Phase 1: Artillery

Lightning War

Artillery Orders

Artillery may be involved in one of the following activities:

• Being transported.
• Setting up and registering to fire.
• Waiting for a call to fire.
• Waiting for the Fire Control Center to compute firing parameter for a particular mission.
• Firing as part of a pre-plotted Fire Plan
• Engaging in unplanned, target-of-opportunity indirect fire.
• Firing at a target using direct fire.
• In "Take-Down", preparing to move, either to get to a position where new targets can be hit or to avoid counterbattery fire.

Transport

Artillery is typically transported via man-pack, horse-pack, or vehicle (whether towed or self-propelled). The transporting vehicle moves at its normal speed.

Set Up

When a battery of artillery pieces needs to be set up, the number of turns depends on the gun's size:

Vehicle-mounted guns set twice as fast. Setup time includes physically setting up the guns of the battery, setting up Observation Posts (assuming they're nearby), unloading of ammunition, and initial calibration.

At the time they set up, the distance of the battery from the battlefield should be noted. This will determine whether the battery is at short, medium, or long range and how effective counterbattery fire will be.

Artillery Types

When the Referee assigns an artillery asset to a side, he will specify the Caliber (Very Light, Light, Medium, Heavy, or Very Heavy); Type of the asset (Gun, Howitzer, Mt. Gun, Mt. Howitzer, Infantry Gun, Mortar, or Rocket Launcher), and the asset's unit size (battery, battalion, regiment). The Artillery Types Table shows which assets are available to each nation.

The Artillery Type Table also shows the minimum, short, medium and long ranges for each weapon. The Referee will tell the players how far the asset is from the game board (all on-board ranges are assumed to be in the same range class, except for mortars). In some cases, the player may get to choose which range band is used. The shorter the range, the less deviation when the gun fires, but the more vulnerable the battery is to counterbattery. (The beaten zone for rockets also varies with range.)

There are several types of artillery fire. Each has its own advantages. But not all weapons are capable of all types of fire. The table below summarizes the options. For instance, mortars are capable only of high-angle fire:

Fire Plans

Depending on how long the combatants have had to plan for their attack or defense, how good their intelligence is, and the resources at hand, one or both sides may have drawn up simple or extensive artillery fire plans.

Elaborate fire plans can include:

• multiple phases of engagement
• sudden concentrations
• false transfers
• irregular jumps
• planned counterbattery fire
• phase shifts either at a predetermined time or when an objective has been achieved
• neutralization of infantry or armor
• interdiction and harassing fire on probable avenues of approach
• destruction of fortifications
• neutralization or smoking of command or observations posts
• support on the flanks of an advance
• ... and more.

In some games the Referee will act as the artillery supervisor and construct a Fire Plan before the game starts, with the players playing the role of infantry and armor commanders fitting into an overall attack scheme. In other games, the Referee will ask a player to act as an artillery commander and construct a Fire Plan in concert with the overall attack strategy.

The key point about a Fire Plan is that it is constructed before the game begins using intelligence (possibly faulty) on the enemy troop and their positions. While there is flexibility in its construction, there is little in its execution.

Target Acquisition

The combatants in World War II did target acquisition in very different ways.

German, Japanese, French, Italian

A player will be designated to act as artillery officer for combatants of these nations. The player controlling the Forward Observer (FO) will have to set up an Observation Post (OP) somewhere on the board. (In later years, armored observation vehicles were sometimes used). Sometimes the Referee will place the FO, sometimes the player will have the opportunity to place it, at other times the Germans will be advancing and the FO will have to set up during the game.

When the observer sees a target, the player controlling the FO will estimate distance and angle from the OP (the former by just looking at the board, the latter using a protractor). The opposing players should turn away from the table as this measurement is going on so that they do not know the location of the OP. Six turns later the artillery will be fired, landing at the end of the Artillery Phase.

Corrections of up to 400m from the original firing point can be done with only one turn of delay -- the orders are written at the beginning of Artillery Phase and the barrage lands in the Artillery Phase of the following turn.

In some scenarios, some terrain features (such as a bridge) will have already been ranged in and can be fired at with only one turn's delay. In addition, artillery can fire at a point it has already fired at in the same way. Each battery is separately controlled from its FO and must be plotted and controlled separately.

Soviet

All Soviet artillery (except mortars and direct-fire) must be pre-plotted before the game starts. In some cases the Soviets can do their plotting using the actual game board (such as when they've had a very long time to plan their attack); in other cases they may be working only from a map. Soviet mortars may be included as part of a large-scale Fire Plan, or they may be used more flexibly in the same way as German artillery.

British

Before Dunkirk, use the German method. After Dunkirk, the British FO calls his fire by designating a point on his map at which he wants the fire to fall. (Note that inaccuracies in the map may result in a missed shot.) British artillery always fires in open sheaf. It lands in the following. The FO may call in as much artillery as he likes, subject to Referee approval, keeping in mind the limited ammunition.

American

The Americans used a refined version of the British system. In addition to the regular FO's, any platoon-sized unit can call for artillery (though somewhat less accurately). The Referee will act as the American Fire Control Center, sifting through all the calls for help and deciding what to assign to each target. After the start of the Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16, 1944), Americans can use airburst artillery.

The delay on American artillery depends on the amount of artillery responding. If it's a battalion's assets, the artillery is fired in the turn following the one it's called; if a division's, three turns later; if a corps', six turns later.

Firing

After the target has been acquired, firing can begin. The artillery fire order is added to the artillery asset’s log sheet. It contains the following information:

All barrages must be preceded by a spotting round or smoke unless the Referee agrees otherwise.

Artillery units typically have a limited supply of ammunition available for a scenario.

Take-Down

Self-propelled artillery takes no time to prepare for movement. For others, Take-Down takes half as long as Set-Up.

Counterbattery

Any time a battery fires, it is subject to counterbattery fire from all enemy batteries in range. See the Counterbattery Table. A successful use of counterbattery means that the counterbattery fire has landed near enough to the battery to force it to move, going through take-down, set-up, and re-calibration all over.

Artillery Resolution

The barrage will deviate from the aim point by an amount rolled on the Artillery Deviation Table. The adjusted target point represents the center of the barrage. The area of the barrage is known as the "Beaten Zone" and can be determined by using the appropriate Beaten Zone Table. The Beaten Zone is a rectangle aligned so its width is perpendicular to the direction of fire and its depth is parallel to the direction of fire. For offboard artillery, it is good enough to align it with the closest cardinal point (N,E,S,W) getting overly precise.

When the shot lands, all units in the Beaten Zone, or units that moved through the Beaten Zone, may be affected by the barrage. For each unit, roll on the Personnel or Vehicle Effects Table using the die-roll modifiers found on the Artillery Modifiers Chart. The latter chart is a simple chart that takes into account the target and the artillery fire type.

Smoke and White Phosphorus

Smoke shells create a smoke screen of the same size as the Beaten Zone, though its placement is offset by the direction and strength of the wind:

White Phosphorus also creates smoke, though since it burns hot, it tends to rise straight into the air. Place a 50m=1" deep smoke screen across the center of the barrage across its entire width. 50% of the wooden buildings in the beaten zone will be lit on fire. Woods in the beaten zone will also be lit on fire and will produce smoke.

Artillery Charts

Artillery Types Table
Type	Caliber	Range in meters				Countries
		Min	Short	Medium	Long	US	UK	Ge	Sv	It	Jp	Fr
Gun	Light		3,750	7,500	15,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Medium		5,000	10,000	20,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Heavy		5,000	10,000	20,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	V.Heavy		7,500	15,000	30,000	•	•	•	•			•
Howitzer	Light		2,000	4,000	8,000	•			•	•
	Medium		2,500	5,000	10,000	•		•	•			•
	Heavy		3,000	6,000	12,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	V.Heavy		5,000	10,000	20,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Mountain Gun	Light		1,250	2,500	5,000	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Medium		2,000	4,000	8,000		•	•				•
	Heavy		3,000	6,000	12,000			•
Mountain Howitzer	Light		2,000	4,000	8,000	•		•	•	•
	Medium		2,000	4,000	8,000			•	•
Infantry Gun	V. Light		1,250	2,500	5,000	•					•	•
	Light		2,500	5,000	10,000	•		•	•		•
	Heavy		1,250	2,500	5,000	•		•
Mortar	V. Light	100	200	400	800	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Light	400	600	1,200	2,400	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
	Medium	600	1,500	3,000	6,000	•		•	•
	Heavy	200	500	1,000	2,000	•			•		•	•
Rocket	Medium	200	1,250	2,500	5,000	•		•	•
	Heavy	500	2,000	4,000	8,000	•		•	•

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Morale

Movement

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