Bad Luck for BAR Gunners

[Mighty Ajax]

I'm re-playing the Allied vs AI scenario Alvono Anvil and my BAR guys are getting chewed up. I'm just forming up for an attack on the monastery and haven't taken too many causalities, but it seems a high percentage of them are BAR men. In my last turn I only had three and they were all BARs. One guy was with 2/3 of his squad crossing a small space of open ground when he got it by a stray shot from a reversing 250/10, and the other 2 got it in a stone building 20 seconds later from the same, still reversing halftrack.

They're magnets:(

Anyone else encounter this phenomenon?

[ZPB II]

This is a new and exciting phenomenon.

I have previously heard about snipers, tank commanders, radiomen, squad leaders, assistant squad leaders, antitank gunners, the XO and the XO's best friend being magnetized/debuffed/cursed/hexed and somehow attracting a disproportionate number of variously shaped metal objects on a terminal intercept trajectory.

Now, the poor BAR guys. The plot thickens.

[ricroma]

Yes, I've too noticed this strange "attraction" of BAR soldiers while playing the allied campaign.

And I also want to point out the opposite phenomenon: the almost unkillable german mg soldiers! When my guys are able to spot and pin down a german squad, they may kill almost all men, but no way they shot the mg guys! The same goes with artillery: during the campaign you are provided with a large amount of artillery, and I was often able to place an almost surgical barrage on germans squads. Still, when the mist cleared guess who was still standing: the mg guys!

[Kommissar]

I hear you ricroma. During the campaign I find I obliterate an area with artillery, and the only survivor is a guy with an mg who rips up my advancing infantry. I suspect part of the reason is that when the survivors perform buddy aid on their fallen comrades, they tend to take their mgs as well.

[MikeyD]

I have a distant recollection reading that B.A.R. gunners were bullet magnets in real life too. A high casualty rate. Germans did not like B.A.R. and would prioritize taking them out.

[gunnersman]

As I understand it, MG gunners of all kinds in modern history had a short life span when the kaka hit the fan.

[Baneman]

Yes, as one who often plays German, I can attest to the fact that almost invariably even a single casualty in the squad is the guy with the MG42 ! They share some sort of magnetism with those BAR guys.

But desperate buddy-aid is always performed asap !

Sometimes more than once

[ZPB II]

No doubt the perception is slightly skewed by the fact that as far as I understand the BAR is high-up on the buddy aid pick list. The BAR is also putting out more fire than a rifle, which makes it more likely to be spotted and targeted by individual enemy soldiers.

If the gunner of an MG team goes down, another soldier will immediately reman the gun while another will administer buddy aid. This is why there will always be a gunner alive in an MG team while there are men remaining, unless the MG itself takes damage or it is heavily suppressed.

[Bradley]

I understand where you're coming from. In and effort to battle against such pesky phenomenon I've often lobbied for some sort of power-up or respawning feature for those BAR fellas, to give them a fighting chance, bullet magnets that they are. However and sadly, I do not believe such a feature is on Battlefront's radar.

[nik mond]

John Dillinger had bad luck with the BAR. He wanted to acquire some military firepower for his gang and got it hands on a couple BAR's. They tried to use them like the trench sweeping 50 round Tommy guns he was used to, but quickly found out the 20 round box mag doesn't last when you hold the trigger and fire 20 round bursts. And with such handling halfway through the second mag the BAR will surely jam.

[womble]

AIUI, the BAR/MG42/Bren/Breda is also high in the priority list for the team/squad to get into a position to bring fire to bear on the enemy. Which adds to their chances of being a priority target.

[akd]

LMGs (including BAR) engage at longer ranges than rifles, thus fire first and and are more likely to be fired on first.