Using a pak 43 or worse a 12.8 cm Kanone 81/2 in bolt action?
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Well probably like most of us who love a spectacular looking model or big artillery piece , i went ahead and bought the pak 43 cruciform AT gun from warlord only to then find it difficult to find a battle or theater in which i could field it!
Then my greed for even meaner looking artillery led me to buy a beautiful looking 12.8 cm Kanone 81/2 !! (Rubicon models)
So now im faced with an even bigger problem of finding a battle where this gun might possibly have been used?
Can anyone help? Was there any documented uses of these weapons? (especially the 12.8cm kanone) or will i have to just hope opponents are up for the “what if” scenario in order to be able to use the very cool looking miniature big gun?
I know for instance the 12.8cm kanone gun was a mix of the 12.8cm barrel and a russian 122mm howitzer gun carraige and i have seen a photo of one in the snow which i assume was on the eastern front but it could just as easily have been on a test range at the prototype stage.
It would behave the same as the jagdtigers gun (power wise) so we have a ruleset to cover the gun itself in AT mode but not with a dual howitzer mode and im not sure what the price in points for a carraige based howitzer capable version of this gun would be.
The Pak44 (also a 128mm i believe?) was on a cruciform platform with potential 360 degree of fire. Im pretty sure the 12.8cm kanone would have a terrible traverse range in action (i think something like 9 degree traverse and +45 degree max elevation) be almost impossible to manhandle without a vehicle and a very slow ROF due to 2 piece ammunition. However it did have 3 charge levels of light and medium charge (intended for use in a howitzer mode) and a high power charge for AT role so it should be classed as both a super heavy AT gun + a medium howitzer in fairness?.
So im thinking limited travers rule of some kind? , same power as the 12.8cm gun in the jagdtiger in AT role, slow reload rate, perhaps some sort of extremely slow movement if it was to be moved or towed?. Where would it sit in the bolt action points range?
So should i look at using the Soviet 122mm howitzer ruleset and adapt it slightly or better still does it already have ruleset in one of the many bolt action books?.
If it does i probably have the book as i dont have many i dont own i just cant find any mention of it (or a similar gun) no matter how many times i look.
Can anyone help? Have you fielded the 12.8cm AT guns in any form,or found historical evidence of its use in action? Have you found rules for them somewhere? Or have you suggestions on how to do so?
Many thanks in advance !
As Stuart said there is both an entry for the 43 and the 44 in the armies of Germany book.
Have you looked into what you’ll need to transport the thing? If you play any scenario with a first wave/reinforcements you will need something to even bring it onto the table. As someone who uses a FlaK 37 (which I also recommend getting, it’s an absolute monster), I’ll typically use a horse drawn carriage. Whether I bring it inexperienced or veteran is typically just what I feel like in that game; if I want the gun turn 1 I’ll take inexperienced at 8pts otherwise I’ll use a veteran (12 pts) to get as good of odds as I can to bring the gun on exactly when I need it where it’ll do the most damage
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