24. SMOKE

24.1 INFANTRY USAGE: SMOKE placement may be attempted via inherent SMOKE grenades by any Good Order Infantry squad having a SMOKE Placement Exponent and still capable of movement during its MPh, at a cost of two MF if the attempt is to place SMOKE in an ADJACENT Location, or one MF if the attempt is to place SMOKE in its own Location. Units attempting to place SMOKE grenades must specify the hex they wish to place them in before rolling the placement dr, but are otherwise free to observe the placement attempts of previous moving units before designating their own placement attempts. No unit may attempt to place SMOKE more than once per MPh, but neither an attempt nor actual placement is considered use of a SW. The Smoke Placement Exponent is the numerical exponent of a squad's FP rating, and is the highest number the unit can roll with one die (Δ) and still place Smoke during that Player Turn. If the SMOKE Placement dr is a 6, the unit must immediately end its MPh in its current Location. A squad may not place SMOKE in Water Obstacles [EXC: Bridges (not foot bridges)], sewer, or marsh hexes. Placement in an ADJACENT hex is permissible if there is no wind. If there is a mild breeze, SMOKE cannot be placed in the three hexes adjacent to the placing unit in an upwind direction. Placement in an ADJACENT hex of higher elevation is allowed only across a single Crest Line or building level stairwell (not across a cliff) and only on a subsequent dr of 1-3. If the subsequent dr is 4-6, the SMOKE must be placed in the placing unit's Location instead. SMOKE grenades can never be placed in an adjacent Location if that Location is two or more levels higher. SMOKE grenades can be placed down to the next lower level of the unit's building hex via a stairwell or to the ground level of a non-Interior building hex. SMOKE grenades can also be placed across a cliff or Double-Crest Line into an adjacent lower hex. Q&A

24.11 Any SMOKE screen caused by SMOKE grenades²⁹ is represented by ½" counters and is immediately removed at the end of the ATTACKER's MPh in which it is placed, after all opposing First Fire but before any Defensive Final Fire. A ½" SMOKE counter is never Dispersed or subject to Drift, and cannot be placed in Heavy Winds.

24.2 EFFECT: All Direct Fire and on-board mortar fire traced into, through, within, or out of (see A24.8) a SMOKE Location is affected by a Hindrance DRM of +1, +2, or +3 depending upon the type of SMOKE, in addition to any normal TEM/LOS Hindrance effects of that hex. SMOKE has no effect on minefield, OBA, and DC attacks other than the added MF cost to place the DC (or the added difficulty of placing or correcting OBA; C1.62). The application of SMOKE Hindrance DRM is cumulative for each SMOKE counter encountered along the firing unit's LOS. There is no limit to the number of SMOKE counters which can he placed in a hex but the total Hindrance DRM of SMOKE for any one Location can never be more than +3 [EXC: outgoing LOS Hindrance; 24.8]. A LOS traced exactly along a SMOKE hexside (B.6) is affected by that SMOKE. FFMO does not apply to any target shrouded by SMOKE, although FFNAM does. Q&A

24.31 CASUALTIES: The chemical agents in WP caused discomfort and could result in demoralization/casualties. All units (including friendly ones) except a non-CE, CT AFV in a Location with a WP counter must take a NMC when the WP is placed [EXC: non-moving units in First Fire] in that Location (not when it drifts or they move into it) or when hit by WP on the Area Target Type [EXC: if the WP does not rise to that elevation (24.4)]. See C1.71 for OBA. The NMC causes DM status (10.62), and also causes loss of concealment if the affected unit is in LOS of a Good Order enemy ground unit. Leadership, CE DRM, and TEM apply as negative DRM to the NMC (treating grenades as if a Direct Fire attack for TEM purposes). However, if a CH (or Air Burst when using Indirect Fire) is obtained with WP, TEM are applied to the NMC as positive DRM instead. A CH with WP grenades occurs if the colored dr of the MC DR is a 6. Only units in a Location when WP is placed therein must take a NMC due to that WP. Q&A

24.32 FIRES: WP can cause Fires only if Environmental Conditions are either Dry or Very Dry. The player who placed the WP must make a DR > the Kindling Number of the terrain during his MPh (even if placed during that phase) to start a Flame in the WP hex. Normal EC DRM do not apply, but there is a -1 DRM if Environmental Conditions are not Very Dry. A -2 DRM always applies to buildings. WP may not be used to burn vehicles or wrecks.

24.4 HEIGHT & DURATION: Conventional smoke is treated as a two level Hindrance to LOS and does not Hinder LOS occurring above elevation. WP is a four level LOS Hindrance. SMOKE does not block LOS [EXC: B.10]. In a mild breeze all types of SMOKE (including terrain/wreck Fires; B25.2) are two level LOS Hindrances. White Dispersed SMOKE is removed at the start of the owning player's next PFPh. His white SMOKE counters are then flipped over to the white Dispersed side. Q&A

24.5 STRENGTH: A smoke counter has a full-strength Hindrance effect of +3; a WP counter has a full-strength Hindrance effect of +2. These counters can be placed with their full-strength side face-up only if placed by ordnance/OBA as the first resolved attack of their PFPh (i.e., before non-SMOKE attacks are made). All other ordnance/OBA placement uses the reverse (Dispersed SMOKE) side of the counter which has a Hindrance effect of one less. Smoke grenades have a Hindrance effect of +2; WP grenades have a Hindrance effect of +1. A Mild Breeze does not lower the Hindrance DRM of a SMOKE source.

24.6 WEATHER: SMOKE has no effect where vision is already Hindered by fog. SMOKE is removed immediately for rain or heavy winds and has no effect in Mud or Deep Snow [EXC: SMOKE grenades placed inside a building from either the same Location or an ADJACENT Location of the same building across a hexside of that building].

24.61 DRIFT: Original SMOKE sources (other than SMOKE Grenades which do not last long enough to drift) are differentiated from drifting Dispersed SMOKE by using white counters for Original SMOKE and gray counters for drifting SMOKE [EXC: a Wreck/Terrain Blaze needs no Original Smoke counter]. At the start of the AFPh of the Player Turn in which Original white SMOKE was first created, a Mild Breeze creates a number of Dispersed gray SMOKE counters equal to the Hindrance DRM of that SMOKE directly downwind of the "original" white SMOKE source (even if the "original" white SMOKE source was dispersed). All drifting gray SMOKE is a Hindrance at the level of its original SMOKE source and up to two levels higher than the Location it occupies - regardless of the Location of the source. Drifting gray SMOKE is removed when the Original white SMOKE source is removed or the wind changes. However, when white SMOKE becomes white Dispersed SMOKE, the number of gray Dispersed SMOKE counters drifting from it is decreased by Removal of the furthest gray Dispersed SMOKE counter emanating from it (thus keeping the number of drifting SMOKE counters equal to the Hindrance DRM of that SMOKE). Smoke drifting from a Wreck/Terrain Blaze is treated identically to that from a white Smoke counter. Q&A

24.7 MOVEMENT: It costs one additional MF/MP to enter a SMOKE or Dispersed SMOKE hex during the MPh/RtPh (see B.2). Q&A

24.8 OUTGOING LOS HINDRANCES: Regardless of the type of SMOKE placed or the method by which it is placed, SMOKE is always more effective in obscuring the view/fire of units inside the SMOKE Location than units outside the SMOKE Location firing into it. Any fire which is traced out of or within (not through or into) a SMOKE Location must add +1 to its IFT or To Hit DR in addition to the normal effects of that SMOKE. Q&A