The Commander Series Forum

Hello all

I am currently making some Tobruk fortifications for a D-Day scenario, some of which contain 50mm Mortars as their armament.

Anyone got an idea what the stats should be for a 50mm Mortar? Range, firepower etc?

Thanks in advance

Probably 2/30, as it was as underpowered and under ranged as all the light mortars.

What scale are you doing? I've generally treated small mortars as factored into the basic firepower.

I do play at 1 stand = 1 Platoon.

Yes, in the rules a 50mm Mortar is usually incorporated into the stats of an infantry squad. However, D-Day Tobruk fortifications used a single 50mm Mortar, which is why I am looking at individual stats.

Im thinking of using either a 1/30 or 1/40 stat to represent it.

1/30 is probably generous enough, I guess

Especially if you let them
Fire smoke, that would be very handy for breaking up attackers LoS and fire...

I've been thinking about german defence nests for d-day/walcheren. I'd be inclined to treat the defence nest as one unit rather than dealing with its indidual bits? Often they have a fixed garrison of a platoon or so plus mgs and tank turrets. I think the one unit approach is simplest and fits with the rest of the game scale?

Hmm, Dr Dave, that's probably a good idea - I was thinking as a sole weapon system but as part of a complex just factor it into the overall fire...

I'll need to read up on them again. Got few books on Coast defences. Some will fit nicely, others with a single Pak might be a bit trickier? Strictly speaking Merville would only be 1 or 2 units?

I'd guess one arty support in bunker then 2-3 bunkers with MMG stands. There's what, one four gun arty battery plus at12 MGs?

The idea of using one stand to represent a resistance nest, taking into account the various weapons in its stats, is a good one.

However the resistance nests tend to have bunkers, trenches and tobruks spread out all over the place. This is why I am going along the lines of separate stands with reduced stats. I.e: 1 Mortar tobruk = 1/30 attack, 1 MG Tobruk = 1/60 attack. AT/AA/FH will use their original stats as I believe these are based on one gun.

My project is to create a map of omaha beach, 1/144 scale, in its entirety, including all resistance nests.

You could be right - they do vary a lot, even though often built around a common set of bunkers. I was looking at Merville in particular. I've left the book in work, but it only had 4 artillery pieces and 1 20mm flak plus MGs and no 50mm mortars. The Garrison was over 300 IIRC, but mostly to serve the guns and would have included the cooks and admin chaps to care for the garrison? The thing eas, by treating each item individually you might want to consider reducing their own hits as well. Perhaps to as low as 1 for a single weapon with only 2-3 crew?

Given BKC's Platoon scale I'd still look to amalgamate the stands somewhat - Wiki & the battery website reckon one Flak-20, four casemates with one 100mm gun each, and 12-15 other firing positions with MMGs.

From the aerial photo I'd do one "combined bunker" for the guns - even if you had separate gun models/model bunkers treat them as a single stand.

Looks like the trenches & MG positions are then in a 360 degree arc with some pointing over the top of the gun casemates.

I'd do three MG stands, each in a "cluster" of trenches/MG bunkers to cover that.

I like the approach Timecast have taken with their trenches - http://www.timecastmodels.co.uk/range_13/range_...

Three of those arranged in a back to back circle, one slightly elevated with the four gun bunkers forward of it, then surround with mini-barbed wire and you're done nicely!

The whole position was at250 yards across, so it might even then fit on a single CD as a scenic base?!