Avoiding gun duels by MG fire

John O'Reilly

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I am getting back into ASL after a long hiatus so please forgive what may be an often-posed question. If a tank is using bounding fire to flank an opponent the defending tank most likely will want to present it's frontal armor and can attempt to do so by declaring a gun duel. However, given the major modification for changing VCA there are many cases where a bounding firer (especially with a Gyro) will get that flank shot.

Well what is to stop the defending tank rotating to fire it's MGs instead? No "to hit" roll is involved and thus no gun duel. If the attacker is CE then there is some excuse I suppose but what if he is BU? Still seems like abuse. Thoughts?

John
 

Brian W

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TankDawg said:
Surely there is something that prevents this, right?

Please?

:shock:

I hope so.
Yes. First, the DEFENDER cannot (with one rare exception) declare a Gun Duel; only an ATTACKER may. Second, if an ATTACKER (or the DEFENDER in that one rare case) delcares a Gun Duel, non-ordnance weapons (including FT) are treated like ordnance for determining who wins the Gun Duel. Read up in C2.2401 and C5.33 for the full story.

The real answer for the DEFENDER is to fire the MG before the defender stops. And the answer to that problem for the ATTACKER is to install a gyro ;)
 

Wayne

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John O'Reilly said:
If a tank is using bounding fire to flank an opponent the defending tank most likely will want to present it's frontal armor and can attempt to do so by declaring a gun duel.
Only in rare cases. See C5.33.

However, given the major modification for changing VCA there are many cases where a bounding firer (especially with a Gyro) will get that flank shot.
Thankfully, gyros are rare.

The way a DEFENDER normally accomplishes a change of armor facing is via a D1F declaration, even if just with bow or coax MG. It is then incumbent on the ATTACKER to declare and win a C2.2401 Gun Duel for a shot on the prior armor facing.

Well what is to stop the defending tank rotating to fire it's MGs instead? No "to hit" roll is involved and thus no gun duel.
This is allowed, but the MG are treated as ordnance WRT Gun Duel winner determination.

If the attacker is CE then there is some excuse I suppose but what if he is BU?
You may (almost) always take a shot, no matter how hopeless. You are free to risk SAN/Breakdown/etc.

Still seems like abuse. Thoughts?

John
It is usually very hard for a DEFENDER to lose a Gun Duel. ATTACKER Gun Duels are rarely declared in common play.

The Defender may have other options, such as Motion Attempt and Smoke Discharger, too.

Wayne
 

Brian W

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>ATTACKER Gun Duels are rarely declared in common play

In games involving shermans, gun duels should be a constant threat against enemy armor. A sherman with a gyro should never stop. A single TCA change is enough to allow a sherman to win a gun duel against a BU panther.

And the defense is lots of PF toting infantry.
 

J. R. Tracy

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> It is usually very hard for a DEFENDER to lose a Gun
> Duel. ATTACKER Gun Duels are rarely declared in
> common play.

Eh? Attacker Gun Duels are declared pretty frequently in my experience - turreted vs non-turreted vehicles, CE vs BU, AL-led AFVs vs non-AL-led, vs defenders in constricting terrain (woods, buildings), etc. As an attacker if I see my firer-based DRMs giving me the edge, I'll often give it a shot. Big plus: TK is resolved vs the loser's pre-Gun Duel facing, so it's especially useful for getting the drop on big nasty bad guys.

JR
 
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