Mortar Barrage Questions

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Tommy20
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:05 pm

Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by Tommy20 »

A couple of questions on Mortar Barrages came up in tonight’s game:

1. My FO had spent two turns activating, so there was an on target ranging shot on the board. As I announced his third activation, my opponent spent a CoC die to end the turn. I countered with my own CoC die to keep the barrage going, and he said since the barrage (fire for effect) hadn’t actually begun, that I couldn’t do so. I can’t find anything in the rules to support that, but said I would ask the question to be sure…

2. Later in the game, another barrage was in place when my FO was killed. Since the FO didn’t end the barrage, and the turn hadn’t ended, we left it in place. My opponent then played another CoC die to end the barrage, and I again countered with my own. My thought was that even though I could no longer activate the barrage to do damage, it still kept the bulk of his troops pinned and firing at half effect. Is this interpretation sound?
JimLeCat
Posts: 888
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:57 pm
Location: Durham, England

Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by JimLeCat »

Hi,

My quick answers:-

1. Was it your phase and you were allocating dice to activate? In which case, remember that a CoC dice doesn't end the turn immediately, but at the end of the phase. As such, you would get to complete your FOs activation and start the barrage before the turn ended, so you could indeed keep it going.

2. Leaving the barrage in place when the FO is killed seems OK, the mortar battery doesn't know anything has happened to him. The historical order would be to fire so many rounds then wait for further instructions, so they aren't going to stop that because he's not talking to them. Continuing it over a turn end without an FO, I would say no, since he isn't there to tell them to continue firing, which is how I would interpret the CoC dice.

As an aside, you mention his troops firing at half effect under the barrage. Remember that RAW the barrage also blocks line of sight, so they can neither fire nor be fired on.

As a further aside, I don't like the mortar rules as written. The barrage is too neat and tidy, and the effects are too abstract for the level the game is on, but that's a different conversation.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Jim
Tommy20
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by Tommy20 »

1) It was his phase. Since I then played my CoC dice, the only effect of the Turn End was the removal of his own Smoke and his Overwatches.

2) We got that wrong. I thought I had read that units within a barrage fired at half dice, but just looked for it in the book, and believe I got that from the rules for Pinned units. The lack of LOS would obviously negate that…

Thanks!
JimLeCat
Posts: 888
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Location: Durham, England

Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by JimLeCat »

Ok, I just assumed it was your phase as you said you were announcing your FOs third activation.
Tommy20
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:05 pm

Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by Tommy20 »

You’re right, it was the second one that happened on his phase (it was a long night…). The first one was during my phase. We did complete that one, though…
JimLeCat
Posts: 888
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:57 pm
Location: Durham, England

Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by JimLeCat »

In which case, you had it right, as per my first answer above.

If you had failed to activate your FO in that phase, he would have been right - the barrage needs to have started to be continued, calling in ranging shots doesn't count.

Cheers,
Jim
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Truscott Trotter
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Re: Mortar Barrage Questions

Post by Truscott Trotter »

JimLeCat wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:47 am Hi,

My quick answers:-

1. Was it your phase and you were allocating dice to activate? In which case, remember that a CoC dice doesn't end the turn immediately, but at the end of the phase. As such, you would get to complete your FOs activation and start the barrage before the turn ended, so you could indeed keep it going.

2. Leaving the barrage in place when the FO is killed seems OK, the mortar battery doesn't know anything has happened to him. The historical order would be to fire so many rounds then wait for further instructions, so they aren't going to stop that because he's not talking to them. Continuing it over a turn end without an FO, I would say no, since he isn't there to tell them to continue firing, which is how I would interpret the CoC dice.

As an aside, you mention his troops firing at half effect under the barrage. Remember that RAW the barrage also blocks line of sight, so they can neither fire nor be fired on.

As a further aside, I don't like the mortar rules as written. The barrage is too neat and tidy, and the effects are too abstract for the level the game is on, but that's a different conversation.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Jim
I reckon this is pretty spot on Jim
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