Fire arcs

[DrDaniel5]

Hope I'm not making too many topics here but I've got a question regarding fire arc.

If a target ship is on the line between the front and side fire arcs of a ship do you get to fire both arcs or just one?

[Xca|iber]

The ruling I'm aware of, IIRC, is that when the line of fire is on the line between arcs, the shooting player gets to decide which firing arc to use. (And that this applies both when determining which weapons can fire as well as which facing you are firing into).

[DrDaniel5]

Ok, we might have lost our ork player with that ruling though. Any suggestions for him on what their supposed to do with the fleet?

[Xca|iber]

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope he can give it another try 

(Just to be clear, when I said choose, I mean you only get to fire with the weapons in one arc, chosen by the attacker).

As for tactics, that's not really my area of expertise.  Hopefully someone else will stop by this thread to help out.

[DrDaniel5]

I was pretty sure the rules meant that you can only have a target be in one arc so I knew what you meant.

His issue is that the only way he can get enough shots to to do damage is to maneuver so that the target is in both arcs.

[Xca|iber]

I'm going to assume you're using the basic rules (if you're using some other set like BFG:R, FAQ 2010, BFG:FR, or -shameless plug - BFG:XR), let me know.

In terms of general positioning, which is true for most ships with the traditional "1 front gun, 1 gun on each side" setup and no overlapping fields of fire (such as dorsal weapons), you'll want to use squadrons of ships combining their fire, and placed so that there's at least one enemy in each firing arc.

A single Kill Kroozer with only S4 heavy gunz and SD6 gunz on each side won't be able to hurt much other than escort ships by itself, but with even 2 in a squadron together, S8 and S2D6 is substantially more effective, due to the way the Gunnery Chart works. If the Ork player can position their ships in such a way that you've got one enemy close up on the broadside, and one out in front, you can unload both your front and side firepower (at two different targets). You can then try to stack up the damage with each of your squadrons so that you can at least try to put damage on at least a couple of ships per turn.

...That being said, my understanding is that Orks suffer from some balance issues in the classic rules. I'm not fully versed in how bad this actually is, but if you're both skilled players, you may be running into some overall mechanical problems as opposed to just tactical issues.

Also, I am not an expert on this game... so try things out. Maybe I'm totally off base 

[DrDaniel5]

We're using the 2010 compendium. Thanks for the feedback

[horizon]

He needs to adapt his tactics. He should brunt into the enemy fleet. And certainly be not hesitant to use AAF while doing so. Get into the middle of the enemy formations so you can use all arcs. Opponents will fear those heavy cannons.
He should also get into the boarding mindset with all the extras Orcs can have.

[ErikModi]

Never played Orks in BFG, but when all else fails, hit the Big Red Button and make a hole in the enemy ship the approximate size and shape of this ship.

[Atlan]

This is much easier to say, than to do,....

[horizon]

All ahead full with orks is quit easy. And they have a lot of re-rolls for leadership.

[Atlan]

That's not the problem. The problem is to aim with this kind of "big weapon".
As you may not turn on AAF it's not so hard for the enemy to avoid beeing rammed. Additionaly you have to get somehow close, for your AAF is not that fast.

[horizon]

But you AAF quite often. Furthermore if the line for ramming is not possible then go in for the boarding action. Another thing Orks can do really well.