Switching Weapons Rule Question (sect. 5.2.1)

[religon]

I wished to post in order to make clear how players switch weapons between shooting and close fighting weapons.

Section 5.2.1 states that "[a] figure may switch freely between its weapons." No conditions at all.

The example that follows illustrates Lord Curr, armed with a rifle, bullwhip and pistol. "He can Shoot with the hunting rifle in one phase, then in the next phase, he can move into contact with an enemy  figure, Shooting with the pistol and Fighting with the bullwhip."

As Movement precedes Shooting, I presume this should be read that "He can Shoot with the hunting rifle in one TURN, then in the next TURN..."

I infer that switching weapon may be done freely in both the Shooting Phase and the Fighting Phase.

Section 3.3.4 "Shooting While in a Fight" is clearly part of the Shooting Chapter 3. The example illustrates Cpt. Napier armed with a sword and a pistol. If it works like the example in Section 5.2.1, presumably Cpt. Napier could follow his Webly pistol Shooting attack with a FIghting attack with the sword in the Fighting phase.

If the figures armament in the Shooting phase is completely independent from the Fighting phase, it leads to some odd situations...

1) A figure armed with a military rifle and halberd could not shoot while in base contact with an enemy due to the prohibition in section 3.3.4 limiting such actions to 1-handed weapons. He could use the halberd in the Fighting Phase by simply switching from the military rifle.

2) A figure armed with a pistol and halberd in base contact with an enemy could shoot with the pistol in the Shooting Phase. In the Fighting Phase, he could switch to the halberd and make a Fighting Attack.

3) A figure armed only with a pistol could use it to make a Shooting attack in the Shooting Phase and use it as a small improvised weapon (pistol butt) in the Fighting Phase.

4) A figure armed only with a pistol could use it to make a Shooting attack in the Shooting Phase and holster it to perform and unarmed attack (basic or as a martial artist) in the Fighting Phase.

5) A figure armed with a grenade and a club could throw the grenade, hopefully up to 3" away, in the Shooting Phase and use the club in the FIghting Phase.

6) A figure armed with a pistol and hunting rifle in base contact with an enemy could shoot with the pistol in the Shooting Phase. In the FIghting Phase, he could switch to the hunting rifle as a large improvised weapon and make a Fighting Attack.

7) A figure with the Gunslinger Talent armed with dual pistols could make two shooting attacks during the Shooting Phase and then switch to an axe in the Fighting Phase.

It strikes me that perhaps a slight change to Section 5.2.1 to read that "[a] figure may switch freely between its weapons during the Movement Phase and/or the Shooting Phase but not the Fighting Phase" would prevent some of the odd utilization of two-handed weapons and 1-handed firearms that the RAW seem to allow.

Are others already interpreting the rules of Section 5.2.1 with my alteration? If so, only examples 3, 4 and 5 would be allowed.

How are people playing this?

Thanks,
Robert

[Craig]

Hi Robert,

An interesting and complex set of questions there. I have reread the section and the Fighting  and Shooting phases while checking our original notes.

The example, though technically accurate, fails to clearly say that these phases are in two different turns, which is where some of the confusion comes from. Our apologies for that, we went through quite a few iterations of the rules during play-testing and in a few cases the examples suffered as a result.

The initial purpose of this section was to prevent machine gun crews, especially the loader, also using their rifles in the same shooting phase. We did write a number of versions of rules for handling weapons before returning, as we always tried to, to our golden rule: KISS (keep it short & simple).

The simple rule is that if your figure has a weapon it can use it in the appropriate phase without having to go through some complicated rigmarole to change weapons. This keeps combat fluid and relatively uncomplicated.

Thanks for your question and thus giving us the opportunity to make is clear for yourself and others who many have been wondering about this 

[copeab]

I think part of the issue may be the undefined distance and time scales in the game. Initially this was a problem for me, but once I worked out that 1" was 5-6' with 28mm figures, I felt much better and didn't pay much attention to the length of a turn.

Without me going into the math, while a turn could be as short as 2 seconds, but 4-5 is probably closer. So, I don't think being able to freely switch weapons is a problem, but, as the OP notes, certain specific switches might be head-scratchers, if you think too hard about them

[religon]

Thanks for the feedback.

Reading Craig and copeab's responses, it appears folks are playing RAW...allowing for all 7 cases I offered while in base contact with an enemy.

As the rules differ from many similar games, authorial intent is great to have. Thanks.