How to play 1918: Part 7: Artillery

"Artillery Conquers, Infantry Occupies."

Maj. Gen. J.F.C Fuller.

Although cannons, mortars and other big guns had been in heavy use across European battlefields since the 15th century at least, it wasn’t until the Great War that the terrible dominance of indirect fire really came to be felt. 

No game about the horrors of this conflict would be honest without the relentless thud of distant guns - and the very real threat they posed to life and limb - but the trick is to make sure it doesn’t come to dominate the game. Most of the heaviest barrages were coming from so far away that it can’t be attacked by the rest of your forces, but there are also lighter field guns, mortar teams and even rifle grenades simulated on the field of play.

British Rifle Grenadiers prepare to lay down firepower on an enemy emplacement.

Bracketing Fire

We’ll start with on-field explosives, which use the Bracketing mechanic and keyword. This simulates indirect fire and the art of zeroing in on a target. 

Units with this keyword include the humble Rifle Grenade Section in the standard British platoon, who are using Burns Rifle Grenade Launchers - a crude precursor to the modern underslung grenade launchers sometimes issued to today’s infantry. These were designed to increase the range of handheld grenades (or ‘bombs’ as they were then called) with a degree of effectiveness. Mortar teams and field guns also use bracketing, albeit over a longer range and with much more punch.

Bracketing fire involves selecting targets in range and LoS as normal, applying the usual modifiers to hit. If you roll a hit, you score a direct hit and leave a Zeroed marker on the target - you’ve got them sighted now and you no longer need to roll to hit. If you miss, roll a D8 - the score will tell you how far you’ve under- or overshot. 

A unit may still be caught in the explosion - most Bracketing units also have the Blast X” keyword. Any unit caught within this radius suffers hits - roll as many dice as the weapon’s Attack attribute, and if more than one Bracketing weapon is being fired by the same unit, combine these attributes. If the target is not yet zeroed, reduce the resulting number of hits by half. Then inflict hits and pins, and make veterancy saves as normal. If you didn’t score a direct hit, the target isn’t zeroed - but there’s always next turn…

A German Light Trench Mortar supports a rapid infantry advance. Miniatures from Great War Miniatures @ North Star Military Figures

Artillery Barrages 

Off-screen artillery is an advanced rule in 1918: Spring Offensive, but it adds a lot of high-explosive spice. Artillery Batteries cost points and are included in your army selection at the start of the game - you can invest in light, medium and heavy varieties. Each unit you select can make one of four barrage attacks during the game: Timetabled, Creeping, Observed, and Improvised, each of which has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The target of a timed barrage must be chosen in secret before the game. Write down a target piece of terrain and a turn, then reveal it at the right moment.

A creeping barrage moves slowly across the tabletop in a straight line, while an observed barrage requires a model with the Observer keyword - you can select a dedicated spotter in your starting list, who can then pick a target within line of sight for a devastating sudden onslaught. Finally, an improvised barrage works in the same way but less effectively, requiring models with the Signals or Radio Net keywords - these are not trained observers, and the result is often less effective.

All of these barrages require various Command Tests to pull off - but if you plan well and roll decently, your artillery can lock down an opponent in an ongoing hailstorm of fire and shrapnel.

That does it for this week’s How to Play, but next week we’ll be looking at how Vehicles and Cavalry work. Stay up to date with 1918: Spring Offensive by signing up to our newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram.

And remember - we've just released our British and German mortar team miniatures for 1918, now available on our webstore as physical miniatures or digital STLs.