Why there is little or no difference in RD between troops in a Halftrack and those in a soft top truck?

Often half-tracks are seen as some sort of super weapon. But 14.5mm of armour in an open-topped vehicle acts more as cover rather than providing all-round protection. When the armoured infantry dismount to fight they leave the relative safety of their vehicles and function more as normal infantry.

In situations where panzergrenadiers fought from their vehicles, they had to expose their heads and arms to fire. Staying in the half-track also removes their ability to spread out (squad dispersion) making them an easier target for enemy fire.

Looking at Half-track stats from a purely mechanical perspective a half-track gains +2RD for medium cover (armour protection), but loses -1RD for being a condensed infantry target/fighting dismounted. Overall it gets +1 RD.

Trucks

Truck-based infantry have no change to RD. They have the same RD whether mounted or dismounted. However, once dismounted they can go to ground to gain +1RD, but move at Slow speed. Put infantry in trucks and they move faster, but don’t they gain any other benefits.

A half-track improves movement speed, increases Firepower by +1D and also increases Reaction by +1D. As an all-round package it gives an advantage over normal “leg” infantry but not an overpowering one.

Kangaroos

Transport infantry in Kangaroos and they benefit from being an Anti-Tank target until they dismount. A Ram Kangaroo gives the infantry 5RD (A-T), but the infantry can’t fight from the kangaroo and are vulnerable to Firepower attacks after dismounting. A kangaroo can get infantry safely to the combat zone, but its really just an armoured bus.

Armoured Personnel Carriers

Following World War Two half-tracks were abandoned by most armies in favour of armoured personnel carriers. APCs provide faster movement, all-round armoured protection, safe firing ports and sealed environments to protect against chemical attacks.

World War Two half-tracks were an essential step on the way to modern APCs, but were a flawed design that failed to fully protect the infantry. I see their speed and supporting weapons as the main advantage of half-tracks. The armour protection helps, but it’s remains an infantry unit, not an armoured unit

1. If German troops are in a Sdkfz250 for example are they able to fire from it? If so do they use their normal FP? Same for MG platoon?

Yes – the stats are used whenever the platoon fires. Whether mounted or dismounted the platoon gains the benefit of half-track weapons. The stats use the combined abilities of the infantry and half-tracks.

To model the unique nature of armoured infantrry, mounting/dismounting is ignored when using armoured infantry, simply move them and use the platoon stats when firing

Stats

The SdKfz 250/1 is treated the same as the 251/1. It holds a section as opposed to a squad, but in a platoon game, it works out at roughly the same number of troops firing. Using the same stats as the 251/1 gives the platoon FP: 6D.

This is similar for the MG platoon which gets FP: 7D. FP: 6D for the platoon, plus 1D from the half-tracks.

2. As we stand the unit in a Sdkfz 250 gets 4 reaction dice. A Russian infantry platoon in a truck gets the same. Plus some light armoured vehicles have 4 Reaction Dice. Struggling to get my head around the similarity here.

The 250/1 platoon and the Russians both have 4D (Firepower targets). Light AFVs can have 3D or 4D RD (Anti-tank targets).

The Light AFVs cannot be hit by Firepower, and so are safe from infantry Firepower. They are vulnerable to anti-armour machine-guns, but these fire with greatly reduced effect.

The SdKfz 250/1 adds 1 RD to the infantry’s base of 3 RD. The platoon remains a Firepower target as anti-tank fire is less of a threat to an armoured infantry platoon than small arms fire and HE. The platoon also moves at Average speed and gains +1D FP from the half-track.

The Russians are also 4 RD. So how come they are tougher, but don’t benefit from armoured transports? It’s because they’re harder to disrupt and suppress than other infantry. I went with 4 RD to reflect the more dogged nature of the Russians in the late war period. The 4 RD means that they can hold for a bit longer than other troops.

Training

All the above assumes that the units are Regulars. If the German 250/1 platoon were Veterans or Enthusiastic Regulars they would gain an extra +1RD for a total of 5 RD. Making the Germans Veteran makes them a formidable opponent that’ll keep coming in the face of heavy firepower. If the Russians were Conscripts, I’d drop them to 2 RD to represent their flaky morale.

Reaction Dice are a mix of amour, morale and training (or the threat of being shot by your own side in the case of the Soviets). Morale is a major part of it and allows for some fine tuning of different units.

In summary, there are two types of fire and the Russians are more difficult to shift (higher morale).

Last night we played our latest game of Combat HQ. Once again it was a great game and thoroughly enjoyed by the four players who took part. My job was once again Umpire, Referee or dictator according to how you look at it.

The game was based on a scenario called “Somewhere in Hell – Kursk 8 July 1943” which can be found at 

http://www.fireandfury.com/scenarios.shtml

The scenarios are free and are not too difficult to convert to Combat HQ forces…

The Russian 6th Guards Army were trying to put together a hasty defence in three small villages having been pushed back a few days prior. The German KG was tasked with pushing through the defences to the Russian city of Oboyan a few miles north.

Russian forces were good quality rifle infantry supported by ATGs and Reinforced by 3 companies of T34s later in the game.

The Germans had a Panzer Grenadier KG all infantry in SKDFZ 251s, with Panzer 4s, Panthers, the odd Stug and a Tiger 1 platoon.

Game played really well. Germans pushed hard and took the first village without much trouble. Their artillery hit the second position hard and scattered the Russian defenders. But the reinforcing T34s arrived in time to stabilise the situation. Although their Eastern most company of T34s met a company of Panthers, and although the Panthers were only trained, they were accompanied by the Tiger platoon, and together made very short work of the speedy Russian armour.

As you would expect a few questions arose which I hope to outline

1. I wasn’t sure how to handle the Germans in Half-Tracks (HTs). I gave the German HTs a reaction of 2 (for some reason). But very unsure if this was correct. This worked fine for HMGs trying to drive them away. Perhaps it should have been 4 as that was the reaction of the infantry. This would have been in line with how towed ATGs work in the rules. This may be in the rules already and I missed it.

In the upcoming the Armoured Infantry supplement half-tracks are treated as Firepower targets with 4RD.

1. The German HTs were very aggressive. The Hts attacked the town and enemy armour and i allowed them to deploy with a variable dice which took them to close range with infantry and Faust range of Armour. Of course they had to survive opportunity fire and the main this seemed ok…Was this correct ?

Yes, as the rules are currently stand that’s how it works. The new armoured infatnntry rules treat the Panzergrenadiers and their SdKFz 251/10 as one unit with no need to deploy. Just measure the panzerfaust range from the half-tracks.

1. Because the HTs were so aggressive, and it only arose on one occasion, but I allow the Hts to be the primary target for a Russian t34 as it was nearer than a PZ4 on a hill which would have been the normal priority target for the armour…

No problem. The armour should target the most dangerous target to itself – in this case, the panzergrenadiers armed with panzerfausts.

1. I applied Going to Ground +1D to defending infantry in the open. +1D in the open plus +1D if in light cover or behind a hedge. But would troops in a building receive the +1D for going to ground??? Or behind a wall if firing from that location..?

I apply going-to-ground in buildings and in cover. It makes the infantry difficult to shift by fire alone. Think of it as the infantry firing through loopholes and keeping low to the ground.

1. Does an armoured vehicle use its reduced side armour reaction value if hit by off-board artillery or mortars?

No. The full Reaction Dice are used. Against the heavy Geman tanks the artillery rarely does much damage, but can cause suppressions.

Here’s an interesting discussion about British tank doctrine in World War Two.