Welcome back to Firefight Fridays. Last week in the eighth article I talked about the second scenario, “Between the Reich and a Hard Place”. To do that, we had to cover the basics of support weapons. Now as we move on this week we will look at the third scenario, “A Shot in the Dark”. This scenario is a demonstration of two new concepts in the game: night combat, and reinforcements.

Rubbing Elbows with the Enemy

The biggest concept introduced in this scenario is night rules. Obviously, the ability to see the enemy features heavily into your tactics to engage them. When you are less sure of the enemy’s position and they are less sure of yours, you end up in a catch 22, where you have difficulty ascertaining their position without giving up your own.

Mechanically in Firefight Tactical, night scenarios require a couple small but very impactful changes. Firstly, all Fire Checks suffer a -1 penalty. Further, units are no longer automatically revealed in open terrain just because they are in unhindered LoS of an enemy unit. This will only occur if they are adjacent to the enemy position. Finally, all infantry automatically re-conceal at the end of an activation where they are not adjacent to an enemy unless they performed an Assault, AT Fire, Fire, Move & Shoot, Snipe, or Suppress action during that activation. The result is that night combat is less deadly, and much more prone to mutual surprise and head games.

Hold Until Relieved

For most scenarios in Firefight Tactical, you will start with your full complement of units. In some, however, you will receive reinforcements. In scenarios with reinforcements, those units are placed under the appropriate dice on the timer track and are released for use when the die comes off. After that point they are considered to be in the staging area for that scenario, and can be moved onto the battle grid like any other unit unless the scenario states otherwise.

Missing the Mark

The third scenario follows the 82^nd Airborne Division on D-Day. Like most of the American Airborne they dropped off target, scattered about the area of St. Mere Eglise. This scenario doesn’t focus on the battle for the town, but rather on efforts of the 82^nd to reconnoiter in the forests northeast of the town and then join in the fight. They landed amongst members of the German Grenadier Regiment 1058 and confusion reigned on both sides.

Contact with the Enemy

Whereas the first two scenarios were routine attack and defend scenarios, the third one is a bit different. The American objective is simply to get their units off the southern edge of the map. To do so, however, they must move through a number of possible German positions. What makes this more interesting is that this is a double-blind situation. Neither side has reliable knowledge about the other’s position.

Further, the reinforcements for “A Shot in the Dark” are a bit odd. Rather than enter from a staging area, the Americans are dropped into the map randomly. They may even land directly into melee with the Germans. All the unknowns, and the American’s lack of ability to control their initial positions especially, make “A Shot in the Dark” uniquely ripe for bluffing.

Starting Off Surrounded

The Americans face a very different challenge in “A Shot in the Dark” from the Germans. Most importantly, they have overwhelming numbers. This is tempered however by the fact that they do not arrive all at once, but rather piecemeal over the course of the scenario. This can make it difficult to mount any significant attack before the Germans can react to their position.

The next major difference is that the Americans will not have access to any leaders during the scenario. This makes them much more susceptible to the predations of chance. As a result, they will have to be making many more suboptimal moves than any units have had to in previous scenarios to just try and get the objective completed.

Which brings me to the final major difference. There is no direct reason to attack the Germans in this scenario. To be clear, there are many indirect reasons. What I mean is that pinning or eliminating Germans is not your objective for the scenario. Similarly, you are not looking to run the clock, so locking them down doesn’t buy you time. All you care about is getting your units off board.

The summation of all these factors is that you just need to move units, as quietly and quickly as possible, through the forest before the Germans can really react. Optimal strategy here will be a mix of ignoring the Germans to try and gain distance on them, using decoys to distract and confuse them, and attacking only when they give up too much of their position.

Remember that because the scenario uses night rules, so long as you end activation not adjacent to enemy positions you re-conceal. Concealed units have better movement options, most notably Advance, which allows them to move without incurring Opportunity Fire.

By taking advantage of these factors, you will keep the German reactive and guessing, and pass right under their nose to victory.

Dropping Out of the Sky

The Americans have a lot going for them in “A Shot in the Dark”, but there are two things that are really going against them. First, while they have superior numbers, they drop only a few at a time. The other major problem is the terrain: it is awful. As the German you can set yourself up with a superior position to make the most of the likely paths the Americans will take through the battle grid.

The most important thing to do is attempt to engage the Americans as they land. The more you are able to lock down the Americans, the more they will slow down. You force them to choose between Rallying their units that have been on the scene longer, or move forward with the new arrivals. With good tactics and a bit of luck you can bog them down so much and repel them into their terrible terrain that you will hold the line.

Just remember, it is ok to let a few Americans through the line. You are better off letting a couple get through while maintaining an overall good defensive line than to let it crumble chasing a single unit.

Time to Scale Up

Next week we will be looking at “About Last Night”, the fourth scenario. This scenario is special to me because it adds lots of cool stuff. First it adds a lot more units to the field. Second, it brings in mortar teams, which really change the dynamic of the game around buildings. Finally, it brings in snipers, who strike some fear into support weapons and leaders. See you then!

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