Blade N Bolter Boyz Stuff

[ThirdUltra]

A treatise on the use of artillery from my limited experience...

The Basics

Artillery may consist of guns, howitzers or mortars depending on the team's stat-line. The team's Arsenal stat-line should show the Bombardment rule under their special rules to show that it can fire artillery bombardments.

The cool thing about artillery is that you normally have better range when firing bombardments and you can be out of LOS from the enemy.

Most artillery platoons have observer teams, staff teams and platoon command sections. This is important as these components of the platoon allow your guns to fire at targets they cannot see, plus initialize repeat bombardments from previous ranged-in shooting turns.

Observer Teams: These can be infantry-type units or tank-teams, but depending on the type of artillery platoon you're using, this will determine what unit-type your observers are. The cool thing about these guys is that they are independent, which means you can attach them to other platoons if you want to. So, you can actually attach these guys to a tank-team (not a command tank though) and have that tank spot for you. Or you can attach them to a motorized platoon of infantry who have decent mobility to allow you to spot enemy teams in area-terrain if need be. They also have the Cautious Movement rule like Recce teams and can even spot while being pinned down.

Staff Teams: These teams are the calculatory element of the platoon which determines the map-plots and interprets data into elevation angles and so on. This team allows for All Guns Repeat! and can communicate with other staff teams to allow a different observer team to spot for another platoon (as long as the other platoon has a staff team as well). These guys usually stay in the rear since they move like Heavy Gun teams and the added insult that they can't do any damage in actual infantry combat.

Artillery Platoon Command teams: These guys can spot for their guns as well, but they are not independent like observer teams are.

Company Command or Higher Command teams: Since most officers are trained in basic artillery tactics, your company HQ or 2iC can spot for bombardments, but they suffer a +1 to their range-in rolls since their training is rudimentary at best.

Spotting the Enemy

So, you now have to spot the enemy to use your artillery. This is done in the Shooting Step as normal, however, your spotting team has to have a LOS to the target platoon to call-in the bombardment. In order for the observer team to spot, it must not have moved in the Movement Step nor Shot in the Shooting Step. Additionally, it cannot have assaulted as well.

Ranging In

Now that you have picked your aiming point, it is time to range-in on the target. The spotting team gets 3 attempts to range-in on the target. Any successful rolls will allow for the bombardment.

The range-in rolls to hit are determined by the target team's skill;

Conscript = 2+
Trained = 3+
Veteran = 4+

Modifiers to the range-in rolls are as follows;

Target Team is Concealed +1
Target Team is Gone to Ground +1
Spotting team is a Company or Higher Command Team +1

Mortar teams get to re-roll their first attempt.


Once you've ranged-in, you now can place the 6" Artillery template on the target team. You will place it so that the sides are lined up towards the bombarding platoon. Any unit touched or covered will be hit.

Hitting the Target

Now that you have the template placed, it's time to roll to hit those touched or covered by it. When rolling to hit, you use the firing platoon's skill level to determine hits modified by the following;

Firing Platoon's Skill
Conscript 5+
Trained 4+
Veteran 3+

Add +1 if the artillery ranged-in on the 2nd attempt (mortar teams get a re-roll on their first attempt, so technically, their 2nd roll is still their first attempt if they re-roll it, etc.)
Add +2 if the artillery ranged-in on the 3rd attempt
Any teams under an artillery bombardment are always hit on a 6, provided 2 or more weapons are firing.
Rocket Teams ignore mods for firing when ranging-in on the 2nd or 3rd attempt.

If the platoon has 6 or more weapons firing, re-roll failed hits
If the platoon has 1 or 2 weapons firing, re-roll successfull hits
If 1 guns is firing, add +1 to the to hit roll in addition to re-rolling sucessfull hits.

Damage

So, now that you've hit, you do damage.
Infantry teams that are hit are auto-pinned (it only takes one hit!) and they get their normal 3+ save. However, dug-in infantry in bulletproof cover who fail their save allows you to roll a Firepower test to see if you destroy them. If you fail the Firepower test, then the infantry team survives.

Unarmored vehicles save only on a 5+ as normal.
Gun-teams save on a 5+ as well, but if in bulletproof cover, then you'll make a Firepower test like against infantry.

Tank-teams are hit on their top-armor, so they have to make an armor save against your AT rating. Like normal, if they equal it, do a firepower test to bail them out, if you beat it, test to destroy, otherwise they're bailed.

Enemy artillery teams/platoons hit are pinned automatically as well; however, if they're pinned, they cannot fire at all.

Rocket Launchers

Pieces like the NebelWerfers and Katyushas follow the same process for artillery, except where noted above, they do not suffer to-hit penalties for ranging-in on the 2nd and 3rd attempts. Otherwise they operate the same way.

The other exceptions are instead of re-rolling failed to hit rolls when using 6 or more launchers, they actually add another 6" template, forming a 12" template instead (12" by 6") that is wider than the normal 6" version.

Unfortunately, launching rockets leaves smoke trails leading back to the launchers, so enemy spotting teams can use this as an aiming point. If they cannot actually draw a LOS to the rocket team, then the rocket team is treated as Concealed for ranging-in purposes.

Additional Rules

All Guns Repeat!: This allows for a repeat bombardment on the same coordinate from the previous bombardment, IF your bombarding platoon contains a Staff Team. This allows for you to hit fixed positions at your leisure or targets that have hunkered down on an objective, not moving.

There is no range-in roll to roll for as the bombardment will continue on that position, but you will roll to hit as normal for teams under the template.

Multiple Observer Teams: A Platoon with multiple observer teams can only use one of them to spot for a bombardment each turn.

Spotting For Other Platoons: An observer team from an artillery platoon with a Staff Team may act as a spotting team for another artillery platoon with a Staff Team instead of its own platoon. When doing this, they still can only spot for one platoon a turn.

Smoke

Smoke shells can only be used by guns/howitzers, etc that actually have the Smoke Bombardment rule listed in their Arsenal listing for their gun-type.

Smoke bombardments HAVE to be fired first before any other shooting in the Shooting Step.

You have to spot and roll to range-in as a normal bombardment; you actually target the enemy with smoke bombardments here.

The one thing about smoke bombardments is that you cannot use theAll Guns Repeat rule for them since wind-conditions are factored in and timing is more key anyway.

So, once you've ranged in and rolled to hit, here's what happens; the defender determines wind direction by rolling a die. The attacker (firing player) can re-roll it if need be, but the second result stands. Once wind directions is determined, then the template is oriented downwind by the wind-direction.

There is a chart which determines the die-roll result for wind-direction.

A 1 = the defenders left-hand corner moving in that diagonal direction toward the attacker's right-hand corner. A 2 = defender's left-hand side (short table edge) moving towards the right hand side table edge. A 3 = attacker's left-hand corner moving towards the defender's right-hand corner diagonally. A 4 = attacker's right-hand corner, moving towards the defender's left-hand corner diagonally. A 5 = attacker's right-side table edge moving left. A 6 = defender's right-hand corner moving towards attacker's left-hand corner diagonally.

Once wind direction is determined, the template is placed down on the target. Ant teams touched or covered are now Concealed by smoke and can only see out 6". Likewise, enemy teams can only see once they're within 6" of the target teams.

So, if you have 2 weapons firing, you only receive 1 template on the target.
If you have 3 to 5 weapons firing, you get 2 templates, stacked side-by-side, with the second template placed down-wind dteremined by wind-direction.
If you have 6 or more, you receive 3 templates placed the same way.
1 weapon firing cannot produce enough smoke, so it dissipates immediately with no effect.

The smoke lasts until the start of your next turn.

Tactics

Well, in my experience, artillery is great for taking out other artillery and big-guns. Usually, you'll be hitting several stands at once, so it's worth several platoons's worth if you can get that many.

Smoke is my favorite tactic as it allows you cover when trying to move to an objective and can blind enemy teams if they stay put. It's very effective against the Soviets, especially their tanks because it forces them to move (since they have the Hen & Chicks rule for normal units) thus reducing any fire comming your way.

Pinning units is also key as it reduces ROF comming your way as well.

Americans, Brits and Russians have some awesome artillery.....as do the Germans, so I think having at least a 4-gun platoon minimally is a must. It definitely supports your infantry or tanks when advancing, helping to protect them from reduced fire.

Also, remember that you can attach your observers, so having them mounted in a tank is decent, though if they're Bogged or Bailed Out, they cannot spot, so make sure they're in a big tank platoon to reduce hits if they're fired upon.

Well, Artillery 101 class has concluded for the time being, so study up on the big guns to use in your army.....and wipe out map-grids...lol!

The Question session has now begun.....cheers!