W10 Searchlights - The Schwerpunkt Pledge

STAVKA

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95+% of tank driving is made outside the combat zones with the searchlights on when needed.

Hardly ever used in combat, but there is always the in-experienced tank crew that perhaps used in frustration or thinking it was safe to use.

How "Searchlight" made it all the way to be a counter with rules, when the number of night scenarios with Searchlight rules in use will be less than two :)

It would have been better to have restricted it to a simple abstract SSR and a Proxy counter, to represent AFVs using searchlight in combat.
 

RobZagnut

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Dilly dilly.

I spent over a hour reading / looking through the rules after I opened the box. Came to the Searchlight rules and turned the page. No interest... whatsoever... forever...
 

Honza

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Yes the fact that they are there does not mean they have to be used.
 

Roy

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I know this is a game of detail, but more and more often, I think we go way too far.
 
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von Marwitz

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Dilly dilly.

I spent over a hour reading / looking through the rules after I opened the box. Came to the Searchlight rules and turned the page. No interest... whatsoever... forever...
But, but... If you read them, you might be illumined... :D

von Marwitz
 

von Marwitz

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I know this a game of detail, but more and more often, I think we go way too far.
Wait until you see the look on the face of your oppenent when you explain to him that he does not win the scenario because you denied the last CVP to him by jumping out of an upper level into a water obstacle across a cliff hexside. That is, of course, presuming that the distance between the building depiction and the cliff hexside is not slimmer that an upright counter's width... ;)

von Marwitz
 
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Robin Reeve

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I know this a game of detail, but more and more often, I think we go way too far.
The main problem is that the seek of detail is not uniform. From abstract to hyper realist art, you have about all the degrees of representation of reality in ASL.
I lean towards an impressionist level of detail.
But I think that we have to do with how the game developed.
 

jrv

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I have read more than one case in Korea where tank-mounted searchlights were used. Using one in a hypothetical European conflict might not have been the best idea, but in Korea it made sense. The Chinese People's Army & North Koreans did not have a lot of ways to counter a tank other than swarming it with infantry, and that was when searchlights were useful.

JR
 

Honza

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I have read more than one case in Korea where tank-mounted searchlights were used. Using one in a hypothetical European conflict might not have been the best idea, but in Korea it made sense. The Chinese People's Army & North Koreans did not have a lot of ways to counter a tank other than swarming it with infantry, and that was when searchlights were useful.

JR
That's interesting!
 

jrv

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From Osprey's Armour of the Korean War 1950-53, Simon Dunstan: "One of several technical innovations instituted by the Marine Corps during the Korean War was the tank-mounted searchlight, introduced in March 1953. Manufactured by the General Electic Company, the 18in. whitelight projector was employed to illuminate enemy activity in 'No Man's Land' and to counter massed infantry attacks at night. In one such action Marine tanks equipped with this device fought a night-long battle in support of the Turkish Bde. and inflicted numerous casualties, including more than 700 dead."

JR
 
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jrv

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From Osprey's NV68 Centurion Universal Tank 1943-2003 Simon Dunstan: "Several Centurions were fitted with American sarchlights above the main armament in order to illuminate enemy patrols in no mans land. Tanks normally operated in pairs with one to bathe the suspected area in light while the other engaged the target with HE."

There was also mention somewhere of using searchlights to watch for and attack enemy engineering activity. As best I can tell using searchlights in Korea was not uncommon.

JR
 

Honza

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So the searchlight rule may have a worthy place in the ASLRB after all.
 

Michael Dorosh

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95+% of tank driving is made outside the combat zones with the searchlights on when needed.

Hardly ever used in combat, but there is always the in-experienced tank crew that perhaps used in frustration or thinking it was safe to use.

How "Searchlight" made it all the way to be a counter with rules, when the number of night scenarios with Searchlight rules in use will be less than two :)

It would have been better to have restricted it to a simple abstract SSR and a Proxy counter, to represent AFVs using searchlight in combat.
Not sure you're aware but in English, a 'headlight' is the normal driving lamps fitted to vehicles. A 'searchlight' is a high-powered light which is used to illuminate targets. The most common uses are in naval night firing and ground-based anti-aircraft applications. In the First and then again in the Second World War, they were also used to bounce light off of overcast to create "artificial moonlight" during night attacks by ground forces (also known in Normandy as "Monty's moonlight"). Usage of searchlights on tanks began in the Second World War. The Canal Defence Light was an early project:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_Defence_Light

 
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Ganjulama

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I did not think the search light rules were that bad....I guess that puts me in the minority. They are nowhere near Panji level of complexity.
 

Justiciar

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95+% of tank driving is made outside the combat zones with the searchlights on when needed.

Hardly ever used in combat, but there is always the in-experienced tank crew that perhaps used in frustration or thinking it was safe to use....
You need to read up on your Korea War night actions vs. the CPVA during 1953.
The searchlights were not designed nor intended to be used while driving around at night.
 

RobZagnut

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So the searchlight rule may have a worthy place in the ASLRB after all.
Nope. It's still going on my 'sh!t' list.

1. Bocage Wall Advantage rules.
2. Panjiis
3. Searchlights

I think there's 1 or 2 scenarios available that may keep me occupied instead.
 
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