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Second Front
Cheat Codes:
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Submitted by: David K.
9 Simple Rules for New Players:
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Written by CheerfullyInsane
-=Don't Stack=-
No, really....Don't do it.
There are exactly two instances where stacking is okay.
a)If you want the leader MP bonus, and you are SURE you're out of sight for
the entire move.
b)If you have a firebase with a good leader. E.g. two squads with MMGs and
a two-star leader sitting in the back hammering away is fine.
Otherwise, spread your squads out, no more than one per hex. That way, any
successful attack will only hurt one squad.
By bunching up squads in one hex, all you're doing is making sure one attack
will hurt all of them.
It also means that the enemy will run out of defensive fire. Each squad can
only fire twice, so if you can swarm it at least some of your troops won't even
get fired upon.
-=Concealment Is Your Friend=-
* See that question-mark over your troops at game start? Guard it with your life.
* Any concealed targets results in all attacks being halved, so stay concealed if
you possibly can.
* Don't ditch concealment just to fire a 2% attack, the concealment is far more
important.
* So use Low Crawl/Advance to get into position, and always use covered routes
whenever you can. Even if you're running in the open, if no enemy units can see
you, you keep concealment. So check LOS from every known enemy position before
moving.
* Even if you're defending, don't think you can't move. Low crawl into un-spotted
locations, and then advance back in after the enemy fire-phase. (also
affectionately known as 'skulking').
* If they can't see you, they can't shoot you.
-=Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em=-
* There aren't nearly as many opportunity for smoke in SF as there is in ASL, but
it's still pretty useful. So any scenario that gives you guns or tanks, check if
they have smoke-ammo.
* Let's say you have an enemy MMG in a church-tower covering your entire approach.
Throw some smoke at them, and not only do they get a +2 for the smoke, the fact
that there's now a Hindrance means your troopers are no longer considered moving
in open ground.
* That's a +3 shift for a simple smoke-attack. Sure, you'll probably run out after
one shot, but why let that stop you?
* No smoke-ammo? Okay, what about smoke-dispensers?
* Run your tanks out into open ground you want your infantry to cross (staying
away from enemy AT-weapons obviously) and fire the dispensers. Now your infantry
suddenly have a nice comfy cloud to cover their approach.
-=The Right Leader For The Job=-
* Leaders are insanely important in SF. But not all leaders are made equal.
* One- and two-star leaders should either be in charge of your firebase to lend their
modifiers to the attacks, or lead your assault-teams into battle. They should always
be doing something, either to the enemy or to their own troops.
* Silver-star leaders on the other hand have no business being in the front line. Their
job is to sit a few hexes back in covered terrain, and rally any troops that break.
If you stack a silver-star with a squad, you've just made matters worse for yourself.
* Not only does he not modify the squads morale-check, but if the leader breaks then
the squad takes a second morale-check.
* So keep your less efficient leaders back in good rally positions, and you'll get
the most out of them.
* It also means that an enemy two-star leader should become an immediate munitions-
magnet. Actually, any enemy leader you kill means less chance of broken units
rallying and getting back into the fight.
-=Take Your Time=-
* Don't sprint across open ground to get an objective one turn earlier. You probably
won't make it in the first place.
* Figure out how many turns you have to take each objective, and then use ALL of
that time. Covered approaches, getting a firebase in place, making sure there's no
hidden AT-guns out there.
* Sure, if the enemy firebase breaks from a lucky attack, by all means use the
opportunity to get as many squads forward as you can.
* But otherwise, you're far better off being methodical. The modern battlefield is
kinda lethal.
-=Respect The ROF=-
* The rate of fire can be deadly. Those dinky little 50mm and 60mm mortars might
not pack much of a punch, but the amount of shells they can lob makes it a numbers
game. Eventually, one of them will get a hit.
* Anyone who's run into the 37mm flak-gun in "Recon in force" will know what I mean.
* So even if you're in a covered position, once you get acquired by one of these
weapons give serious thought to finding a fallback position. It's not always
possible, sometimes the ground is just too good to give up and that's fair enough.
* But don't sit in a mortar-barrage simply because you're too lazy to move out.
-=Close Combat Is Risky=-
* All combat in SF is based on dice-rolls, and thus inherently risky. But close
combat is doubly so.
* Even with 3-1 odds, there's a good chance everyone will be wiped out. Definitely
never attack with 1-1 odds, unless you need to tie down the enemy position. And even
then, expect to lose.
* But there are things you can do to mitigate the risk. The Ambush modifier.
* For those who are unfamiliar with close combat, it's a simultaneous attack. Both
sides roll the dice, and the results are applied simultaneously, which is why it's
not uncommon to see both sides wiped out.
* But if one side ambushes the other, they get to fire first, and if they wipe out the
enemy he won't even get to fire back.
* So maximise your chances for an ambush.
* Gold-star leaders modify the ambush, and so does concealment. Especially concealment.
Remember back in section 2 when I said concealment is your friend? Doubly so in
ambushes.
* Even better, you only need ONE unit to be concealed in order to get the modifier.
So if you have two squads and a half-squad all within advance range, by all means
shoot the two squads but keep the half-squad concealed. He won't contribute much
to the fire, but that ambush modifier is golden.
-=Kick 'Em While They're Down=-
* Make every effort to ensure that broken enemy units STAY broken, and go for
'surrender for failure to rout' if it's at all feasible.
* Any unit that is under what I know as Desperation Morale, or in SF has two red
exclamation marks, is much, much harder to rally than a unit with just one. So
make sure they get that other exclamation mark whenever you can.
* Move adjacent to them, or if that is to dangerous just fire at them. Anything
will do, even a solitary sniper will add that oh-so-important second exclamation
mark, and force them to rout again.
* If you can't get into position to force a surrender, at least make sure you have
units covering enemy rout paths. Interdiction fire in SF can be lethal.
* In short, any unit that you can keep broken is one more unit that can't return to
the fight.
-=Minimize The Risk=-
* I suppose I could've just had one rule that said "Don't Be Daft".
* But SF is a dice-heavy game, and even when you do everything right, Lady Luck
might decide to slap you around.
* It happens, and the lack of certainty is arguably a part of the game.
* But based on my ASL play, the best players know this and minimize the risks they
take. This is warfare, so risk is inherent in the activity, but you can do much
to mitigate the effects of a lucky roll.
* It's pretty much a summary of all of the above; Use ambush in close combat, use
covered routes and concealment to your benefit, don't run in open ground within
enemy range, don't move armor into unkown territory if there's an AT-gun out there
and you don't know where it is etc.
* Basically, treat your counters as you would real people. After all, the more of
your squads that survive, the more punishment they'll be able to dish out.
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