Loss to Machine gun Crew

[MarkSieber]

Does a machine gun lose effectiveness as it loses crew?

Thanks,

Mark S.

[Westfalia Chris]

Not for modern machineguns (e.g. Vickers .303, MG08 and newer)- as per the basic rules, the number of crew is more of an aesthetic convention (and, if based together, serves to make placement of a heavy weapon a bit trickier than with small arms).

Artillery pieces (see main rulebook) and "first generation" machine guns (see the colonial supplement) benefit from having larger crews, the first losing rate of fire as you lose gun crew, the latter as you get a re-roll due to more men servicing the gun, preparing ammo etc, which reduces the risk of jamming.

That said, you could easily implement a rule to cover the necessity of larger crews. For example, a single gunner would find it difficult to clear a jam with only two hands, so reloading/unjamming would not only take a turn, but also requiring a score check.