Rules Nazi Episode VII - Anti-Aircraft vs AA MG.

This one probably isn't a big deal to most, but when I was first starting out, this caused an issue for me;

The difference between AA MG and Anti-Aircraft.

Could be on upcoming German train?

For some strange reason I deducted that these were the same things.  I mean really...what does AA stand for?  You guessed it...Anti-Aircraft.  How could I possibly have made the mistake of thinking they were the same thing?  Must be that weird New Zealand Engrish again.

Anyway, yes, there is a difference between the 2.  And it starts with knowing what a tank team is.

What got me confused early in my FoW career is I didn't know exactly what a tank team was.   It started when I was trying to figure out what firing arc the DshK on a truck had.  I was too caught up in thinking that the model was what the model was.  What I mean is the DshK is just a machine gun on a truck...not a tank.  The DshK Gun unmounted had the 'Turntable' attribute.  But the main gun on the truck didn't.  Looking at the model logically, and seeing that it had the awkward layout attribute, I deduced that it must only have a 180 degree firing arc.  When I asked the question on the forum someone pointed out that it would have a 360 degree arc because it was a tank team and DIDN'T have the 'Hull Mounted' attribute.

Everything falls into 1 of 4 categories of teams.

• Tank Teams
• Infantry Teams
• Transport Teams
• Gun Teams

So, once I figured out what a tank team was, I couldn't figure out what the differance was between say a Wespe with a AA MG, and a DshK Truck.  I mean they were both machine guns after all.
 

Needless to say this got me looking at all the other Anti-Aircraft rules, and this only served to confuse me more.  Remember this was early in my Career before I figured out New Zealand Engrish.

Anyway, there are 2 types of Anti-Aircraft guns and they are totally different.

AA MG (Anti-Aircraft MG)

DshK

They even put the word Anti-Aircraft in the title of the weapon.  This is probably what confused me the most.
This is a vehicle secondary weapon, like co-ax mg or hull mg.  You will only see this listed on lists as AA MG as a vehicle attribute.  But I believe they put the (Anti-Aircraft MG) to give it the Anti-Aircraft attribute.  Even though it doesn't say that any where.

Except you can't fire this weapon and shoot the MAIN gun at the same time.  Although you can shoot it with other MG's on the vehicle.  And if you fire this weapon (doesn't matter if at aircraft or not) you are more vulnerable in assaults.

And it is also classified as a self-defense weapon.  What this means is that it can shoot at aircraft ONLY if the aircraft is targeting the vehicles platoon.  And even then it only gets a RoF of 1.

ANTI-AIRCRAFT

This is an attribute of a vehicles main gun or a gun team.  So, it can fire full ROF at aircraft.  Unless its a heavy anti-aircraft weapon.  Then they get only 1 RoF.

This is also what confused me in the beginning, is that the whole shooting anti-craft section talks about the anti-aircraft attribute, which technically the AA MG does not have.  Unless you count the (Anti-Aircraft MG) in its title.   I think one could argue that this section doesn't apply to Self-Defense Anti-Aircraft weapons.

The saving grace is that it says ANY TEAM firing at aircraft...

So, if you shoot at aircraft, whether you have Anti-Aircraft, AA MG, or Heavy Anti-Craft, you can't move at the double, shoot, dig in, or assault in your next turn.

We won't even talk about cover from aircraft...will we WebGriffin?

Hopefully this rule doesn't or didn't confuse most people.  Unfortunately it confused me.  But I think this led me down the path to understand Phil's crazy Engrish.

New Zealand Engrish
When I talk about New Zealand Engrish, what I'm talking about is how the creators words seem to mean different things, then what he intended.   I want to do a whole Rules Nazi episode on this but I'll start it here.

This is why the MALFTF is bigger then the rule book.

Take for instance "Far Side of" means "in Between".  I'm of course referring to Cover from Aircraft.  This may not have been Phils intent on the rule, but he is wrong as the rule is written.

Another (meaning different) is Phils use of the word "Another" as it pertains to breakthrough assaults.

To mean Another means a different one.  The rule says;

If you launched the Assault and won, you may use your platoon's consolidation movement to launch a break-through assault against another platoon within 4"

As I said, to me this means a different platoon other then the one you just assaulted.  Again, even if this isn't what Phil meant when writing the rule, that IS how its written.

Websters meaning of "Another"

1

: different or distinct from the one first considered another angle>

2

: some other another time>

3

: being one more in addition to one or more of the same kind another piece of pie>

This is Phils Answer in the MALFTF when someone asked this question.

'Another' in this context was used in the sense of 'an additional', not in the sense of 'a different'. Don't know if it is just me, but I'd have used a phrase involving the words 'a different platoon' if I meant that. Another to me is more 'additional' than 'different', as in 'I'll have another muffin please!'. To me that means I want one more, rather than to swap the one I've got for a different one. Cheers (Phil)

Even in his answer he has proved himself wrong.  If he is having "another" muffin he is still having a different one, even though it maybe the same kind.  You aren't eating the same muffin you just eat.

The same thing should apply to FoW the way its currently written.  You may have assaulted a German Grenadier platoon.  But you can still assault the same kind of platoon, just not the same platoon you just assaulted.

The rule book is riddled with examples like this. This is the whole reason I started the Rules Nazi.  This is why the forum is rittled with game quesitons, this is why the 'Errata' is bigger then the freaking rule book.

The game doesn't play the same way that its written.

Don't get me wrong I love this game.  I'm very passionate about it.  I don't even want to change it.  But, if there is ever a version 3, Phil needs to let me Proof Read, or write it myself.

D-Day Commission Project.

Finished most of the stuff from my D-Day Commission project over the weekend.

A whole bunch of obstacles, 2 Boats, and 4 DD Shermans.

Obstacles were pretty easy.  Painted them all German grey, and then added some rust to them.  Did a fine dry brush of gunmetal, but I don't like it.  Gun metal, is too....sparkly.  Seems more like glitter then paint.  Probably why most people are starting to just use German grey instead.  But I find German grey too blue to look like metal.

The DD Shermans turned out pretty good.  Added some decals on the deck and an antenna.  The only thing about these, is I REALLY hate the mold.  Its a solid piece of resin.  Even between the gun and the hull, there is resign.  It looks really dumb.  You can't paint the whole thing the same color as the tank.  I painted it black.  But this looks pretty dumb too, since you should be able to see the hull.  In other words there should be space there.   I don't know.

The "skirt" turned out a bit dark, but after a "wet" dry brush...(does that make sense?) they turned out pretty well.  I didn't clean off my brush as much before dry brushing.  This made streaks along the smooth parts that normal dry brushing wouldn't do.  To me this made it look way more like cloth and a little dirty.

The boats seemed to be more of a hope and pray sort of project.  I had never painted them before.  For a hope and pray they turned out really well.  I did try to do pin washing with rust but it turned out way to red.  The shine of the Future makes it look red.  I'd realy like to figure out that rust colour on boats.  maybe more brown?

The damaged part of the boat turned out pretty good, discouvered my new favorite tool, the Dremel!  I used German Grey, black, and then did a highlight with a white pencil crayon.  Didn't want to ruin it with gun metal.  Glad I did the obstacles first.

Sorry i couldn't get them to you this weekend Shawn.

To complete my part of the project I have 2 destroyed Panzer IVs and rusted out Somua to do.

More Germans...and Finally the Ferdi!

I haven't been posting as much painted stuff as I would like because I have about 15 projects on the go at the same time. When I pull out (ha ha i said pull out) a particular colour, I use it on everything that needs it.

Well I finally was able to finish 3 projects in between stages of the D-Day stuff.

I was suppose to go to an early war tournament and I started some Czech 38t's and some Panzer I's. I also started some PanzerJagers but haven't finished those yet.

Tried a few new things. With the Panzer I's, I didn't do a wash over the whole tank. All I did was a wash over the tracks, and pin wash everything else. They turned out really well.
















The Czech panzers I did the same way I always do them. Wash the whole vehicle, and then highlight. The tricky part with these guys the decals don't fit in between the rivets on the turret. I trimmed them as much as I could. And then the rivets made it VERY difficult to maneuver the decals around. Unfortunately a few of them are crooked.















But, best of all, and what probably a bunch of people are waiting for, is I finished the Ferdinand. I did the same as the panzer I's. I didn't do a wash over the whole vehicle. Just the tracks and pin washed everything else. I also went WAY lighter on the highlight then I normally do. I dare say it turned out very well and could be one of my best. It was certainly one of the most fun to do. I'm really glad I redid the camo...sorry to all those that voted for me to keep the old one. I'm pretty sure the next time I do camo like this I'll be able to get the lines even better.

Ferdi Take Two

Tried the Ferdi again, and it turned out ALMOST the way I wanted it.

Way closer then the first attempt.

I may need one more practice try.  but now its starting to look like Kursk Camo!

New camo

Old Camo

New Camo

Old Camo

Just on a quick side note.  Just wanted to show everyone the glass cabinets I found at a garage sale.  $20 each.  I think they are worth around $100 each.  The one I have was from Ikea, and it was over $120 and not as good as these ones.  The Hobby Gods have smiled upon me!

Rules Nazi Episode VI - Basic Buildings

The reason I call this Basic is because there are two different ways to play buildings.  There are basic buildings, which should be used in most FoW games.  And then there is the more complicated street fighting rules.  I wouldn't use the street fighting rules unless you are very very comfortable with the rules.

If you do have a large factory or apartment building on the table you can simple use it as a giant piece of rubble.  The whole building gives concealment and bulletproof cover, and is very difficult going.  It will now be considered area terrain and you can only see 6 inches in our out, if the wall is higher then the troops.  It does not block LoS like a wall would if it were a building. 

These rules assume buildings only have one room.

Moving into Buildings

This is fairly straight forward.  You can't move into a building unless you START the movement step adjacent to an opening in the building, or a friendly team STARTS the movement step adjacent to an opening in the building.  This may seem silly but this is to simulate safety when entering the building.  Checking around corners and such.  You wouldn't just charge into a building with out checking it out.

Both Teams Can NOT enter

Both Teams Can enter

AT gun is there for the entire game.

The one thing that I always forget is that you don't have to go through the door.  Take a look at the Russian front buildings.  I always get caught up on whether the door is on the "FAR SIDE" (those that follow my blog will get that inside joke") from my teams.  But there is also usually a window on the other sides of the buildings.  Teams can also enter buildings this way.

Only Man-Packed gun teams go enter and exit buildings.  Other gun teams can only be deployed into buildings.  But they then are stuck there for the rest of the game.  In fact they have to designate an opening and cannot move from that opening.  And they can't fire bombardments,  only direct fire.  And they must be on the ground floor.

For those that don't know Italians this rule is what makes the Italian 47/32 Gun one of the best guns in the game.  ROF - 3, AT - 7, and its a man-packed gun team.  Most guns with these kind of stats are light guns so can't move in and out of buildings.  But the Italian 47/32 gun can.

Not Fully Armoured

FULLY ARMOURED vehicles can also enter buildings.  Surprisingly most players don't know what a fully armoured vehicle is.  Yes even though a vehicle has an armour rating of 0 means you still make an armor check, but it is NOT fully armoured.  Only a vehcile with a top armour of 1 or 2 is fully armoured.

These fully armoured vehicles must also make a bog check when entering a building.  Keep this in the back of your mind.  This rule will come into play for assaults, and won me a game once.  And ZERO people know this.  I actually half except to get called out on it. 

Buildings and Shooting
This is fairly simple, except there is one way I see players try to cheat.  Only one team can shoot out of a single opening.  Unless that opening has enough room for 2 teams.  What I've seen players do is rotate teams sideways so that 2 teams have their short side facing the window.  This is a no no.  Remember my post about rotating to shoot. http://kagefow.blogspot.com/2011/05/rules-nazi-episode-ii-rotating-to-shoot.html
This technically goes for infantry teams as well.  Its just that no one ever does it becasue they have a 360 degree rate of fire and no armour facing.  So,you must have the long side forward towards the opening.

Can't shoot.

Can shoot.

Shooting into buildings is a different story.  Keeping in mind we are talking about single room buildings, if a team has line of site to an opening, that team has line of site to every team in that building.  this means if you shoot at a building, you still must apply hits to all teams in the building evenly.  Not just the team in the opening.

Teams in buildings have concealment and bulletproof cover.  In the rules it says "Unless the shooting team is adjacent to the opening."   But this isn't even possible, since you can't be with in 2" of a visible enemy unless you are assaulting.  And being adjacent to an opening means you are adjacent to all teams in the building.  So, during the shooting step, teams in buildings will ALWAYS have concealment and bulletproof cover.

Assaults and Buildings

Assaults in buildings work the same as any other assault with a few exceptions.

Both IS's must make Bog checks to assault.

Remember the fully armoured rule?  If an armoured vehicle is assaulting into a building, it must make a bog check AFTER charge into contact, and before Defensive Fire occurs.  Even armoured vehicles that only come with in 2" of the opening must make a bog check.  Which brings me to the other exception.

Only one team per opening (unless wide enough for 2) can assault.  But that team is considered adjacent to all teams in the building.  So, the defender could take a hit on a team away from the opening, and then the attacker would not be able to push through the opening.

Game Story
I guess I should add my game experience.  At my first tournament, I had my Konigstiger army going against the Russian Tank hoard.

There was a building on top of a hilll and I had some pioneers in and around it guarding an objective.
For some reason they were playing with hills needing a bog check.  He was having a difficult time damaging my KT`s, so he rushed his Stuarts at the objective in hoping overrunning my Pioneers.  He had to cross a river and come up the hill to do it.  I think he had 10 stuarts.  A few bogged on the river.  A few bogged on the hill, and by the time he could assault me in the building he only had 3 left.  So, because he was assaulting into the building he had to make a bog check, as Ive mentioned.  In an insane stroke of luck, he rolled three 1`s.  All 3 bogged down and the assault failed.  It was a great attempt, I was scared...but some insane bad luck.   

First Commission Job: Update 1

Well, I guess it was bound to happen. I've been "sub contracted" to paint some miniatures. Its a project that Shawn is working on. A D-day board. And for those that know him, we all know how much he loves to paint.

So, I will paint some beach obstacles, boats and tanks.

Should be fun and a challenge. Especially since everything I'm painting has to be destroyed. First thing I did is go out and by myself a Dremel. I was surprised how cheap they are. I should have got one a long time ago. You have no idea how many hours i've spent cutting away at resign with a hobby knife.

He also wants 2 destroyed Panzer IV's. I already had some of these started, so I will just use those.

Just did my first test with it, blowing a hole in a Landing craft. Took me like 30 seconds. With a hobby night this would have taken...well forever.

I will keep regular updates as to how this is going.

Not sure if this is really the path I want to go down. I have so much of my own stuff to paint. Maybe I could hire someone to paint my stuff? :)

Flak Nests - Finally!

YES! I finally finished the flak nests.  As fun as this project was I'm so happy this is over.  Learned lots.  I was painting these for a tournament, which I wasn't able to go to anyway, and there is no way I would have been done in time anyway.

The one new thing I did, sort of...was putting a rare earth magnet on the bottom of the guns.  I've done this for tanks before, but was thinking about doing them on my AA sdkfz's.  So, I figured I might as well try it on these nests.  they work fantastic.  They stay in place better then if they were glued, and they still rotate.

One of the harder things I've done, is trying to fill in the hole where the infantry stand.  I tried using the same puddy I used for basing, but this was a disaster.  I had to peal the guys out and repaint a lot of them.  Instead I used green stuff, and they turned out pretty well.  I had  to put the floor lines in it.   With some practice I could get pretty good a this.  from a distance you can't even tell. 

Anyway, enjoy.  Pictures aren't that great.  My new camera takes almost too good of pictures.  May have to go back to the old camera, and/or get some better lighting.  The infantry are Luftwaffe blue but some of the pics they look gray.  Especially the ones with out a flash.

Stay tuned for Rules Nazi corner VIa - Buildings.


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