Movement Rules and Artillery

[Cantatta]

If an artillery unit with zero movement points is sitting on a road, can that artillery unit take advantage of the Road March bonus and move one space along the road?

My thinking is that a unit must have a movement factor of >0 to take advantage of the road bonus. The rule says you receive an extra MP if all movement occurs on/through road hexes/hexsides. Artillery units have zero movement points, so cannot initiate movement of any kind, road or no road.

 

[Whiterook]

I would say no.... A 0-movement unit is a stationary unit, and cannot move. To take it a step forward, I cannot conceive of why it would be tactically sound to set up an artillery piece on a road; the cost of loosing a valuable ATG for the sake of being a pest in blocking a road just makes no sense to me.

 

[Cantatta]

Thanks for your input, I think we agree for the most part. As you mention, I wouldn't use the big guns as a roadblock, but to be fair, an artillery gun could be placed on a road hex that is still far back from the front line.

As to the 'why', the thinking goes like this:

If an artillery piece on the road is given +1 movement for the road bonus, that unit is slightly more dynamic and interesting to play. It can have a bigger impact on the game, as well, since it can cover more ground and support more units.

I don't fault this thinking, necessarily, and I can't say I disagree with the idea as such, it's not wrong. But I'm not sure it is in keeping with the rules as written. The game already supplies mobile artillery units in the form of the American Priest, German Wespe and Russian Katyusha. This, IMHO, reinforces the idea that the larger guns are intended to be fixed in place.

 

[Eric Ottoson]

Is there enough time in one phase to limber, move, unlimber and setup the gun?