The new infantry for the The United Colonies of Mankind are going to have a significant change to the way many UCM players field their armies. The Legionnaire Mortar Teams are uniquely qualified to fit into that role, and it took some time before I was comfortable with them on the tabletop on how they should be fielded.
I started off with these guys with the standard medium dropship, the Condor. While nice, I have since come into my own on how I like to field these guys, and it involves no Dropship!
The reason is because these guys can get great ranged shots across the board, even with large templates. For example, a standard squad of two bases has the following ranges with their mortars on the barrage table....remember that these guys are Barrage-3 per base.
Small Template 42"
Medium Template 36"
Large Template 30"
With a move and fire of 0, these guys need to be in position and sit there. Do not put these guys in a building!!!!! They are vulnerable there to the building being taken down, debris falling on them, or fast moving dropships carrying special forces.
How then am I fielding them?
Load up a squad in a Bear APC and drive them on the board. The squad is cheap and efficient, costing 88pts per squad with the bear. Dont forget to drive the bear in front of them after depositing them to block as much line of sight as possible. These guys need to be on the street (outside of 1" away from a building in case it collapses), but behind any building in the backfield. This way they can fire all day at long ranges. If you are shooting at a building or at non-countermeasure squads, your barrage value is doubled, increasing your range dramatically.
This is a cheap unit to place on the table, and having each squad be individually assigned without a dropship allows for you to cover the backfield in all the best places.
Now the downside of the Mortar Teams is that their mortar is only a E6 shot. But don't concern yourself too much as they come with SC (shaped charges) which allow them to do a point of damage to any unit they hit on a 6. With area effect weapons, these guys shoot just enough that your opponent can't bunch up his units .
So how far can a person get their mortar teams onto the table from readiness?
The Bear APC's drive on at half their movement. Since you are going to deposit someone, you get even less...... So that 6" movement becomes a 3", followed by a disembarking penalty again of 1/2 movement. However you still get your 3" deployment and half of the Mortar Teams movement. So this comes down to a 1" Bear movement, 3" deployment, and 1" mortar team movement. Thats 5" in total and with a 42-30" range it should be sufficient.
Now if you are not far enough on the board round 1. Your bear can pick you up again, move 3" and deposit you 3" plus 1" infantry movement into a better forward position.
PS
Dont forget your scout units with these... either Wolverines or the Drones on the Ferrum to get off better shots.
