Alpha Strike: Rules for unintentional hits

When the target is missed: Unintended damage in Alpha Strike

In the heat of battle, not all shots land where they were intended. The Alpha Strike rulebook provides for specific situations in which a miss does not simply disappear into nothingness, but instead damages the environment or other units.

1. unintentional hits with partial coverage

The most common form of unintentional damage occurs when a target uses partial cover from a fixed object.

• Buildings and landing ships: If a building or a DropShip on the ground provides partial cover for a target and the attack roll just misses the target – specifically by a Margin of Failure (MoF) of 1 or 2 points – the shot hits the covering object instead.
• Damage handling: In this case, the full damage of the attack is deducted directly from the Construction Factor (CF) of the building or the DropShip’s armor.

2. accidental explosions in industrial areas

The heavy industrial terrain is a particularly dangerous environment. This is a volatile mixture of generators, cooling pools and power lines.

• The trigger: If an attack into such terrain misses its target or the terrain itself suffers damage (from area weapons or deliberate fire), the attacker must dice 2D6.
• The explosion: On a result of 5 or higher, an accidental explosion occurs. This causes 1 point of damage to all units within a 2-inch template (AoE).
• Fire: In addition, the entire area within this 2-inch radius immediately catches fire.

3rd hit on mechanized battle armor

Units that transport mechanized battle armor (MEC/XMEC) externally (such as OmniMechs) put their passengers at risk.

• Random Assignment: If a unit wearing Battle Armor on its outer shell is hit, a 1D6 must be rolled.
• Result: On a 1 to 4, the transporter suffers the damage normally. On a 5 or 6, the damage is assigned to the transported battle armor instead.
• Transfer: If this “accidental” hit destroys the Battle Armor unit, any excess damage is transferred to the transporter.

4. unintentional fires due to misfires

If the optional rules for fire and smoke are active, a close miss (MoF 1 or 2) against a target behind partial cover can result in the terrain providing cover (e.g. a forest or a building) being accidentally set on fire. This results in a roll on the fire rate table, whereby the target number for an accidental fire is usually higher than for an intentional arson.

Tactical note

Commanders should be careful when using valuable buildings as cover, as these can collapse faster than expected due to “almost successful” enemy attacks! Caution is also advised in industrial areas, where a single stray laser shot can trigger a chain reaction.