"Across A Deadly Field : Rules Questions" Topic

Is anyone aware of support group \ forum for these please?

Somewhere to ask rules questions ideally.

There is a Q&A section on Cigarboxbattle.com and the Johnny Reb III Yahoo group is discussing it.

Thanks PJ, I have fired a question off.

The Cigarboxbattle.com site is a list of Q and A, not an interactive site. The JRIII Yahoo group site is interactive and will get your questions answered within a day.

Just waiting to be accepted on the group so that I can post, in the meantime;-

Page 53 (STEP FOUR: CHARGE IMPACT RESOLUTION) states that – If the attackers won, they may advance in disorder, following the defender at up to 1 inch less than he fell back.

Does this rule hold true for for the PRE IMPACT FEAR CHARGE MORALE CHECK result as well?

So that if the defender failed the PRE IMPACT FEAR CHARGE MORALE CHECK and fell back shaken, the attacker would stop short of 1 inch as well? (Possibly going disordered depending on the distanced already charged and the quality of the charging unit)

If the charge target fell back (disordered or shaken, depending on the roll), the charger would still do an "impact" if it could reach the target. If the charger won the impact, then the "follow the target, up to 1" less" happens.
The charger cannot go further that his total charge distance. The "up to 1" back" is used to prevent an unrealistic number of Melees. The charger ends the charge disordered (or worse) even if he didn't make it to the disorder point.
Hope this helps.

Thanks PJ, that does help alot and makes sense.

I really like the rules, but I am trying to get to grips with the charge procedure in particular. I remember for JR3 there were some good flow charts to help remember all of the steps and I think you did a nice resolve charge alternative.

Have any similar charts appeared for ADF yet?

The ADF charge sequence is easier than JRIII after a few tries, but there is no flow chart yet. I had an alternative charge results table for JRIII, but the sequence was the same.

My "Alternative Charge Results" table, for JRIII, had the outcome influenced by the impact roll difference, which is now built into the ADF charge results.

Following on, if the PRE IMPACT FEAR CHARGE MORALE CHECK result were a rout, and the attacker made contact then the defender would be removed from the game (page 43).

Yes, practice is key, what was the largest game (number of units) that you managed in an evening during testing?

If the rolled route distance was really low, and the charger contacted the routed unit- Yes, the routed unit surrenders (removed).
The largest playtest would have to be the "1st Day of Gettysburg" that Patrick Lebeau and Dean West held at the last Little Wars, NashCon, JohnnyCon and Historicon '14. I spent time playtesting the Eastern 1/3 of that scenario. Those are in the "Eastern Battles" scenario book, due out in a few months from Osprey.

I plan to pick up the scenario books also, the production on the main rules is excellent.

I am hopeful that ADF will take off in the UK as it has in the US.

An example charge that I was considering had the charger lose the impact resolution by one. Therefore, triggering an attacker stops short result, the defender had already fired at PBF range by this stage. What is the rationale behind this effect please? and the volley fired after the charging unit has been moved back (1d6x1/2inches) , is that at 5d6+1/2 FP the same as melee?

Thanks for taking the time to answer these.

As I understand it, John Hill wanted the charges to have a decisive result or be painful. A "slightly" won or lost charge (by 1) might be compared to a more protracted firefight, as compared to "sweeping the enemy" (win by many).
The "no cost volley" is taken with a number of D6, depending on the resulting distance- If between 3" and over 1"- then 1/2FP(disordered) +2D6 (normal range rifles), if 1" or under- then 1/2FP +3D6 (close range rifles).

The final part of this example sees the charging unit losing by 1 and falling back 2 inches. The 'no cost volley' ensues with NO damage scored against the defender but with the original charger being forced to take a morale check.

The morale check result improves the charger's morale status by one, and since the charger is now disordered , does this mean that the charger is now in good order? The defender facing the original attacker is still disordered.

A morale check as a result of being fired on can be a good thing in this case and even raise the morale of a unit – when I come to explain this to my playing group what would be the thinking?

A morale check as a result of being fired on can be a good thing in this case and even raise the morale of a unit – when I come to explain this to my playing group what would be the thinking?

I asked the same question on the JR 3 Yahoo group. The answer i got was that historically some units steeled themselves when under fire and that the author likes to add a little chaos to his rules.

I like the mechanism, I remember something similar in Shock of Impact as well. I am really just pre-empting the questions and preparing a suitable response.

I am registered on the JR3 yahoo group now and so shall I post any further posts to there.