Ok. Say I have an insurgent mortar team (without LOS) and spotter.

The spotter fails a TQ check.

Does this mean the mortar team will not drop a round? I would think an insurgent would fire anyway. Call it probing fire.

Same thing. Spotter gets zapped. Can the mortar team fire indiscriminately? Without LOS?

I know scatter conjures up another game system but I think it is a valid question. That incoming round has to land somewhere or on someone. Maybe roll a scatter die and a D6?

Any thoughts?

with out a spotter having LOS no mission occurs so no TQ roll to fail.

Does this mean the mortar team will not drop a round? I would think an insurgent would fire anyway. Call it probing fire.

Correct no round is fired, You may use a home grown rule that will alow your insurgents to fire.
Same thing. Spotter gets zapped. Can the mortar team fire indiscriminately? Without LOS?
No . You are free to do the above.
I know scatter conjures up another game system but I think it is a valid question. That incoming round has to land somewhere or on someone. Maybe roll a scatter die and a D6?
Since the rules do not alow for a round to be fired with out LOS its mute. again you can always come up with a homegrown rule to cover this.

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If you were going to do scatter when the spotter's TQ check is failed, try multiplying your D" by the amount the TQ check was failed by - failing by a lot means you miss by more.

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My Wargaming Blog Land War in Asia

Please allow my answer to ramble a bit as I give the why of my answer.

Despite what we show on the game table battlefields are noisy, dangerous and quite empty in spots. The fierce firefight on our table is surrounded by acres of "quiet space". Even on a company front with the full spectrum of booms and shooty things there are those spots where many people have stopped, looked around, and gone, "where is everybody?" I have experienced this several times on an airsoft field and active duty. I have heard veterans of several generations speak of this same effect, and read a memoir from World War One where the author was leading a trench raid and writes of this same phenomena. Even Kipling writes of this in his poetry advising the young soldier to wait because a quiet pause dosent mean the battle is lost.

So to answer your question with my opinion. That team is still dropping the round and it goes down range. It just lands somewhere where they ain't. Just another boom on the battlefield that if noticed at all the intended target goes, "Man they are shooting at someone else."

Hope this helps.

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I agree exactly!

I'd say this effect is covered by the Fog of War cards that introduce random mortar rounds hitting random units. Why add another rule? Keep it simple!

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My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
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Crap. I completely forgot about that Fog Card.

Thanks all for the advice & suggestions.

When I first read the artillery rules, I was like "and how does it scatter?", but then I remembered my active time (short as it was). And how precise artillery was said to be since WW1. My second thought was: "What is the benefit for the game to have scatter rules?" It gives you more roles, templates and arbitrary mayhem. I guess, I won't miss scattering booms on my FoF table.

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"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." –- Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

We had the same question yesterday and came to the same conclusion. The round is not fired, or lands off table. The FOG card "Incoming" is what helped us get your head around the no scatter idea.

In fact the FOG cards help alot with other non-rules. For example, other rules have blunders if you roll badly, we have General Confusion and other cards that play in if you roll badly along with good results too. I like the way FOG cards handle some of these odd rules that would/could otherwise be long bits of the rules that you wouldn't use or remember very often. Thanks

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Larry

The house rule we use is:

Select a point for the artillery attack then roll a random direction dice. For regulars roll a D6˝ drift, for irregulars roll 3D6˝ drift. A regular forward observer may roll two dice and select the lower of the two for the drift.

K

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JDAM2000

Visit the Brisbane Independent Gamers (BIG) Campaign FOF Blog at: BIG FOF Campaign Blog.

According to the rules as I read them and understand them (page 107-108 main rules) If the spotter fails his TQ check No round is fired .
His request never got thru so why would anyone drop a round Blind and with out being asked ?
The oringinal question states the Tube and crew have No LOS to the target.
In FOF The spotter must have LOS to the target and must make a request to the apropriate asset with the correct co ordinates and target info(TQ check). If he fails its becouse the radio cant reach the Tubes FDC or hes on the wrong Push or the tube is late setting up or a host of other reasons but basicaly no round or rounds are fired so no need to include a scatter table. Remember Troop quality Die it assumes that the soldier knows his job well enough to account for whether he gets the job done or not.....mikey

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"All Men for the rights of Every man, every man for the rights of all Men"

As someone who has never fired a mortar, or been there when someone else has... is there any scatter? Wind, weather, shape of round.. whatever? I mean, if you aim a tube, and fire three rounds from that same tube, will they all land in exactly the same spot?

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Well, first you need to fire it to "set the ground" and they do seem to move a bit each time you fire them. Mortars may get a further bit of scatter I suppose.

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JDAM2000

Visit the Brisbane Independent Gamers (BIG) Campaign FOF Blog at: BIG FOF Campaign Blog.

We don't do scatter.

We assume that an unsuccessful salvo doesn't do harm to enemy units (or it would have been a successful salvo). Danger Close covers the potential to hit friendly units. Additionally, Fog of War cards add the possibility of stray salvos striking indiscriminately.

Unsuccessful salvos are assumed to have fallen somewhere on the battlefield where they did no harm, or struck where they intended without significant effect, etc.

This approach will seem odd to some folks, but it's all part of our outcome based design philosophy.

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Game Designer, Ambush Alley Games

"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."