"Sword and Flame: short range rifle fire??" Topic

Artillery and machine guns have long and short range. Does anyone play long and short range for rifle. The suggested rule is thus:The printed numbers are for long range. Short range is half long range and the hit die spread is one number higher. So a 1-7 is now 1-8 for short range. Or are the rifles deadly enough so no short range enhancement is needed??

Nah…why make a great game complicated?

It's deadly enough as it is.

Larry's philosophy behind small arms ranges were that you were either inside effective range or you weren't. That's why he had no short and long ranges for his small arms.

Jim

Jim, Clay and Ray all have it right. Dad never seriously considered different ranges when it came to small arms fire. If you and your group want to play TSATF that way, go for it. The rules always encourage players to adapt them to suit how you play. But as Clay says, it's deadly enough as it is and the result will most probably be a much shorter game……

Thanks. I'll be running this at nashcon and some folks thought of short range. I'll go with your advice.

TMP link

I haven't done long and short range for rifle fire enhancement in TSATF (as others have noted, rifles are deadly enough) but I have used long and short range to reduce the effectiveness of carbines: -2 to rifle fire stats within 18 inches, -3 to rifle stats greater than 18 but within 24 inches. So 1-6 (the rifle stats I use for German colonial warfare) becomes 1-4 for a carbine within 18 inches, 1-3 for greater than 18 but within 24 inches.

I did this for German carbines ~1900, used by gunners, horse holders, and wagon drivers in their African colonial wars. -2 reduction at all ranges didn't sufficiently weaken the carbines, and -3 reduction at all ranges weakened them too much. -2 reduction plus an 18-inch range limit worked in terms of lethality but allowed the African troops to stay out of German range and pick the Germans off (the indigenous forces only hit on 1-2, but their rifles have 24-inch range). The long range/short range carbine stats I described above solved the problem.