Phantom Artillery

[Volcano Man]

I think the main reason that the units were fixed on the map edge is not to simulate anything, regardless of what the notes might say, but rather it is to make the arrival of these units more managable, from a design point of view. It can be extremely complicated and confusing to work with tons of reinforcement units, especially since you need to have the unit on the map to issue AI orders during the scenario design process. Now whether these units should have been made into reinforcements once all that was finished is another story.

I would say that since these units are supposed to be reinforcements, then yes it might be gamey to use the fixed artillery there to soften up enemy positions, before the artillery units are released. Otherwise these units would and should be considered normal reinforcements which would prevent you from using them like this since they would not be located on the map.

But it all depends on who you talk to really. Some play literally, if the unit is there then use it... or if exploit X is there then take it. I do not play like that.