Must you conduct Defensive Fire when charged?

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MarcusColenious
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2020 9:16 pm

Must you conduct Defensive Fire when charged?

Post by MarcusColenious »

Question: Page 38, Bullet 9.a. says “The defender and any flank support units may now fire at the chargers.” Is this really a may or may not situation (owner’s choice), or must the unit defensive fire?

Example: A Small Unit of 4 bases is Unformed, with Fire Discipline, in Woods, and has 7 casualties is charged. Owning player, knows that the unit will suffer -4 on the Deadbeat fire chart (-2 Unformed, -1 Cover, -1 Casualties), and does not want to fire in the defensive fire. The player knows that there is over a 50% chance that they will suffer another Fire Disciple, which will cause 1 casualty and put them to 8 casualties and a -2 instead of a -1 on the Charge Roll Chart. Must the unit fire?

It seems odd to me that you can have this kind of fire control, but figured I had better ask.
Archdukek
Posts: 5741
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Linlithgow, West Lothian, UK

Re: Must you conduct Defensive Fire when charged?

Post by Archdukek »

I’d say that may means just that. Defensive Fire is voluntary and a decision for the unit’s owning player. Usually it’s a no brainer but sometimes a unit might have to rely on cold steel. :)

John
Tony TRT
Posts: 60
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 10:04 am
Location: Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, UK

Re: Must you conduct Defensive Fire when charged?

Post by Tony TRT »

Yes, I agree with John on this.

Its possibly not quite as clearly stated as other points in the charge procedure, for example; "The attacker always has the option to use fellow flanking units as supports" and "The defender must use flank/rear supports. Nevertheless I too think "may" does mean the defender can decide not fire.

Regards
Tony
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