Re: Assault Breaker system [SG2] [DS2]

Brian spake thusly upon matters weighty: 

> This Assault Breaker system had as it's .sig a nice little mushroom
cloud,
> rising into the sky?

It was a non-nuclear system that consisted (IIRC) of thousands of 
self-guiding missiles/bomblets that would independently acquire and 
destroy tank and other AFV targets. 
 
> I don't know about anti-tank use in SG2, but the regular artillery is
> already plenty mean enough. Try this: Take equal sized, identically
> equipped light infantry platoons. Give one plt a light tank, and give
the
> other plt a battery of three light mortars (off-table). Bet the mortar
> guys win...they have the couple of games like this we played. The tank
> dies, but the mortars keep hammering away. After games like this, I'm
> almost scared to try heavy or extra-hvy artillery...

> I'd think that there's enough anti-tank weaponry on the average SG2
> battlefield already, without adding meaner atry. When every squad has
a
> GMS/L and maybe some IAVRs, armour has enough problems. And if we move
up
> to DS2, heavy arty MAK is already a pretty good 'assault breaker'.

Not my experience at all. Put something of armour 4 or 5 on the 
board, and it is near invulnerable.  GMS/P uses D12* Impact, as does 
IAVR. Meaning a GOOD shot gets you D12x2. My MBTs are armour 4 or 5, 
meaning D12x5. Anti Tank Artillery gets max D12x5 with AA bomblet 
(not an accurate depiction of the power of this stuff - in reality it 
is very very deadly to tanks - at least at the present). The point 
is, the Tank stands there, can (barring an absolutely pathetic roll 
on behalf of the tanker) and laugh (even with only a top armour or 3 
or 4) at the GMS/P and IAVRs. GMS/L is more dangerous.... and GMS/H 
is very nasty but these are tank killers usually mounted on TAC AIR 
or Tank Destroyers (a la M901 ITV). The artillery is not a 
significant threat to the tank. And what do you think the tank is 
doing that your hordes of GMS and IAVR toting infantry are shooting 
at it? Probably something dumb. A tank has stand off weapons - it 
should use them in that manner if it can. The infantry precede it, 
and it uses its longer range to advantage to eliminate the IAVR 
threat (plus having infantry in front of it - which means enemy 
infantry better be shooting at THEM not the tank or else they will 
kill those IAVR firing enemy). The GMS/P is a full-board threat... 
but with its pathetic (relative to MBT armour) penetration, it isn't 
much of a threat barring really bad luck on the MBT - and if he is 
using cover he can really cut out the range advantage a lot. 

I guess I just don't think a tank should be able to calmly sit 
through an MRL or a Heavy Howitzer attack using 2183 armour without 
worrying A LOT. Modern arty is deadly, and can be just as deadly to 
tanks with the right loadouts. So the D12x2 (not even a D12x2 
asterisk because of the nature of the attack) isn't all that 
intimidating.

Arty does have the advantage it can fire again, but I figure if 
people are tossing 240mm Rocket Assisted Terminally Self-Guided 
Sabotted Kinetic Kill rounds at me... (or some other fanciful anti 
tank bomblet or plasma launched HKP which deploys from my arty round) 
then they should be a tad more dangerous to tanks. 

YMMV, Of course. To each his own experience. I'm only curious about 
what the options for this in the real world are. I'm sure someone who 
worked on us MLRS or Heavy Arty could comment on how deadly 
state-of-today weapons are to todays MBTs. 

> How did the 'Assault Breaker' arty differ from regular arty, anyway?
Just
> more of it, or was it a different system?

Different system. Only deployed when (I think) you could locate at 
least 10 or 20 targets together. It cost something like $100K US a 
shot. But the idea was it would break massed armour pushes. That is 
why it was a Theatre level asset.  
 
/************************************************
Thomas Barclay		     
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 "C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot.  C++ makes
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