Scenario Contest #9- Hidden Lab

[Jen]

Take a look at Scenario Contest entry #9- The Hidden Lab!

Feedback is open until September 14, so let us know how you liked it!

As with all the other scenarios, we're keeping the names of the authors quiet, so everyone can give honest feedback.

Thanks!
Jen

[sgbeal]

Minor typo in the intro:

"... it while giving still allowing for plausible deniability..."

[sgbeal]

"The 6 real AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the lab, no more than one unit per hex."

does that include the lab's hex or just adjacent hexes?

"The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex of the lab (no more than one unit per hex)"

"the lab" has not been defined. Does that mean one specific building or any given building? If it's one specific building, the first condition in this reply cannot be combined with this second condition if the player chooses MSLs instead of HWZs because he'd have more than 6 units and only 6 hexes (or 7, depending on whether the building hex is allowed for placement).

i admit to be rather confused by the setup constraints. Maybe it's just too early in the morning.

[rjg173]

I believe "the Lab" is beneath the 80 SP strongpoint while the other three buildings serve as decoys.

[Buzzardo]

Originally Posted by sgbeal

"The 6 real AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the lab, no more than one unit per hex."

does that include the lab's hex or just adjacent hexes?

To me, "within" means that the lab's hex is a legal place to put a unit. If they must be in adjacent hexes, the sentence should read, "The 6 AU of artillery must be set up in hexes that are adjacent to the lab. No hex can have more than one unit."

Note that I removed "real." It's just noise the sentence (or two, in my editing) doesn't need.

[GranitePenguin]

Originally Posted by sgbeal

"The 6 real AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the lab, no more than one unit per hex."

does that include the lab's hex or just adjacent hexes?

"The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex of the lab (no more than one unit per hex)"

"the lab" has not been defined. Does that mean one specific building or any given building? If it's one specific building, the first condition in this reply cannot be combined with this second condition if the player chooses MSLs instead of HWZs because he'd have more than 6 units and only 6 hexes (or 7, depending on whether the building hex is allowed for placement).

i admit to be rather confused by the setup constraints. Maybe it's just too early in the morning.

It's not just you. The wording of how to set up is clumsy. Actually trying to set up helps, but that leads to more confusion...

For illustration, let's assume all the artillery is HWZ (both real and dummy), the additional 6AU are HVYs and 18 INF.

The 6 real AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the lab, no more than one unit per hex.

This is pretty straightforward: you end up with 3 HWZ near the real lab.

The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex of the lab (no more than one unit per hex);

This also results in 3 dummy HWZ near the other three buildings. This is the first wording snafu, though. There is only one lab, so it would be better to say:

The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex (no more than one unit per hex);

That way there is no confusion that we are talking about the decoys, and not the actual lab.

this can be all dummy units or some of the additional AU can be used for real artillery to set up next to the building and some dummy units can be placed elsewhere.

This is also pretty easy to understand; the majority of the dummy units go next to the decoy buildings. If we want to, we could swap a couple of our HVYs and make them dummy counters and have one of our dummy HWZ be a real HWZ instead.

The remaining building gets 3 INF set up in it; the remaining AU and INF may be set up in or north of hexes S2- XX05. The defender also gets reinforcements (see below).

This is where it really gets weird. What is "the remaining building?" We've described only two things so far: how to set up the Lab, and where to put the dummy counters (around the decoy buildings). Does this mean you are supposed to put 3 INF in each building, in one building, or what?

I would drop the part about the 3 INF completely and just let people set up however they see fit. It doesn't make sense to isolate one 3 INF out of the eighteen they have when there is no obvious place to put it and it has no bearing on the rest of the scenario. Its use or purpose isn't described anywhere (i.e., it isn't special); just set it up normally with the rest of the units.

The wording about what units to get is a little bumpy as well, especially

The defender gets 6 AU of artillery (MSL, MHWZ and/or HWZ), along with an additional 18 AU of dummy artillery, 6 AU of additional armor and 18 INF.

the dummy artillery is not additional, it's a unique thing.

I also noticed that it's not explicitly stated that the 80SP Strongpoint is The Lab. It's implied, but not required.

So I would change:

The defender gets 4 buildings, 3 20 SP admin buildings and 1 80 SP strongpoint, all set up camouflaged at least 6 hexes apart on map G2S. The defender gets 6 AU of artillery (MSL, MHWZ and/or HWZ), along with an additional 18 AU of dummy artillery, 6 AU of additional armor and 18 INF.

The 6 real AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the lab, no more than one unit per hex. The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex of the lab (no more than one unit per hex); this can be all dummy units or some of the additional AU can be used for real artillery to set up next to the building and some dummy units can be placed elsewhere. The remaining building gets 3 INF set up in it; the remaining AU and INF may be set up in or north of hexes S2- XX05. The defender also gets reinforcements (see below).

To:

The defender gets four buildings: one 80 SP strongpoint (The Lab) and three 20 SP admin buildings (Decoys), all set up camouflaged at least 6 hexes apart on map G2S. The defender gets 6 AU of artillery (MSL, MHWZ and/or HWZ), 18 AU of dummy artillery, 6 AU of additional armor and 18 strength points of INF.

The 6 AU of artillery must be set up within 1 hex of the Lab, no more than one unit per hex. The remaining buildings must also have 6 AU of artillery set up within 1 hex (no more than one unit per hex); this can be all dummy units or some of the additional AU can be used for real artillery to set up next to the building and some dummy units can be placed elsewhere. The INF and remaining AU may be set up in or north of hexes S2- XX05. The defender also gets reinforcements (see below).

[GranitePenguin]

Originally Posted by Jen

Take a look at Scenario Contest entry #9- The Hidden Lab!

This URL goes to the main scenario page, not The Hidden Lab page. It's not hard to find it there, but you might want to edit the post.

[GranitePenguin]

It isn't explicitly stated who moves first. The assumption is the attackers move first after the defense setup.

There are a couple places where AU is mixed AU + INF. For example:

The attack wave consists of 16 AU of armor and infantry

It should probably be noted how many squads make up 1 AU (normal is 3 squads per 1 AU), referenced to the rules or reworded somehow.

[sgbeal]

Originally Posted by GranitePenguin

For illustration, let's assume all the artillery is HWZ (both real and dummy), the additional 6AU are HVYs and 18 INF.
=
This is pretty straightforward: you end up with 3 HWZ near the real lab.

"near" is still not well defined: does "within 1 hex of" include the "of" hex or not? i.e. does it encompass only the 6 adjacent hexes or also the center (the "of" point)?

[GranitePenguin]

Originally Posted by sgbeal

"near" is still not well defined: does "within 1 hex of" include the "of" hex or not? i.e. does it encompass only the 6 adjacent hexes or also the center (the "of" point)?

You are being unnecessarily pedantic. Whether you can place a unit on the lab itself or not has no impact on the scenario. I'm not saying clarification wouldn't be nice, it just isn't important in this case.