Questions about steel, positions and skills

A few questions from running our first firefight demo.

  1. If the commander of a unit goes down for a volley or the entire engagement due to a steel test, does that mean his entire unit goes down or can a second in command or grunt take over?

  2. Advance requires command to be used. Is this true even if it’s a mini firefight or if I’m just one guy in a vehicle or wielding a sniper rifle on foot? It makes sense that if you’re in a unit you have to test command for advances, but alone?

  3. The book says this about loosing positions: “It is also lost if the unit’s position is reduced by the position’s value.” Does this mean that
    a) The position’s value act as a buffer - if you occupy a 2 p position and loose 2 disposition, you loose nothing if you advance from it or withdraw? What if I only lost 1 point, do I then loose the full 2 points or 1 point when abandoning the position.
    b) If I’m on a 2p position and loose 2 points from my disposition, I loose another 2 points from the position.

  4. In either case above, do I also loose the cover bonus?

  5. In the mini firefight rules, it says I must use tactics or close combat for the officer’s roll. Does this apply to all actions in the fight, including withdraw and advance? Also, can I use a close combat action even if I’m not in the same position or adjacant? It makes sense to me in certain cases, as close combat is pretty much suppesed to cover anything within 20 meters.

  6. Can I use close combat weapons and skills for suppressive fire and direct fire actions? Obviosly not if it’s a sword, but small arms could conceivably be used if the range’s short enough.

  1. 2iC takes over. No grunts take over.

  2. Advance, Withdraw and Close Combat play out as described under their individual entries.

3a) Use the current value of the position.

3b) Nein.

  1. Cover bonus remains.

  2. See 3 above. Aside from the stated modifications, it obeys all the rules of FF, hence the “fight it out like a standard Firefight” line at the end.

  3. No.

Cool, I’m interested in the rationale behind requiring command for advance even when alone. Why?

Page 227, Command skill entry.

Hmm… point taken.

In BE, the skill is divided into two aspects – decision making and conveying that decision. Unlike BW, where it’s just about conveying that decision.