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CLARIFICATIONS ON COVER

It is very difficult to pack a three-dimensional rule-set into 30 pages. Summarising the rules and being conservative with the examples, some sections are too brief and lead to questions during your games; after a careful re-reading of the manual you will notice that often a single line may hide the answer to your doubts, but in the heat of battle there isn't always the time to sift through all of the rules. For this reason we have decided to use the web-site to expand on some concepts that were sacrificed in the basic manual. We have chosen to start with the most difficult concept.

Cover, in the open, open-topped vehicles
There has been a little confusion in distinguishing some terms which sound very similar in Italian. A model is in cover if he cannot be seen completely or if he is inside an area which reduces visibility, such as in woods or ruins.
A model is in the open if he is completely visible without anything to hide behind and he is not inside an area which reduces visibility. Thus a vehicle will be in cover or in the open depending on it's position on the table.
The concept of open-topped vehicle is completely different. This term implies a vehicle without a roof. This means it is entirely possible to have an open-topped vehicle (eg. A half-track) in cover, hidden behind an obstacle of some sort.

Direct and Indirect Fire, High-ball and Low fire
It is important to draw a distinction between weapons that fire in a low trajectory and weapons that fire high-ball. The term low trajectory means a shot that fires in a straight line between the firer and his target. The term high-ball, on the other hand, means a shot that follows an arched trajectory: it goes up, reaches a peak and then comes down again.
Some weapons, like mortars for example, always fire using an arched trajectory: in this way they can fire over obstacles which would otherwise block the line-of-sight. Obviously, in order to fire at a target which isn't in line-of-sight, the firing unit must receive a communication from another unit that has both line-of-sight and is aware of the target.
It could be that the unit with indirect fire capability may have line-of-sight and be aware of the enemy unit; in this case the communication isn't necessary as the shot is direct even if the trajectory arched. Armoured vehicles, armoured cars or open-topped half-tracks (that is without a roof) are very vulnerable to arched shots as the shot may be aimed inside the vehicle, completely ignoring the external armour (you ignore cover too).
Some weapons can be used either with a low trajectory or with an arched high-ball trajectory. A typical example is the grenade. Try to imagine how you throw a basket-ball into a basket and you'll get the idea. With a low trajectory you wouldn't get the ball in, but with a high-ball you would. Now, in your mind, transform the basket into an open-topped armoured vehicle. If you throw the grenade against the side it would bounce off the armour, but if you throw it in high-ball then you'll easily get the grenade into the vehicle.
Now try to imagine a bunker with a loop-hole; if you use a high-ball shot the grenade would bounce off the roof, but with a low trajectory you'll get the grenade inside. With a hand-grenade you can throw at a very acute angle. Cannons, however, are limited in their vertical elevation: for this reason when they use a high-ball shot to fire an indirect shot, they can only fire if the target is at a considerable distance. In game terms there is always a minimum distance for such shots.