Flying Lead: General rules questions

[jerome]

I'm not yet a player of FL, and don't see sample rules or a tutorial. Thus, I'm asking some basic rules questions to see how it compares with what I've seen elsewhere. For example, I'm familiar with Nuts (or Chain Reaction), Force on Force and Battleground WW2.

1. Is this IGO/UGO? Or is there some sort of "I move a little, you move a little"? Perhaps "IGO with interruptions", or something else?

2. Related to Q1, if there is "IGO a little, UGO a little", how many figures do I get to move? In my games (WW2 in france, US/German) I want my players to be able to move at least a half-squad in a single impulse, as these guys all work together.

3. How fast do figures move on the table, normal walk, in one "turn"?

4. How far can a rifle reach in the game rules? For example, in BGWW2 a rifle is given 30" "normal range" and perhaps 72" "extended range". This helps tell me if the game looks to-scale (I like 1/72 figures (about 22mm)) or appears jam-packed (as with Flames of War).

5. Are there rules for spotting? Or, on the flip side, can ambush scenarios (such as buildings or hedgerows) be run right from the ruleset?

6. Is enough information provided in the book to supply weapon stats for US and German armies in WW2? Such as "bolt-action rifle", "semi-auto rifle", LMG?

7. Any grenade or mortar rules?

8. Anything about leaders?

Thanks,
Jerome.

[richjones]

I'm not yet a player of FL, and don't see sample rules or a tutorial. Thus, I'm asking some basic rules questions to see how it compares with what I've seen elsewhere. For example, I'm familiar with Nuts (or Chain Reaction), Force on Force and Battleground WW2.

OK - well I wrote FL, was heavily involved with Ed at THW and CR/NUTS, helped write FoF and played BGWW2 a lot before any of these others so might be able to help. Firstly though all the above are great rules so I am just answering the questions rather than doing a comparative as I think they all fill different niches and depending on the mood I am in or want from the game I will play different rules etc.

1. Is this IGO/UGO? Or is there some sort of "I move a little, you move a little"? Perhaps "IGO with interruptions", or something else?
2. Related to Q1, if there is "IGO a little, UGO a little", how many figures do I get to move? In my games (WW2 in france, US/German) I want my players to be able to move at least a half-squad in a single impulse, as these guys all work together.

It is a squad action game designed at quick play ... we play with a supported squad each for a normal game but often play with more. It is a 'sort of' IGO/UGO each player activates an individual or a group (from a group action given by leaders) and then has to decide how many 'actions' to try for ... they can go for 1-3, they roll that many dice and get an action for each roll equal or less to their adjusted Quality (a normal grunt would be Q4, which would often be modified to Q3 by proximity to a leader/nco) - the tricky bit is though if they fail 2 dice the turn is over and the opponent starts activating. SO within the simple mechanic there is quite a lot of decisions to make. Actions can be used for movement, fire (normally only one a go), aiming, tasks etc. Group activations can happen of up to 5 figures.
There is overwatch which puts an 'area' as a fire zone where firing can interrupt the players move etc.

3. How fast do figures move on the table, normal walk, in one "turn"?

Well an action used for movement uses a 'medium' stick (80mm) and a player can use all the figures actions for movement so if they get 3 actions they could 'run' 240mm, using one action (walking) they would only move 80mm. Going over/through terrain would move the stick down to a 'short' (50mm) - some figures can have the sprint ability and use one action per go to move a 'long' etc.

4. How far can a rifle reach in the game rules? For example, in BGWW2 a rifle is given 30" "normal range" and perhaps 72" "extended range". This helps tell me if the game looks to-scale (I like 1/72 figures (about 22mm)) or appears jam-packed (as with Flames of War).

Aimed at being played on a 3x3 table in 28mm so there are no max ranges for most weapons ... there are adjustments to 'hit' the longer your range after 160 or 240mm depending on the weapon etc. On a 3x3 you should be using a squad and realistic amounts of cover - I tried to keep the ground scale 'look' realistic - for instance the blast radius on a grenade often takes people by surprise at it is based on 'reality' etc (big blast area but with different lethal potential through the area).

5. Are there rules for spotting? Or, on the flip side, can ambush scenarios (such as buildings or hedgerows) be run right from the ruleset?

Figures can be 'hidden' and some have the stealth ability both of which means they need to be 'spotted' however there is also a 'speculative' fire mechanic which means you can fire on a potential area with unseen enemy (either the next hedgerow where the enemy is 'hidden' or even when a figure has run into a wooden shed etc - you know they are there but you don't quite know where). There are ambush rules straight in there ... a character gets an advantage if firing from a being out of sight or leaping out and attacking in Hth - this coupled with hidden and stealth rules tend to cover most things.

6. Is enough information provided in the book to supply weapon stats for US and German armies in WW2? Such as "bolt-action rifle", "semi-auto rifle", LMG?

There is a Normandy scenario in the rules with stats for both squads from US and German - the weapon stats are fairly comprehensive and differentiate between bolt action, self loading, semi auto, auto rifle, smg, drum fed LMG, clip fed LMG, belt fed LMG, GPMG etc etc also there are rules for weapons with select fire mechanisms (so you can choose how to use them etc) - the rules differentiate pretty well I think.

7. Any grenade or mortar rules?

Grenade yes - realistic range and blast radius though, rifle grenades and very light mortars are ok but no small, medium or large mortars on the table as the blast area and range restrictions would not suit the table ... there will be mechanics in the WWII supplement for off board/accidental mortar stuff though etc.


8. Anything about leaders?

Leaders are an important part and have a part to play in activation/motivation and morale ... suppressed (shaken) troops are easier to get going again when a leader is nearby 'yelling' at them etc. Leaders can give group orders as well as corordinating movement and firing.

Hope this helps ...

[jerome]

Thanks for the reply. What is important to me here is that the scale is intended for a squad action (maybe as many as 10 per side) and I'm interested in running things up to a platoon on one side. So I think I would get frustrated with FL.

Thanks for making something for us to play with, though.

[richjones]

Hee hee there is a platoon version coming ... basically it is done, Andrea even got a game the other day.

To be honest we usually play with half a platoon easy ... depends on the length of game you want. With a platoon you'd give 3 leaders and 3 NCO so there would be a lot of 'group actions' but you'd be looking on a 2.5 - 3 hour game.


For platoon action I play either FoF or NUTS before doing the platoon version of FL