Did you know... ... about Random Selection?Now, this is a funny thing in ASLSK and (I think) full ASL. Frequently you'll get a situation where more than one thing or squad or SW or whatever is supposed to take a certain result. Example: A K/# result on the IFT when there is a stack of units. The SK-level rulebook says to "randomly" determine this.
But what mechanism do you use?
Most probably just pull out a die and assign the potential victims a number and dr. Note that this means only ONE victim takes the result.
The neat thing is that in full ASL random selection actually has an associated mechanism that allows more than one victim. Random Selection forces all potential targets to dr and all targets that roll the highest (including ties) suffer the result. So, a series of rolls like 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, would cause the latter two units to suffer the K or whatever.
For some reason, this rule was pulled from ASLSK. Too bloody? Too little space to include? Who knows. But if you're not opposed to it, in a friendly game you may want to spice things up with this minor amendment to the rules.
5 comments:
The way random selection works in ASL (i.e. with more than a single unit possibly suffering the result) makes up for what at first glance looks (at least to me) an inconsistency in the rules.
For example, if you get that K result on a fire attack against a single unit you reduce it; if you get the same attack against a hex with eight units (let's say six half squads and a couple of leaders) only one of them suffers that. Doesn't seem fair to me... except that using random selection you possibly have more than one unit being reduced, and this is more likely as the target hex becomes too crowded. The same applies for SW malfunction.
If you roll boxcars when firing a FG of three MGs you don't break them all but also not just one, not always at least: the more were firing, the more it is likely that will break.
You got that right. In my last game my kill stack saw both machine guns break on a single shot. Rolled box cars followed by two 3's. Ouch!
But what mechanism do you use?I use whatever method will infallibly draw the sniper's bullet to my 10-2 leader in a crowd of men.
Isn't random fun?!
I think random selection was left out of ASLSK for reasons of simplicity and economy.
ASLSK is aimed at gameplayers who might not have any grognard experience at all. So the basic 2d6 are comforting through familiarity. Which is just as well, because Squaddie's basic 2d6 are put to many more uses than most gamers will hitherto've imagine'd possible.
So the added layers of random selection would, I'll warrant, have proved to've been 2d6 too far. ;)
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