Zombie Swarms

[arnej]

So, Farmer Bob is swarmed by a half-dozen zombies. They have all grappled him.

Fortunately, his friend Soldier Stan is right there with a SMG (RoF 13). Stan says "I'll just shoot 'em off ya, Bob!"

So, shooting into a Close Combat. What sort of penalties would Stan be looking at? I see a -2 for Striking Into Close Combat (pB389). That seems a little, I dunno, _light_. Am I missing something? Could Stan use Spraying Fire to try to put two bullets in each zombie? With Bob stuck square in the same hex as all Stan's targets?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by arnej

Am I missing something?

'Hitting the Wrong Target' (B389) applies. It's not clear how that interacts with rapid fire, I would tend to interpret it applying if any of your shots miss.

[Ultraviolet]

Originally Posted by Anthony

'Hitting the Wrong Target' (B389) applies. It's not clear how that interacts with rapid fire, I would tend to interpret it applying if any of your shots miss.

I agree. And in autofire most of the shouts ought to miss, so there are going to be a lot of bullets which risk hitting Bob. I would roll at a 6 + RoF bonus for all those bullets.

Anyway, the penalties for striking or shooting into close combat seem way too light to me. It doesn't take into account that the two combatants are moving around a lot more than a target merely moving from poiunt A to B when you shoot. I always think I'm missing something in this situation.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Ultraviolet

Anyway, the penalties for striking or shooting into close combat seem way too light to me. It doesn't take into account that the two combatants are moving around a lot more than a target merely moving from poiunt A to B when you shoot. I always think I'm missing something in this situation.

I'm pretty sure the rules are mildly cinematic to encourage this behavior, it's a common occurrence in the fiction afterall.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by arnej

So, Farmer Bob is swarmed by a half-dozen zombies. They have all grappled him.

Fortunately, his friend Soldier Stan is right there with a SMG (RoF 13). Stan says "I'll just shoot 'em off ya, Bob!"

So, shooting into a Close Combat. What sort of penalties would Stan be looking at? I see a -2 for Striking Into Close Combat (pB389). That seems a little, I dunno, _light_. Am I missing something? Could Stan use Spraying Fire to try to put two bullets in each zombie? With Bob stuck square in the same hex as all Stan's targets?

I wouldn't hate the idea of the -2 being cumulative for each target beyond 1 sharing the hex.

Including any zombies who might be in adjacent hexes but using "Long" to get +1 to reach to grapple without entering close combat, if you're trying to shoot their hands specifically, since those hands would be in close combat even if the rest of them isn't.