Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
My House Rule for Arty vs AFVs
07-02-2017, 05:47 AM, (This post was last modified: 07-04-2017, 07:14 AM by RLW.)
#1
My House Rule for Arty vs AFVs
I have been reading a book on the battle the Bulge and it discusses how US heavy artillery would get mobility kills on German armor by  damaging tank treads or wheel axles.  One may recall that in AP published an optional rule for using artillery against tanks but it did not seem to catch on, and perhaps for good reason in that even Dr B did not seem to be too bullish on it. I thought a simple house rule to include this effect that takes advantage of some new rules that have been added since then. 

When  firing BF on  AFVs  a M2 result causing on to check for a mire condition (in addition to many M2 checks for non AFVs in the hex. If the  smallest arty factor in that attack is  less than 16 then plus one is added  to the more roll except for armor with 0 ratings (to reflect smaller  caliber rounds are less likely to  do damage to heavy tank treads but even light  shells can  damage  smaller treads). 

If two or more  AFV units are in the hex  the mire check is  rolled for each (in the AFV owner's choice) and the first more rolled would cancel any other rolls, i.e one can only have one  AFV unit in the stack mired for a given artillery attack. Thus the more AFV units in a hex the higher the chances of one becoming mired but never more than never more than one can be  mired per  BF attack and the first checked  are the more likely to be mired in that given one is mired that ends the check for the remaining AFVs in that stack.  Also, since the player can choose  the order  the smaller AFVs are likely to  get the mire in that is probably the order the player would roll the mire check. 

Once an AFV is mired the standard mire rules apply with the exception that if a mired  afv is  mired by  subsequent  BF it is reset  to having all three mire counters (but no additional penalty for being A mired again while still mired). To distinguish between the two causes of being mired  one might call  the more from moving M mired while the being mired from arty fire one can call,  A mired, if there is any need to distinguish between the two.

Now if one wants to be gamey and puts a HT in that hex  as a hedge  against being mired by artillery fire  it may pass its  more check and the heavy may fail its so that would only work so far so it probably isn't worth adding any more complexity to this rule to prevent that. But if one doesn't like even that potential for gameness one  could add a rule that if one rolls  a (unmodified) 1 (but not for a 2) then that mire effect does not end that round of further  mire checks for that stack so that one adding an extra  AFV to the stack to  act as a hedge can backfire. 

And for any daunting souls that are not adverse to added rule complexity but like all the crunch they can get one might add an option to this that if the player is willing,  they can  take a half step loss and  cancel the mire and move normally. This would simulate that it is probably only one of the vehicles or maybe two that were mired and  the other could move on a leave behind the mired ones behind. But these left behind AFVs may think, why not sit out this battle and take our time in fixing  the treads or are abandoned when  seriously threatened and thus are eliminated (but not with any VPs but as if they moved of map).

And for those that really don't mind rule complexity one can add that mired AFVs (regardless of how they become so) have  one  subtracted from their morale. And that if an demoralized AFV fails a RC and hence must flee it  can only do so by  flipping to  a half step as  above or else  is lost if it is already in the half step strength. And if the mired units is turretless its DF is halved and it is treated as  a AFv that has suffered a step los unit in regard to AT fire. And if a mired AFV is fired on with AT  (given there are no other AFVs in the hex) for assault  it gets a plus one for being so. So it is a bad thing to get mired not just forma mobility factor but that one becomes more of a sitting duck and they feel it too.

The above house rules would be in addition to the other effects  like rolling a X causes one to make a morale check for all AFVs in the hex. 

BTW, since I have bought lots of PG games I this have lots or marker counters and have made my own homemade mire counters by taking some surplus MOVED FIRED counters and with a  black water erasable marker pen (so I could erase it later if I so desired but they don't smudge once they dry so those work pretty good) I marked out the OVE in MOVED and the F in FIRE leaving only M   and IRE which spells MIRED. Pretty cool, huh? 

At any rate I haven't tested this rule very much to see how well it works but it seems to work OK but perhaps may need top be tweaked a bit to get what might seem to be right amount that this happens. So this makes even mighty Tigers  a bit more afraid of heavy artillery and gives them an added incentive to not bunch, just as it seems they had in real life.

[edit] Oh, and one other optional rule is that AFVs do not get any  column shifts  in towns due to arty fire. For the AFVs are in the streets and not in buildings and the buildings can  hurt rather than help  in that they can collapse and partly bury any nearby AFv in rubble  so that towns would not give that -2 to AFvs from arty fire.

And so (in summary) is the basic simple rule plus several options to suit ones taste in regard to house rules and  their threshold of pain in rule complexity. 

[edit] And here are some updates.

1. here is an optional rule if one thinks that too many AFVs are getting get mired with the normal rule. Only the M2 that is rolled by a die roll less than 7  causes a mire check for those AFVs in that stack. This should half the  probability of getting  AFV B Mire rolls.

2. Two step Mired units in an assault  use their flip side  DF value and are treated as if they were flipped for any shift bonuses such as efficient armor in modern PG. AFVs with only one step  that are mired suffer an addition 1/2 reduction (in addition to any due to  other  reason such as not being in good order).

3. The crews of Mired AFVs must typically have to exit the vehicle to  repair the damaged treads (or  get the  AFV unstuck ) and  thus a mired counter  is treated like a leader counter in regard to any additional fire (DF, BF, AF). If it is eliminated  the mired condition ends and the AFV is flipped (if it was at full strength) or eliminated if at half strength. (i.e the fiore  killed the exposed crew). As such the  mired counter can suffer disruption and demoralization and must be restored to good order before it can be removed at the  counter removal phase at the end of the turn. 

However, if one wants to button up the repair crew to protect them from such fire they can do that as a normal activation and indicate that by turning the  move/fire counter  upside down (not to be confused with being flipped over to its back side). In that  condition the crew is not subject to fire other than as part of the AFV bur neither can the mored  marker be removed at the marker removal phase at the end of the turn. Likewise such a buttoned up mired AFV can return attempting to un-mire the AFV by a normal activation where the crew  can exit the AFV and resume  trying remove the more effect (which is indicated by return the  moved /Fore counter so that it is longer  upside down and as such the Moved/Fired counter can be removed as per the normal mired rules  at the end of that turn given that it is in good order
Reply


Messages In This Thread
My House Rule for Arty vs AFVs - by RLW - 07-02-2017, 05:47 AM

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)