good and light cover for spotting

Post by dakkadakka »

I have been looking over the historical scenarios in the book; and, under the terrain section the rules refer to different types of terrain as being light or good cover. For firing I surmise that light=ok shot and good=poor shot - no problems there.

However, I haven’t a clue what these designations mean regarding spotting. Does good cover translate into heavily obstructed or very heavily obstructed? And, does light cover for spotting mean slightly obstructed? In the Caen scenario the wheat fields are classified as good cover for spotting against units moving in it. How does this impact the spotting roll? Does it mean a modifier to the roll, or a certain level of obstruction?

I also am a little uncertain how buildings are handled. I know they can have troops hidden in them without having to deploy a blind on the table. I believe I read that you have to be 6” from a building to automatically place a blind there (assuming there are troops inside). But, can you attempt to spot the hidden blind from further out? If so, what level of obstruction do you use? Same question goes for when a hidden blind is revealed.

Regards,

Jim
Archdukek
Posts: 5741
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Linlithgow, West Lothian, UK

Re: Good and light cover for spotting

Post by Archdukek »

Hi Jim,
Like anything to do with terrain in IABSM you need to make a judgement call as to its impact taking account of all the circumstances particularly in the case of spotting the nature of the target. There is not necessarily a direct correlation between the level of cover and what that means for spotting purposes, though there are obviously connections.

One example from the Caen scenario, you might decide that the “scrappy hedges and small banks” which gives light cover from firing counts as “slightly obscured” for spotting infantry but would be ignored for spotting vehicles under a blind if any where present in the game. (You would need to trust your opponent to reveal that a vehicle is present in that case if your spotting roll would be enough to see it but not any infantry.)

The cornfields in that scenario which provide “good cover from spotting” I’d treat as a Badly Obscured when spotting infantry but only provide light cover from any subsequent firing. While a decent sized stone wall might be Badly Obscured for spotting and good cover from fire.

You don’t modify the dice roll, rather having determined the appropriate level of obstruction you use that line on the Spotting table on page 28.

As for buildings, you can attempt to spot units in them from a distance but again the score required depends on their nature, how you represent them on the table and to a degree what the target is. Most intact buildings would count as badly obstructed in my view, possibly occasionally very badly obstructed, but if a bombed out shell it might only warrant being treated as a slight obstruction.

Automatic spotting is covered in section 3.3. Once revealed hidden blinds are spotted as normal with the terrain they are in determining what line you look at on the spotting table.

Hope that ramble helps.

John
dakkadakka
Posts: 152
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:44 pm

Re: Good and light cover for spotting

Post by dakkadakka »

John:

Not a ramble in the least - that was exactly what I needed to know. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

Regards,

Jim
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