[ASLML] Amphibious help (part 2)

[Bruce Probst]

I just sent a message containing the following:

***

>Rule D16.23 mentions "waterline hexes"
>when referencing Bog.  What is a waterline hex?

Well, since it's not defined in the rules or in the Index, you have to
assume that the everyday English definition applies.  The edge of the water;
where water meets land.  A land hex with water obstacle hexsides.

***

Of course it only occurs to me *after* I sent it that land hexes don't
usually have water obstacle hexsides, rather, it's the other way around.  So
by this "simple" definition a "waterline hex" would be a water obstacle hex
with land hexsides.

This unfortunately causes problems with working out "where the vehicle bogs"
as Robert has already discovered.

It seems obvious to me that the intended definition of "waterline hex" would
be "the land hex adjacent to the water obstacle", but it wouldn't hurt if
the rules actually *said* this, so a fair question for Perry would be "what
is a waterline hex?".  If you assume the answer is as above, everything
becomes easy.

To assume otherwise is to worry about how amphibious vehicles can "bog" in a
water obstacle hex, do they drift if they are "bogged", how the heck do
passengers get out, etc. -- all of which are completely unanswerable by any
rule in D16.  Chapter G does not in any sense *replace* D16 and indeed only
adds to it for particular circumstances; the general rule for "amphibious
vehicle in a river" remains D16 (and only D16).  We should not need Chapter
G (or E) at all to resolve any of these questions.

When one assumption for a definition leads to a straightforward,
trouble-free, normal application of the rules, and a different assumption
leads to banging your head on a table wondering why this game is so hard to
play, Bruce follows Occam.

In other words, a "waterline hex" is any land hex adjacent to a water
obstacle.  The "waterline hex" is the Bog hex for amphibious vehicles.  You
heard it from me.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Probst              bprobst at netspace.net.au
Melbourne, Australia      MSTie #72759
"This movie can be used to induce vomiting."
ASL FAQ              http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/mantis/ASLFAQ