(TFT) Indirect Fire

["John Paul Bakshoian" <hailmelee@hotmail.com>]

I have seen many an exciting war movie in the ancients and Midieval vein 
that have had rows of archers firing a rain of arrows onto the enemy.  These 
archers  would knock their arrows (or is it knock their bows?), step 
forwared a pace, angle their bows at about 40 degrees and fire in unison.  
Not one Aimed their shot at the enemy.  What did the damage was mass of 
arrows coming down.

Since I do miniature battles, I would like to simulate this kind of indirect 
fire, but TFT rules don't accomodate this.  [By the way, this topic may have 
been covered before in this group.  If it has, please direct me where, as I 
could not find it in the archives.]  I have come up with something which 
might work.  There are a few requirements that I will put forth as 
parameters needed for this concept.

1)  These are not aimed shots.  One does not bead down on the target.  One 
is shooting at an angle to create an arc.

2)  This does not work well with a few people.  It needs a mass.  25 or more 
would start a good hail of arrows.  However, since I seldom deal with that 
many archers, I will cheat and say 8 or more will start critical mass.  
Also, they need to be grouped together; not spread in a line 5 hexes apart.

3)  Since the shot is not aimed and since there is an arc, I would consider 
this to be an area shot.  Say, "anyone within the target megahex can be 
hit."  Also, I would consider the area to be somewhat rectangular (example:  
a row of 7 megahexes as opposed to a MegaMegahex.)

4)  Since this is not an aimed shot, but does give a wider area to do an 
impaling, I would consider giving having the arrow do less damage.   [If 
there are historical reasons for this being otherwise, please present them.]

5)  There can never be more impalings than there were archers shooting that 
round.

6)  I am guessing that the minimum distance that an arcing arrow can be 
affective is about 25 yards (over 70 feet or depending on if you use a five 
foot hex {14 hexes} or a three foot hex {25 hexes}, and again, any 
historical data would be appreciated).

7)  In creating the rules of Indirect Fire, I would borrow liberally from 
other games and say the bowman needs to guess the distance to the target 
before actually measuring.

8)  I would choose one bowman (probably the averaged Dex guy) out of the 
group to be used for your "Mass Bowman Dexterity".  They are supposed to be 
shooting somewhat in unison and having your mass shots staggered by 
individual bowmen may be too confusing and take too long.  Also, what made 
me cringe in one of my games was a row of archers who in one round picked 
off a line of attackers by doing a water ballet sequence:  Bowman A shoots 
at Target #1 and injures him;  Bowman B shoots at Target #1 and injures him; 
Bowman C shoots at Target #1 and he falls down.  Bowman D immediately swings 
over to Target #2 and shoots, injuring him; Bowman E shoots at Target #2 and 
injures him.  Bowman F shoots at Target #2 and he falls down.  Bowman G 
immediately swings over...  The rules say it can be done that way, but if 
you saw it in a movie you'd say the director was a jerk.

9)  Since the bowman is not aiming at A target, there could be some 
modification to the Dex.  Perhaps no dex penalties until after 10 megahexes 
or a small missed roll wavers the shot that many hexes away.

10)  Have the archer player come up with the fallout pattern of the archer 
arrows.  Either extend the mega hexes down the line for the number of 
shooters or gang up the megahexes so they overlap.  Once the player decides 
the pattern of the fallout, have him draw it on paper or used taped 
Megahexes, etc.  The idea is that it is fixed before he measures it.  I 
would then measure out the distance that the player guessed.  That would be 
the center of the Megahex row.  Lay the pattern down over this and any 
characters in this area are now possible targets.  Any possible target would 
not get a dodge bonus if this was selected because this is an area damage 
and not an aimed shot problem.

11)  I would have all the characters fire individually, immediately handling 
any critical misses.  I would count up the number of hits and noting any 
critical hits.  (say Bowmans C, F & G made their to hit rolls, that would be 
3 hits.)  I would then roll a die for each possible target going down the 
line.  A 5 or a 6 on the die means the character has been hit.  Bowman C's 
arrow rolls for damage.  I would probably give it a -1 damage penalty  for 
area targeting.  So if he had a horsebow it is 1-1.  Target #3 takes that 
damage minus armor.  Then go to the next possible target.  Keep this up 
until all three arrows have hit a target, even if you have to start the 
cycle again.  Target #3 may well receive 2 arrows this turn.

12)  High Dex archers can go 2 rounds in one turn.

13)  Once your archer group goes below 8 bowman shooting that round, they 
have to do direct fire or do a hold shot which can increase their Dex.

14)  All this assumes seeing your enemy.  I guess you could do enmass 
indirect fire over the castle walls.  Would that work the same as what I've 
thought up here?

Any comments on  EnMass Indirect Fire?

Hail Melee,

John Paul



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