@Mark G, I’m not a fan of major buffs to HE, especially when HE was already so good vs AP in first edition that they decided to up the HE values of the big AT guns to balance the points better. I’m doubly against it when those suggested buffs don’t come with a suggested cost increase.
HE vs smoke mechanics – smoke has a persistent effect on the game after it lands, so it’s relevant where it misses. HE simply misses, you have failed your dice roll and it lands somewhere with no effect on the game. You don’t get a second bite of the cherry to damage an enemy, and Bolt Action mechanics for finding out a friendly unit was in your danger area (ie: multiple rocket launcher rules) is that you have wasted the shot. Someone on the gun line has yelled ‘STOP, STOP, STOP!’.
Your suggestion with the experience levels and indirect fire may have some merit, but rather than starting the buffs at regular, which is already a buff over inexperienced by having access to a spotter in the first place, why not start it at veteran? That way your veterans are going from a 1 in 6 chance of a first round hit to a 1 in 3 chance, not a fifty/fifty. Improving the start point also has a flow on effect due to the subsequent hitting on a 2+ if you’ve already scored a hit, so you are more than tripling the likely impact of that veteran unit by starting at 4+.
First point last (if you’ve read this far 😉 ) – if you’re really after ‘reality’, most of these indirect HE weapons are off-board in a game on this scale, particularly for the attacker.
