Search the Community

This is ‘PART 4: Techniques – methods of undertaking movement tasks by tanks in combat’ of the short longer than originally planned series giving an overview of the tactical fundamentals and principles behind WWII German tactical drills and combat formations commonly used in 1944 using examples from Combat Mission Red Thunder to illustrate key points. In Part 4 we look at the specific ‘battle drills’ and associated movement techniques used by the German tank platoon to gain superiority in a firefight with enemy forces. Part 5 will be looking at training programmes etc and jeezo, was that a rabbit hole... Hopefully this will be of use to both players and thsoe interested in this time period. It was originally intended to complement the tank tactical problem series I created. As an aside when you start digging into this is becomes even more painfully clear how a dogged emphasis doctrinally and values wise on "unexpected, concentrated and determined attack; aggressive leadership and daring operations." coupled with increasingly minimally trained crews (and training hampered by lack of resources both human and material), and just as importantly, tank and small unit commanders, would only lead to needless losses.

To share what you found works.

Hi all I've created this post to make available some resources that may be of use to players. I've attached the Five Days One Summer campaign flowchart - so you can see where you are going, if you wish. If you'd rather not see into the future then best not read it. I've attached the Tigers at Ogledow campaign flowchart - again possible spoilers here so if you'd rather not know, don't look! Also I've attached a SPW Training Missions Tactics and Lessons document. This document provides a deeper overview of the doctrine and tactics taught (and used) by German armored panzer grenadier units equipped with the Sdkfz 251 halftrack and its variants (referred to as a Schützenpanzerwagon or SPW) in the later part of the war, around 1944. Its main intent is to provide additional background to the series of scenarios and missions in the battle pack for Red Thunder, in particular the series of three SPW ‘Lesson’ series scenarios. My thanks to @domfluff who reviewed this and provided tactical insight, oh and it was his idea originally. Five Days One Summer Wiking panzer grenadier mods - I've added a wee package of mods I used for the grenadiers in the Five Days One Summer. I basically assembled others excellent mods to create a look which is in the Wiking Mods GMc Mix . Main changes are grenadiers are in light battle rattle - no extraneous kit, crusher caps are M43s and senior officer has a 'Wiking' cuff band and a M43. My thanks to the talent and good will of Aris, @EZ (WSS Senior Officer and WSS camo uniforms), @Frenchy56 (Crusher and side caps to M43) @kohlenklau (No-gear mod - the campaign is mod tagged 'no gear') @Lucky_Strike (Senior officer peaked caps to M43s). I used Aris' Soviet tank mods, his Soviet faces and VM's summer Soviet uniforms. Five Days Campaign Overview_v1.pdf SPW Training Missions Tactics and Lessons_FINAL.pdf 1831305623_FiveDaysOneSummerMods.rar Tigers at Ogledow Campaign Overview_v1.pdf

I posted a while back about creating an AAR to try to get some tactical advice. I have used the various resources in the forum including Bil H’s blogs to try to methodically approach a battle and see how this improves my typical results. I would be really grateful for people’s honest insight into my planning process and then how the battle goes from here. The battle that I have chosen is AD Snow Day from Combat Mission: Fortress Italy. I wasn’t able to find the designer to credit them. The scenario requires the capture of a small village. Our forces are 2 initial platoons of New Zealand Infantry with 1 platoon to arrive later on to complete the company. Supporting is a sniper, Vickers .303 water cooled WW1 HMG and mortars attached to the platoons with a low supply of HE and smoke rounds. Enemy forces are a platoon strength unit likely with a number of MG34/42 positions at crucial points including in the village. I have tried to identify the key terrain and avenues of approach. View from AA3 towards KT2 View from KT 2 KT 1 is the village itself. The village offers good observation over the open ground in the middle between the forest and the village objective. KT1 also offers observation over to KT2. KT 2 is the forest on the left flank. KT2 offers observation of the ground required to pass in order to get into the objective area. If the enemy holds this ground they can pepper my forces with enfilade fire as we approach the objective. If we hold the ground we will be able to support our forces via supporting fires and clearing the area will ensure that our forces are not attacked from this angle. There are three broad avenues of attack. AA1 which is the left flank to KT1. AA2 which is the central approach and AA3 which is the right flanking arrow. AA1 would leave a large area to cross to KT1 from KT2 and it would be difficult to support an assault from that angle. AA2 would be the obvious attack route due to the short distance of open ground before we could get a foothold in KT1. AA3 suffers the same issues as AA1 and does not allow for much support – in addition our forces could end up being funnelled in the small space available and held up by minor enemy forces. My thoughts are to take AA2 with a supporting smoke screen from KT2 allowing the advance and supporting fires from KT2 dealing with any fixed positions. My tentative plan is to work 1 Platoon along with the Vickers HMG and the mortar from 2 Platoon up to KT2. When KT2 is secured, 2 Platoon and 3 Platoon when available are to move to the stone wall in-front of the forest along AA2 before moving into the objective under cover of smoke. Once a foothold is established in the village, at that point victory should be certain. How does the plan sound? Am I way off base with the key terrain / avenues of approach that other people would look at? One concern I have is that all of the potential positions for support, even KT2, are within a few hundred meters of observation and one way or another I am going to have to fight into KT2 and will lose people doing so unless I just smoke the open gap.. I will look to get the ball rolling on moves at the weekend.

I've been playing some battles for a few weeks, reading forums, manuals, etc etc etc. CMBN 4.02. I seem to often hit a similar problem which I would like some advice about. Defenders behind a hedgerow: I build up a base of fire, and pretty much suppress them. Then I advance some unit(s) a bit to the side of the defenders (e.g. I flank them). In some cases, there is a suitable hole in the hedgerow, but if I send units through it, the defenders often are still alive enough to shoot them up. Another choice is to blast a hole through the hedgerow in a suitable place, but still, when units go through, they take fire. A third thing I've tried is to wait until units have reached the hedgerow, then change the suppressive fire to light (Y) and then hunt (U) the units that are on the hedgerow down toward the defenders without trying to cross to the other side. In some youtube videos, I see units approach the hedgerow and throw grenades over, but I don't seem to have the knack to get my troops to do that (poor training, all my fault 8-). So, in short, any advice?

Hi everybody, I started compiling a document of the best tips I came across in these forums. They mainly relate to CMBS but many of them are applicable across all CMx2 games. Then I realised these might be of use to other players. It is a bit ad-hoc but I hope everyone is credited for their good ideas and sage advice. So here it is: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ytpps4p2fcwall7/Treasure_Trove_CM_Tactics_Info_V1.4.docx/file It is a docx so you can add your own tips or edit as you wish. (if you want to suggest other places I should put it then do so. I'm going to upload it to A Few Good Men too)

So being new and naive I thought I'd play some short scenarios to teach myself. Enter "NATO Stolz von Bayern". Approx time to finish 10 minutes. I've spent around 4 hours on it, playing as a blue, turns, veteran. Results - getting my ass kicked, repeatedly. Trouble is a very high concentration of red troops in overwatch/concealed positions, they have BMPs which has a MG which smokes German Fuchs for breakfast. So, I need to rely on Panzerfausts. Trouble is that a) BMPs shred my anti tank units quicker than I can kill them. b) there is one immediate overwatch position available for Blue side,, but because of angles/LOS an effective position for a shoot is in a building. Which gets immediately compromised by BMP cannon. I've tried various "tactics", sneaking in, coordinated attack (to disable all BMPs) after very careful recon etc. Nothing works. I can somewhat get halfway there, but at very high cost in causalities. This is not how I play, I don't throw my personnel into a death pit What I didn't try is cat&mouse trick to lure these BMPs from cover/concealment to get a good shot. I am afraid I have nothing to play the mouse without being squished immediately. My instinct would be to call a couple of Tornados in for a CAS quick cleanup, but none available. I start to think it's one of these "the HQ forgot about us" moments, where 50% of your troops die. Any thoughts?

Have been thinking a lot about Opfor in general (sucker for an underdog), and how to approach this with CMSF 2, particularly from a PBEM standpoint, and trying to be somewhat competitive. Doing some experimenting with CMSF 1: The heaviest option for civilians in CMSF will allow Combatants (not Fighters (Mujahideen), but the guys in camo and jeans), and possibly VBIED (but not taxis) to remain invisible until very close indeed - it seems like if these are Move-ing along city tiles, these won't be spotted until around 2 action spots away. VBIED seem to have some degree of stealth, but nothing like as much as that. Usually that doesn't matter, since they cover a huge amount of ground pretty quickly. They are not spotted directly, but the soldiers will still call out "SPOTTED AN ENEMY UNIT", etc. - so there's some contextual clues. Occasionally they might pop up with contact icons, but still nothing they'll directly fire at. Originally I thought this was a problem, but on further thought I think this might actually be okay - the manuals talk about spotting unusual behaviour in civilians, dogs etc., so this could be put down to that kind of observation. I was also originally of the opinion that this "stealth device" approach to modelling insurgents wasn't terribly great, but it does seem to match up to the tactical considerations quite well - hiding amongst civilians to get to point-blank range, etc. Combatants do not have the firepower to go into a straight fight with any Blufor squad, at least with small arms, and they're mostly equipped with small arms alone. This means that I suspect the correct approach is to force them into something other that a straight fight. E.g.: The mission is to attack a US squad, inside a police station. The plan is to use spies to discover their location, infiltrate (whilst holding fire!) to locations surrounding the building, then give them a really good reason to leave the building - ideally a VBIED, but perhaps an ATGM, mortar fire, RPG volley, whatever. The Combatants can then open up whist he US squad is fleeing the building, giving them the advantage that they need. Any technicals are ideal here as flankers - probably not engaging directly, but cutting off retreat routes. The TC 7-100 series are the recent OpFor guides for the US. 2 and 3 are of particular use: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/TC_7-100.2_-_Opposing_Force_Tactics_(December_2011).pdf https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/TC_7-100.3_-_Irregular_Opposing_Forces_(January_2014).pdf The interesting things here are how generic these are (the same basic concepts work for Syrian Mechanised infantry battalion assaults, or a fighter group ambushing a few HMMWV's). This generally splits a plan into three sections: Active Element - This is the element that will make the assault/carry out the ambush/manoeuvre onto the target. Security Element - Early warning for the approach of reinforcements, possibly delaying or preventing this. Typically this might just be an RPG team, but could include spies, IED's, mines, ATGMs, etc. Support Element - C2, Direct fires, Indirect fires and mobility. Direct fires will be MG's, RPGs and maybe an ATGM. Mobility is obviously civilian transport. The "C2" part of that is worth some thought. Irregular forces don't get much in terms of equipment, and I can't remember if there's much in the way of radios in CMSF. The Spy in Passage at Wilcox (CMSF 2 Demo) definitely has a radio, so there's that. I do wonder if it's worth using teams in taxis as messengers, sharing the spy spotting information horizontally? In any case, it's going to be important to pay attention to force (cell?) structure here, and a reasonable percentage of your force allocation should probably go on spies (or at least dedicated to spotting Combatants), since you'll need all the help you can get. This does leave the Fighters in a slightly odd position. Without the stealth of the Combatants, they're mostly useful for having better equipment (including ATGMs), usually a little better training, and higher motivation. Whilst that means that they're a good choice for the actual attack, they don't have the same ability to get close without some thought - I wonder if they're best used from concealment as the assault element, after the support element suppresses the target? That would leave Combatants in the Security and Support roles mostly, I suppose. E.g.: The mission is to attack a US squad, inside a police station. The plan is to use spies to discover their location, infiltrate RPG teams (whilst holding fire!) to locations surrounding the building, then fix them in place - unleashing a volley of RPGs and MG fire from multiple directions. The Fighters can then debus from civilian transport and storm the building directly. One idea I did read in the above manuals which I think could work well in CMSF is using taxis to form an impromptu roadblock - using them to block in either end of a street so that exits are impeded. The taxis will be destroyed, of course, but if it keeps the enemy in the kill zone longer, so much the better.

Do you guys split your units often? Perhaps to have many people occupying buildings at the same time for area control? Only time I've actually used it wasn't a real combat situation, but during the training exercise. It does make people useful for scouts at least. Speaking of which, can buildings be used as scouting locations once you shorten the targeting cone? I'm trying to learn about every tactic I can use to my advantage, this game is really tough, even on the training difficulty.

I know this is a pretty loaded question so let me break it apart. I'm watching Armchair General's tutorial on Battle for Normandy, and he said that the most important thing is fire superiority. This question is going under the assumption that this is 100% fact, so it can be used as a universal unit of trade. So, first, because it's 4am and I'm bored, let's define just what fire superiority is so we are all on the same page. Essentially, it is the measurement of Delta between you and your opponent's firepower; the bigger difference between them, the more superiority is had. On to the first part of the tactical conundrum: how do you spend firepower efficiently so you gain superiority? So, to elaborate on what I mean a little, let's start with "spending firepower. The reason I call it spending firepower is because everything you do in combat has the opportunity of making you weaker. Moving your units around the map, shooting at a target, firing artillery, all has a chance to limit or reduce your firepower, or reduce your resources. So, the question becomes how can you do this to your opponent, before they do it to you? How can you control the loss of your military to your advantage? The next part of my question applies to when you are already licking your wounds. How do you regain fire superiority once it is already lost? Now, I don't mean necromancy, bringing forces back from the dead, but instead how do you deal more damage with less firepower in order to turn the tides of battle?

So, after getting this game yesterday, I'm having a hard time with it. I'm loving the game regardless of my failures, but I just have to ask, why do tactics fail here but succeed everywhere else? In most other games, there is the general idea of, "push first, and push hard" in order to capture your objectives. While I attack with what I believe are "overwhelming odds" (although without any intel to support this), by the time the battle ends, it was a horrific, bloody draw. In my current game, the first campaign mission, I've gained control of multiple areas, but barely nobody is alive to continue the attack, with most of the units written down as casualties (also, learning how to heal people would be great). So, making my attacks at least somewhat more efficient than a Skaven bumrush would be very useful information. My next question would be about artillery. I find myself completely dry halfway through the battle, which I wouldn't mind if I knew that it was being used effectively. My first targets at the beginning of the match are the objectives, in this case I bombard the school, or other clumps of buildings with hope to suppress or just wipe out many squads at once. What fire modes do you guys use under what situations? In exchanges of fire with other infantry, I tend to use light fire for short periods of time, and for groups like machine guns and infantry in buildings, I would use heavy for short as well. I don't use Long much because I'm worried that the fir will continue long after we push upwards into the location. Something someone posted that got me curious was to "always leave units in reserve". Does this help? Won't your attacking forces just get overrun immediately without strength in numbers? My last qustion is, how can you preserve the health of your units, and how can I reduce the number of times they just drop what they're doing to run away? It feels like the moment a fight begins, a unit is running away, and their fear level is difficult to manage.

I'm playing the first campaign, and over a dozen times, I've had people run away the moment fire starts to be exchanged. Why is this?

Hello all, As some of you may know I recently converted a large number of CMFI, CMBN, and CMFB maps to Black Sea. They've been fantastic and let me really play around with different formations. Chief among those units that I am being acquainted with is the US Infantry Battalion. Most of the elements of the battalion I'm familiar with, but I am having great difficulty effectively using the Weapons Company. I can plainly see that 4 platoons of heavy weapons mounted in Humvees is a powerful and mobile striking force, but I have no idea how to use them. I have tried establishing a base of fire with them, tried maneuvering them as sections, platoons and a company, tried dispersing them out among the infantry platoons. In each effort my results have been much less than say the Weapons Companies of the Russian or Ukrainian BTR Battalions, despite the TOW and advanced optics making the US Weapons Companies much more effective in theory. I have tried reading the field manual - http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/3-21-12/fm3-21-12.pdf While I get the gist of it, I'm a Canadian soldier by training so some of the doctrine is lost on me. I would really appreciate someone breaking this down either in gameplay terms, or if anyone wants to talk shop, breaking down the key parts of the doctrine.

Tactical lifehack. I think that it is important for us to share some tactical lifehacks related to this wonderful game. Please attach screenshot of your knowhow and some description of it. I think if we will organize our answers that would work better. So please share your ideas supported by screenshots and detailed description of what it does or what it serves for. Thank you. Since I’ve started this topic I will provide first lifehack. As you can see on a picture there are some barbered wire around mixed mines. This thing is useful when it is located on the opposite side from your enemy across some river. It should be specifically placed in areas where crossing the river is the most comfortable for your enemy. Simple at first look it turns out very effective in slowing down your enemy. Enemy infantry forces will need to go around or will be forced to use some sappers to go through it. If enemy forces will use armored vehicles to run over that wired thing they will be damaged by mines almost immediately. Even you facing smart opponent who will use engineers this thing can became a mass grave in no time. All you have to do is to place your BMP, or any other armored vehicle on a solid distance from this trap. Your vehicle should have good visual of that area and should be able to fire through it. When your enemy will try to organize some breakthrough it will be forced to slow down, its infantry will need to go around or break through under fire, its vehicles will not be able to advance fast. The main goal of this thing is to slow down your opponent. Furthermore I’ve also checked this thing on human factor. One of the people I’ve played with faced this trap, he was almost sure that I’m simply wasting my fortifications shaping them in awkward manner. He decided to go through it by using 3 of his BTR’s 82A without even unloading his infantry. The result was dramatic, I had a BMP-2 sitting in ambush around 450 meters away from that spot. I gave certain target arc to my BMP, and in terms of two minutes an entire platoon was smoked out. Then he decided to go through it with bigger forces and that took some time. By the moment he finally passed that thing my arty was already preparing to shell some area in front of him. Conclusion: this thing can be a trap for AI, it can be a trap for a real player, and it is a great way to slow down your opponent. It is also a great way to redirect your opponents plans because most of the people are getting excited when they see some barricades, they really wanna go through them. Counter act hint: if you want to counter this thing you need to shoot through barricades, deploy smoke, use your engineers and then move on. You can also call an artillery strike on it but that is a waste. If you see this thing I would recommend to cross that river in a different place because price of crossing can be way higher than you think.

I guess all of us went through scenarios and battles with some "green" or anotherwords poorly trained soldiers. At first it can feel as highly uncomfortable thing: your soldiers are low on moral, they are poorly trained, they get into panic fast and they are dying fast. Yet it is still possible to win, and the core principal of any fight is that it is always possible to win. For you guys using "Green" trained soldiers it is important to understand that distance is your friend. Green soldiers are dying fast when it comes to close combat, their reaction time is low and they getting chopped pretty quick. Yet, if you will maintain the distance their effectivity will rise dramatically. As usual I will say that spliting teams is important for collecting information. When you have poorly trained forces it is important for you to spot your enemy as quickly as possible. Most of the time when it comes to "Green" you will have a decent number of soldiers under your control. So the amount of firepower will be decent as well. Soldiers will not be accurate, they will not hit the target right away but if you will go a little crazy on a micro control level their actions will make more sense. Achiving fire superiority is crucial. When you have Green soldiers under your command remember that your mobility should be decreased meaning that you move in larger numbers, and your path should be shorter than usual. That will lead to time consumption, but when it comes to die fast or win slowly - let it be win slowly. When you collected all possible info on your enemy and some of your elements got some vision on your enemy you are in the game. The standard approach in this case will be: look for a comfortable firing position (good observation/good cover), place your soldiers not that far from it (during the pause between turns give them order to take it and check if they will be able to fire from that position in enemy's direction), dont place your soldiers on that position right away but them prepare to take it, in a meanwhile use scouts to understand where is your enemy is, then order your main forces to take position what was prepared before (if needed adjust your orders accordingly), after your main forces are in position split them into smaller teams, order some elements to open fire through "target" button into enemy direction (that will trigger your enemy it will start to react: move/shoot back/etc), when enemy will react it will become visible to the rest of your forces, make sure that you always engage in larger number (example: having "Green soldiers" under your command you should attack enemy squad with at least two squads of your own), while main shooting is going on - use your scouts to gather some more information (dont be shy to make some ambushes (for example: you know that your enemy is in the forest and you know that there is a little village or farm or anything what can be used as a possible escape for your enemy. Dont be shy to order some units to keep that possible retreat route under control, and when the moment comes they will finish everything what left from your enemy. P.S. AI is very predictible and ambushing it should not be a problem at all). In case if you are short on time and you need to advance - use following logic: one group of soldiers is constantly shooting, while another group is moving. Your soldiers should make small pushes, avoid pushin on a long distances. If you have armor what can support your infantly - it can do the do as well. General idea here is to destroy as many enemies as possible before getting close to them. If you have "regular" or "veteran" soldiers you are more flexible, you can be agressive, you can go into close combat, you can do some tasty things. But when you have "Green" soldiers, especially if their morale and organization is low, you need to finish your enemy before you get close. Yes you will waste more time, you will waste more ammo, it will not be that epic lol, but you will get the job done. While commanding "Green" units you should be more careful than usual, you should think through each of your moves, and you should always think about two things: fire superiority and distance. Constantly suppress your enemy, advance in large numbers, do not go far at one time, keep your forces in cover, keep an eye on your flanks, think when to engage to maximise enemy casualties, think what your enemy can do next and you will find out that it is possible to destroy even "crack" enemy with your "green" men. Dangerous places for a "green" commander. Forest Usually pushing through forest is a great idea, yet if you push through forest while being in charge of "Green" soldiers that can be fatal. Why? Because green soldiers are bad in close combat and because they are very bad when they are not the ones who shoot first. What would be a solution? The solution would be to use forests which are close to your starting position and then get out of them when getting closer to contact. So when you retreat, or saving your forces from some arty dropping on you - forest might help you a little, yet if you are advancing with green units - that can be super dangerous. If there is no choice and you simply have to advance through forest with Green soldiers, you should follow your intuition. Sometimes when you about to get into contact but you didnt yet and you getting worried a little, it might be a good idea to order some elements to shoot in front of the main group. That can tigger your enemy, he will start shooting back, and you will at least get a sense of direction. Be careful because triggering your enemy in woods can lead to a full scale battle to which you are not prepared yet. But if you have no choice it is always better to shoot first (One day I will write about how to use each element of a squad in a forest, and maybe i will do that with some screen shots so you would get better idea on that). City City can be dangerous if you advancing and helpfull if you defending. Advancing problem here is same as in forest - your forces are green, they are not prepared to heavy firefights in close distance. When advancing into a city with green soldiers you should rely on your armor more. Usually I would say that using armor within city is not a good idea, yet when your soldiers are green, you dont really have a choice. Idea is simple - you use your soldiers to find enemy, then you destroy it with armor. Yet on places like crossroads expect casualties. Furthermore AT systems in close spaces like streets are far more deadly then in the open. My adivce here is to avoid entering the city, even if you need to capture it, start lowering it building by buidling and slowly push into the ruins. Try to force your enemies to leave their cover, try to make them move. In order to trigger your enemy try to attack another objective and hopefully your enemy will leave a town to support its forces in a different place. If you have no time and and you need to advance in a city - use your artillery. You should use it massively, and a little hint - use linear arty strikes. Place those markers on the main roads and when delivered they will destroy the street and all near by buildings. If you will use area target - you will simply waste shells. Weather, Day time, Soil: You should avoid leading Green soldiers into the battle at night. But in all other conditions it is possible to be effective. Quick Battle Economy Sometimes when you rely on arty and armor you can save some points on exp for your troops. Yet, I would not advise you to save points on things like: AT teams, Snipers, and heavy weapons. If you want your AT teams to hit targets on 2000+ meters distances - they should be at least "Veterans" but if you want 1 shot one kill - they should be "CRACK" and trust me that will pay off. Once Ive destroyed 4 T90 in a raw (2 turns) with my "Crack" trained Skif operator. With the use of armor and arty that would take way more time and it would be way more difficult. Saving points is important when playing Tiny and Small battles against AI or your firends. I would not reccomend to save on Tanks as well, because well trained tank under good command can change battles up to a company level (and yes a well positioned tank can destroy more than a dozen advancing enemy vehicles). Conclusion: this entire thing was written simply to share experience, most of the players got their approaches, you are all talanted strategists if you playing these games, yet I've seen some posts where people were saying that it is impossible to stand with Green soldiers against Veterans. So my general point is that - you can stand and win with Green soldiers. I hope some of you will benefit from reaing this and feel free to share your approaches and tactics. Thank you for your time reading this, and feel free to contact me. Next Time I will probably write about combat in forest. Good luck comrades! Glory To Ukraine!

Some help for those learning to handle US infantry! These are what the Army's CM level sims look like. My understanding from one of the comments on a vid is that this is something called VVS and is a military only version of Arma. Introduction to Rifle Squad Squad Movement Formations & Techniques Regards, John Kettler

In reading John C. McManus's generally splendid The Deadly Brotherhood: the American Combat Soldier in World War II, I came across a great piece of tactical info. On page 126, 6th AD (Super Sixth) tanker Charles Hogg lists the composition of the armored point: 5 x Light tank, 5 x Medium tank, 1 x Armored Infantry Platoon, 1 x Engineer Squad, 1 x FO in Light tank and 2 x M7 Priest. The basic concept is the spearhead keeps going, smashing through opposition until it can't, whereupon it hunkers down and calls for reinforcements. Though it's not stated, presumably the Engineer Squad is in a halftrack. Given the presence of the FO, it seems reasonable to posit the Priests are likely one terrain feature behind, if not more, ready to provide hasty support fires called in by the FO. George Blackburn, in Guns of Normandy, describes a clever technique in which the gunners in march column would keep running track of where they were and, on order, would swiftly pull of the road, set up shop, fire the mission, pack up and return to the column. This was for 25-pdr. Obviously, this drill is much easier to do with a Priest, where there are no tow vehicles, limbers and caissons to deal with. Seems to me this is a perfect CMFB (or maybe CMBN) level tactical all arms formation. Regards, John Kettler

I have mentioned this scenario before. But after tinkering with the scenario, very intermittently for months, I wanted to write more about it--not as a historian, or a military person, but as a gamer, who is looking for a good game. Some people may blast though a scenario, getting perhaps a big victory, and then move on. But I like to savor the work that went into the scenario's construction. I plan multiple posts, and no pictures. This will be retro and conceptual. You can fire up the scenario to see most of what I am writing about. First, to me the scenario is a "puzzle". I mean that in a positive sense. If you play this scenario and get a big victory the first time, I am going to say you, even if great, were lucky. You cannot, I don't think, look at the scenario for the first time and know what approach, of many possible approaches, is going to be successful. There is just too much unknown, and unknowable, about the German force and the location of each unit of the force. The scenario usually shows you some shadows initially of AT guns and a few other units--which is clever. But the locations are vague. I tried more than a dozen hours trying to attack down the right flank. I finally realized the scenario was not built for that approach to be successful. Indeed, I am sure there are many people who very much dislike this type of scenario--where the designer seems to have some approach in mind. But if the puzzle is interesting, so is the scenario. I think the puzzle is interesting in this case. The reason for these posts is to make the scenario even more interesting for players. Even with the information I am about the give, it will still take much time to operationally move and use the units involved. And people can find out how to improve, and comment on the improvement, about the approach I will be describing. Next post: general issues.

For what its worth, here is some lighter reading I recommend for members of the forum. Gamers will enjoy the tactical takes from military history. Scenario designers might find it helpful for AI plans; forces, deployment, and programming. The book " Understanding Defeat: How To Recover From Loss In Battle To Gain Victory In War" by Trevor N. Dupuy. ISBN-10: 1557780994 ISBN-13: 978-1557780997 A nice survey or summary covering history's Great Captains and individual actions, especially Huertgen Forest. The copy I borrowed was purchased by a friend at Half-Price books. Check your library, Amazon, ABE books, or Biblio to see what suits you. I liked the checklist for how to avoid defeat. Specific to this forum; A and B for scenario designers, C for players. DuPuy's Causes of Defeat A. Unfavorable Circumstances Beyond the Control of the Commander 1. Overwhelming Odds a. Superior Numbers b. Superior Armor c. Superior Fire Support (1) Artillery (2) Air Support d. Superior Skill 2. Unfavorable Environment a. Weather b. Terrain c. Roads / Communications (LOC) 3. Hostile Fortifications 4. Inferior Technology 5. Chance or Luck B. Unfavorable Circumstances the Commnader May Influence 1. Lack of preparation for battle 2. Inferior-quality Forces a. Quality of manpowere b. Training / experience c. Doctrine 3. Poor Morale 4. Casualties 5. Subordinate failure / error C. Failure of Command 1. Surprise 2. Inferior Leadership a. Self-delusion (perception) b. Confused mission c. Weakness of will 3. Inadequate Control a. Poor reconnaissance / intelligence b. Poor planning c. Faulty tactics d. Inadequate logistics e. Breakdown in communications The following are a century old, a bit tongue in cheek, and refreshingly helpful. "The Defence of Duffer's Drift" is a 1904 British army platoon leader's learning guide set in the Boer War. The online version I liked best is the USMC "Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication (FMFRP) 12-33, The Defense of Duffer's Drift". You can download at URL = http://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Portals/207/Docs/TBS/FMFRP%2012-33%20The%20Defense%20of%20Duffer's%20Drift.pdf "The Battle of Booby's Bluffs" is a 1921 a US Army treatment in similiar vein for larger units. You can read at URL = http://regimentalrogue.com/boobysbluffs/booby0.htm You can download at URL = https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCYQFjABahUKEwiv_sD6pOXHAhVMcT4KHSYzCfk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forgottenbooks.com%2Fdownload_pdf%2FThe_Battle_of_Boobys_Bluffs_1000213718.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHMRyoJP_coGEioxDgy9yRtzf8A8A&sig2=9a_ypLROJn8MgcTFQ-p9vQ&bvm=bv.102022582,d.cWw Hope you enjoy.

Please tell me I am not the only person who does this. I know the game you can pause but I need a real world medium to help plan my missions. The Op orders for scenarios are great but they are more like a WARNO, you have to come up with one for each piece. I think I spend more time planning than I do playing.

While I find it disturbing that I can find these open source on the web might as well put them to good use. I can tell you that the SBCt ( Stryker Brigade Combat Team) manuals are the legitimate ones Strongly suggest any serious CMSF or CMBS player really take a look at the SBCT Company manual. I have noticed the missions involving Strykers tend to get you blown up alot if you try and use the ICV like an IFV. Conventional Army Mission for Strykers is to work supported by heavy mech or lots of arty in Urban terrains against limited armor. the Most dangerous thing in a Stryker is the Dismounts. It is just a Taxi. But here is the link http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/7_Series_Collection_1.html

Introduction: IanL and Method Gamer started two threads seeking contribution and discussion from the forum members in order to improve knowledge and share techniques in playing CMBN (and I think largely transferable to other CM games). Something not really discussed because it was outside the scope of their scenario is how to deal with the German heavy armour - Tiger I, Tiger II, Panther - as the allies, especially before the introduction of units like the Pershing. I checked with Ian and he didn't think this would have much overlap with his own thread, so here goes!

The main problem seems to be when I move forward to the next building(s) I get ambushed by a couple of enemy soldiers while my squat is in the open running for cover. Before any supporting units have time to respond I already have lost 1-2 soldiers. The "ambushes" are fast and almost always I kill the shooters fast but the first couple of seconds already cost me a soldier or two. This happens almost every time crossing a street ext. (read:all the time) so after even a small town fight I could lose easily 50-75% of my infantry. (I rarely lose my tanks) I almost always have eyes on the buildings the enemy opens fire from but I rarely manage to spot them before they open fire to my exposed units. So how do I advance in a city without getting ambushed this often while advancing? My current ideas and tactics: - I try to have a another unit always covering when I move a unit from a building to a building. (for example IFV and its infantry squat working together) - Have MBT or IFV over looking the city ready to fire on hostile buildings. (and also fire controllers for arty ext.) - Move slow and conservatively My first post here, so hello to everybody.

Hi, This topic is about tactics and questions they bring with them. My first question is about tactical runnings in long and flat fields like ukrainian first campaign mission. => Observation is always a key for victory and be the first to see is most of the time to be the first to kill but on this ground, they can see us coming, => We've got 2 major AoA easily identifiable for enemy. => We face covers and concealments but we haven't much in return... Not so many obstacles .... So, how do you tactically proceed to advance in such situation. documentation, links and examples are of course welcome . Thank you for helping others players (and me for sure ) to better understand the tactical mechanized (or not) infantry issues.