KInG wrote:So if pinned by taking casualties you can't unpin from that? Surely you can as it was pinning caused by the assault.
There is a 3rd situation: The German Platoon launches an assault but the Defensive fire causes 5+ hits so pinning them. The Germans fallback due to failed assault. They can then test motivation to unpin at the end of the Assault Step to get unpinned and ready for action again in the enemy's next turn.
KInG wrote:But you can't do what Matt said which was unpin at the start of the assault coz that pinning wasn't caused in the assault.
No - this type of pinning happened outside of the assault step, the special unpin happens at the end of the assault step, which means the German platoon could not attempt an assault in the first place.
Example: German Platoon was pinned due to Artillery in the previous Enemy turn, they fail to unpin at the start of their turn - they can't try and unpin with the special rule as the pinning did not happen within the German assault step.
So to re-cap, 3 situations:
1) German Assault Step - The German Platoon has been part of an assault and has taken a hit(s) from the enemy platoon.
2) Enemy Assault Step - At the end of an assault phase after Break off and consolidation, a German Platoon that has becomed pinned due to actions in the assault phase.
3) German Assault Step - The German Platoon launches an assault but the Defensive fire from the enemy causes 5+ hits so pinning them. NOTE: German Platoon falls back as the assault has failed.