I HATE xylophones and their ilk

[Cymru]

By now I should know better. In a small QB I am given a Xylophone and go ahead and use it. I place a linear barrage along a hedgerow behind where I expect the enemy main defense line to be. The barrage is set to last five minutes and experience has taught me to play it safe and stay put and hidden during the barrage.

Hah! Over the course of the next five minutes eight rockets land a full one third of the map away from the target zone: and every one of them lands *directly* on one of my units. I lose a quarter of my force before I have even started and a third of my units are so freaked out that they play no real part in the rest of the QB. When I manage to get close to the enemy I do find that almost all of their artillery and mortars have been knocked, so I suppose my losses were the cost of doing business. Nonetheless, from now on I either aim at the back of the map, or don’t use them at all.

[LJFHutch]

So thaaat is why they're so cheap

[Statisoris]

Aren't rocket barrages always delivered in ellipse form even if you plot lines. Can't recall since they are perpetually outlawed in my PBEM games.

[MikeyD]

I was reading how US artillerymen HATED Xylophone too. The weapon was exactly the opposite of what every artillerymen trained so hard for - precision precision precision. The higher command loved them, though. They delivered what the top brass wanted to see - volumes of ordnance delivered across a broad area en mass.

[flamingknives]

Not these Xylophones then?

[Sgt Schultz]

They are the Divisional Commander's personal shotgun. No one else wants them anyway.

I wouldn't use them on anything smaller than a medium map/battle.

[Michael Emrys]

I wouldn't use them on anything smaller than a medium map/battle.

And indeed, on historical grounds you shouldn't. They were intended strictly as an area fire/saturation weapon. Useful for prep at the start of an attack or to deny an approach to an attacking enemy. But you should keep them well away from your own troops. Precision weapons they ain't.

Michael