Firing at tanks

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pdendrijver
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:28 pm

Firing at tanks

Post by pdendrijver »

Hi everyone, I've played my first game yesterday, and something that is not quite clear is how to fire on tanks.

Say I've got a HMG, which gets 6 shots per action point (We started calling action dice action points, to decrease confusion with the actual dice used when doing an action)

Does this mean I get:
[step 1] 6 shots, roll to hit (say I hit on a 4+, so average 3 hits)
[step 2] roll 3 dice, to see if they penetrate (the strike dice)
[step 3] compare the amount of 5+ results to the amount of 5+ armour rolls
[step 4] look up the damage on the appropriate chart

This will give a 75% chance of causing one damage in one turn of full firing (2x6 dice)
Is this correct, considering the fact that the bullets weren't very effective at long range?
Archdukek
Posts: 5741
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Linlithgow, West Lothian, UK

Re: Firing at tanks

Post by Archdukek »

I agree with you about using the term "action points" rather than "action dice" which is confusing.

As to firing an HMG at a tank, my understanding is that an HMG only ever rolls one Strike Dice if it hits a tank. Not 1 strike dice for every hit rolled. So a full turn of firing is likely to result in the tank being hit at least once for each action spent firing, but for each action you will be rolling 1 strike dice as opposed to 3 armour dice so damage is unlikely.

In contrast a 37mm AT gun, which rolls only 3 dice to hit the tank per action, is less likely to hit but when it does its 4 strike dice means it is more likely to cause damage.

John
pdendrijver
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:28 pm

Re: Firing at tanks

Post by pdendrijver »

That is an excellent explanation of it, which makes sense too! Thanks. :)
Maraviglia
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:20 pm

Re: Firing at tanks

Post by Maraviglia »

I was just pondering this question myself but I've come to some other conclusions.

First about the HMG, it's only got a chance of damaging a tank if it is equipped with AP rounds according to the book so I think it's perfectly reasonable that it could score an average 3 hits and roll 3 strike dice against the tank's 3 armour dice. As I understand it a "normal" HMG can achieve nothing against a tank which seems wrong but I'm interested in what others think.
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