The Commander Series Forum

How do people play suppression fire and troops armed with howitzer (H) classified weapons like the Carl Gustav or Scorpion. When firing direct against armour, they are only accurate to half the stated range. However, for suppression fire, would they use the full range?? I'm assuming suppression fire represents shells bursting around and on the target, but not necessarily hitting anything useful, just enough to give the crews a headache or get them a bit worried. Therefore, I'd be inclined to argue for full range, but wondering what others do.

Cheers, Andy

Andy,
that sounds about right and thats how I would play it.
Cheers
Steve

Sounds like the common sense way to play it. I will make a note of this for September.

Cheers

Richard P

Cheers guys. I don't usually use suppressive fire, but think it may be necessary given the screening forces we'll be using.

Thanks, Andy

On page 21 bottom it states that "vehicles" armed with "howitzers" (H) may only fire at AFVs within half their range but may use full range against unarmoured units. The first sentence states why. This does not apply to weapons such as the Carl Gustav as this is usually an infantry upgrade instead of a vehicle mounted howitzer. A strict interpretation of the rule as written does not allow fire at an AFV beyond that range even for suppression.
Regards,
Bill

That suggests they are ineffective against armoured units over half range, but so are machine guns and small arms at any range, but they are still able to fire for suppression. The howitzer rules still apply to the Carl Gustav as it is followed by a "H" as are RPGs and LAWs, so they are only effective against armoured targets at up to half range.

Yes Page 21 implies that you are firing to hit not suppress. I would think any unit that came under any sort of fire would keep their heads down or stop the vehicle to assess the situation.

I'd assumed all weapons with a H classification used the howitzer rule, which definitely includes the Carl Gustav, much though I'd prefer otherwise.

Steve's point about HMG fire is a good one, as that is exactly what they would be doing, with a view to degrading the efficiency of the armour and keeping heads down - buttoned up, cracked vision ports, aerials shot away, smoke dischargers set on fire, etc. All the things that combine to make the platoon loose cohesion and stop what they were doing. That's what I think H weapons firing suppression would be doing - hence able to lob shells in the general vicinity of the target being enough to suppress, but not kill.

Cheers, Andy