This article originally appeared in Pyramid #7
We had a batch of good questions about mines this month... good enough that now we have to add a rule or two. Ask the OGREtm
If a unit is hit by the mines in a minefield, is the whole minefield, cleared, or just a 1" x 1" section, or none of it at all?
None of it is cleared. There are a lot of mines in a minefield. Trying to clear it by running units into each mine would be fruitless.
Can mines be placed in water?
Yes, they can. In deep water (e.g., ocean bottom) they are assumed to be on the bottom, and would not be triggered by anything except an Ogre or a large ship -- like the ones we'll introduce later this year in Killing Zone. In shallow water (e.g., a lake or river) they would be triggered by GEVs, or even infantry, passing over them. Effects of mines in water, and rules for detection and removal, are the same as for regular mines... except that only a Marine Engineer unit can clear mines in the water.
Do minefields hit all units, or just enemy units?
Good question! The minefields described on p. 48 of Ogre Miniatures are smart, and have no effect on friendly units. But other types of mines are possible.
Cheap mines will ignore friendly units... most of the time. These cost only half as much as regular mines, and explode with the same effects. However, friendly armor units also roll (two dice) when they pass through the minefield. A mine is triggered on a roll of 9 or more for Ogres, 10 or more for armor units, and 12 for battlesuited infantry.
Compromised minefields are those whose precise type and location is known to the enemy. A defender can take a compromised minefield for half price, but must tell the enemy exactly where its borders are, and mark them clearly on the map, before the enemy even chooses his forces. Effects are normal.
Dumb mines treat all units as hostile. These can be bought, in a defending setup, for 1/3 the cost of regular mines. Or the referee may include dumb mines in a scenario, possibly as an unexpected leftover from a previous battle...
Yes, this means that you can take six square inches of dumb, compromised mines for only 1 point. Remember... the enemy knows about it, and may find a way to use it against you! And, for balance, the referee should not allow objectives to be set up on the edge of the map and ringed with huge minefields. The referee can always limit the total number of square inches that can be mined.
A referee may also set up interesting special effects. For instance, suppose the defenders start out with minefields. To their chagrin, though, the attackers seem to be immune to the mines. The attackers have the electronic code-key that lets them ignore the defender's minefields... but what they also know is that their stolen key will expire shortly after the engagement begins. A few turns into the game, mines will once again affect them. And perhaps they don't actually know exactly where those minefields are...
-- Steve Jackson
Article publication date: June 1, 1994
Copyright © 1994 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.