"...It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen..." John Wooden
Still reviewing Mr. Wise's booklet. A nagging minor problem has arisen that refuses to lie still and quiet inside my head.
The artillery basing proposed by Mr. Wise is an equilateral triangle (page 13) and describes the firing arc which thereby also happened to be the actual base. But fitting crews always seemed to be of secondary significance. At the time, back then, I did not question or bother with the issue instead simply complying. And figures were individual placed (casualty removal) rather than permanently attached to the base as is the modern trend.
The modern trend, on the other hand, dealt with the basing problem in a brilliant yet direct manner. What they did - and still do - is keep whatever the base frontage is according to the scale used and simple extended back perpendicular so that the result is either a square or short rectangle. Room for placement of figures.
The firing arc itself is either within the rules or the player used firing aids such as firing arc templates.
But, for me, schooled in both ways, the solution offered by both seemed incomplete. I wanted a more direct solution without having to resort to rules or firing arc templates. Then I had a Gunny Highway brainfart. Compromise. Modify. Adapt. Overcome. No face camo...
Reconciling both styles - old school and modern - was therefore simplified (a philosophy I adhere to thanks to life): superimpose the triangle on to the square/short rectangle portion so that (a) the firing arc is maintained, and (b) there is room for the gunners to swing their tools of war.
My initial idea was to "extend" the triangular firing arc from the square/short rectangle basing like so:
Not a fan, to be honest. Too fiddly, and a bit of work to create. And also over-complicating matters. So I went with the next obvious amendement:
Clean. Simple. Successful amalgamation of both styles. There is now room for a gun crew without feeling cramped and limiting (numbers-wise), and the firing arc integrity is maintained.
If the firing arc is obscured during the flocking process, simply differentiate between both areas by using different flocking: the immediate area surrounding the gun will be trampled down due lots to traffic and other activities; the further out from the gun, not so much.
A roundabout way of reaching the solution for the dilemma posed by myself. But at least that's one less issue to concern my cluttered mind.
Incidentally, Mr. Wise also uses artillery firing aids - scatter template, canister device, etc - so nothing has changed all that much since this was published back in 1977. More on them and my attempts to reconstruct them. Cheers.
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