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Malcolm Green
Canada
Victoria
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Artillery was the most destructive element of the Great War and certainly deserves to be treated as such in any game of the period.
At the time of the 2nd Battle of Ypres (subject of Gas Attack at Ypres) artillery was still mostly field pieces and ammunition in short supply. This however would not last long as it became more apparent to all sides concerned that bigger pieces with huge stocks of ammunition would form a major part of the doctrine to win the war.
Artillery soon presented a challenge when it came to expanding the game. How would Heavy guns fit in? What about the infamous Siege guns?! The initial thought was to just make them have more punch. Instead of a standard 1 die in support, it would simply scale. This presented problems quite quickly (supply for example).
The answer came fairly quickly thanks to playtesting. The punch would scale but in accordance with the existing rule set. A field piece for example adds 1 die to the support. Each field piece in range could add this to the battles. Heavy pieces in turn allows for up to 2 ammunition (and therefore dice) for each heavy supporting a battle.
This solved the problem of supply (a bullet is a bullet instead of a heavy bullet being more destructive but the same in costs). It also gave the player more options in battles (a heavy could support 2 different battles with 2 ammunition or support 1 battle with 2 ammunition).
Siege guns worked the same way except they pack even more of a punch with allowing up to 3 ammunition in support (they also have the added ability to reduce defensive works).
Artillery has also been worked into it's own phase in addition to supporting battles. The Gas Attack phase will be replaced (and in the case of the Allies, added) with an Artillery/Gas phase. During this phase, players can fire their artillery on targets in hopes of making the coming battles easier...also an opportunity in scenarios like Verdun, to reduce defensive works.
Playtesting continues...
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