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I love artillery so much it is very hard for me to make any list without some form of mortars and howitzers in my lists, but I'm a bit torn on the heavy artillery available for german lists in grey wolf.

On one hand the 15cm gun has the best bombardment stats AT and Firepower wise

On the other, you have the s10cm and the whopping 12.8cm that have less bombardment ability but much greater direct fire (the latter has more AT than an 8.8 gun!)

Is trading off bombardment for better direct fire for those moments when it will be useful worth it?

Almost always artillery direct fire isn't worth it except in specific circumstances such as Soviet artillery. Its generally very expensive, quite short ranged and most artillery pieces have a RoF of 1. You are better off using artillery, especially heavy artillery, for indirect fire but with the option of direct fire left open (to cover an objective for example).

The 15cm SfH18 gun is the best mix of price and firepower. Having AT 13 on the direct is a nice addition but it's powerful enough to razz tanks with bombardment anyway so it may as well stay as protected as possible to pump out the maximum amount of indirect fire. The K18s, I think, have a ridiculous AT of 17 direct but sacrifice the ability to lay smoke. I think you need smoke in most circumstances as Axis.

Personally I think the humble leFH 105 provides the best compromise. Direct AT will rarely be used outside defensive fire. AT 4 Firepower 4 are respectable for the price.

If you're facing infantry Panzerwerfers are the way to go with their super sized template and if you are planning to smoke then mortars are the best choice with effectively four range in rolls.

What is the best Top Armour? 2 on a TIger? Is there anything higher than this?

LeFH 10.5 means you can have a decent battery and hopefully use the saved points elsewhere, on a nice 120mm Mortar Platoon or something . Not sure what 120mm Mortar options you may have but I love them they are devastating. Always Bombard, but then I tend to use Rocket Artillery.

Even the direct fire range of the 12.8's isn't enough. Even the lowly T-34/76 would 90% of the time be able to drive into range and get shots off on an "un" gunshielded 12.8.

Even with gunpits, that is a huge risk on a 500+ point unit.

Admire the stat line, but make a better choice.