The Bishop Says: Motion Fire Versus Stopping To Fire

A user (RockaRola) asked if I planned to do an article on Motion Fire as Bounding First Fire. Specifically, the person wanted to know when it made sense to do so. My initial reply was I had no intention of doing such an article and then offering some initial thoughts. The more I think about it, I believe there is a time and place for this tactic. After running the math, I am convinced there are some basic rules of thumb we can use for guidance. Let’s look and see together.

When To Stop

When deciding to Stop, I am assuming your AFV has a reasonable chance of eliminating his AFV. This is an exercise best done in the pre-Game. Compare your To Kill (TK) number to his Armor Factors (AF) to have this information handy in the moment. What’s reasonable you ask? That depends on your tolerance for risk and the game situation.

When to stop and shoot is driven by the odds. In every case I can think of, stopping to Bounding First Fire (B1F) offers better odds to hit the target than Motion Fire. Not only do you avoid doubling the lower die of the To Hit (TH) DR, you may also qualify for Point Blank modifiers (Case L). If your chance to win this engagement is better than his, then Stop. I explained this in my J15 article Die Panzerwaffe im Angrif and I encourage you to read that if you want more guidance.

If your Shooter-based DRM are less than the targets, then Stop. You will win the Gun Duel and take the first shot.You need to at least have an idea what DRM affect the Original TH DR and maneuver to force these situations on your enemy. This was also a subject of my J15 article. The biggest of these DRM as an attacker are changing covered arc (Case A) and Moving Vehicular Target (Case C) DRM. If your AFVs have a white ROF background, this halves your Shooter-based DRM for determining the winner of a Gun Duel. These tanks should stop as they are almost certain to shoot first.

Finally, if your target has no shooting options that allow a change of CA (The Dance of Death), then stop. There is no risk of being eliminated by the enemy AFV. This includes cases where you can put a friendly unit in the enemy AFV’s Location. This could be a Berserker that charged, a T-H Hero that charged (the Hero may detonate in the MPh, it doesn’t have to), or even a friendly AFV that entered the Location and remained.

When Not To Stop

Let’s examine the general case. An AFV at ≤ 6 hexes, the Basic TH number is 10. Add to this a +2 Case B and +2 Case C DRM. This assumes the shooter is Crew Exposes (CE). The resulting Original 6 TH yields a 42% (15/36) chance of a hit if the AFV Stops. If instead, the AFV fires while in motion, you have a 22% (8/36) chance of scoring a hit. The doubling of the lower die has reduced the chance to hit in half. So why would you consider it?

One of the best reasons is to catch your opponent by surprise. This is especially important if you approach from the rear or side of an AFV that is nearly invulnerable to your AFV from the front. Is your T34M43 (14 TK) facing off against a Panther? If so, you are going to need a side/rear Target Aspect to have any chance to eliminate the enemy. Chances are, your opponent is waiting to hear you say Stop before making his own decision.

Another consideration is target size. A large target offers a -1 TH DRM. A very large target offers a -2 DRM. This increases the TH chances to 33% for a large target (Original TH 7) and 44% for a very large target (16/36). Large and very large AFV are excellent choices for Motion Fire targets. Conversely, small and very small targets are terrible options.

It is also worth considering Motion Fire if your AFV lacks the MP to get into position to shoot, then start again to get out of LOS. Considering this is an act of desperation. You are most likely going to lose your AFV but perhaps it’s game end when all the stops are out.

Last, if you have an Armor Leader (AL) in your AFV (especially a -2 AL), Motion Fire becomes a genuine threat, especially against a large and very large target. A -2 AL taking a Motion Fire shot against a very large target has a 64% chance of a hit (23/36). Given that AL remain hidden until used, this is a perfect compliment to the surprise I spoke about earlier.

Even with all of this, I would prefer to stop and shoot if possible.

Special Mention

The case for Gyrostabilized AFV is less clear. These AFV do not double the lower die of the Original TH DR and also have a lower Case C TH DRM (+1). At all non-Point Blank ranges, there is no need to stop. The DRM do not change when Stopped at these ranges. If your AFV closes to Point Blank Range, then it is worth Stopping. The calculus of when to do so is the same as we covered above.

Conclusion

The question was more interesting than I originally thought. After poking around with the math, it was clear I was underestimating Motion Fire. Examining the math forced me to consider situations where I can apply this knowledge. I still think Stopping is better and I will mostly do so. The surprise of Motion Fire could catch an opponent off guard, especially when combatting behemoth AFV with Armor Leaders. I hope this answers your question RockaRola.

— jim

GET TO THE CHOPPA…!!!

Jim has graciously given us permission to publish and archive “The Bishop Says,” so it never disappears as an ASL resource. The articles, containing invaluable ASL insights and learnings, will appear here, over time, unchanged from their original versions.
This article was originally published June 6, 2025 (v1.0).

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