Giving bearers something to bear...

[Sgt Schultz]

has been a bit of a quest of mine for design work. Immobilized Hannomags were the easy first step for MG bearers, and teams running low.

Trucks cannot be used, as any immobilized soft vehicle crew auto-bails and will not return.

I really wanted to address the issue of on-map 81mm mortar ammo. The Amis have to be tweaked way down to even things out with the Germans, and that's not what I want at all. I want more per tube, not less. I want to make the bearers go get the ammo. I want the ammo to show up later than the tube(s).

The real problem is how snobby the mortar firing units are. They will not accept ammo from any non-vehicle unit who is not their organic bearer. They will take from whatever vehicle drives by with 81mm rounds to spare though.

The two sides have their own unique options in this area.

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First off, the Germans. I found their answer looking for something else.

Armored Infantry section. Panzergrenadier Btn [Motorized].

Trucks. With mortar ammo in them. 30 HE and 6 smoke. These beauties are attached to a standard mortar squad w/bearer team.

Guess what? You can delete everything in the entire Btn except the section HQs... and of course the trucks. You can keep the C2 chain of HQs for nice radio-equipped 3-man security forces. They even look a little like cops/MPs.

Two trucks per company. 60HE and 12 smoke.

Three companies per Btn. 180 HE 36 smoke.

Now since a designer cannot immobilize trucks, they need to be contained by terrain/walls/etc... but still available to foot traffic. Maybe someplace to the rear with a variable time reinforcement to keep the enemy from nuking the site from orbit. And they don't HAVE to be immoblized. They are trucks, and not too many people are going to risk their 81mm rounds in a truck. Just get close and let the boys hump 'em from there.

All that is needed now is to buy the usual on-map mortar squads, and let the bearers do their thing once the initial rounds run out, and the trucks show up. Heck, give the poor slobs a Kubel or a 250/1 if they have a long trek.

Less tubes on map. People will take more care with the ones they are issued. We won't see so many sniper-mortars.

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The Amis are a tad more difficult.

They get the mortar Hannomag and a mortar team. It is the standard small team with 20 HE and 2 WP and no bearers. The HT carries 66 HE and 8 WP(yay).

The real buzzkill is that you cannot delete the mortar team, and there is no way to add bearers that they will accept ammo from.

The upside is you can immobilize the HTs with no worries. As long as the crew does not dismount or bail(watch where you click). This means no terrain/walls to give away ammo dumps.

But how to deal with all those pesky, snobby mortar teams???

Oubliette.

Small exit area at edge of setup zone surrounded by high walls. No setup zone inside. Teams are placed inside by designer.

Turn 1 .... they go bye bye.

Or you can make them reinforcements that never show up.

Now the "real" mortar teams are free to have at the ammo in the HTs, wherever and whenever they may be designed in.

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And THAT friends and neighbors, is how you give those bearers something to do besides perform buddy aid and die like flies as scouts.

What say ye?

[necramonium]

Something i still don't know, is how do ammo bearers supply ammo? Is it done automatically?:confused:

[Sgt Schultz]

Yes necra. As long as the bearer team is in range, then the transfer happens automatically as needed.

It would be nice if the mortar team could 'aquire' the ammo from the bearers, so the bearers could go for more.