Javaslinger Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 So I'm playing my first quick battle to get the hang of things.... I carefully plan my moves so that my squads are ready to leave their jump off point precisely as the barrage begins... Well, I've got 1 battery of 2 off-board 81's, 2 on board 81's and 2 onboard 60's... First, I forget to deploy them... Then, it takes seemingly forever for them to even begin spotting rounds... Minutes go by and I'm getting a round here and a round there... I'm like.. that's it??? Oh, well, send in the troops then I guess under the cover of this hardly withering barrage... So the troops begin their advance across largely open ground from 3 directions and I'm cringing waiting for the MG's to cut them to pieces... 5 sec, 10 sec, 20 sec.... Then suddenly all freaking HELL breaks loose... Suddenly my mortars REALLY start landing and the target area gets FREAKING PASTED!!! I see little Germans running in all directions... Explosion after explosion! 2 buildings just collapse... Wow.... That's more like it... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Schultz Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Always nice to share your first serious artillery experience. Love it when a plan comes together. Share pics in the screenshot thread .. or here. Try a 107mm mortar smoke screen , or maybe an emergency 155mm small area mission for that 'shock and awe' effect. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Or for REAL shock and awe, buy a few batteries of rockets (they're cheap) and have them all fire into a small area. Then saunter over and count the bodies. But seriously, six mortars was kind of overkill. If you were just wanting to take out a single MG or squad, one of the 60mm mortars would have sufficed. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Next time you're waiting, you can use the Arty interface to find out how long till FFE... GaJ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StellarRat Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Mortars are the best type of arty against soft targets pound for pound. The only problem is they don't have the range of other types. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExurbanKevin Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Wait'll you start tossing in some battleship rounds. Mjölnir ain't got NUTHIN' on that! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I just read something this afternoon that belongs in this thread. From Eisenhower's Lieutenants, describing part of the battle for the Hürtgen Forest: To take hill 187, twenty artillery battalions, including a 240mm howitzer battalion and two 8 inch gun battalions, eventually fired a three minute TOT concentration on an area of about 300 by 500 meters... The author then adds, rather laconically I thought: ...this knocked out the opposition in the immediate area. Well you'd rather expect it would! Think of it, twenty battalions? That's sixty batteries. Try setting that up as a test and watch it go. That would be three minutes of sheer hell for anybody on the receiving end. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Schultz Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Oh my Lord. I wonder how the engine would cope with that much deformation of terrain. Craters on top of craters. ...and to think I shy away from including more than a single 155mm battery in a scenario... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Oh my Lord. I wonder how the engine would cope with that much deformation of terrain. Craters on top of craters. ...and to think I shy away from including more than a single 155mm battery in a scenario... Yes, I've had the feeling that most players are shy about using historical levels of artillery support, especially when playing the Allies, who had humongous quantities of the stuff and tended to use it quite freely (except in the close quarters of the bocage, which made it too dangerous). This is understandable as it also tends to make for a less interesting game on the level of CM. It would be alright in an operational level game though as one of the decisions a player would have to make is where to commit his guns. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tardigrade10 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 That would be three minutes of sheer hell for anybody on the receiving end. I doubt it would be a full three minutes of sheer hell for anybody on the receiving end. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I doubt it would be a full three minutes of sheer hell for anybody on the receiving end. Depends on whether they survived the first two minutes, eh? BTW, I wasn't trying to suggest that that level of support was typical for all battalion sized attacks. It wasn't unheard of though, and it was typical for major offensives, especially in the British sector at Normandy and elsewhere. And even smaller actions usually had some arty on call if needed, depending on how lucrative the target was or how critical the position. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword56 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Yes, I've had the feeling that most players are shy about using historical levels of artillery support, especially when playing the Allies, who had humongous quantities of the stuff and tended to use it quite freely (except in the close quarters of the bocage, which made it too dangerous). This is understandable as it also tends to make for a less interesting game on the level of CM. It would be alright in an operational level game though as one of the decisions a player would have to make is where to commit his guns. Agreed, and an example of this is happening right now: The operational level boardgame I'm using to control/set up CMBN battles (Saint Lo) has generated a German surprise counterattack at dawn (Inf battalion + engineer platoon + elements of jagdpanzer and stug companies) against the flank of a tired and inexperienced US infantry company. Overnight on July 12, the US corps artillery in the op game spent a lot of its available fire missions on long-range interdiction and counterbattery fire. Now the Germans are attacking at dawn on July 13, and the US company has only "limited" ammunition for the offmap defensive fire support. But the guns on call are good ones: A full 12-tube battalion of 4.2" chemical mortars from the 82nd Chemical Mortar Bn/320th Infantry. Just an example of an interesting, realistic, and offbeat situation that an op game can generate, which might not happen so often in quickbattles or one-off scenarios. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Uh oh, something tells me I better keep my infantry spread out and get to close quarters quickly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vossiewulf1212 Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Try a 14in battleship barrage. I did that on the map I was making for the hell of it, and let me assure you it done blowed up the whole town reeeel good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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