I figure if a soldier is in a defensive position he is rather expecting to get shot at, so is in a different mental state to one who is in a meeting engagement, and would react differently.
So I handled it two ways, depending on whether it was an "outgunned" Duck Back or a "hit" followed by a Duck Back.
1) If a fig is actually hit and scores a Duck Back, he ducks behind his position. When next active, he takes a Reaction Test. If Passed he can stand in place and conduct Active Fire. I didn't do a new IST with the group that made him Duck Back.
Had a different group moved forward in the meantime which he had not seen before, I would have done a new IST. But that didn't happen.
2) If a fig is missed by the enemy but has to Duck Back because he is outgunned, it was similar to above, except I didn't require them to pass a Reaction Test to "stand up" and fire.
The reason I did this was I could foresee this happening:
In this scenario the Soviets were emerging from a wood while the Finns were in a Defensive Position (DP). I intentionally set the distance at 26" – so out of SMG range. At the time of the initial In Sight Test (IST), both sides would be concealed and in cover (The Finns because of the DP and the Soviets because of the woods – also intentional).
Using the first time this happened as an example, I had a Soviet squad (13 men with an intrinsic LMG) with a MMG attached against a Finnish squad of 7 men. Five in the bunker (SMG, "BAR" and 3 rifles). I say BAR because I give the Lahti-Saloranta LMG BAR stats (and don't require an assistant) because I think ‘rules-wise' it has more in common with an American BAR (rate of fire, magazine size, etc.) then it does a typical LMG. I still called it a LMG in the narrative however.
The other two Finns (SMG, rifle) are in the same squad, but in a different group. They are deep in some woods as ‘flank guards' and are not in LoS unless they move up to the edge of the woods.
I wanted to experiment a little, because I could see this happening:
Hit or miss, the Soviet MMG is going to force the entire Finnish squad to Duck Back. The riflemen can then Fast Move forward to the DP. If the Soviets won the next Activation, the process would be repeated and then the riflemen would be in charge range of the position (even in snow) without the Finns ever firing a shot. That didn't seem right, so I came up with this rule as an experiment. It seemed to work.
Incidentally, I tried this twice. This was the second attempt. I also experimented with another rule during the first attempt that did not work.
In most of my games, the patrol scenarios tend to be more difficult and end up involving more squads, than the Attack or Defend scenarios. Usually because it takes longer so there is more of a chance to roll up new PEF or enemy reinforcements. I have had a couple of defense scenarios where the first PEF was nothing, the second was "rumors" and the third was defeated and the game was over by turn 5.
I wanted something more. On this occasion I was trying to model a ‘human wave' attack the Soviets sometimes used in this war. I came up with two ideas and tried using them both at the same time.
1) 3 new PEF were going to spawn on turn ten, regardless of whatever else was going on.
2) Any activation roll of doubles would result in a new PEF without regard to Investment Level
After about turn 30, I decided it was just a bit too much and called it. I kept my notes (maybe I should post this as well). By turn 5, I was on my 6th PEF. The Mission Deck was also generous for the Soviets as they received a "Rest of the platoon" result which brought in three squads at once (4 squads in a platoon – one on the board already).
The Soviets were able to break into and capture one DP and were contesting another when I called it. I also experimented with making it go dark in the middle of the game (why I asked about time scale in the forum) – but I wasn't satisfied with that either.
