IJA Light Mortars Type 89 50mm Grenade Launcher

[Eric T Holmes]

With regards to the IJA Light Mortars Type 89 50mm Grenade Launcher, there are historical references that show this launcher was capable of being used by one to three soldiers.

I’m in a conundrum about how to use this in a “historical” scenario, where there are multiple launchers within the squad.

If the launcher is crewed by three crew members (which seems to be the historical crew) it had a reported rate of fire of approximately 25 rounds per minute (a US 2-inch was reported at 2 to 3 per minute).

I was thinking of the following:

Three crew yields a three-inch diameter circle, two crew yields a two-inch diameter circle and one crew yields a one-inch diameter circle. The “pin” level remains the same (D2) but the number of targets go up. So, I would only have a D2 number of pins, but I target what ever I got underneath the circle. I would still have to roll a “6” to hit for indirect fire for each launcher.

Now, lets say I have three launcher within the squad and I’ve used nine soldiers for the crew. That creates one heck of a spread if I cover one target, or could I get multiple targets?

Again, that problem of a squad having a “crewed” weapon within its ranks….

[Darin]

According to the rules as written and my understanding of them, lt mortars have a crew of 2, adding crew does not effect its performance and there is no mention of doing so. If a squad has 3 mortars it gets 3 shots one with each. Each one that hits gets a 1″ blast marker and that is all.

[Eric T Holmes]

Darin, yes I agree if I were playing a tournament, then I would play the rules. What I was asking, what if I were designing a historical scenario and used my proposals for that scenario. Would it drastically imbalance the play? How many points of US Marines would the attacking/landing force need?

And lets say I have this squad designed for a tournament,with three launchers, I’ve used up six soldiers for the launchers, and have seven left to use as defenders…does it cause an imbalance?

[arcole]

I believe that the US 60mm mortar had an ROF of 18-20, not 2-3 (based upon wiki, which as we all know is (not) 100% reliable). I am sure somone can correct me if that is wrong.

In the US lists, the army and Marines have a light Mortar with a 3-man crew. The only benefit they get for the extra crew man is a bit more resilience, offset by the fact that the unit is no longer a small team, and costs more.

Increasing the size of the HE zone as you have suggested would be a significant change. Going from a 1″ template to a 2″ template increases the area covered by a factor of 4. Going to from 1″ to 3″ the increase is a factor of 9. This is a huge increase in effect. Add in the extra infantry you have in the squad to absorb casualties, and it is going to be a beast of a unit.

[Eric T Holmes]

Hey “arcole,” thanks for the math answer…I was afraid I might be heavy but not that heavy on the HE effects. In my analysis of the “game” scale and mechanics, we players are actually looking at a game where the figures have been scaled up from a 6mm 1::1000 scale game to a 28mm figure on a 25mm stand (25mm equaling about 20 – 25 meters). No big deal for a game, but if you want a simulation…As a retired explosives safety engineer, my simulation theory keeps getting me into trouble with “the game.” Roll sixes and have fun wacking your metal enemies.

[arcole]

Hi Eric,

No problem there – I haven’t used maths since leaving school over 40 years ago.

I think that one thing to remember is that BA is not a simulation – Warlord have deliberately simplified the weapons to reduce complexity.

Ultimately, if you want to try a change go for it. The ultimate test is the battle field!

A secondary question – the IJA lists have the mortars in “Grenadier” squads, with up to 3 mortars. Would you therefore be all 3 mortars?

Regards

A

[Eric T Holmes]

Yes, I was looking at a Grenadier Squad with all three mortars, supported by some Regular “straight leg” infantry squads, two or three. The Warlord Japanese starter army has three IJA Infantry Squads but the squads are only ten soldiers rather than 13 per the IJA Supplement supporting a 14 soldier Grenadier Squad (which could be a total of 18 soldiers.)

[Eric T Holmes]

“A,” I found the 18-20 rpm for the US 60mm mortar…Thanks.

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