Firing Attached AP Ammunition - Leg Unit to Combat Vehicle

 

Today we'll look at a small test of leg unit vs combat vehicle action for the purposes of demonstrating an AP (armour piercing) attached crew served weapon attack. We'll assign a fire command to the leg unit and fire the M1 Bazooka on an unsuspecting Panzer IVG.

The situation: A lone Soviet elite Rifle Squad carrying a crew served M1 Bazooka attached weapon sits above the clearing to the south, protected by light woods. A single elite crewed Panzer IVG is spotted making it's way to the end south of the village of Stravrhevoy. The Soviet squad waits patiently for the German tank to creep into range of their Bazooka's AP ammunition.

Our first catch of the day.

We can see the solid green spot line from the Soviet squad to the German Panzer. This not only indicates that we have line of sight (LOS), but that the squad is also able to fire with at least one of its weapons. Looking at the Soviet data card, we can see that this unit has 2 weapons. Its intrinsic GP (general purpose) Rifle squad weapon, as well as a crew served attached AP M1 Bazooka.

The Rifle squad has both a GP and an AP weapon.

The German unit is at range 3. At this range the Soviet Rifle squad's intrinsic GP weapon has a factor of "6". However, its M1 Bazooka at range 3 has a factor of 20. Much better :)

Each ammunition listed can be either enabled or disabled (greyed out) depending on whether it can be used against any of the unit's spotted targets. If an ammunition is out of range, or cannot be used against a particular enemy unit, it cannot be used in battle. In this specific case, both ammunitions listed are available to be used against the German unit.

Here is the data card for the German tank. The "Defensive Information" area displays the possible data points (highlighted in orange) relevant to this attack...

In this attack, the Soviet squad has a "Front Side" aspect angle on its target.

We use the Defensive Information "Front/Side" data points due to the target's Front/Side aspect angle. We cross reference this with the type of shot (Level, Rise, or Fall), which in this case is a "Falling" shot because of the higher elevation of the Soviet squad. The AP defensive data along the "Fall" row relevant to this attack includes armour values for:

"TF" (turret front)

"TS" (turret side)

"HF" (hull front)

"HS" (hull side)

"DK" (deck) 

The Soviet unit is given a "Fire" command. The computer controlled German Panzer unit decides on a "Move" command. For the purposes of this test, we purposefully give the computer controlled German unit a "Move" command. The command is face down (below), but we do in fact know it is a Move command. When playing against the AI, we will not know the command assigned to any of the enemy units.

After the "Command" phase.

Once we have locked our target, the Battle Box appears with the battle details loaded for AP combat resolution...

The Battle Box. Ready for armour piercing combat resolution.

The right side of the Battle Box contains our direct fire data and process for determining the result of the attack. To start the process off, we open the AP Hit form by clicking the first "Roll" button...

The AP combat modifiers are listed on the left (below). Any modifiers highlighted in orange are added up and push the AP Hit row up or down. In our case, we have 2 combat modifiers that apply. "Target Moving" at a value of "-2", and "Shooter Grade" at a value of "5". Adding these together we get a total of "3". Since the German unit is at "E" (extended) range for the Soviet's Bazooka ammunition, we use the "E" column of the AP Hit table. Using our modifier total of "3", we travel 3 rows up from the "0" row (the grey row). This leaves us with the highlighted AP Hit value of "13". We must roll a 13 or less to hit the German Panzer IVG...

We rolled well. It's a hit. We had a 13% chance.

Sometimes we need to determine the number of hits. To do so, we would open the "# of Hits" form. However, the Soviet squad has an "N" (normal) "ROF" (rate of fire), and therefore we do not utilize this table in this specific battle. ROF is listed for for each ammunition on the leg unit's data card. This is what the "AP Number of Hits" table looks like...

This table only applies to ammunition with Q (quick), F (fast), or R (rapid) ROF (rate of fire).

Next up in the process is the "AP Hit Location" determination...

We roll a single D10 die to determine the hit location on the enemy tank.

Since the target aspect angle is "Front/Side", we use the "Front/Side" row (highlighted in yellow). We've rolled a "4", which indicates that we have hit the "TS" or "Turret Side" of the Panzer unit.

We've hit the tank on the side of the turret. We now determine whether or not the shot has penetrated. This is automatically calculated for us using a few pieces of data from the data card of each unit...

At the bottom left of the screen above, we take the "P" (penetration) value of "20" from extended range of the Soviet M1 Bazooka row. We compare it to the target's armour rating listed in the Panzer's "Defensive Information" under the "TS" (turret side) column. In the "Fall" row, the cross referenced value is "7". The Bazooka's "20" beats the turret side armour of "7". The shot has penetrated.

Now we determine the damage the shot made to the Panzer. Looking at the Soviet M1 Bazooka row, we see the "AP Damage" values for "ND" (no damage), "DM" (damage), "KO" (knocked out), and "BU" (brew up). We roll a single D10 and see where we land...

Great result! Bazookas rule.

We roll a "0" (which is a 10). This results in a Brew Up and the unit is destroyed...

The Soviet leg unit is marked with a "Spot Fire" counter.

Our "Fire" command counter is disabled. The Soviet unit can now be spotted from much farther away, since it has been marked with a "Spot Fire" counter. By firing, they have exposed themselves and possibly compromised their location. Who knows what the enemy will throw at us next :)

I hope you are enjoying my work and I look forward to any comments and/or suggestions.