Smoke question

[chris h]

I plan to attack the t34 but first I want to fire smoke. Which hex is best, there own or the target. I've tried both previously trying to work which gives the best chance of success.

The patrol is armed with a Pzf. Would it make any difference if it was armed with a pzm.

I beleive for the PzF smoke in its hex works while for the PzM in the target hex. Both possible totally wrong.

[Mobhack]

At that range there is no point since smoke needs to block the LOS - which cannot be done at 1 hex range. So quite pointless. And if it was at 2 hexes and the faust was spotted already, then you would also need to take cover to break the existing spotting of the team (hopefully) before stepping into the new-laid "blocking" smoked hex - otherwise the tank would likely simply blast your already spotted guys as they ambled forwards into the smoked up hex.

Rally the panzerfaust team and close assault if it is pinned. Or simply use the "w" key to only fire the faust - some prefer that method instead if it is a big HEAT-chucker like a faust.

Basically down to the hit and (if lucky!) the kill dice, really.

[chris h]

Um! Thanks for the reply.

Your saying that smoke in a hex has no effect on combat. Only smoke between hexes does.

If this is correct I've been playing the smoke game wrong, forever. I alway though smoke added to the cover of any hex it's in which in my mind it rightly should do.

I've tried attacking in this situation both with and without and I seem to have more luck using smoke than not, by a long way. It's seem this is false then

[Mobhack]

Smoke is an LOS blocker to vision through the smoked hex. It can also provide some cover from spotting attempts for unspotted units.

Any adjacent hex has LOS to the hex opposite, always. So smoke blocks no LOS to the hex beside it. That is why 2 units in adjacent hexes can spot and fire at each other.

An unspotted unit situated in a smoke hex may get a small bonus against units attempting to spot it, especially if it is not a vehicle, but that effect is negligible.

Your faust unit is a tank killer in WW2 terms, having gigantic HEAT pen for the era (no Chobham etc as yet!). The target is a mere T34 and your firer unit is in adequate position - the front armour is well within the faust's capacity unless the pen dice are against you or the hit dice totally abandon your firing unit. Shoot the shot or make the assault - your preference.

Faffing about with smoke like you are trying to do is totally and utterly irrelevant here. You want to take the shot, not hide or put an LOS blocker in the way forcing your unit to move to re-spot it and fire from the move! as you are already where a panzerfaust wants to be - i.e. at 1 hex range from target!

If the T34 is not buttoned and you want to assault it rather than "W" key fire only the faust at it, see if there is another unit which can hose it down and button it up (and hopefully not scatter missed fire into the fausts hex, pinning it!). Buttoned-up vehicles do less well if assaulted than when opened up.

As its a faust, I would target the thing with the "T" sequence then use the "W" key to just launch that, so skipping the assault process as that can backfire, especially if the firer is low EXP and/or MOR. Assault is best for grenades and flamethrowers, Japanese "special attack" suicide units etc.

[Blazing 88's]

From the manual:
Does a unit in a hex containing smoke gain a bonus to its ability to remain unspotted?

Smoke in the target hex is counted for spotting and will help a little bit in providing cover. Movement, firing and size would be more
relevant factors.

Another one a lot of people might not know...
"D" Fire unit's smoke dischargers, if fitted and ammo left.