evening guys.

Quick question - the command squad lists the long tom as one of the squads weapons. As such, during a single attack action, could the unit fire it directly? I ask as traditionally you would spend a command point to use said ability, yet it is a weapon listed in the units weapon list.

caecitas said:

You have to use it as is laid out in the platoon rules.  It's listed with the command squad, because the command squad will always have this ability (as there is no way to insert this squad into a different kind of platoon.)

direct fire takes a single attack action - legally you could do it, but we have ruled this isnt the case as it would be beard.

caecitas said:

 Page 88 states the Fire for Effect special order, which uses the Long Tom weapon profile, may be issued once in the Command Phase.

 I would say that no, it can not be fired directly because no one is the squad is armed with it.  However it is an artillery strike, so if the command squad used both their actions in their turn to use the radio man (or another one) to call in an artillery strike (as a squad using artillery must use a sustained action but does not get the reroll benefit) that they could use it to make an attack action during their activation.  But since it is "off the table" it could only be fired in directly.

-jay

 It's not on the table so cannot fire direct.

On the subject of Long Tom, when you use it as the special order, does it still require line of sight to the target from a radio man? My opponent used it to snipe my command squad that was hiding under a building and could not be seen, that did not seem right to me.

 you still need the observing unit to have los for the long tom.

i think generally due to its 25ap cost im comparison with other commands that it cannot ever fire the long tom except when using the order - technically you could fire indirectly using both actions as its off the map (far as i can tell in the rules), but i think thats a RAW moment, where it wasnt expected you could find/make said loophole.

long story short its legal under interpritation of the rules, but very likely not intended. I wont sugest people do not allow said duel action sustained artillery.

If anyone wants to fire the long tom outside the command phase they are being d*cks :) There is no model in the command squad carrying that weapon, hence it can't be used during their activation. End of Story :)

I don't even think that works by the letter of the rules. No miniature in the command squad is armed with a Long Tom (no number listed in parenthesis next to the weapon title), nor is it a unit on the table that you can give an order. Its merely a statline that is used when you use the Fire for Effect special ability. So IMO, even by teh letter of the rules, it would not be possible to take a Long Tom sustained fire action without using the command squad special ability (which can only be used in the command phase with an order).

generally speaking the book needs a little re-tweeking for its typos. For example the heavy ranger attack squad does not like a number of brackets in its weapons profile, thus are we to presume it has none? No, clearly not, but read as written, thats how it would be.

Long story short common sense should always come first, but such issues have to be raised to ensure a clear ruleset.

I would agree that common sense always comes first. But as far as typos go, its pretty clear using the models who carries what in teh command squad and the attack squad though. And as far as I know, none of the models in the "The Boss" squad came equiped with a 220mm howitzer .

Kinda hoping that was a mispack though.

 Follow-up question…  Since the Long Tom is off table, does the command squad need to use the radio man ability to use it?  This came up in a game last night, where the Allies player called in the strike and then used his radioman to give an order to an "out-of-command" squad.

In our quick rifling through the book at the table, it didn't seem to address this directly so we didn't require the radio order…  Story-wise, it seems like it should, but would also have the consequence that if you kill the radio man you end the artillery assault…

Since the squad with the radioman is receiving the order (gameplay-wise) rather than giving it, there's no reason why that command squad couldn't proceed to give another order to an out-of-range squad in the command phase.