NEW FIREFIGHT ERRATA
by
Alan R. Arvold
The following errata was compiled by
myself and sent to SPI for
consideration back in the late 1970's.
It was never published.
Here it is now for all to see. It
should be noted that this
errata is also adaptable to the TSR
version of FIREFIGHT as that
game is nothing more than a reprint of
the original.
Firefight I
[5.0] Observation
[5.12] (Addition)
If the Line of Sight passes exactly
through the length of a
hexside in between a blocking terrain
hex and a clear terrain
hex, the Line of Sight is blocked. The
same is true if the Line
of Sight passes exactly through the
intersections of hexsides
adjacent to blocking terrain hexes and
hexsides adjacent to clear
terrain hexes.
[5.21] (Clarification)
It does not matter how or at what
angle the Line of Sight crosses
the defilade hexside, it is still
blocked if it passes through
the defilade position immediately
behind the hexside. Nor does it
matter whether the sighting unit is
uphill or downhill from the
defilade position, the Line of Sight
is still blocked. In the
case of the two-sided defilade
position on both sides of the same
defilade hexside a unit in one of the
defilade positions may see
through the adjacent defilade
position. This is the only case
where a unit's Line of Sight is not
blocked by the defilade
hexside/defilade position combination.
As noted above in defilade
example D, the Line of Sight is
blocked if it passes exactly
through the length of a defilade
hexside. In the case where the
Line of Sight passes exactly through
the intersection of a
defilade hexside and a non-defilade
hexside, it is considered to
have passed through the defilade
hexside. In any case a unit in a
defilade position that can see out
from it can also be seen by
enemy units that it sights.
[6.0] Fire
[6.33] (Addition)
If two or more friendly units fire at
an enemy unit and their
Line of Sights/Line of Fires enter the
enemy unit's hex through
non adjacent hexsides, then the
friendly attacking units may each
add one the their respective attack
effectiveness ratings. This
may occur at any range except those
ranges where the unit's
attack effectiveness rating is zero.
This is known as flanking
fire. It may be applied against both
vehicle and personnel type
targets. It may be used by all direct
fire units. If all of the
Line of Sights/Line of Fires of the
atttacking units enter the
target unit's hex through the same hexside
or adjacent hexsides,
then this rule does not apply.
[6.6] Vehicular Machine Guns
(Addition)
[6.61] All tanks and assault guns have
a machine gun mounted on
top of the turret or vehicle. The
machine gun may be fired during
the same turn as the main gun. It may
be fired at the same target
as the main gun or it may be fired at
a completely different
target. All vehicles except the US
tanks use the MG+ line on
their respective attack effectiveness
rating charts. US tanks use
the MG+ M113 line on the attack
effectiveness rating chart. All
tanks and assault guns are considered
to be unbuttoned when the
machine gun is fired. (Exception: US
tanks of the M60 series are
considered to be buttoned up when
firing their turret mounted
machine guns. This is because the
machine gun is mounted in an
armored commanders coupola.)
[6.62] The M150 and M113Z both have a
.50 Cal Machine Gun mounted
on the vehicle. Both of these vehicles
use the MG+ line on the
attack effectiveness rating chart when
firing at Soviet
personnel. The BRDM has a 7.62mm
machine gun which is kept inside
the vehicle when the Saggers are being
fired. This vehicle uses
the MG+ line on the attack
effectiveness rating chart when firing
at US personnel. None of these
vehicles may fire their machine
guns on the same turn that they fire a
missile. (Exception:
Overruns Section 28.0)
[6.9] (Clarifications)
There are ten RPG-7's in a motorized
rifle company (one per squad
including the headquarters squad).
There are three RPG-7's in the
anti-tank platoon (one in each Sagger
team and one in one of the
fireteams). The Sagger team may not
fire the RPG-7 in the same
game turn it fires a Sagger missile.
(Exception: Overruns Section
28.0)
[6.10] (Addition) Anti-Personnel Fire
from Special Teams and the
SVD Sniper
[6.101] The Sagger teams and the SP-9
teams may employ anti-
personnel fire against US personnel by
using the TM line in the
attack effectiveness rating chart.
However since the teams are
half the size of the regular fireteam,
four is subtracted from
the attack effectiveness ratings at
all ranges. These teams may
not employ anti-personnel fire the
same turn in which the fire
their anti-tank weapons. (Exception:
Overruns Section 28.0)
[6.102] The Soviet player may
designate one TM or TM+ per platoon
as having an SVD rifle armed sniper in
it. The unit so designated
has its anti-personnel attack
effectiveness rating increased by
one at all ranges (except at those
ranges where the rating is
zero). The SVD sniper may not be
exchanged between the different
fire teams and suffers the same combat
result as the fire team
that it is in.
[7.0] Movement
[7.6] (Addition) Battlespeed Movement
In reality speed is broken down so
that movement through on clear
terrain hex equals about 3 mph. This
means that the average speed
of all the vehicles is 9 mph in clear
terrain, 18 mph on the
road, and 1 1/2 mph in the woods.
These speeds are the average
cruising speeds when a vehicle is not
engaged in combat. But when
a vehicle is attacking a known enemy
position or has been fired
upon, it will naturally increase its
speed in order to reduce its
exposure to enemy fire. Therefore
whenever a vehicle receives
fire from any enemy unit, spots an
enemy unit, or is hit by
artillery fire it may increase its
movement allowance starting on
the next movement phase.
[7.61] Tracked vehicles may increase
their movement allowance to
5 movement points and wheeled vehicles
may increase theirs to 6
movement points. Vehicle units may
maintain this increased speed
until they are either destroyed, the
enemy unit(s) firing at them
are destroyed, the enemy units can no
longer be spotted, or they
move out of the area effected by
indirect fire. Whenever one of
the above conditions occur, vehicles
will return to using their
normal movement allowance of 3
movement points each starting on
the next movement phase. Vehicles may
use the road movement rate
when using battlespeed while moving
along roads.
[7.62] Personnel units may also use
battlespeed movement. If one
of the above mentioned preconditions
occur, a personnel unit may
increase its movement allowance to 2
movement points starting on
the next movement phase. A personnel
unit may not use the road
movement rate when moving along a road
at battlespeed. When the
preconditions cease to exist a
personnel unit resumes normal
movement starting on the next movement
phase.
Firefight II
[12.0] Dummies
(Addition) The number of dummies in a player's
force should not
exceed 1/3 of his total units. When
moving dummies a player has a
choice of which ones he moves as
vehicle units and which ones he
moves as personnel units. A player may
even switch the movement
rates of his dummies from turn to turn
in order to confuse his
opponent.
[14.0] Smoke
[14.2] (Addition) Smoke from Vehicles
Vehicles may make smoke in three
different ways. 1. Tanks and
assault gun/tank destroyer carry smoke
rounds for their main
guns. 2. Certain vehicles have smoke
generators on them. 3. All
vehicles have smoke grenades either
mounted on them or carried by
the crew. In each of these ways smoke
may be fired either during
the fire phase or the movement phase.
The smoke takes effect the
instant it hits the target hex and
lasts until the beginning to
the same phase of the next turn as the
phase in which it was
fired. Vehicle smoke follows the same
rules as regular smoke
except as noted below.
[14.21] Tanks and assault guns/tank
destroyers have smoke rounds
which they may fire in place of their
regular rounds. The target
hex must be spotted by the vehicle
firing the smoke. There are no
range limitations nor is the die
rolled to see if the round hits
the hex. A smoke marker is placed in the
target hex and the six
adjacent hexes. A vehicle which fires
a smoke round may not fire
at vehicle or personnel targets with
its main gun during the same
turn. (Exception: Overrun Section
28.0) Smoke rounds may be fired
during the fire phase as normal fire
or during the movement phase
as overwatch and opportunity fire.
[14.22] Certain vehicles (in Firefight
II this is all Soviet
tanks and BMP's) have the ability to
produce a smoke screen while
on the move. The smoke screen (which
comes from smoke generators)
extends behind the vehicle along the
path it traveled during the
movement phase. This smoke screen may
only be laid during the
movement phase and only be moving
vehicles. When vehicles lay a
smoke screen, a smoke marker is placed
on every hex which the
vehicle moved out of during the phase
it moved. A smoke marker is
not put on the hex in which the
vehicle ended its movement in.
There are no partial smoke screen
produced during movement. The
smoke screen may be produced at any
speed which the vehicle
moves, even battlespeed. Vehicles
which are producing smoke on
the move may perform all other normal
functions during the same
movement phase. Smoke produced in this
manner only effects the
hex the marker is in.
[14.23] Vehicles sometimes have smoke
grenade launchers or have
smoke grenades which are carried by
the crew. These can provide
quick concealment for the vehicle.
Every vehicle has this
capability. A vehicle may fire these
smoke grenades during the
fire phase or the movement phase. A
smoke grenade may be fired
into the hex that the vehicle is in or
into a hex that it moved
through during the movement
phase. Firing the smoke grenade does
not prevent the vehicle from
performing any other normal
functions in the same turn or even in
the same phase. During the
movement phase the smoke grenades may
be fired into the hex that
the vehicle finished its move in or
into any hex that it moved
through during that phase. The smoke
marker only effects the hex
that it is on. A vehicle may only use
this capability once per
scenario.
[14.24] Vehicles that have more then
one of these capabilities
may only use one of them in the course
of a turn.
[14.3] (Addition) Smoke from Personnel
Units
Personnel units carry smoke grenades
for quick concealment.
Personnel units use the same procedure
as vehicle crews for using
smoke grenades. However personnel
units may place smoke markers
in adjacent hexes as well as hexes
they occupy. Personnel units
may only use these smoke grenades once
per scenario.
[14.4] (Addition) Smoke Grenades
Smoke Grenades which the vehicle crews
and the personnel units
possess may by used at any time during
the fire phase or movement
phase. The markers may be placed
before or after a unit fires or
moves. Smoke grenades may not be used
by a suppressed unit.
[15.0] Overwatch Fire
[15.2] (Addition)
Everytime a wire guided missile is
fired (Sagger, TOW, or Dragon)
any enemy unit may fire at the firing
missile unit, using the
overwatch fire method. They may do
this anytime between the
instant the player announces that he
is firing the missile and
the instant he rolls the dice to
resolve the attack. The
overwatching units must use gun or
rocket (LAW, RPG-7) systems.
If the overwatch fire result is a kill
of any kind, the result is
applied immediately and the missile is
presumed to have missed.
If the result is suppression the
result is applied immediately
and the missile attack has three
subtracted from its attack
effectiveness rating. Missile units
which are vehicles are not
effected by a suppression result. If
all overwatch fire misses
the missile unit, the missile attack
is resolved at its full
attack effectiveness rating.
[16.0] Mounted Combat
[16.11] (Addition)
A Soviet fireteam may alternately fire
from open hatches. On the
turn in which it fires, the team is
considered to be exposed just
as though it was dismounted. When
firing from this configuration
the range is not effected but the
attack effectiveness rating of
the fireteam is reduced by one at all
ranges.
[16.12] (Addition)
The RPG-7 may not be fired while the
fireteam is inside the
vehicle. However if the fireteam is
firing from open hatches the
RPG-7 may be fired. Neither the range
nor the attack
effectiveness rating is effected.
[16.2] (Addition)
The M113 may not move during the same
turn that the fireteam
executes mounted fire but it may fire
its .50 cal machine gun.
[16.21] (Addition)
The LAW and the Dragon may be fired in
mounted combat from open
hatches. Neither the range nor the
attack effectiveness rating is
effected.
[16.3] (Addition) Effects of
Suppression
When a vehicle is suppressed while the
fireteam is performing
mounted fire from open hatches, both
the vehicle and the fireteam
suffer suppression. If the fireteam
suffers suppression from an
attack upon itself, both the vehicle
and the fireteam are
suppressed. Remember that a suppressed
fireteam that is
suppressed again is destroyed but the
vehicle remains suppressed.
[16.4] (Addition)
Some M113's now have a Dragon platform
mounted on the coupola of
the vehicle. Therefore a fire team
need not be up in open hatches
in order to fire the Dragon. However
the Dragon platform follows
the rules as the Sagger mount on the
BMP.
[17.0] Short Halt Attack/Fire on the
Move
General Rule (Correction)
The US M60A1, M113, M113Z, and M150
may both move and fire with
their machine guns during the movement
phase. All Soviet tanks,
assault guns/tank destroyer and BMPs
may both fire and move
during the movement phase. In both of
these cases the Short Halt
technique is being used. The US M60A2
and M60A3 (both with
stabilized fire control) may fire and
move all weapons without
halting. Fireteams performing mounted
fire from an APC may do so
while the vehicle is performing the
Short Halt technique. Finally
dismounted personnel units may perform
fire on the move.
Procedure (Addition)
The M60A2 follows the same rules as
the M60A3 when executing fire
on the move.
[17.12] (Addition)
The M60A2 is also reduced by one at
all ranges.
[17.13] (Addition)
No missiles or rockets may be fired
when using either the short
halt technique or fire on the move.
All APCs may fire their
machine guns using the short halt
technique. The BMP may fire its
main gun using the short halt
technique. When personnel on an APC
execute mounted fire while the vehicle
is moving, the short halt
technique is used. In all above cases
two points is subtracted
from the attack effectiveness rating
at all ranges. At the owning
players option, APC machine guns may
be fired and/or mounted
personnel may execute mounted fire,
both using fire on the move.
However three points are subtracted
from the attack effectiveness
ratings at all ranges. In all cases
these subtracted points are
in addition to other subtracted points
for other reasons.
[17.14] (Addition)
All vehicles using battlespeed have
one additional point
subtracted from the attack
effectiveness ratings at all ranges
for both the short halt technique and
for fire on the move.
[17.2] (Addition) Infantry Fire on the
Move
Infantry units may fire on the move
while dismounted. To do so
the personnel unit may move one hex
and execute anti-personnel
fire during the movement phase. The
attack effectiveness rating
of the firing personnel unit is
reduced by three at all ranges. A
personnel unit may not fire anti-tank
weapons when firing on
the move. (Exception: Overrun) A
personnel unit may execute an
overrun in the same movement phase
that it uses fire on the move.
A personnel unit may fire anti-tank
weapons when firing on the
move providing that they are firing at
the vehicle which they are
also overrunning during the same
movement phase. In this case the
fire is considered to have come from
the hex which the personnel
unit started it movement when
determining range.
[18.0] Mines
General Rule: (Addition)
Minefields may be hidden from view.
Just record the hex number
and the number of mine points in the
hex for each mined hex. When
a unit moves into the hex where a
hidden minefield is, the owner
of the minefield informs the opponent
that his unit is in it,
conducts the minefield attack against
the unit in the hex, then
places a minefield counter of the
appropriate color on the hex.
The minefield counter remains on the
hex for the remainder of the
game. A player may have some, all or
none of his minefields
hidden at the beginning of the game. A
player may not hide a
minefield after the game has started
that was on the board when
the game begun. A minefield may be
placed in any type of terrain
hex. Friendly units may start the game
in a mined hex. They are
not effected by the minefield until
they move out of the hex and
only if the minefield strength is 6
points or more. If the
minefield strength is 5 points or less
then they may move out of
the hex with no attacks from the
minefield.
[18.1] (Addition) Dummy Minefields
Both players may use dummy minefields.
These are minefield
counters on a hex that have no
minefield strength points assigned
to them. Dummy minefields may not be
hidden, When an enemy unit
moves on the minefield, the owning
player must tell him that it
is a dummy minefield at which point
the counter is removed from
the board.
[18.2] (Addition) Blocks
Both players may use blocking
counters. Blocks consist of barb
wire, anit-tank ditches, fallen trees,
or anything else to impede
movement to both vehicle and personnel
units. Blocks may be
placed in any type of terrain hex on
the board at the beginning
of the game. After they are implaced
they may not be moved nor
removed. Blocks effect the units of
both sides. Blocks function
as follows: any unit that moves on a
hex with a block counter in
it must come to a halt and stay there
for the remainder of that
turn and the whole next turn. On any
turn there after the unit
may move off of that hex. Blocks
cancel the road movement rate of
any road that they are on. Therefore
if a unit moves along a road
onto a block, when it moves off the
block it enters the next road
hex at the movement rate of the
surrounding terrain, not that of
the road. Blocks may also be mined to
a limited extent. The
maximum number of mine points that may
be assigned to a block is
five. The points come from the total
assigned to the owning
player by the scenario instructions. A
minefield attack is
executed each turn that a unit is on
the mined block. A unit may
fire from a blocked hex. A blocked hex
does not block the Line of
Sight/Line of Fire. Blocks may be
hidden only if they are in a
town or forest hex in which case they
are not spotted until the
enemy unit comes adjacent to them.
Friendly units may set up in a
blocked hex at the beginning of the
game but must except the
movement penalty when leaving the hex.
[18.3] (Addition) Overrun
Units are prohibited from overrunning
enemy units on blocked
hexes. Units may overrun enemy units
in mined hexes but must
suffer a minefield attack before
resolving the overrun.
[18.4] (Addition) Claymore Mine
The Claymore mine is an anti-personnel
device which is used
either as a mine or a booby trap. It
is basically a convex shaped
explosive device with ball bearings
lining the convex face. When
detonated it blasts an expanding cone
of ball bearings in a
predetermined direction. Exposed
troops caught within this cone
are shredded. It can be detonated
either by a unit moving into
the hex it is in or by a friendly unit
with a manual switch. As
with other mines the Claymore is
secretly deployed before the
beginning of the game in any hex and
must be oriented towards a
hexside of that hex. Unlike other
mines, a Claymore may only be
used once. Once it is detonated it may
not be used again for the
rest of the scenario.
[18.41] The Claymore mine may be
detonated by a friendly unit who
has been designated by the owning
player as the one who has the
detonator. The unit must be adjacent
to the mined hex and may not
move until the mine is detonated. The
mine may be detonated
during the direct fire phase or the
movement phase. The friendly
unit may still fire its normal weapons
and even detonate the mine
while in a suppressed state. If the friendly
unit is killed the
mine may not be detonated unless
another friendly unit moves into
the hex of the original unit and stays
there until the mine is
detonated. In this case the mine may
not be detonated by the new
unit until the turn after the unit moved
into the hex.
[18.42] The Claymore mine may be
dotanated by a unit moving into
the same hex as the mine is located
in. When any unit moves into
the mined hex a die is rolled. An odd
number means the mine has
detonated, an even number means that
it did not. When Claymore
mines are set up before the first
turn, only one form of
detonation may be given to each mine.
No mine may have both types
of detonation.
[18.43] A detonated Claymore mine
projects a blast pattern across
the map in accordance with the included
diagram. All personnel
units within the blast pattern are
attacked with an attack rating
corresponding to the hex they are in
according to the blast
pattern. All vehicle units are forced
to button up if they are
caught within the blast pattern. Personnel
inside vehicles are
not effected by the mine but exposed
personnel on vehicles are
effected. The blast pattern does
extend into but not through
woods and town terrain hexes (A
Claymore mine set up in either
hex would effect adjacent woods or
town hexes but would not
effect hexes further away). Normal
defence advantages of the
terrain still apply. Blast patterns
may extend through contour
lines according to the rules of
section 13.11 (If a hex can't be
seen from the hex where the mine is at
it can not be effected by
the mine).
[18.44] As with regular mine, both
friendly and enemy units are
effected by the mine. Both sides may
use Claymore mines. (The US
of course invented the mine and the
Soviets produced a copy based
on models captured in Viet Nam.)
[18.5] (Addition) Mine Rollers and
Mine Clearing Vehicles
Certain vehicles may be designated to
be able to clear a
minefield. For the Soviets these are
T-62s with mine rollers
attached to the vehicle. For the
Americans it is a special
engineer vehicle for which you would
use the the Vehicle X
counters. Both of these vehicles have
a normal movement allowance
of three and may clear a minefield
using the following procedure:
They must start their movement phase
adjacent to the mined hex.
They may not fire their guns during
the movement phase they clear
the hex. During the movement phase
they move through the
minefield and stop on the hex on the
opposite side of the mined
hex to the one which they entered the
mined hex from. The
minefield counter is then removed from
the board at this time. If
the vehicle is killed or immobilized
while on the mined hex then
the minefield has not been cleared and
the counter remains on the
board.
Firefight III
[23.0] Improved Positions
[23.1] (Addition)
Units that are in improved positions
are considered to be hidden
from view until they either fire,
move, or an enemy unit moves
adjacent to the hex the improved
position is in. Therefore units
that in improved positions and the
improved position markers are
not placed on the board until they are
spotted by the enemy
units. Units in improved positions are
considered to be in
defilade even from indirect fire and
from enemy fire from higher
elevations.
[23.2] (Addition)
Improved positions may be placed in
any type of terrain hex. When
the units in improved postions are
kept off the board the hex
number of the hex that the improved
position is in and the unit
number is recorded on a separate piece
of paper. There is no
limit to the number of improved
positions a player may have but
there may only be one improved
position marker per hex. Units in
improved positions do count towards
the stacking limits of a hex.
[23.3] (Addition)
Improved positions which are deployed
at the start of a scenario
remain on the board for the course of
a scenario. If a unit
wishes to go into an empty improved
position it must spend one
turn in the hex without moving or
firing. This one turn begins at
the beginning of a game turn and the
unit is considered to be in
the improved position at the beginning
of the next game turn.
Units may start the game in improved
positions. Up to four empty
improved positions may be set up at
the beginning of the
scenario.
[24.0] Small Arms Fire vs Armored
Vehicles
General Rules (Addition)
The machine gun on the M113, M150, and
the M113Z have a limited
vehicle killing capability. Targets
that are classified as APCs
in terms of vulnerability may be
engaged by these machine guns up
to a range of ten hexes. Take the
attack rating on the
anti-personnel chart on the MG+ line
and use that rating on the
anti-tank combat results table. Any
fire at vehicles by these
machine guns at ranges beyond ten
hexes is treated as regular
anti-personnel fire against the
exposed crew and units.
[25.0] Artillery Delivered Mines
General Rules (Addition)
Artillery delivered minefields may
never be considered to be
hidden. When the mines
"impact" on a hex a mine counter of the
appropriate color is placed on the
hex. Artillery delivered mines
may placed on any type of terrain hex.
[25.1] (Addition)
The Soviets also have an instant
minefield capability. These
mines are dropped from aircraft flying
over the battlefield.
These follow the same rules as artillery
delivered minefields.
[27.0] Future AFV's
[27.21] (Addition)
MICV's may still move at a battlespeed
of five movement points.
[27.31] (Addition)
The XM1 does use battlespeed.
[27.41] (Addition)
The XMBT does use battlespeed.
[27.5] (Addition)
Newer models of the Russian T-62 tank
may also use fire on the
move due to the installation of better
stabilization equipment on
them.
[27.6] (Addition)
The MICV and the XM1 may also produce
a smokescreen while on the
move using the rules of Section 14.22.
[28.0] Overrun
Procedure (Addition)
Both personnel and vehicular units may
make overruns and be
overrun. A vehicle unit may overrun
more than one hex per turn
providing it has the movement points
to do so.
[28.1] (Addition)
However terrain is ignored in the
first overrun firefight in a
hex. In any succeeding overrun
firefights by the same opposing
units both sides recieve the defensive
benefits of the terrain in
the hex (Exception: Defending units
may only benefit from
improved positions). Overruns may occur
in any type of terrain
hex.
[28.5] (Addition)
This also applies to Soviet fireteams
whose RPG-7 has run out of
rockets.
[28.6] (Addition) American Fireteams
All American personnel units may fire
LAWs when overrun by Soviet
vehicles. In the basic game American
personnel units may fire
LAWs an unlimited number of times.
However if the scenario gives
the American player a limited number
of LAWs to divide among his
units then those personnel units who
have no LAWs or have run out
of LAWs may attack Soviet vehicles who
are overrunning them with
an attack rating of two.
[28.7] (Addition) Effects of Stacking
on Overruns
Overrunning units may overrun a hex
even if it exceeds the
stacking limitations of four units per
hex. A hex may be overrun
by more than one unit during a single
turn. However as units are
moved one at a time during a movement
phase there will be only
one overrunning unit in each overrun
attack.
[28.8] (Addition) Effect of
Opportunity Fire on Overruns
Any friendly defending unit except
those being overrun may fire
at attacking overrunning units at the
instant that they move into
the hex to be overrun. These friendly
units must fulfill all the
normal opportunity fire criteria.
Units which have been overrun
may not fire at any time after the
overrun during that movement
phase except in another overrun
situation.
[28.9] (Addition) Effect of Fire on
Overruns
Both sides in an overrun situation
must use the appropriate type
of fire allowed against the target
type of the opposing units. In
situations where the target type
allows more than one type of
fire (Example: An APC with a personnel
unit firing from open
hatches) then the owning player has
the choice of which type of
fire his unit will use. In each round
of overrun combat the
combat results suffered by the both
sides are not applied until
the round is over.