Wooden Infantry Bridges

[M Faulkner]

Reading through B6, the rules don't seem to handle this kind of bridge very well:

View attachment 25663

To me, this is a wooden foot bridge, one level above the Stream, not connecting to a Road. What you would typically see in wilderness areas. But B6 doesn't seem to play nice with these concepts all at once, and I'm wondering whether the required SSR verbiage is so painful that I might as well scrap it and turn it into a regular Stone bridge with a road. Which sucks.

Like, I'm hesitant to invoke B6.44 Foot Bridges because they're a subset of Pontoon Bridges, which allow infantry to basically sashay across the stream without lining up with the bridge exit/entrance hex, and that's just not correct for this kind of thing.

And yet, the concept of Bridge entrance/exit hexes seems tied to "Road", and there's no Road here. In fact, even if there isn't, B6.1 says, "...Bridges usable by vehicles always connect directly to any adjacent road to which the bridge depiction points, and are considered an extension of that road.", which seems to mean that even though there's no Road connecting B5 to C5 below, the rules say there has to be:

View attachment 25664

Which is just dumb. I'm not making up some kind of bizarro terrain that doesn't exist anywhere but in my fevered imagination; these things are everywhere. So how in the world was B6 written to force non-Pontoon bridges to have Roads? More importantly, what's an elegant way to implement these kinds of bridges in a nice tight SSR? Basically I'm shooting for a standard bridge without a Road. I think it should have the standard LOS characteristics - be a hindrance if the LOS crosses the bridge, unless it goes straight down the axis of the bridge.

One could say "This bridge is not 'usable by vehicles', but that would negate Motorcycles and Bicycles, which I think would be wrong. Hell, a Kubelwagon could give it a whirl. But how to get around the verbiage that basically says the LOS straight down the bridge is clear if it's on a Road? Just say, "LOS along and across the Bridge is treated as if there were a Road on the Bridge"?

Weird, weird, weird.

I recognize that bridge.

 

[klasmalmstrom]

I don't see how? To me, you can't use that bridge without entering/exiting the ends. But I think the same thing about pontoon bridges and the rules are pretty clear there.

Yes, but my point is that a bridge that looks so small as in the first picture has no enter/exit to an adjacent hex. It's all within in the bridge's hex.

As in I don't think this "abstracted" move is unreasonable...


...but it's your SSR.

 

[Tuomo]

As in I don't think this "abstracted" move is unreasonable...

Ah! I see what you mean. Hmm... Thanks Klas!

 

[Vinnie]

I've always associated the "must enter from here and leave here" as a means of making bridges more deadly and easy to defend, like they should be.
They fall under the 40m wide roads that don't exist in Europe but a 10m wide one might as easily be 40m wide when trying to cross it.

 

[Old Noob]

The term "bullet funnel" does come to mind.

 

[klasmalmstrom]

I've always associated the "must enter from here and leave here" as a means of making bridges more deadly and easy to defend, like they should be.
They fall under the 40m wide roads that don't exist in Europe but a 10m wide one might as easily be 40m wide when trying to cross it.

For a road bridge, this is how I see it as well.

 

[Stewart]

Yes, but my point is that a bridge that looks so small as in the first picture has no enter/exit to an adjacent hex. It's all within in the bridge's hex.

As in I don't think this "abstracted" move is unreasonable...
View attachment 25678

...but it's your SSR.

True that.
But given this concept. Bypassing terrain isn't reciprocal in movement options.

 

[klasmalmstrom]

True that.
But given this concept. Bypassing terrain isn't reciprocal in movement options.

Not sure how bypass is a factor wrt to that small depiction..... but I could be missing something.

 

[Carln0130]

Except Foot Bridges have that damnable property of Pontoon Bridges, of having no Exit or Entrance hexsides.

You mean like this.


No cerebral hemorrhages were suffered in the making of this rule. ;-)

 

[Vic Provost]

I understand what you guys are getting at but they have to enter from, or exit to another hex. No in the same hex, small bridges are not very well portrayed currently in ASL and not seeing an easy fix for it, a bridge is a bridge, no matter.

 

[daniel zucker]

I think that if you REALLY, REALLY, want to depict a small b ridge like the one in the example, with entry and/or exit cost make the following art work. Have the stream follow the hexside. This way the bridge is on two different hexes',

 

[GeorgeBates]

From an upcoming Malaya title:

​

 

[Gordon]

You're doing a "Man with the Golden Gun" scenario?

 

[Vic Provost]

I think that if you REALLY, REALLY, want to depict a small b ridge like the one in the example, with entry and/or exit cost make the following art work. Have the stream follow the hexside. This way the bridge is on two different hexes',

From your reply and what George posted, that hexside stream/bridge works for me, a simple solution to something that gets complicated in hex. Bravo for an easy fix, something that does not always happen in this game system.

 

[GeorgeBates]

Minor amendments. Borrow at your pleasure, but grateful if you acknowledge the source.

 

[Perry]

Does this use the standard Irrigation Ditch rules used in a number of official HASLs?
If so, I see several problems.

 

[GeorgeBates]

Does this use the standard Irrigation Ditch rules used in a number of official HASLs?
If so, I see several problems.

Yes, in fact, it is bundled into the rules on Irrigation Ditches, copied from Chapter Q. You will see this eventually when I submit it, but if you'd like to get a jump on those problems the advice would be much appreciated. Will contact you off line.

 

[daniel zucker]

From your reply and what George posted, that hexside stream/bridge works for me, a simple solution to something that gets complicated in hex. Bravo for an easy fix, something that does not always happen in this game system.

Thanks I further think that there should be no Line Of Sight hinderance for making the game Mph/DFF/RF ect. flow. The less a new hex/hexside rule dickers with the existing rules the better.

 

[lluis61]

Minor amendments. Borrow at your pleasure, but grateful if you acknowledge the source.

View attachment 25929

I'm curious... Why the bicyclist have to cross it dismounted? I've crossed bicycling many irrigation dicthes "foot bridges" and the only thing to make me dismount was if the ending/beginning side (or both) was an abrupt steep trail... which wasn't always the case...

 

[von Marwitz]

I'm curious... Why the bicyclist have to cross it dismounted? I've crossed bicycling many irrigation dicthes "foot bridges" and the only thing to make me dismount was if the ending/beginning side (or both) was an abrupt steep trail... which wasn't always the case...

Because there is a sign at those bridges that instructs bicyclists to dismount.
As a Prussian officer, I do not understand your question.



von Marwitz