Hi,
At the time I've writing I have not long finished playing a game of Alpha Strike (Commanders ed rules) that involved trying both offboard (Long Tom & Sniper) and onboard (Arrow IV) units.
Some discussion points came up during they day so I thought I'd share here & see if what we did conforms to the general consensus.
First a couple of things from the rules:
p151. When a unit equipped with artillery weapons is deployed on the ground map, all of its artillery attacks against other units that are both on the board and within 42 inches of the attacking weapon will be referred to as on-board artillery attacks. On-board artillery attacks deliver the damage in the same turn as the attack is made, and will adhere to standard artillery rules. Off-board artillery attacks refer to any artillery
p152. As long as the attack is not aimed at a specific unit, however, none of the normal weapon attack modifiers for range bracket, target’s movement, terrain features, and other miscellaneous situations are applied. Instead, the attacker must apply the Target Number modifiers shown in the Off-Board Artillery Attack Modifiers Table (see p. 151).
p.47: Indirect Fire: Artillery can be fired indirectly (see Indirect Fire, p. 41). When fired indirectly, apply an additional –1 Target Number
modifier if the spotter has the TAG or LTAG special ability and is within 24” of the target (6” for LTAG).
Firstly, with respect to the first quote, it was assumed standard artillery rules refer to the rules on page 47. The quote from p.47 indicates that if you have TAG within range you get a -1 TN modifier. However the advanced rules on p.152 outline a very different way of using TAG with homing rounds. Should the homing rounds rules from p.152 override the standard rules on p.47 if advanced artillery is in play? Or do the advanced rules still only apply to the off-board shots while the on-board shots use the rules from p.47? For consistency we played that the homing rules under advanced artillery over rode the standard rules, but perhaps that is not the way it was meant to be?
Another question that popped up related to the second quote regarding the target number modifiers for off-board artillery. Does the off-board artillery modifier (+7) encompass a standing still modifier as well? It seemed that the intention of the quote from page 152 was that it is an all encompassing modifier. So we played it as whether or not the off-board artillery was at a standstill was irrelevant.
Lastly, there is a spotter modifier in the Artillery Attack Modifiers Table on p.151 of -1. Is it simply that you get a -1 if you've got a spotter, no modifier if you don't? Or do terrain factors that would normally impact spotting for indirect fire, such as woods intervening in the line of sight between the spotter and the target POI, still apply? I think we went with the first option.
