Ambush Fire & Reserve Moves, Limber/Embark, & re-rolls for reserves

Hi Everyone,

Had a game over the weekend and now have questions about some rules.

The first is about Ambush Fire and Reserve Move orders. My opponent moved a Sherman behind a bunch of wrecked Stuarts to hide from my 88. On my turn in anticipation of him moving from behind the wrecks I placed my 88 on Ambush Fire. On his turn he instead placed the Sherman on Reserve Move. On my next turn, after I’ve issued several orders but not all, he activates his reserve move. At this point several questions came up;

i) Even though it is my turn and not my opponents, can I use Ambush Fire to interrupt his Reserve Move and take shots?
We both felt we’d read something that said this was normal, so went with yes, but couldn’t actually find a rule.
ii) Since I still had orders left, could I now issue another order to my 88, either another Ambush Fire or Open Fire, etc. I felt yes, since it hadn’t been given an order yet and I had orders to spare. He felt no, as it would be two actions in one turn. Unable to resolve the issue we defaulted to no. Obviously he should have waited until the end of my turn, but we were curious how this would play out the way he did it.

The second set of questions involves Embark/Disembark & Limber/Unlimber. If a transport/tow can disembark a unit (In this case a PaK40), which can then be given an order, can the process be done in reverse?

i) Could a unit be given an order and then a transport/tow Embark/Limber the unit?

ii) If so, in the case of an Open Fire order would the gun/squad suffer a –1 to hit penalty for movement even though the transport hasn’t been given an order yet (Hypothetically the decision to Embark/Limber may not be taken if enemy units are pinned/destroyed by the gun)?

Lastly, under the Senior Officer special rule, when re-rolling for reserves “you may re-roll this dice”. When rolling multiple dice for reserves, do you re-roll just one dice or all of them?

Thanks for the help

Your opponent was right.  You cannot use an ambush order in your own turn then claim as it's your turn anyway, give the same unit another order!  

Although there is no hard and fast wording in the book to prevent it, if I was GM I would not allow you to interrupt his move in your turn as by trying to use an ambush order in your own turn you are effectively changing the order already issued to that unit IMHO.

Right about limbering/embarking: the order applies to the transport unit, not the passengers so if you intend to give them a ride immediately after shooting, they will (or should!) count as moving or will this turn

Senior Officer
Ranking higher than the other officers,
this is a more senior commander.He counts as an officer, so adds 1 to the Orders dice, but in addition he
may, once per game, re-roll one of the Orders dice.

If a unit with the senior officer special rule is on the tabletop when you are rolling for the number of units to arrive from reserve (as detailed in the scenario), then you may re-roll this dice, because the senior commander will be making it his highest priority to get his following units into position around him.

In the Facebook group, Warwick and Piers both state that you can use Ambush Fire on a Reserve Move. So yes you can use it.

ColonelBob wrote:In the Facebook group, Warwick and Piers both state that you can use Ambush Fire on a Reserve Move. So yes you can use it.

I remember the same but the ambush fire had to have been issued in a previous turn not the current one.

Fire at Will, yes I remembered it also like that. But in the discussion on Facebook, Warwick and Piers say that it does not matter when you ordered the Ambush Fire.

Yes... once the order is spent, you can use the Ambush Fire.

Why would a unit wait? For us the unit is ready.


A gun that has unlimbered counts as having moved for firing.

Thanks for the replies. Still need a wee bit of clarification though.

For the gun and tow...what about the reverse, can a gun be given an order (in all likelihood Open Fire) and then be limbered by a tow? I don't see why not, but my friend...well...he objects to my fighting withdrawal tactic.

If I am allowed to fire & limber, do I use the -1 penalty for moving even if I end up deciding not to limber the gun (Hopefully the gun destroys whatever was threatening it). I'd consider it fair to say yes, as the plan had been to limber so the crew were probably making preparations to do so and then aborted, but do the game mechanics say so?

We're also not clear on the Senior Officer Reserves re-roll, if he is rolling 3D6 for reserves, does he re-roll 1D6 or 3D6 or can he choose how many of the 3 dice to re-roll.

Yes the gun can be given an Open Fire order and then limber if within 4" of the tow, as the limber order is on the tow and not on the gun. But the gun is considered moving, I think (looking at Piers answer from above).
As to the Senior officer, he can reroll 1D6 once per game, as stated by Stuart above.

I'm not referring to the orders dice which is clearly stated as "1D6" & "once per game". It's the reserves re-roll we're not clear on. The wording of the rule seems to be based on the idea you are only rolling 1D6 for reserves to begin with as for Squad and Platoon games. But what about Company and Battalion games with 2D6 & 3D6? If you roll a 6, 2, & 1 do you just re-roll the "1" OR can you choose to re-roll the "1" and the "2" but keep the "6" OR are you required to re-roll all 3 dice?

It's rerolling all of the dice.

As far as I know, you rerroll only 1 dice for reserves. Be it a platoon or company level game is the same. Only 1 dice is allowed to rerroll.

All the other questions have been answered. But I will recommend to all to read the special article written by the authors on Dispatches 2 on "Ambush & Reserve move.




Regards,

Diego

It is all the dice as I answered before. Just like the spotter+ rule. If it is just 1 die then the reward out risks the penelty and would always be worth doing knowing it's a better out come.

Eg. Company battle and roll 2d6 and you roll a 1 and any other number it would always be a reward to reroll the 1. But if you have to re-roll both dice and let's say you had a 1 & 6. Then there is a risk that you might be getting less as well as getting more.

If you roll 3d6, &4d6, the chances of rolling a 1 increase and so rerolling 1 die gives a possible bigger reward and would always be worth doing as soon as it happens.

But it all comes down to your groups call. You can have it be whatever you want it to be. It's a fluid game.

As you said Nino. Do whatever you wish to do in your group.
I ´m (as official administrator of this forum) only trying to give the official version of the rules as the authors wrote them.