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10/18/2015

Why artillery does not help infantry to win games?


A lot of FoW gamers that I talk with and play against still think that artillery (and by artillery I mean anything that is capable of both bombardments and rof 1 direct fire) is a good way to support their infantry company. Come on guys, this is wrong. Apart from some specialized lists, most of infantry companies do not need artillery to win games. I think quite the opposite is true. Artillery can sometimes ruin your games.

My recent tournament experience proved again and again that the big guns are way too ineffective (random) and vulnerable to include them in an infantry list. Their lack of power comes from several sources:

1. They need a lot of time to kill off dispersed targets. This is because, compared to other types of weapons, they need 3-4 separate types of rolls to kill a target (range in, to hit, failed save, firepower). Running an infantry list, the last thing you want is to kill slow enough to give your opponent a lot of turns, enabling him to isolate your platoons and shoot them repeatedly until they die.

2. They are expensive, so shooting recon jeeps or basic infantry with your 155mm and 250+ points guns seems a bit of an overkill. Most infantry lists have enough support options to choose from, before you start spending them on arty.

3. They are not an anti-tank asset even though, for lack of other targets (see point 2), players normally shoot tanks with them. They are at most your last desperate defense against heavy tanks your a-t cannot get rid of. If you run the numbers, then assuming that you only fit one medium tank under your template and do not have ToT, your chance to destroy a tank is around 1/12. So with 2 tanks under the template, it is 1/6 and so on. A typical a-t gun platoon of equal cost (let's take Zis-2 for instance), shooting at Panzer IVs at long range (5+ to hit) will kill 1 tank and bail 1 with average rolls.
Infantry lists exposing their platoons to the enemy need to ensure that return fire will be minimal. This is not possible with artillery (see point 1).


Considering all of the points above, I will mention that I still sometimes use arty in my infantry lists. The one and only reason for this is to force the opponent to disperse his forces and not let him perform a concentrated assault. I always go for something cheap though, like trained 105s or heavy mortars. Other than that, if I want to go competitive infantry, I stay away from the big guns :)


What is your experience with using artillery in infantry lists?

9 comments:

  1. I'm still very new to the hobby, however, I think the role of artillery is to smoke and/or pin the enemy, and break up their forces in a concentrated assault. That's why German Nebelwerfers are so highly valued - they do everything arty does, for a low points cost.

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  2. Very true, however nebelwerfers seem to be an exception to the rule. For pinning/smoke all you need is a couple of mortars really at around 60 points on average. What is also great about nebs is the possibility to upgrade them with an anti-tank section.

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  3. Nebelwerfers are good but in missions with reserves - they either die very fast when on table or do nothing when put in reserves. Big guns can handle their own well especially against recce vehicles- having AT 9+ Fp3+ helps to see the little buggers off. German Nbw wouldn`t be so great if German arty was not overpriced (210pts for 4 C/V 10.5cm guns).

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    2. Rocket artillery is great for other reasons though. Being able to range in with three dice and not getting a penalty to your to hit rolls is great. 15cm nebels are good value for their points and with at3 fp4+ they are only marginaly worse than a lefh18 platoon. And with nicely protected flanks, recces can't really do anything about them. Their only problem is fire in the sky rule which isn't all that to be honest.

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  4. I run US airborne and I haven't had much luck with artillery, I try and use tanks as support instead.When playing germans I run 8 Panzer were and have had good luck with them.It is also great to bring out the big (pizza box) bombardment template. Lol

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  5. I run US airborne and I haven't had much luck with artillery, I try and use tanks as support instead.When playing germans I run 8 Panzer were and have had good luck with them.It is also great to bring out the big (pizza box) bombardment template. Lol

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  6. I seriously agree with expensive arty not being worthy. But very cheap options like Hungary and Finland have, and maybe medium arty support the British get for 25 points are very good for what they do for the lists. IMO.

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  7. I also agree. This is why I improved the article to state that by artillery I mean anything that is capable of both template and direct fire and is rof 1. I think that rof 2 arty has its place in infantry lists.

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