Congo - question about Terror actions

[Zopenco]

I have just read the rules and I'd like to verify if I have understood Terror actions well.

A shooting action requires a shooter and a target. The shooter needs a ranged weapon, the target must be in range and in sight.

Whereas a terror action only requires a target. This target can be any enemy unit anywhere on the table. Range and visibility don't apply.

Is that so? 

[pauld]

I asked the same question and fred answered

you do not need line of sight to inflict terror

or range, so anywhere on the table top

[Hobbyone]

Yes😎, that's it !
Fred

[Zopenco]

Thank you for your answers

I'm afraid I am having some problems when trying to imagine the sort of "real" attack that the game portrays as a Terror action

[Dr Mathias]

I'm afraid I am having some problems when trying to imagine the sort of "real" attack that the game portrays as a Terror action

War cries like 'Niam! Niam!' which meant 'Meat! Meat!' (allegedly the war cry of cannibals) were ways of inspiring fear without being able to see the enemy. I think the book specifies that things like drums could inspire terror.

[WillieB]

War cries like 'Niam! Niam!' which meant 'Meat! Meat!' (allegedly the war cry of cannibals) were ways of inspiring fear without being able to see the enemy. I think the book specifies that things like drums could inspire terror.

Nyam- Nyam was actually the nickname of the Azande people in Belgian Congo and what is nowadays the CAF  And yes, it meant that they had a big appetite and didn't mind  to eat their opponents.

[gorillacrab]

The effects of the jungle environment are deeply rooted into the Congo rules. This is in physical terms (random possibilities of bumping into nasty warthogs and all kinds of things) but also in psychological terms. This is the nasty steamy "pulp" terrain you'd find in Heart of Darkness (or the more modern version of the patrol boat in Apocalypse Now).
It's a frightening place where strange sounds and shadows raise strange effectiveness-reducing fears.
Some of those fears are very nicely handled by the Terror attacks, which can freak out a unit that has nobody around them simply because they are in a dangerous place.
Getting to the OP, the generally well-done rules didn't do a great job of explaining this concept - especially since it is so unusual. As gamers, we are accustomed to combat actions that have an attacker and a target - so having an action that only has a target did seem foreign, although in game play it works very well. You spot an enemy unit that is bogged down with 2-3 Stress Tokens, it makes sense to pick on them both in terms of tactics and theme. It's the Stress-bogged unit that would be most likely to be spooked by something real or imagined in the jungle.
So it's a worthy mechanic but one that should have been better explained.

[coggon]

Thanks for all the clarifications-most of my questions have been answered except for one-who exactly can launch a terror attack?

[Hobbyone]

This is not launched by a group or a character. This is the player who decided to test an opposing group.

[gorillacrab]

Echoing what Hobby One replied, you don't need a Witchdoctor, leader or anything on the table to launch the attack. As the player yourself, you use a Black drum icon (which can also be used to make Rally attempts on your own units with Stress Tokens) and declare a Terror Attack on any enemy unit on the table. Period.
The Terror Attack, if unsaved, forces your opponent to draw Stress Tokens for the unit attacked. Normally he is saving for one token - but if the selected unit already has the Mask Stress Token(s), that will add an additional new Stress Token(s).
For example: you play an Action card with a black drum icon (red drums can ONLY be used to remove stress). Using that card you declare a Stress Attack on an enemy unit that already has 2 Stress tokens - 1 for Melee (knife) and 1 for Stress (Mask).
The single Stress Attack could inflict up to 2 new tokens on the unit; one for the standard attack and one bonus for the existing Mask Token.
The attacked unit rolls a Unit Bravery save dice for each of those 2 tokens - it will also roll the Bravery dice of an attached character, if it has one.
In our case, the unit has an Explorer attached - rolls the 3 dice - and gets a single success.
One Terror Attack is saved, but the unit gets one new Stress Token for the bag for failing the second save.
Hope this helps.
- GC

[Zombie Master]

In our second game the retired officer was running from the wicked Zanzibari. He was holding the mission objective but having had the unit he was with destroyed was struggling on with 3 stress tokens.

The wicked Zanzibari pursuing him decided to call chants, rustle foliage from the cover of the forest forcing the explorer to make a stress check. They were all around him! He failed the roll and collapsed to the ground (a fourth stress token and a single figure unit) and the game was lost.

For me this mechanism reflects the explorer exhausting his reserves of energy and succumbing to the wilderness.

The wicked Zanzibair walk up to the prostrate explorer and slips the crown from his strengthless fingers, looks at him without pity, turns and strides into the jungle.

A

[Hobbyone]

This is a great end to an adventure ... ;-)

[coggon]

For example: you play an Action card with a black drum icon (red drums can ONLY be used to remove stress). Using that card you declare a Stress Attack on an enemy unit that already has 2 Stress tokens - 1 for Melee (knife) and 1 for Stress (Mask).
The single Stress Attack could inflict up to 2 new tokens on the unit; one for the standard attack and one bonus for the existing Mask Token.

So the "attacker" doesn't have to roll to "hit", but gets one automatic "hit" from the attack, plus one automatic "hit" for every Mask token the defending unit has?

[gorillacrab]

So the "attacker" doesn't have to roll to "hit", but gets one automatic "hit" from the attack, plus one automatic "hit" for every Mask token the defending unit has?

That is correct - just remember that in this case each unsaved hit causes a new Stress Token to be drawn from the bag, but does not inflict a kill on a warrior. Also remember that if you draw a numbered event token from the same bag (event tokens are used in several scenarios) you should redraw and pull an actual Stress Token.