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Quick question. These very mediocre Italian trench at guns are bought as an option with the coy command and the 2ic. If they are used (and there aren't too many good reasons to use them!) do they act as independent groups, or do they follow the coy command and 2ic around? There can be 0-3 of them.

You can either attach them out to other platoons (a very good idea) or keep them as a small platoon under the 2IC (a bad idea).

AT rifles aren't actually all that bad, they are quite useful in defensive fire and assaults against tanks.

You can place them as attachments to your companies (platoons in other armies). They can be good in this capacity to add a few shots against infantry, if you have some extra points left.

Palindrome wrote:
You can either attach them out to other platoons (a very good idea) or keep them as a small platoon under the 2IC (a bad idea).

AT rifles aren't actually all that bad, they are quite useful in defensive fire and assaults against tanks.

Great... in tank assaults I presume they use their AT ratings against top armor?

They use either use their AT value against its side armour (if you are engaged from the front) or their tank assault rating against its top armour, You get to chose which.

Obviously AT rifles aren't exactly scary to medium tanks but they are better than nothing. It appears the Solothurn AT rifles don't have a tank assault rating of 3 like most AT rifles, still worth it for defensive fire though.

That's correct; the Solothurns are 20mm Manpack Gun-Teams in all aspects and do not have a TA Rating.

I've used mine to help add to the overall firepower of my Bersag companies, however, they have been known to knock out a Stuart or two, but nothing heavier than that.

 ThirdUltra wrote:

That's correct; the Solothurns are 20mm Manpack Gun-Teams in all aspects and do not have a TA Rating.

I've used mine to help add to the overall firepower of my Bersag companies, however, they have been known to knock out a Stuart or two, but nothing heavier than that.

With an AT factor of only 5 they arent going to trouble most medium tanks, but the idea of using them to beef up inf companies is very attractive.

In defensive fire they won't be able to do anything to Soviet mediums but they can still kill off German tanks due to their weak side armour.

I wouldn't bother using them in direct fire on anything that isn't an armour car or infantry.

Palindrome wrote:
In defensive fire they won't be able to do anything to Soviet mediums but they can still kill off German tanks due to their weak side armour.

I wouldn't bother using them in direct fire on anything that isn't an armour car or infantry.

Question. As they have no tank assault rating, then presumably they cant actually conduct an assault against tanks. But if I do do an assault with an infantry unit to which they are attached, can they go in with them? And if so, would they be able to use their standard AT 5 rating against side armor? Or would they just be of use for covering fire?

And of course, they would be quite useful engaging infantry presumably. I mean they do have an ROF of three.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ThirdUltra wrote:

That's correct; the Solothurns are 20mm Manpack Gun-Teams in all aspects and do not have a TA Rating.

I've used mine to help add to the overall firepower of my Bersag companies, however, they have been known to knock out a Stuart or two, but nothing heavier than that.

Man-packed? I thought they were officially trench guns, and therefore only capable of a move of 4"?

Vanders wrote:

Man-packed? I thought they were officially trench guns, and therefore only capable of a move of 4"?

They are classed as man packed teams. In general anything less than an actual anti tank gun is a man packed gun team. The Italians actually have a man packed anti tank gun though

Man packed gun teams behave like infantry teams, they act like them in every way except that they can be picked out by shooting in certain cuircumstances.

Question. As they have no tank assault rating, then presumably they cant actually conduct an assault against tanks. But if I do do an assault with an infantry unit to which they are attached, can they go in with them? And if so, would they be able to use their standard AT 5 rating against side armor? Or would they just be of use for covering fire?

And of course, they would be quite useful engaging infantry presumably. I mean they do have an ROF of three.

In assaults, the AT rifles are still considered gun-teams, which means, you will not be assaulting with them, or at least initiating an assault with them, They can still fight in assaults if contacted by an enemy assaulting team, but they do not go forward with the infantry on the offensive in assaults (they can counter-attack if in base-contact with enemy assaulting teams though). In 3rd edition FoW terms, they become non-assaulting teams, along with your HMG, and 47/32 gun-teams.

The Solothurns are useful for beefing up the firepower to the infantry company, but they can be used against soft-skinned vehicles, light armor or armored cars/universal carriers, etc. They're also useful as an ablative gun-team stand in a pinch. I've sacrifice mine first to keep my more valuable HMG's and 47/32 guns alive occasionally in certain circumstances. In Defensive Fire, they're useful to just add shots against assaulting infantry or light vehicles.

They're probably more useful as HQ attachments in Eastern Front Alpini/Fucilieri or the non-AS42 org with Fucilieri battalions where one of your companies needs a gun-team to increase overall firepower. My Bersags don't miss them that much as I've kind of dropped them for other options like transports, etc, but if I need to fill 15 points I'll drop one in a company for added firepower.