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MORTARS...What are they good for? Here's what other people have had to say about it.
Date: Friday, August 7, 1998 3:51:22 AM
From: JD Yahoo
Subj: Mortars
Best use I see for mortars is to attack infantry that is dug-in and not moving. Even if it's not effective fire, it can have a psychological effect on your opponent, and he may do something rash.
Mortars are at risk on any field where the enemy has some mobility or better field guns. If the enemy gets to them, they are dead.
J.D. Ehlers
Minnesota, USA
Date: Sunday, August 26, 1998
From: Ignatius
I first was frustrated by mortars in Panzerblitz in 1972, but have since learned to love the little darlings.
We must, of course, distinguish between the lightweight infantry mortars of both sides and the heavy, immobile units with 20 attack factor. These latter are quite deadly and bear no further discussion.
The key to the lightweight mortars is that they are, in effect, infantry units. They move. They hide in bushes atop hills, and the opponent dare not move a truck in their view lest it explode along with its passengers.
To get rid of these pernicious nuisances, the opponent must use artillery or I-type weapons that otherwise might have been profitably used against your more valuable units. His alternative is to run in close with armor to sight the mortars. You of course will have positioned one or more KV-85 or Tiger as appropriate and will blow the living cheese out of any armor that tries it.
Even more delightful is the placement of a mortar in a fortification along with a light antitank weapon. One giggles.
Finally, do not forget the concept of Panzerblitz as a simulation of actual tables of organization and equipment, not just of firepower. You will then reflect that the mortars are quite properly used in a stack with infantry units that provide them with an excellent degree of protection. They move with the infantry units and lend long range disruptive firepower.
Regards, Ignatius
Date: Monday, 31 August, 1998
From: Ignatius
The reader will please consider Panzerblitz Situation #11.
Let us consider in this situation a German attempted artillery attack on a Russian guards infantry unit. Without the small mobile mortars, the two German heavy mortar units available when combined cannot even achieve a 2 to 1 attack against the desired target. The relevant attack factors are 15 plus 15 for a total of 30. The defense factor is 18. The odds are 1 to 1. No chance of destruction, and only three chances out of six for any result at all.
With the aid of two of the three available 81mm mortars, commonly decried as "useless," the relevant attack factors are 36, the defense factor remains 18, and the odds are 2 to 1. A one in six chance of destruction, and a 5 in 6 chance of some result.
One may object that the same odds could be achieved by the use of a single one of the two Wespe available, and this is very true, but the Wespe may have more profitable things to do at the time. Move, for example, to avoid destruction, or engage other guards units stubbornly defending Uschas and considered by the rules to be "armored."
Further, when using the optional indirect fire rules in conjunction with the experimental rule allowing any german unit to act as a CP, the Wespe has a 32 hexagon range and can only engage targets indirect that are 16 or more hexes away. This is difficult given that the Russians set up on board 1 and the Germans enter on board 2. The mortars, however, both heavy and light, have no such limitation.
There is a lot of open space on board 2, and the Wespe or similar unit risks spotting and immediate destruction if it fires direct, but the heavy mortars using indirect fire can be deployed safely on the reverse slope of hill 132 and from there command huge stretches of board 1, using the 81mm mortars in forward positions to achieve meaningful odds against the heaviest Russian units as discussed above.
Considering the Russians active in the same situation and conducting counter-battery fire against the Wespe, their single heavy mortar is halve to 12 attack factors for firing against an armored target and will achieve only 2 to 1 odds against the 5 defense factors of the Wespe. The addition on two 82mm mortars, however, brings the total attack factor to 15, yielding 3 to 1 odds and providing a 50 percent chance of outright destruction of the offending mobile howitzer.
Meanwhile, near the south edge of the board, the Russian will have deployed the two armored infantry mortars and the SMG infantry unit, or better still a guards infantry, in a stack. The stack is in the frest hex two hexes from Adski, bordering the swamp and the edge of board 2. In this position they are invisible to any German unit that enters on turn one except for any halftrack unit sufficiently foolish as to move adjacent to them. From there, the Russian player moves the stack aggressively through the woods and ravine on the south portion of board 2. By turn 6, this stack has achieved the reverse slope of the small rise south of hill 132 and there from threatens both spotting and direct mortar fire against the German "soft" units typically hidden on the reverse slope of hill 132. From this position, the Russian might even threaten to move up the road onto the flat top of hill 132 and commence close assault against such German mechanized guns as may be deployed there.
Thus, for both sides in this and similar situations, the small infantry support mortars prove very useful under exciting circumstances. In closing, you are to consider the Russian victory conditions in situation #3, which make his 82mm mortars the most critically important units in the game.
Regards, Ignatius.
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 1998
From: DClarke630@aol.com
Some fine comments about the use of mortars from Ignatious and others. There is another great us for them in one of the given situations: situation 3 asks the Russians to cover the board from side to side with units or fire to win. Mortars in the woods in the middle of board 2 can cover right across board 3 and can be defended by infantry and anti-tank guns, allowing the Russians to concentrate their forces on board 2 defending the mortars, and the hill in the middle of board 1 completing the line of fire. Nice!
Mortars came into their own in the first world war, along with howitzers, to drop shells into trenches (more difficult for standard artillery with a flatter trajectory). In reality they are cheap, simple to operate, have a high rate of fire, have no minimum range, and can be carried with infantry anywhere that infantry can go.
Whether they are cost-effective in a Panzerblitz 'free choice' points limited game is another question. Views anyone?
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 1998
From: Ignatius@sprynet.com
Mr. Clarke's analysis of the value of the mortars in situation #3 is spot on. I have only to add that, since the mortars in question have a movement capability, they can be held in concealment in a protected area until the last minute, then run up into position to deny the German victory conditions. Very frustrating for the Germans if properly done.
As for the utility of the little beasts in free-form scenarios, well... They do come in useful for filling out left over points, depending on what system is being used. In light of the fine discussion points raised by Clarke, Ehlers and others, the mortar is certainly more useful in a free form game than a truck or a pack howitzer.
Finally, as far as "reality" is concerned, these small mobile mortars have been consistently one of the most deadly and annoying weapons faced by infantry in "low intensity" operations since 1900. My interviews with genuine infantry veterans of the Vietnam conflict reveal this over and over, and match written descriptions from both Korea and WWII. The infantry-type mortars are foot-mobile, attack without warning and from behind concealment, and have a nasty habit of dropping explosive devices into otherwise effective hiding places from above. Their effect in the Panzerblitz system may actually be under-rated, and might require special rules for proper simulation.
Regards, Ignatius
Date: 98-10-21 11:58:26 EDT
From: glayton@pica.army.mil (Layton, Gregory E.)
All the lucid commentary on mortars appearing on this list leads me to concluse that their utility depends on the context of the scenario. Shrewdly deployed in scenario 3, they're a potential game winner while in other scenarios they fill out the point total for units successfully exited from the board edge.
Now, I'll contradict what I just said and offer my opinion that generally, on the defensive, they're not enough of a tactical threat to bother with unless they're occupying ground that the attacker must pass through. They certainly do pose a virulent threat to trucks in the open, and even can be an annoying harrassment to halftracks, but how many players allow their transport to be caught out in the open? Chances are that if light mortars are around, other nastier fellows like heavy mortars and artillary will be lurking about also, waiting for juicy targets, and forcing the attacker to move his vulnerable transport units as cautiously as possible. Light mortars are good for occupying defensive positions (usually infantry friendly terrain like woods) and forcing the attacker to come adjacent and spot, exposing him to any covering fire established by the defender. There's almost no point in firing a light mortar by itself if it's positioned in the path of a strong attacker; it only hastens the unit's destruction and negates it's defensive value of imposing delays for spotting on the attacker.
Regards,
Greg
Excellent example of the use of mortars by Ignatius in Situation 11, however there is a slight error in the calculation of AFs. Adding the two 82mm Mortars (1 AF each) only raises 14 AFs, not 15. In PB, units have their AFs halved and fractions lost individually, so the fraction is not available to be added to the other unit. So, each 82mm's 3 AF divided by 2 becomes a 1. In PL, however, the fractions are retained. (Source: Wargamer's Guide). As for offensive capability, in a current Situation 11 match, my Germans have spotted the Popov's 120mm mortar and I'm about to lower a curtain of steel on it supplied by my 3 82mm mortars. So, the small guys along with being mobile and supplying additional AFs, can be used for counterbattery attacks.
Kenneth Oates (oko@acnet.net)