Flamethrower against vehicles

[Steiner]

Dear Comrades,

I am sure this is a classic question …. but I don’t find the answer, sorry.

If a flamethrower attacks a medium tank for example

1. Roll to hit

2. You hit, then roll a D6 for numbers of hits (but the tank is a single target so (I don’t understand this part).

3. Imagine you get a 4. Then, you hit for damage. Medium tanks 9+ but top armor-1 so 8+. Now …. do roll just one die or 4 die because of the number of hits?

4. Imagine you roll and get  3, 4, 5 and 6. You had the armor 8+ and the flamethrower penatration is 3+. Now how do we do?

Do we apply the damage chart for vehicles the same way as for penetration? One die or four die in this case?
<p style=”text-align: center;”>IMHO the damage charge for vehicles, does not make much sense with a flamethrower i.e. immobilized, stunned, torret jam, etc</p>
I am very lost

 

• This topic was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Steiner.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Steiner.

[Master Chief]

Yes you roll D6 to determine the number of hits. In your example you get 4 hits, so roll 4D6 with Pen +3, and each 8+ scores 1 damage. For each damage roll on the vehicle damage table to determine its effect. In your example you get 2 damage (for the 5 and 6) so roll D6 twice against the vehicle damage table and apply both effects.

[Greg S]

And don’t forget the pins.  Even if you score no damage the vehicle still has to roll a morale test.

[Charles]

We thought it was 1 hit against a single target with a damage value of +3 for a flamethrower with a +1 for top armor. In other words, 1D6 roll with a penetration of +4 to see if you can penetrate the armor value of the vehicle that was hit.

[Stuart Harrison]

@ Charles, that is incorrect.  There is nothing in the flamethrower rules reducing it to a single hit vs vehicles, or tying the maximim hits to the number of models.  It is not like HE where you count the number of models under the template with a vehicle being a single model, therefore one hit.

This misunderstanding has cropping up since first edition when they nerfed HE vs vehicles to being a single hit – they never did the same to flamethrowers but people assumed they did.

[Charles]

Stuart. Thanks for the clarification. I see now it doesn’t say one hit per vehicle in the rules. We just assumed the HE rule applied. I find a flamethrower usually knocks out a vehicle just on the morale check after inflicting D3+1 pins. If it also getsD6 hits and chances of penetrating, that’s pretty scary.

[Charles]

Also, does this sound right? If a flamethrower scores a hit on a vehicle. For example a 7+ armored car. The vehicle takes D3+1 pins. Let’s assume it takes the maximum 4 pins. You then roll a D6 for number of hits and roll a 6. You now roll 6 D6 for penetration starting with a penetration of 3 plus 1 for top armor and roll 6 4’s and all penetrate with an 8. You now roll 6 D6 for damage and roll 6 1’s. It doesn’t kill the vehicle but that’s 6 stuns that each add 1 additional pin. The vehicle is destroyed because it ends the turn with 10 pins?

[Stuart Harrison]

Yes.  It can be absolutely devastating if the FT owner is lucky with his dice and gets multiple hits followed by multiple successful damage rolls.  Moral of the story – don’t let enemy flamethrowers get a shot at your vehicles!  There’s a reason the attract a lot of fire and some events limit how many can be included.

[Ian]

Although it is not specific in the rules I think the “spirit” of the rule is that the fame thrower hits the vehicle once with a penetration value of 3 on the top armour (-1).

It is crazy to think that the flamethrower could hit the tank 6 times!! Makes it Uber powerful against tanks…….and they were not!!

The “No of hits roll” is for an infantry unit where the flamethrower can hit more than one man, just like the old HE rules.

[Master Chief]

Latest FAQ:

The weapons chart shows that flamethrowers have D6 or D6+1 shots. Is that correct? Or should that be a 1 instead?

Yes, it should be a 1 in both cases. The issue is that the weapons chart tries to be helpful by stating ‘D6’ for the number of shots. D6 (or D6+1) is the number of hits caused by a hit, not the number of shots. You roll once to hit, and then, if you hit, the hit is multiplied into D6 hits.

This clearly shows it does not differentiate between infantry or vehicular targets. Arguably being trapped in an enclosed burning vehicle could be worse than being in the open where one could perhaps roll on the ground or jump into a nearby river to put out the flames.

[Andrew Cree]

Flamethrowers (and Molotov cocktails) were very effective against WW2 tanks…if they were careless enough to let a flamethrower-armed enemy get within range.

The carburettor-fed engines were inefficient at burning fuel, resulting in large quantities of vapour in the exhaust fumes, allowing you to “brew up” an enemy tank

A fire over the (thinly-armoured) engine compartment would reduce oxygen flow and cause the engine temperature to increase

Vision and ventilation slits would be vulnerable to fuel and smoke entering the crew compartment whilst glass can be obscured by soot if it doesn’t crack or shatter.

[Steiner]

Flamethrower against open-topped vehicles. Does the open-topped also have the double penalty like with HE? +1 penetration and + 1 Damage chart.

I cannot find in the rulebook if the flamethrower causes this double penalty in open-topped … page?

[martyn simpson]

On this subject, while I accept that a flamethrower could destroy a tank, I’ve never read a historical account of one having done so!

[Stuart Harrison]

@ Steiner, that ‘double penalty’ is specific to HE. There is no equivalent for flame weapons – flamethrowers are already devastating enough.

[Author]

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