Area Attacks are made by certain figures (such as the mortar crew), as well as most attacks provided by Strategy cards. Area attacks are destructive attacks that blanket an entire hex, rather than targeting a single unit in the hex.
The hits from an area attack affect each unit in the hex equally.
Area attacks can be either normal attacks or suppressive attacks, depending on the unit or the card creating the attack.
When executing an area attack against a target hex, a player rolls the relevant attack strength (black dice) first, applying the number of successes to every squad and vehicle in the area individually. Unless stated otherwise, all area attacks succeed on
rolled results of “5” and “6.”
Then, in any order, each individual unit in the hex must roll its defense strength (red dice) separately, subtracting successes from the successes scored on the previously rolled attack dice, and then resolving the total number of hits against it.
Remember that vehicles are immune to suppressive attacks. If a suppressive area attack strikes a hex containing one or more vehicles, only apply the hits to any squads in the hex; the vehicles are ignored.
Example: A German mortar crew makes a strength-4 suppressive area attack against a woods terrain hex containing 2 American squads and 1 American half-track vehicle containing 1 American squad.
First, the German player rolls 4 black attack dice, and scores 3 successes. The 2 American squads in the hex (but not the one in the half-track) now must roll defense dice. The vehicle (and the squad it carries) are ignored, as vehicles are immune to suppressive fire. The first American squad receives 2 cover for the woods terrain, and so rolls 2 red defense dice. Neither result is a success, so the squad must sustain all 3 suppression hits, causing the squad to become disrupted. The American player places a disrupted token next to the American squad to indicate its new condition. The remaining American squad is in an entrenchment, and therefore receives 4 defense dice (2 for the woods and 2 for its entrenchment). The American player rolls 2 successes, reducing the attacking successes against it to 1. This single hit causes the squad to become pinned. The American player places a pinned condition token next to the squad to indicate its new condition.