5 replies to this topic

[Dan Lewis]

Hello, 

On page 15.1 under Occupying Buildsings it says "Most buildings provide hard cover (except Soft Structures, see below) to stands within them." Hard Cover is -8. 

 

If my troops are on top of a middle east adobe building which has a wall around the roof, they get -5 for linear cover. But if they are INSIDE the building....what cover do they get? The chart says Defensive Value for Adobe is 0, so I'm a bit confused by that. Does the Defensive Value of the building have anything to do with the amount of cover given to troops inside, or is that just the definition of how many hits a building can take before it collapses. 

 

If Defensive Value of building replaces the cover values given in FP modifiers, then if the defensive value of concrete is 5 and reinforced concrete is 7, how can 'Most Buildings' provide hard cover of -8?

 

On 15.3 under Soft Structures it says: "Soft structures are made of relatively flimsy, thin materials, and as such they do not give much protection to troops inside."

 

But there is nothing to indicate which one of the material values is considered soft or even if 'soft' defined by the defensive value. 

 

Based on description above I would consider thatched and sheet metal to clearly be soft and as they are relatively flimsy and thin materials. 

[Peter M. Skaar]

Hi Dan

I would agree with you on that.  Those are some good questions that you have.  I would think that reinforced concrete would be at least the level of hard cover.

Most of my games are tanks only because I always seem to be getting new players and that is the basic core game.   My games do usually have buildings but they are typically not defended from inside.

When I have used buildings in an infantry game, I have created a chart to show which buildings offer what type of protection.  If all the buildings are wooden then that usually simplifies things.  If they are a mix of stone, brick, mud brick wood, and wattle and daub or whatever, then it is a good idea to designate which ones are which if there are any questions. 

Some buildings will take quite a bit of damage before they are destroyed while others may only take a hit or two before they come down.

I now await word from "On High" to get the proper interpretation on this.  The folks here at ODGW are great at answering these kinds of questions.

[Dan Lewis]

I think the only way this makes sense is if the Defensive Value of the Building only has to do with how much damage it can take and is not directly relevant to 'cover'. So for time being I'll proceed with basis that the defensive value applies only to the building structural strength and does not apply to the cover mod given to Infantry inside or on the buildings. 

[Kenny Noe]

Conferring w/ Bob who usually doesn't come up for air until the weekends.   Should have an update soonest.

[Bob Benge]

Hi Dan, and all!

 

My weekend starts today so I can get to your question. It looks like there is some confusion about buildings and infantry cover. Let me see if I can straighten this out for you. 

 

Cover is only derived from either the Direct Fire To-Hit table for vehicles or from the Firepower Modifiers To-Kill Table for Infantry. Structures will be Soft Cover (Adobe buildings, wood buildings, etc.), Hard Cover (concrete, brick etc.), Linear Cover for hard cover type walls or wall like structures. So your infantry in an Adobe building will be in soft cover. In my opinion, your infantry on top of the Adobe building would still be soft cover since Adobe is a soft structure. The reason is that linear cover thoroughly provides cover where attacking rounds would typically not penertrate. To be consistant the soft cover should be applied to both types of structures made of the same material.

 

The tables you are refering to are in the Dealing Damage section which strictly deals with the buildings themselves taking damage/destroying and rubbling (is this really a word? LOL) a building and have nothing to do with the type of cover offered to occupants. The DV value a building (Table 15.2 - Structure Defensive Value (DV) is only used when the building is being fired at in an attempt to destroy it. Table 15.1 - Structure Class is used to determine the class of the building, which is used with the  Structure DV to determine the structure Damage Rating (DR) or hit points , if you will. These stats can be calculated ahead of time and placed on a label on the bottom of the building or on a reference card/sheet.

 

Hope this unmuddies the waters a little bit.

[Dan Lewis]

Perfect! Thanks Bob