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Era

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Question (BRIEF and reiterate Q in text block)

Updated

Sat Apr 06 2019 08:35:32 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Answer

the fire before melee rule was removed because different ways of playing the game make it so the ruling may / may not be necessary, e.g. if you play the game historically accurately, units would wait to make contact with the enemy until after they have fired (Napoleonics).  The difference is in the Rifled musket era, the ability for the troops to reload and fire again while the enemy is just about to make contact is true BUT the reason the rule became a die roll was that to be advanced upon by the enemy after you fired at them was unnerving... you may or may not get off a last-minute shot because you are essentially scared to death.  So, the rule was removed to allow players to interpret this as they wish.  In our view, it is not a sure thing that the last firing would be effectively delivered.
HOWEVER, the BIG caveat is for troops that have not fired AT ALL.  In this case (AWI and Napoleonic's), they have been waiting until the enemy is right upon them before opening fire.  THIS of course should be devastating because all the muskets are waiting, cool and ready.  In this case, if players wish, units that have NOT fired at all should get not only an automatic Red hit but ROLL the die to see if they get a SECOND red hit.  If they miss the roll, they get a TE hit.  This would make it hugely impossible for frontal attacks (suicidal; really) against units that have just been sitting there waiting.  Hence if you don't fire your artillery until the last moment the fact is you might as well remove the target unit from the game table as totally destroyed from a single battery firing (Franklin, TN 1864).  Yikes.

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