"Rules Questions for All Quiet on the Martian Front" Topic

Anybody?

1. Situation: Troops in a building that collapses. What happens to the troops? KIA?
2. I bought several trench sections from AD including covered bunkers. If Infantry or HMG elements are located in the bunkers, can they be targeted, if out of LOS? Doe Green Gas, Black Dust, or Shock weapons affect troops in a bunker?
3. Is the British 2lb Coil Gun a BARRAGE weapon. There is NO barrage factor listed for this weapon.
4. How do Drones or any other Martian Tripod "control" Human Prey? Do they simply make contact and touch the Human Prey base?
5. How many Human Prey elements can a Gatherer hold in its cage?
6. If Assault and Scout Tripods have tentacles (they all do), are these not Reaper Tentacles capable of assault with appropirate +2 power bonus? don't see the tentacles listed as a Martian weapon on Assault or Scout tripods.

OK without my rulebook handy I can only answer #6:

The "tentacles" on the assault and scout tripods are pretty much for looks only. They are not reaper tentacles and cannot be used for assault. (I don't understand it either especially for the ASSUALT tripod).

Assault and Scout tripods do not get the +2 for reaper tentacles. The rules are correct as written on that point. Yes, they are modeled with tentacles, but presumably the just use them for carrying things, rather than melee.

For the other questions, I'm not sure. Try posting on the Robot Peanut Studios forum, there are a lot of helpful players there who will answer your questions.

I'm pretty sure 3 is a no – coil guns are essentially railguns, so fire solid slugs, not HE.

I asked #6 to the good folks at Alien Dungeon during Historicon and I was told that they were factored into the tripod's defense (?). That they were other wise just for looks and fluff, not realy for close combat.

As for assault… They are well armored mechs with a big gun. So think tank rather than close assault. That's what the drones and zombie troopers are for.

As for #4, aren't they for scenic use or as objectives in scenarios?

Tgunner, I feel the need to rescue the #4 Human Prey in a future scenario. If the humans are in the grip of the dreaded Martian, how do you get them out of the Martian possession? It seems if the Martian lays hands on 'em, they're beyond hope. If you blast a Gatherer with a cage and several elements of humans are in the cage, eh? Better dead than red?

I really want to know what happens to infantry in a building that goes down. Just saying that…it does not sound good.

Thanks for the insight on the rest. Was helpful.

Word from Ernie at Alien Dungeon is that the Martians never thought infantry would be an issue for their tripods so they weren't equipped with close combat weapons. There will be a downloadable document soon that will offer stats for "Veteran" tripods which will have the Assault ability.

But really-- having them able to assault won't really be any better than doing a sweep attack with the heat ray. That's far more effective anyway in my opinion.

Naz, thanx. Makes sense.

Far more adamant are answers to the problem of troops in a collapsing building hit by medium and/or heavy heat rays. What happens to the Infantry. If they are not under the heat ray template, in the building, and the building takes all the hits it can sustain,do they jump out, do they take the heat ray hits, does the building collapse wipe out the squads and elements inside? Martians in my Saturday game flattened eight buildings.

I will ponder some house rules on some of the other answers I did not receive.

You might get more of a result on the 15mm SF board.

John T

Matsuru, I also spoke with Ernie at HISTORICON and I asked him about the rules on buildings. I told him that it appeared to me that the rules seem to explain what happens when buildings provide cover to units that are partially visible behind buildings but not what happens to units that are inside buildings. He admitted that my perception is true and they really have not developed the issue of units in buildings yet. He did say that when they play if a unit is in a building the building has to reach its destruction limit before the unit inside can be damaged. Based on that, if I ever play with units in buildings I might do the same thing but then say that the unit is in rubble cover at the point that it is destroyed. I realize this might not seem realistic but it's better than nothing.

Bwanabill,

Re-reading the building destruction rules, there may be a chance the buildings stay up until the Tripods can put enough damage onthem to knock them down. The Power rating provides the points which will overwhelm a building eventually. That might give a unit hiding in there time to get out before the Tripods finish off the building.

KO'ing buildings was a good strategy, denying the tankers their concealing terrain, but I had made it too easy to knock down a building. As the rule is written, it may take a couple of Tripods to concetrate on a building to flatten it with Heat Ray attacks.

It's good to force my nose back into the rules every once in a while for discovering more clarity.

Okay, I found the rules for civilians. They are on page 156 of the hard back book. In essence they are treated as one element units under the human player's control. The book has their stats, such as they are, and how they interact with tripods. These aren't standard rule, just special rules for scenario #4, The Harvest. That scenario has everything you're looking for.

"Better dead than red?"

That's pretty much it. The human player tries to save them, the Martians want them caught. The Martians win if they capture more humans than the human player evacuates. So splashing a Gatherer Tripod kills its captives, but that could allow a human player to win by saving more civvies than the Martians capture… Sucks to be the captives though!,