Guys
There have bee a number of people including Neal who have suggested a re-write of 'Sniper' to clarify how it works, and especially regarding the potential use in FF. I would also like to take the opportunity to add "Assassin".
As a guide, I believe we ought to adopt the following principles;
- When shooting, 'Sniper' represents greater accuracy, so the attacker places each Sniper hit and it also has a -1 effect on the defender's armour save. As such the ability can be applied to Vehicles as well as Infantry, 'Sniper' vehicles representing anti-tank capabilities.
- Infantry in FF may also use sniper to attack enemy infantry units using the same process; the attacker places the hit on the enemy infantry which has a -1 effect on the defender's armour save.
- "Assassin" is similar to 'Sniper', except that it may only be used by Infantry in CC to attack enemy infantry. It represents the ability of specialist troops to get into close proximity to enemy infantry when using close combat weaponry. As before, the attacker places the hit on any enemy infantry unit in the assault, which also has a -1 effect on the defender's armour save.
The reasoning behind these principles is that while "Sniper" is understood and balanced for shooting, it can produce some undesirable effects in assault when vehicles are involved (either as the sniper or target), mainly because of the rule mechanics which make no distinction between unit types in assault. It also seems unreasonable for vehicles to be able to react quickly enough to class as snipers in FF - but your views may differ . . . .
"Assassin" has similar problems as it is intended to represent the attackers passing between enemy troops (constrained by figures being mounted on bases etc) so it becomes necessary to allow the attacker to place the hit away from the enemy base that is actually in B-B. As it is intended as an Infantry capability, this can become too powerfull when used against enemy vehicles, turning the unit into an anti-armour specialist which would un-balance things (and yes I am thinking about Eldar Howling Banshees).
There are some alternative approaches to the wording, which would allow flexibity, though possibly at the cost of additional complexity:-
- Define 'Sniper' as being unit type specific, so Infantry 'Snipers' can only attack enemy infantry and Vehicle 'Snipers' can only impact enemy vehicles. This is already handled in shooting, so this would carry the principle over into assault and would therefore allow anti-tank capability at close range.
- Define "Assassin" as having to place hits on enemy units in B-B unless the unit also has "Infiltrate" which would allow the "Assassin" to place hits on any enemy in the assault. This adds further colour and might also possibly allow the constraint over targeting enemy infantry to be lifted, but would need very carefull consideration.
Thoughts?
