High Tech: Grenade, impact fuse WW1

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Azinctus

Does anyone know of a good way to model the risk of tapping your grenade on the back wall of the trench? The malfunction rules are made for failures in the device's proper working, this grenade is exploding exactly right first time. If you tap the grenade on the wall while holding it, your only hope is that it is a dud.

I've two ideas, depending on how much rolling you want (and how abstract you play). In all cases, you can ignore the extra rules if the hex directly behind the character is empty (and isn't a wall, of course).

1) Extra Rolling: Make a DX-based Soldier roll to not blow yourself apart. If your rear hex is only lightly obstructed (e.g. wall is near the edge), you only risk this if you are throwing further than 1/2 your maximum distance. With a medium obstruction (e.g. a person), you must make the roll for any throw - and you suffer a -2 if throwing beyond 1/2 max. With a heavy obstruction (wall right behind you), you suffer a -4 if throwing at less than 1/2 max, and if throwing at 1/2 max or greater you automatically blow yourself up (IQ-based Soldier roll will prevent you from doing this). If you are unused to impact fuses, you do suffer Familiarity penalties to these rolls.

2) Light Rolling: If there's something for you to bump into, and you roll a critical failure, you go boom (unless the grenade is a dud).

3) Abstract: If not using a battlemat, but using option 1, make an IQ-based Soldier roll to position yourself away from an obstruction prior to throwing. The Margin of Success - or Margin of Failure - serves as a bonus or penalty to the DX-based Soldier roll. Apply penalties for how "crowded" the area is (light might grant a bonus, medium null, heavy a penalty), and maybe apply an additional -2 for a "full-extension" throw (one beyond 1/2 max).


Finally, you might want to consider some method of determining if a grenade is a dud without a malfunction. Say 5% of all grenades are duds. You can secretly roll dice each time a grenade is used to determine if it's a dud. If all you have are d6's, this would be 5 or lower (or 16+); if you have a d20, it's a 1. Heck, rolling a d20 along with the 3d6 might be a good plan.