Rationale for Japanese Knee mortar portage

[msoong38]

Sorry if this has already been talked about before...

In a recent ASL thread in the FB group, the question came up on what the IJA Knee mortar is so high in its portage cost given it's small form factor. Anyone here knows about the design decision that arrived at the current value?

Thanks in advance...

 

[jyoung]

Just speculating, it has a wide range of ammo types, guess they were lugging around a fair number of rounds?

 

[Philippe D.]

Or it could be a design effect, with the designers not wanting it to be a weapon you can easily rout with. That's the big difference to me between 3PP and 4PP: with a 4PP weapon, you need the assistance of an unbroken leader to rout with it.

Though, of course, with the Japanese the whole notion of routing isn't exactly the first thing you think about.

 

[buser333]

Or it could be a design effect, with the designers not wanting it to be a weapon you can easily rout with. That's the big difference to me between 3PP and 4PP: with a 4PP weapon, you need the assistance of an unbroken leader to rout with it.

Though, of course, with the Japanese the whole notion of routing isn't exactly the first thing you think about.

Unless there's something specific to this mortar, a broken unit cannot rout with excess of its IPC. A leader may only add his IPC to a good order unit.

 

[Philippe D.]

Thanks for the correction - I knew it (I've had to abandon my share of German HMGs even with leader assistance, after all), but somehow my brain broke down.

Makes it make even more sense - the 3 or 4PP choice makes a big difference in mobility.

 

[buser333]

Thanks for the correction - I knew it (I've had to abandon my share of German HMGs even with leader assistance, after all), but somehow my brain broke down.

Makes it make even more sense - the 3 or 4PP choice makes a big difference in mobility.

You've hit upon one of the key rules of defense. Not just examining your rout paths, but factoring how you will be able to recover your heavy weapons.

 

[Tuomo]

Actually I think it'd be a pretty nice tweak to the rules to let a leader add his IPC to a broken unit. While everybody starts panicking and wants to run away, the GO leader has the sense to say, "Hey! Bring the HMG!"

 

[von Marwitz]

with a 4PP weapon, you need the assistance of an unbroken leader to rout with it.

I am afraid you might have played that wrong - a leader may only add his IPC to increase that of Good Order Infantry, which is not the case if it is broken:

"A4.42 INHERENT PORTAGE CAPACITY (IPC): A MMC has an IPC of three PP, and a SMC has an IPC of one PP.5 An Infantry unit loses one MF for each PP carried in excess of its IPC. A SMC may never portage more than two PP although one SMC can add its IPC to that of any one Good Order Infantry unit to increase the IPC of the latter, provided the two units start the phase together and move together as a stack. Otherwise, Infantry units may not combine their IPC. A broken unit may not portage anything in excess of its IPC (see 10.4) even if accompanied by a leader."

Edit:
I just noticed that someone has already pointed that out before me. Sorry for that.

von Marwitz