Really new player (never played an only just watched a few games at my flgc).

One experienced player said that a sneaky tactic was to snipe the middle supporting model out of a 3 vs 1 (or 2) fight with shooting and if successful this would change it to a 1 vs 1 (or 2) fight in the combat phase.

2 questions -
I assume this is possible for evil armies, but not good ones as they can’t shoot into a combat?

If the shot is successful and say there are 5 models in the combat in total do you randomise who gets hit or automatically hit the model aimed for?

Both Good and Evil can shoot at supporting models. The only caveat for Good is that the good bow must be positioned at an angle where they have a 100% clean look at the supporting model (i.e, the bow is behind the combat)

If Good does not have a clear look at the the supporting model, he cannot shoot.

Evil can shoot at the supporting model regardless of the combat being in the way. If the Evil bow has a 100% clear shot at the support, they roll to hit as usual.

If the combat is “in the way”, then follow these steps:

1 - Roll to hit as usual
2 - if hit, then roll an “in the way” for the combat. If 4-6, then proceed to the supporting model and roll to wound as usual
3 - if the “in the way” roll is a 1-3, then you have hit the combat and from there you roll again to see if you hit Good or Evil. If 1-3 you’ve hit Evil and 4-6 you hit Good
4 - Lastly, if the combat is for example a 3 Evil on 1 Good, and you’ve hit the Evil side on your “in the way”, then you roll one more time to determine which evil model you have hit - this can be split up equally as you fit, but for the example I’m giving, it would be a roll of 1 or 2 is Evil model #1, a roll of 3 or 4 for evil model #2, and a roll of 5 or 6 hits evil model #3

Hope this helps, let me know if this clarifies it for you.

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T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair..
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her..

I think ja33 is completely correct, except at point 4. If it is established you hit Evil in a 3 Evil vs 1 Good combat, then you automatically hit the one closest to the firer, as described on page 39 of the rule book.

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Full Lord of the Rings campaign: https://aiwendil.net/