shooting support

[shielwall069]

Hi, When shooting, if the archer does not have an eligible target, can he/she shoot in support of a target while respecting the conditions necessary for shooting. This gives a malus of -1 or is regulated otherwise. I do not find precisely this factor to be taken into account in the resolution of the shots. Thank you for your help. Bernard

[Rod]

No, I think you are referring to something like an overlap shot in DBA for example. However, from your question it sounds like you are referencing two archers having only one target for example?

An archer has to have an eligible target to shoot, all shots are made by individual stands. The effect is immediate and then you call and take your next shot. So for example if two archers have only one eligible target, one of them can shoot and if the target is still there and in range, the other archer can shoot. There is no memory from shot to shot.

So if the stand gets pushed back but is still in range, you can shoot them again, if they are killed then your second archer has no target.

[shielwall069]

Thank you for your answer, this is what we did during the game when we read the rule. For the sake of understanding I wanted to ask the question in order to validate the shooting process.

[Rod]

What you will find is mathematically it does not really impact the odds (more shots vs. overlap) in the overall big picture.

What it does do is really impact how you deploy stands of archers and also their interaction with infantry formations. We just played a GT battle of Marathon, and the archer from the Persians was key to breaking up the heavy infantry as they closed. This sort of effect is not really what happens in the overlap situation where 3 archers are going for one possible kill vs. 3 archers going for maximum disruption and maybe a kill.

The difference is really noticeable in larger battles with a lot of archery.

[David Kuijt]

Just to make sure everyone reading is clear -- the "supporting" concept for shooting is from various legacy games, and is not the way shooting works in Triumph.