After 6 games i've come to the conclusion that the mortar is pretty bad, when compared to the MK2 it's staggeringly bad for it's points.

I was hoping it would get range 5. Or be 2-4

2 minutes ago, TallGiraffe said:

I was hoping it would get range 5. Or be 2-4

Yeah i was surprised in my 2nd game when inwent to shoot someone at range 2 and was like, "what only range 3-4" wth

Lol. It’s 36 points and has red defense dice. Not sure what you expected. Maybe play some more games with it? 6 isn’t a lot.

24 minutes ago, TalkPolite said:

Lol. It’s 36 points and has red defense dice. Not sure what you expected. Maybe play some more games with it? 6 isn’t a lot.

I guess for 36 points i would have liked at least a black die to actually hit anything, i've been aiming and still rolling no hits 70% of the time, my opponents ignore them but for 38 points the Mk 2 scares me with 4 black with crit 2

Eh, it dies so much easier. Neither of them is a real powerhouse but, they both feel pretty good for the points.

I think the Mortar pairs really well as fire support with a Stormtrooper DLT-19 for a range 4 2red/3white with surge, Impact 1, Critical 1 and more importantly Suppressive shot.

I believe you are paying mostly for the range 4 and suppressive.

It's not the damage its the suppression you want , with an aim token you can pretty much ensure a hit quickly get blown off with a save or a dodge (although half your hits will be crits)

With landing 2 suppression of you have just 2 mortars focus fire on , let's say, Luke 2nd round he is down to one action 3rd he could be running off the board.

So 72 pts just nulled 200 and if Luke runs off the board, forcing luke to recover is a major win since if he loses a turn to suppression and recovery then that's him. If you then prevent him using Son of Skywalker because he now has the movement of Vader and can't reach targets.

Hit Tauntauns near a board edge you may even have them just run off it.

The vet/shortroopers detachments were always about activations without using sf slots in the list.

To that end you'll still see them on competitive tables if it makes a list work.

The mortar is fundamentally flawed in that it has a weird range arc and can not be used in the role of an actual mortar. No idea why they went with a dumbed down version of a E-Web or Mk. II while calling it a mortar; there were plenty of ideas thrown around to make it useful as an indirect fire weapon that wouldn't have taken any more work. I'm afraid the Phase II Clone version will be exactly the same, and DOA for me.

I couldn't agree more. It was pretty obvious that this thing should be drawing line of sight from any friendly unit. That's what a mortar should be.

Shoretroopers are so good though

26 minutes ago, Thraug said:

I couldn't agree more. It was pretty obvious that this thing should be drawing line of sight from any friendly unit. That's what a mortar should be.

See, I wouldn't even expect it to go that far. Make use of the "Spotter" keyword some units have (and can be given from Electrobinoculars), or introduce a comm upgrade that allows weapons with the Indirect keyword to use your LOS when making attacks. Boom, two easy ways right there that would have required minimal effort, would have allowed indirect fire, and wouldn't broken the game as they require work and list building to pull it off.

Except that you can take 3 of them and then that'd be pretty broken.

remember it can fire support with ANY range attack as long as they are in range. the way that benefits it the most is with sniper team. (the key words from both combine) or take 2 mortar teams and 2 snow/flamers and let them get in close for the flame shot with mortars.

EDIT 1: Oh and cover is determine from the attacking unit not from the mortar so if they are up high or have no cover to that unit even better.
EDIT 2: Oh Oh Oh even better vaders saber throw pierce 3 3 red and 3 white crit 1, suppressive and against armor impact 3.

11 minutes ago, azeronbloodmoone said:

remember it can fire support with ANY range attack as long as they are in range. the way that benefits it the most is with sniper team. (the key words from both combine) or take 2 mortar teams and 2 snow/flamers and let them get in close for the flame shot with mortars.

They need LOS too to count as an "eligible mini"... unless there's somewhere else in the arcane document that is the RRG that says there's an exception to this.

3 minutes ago, GreatMazinkaiser said:

They need LOS too to count as an "eligible mini"... unless there's somewhere else in the arcane document that is the RRG that says there's an exception to this.

yeah it does but most fights happen at range 4 so just get them to cover the central area or up high to cover that area.
also they just have to have to be able to see a mini in that unit. not all of them as
When determining which defending minis can suffer wounds, line of sight is determined from the attacking unit, and not the unit using the fire support keyword

Mortars are awesome! Suppress suppress suppress!!!

I've been having a lot of fun with the mortar.

It heaps up the suppression. I've actually seen units flee more than once a game since the mortar released.

If you can get it into a high spot on the map, it really starts helping your units.

I think theyre fine. Not as generally useful as a proper unit but they are so cheap that you can fill your core up and still have plenty of options for your list to build on.

FFG really needs to make a ruling in this. Mortars are know to be an indirect fire weapon. And thus in my opinion should use line of sight using the attacking units LOS. It would help clear things up. Or all of us are deploying a mortar on a hill or building.

22 minutes ago, Packerman29 said:

FFG really needs to make a ruling in this. Mortars are know to be an indirect fire weapon. And thus in my opinion should use line of sight using the attacking units LOS. It would help clear things up. Or all of us are deploying a mortar on a hill or building.

Pretty massive balance change though.

And points.

21 hours ago, Matt Antilles said:

Except that you can take 3 of them and then that'd be pretty broken.

Why? You'd still only have 3 white die being thrown around per attack, and that's if you give up three corps slots for the mortar. If having three of them would break the game, they could easily have put a limit on it. As I said above, we don't have a mortar. We have a unit they designed around the game rules, and called it a mortar. What we needed was a mortar that introduced new rules into the game.

19 hours ago, azeronbloodmoone said:

remember it can fire support with ANY range attack as long as they are in range. the way that benefits it the most is with sniper team. (the key words from both combine) or take 2 mortar teams and 2 snow/flamers and let them get in close for the flame shot with mortars.

EDIT 1: Oh and cover is determine from the attacking unit not from the mortar so if they are up high or have no cover to that unit even better.
EDIT 2: Oh Oh Oh even better vaders saber throw pierce 3 3 red and 3 white crit 1, suppressive and against armor impact 3.

Yeah, that's not how that works at all. LOS is still needed, so you've got to have your mortar trailing behind your infantry. And 3 white dice isn't all that much to write home about. Only real benefit on Vader's attack is suppressive, as chances are you'll tap out the impact 3/pierce 3 on the red die, and the white die will blank out (or just be cancelled by armor). Suppression is nice, but both the Rebels and the Empire have methods of dealing with it, and the CIS just won't care. The only faction that suppression really hurts enough to make up for giving up part of your gunline is the GAR.

7 hours ago, Packerman29 said:

FFG really needs to make a ruling in this. Mortars are know to be an indirect fire weapon. And thus in my opinion should use line of sight using the attacking units LOS. It would help clear things up. Or all of us are deploying a mortar on a hill or building.

There's no ruling to make. Mortars have been in the game since release and have always needed line of sight.