Re: assaulting
A few more comments about the side effects of artillery fire (other than pure damage and suppression):
- Craters: as previously mentioned, these can provide some cover. They also hinder down movement, which can slow down the deployment of any reserves (front line infantry should be creeping behind the barrage at one hex per turn to keep them safer, so they are not particularly affected).
- Smoke: besides the dedicated smoke shells (that are very good for obscuring vision), also regular HE shells produce some amount of smoke. A continuous barrage over a number of turns can lead to the accumulation of quite thick clouds of smoke. Usually, the smoke works both directions (unless one side has thermal imaging).
- Fires: at least building and forest hexes (both quite common defensive places) are likely to be set on fire by artillery bombardment, and flame weapons can set fires on pretty much any terrain. Fires tend to produce smoke (see above) and they also produce some suppression for any infantry in the hex. This extra suppression is handy to help to keep the enemy to keep their heads down (or to pull back to a non-burning hex) but it will also work to the attackers disadvantage if you need to move through that hex (an infantry unit might get pinned by the fire) or to take defensive position there against counter-attack.
As for bunkers and other fortified positions, by my experience HE rounds tend to be pretty ineffective for damaging these positions (modern cluster munitions might be more effective), even an open-topped sandbagged foxhole with low armour values requires a lot of pounding by 155 mm guns to cause casualties. HE can still be handy for suppression, but the most effective means for temporary neutralisation tends to be dropping smoke shells in front of them to block the line of sight.
Griefbringer
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