James,
In BKCII Pete acknowledged that the fire templates are too large – he gives alternative (more accurate?) sizes in the optional rules section, also suggesting that artillery might always cause suppression? I think that’s very harsh. There was a “test” in ’42 I think, in the UK. They drove a sqn of Churchills through a barrage of 25pdr fire. They all went straight through – no one was stopped due to “suppression”.
The one thing I do HATE in BKC is the idea that that a SP battery gets a -1 on the request because they are more mobile (?) and so are faster to come into action. This assumes that artillery is always on the move and never ready and waiting - this is daft - the FAO wouldn't call on a battery that wasn't ready to fire! A regt of 25pdrs deployed in a field are just as fat to respond as a regiment of Sextons deployed and waiting. I think Pete admitted that this was done simply to differentiate between SP and towed arty in the indirect role. The edge SP guns have is that they are armoured - and so more robust against CB fire.
In BKCII arty is either pre-planned via the purchase of assets or it is requested in the command phase. As you say, the former never deviates while the latter does – the “impromptu” type you discuss and in your link.
Impromptu fire does deviate – due to several factors – most commonly getting the fire solution wrong (wrong report from the FAO or an error on the part of the battery) but also weather – all atmospheric conditions affect long range fire. I admit that deviation can be a long way and where BKC could be improved is by reducing the deviation dice by one per shoot called in on the same location. The other point is that the FAO, if he’s up front, can get it very close indeed. 2d6 deviation (FAO is up to 40cm away) seems reasonable with a 20 cm template?
In our games we never bother with the barrage template – everyone fires concentrations and stacks the shoots to kill the target. The square vs round template never seems to bother anyone. In reality it should probably be an ellipse anyway, with the long axis along the direction of fire.
I think of the arty support as being available to my forces on table, but also to the rest of the division. Hence they’re not waiting for just my FAO to call, but other FAOs elsewhere – but not on my table. I have access, but not exclusive use. So when I fail a role it’s because the comms have failed OR the artillery is busy firing in support of someone else?
Modern arty is certainly faster (thanks to computers / GPS etc) and more accurate. In the 80’s the British army claimed first shots within 50m of the target, but I’m not sure over what range.
Dealing with a few of your suggestions:
2. German FAO (Forward Artillery Observer) should have a low Command Value (CV) to simulate the time it took to work out firing solutions for impromptu concentrations. Probably 7.
- But this problem is the same for the British artillery as well. The reason why the British have lower CVs for the FAO is primarily due to the lack of dedicated support. Prior to June ’42 the Brits are bedevilled by a lack of decent AT guns. Hence 25 pdrs are often deployed in the AT direct fire role. In this mode they are not available for the indirect support. Hence the FAO's have smaller pool of guns to call on for indirect fire.
3.German Infantry Division FAO should not have radios - they are positional (static) with a telephone.
- I’m not sure how you’ve arrived at that. FAO’s in a Pz Div do have radios. How long is the telephone line, certainly not more than 1 km? This sounds more like defensive arty deployed on the coast for direct fire or some static position. If you are gaming North Africa this doesn’t apply anyway, since there are no German “infantry” divisions as described in the link anyway?
It is interesting to note that scheduled fire never misses in BC2. I find that funny, as it would have been 'ranged in' in exactly the same way as impromptu fire. The only difference is that the firing solutions would have been stored for use later.
- Not really. The scheduled fire is all preplanned. For the British the FAO would give a single word and then all the guns would come on to fire at that point. There’s a book, “Hill 112”, with a chapter called “Duchess, Dorothy and Dainty” – the 3 divisional level defensive fire targets – all pre-ranged / zeroed in. The impromptu shoot is a new target, not on the list; hence the fire solution needs to be worked out from scratch. This would apply to all nations.
One thing I will use in the reduce deviation by one die per turn requested at the SAME POINT in successive turns.
Just my 10p!
