The Commander Series Forum

When you are playing BKC and a stand represents several vehicles i´m OK with the front 180º arc of fire (representing the general heading of the unit).

But at 1:1 scale it seems a bit odd that a tank can´t engage targets at its flank without having to move first.

So i was thinking some kind of house rule to solve this. In a previous post someone mention a -1 if firing outside frontal arc. This may be be enough for infantry but a tank with 4/5 AT a -1 is not a great deal.

So maybe, if you want to engage targets outside the 180º frontal arc with an AFV you can but firing have a -1 command penalty. This doesn´t make the unit change its facing.

So this way you may fire at a enemy without changing facing and expose the most vulnerable flank of a AFV to other enemy units that may be facing you.

Any thoughts?

I like the idea of lessening the number of attack dice as opposed to the command roll. I would hate to penalize an entire unit it's command because 1 tank needs to shoot beyond the 180 arc.

For your 1:1 scale you could deduct 2 dice when firing outside of the 180 degree arc to represent the fact that the commander is generally focused on looking forward and thus shots to the rear are in haste.

Had to try the right amount of penalty dice...the problem is that a 2 dice less will be annoying for a heavy tank but will make attack pointless for light vehicles with just 2 or 3 attacks...
Maybe halving the firepower at 50% (reounding up)?

I was also thinking of giving a -1 to hit (so a target in the open will be hit on 5+ instead of 4+). This would reflect the fact that having to locate target and turn the turret will be a "rushed shot" so it´s less accurate.

Using this rule would help to make a difference between SPG and AFV´s with [R]. Both have 90º firing arc but the latter may engage targets outside it with penalties.

Of course, you can´s fire this way in opportunity and initiative firing. Also, the +1 for MG firing at 20cm. is not applied if firing outside the frontal arc.