WW2 British 2" mortar - smoke

[General Ballroom]

Hi all

I love WWII tactical wargaming, miniatures and hex & counter, having satisfactory migrated from ASL to LnL Tactical a couple of years ago and I haven't looked back.

Now, the standard platoon tactic in the British infantry was to use smoke, delivered from the platoon 2" mortar, to mask manoeuvre and hamper the LoS of the enemy (particularly MG42s...).

I have searched in the module books and in the forums here and on BGG, I cannot see a way off replicate on my LnL battlefields.

So, I am thinking adapting the off-board ordnance spotting round procedure, but the deviation seems a little harsh.

As a fire action, the MMC with the mortar selects a hex where they want the smoke to land, roll to hit (modified by any leader bonus, indirect fire penalty etc.)

If it hits, place a smoke 1 counter in the hex.

If it misses, count the amount it missed by, divided by 2 (rounded down). That is number of hexes deviated. Roll a D6 for direction.

Subsequent shots can be 'walked' 1 hex at a time.

Any thoughts?

Matt

 

[Captain Darling]

Hey Matt,

I’ve been ‘away’ from board gaming for a while but back now just saw your post. The lack of smoke delivery from mortars and OBA are strange omissions in LnL.

If I was house ruling for your situation and trying to keep as close to the rules as possible I’d start with;

20.3 Starshells & Mortars
Onboard Mortars (WTs only) can also place Starshells (pending Nationality Capability), but a GO Leader (11.1) or Scout (11.6) must use their impulse to call-in the fire. The Leader/Scout can place a Starshell marker in any hex with- in THREE hexes of his hex or in any hex in his LOS under a Fired marker that is also within range of the Mortar (no roll is made). Place a Fired marker on the Mor- tar WT and an Ops Complete marker on the Leader/Scout.
A Leader cannot call-in a Starshell from a Mortar and add his or her LM (11.1.1) to any attacks during that impulse/turn but can activate units in the same hex—and adjacent hexes (if unwounded, 11.1.2).

The above covers basic placement. Next to accuracy these SW mortars do not roll to hit the hex as they use the DFT a failure to cause damage is probably taking scatter into that calculation, so maybe roll 2D6 one will be to determine a hit/miss on the target hex (say 5 or 6 is a hit maybe 4, 5 or 6 up to you) and the other die is the direction of ONE hex scatter.

My 2 cents worth…

Good gaming!
Pete