Spotters and Self-propelled Artillery

[L.T. Russell]

Here’s something I’ve just had occasion to notice.  I’m not very tech-savvy, so correct me if I’ve missed something.  Why is it that you can only add a spotter to a towed artillery piece or infantry-carried mortar?  I wanted to add a self-propelled artillery piece to an army listing and I was told I couldn’t add a spotter because there’s no provision for it, with any SPG, in any of the army books.  What kind of sense does this make?  How is a player supposed to indirect fire with a Wespe, Hummel, Priest, Sexton, etc. if you can’t have a spotter?  Does anyone know if there’s been a correction for this issue?  Or is this just yet another mistake.  Thanks for your time and consideration.

[Kar98k]

Not really sure why you would want a spotter for your Hummel, but more about that soon enough.

Most probably already know this, but did you know that in the core rule book both the German heavy and medium field howitzer can have spotters, but in the Armies of Germany book only the heavy field howitzer can have a spotter?

That being said, how useful would having a spotter with a SdKfz.165 Hummel or even a heavy field howitzer be? With a minimum range of 42 inches, how often would it be used for indirect fire?

Regardless, the SdKfz.165 Hummel can’t have a spotter (no option for it), but the SdKfz.250/7 and the SdKfz.251/12 may have a spotter for +10pts, and with a minimum range of 12 inches, this is more practical.

 

[L.T. Russell]

Howdy Kar98K!

Why would I want a spotter with a Hummel?  Why, to shoot indirect fire of course!  To hide my Hummel behind cover and try and blast something without being seen.  That’s what a Hummel is meant for.  If I just wanted to shoot direct fire with a heavy howitzer, I’d get a Brummbar.  I’m involved in a league and we’re doing early war scenarios.  I intend to run an SD.KFZ 8 with Armored Cab.  I like having options, and the ground-mounted dual purpose 88 can also be used as a medium howitzer.  There’s an option to buy a spotter.  But the same gun, mounted on a vehicle loses that option.  Makes no sense to me….

So I got curious and got out my books and I find that NONE of the SPGs have an option for a spotter.  Even though indirect fire is their primary function in life.  The tournament players running the league won’t/don’t do Haus Rules, because Haus Rules don’t prepare them for tournament play.  I was hoping that somebody woulda already brought up this issue and there’d be a correction in Errata or something.  No such luck, apparently….

I get what you’re saying about the practicality of the self-propelled mortars.  But that’s not my issue.  I’ve made a fair investment into Warlord Games through Bolt Action and Konflikt 47 and I get kinda miffed with what seems to me to be fairly obvious mistakes, that don’t get corrected.

That’s for your time and consideration though!

 

 

[invisible officer]

Bolt Action is a game that is far away from real world. By intention.  Add the myriad of rule changes since first start and you might get upset. But I still like it. Being historical scientist by profession I even helped writing some campaign books. Doing historical background research.

 

Your Hummel problem, hmmm. A main problem in the game is the ratio. We field infantry groups more or less in 1/1 but bigger stuff singly.

Many gamers field stuff you would hardly have seen at the front line. Like heavy artillery. Esp. not as single guns, not batteries. And so we see the single Tiger in many games, not a group.

A Hummel was part of a battery. It would not engage in small firefights at the front line. You are right, the SPG had spotters. But they worked for batteries or Abteilungen, not single SPG. Com circle was with battery CO, not single guns.

Heavy guns had AT amo for emergencies. If enemy tanks broke through the line they used it. But did not create that situation by intent. If the last Hummel of a tank division was attacked, there are hardly any spotters left.

OK, being from an artillery family I go for the very big guns. In my games they are often objectives. Like my big 21 cm mortar.

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