IV. ARTILLERY INDIRECT FIRE
Artillery Counter Battery
Fire
Designate target during spotting rounds impact phase. Use the D chart the first time the
guns are fired. Sound and flash ranging
detection equipment or artillery radars are used to improve the chance to hit
the target. If the target does not move
and fires from the same location the chance to hit is increased. Target does not have to be visible to the
battery forward observer. An on target
result is a hit on one gun.
Technology First turn Second turn Third turn
Sound & Flash
Ranging D chart C chart B chart
Artillery Radars
Tube technology C chart B chart A chart
Transistor
Technology B chart A chart
Integrated Circuits A chart
Computer Chips A chart
Direct Fire High Explosive
Designating the target begins
direct fire high explosive. Then roll
the arrow die. Use the normal direct
fire anti-tank chance to hit. Arrow results move the impact point in the
direction of the arrow the numbers of inches shown on the arrow die.
Observed
Indirect Fire
Placing three blue cotton balls
per firing battery in the Artillery Spotting Rounds Impact Phase to simulate
spotting rounds begins artillery indirect fire.
All three of these spotting rounds must be within 1250m of each other. Two of these cotton balls will be
dummies. The third will be the intended
point of impact of the number one round of the salvo. All three of these cotton balls must be
placed where a friendly observer can see them.
The identity of the two dummy rounds remains undisclosed until the
Artillery Indirect Fire Phase. Roll both
dice and if the result is equal to or less than the on target percentage than
the salvo is a hit. Orient the artillery
template in the direction of the arrow, with the 1st round at the
intended point of impact. If the salvo
was not on target move the template in the direction of the arrow die the
number of inches determined by the indirect fire table.
Troops
with signaling devices including signal flags, field telephones, or radios, may
call for artillery. Artillery observers
firing for the first time and observing for their assigned battery use the B
chart. Once an ON target result has
been obtained, subsequent shots at the same target, will be on the A chart.
Bomb & Indirect Fire
Chart A B C D
ON
Target 65% 50% 35% 20%
Distance
Die D6 D6
X 2 D6 X 3 D6 X 3
Artillery
spotters can observe artillery fire exclusively for their assigned battery or
batteries. Each artillery battery is
assigned one artillery observer. Each
artillery battalion is assigned an additional observer who may spot artillery
for any of the batteries in his battalion.
Each additional higher level unit is assigned an additional artillery
observer who may spot for all artillery within his organization.
An
observer firing artillery for any other battery will begin on the C chart and move to the B chart
for second and subsequent shots at the same target until an ON result has been
obtained. Any subsequent shots at the
same target will use the A chart.
A non-artillery observer calling for fire will begin on the D chart
and move to the C chart for second and subsequent shots at the same
target. If the observer changes the
point of impact then it is considered a first shot at a new target and begins
again on the appropriate chart for a first shot.
Pre-planned fires are designated before the
battle. They are specific locations,
named and marked on the map, which may be called in at any time by any
artillery observer, or any unit commander.
Pre-planned fires do not require a smoke puff to be laid down, but must
be told to the Bunkermeister during the artillery spotting phase. These fires are placed using the B chart.
They
are registered on target before a battle.
They are laid out like a minefield on various size cards according to
the size of the gun. They are named and called for during the Artillery Impact
Phase.
To
conduct a rolling barrage the observer must
first obtain an ON target result on the A chart. The observer may then adjust fire in
five-inch increments without losing the second and subsequent shot
advantage. Artillery range may be
adjusted plus/minus 50m if it is observed fire that is ON target and on the A
chart. Place one artillery spotting
round on target and the others no more that 50m away.
To
determine damage, select the artillery template for the weapon firing. For conventional artillery, there will be a
red blast marker the diameter of which is equal to the diameter of the gun
tube. Within the red blast marker will
be an orange blast marker one half of the diameter of the gun tube. Inside the orange blast marker will be a
yellow blast marker one quarter of the diameter of the gun tube. For example, a 200mm howitzer would have a
red blast marker 200mm across and an inner orange blast marker 100mm across and
a second inner yellow blast marker 50mm across.
Within the red blast marker infantry and soft skin targets in the open
are destroyed. Within the orange blast
marker all but closed topped, fully tracked armored vehicles are destroyed. Within the yellow blast marker all targets
are destroyed unless the armor penetration of the weapon is not sufficient to
penetrate the targets armor.
The
crater will be equal in diameter to 50% of the caliber of the gun, so the
crater will be the same size as the orange blast marker for ground burst
artillery. Airburst artillery will
create a crater equal in diameter to 25% of the diameter of the shell. Airburst artillery blasts have only a light
HE effect equal to that of the red blast diameter. HE direct fire has only a 45-degree arc to
each side of forward 90 degrees total that is one half size of the AT fire
total. No indirect fire at less than 50
meters.
During
regular artillery fire, dust will obscure the impact area until the end of the
turn for an area the same size as the template, until the beginning of the
Artillery Spotting Rounds phase.
Smoke
fired from artillery and direct fire weapons is 25mm long per 25mm of gun
caliber, per tube. Smoke grows by that
same amount each turn in the direction of the wind. Smoke will grow for three turns. Smoke pots/generators produce 50m of smoke
per turn for up to 250m length. Smoke is
too high to see over except for an aircraft at medium level or above. Illumination rounds light up the outside ring
area for one turn, and are removed at the beginning of the next Artillery
Rounds Impact phase.
All
artillery to be considered a battery must have three or more guns; have an FDC,
and an ammo dump. Ammo dump must be
within 100m of the guns. An ammo dump
can be a fixed position or a truck or armored vehicle for self propelled
artillery. If the ammo dump is
destroyed, then guns only fire once every other turn due to low ammunition. All guns must be within 10m of each other if
there is only voice communication between guns, 50m of each other if wire or
radio is used. A six-gun battery could
be as much as 1250m across if wire or radio is used.
The
artillery template shows the locations for artillery fire from batteries of up
to eight-guns. If fewer guns are firing,
use the locations for the guns that are firing, unless only one gun is shooting
indirect fire; then shot lands on the #3 position. If only two guns are shooting indirect fire,
the shots land on the #2 and #3 positions.
A
fire direction center must be located within 1250m of the center of the battery
if radio or wire is used for communication.
The FDC must be within 50m if only voice is used. If there is no FDC available then artillery
may only fire over open sights as separate guns, or on the D chart with
the battery observer only, or map fire.
Surface
to surface missile fire is conducted as map fire, or a spotter may call it
in. No spotting rounds are fired the
missile is simply launched. Spotted
missile fire is fired like map fire, except it is written only three turns in
advance.
Wire Communications
Wire
communications require a thread strung along the route. This allows communications without
interruptions by jamming or interception.
Wire may be broken by artillery fire.
Wire may be on the surface or underground. The orange blast marker will break surface
wires; the ring will break buried wire.
To
repair wire, a signal team must start at one terminal of the line and follow
the wire to the break. The repair team
may not drive directly to the break. It
takes one turn to repair a surface break, two turns to repair an underground
break. Wire on a pole counts as surface
wire. Tracked vehicles driving over it
will cut wire lying on the ground automatically. There will be a 50% chance that wires laying
on the surface of the ground will be cut by wheeled vehicles driving over it.
MORTARS
Caliber Range
60 mm 1,500 m
81 mm 2,500 m
107 mm, 4.2" 3,500 m
120 mm 4,500 m
