Heavy Support
By Jim
Hunsinger
The big guns of the campaign. The term heavy support covers a broad category of fire power that can be called upon by the characters when they are in a tight spot. It includes artillery, air support, and overhead (satellites). Each one of these categories has several sub-categories. Each one of these sub-categories can deliver very heavy damage to an area. Heavy support can be the cavalry to the rescue of a team in a bad scrape but if it is abused then it can unbalance a game severely. Game masters consider yourselves warned.
Artillery:
The first type of heavy support is artillery. Artillery consists of mortars, howitzers, and rockets.Mortars: Mortars are relatively small tube artillery that can be carried by a team of men. It consists of the tube, the baseplate, and the bipod. It delivers its mortar shells by firing them in a high angle arc to drop them on top of the target area. Fairly short range and limited types of rounds available for use are the mortars disadvantages. Its lightness, capability of being man-packable, and speed of set up are its advantages.
Howitzers: Howitzers are the big brother of the mortar. Much larger, they are either towed behind a vehicle or self propelled. They have a much longer range and a broader range of types of rounds they can use than the mortar. They are however, a larger target and much easier to spot than a mortar team.
Rockets: Rockets are similar to howitzers in that they are large, easy to spot, and typically self propelled. They can deliver a devastating amount of damage to a large area at great range.
Air Support:
The next category of heavy support is air support. This includes both fast movers and VTOLS.Fast movers: Fast movers are just that...Air craft that move fast. This means fighters, bombers, etc. They over-fly the target area and drop their bombs, hopefully on target! For game purposes and ease of play, when the fast movers fly over to drop their payload they cannot be attacked due to their tremendous speed. If however, the game master wishes to generate statistics for the fast mover air craft then he/she may decide to allow the aircraft to be attacked. When fast movers drop their ordnance, its blast radius tends to be in an elongated oval shape with the long axis along the path of the aircraft. So for instance, if a fast mover flew over a target area from south to north dropping HE bombs, then the blast would cover an area 300 meters long from south to north, 100 meters wide.
VTOLs: VTOL, which stands for Vertical Take Off and Landing. These are aircraft which have the capability of landing and taking off vertically. They are also capable of hovering in one place. That is not to say that some fast movers are not capable of a vertical take off, landing, or hovering. The aircraft centered on here however are helicopters and vectored thrust aircraft. These aircraft have a unique capability called "masking". Masking is the practice of hovering behind an object such as a hill, treeline, or a building for cover. Usually, through the use of a forward observer or a special periscope like device to see over the object they are masked behind, the aircraft will wait for a target to present itself. It will then pop up from behind the object, fire its weapons, and then return to the masked position. VTOLs also use what is known as "stand off" weapons. These are typically rockets and missiles with a very long range. This normally allows the VTOL to fire at a target without fear of receiving enemy return fire. For this reason, and for ease of game play, VTOLs cannot be shot down either. Again, the game master may wish to generate statistics for the VTOL and in turn, allow them to be shot down.
Overhead:
The last type of heavy support is overhead. Overhead support comes from satellites in orbit. There are many types of "battlesats" in orbit such as rail guns, laser sats, etc. However, there are only a few that are capable of ground support. These are particle beam sats, kinetic kill sats, multiple kinetic kill sats, and nuclear warhead sats. These satellites have thrusters on them that allow them to change their orbits to support ground units.Particle beam Satellites: Particle beam satellites emit a powerful particle beam that pierces through the atmosphere to strike the ground. Upon striking the ground, the beam creates a powerful explosion rivaling that of a tactical nuclear warhead but without the radiation. (See "nukes" pg. 117 of MZ+) EMP is still produced by a particle beam induced explosion. Particle beams take some time to recharge between shots but usually only need one shot to do the job!
Kinetic kill satellite: Kinetic kill satellites release a titanium alloy shaft or "penetrator". This penetrator falls to the earth utilizing the power of gravity to accelerate it to hyper sonic speeds. The penetrator also has small guidance vanes on the rear to guide it to the target. The penetrator causes severe damage to the target it strikes and is considered to be armor piercing. Kinetic kill penetrators are typically used against static targets such as buildings and large bunkers. Their targeting systems are not accurate enough to track and strike a moving target.
Multiple kinetic kill satellite: Where the kinetic kill satellite releases a single large penetrator, the multiple kinetic kill satellite releases many at once to cover a large area. A pod is released holding hundreds of penetrators. The penetrators then spread out over the impact area causing a scattershot like effect to everything within the covered area. For every point the attack roll exceeds the defense roll by, 5K is applied to the target. Each 5K penetrators hit location is rolled separately. This weapon can be very devastating to armor columns and large targets such as field command posts. The weapon is not typically used against normal infantry since it would be major over kill and a waste of an asset.
Nuclear warhead satellite: This satellite just holds several nuclear warheads for release. When it receives a target, it releases one of the warheads to reenter the atmosphere and strike the target area. For more on nuclear weapons see pg. 117 of MZ+ and nuclear warfare in this book.
Different types of heavy support rounds:
HE: High Explosive. HE rounds put off a large concussive force when they explode. They throw debris around the blast radius at lethal velocities. These rounds are typically used against troops, vehicles, buildings, and defensive positions.
Incendiary: When this round explodes, it spreads searing hot burning fragments throughout the blast radius. In game terms, it does the rolled amount of damage to all locations of everything within the blast radius. (See page 45 of MZ.) The material will burn for 1d6 turns doing the listed amount of damage each turn until it burns out.
Smoke: This round creates a smoke screen the size of the blast radius that will last 1d6 turns after the round has burned out. It will burn for 3 turns, spreading down wind and covering an area equal to its blast radius per turn.
EXAMPLE: A smoke round lands and explodes with a blast radius of 25 meters. The first turn a 25 meter by 25 meter area will be covered with smoke. The second turn it burns the smoke will travel down wind and will now cover an area 25 meters by 50 meters originating from the point of impact. By the third turn the smoke will cover an area 25 meters by 75 meters down wind and will last for a further 1d6 turns.
Illumination: An illumination round fires a very bright flare with a parachute attached to it high over the requested area. It lights up an area of roughly 500 meters. It is not equal to daylight but it does give off enough light to reduce the penalty for firing in the dark from -5 to -2. An illumination round will last for 6 turns before burning out.
Fire-cracker: When a fire cracker round detonates it does so while it is still in the air rather than on impact. It releases many small grenades over a large area which detonate upon impact. They are especially nasty in the fact that everything within the blast radius is subject to the full damage.
T-Cracker: Short for thunder cracker. This round works in the exact same manner as the fire cracker round except each of the individual bomblets pack more punch. This round was designed for use against armor vehicles, mecha, and powerarmors.
Canister: Canister rounds are used as a last defense by howitzers. They are basically a large shotgun round. They are fired as a direct fire weapon and have a scattershot effect. (See page 39 of MZ+.)
Chem/bio: As the name implies, these rounds carry either a chemical or biological warfare agent. (See chemical and biological warfare sections of this page.)
Viper: A viper round is in effect, a laser guided, free gliding, anti-armor missile. It requires two things to strike a target. First, it requires that the round be in the general vicinity of the target. This does not require a roll of the dice by the forward observer as in this case, it would not be the forward observers skill used to determine if the round strikes the target or not. Instead it will be the skill of the person with the laser designator. Second, the intended target must be painted by a laser designator during the turn in which the round arrives at the target. If the target is successfully painted during that turn, then the round will strike the target. Vipers can only be fired by howitzers and are armor piercing.
Nukes: Nuclear warheads can be delivered via howitzer, rocket, fast movers, and satellites. For more information on nuclear explosions see pg. 117 and 118 of MZ+ as well as the nuclear warfare section of this page.
How to use the heavy support tables:
The heavy support tables at the end of this text list each heavy support by category, type, and type of round. With the type of support is listed availability, wait time for the first volley, and the wait time for successive shots. For each type of round there is listed the damage, the blast radius if applicable, and in some cases, availability.Availability: When a character calls in for heavy support, it may not necessarily be available at that time. Roll 1d10 and if the result falls in between the numbers listed under availability then that type of support or that type of round is available. Typically, if a type of support is available, then all the types of rounds available for that type of support will also be available. There are some types of rounds however that might not be available just on request such as nukes, bio/chems, kinetic kill sats, and particle beam sats. These weapons are typically only used on high priority targets. Note that the game master may over ride availability at any time he/she wishes. If a type of support is not available when the character calls in for it they may try again after 10 turns.
Wait time for first volley: This is the time it will take from the call for the heavy support until the first round impacts the target area. This is the time it takes for the support to aim or move into position and for the first round to travel to the target.
Wait time for successive rounds: This is the time that will elapse between each of the consecutive shots after the first. It is basically the time it will take to reload or recharge, re-aim and travel time for the next round. This only needs to be rolled once. Each consecutive shot will have the same amount of turns between them.
Damage: This is self explanatory. If the damage code is not followed by a "K", denoting kills then the damage listed is in hits. Remember, rounds like HE, fire-cracker, T-cracker, and incendiary rounds are area effect.
Blast radius: This is also self explanatory. The only difference from the normal MZ rules is with the fast movers. See the description of fast movers for more information.
Note: There are no ranges listed in the heavy support tables. This was not an oversight. It was because these weapons have very long ranges. Some of these ranges may even be global! The wait time for the first volley and successive rounds are used to simulate ranges and make the game masters life a little easier.
Special Note: Mortars and howitzers sometimes do what is known as battery or barrage fire. This is where several mortars or howitzers will all fire on the same target. There is only a 1-3 chance on 1d10 that more than one of these support types will be available for a fire mission at any given time. If they are available, roll to see how many there are.
Mortars: 1-2 additional mortars.
1d6 1-3 = 1, 4-6 = 2
Howitzers: 1-3 additional howitzers.
1d6 1-2 = 1, 3-4 = 2, 5-6 = 3
When battery or barrage fire can be provided, simply resolve each shot separately. The roll to see if barrage fire is available should be done in secret by the game master. The players should not know it will be barrage fire unless it is specifically requested by the characters or until the rounds impact the target area.
Forward Observer:
The forward observer is the eyes of the heavy support. They are the ones who call in the fire, to some extent choose which rounds to use, and adjusts the fire onto the target. It is the forward observers skill roll that will actually decide whether a heavy support weapon will strike the target area. The only exception to this being the howitzer fired Viper round. When heavy support is called in the forward observer rolls to attack the target. Instead of a normal attack roll, the following roll is made:1d10 + intelligence + forward observer skill + any modifiers.
The result of this roll is then compared to the defense rolls of everything that would be in the blast radius of the incoming rounds. If the roll of the forward observer is higher than the defense roll, then the target is hit and receives the listed damage for that weapon. If all the targets in the blast radius beat the attack roll then the round has deviated and should be handled with the deviation rules in MZ page 97. If only some of the targets beat the attack roll then the round has still struck the target area and has not deviated but those individuals are just lucky enough not to have been struck or where conveniently behind some sort of cover etc.
Note: Once heavy support has been successfully called in on a stationary target such as a building, bunker, etc. and struck it. There is no need to roll further forward observer attack rolls. Each successive shot will automatically hit the target as they have zeroed in on it. Again, this is only for stationary targets.
Below is an example of a heavy support fire mission:
A squad of EAF soldiers is moving through a forested area near Warsaw Poland when the point man notices a 5 man squad of SCP soldiers and one light powerslave in an open field. The EAF soldiers hide in the underbrush while the point man calls for a howitzer strike on the soldiers and powerslave. (At this time the game master rolls for the availability of howitzers and rolls a 9. Looking at the heavy support table he sees that howitzers are only available on a 1-5 and so the howitzers are not available right now.) The field head quarters calls back to the squad telling them that the howitzers are currently engaging another target and to try back after a short while. The EAF troops see that the SCP troops are going to dig in at the tree line and so decide they have time to wait and see if a howitzer will be available after 10 turns. Mean while the EAF squad leader tells another soldier to get out his laser designator and prepare to paint the powerslave for a viper round.
After a wait of 10 turns the point man once again calls for howitzer support. (The game master rolls 1d10 again and this time rolls a 3, since howitzers are available on a 1-5 then the howitzers are available. The game master then rolls another 1d10 to see if there are more than one howitzer to conduct a barrage fire. He rolls a 1. Barrage fire is available on a 1-3 so he now rolls to see how many additional howitzers are available for the fire mission. He rolls a 6 meaning there are 3 additional howitzers available for a total of 4.) After receiving word that the howitzers are on standby for them, the squad leader decides to get the exposed troops first, while they are still close to each other. The point man then calls for fire-cracker rounds to be used, gives the coordinates of the SCP troops to the howitzers, and gives the order to fire. (The game master now rolls for the wait time for the first volley which is 5 + 1d6. He rolls a 1 and determines that the first volley will land 6 turns from now. He does not tell the players this though. He also has the point man roll his attack roll which is his 1d10 + intelligence + forward observer skill. The point man rolls a 10 receiving a critical success and then rolls again getting a 3. With an intelligence of 10 and a forward observer skill of 6 this makes his total roll a 29!) During the next 6 turns the powerslave moves out of the 100 meter blast radius of the target area to check out the tree line on the other side of the open field. After the 6 turn wait while the howitzers adjusted, aimed, loaded, fired, and the rounds traveled to the target, 3 rounds come screaming into the air above the troops and pop about 100 feet above the troops, showering them with small bomblets. (The game master rolls defensive rolls for the troops 3 times each, once for each round. The first soldier rolls a 13, 17, and a 12. The second soldier rolls an 11, 16, and a 13. The third soldier rolls a 19, 15, and a 13. The forth soldier rolls a 24, 18, and a 13. And the fifth soldier rolls an 11, 13, and a 14. None of the soldiers have succeeded in dodging the attack and all of them are within the 100 meter blast radius, therefore the game master rolls 5d6 damage for each round. He rolls a 19, 12, and a 17. Since it is barrage fire and none of the soldiers succeeded in dodging the attack he decides to add all of the damage together for a total of 48 hits to each soldier. That’s nearly 2 kills! He then utilizes the area effect damage chart (found in another section of this page.) to apply the damage. Since the soldiers where only wearing light armor they are all shredded by the deadly fragments thrown about the target area. They all die.) As the smoke is clearing from the attack the powerslave begins to fire wildly into the tree line with its auto canon while searching for the forward observer that the pilot knows must be in the area! The point man once again calls the artillery and asks for a viper round to be fired at the target area. (The game master then rolls for the wait time for successive rounds. For howitzers this is 1d6 turns, he rolls a 2. So the round will arrive in 2 turns.) The squad leader has the soldier with the laser designator paint the powerslave. (The soldier with the laser designator rolls his rifle attack skill and gets a 16. The powerslave pilot rolls his defense roll and gets a 12. The target is painted this turn but the viper round is not at the target yet. The next turn the soldier attempts to continue painting the target and rolls an 11. The powerslave pilot rolls a 13 and so is missed by the laser designator during the round in which the viper arrives on target.)
The viper round screams into the target area and the soldier with the laser designator curses loudly as the powerslave begins running across the open field causing him to miss with the laser. The viper round plows into the field exploding and directing its shaped charge into the dirt harmlessly. Thinking quickly, the point man calls for a second viper shot. (The game master need not roll for the wait time as it was rolled for the first viper, it will arrive to the target area in 2 turns.) The powerslave begins to spray the area where the EAF soldiers are with its auto canon, hitting one of the soldiers in the chest, killing him instantly. (The soldier with the laser designator fires at the powerslave again and rolls a 17. The powerslave pilot rolls a 12 and so is painted that turn.) The powerslave continues to fire into the treeline shredding and splintering the trees around the EAF squad but hitting no one. (The soldier painting the powerslave rolls his attack again getting a 16. The powerslave pilot rolls his defense roll getting a 13. The game master then rolls for a hit location and the result is the torso. The viper does 5 kills of armor piercing damage to the powerslave which is much more than the torso servo has.) The viper round screams into the target area and locks onto the lasers reflected signal. It slams into the powerslaves torso blowing it to pieces and killing the pilot!As you can see, heavy support can be very formidable when used correctly. The same is true in reverse however. Heavy support can be called in on the characters as well!
Along with the heavy support tables below, there is also the incoming heavy support tables. These tables are used for heavy support that has been called in on the characters.
When the game master has decided that heavy support has been called in on the characters he can roll to see what type of support it is. Once the type of support has been determined then the other tables are used to find which kind of round is being used against the characters. These tables are split up by the type of support.
Barrage fire, wait times, etc. are all still determined in the same manner as for when the characters call for heavy support.
The duration of the incoming fire is up to the game master but be warned, do not beat the characters to a pulp unless they are truly deserving! As said before, heavy support can be devastating.
Any time the characters do fall under heavy support attack, if they can get out of site of, or eliminate the forward observer and continue to move out of the area then the enemy will no longer be able to drop the heavy support on them.Heavy Support Table 1
WEAPON
DAMAGE
BLAST RADIUS
AVAILABILITY
1ST VOLLEY
SUCCESSIVE VOLLEYS
ARTILLERY
MORTARS
3+1D3 TURNS
1D3 TURNS
HE 6D6
15M
1-7
INCENDIARY 4D6
15M
SMOKE -3
25M SEE DISC.
ILLUMINATION SEE DISC.
500M X 6 TURNS
HOWITZERS
1-5
5+1D6 TURNS
1D6 TURNS
HE 3K
50M
INCENDIARY 2K
50M
FIRECRACKER 5D6
100M
T-CRACKER 2D6K
100M
CHEM/BIO AS TYPE
50M
SPECIAL
NUKE 15K
200M
SPECIAL
2 HOURS
NONE
CANNISTER 2K S-SHOT**
N/A
VIPER 5K AP
N/A
SMOKE -3
50M SEE DISC.
ILLUMINATION SEE DISC.
500M X 6 TURNS
ROCKETS
1-3
5+1D6 TURNS
1D6 TURNS
HE 5K
100M
INCENDIARY 3K
100M
FIRECRACKER 5D6
150M
T-CRACKER 2D6K
150M
CHEM/BIO AS TYPE
100M
SPECIAL
NUKE 20K
500M
SPECIAL
2 HOURS
NONE
AIR SUPPORT
FAST MOVER
1-4
10+1D6 TURNS
2D6 TURNS
HE 5K
100 X 300M
INCENDIARY 3K
100 X 300M
FIRECRACKER 5D6
100 X 300M
T-CRACKER 2D6K
100 X 300M
CHEM/BIO AS TYPE
100 X 300M
SPECIAL
NUKE 20K
500M
SPECIAL
2 HOURS
NONE
VTOL
1-5
10+1D6 TURNS
2 TURNS
HE 3K AP
50M
INCENDIARY 2K
30M
FIRECRACKER 5D6
75M
OVERHEAD
PARTICLE BEAM 20K*
100M
SPECIAL
20+1D6 TURNS
20 TURNS
KINETIC KILL 10K
N/A
1-3
20+1D6 TURNS
1D6 TURNS
MULTIPLE KINETIC KILL 5K S-SHOT***
200M
1-3
20+1D6 TURNS
1D6 TURNS
NUKE 20K
500M
SPECIAL
2 HOURS
NONE
* Damage is handled the same as a nuclear weapon except there is no radiation.
** This is a direct fire weapon used normally in a defensive role.
*** 5K per point that the attack roll exceeds the defense roll.
Heavy Support Table 2
Incoming Heavy Support
SUPPORT TYPE
CHEM/BIO
BIO
Roll 1D10
Roll 1D6
Roll 1D10
1) Choose 1) Blood 1) Choose 2) Mortar 2) Irritant 2) FV-5 3) Howitzer 3) Blister 3) BD-4 4) Rocket 4) Psychogenic 4) EV-8 5) Fast Mover 5) Nerve 5) DPV-42 6) VTOL 6) Bio 6) Typhoid Fever 7) Particle Beam 7) Pneumonia 8) Kinetic Kill 8)Pneumonic Plague 9) Multiple Kinetic Kill 9) AX-12 10) Choose 10) Choose ROUND TYPE
ROUND TYPE
ROUND TYPE
(Howitzer, Rocket, Fastmover)
(Mortar)
(VTOL)
Roll 1D6
Roll 1D6
Roll 1D6
1) HE 1-3) HE 1) Choose 2) Incendiary 4-6) Incendiary 2) HE 3) Firecracker 3) Incendiary 4) T-Cracker 4) Choose 5) Chem/Bio 5) Firecracker 6) Nuke* or choose 6) Choose * Nukes should never be used against the players directly. (Unless the game master REALLY wants to!) They should be used cinematically, around the characters or just on the edge of the blast radius just to make things interesting. Life sucks at ground zero and it's never any fun to lose a character without a chance of survival.
Game masters can design their own biological agents if they wish. Those listed here are from the Earth War 2047 campaign. Descriptions of each of these bioagents can be found under the Biological Warfare section of this page.
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