Mini Rocket Platforms : Only Light or Mini Rockets ?

[swordtart]

The thing about bombardments is they are initially inaccurate. Most of them start from map coordinates and some maths. That puts you in the area. You could probably pre-zero if you had a static set up (like a defensive battery), but even then depending on the range, atmospheric conditions (and barrel temperature) might make small changes to the barrel geometry. At longer ranges (and indirect fire is usually longer range than the distance from firebase to target would indicate as the shells are lobbed) these minor changes lead to large deviations.

The spotter is used to correct the fire by relaying where the shots actually hit. Once the test shots are hitting he can call on fire for effect and they unleash hell.

That is simulated in the rules for indirect fire by making the initial to hit penalty is so large (-6) but allowing up to 6 turns of sustained fire bonus if you have a spotter to eventually cancel it out. Without a spotter you just don't get the sustained fire bonus.

If the gunner has LOS to the target they can act as their own spotter of course.

Of course without a spotter you might be able to get close enough to the target point but not at the right time to hit a vehicle passing over that point, just because you as a player can see the counter, it doesn't mean your gunner knows when to fire or can correct the aim point of their gun to keep up with a moving target that he can't see. If you want to allow artillery to hit pre-spotted target squares then apply the -6, but require all fire to be pre-scheduled before the game (i.e. artillery will fire at grid x,y on turn t, phase p). That should quickly demonstrate how pointless artillery fire is without a spotter for anything other than damaging fixed targets or relying on saturation barrages.

I am in two minds about the recoil spades for rockets, but whilst rockets are supposed to be recoilless, if you look at a youtube video of an MLRS firing (for example) you can see large rockets put quite a shimmy on the vehicle. Compared to the recoil effect on the AS90 it looks about the same. Neither vehicle have recoil spades.

I am inclined to assume that the gun/tube manages most of the recoil which is why rocket tubes are lighter than guns as they require less recoil equipment to compensate, but there is only so much compensation possible and the -2 applies unless the vehicle is also braced with recoil spades. I think the +2 for TGs is the braced and stationary bonus but, as usual in CW, this isn't clear :)

Recoil should really have some relation to the mass of the firing assembly, but CW decided to duck that issue early on with TGs giving a handling penalty based on body type. The recoil effect on firing is assumed to be included in the to hit number. Even a 37mm AT gun has significant recoil (and under the rules that would have a field carriage and therefore count as having recoil spades).

CW Tanks can add interest, but it is not really a credible tank wargame as it is layered onto a rules set that isn't really that crunchy in the first place. Outside its generic car with guns conceit it starts to fall apart. I stick to compendium only as it is about as far as you can push it without the interleaving of rules, turning it into a mess (and even then I avoid all but the wheeled vehicles).