Vehicles

Burst of Fire offers an arsenal of historically accurate vehicles – consisting of tanks, armored cars, and transport units like trucks, half-tracks, motorcycles and such. All vehicles get specific bonuses or penalties for moving on different terrain types such as paved or dirt roads (See chapter moving on different types of terrain). The stats for all vehicles are detailed in the arsenal lists.

Tanks

Tanks are armored vehicles with (often) incredible firepower against infantry and other tanks, but apart from mobile armored reconnaissance slower in terms of movement.

German Tiger I heavy tank.

Armored cars

Armored cars are faster than tanks but most likely less armored. They do bring a punch versus infantry and can knock out bigger tanks by flanking them or attacking them from the rear.

German armored car Sdkfz 222

Transports

Transport vehicles may carry a certain number of soldiers and towed weapons to the frontline fast. The crew, driver, and gunner (if needed) are staffed by transported soldiers and may dismount to engage the enemy once the destination is reached.

Japanese type 94 truck

Vehicle crews

Each vehicle has to be manned by a certain number of crew members. The number of crew members needed is shown in the corresponding lists and on the vehicle counters. Crews have to be of the same quality level. Much like with infantry following levels are available: conscript, regular, elite.

Crews are very effective inside of the vehicle. Suppose the number of crew members is reduced by over 50 percent due to heavy losses. In that case, the vehicle suffers penalties in its effectiveness and may only perform one action per turn. (See chapter Actions for further detail.)

Suppose the vehicle is destroyed and/or abandoned. In that case, all remaining crew members will receive pistols to fight on the battlefield. They will suffer a -2 on every attack roll. Their melee value is that of a conscript.

Placing vehicle crews and support crews on the board

Mark the vehicle with a colored object or badge (you can find badges in the Assault Tactics downloads) to show the quality of the crew. The number of alive members is tracked by using a D6.

Manning abandoned vehicles

All abandoned vehicles can be taken over by enemy infantry or enemy crews that had to leave their own vehicle. However, the crew will not be used to the new vehicle and suffer penalties for operating the newly acquired vehicle.

Of course, a crew that was forced to bail because of an enemy hit may reenter the vehicle in the next turn without suffering any penalties.

Manning abandoned vehicles