Your one golden Tactical Rule

[Ghost of Charlemagne]

Recon by machinegun fire.

[Kinophile]

8 hours ago, AtheistDane said:

Recon by machinegun fire.

This. 

[Erwin]

Recon by MG fire is always a good idea.  But, it's common that one has limited ammo.  How do you balance that? 

Also, re "RL tactics" vs "computer game tactics", was recon by fire (ie: area fire) used that often?  I wait till I see some sort of contact b4 area firing. 

[LUCASWILLEN05]

Fire and Maneuver. Always cover any movement with at least one unit deployed on overwatch. That includes AAA assets by the way. Just in case there is an airstrike or helicopter gunships on the prowl.

Speaking of helicopter gunships I like to set up interlocking engagement areas wherever possible particularly when attacking enmy armur. Co-ordinated with ground forces and fixd wing where appropriate/possible

[Kinophile]

Keep it clean,  guys. Clean and simple. 

ONE golden Tactical rule. 

If you've posted your rule then let it be. 

Edited June 27, 2016 by kinophile

[Kinophile]

So far,  to condense:

1. Flanking attacks 

2. If someone is moving, someone should be shooting.

3. Fire Superiority (overwatch, weight of fire, suppression) 

5. Stay out of sight of the US. 

6. Mines are a doubled-edged sword. 

7. Slow Down

8. Keep a reserve (includes don't engage your entire force) 

9. Recon, recon, recon. 

10. Trust your gut

11. Smoke 'em if you got 'em -  but not against US. 

12. Kill their armor. 

13. Don't waste artillery. 

14. Retain SAMs of some kind, anything. 

15. Keep an exit open. 

 

 

[Abdolmartin]

As US, use Javelin-equipped infantry in every unexpected place. Let them cower before that hand of doom.

 

Also, my signature is a testament to the finest rule revealed to us in this thread.

[slysniper]

Well, some of your rules only apply to BS (modern) fighting and you are in a FB forum. So that in and of itself lacks a little logic.

Example, WWII fighting. no reason at all not to use smoke vs the Americans, just wished there was some to use. Most of the time it is not available.

 

[AttorneyAtWar]

Erm this is the Black Sea forum.

[John Kettler]

1.  As the US, always buy Barrett equipped snipers. They are very hard to spot and can, because they have SLAP and the Ma Deuces don't, kill light armor to considerable range. SLAP has penetration exceeding that of many WW II ATGs.

2. In a game of any real size, MANPADS are a must, preferably with their integral command element and reloads. This is a force survival issue of the greatest importance. Could it be a waste of points? Maybe, but a single Russian CAS pass, for example, can be quite hurtful, and even if all you do is force a break off, rather than get a kill/s, you will at least spare yourself (if you have enough MANPADS to scare off/hit all the attackers) further passes. As a case in point, a brace of Su-25s can ruin your entire day, including Bradleys parked behind buildings and troops in foxholes.

3. In defending, not only use keyholes, but strain your brain to find nonobvious shooting locations and have the means to relocate quickly if fired upon. This is especially important since most houses offer little cover in the face of the KPVT, 2A42 and other DF unpleasantness. 

4. When using mines, with and without barbed wire, craters and terrain features causing movement problems, be as fiendish as possible in siting them. For example, mine what might otherwise be good cover or a seemingly clear exit. Not only does this inflict casualties, but it drives your opponent nuts. As the dictum goes, "The target is always the mind of the enemy commander." If at all you can, cover obstacles with fire. Use any and all barrier means synergistically. 

5. TRP as many good observation/firing positions for the enemy as possible. Look at the map going your way and see where those might be. This can result in huge payoffs when the one FAC, scarce FO team or prize AFV is abruptly obliterated--with no need to resort to PGMs, either. Also, think in terms of being able to put down linear patterns on approaches and likely assembly/firing positions (e.g., gaps between woods, partially inside of light woods, etc.).

6. There is no substitute for well-timed boldness, but no CMx2 game punishes a wrongly assessed gut the way CMBS does. One RPG team you didn't know was near the objective can turn a weakened tank platoon into flaming ruin. I speak from painful experience on this!

7. This is not a tactic per se, but it is essential when defending in place that in setting up, you empty out your carrier vehicles and carefully assign those weapons and ammo. Otherwise, you may well find yourself losing carrier and contents.

8. This is also not a tactic, but something the US player must understand. Though the Russians do not have artillery delivered broadband obscurants, their smoke can significantly degrade your thermals. Perhaps this is because the cloud is hot from using WP, but all you need to know is that if the Russians put down a smoke barrage, depending on how much smoke you have to see through, you are going to take a real hit in sensor performance. Been down this road myself.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

 

 

 

 

[John Kettler]

Oops! Way more than the singleton requested. Guess I got crossed up from/inspired by kinophile's compilation.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Jammersix]

He who has the Bradleys will win.

[Abdolmartin]

3 hours ago, Jammersix said:

He who has the Bradleys will win.

I think this was debated long enough in the "Because Bradley" thread and I don't remember how it ended.

[Kinophile]

Nooooooooo,  stoooooppp..... 

Clean and simple. Let's not get distracted,  gentlemen! 

4 hours ago, John Kettler said:

Oops! Way more than the singleton requested. Guess I got crossed up from/inspired by kinophile's compilation.

Regards,

John Kettler

So which do you choose? 

[John Kettler]

kinophile,

Quisp or Quake? That ever was the question.  On a more serious note, if you go by the principle of the first thing you think of, then buying Barrett armed sniper teams would be my choice. Naturally, this won't be quite as much fun when the Russians in CMBS get the OSV-96 12.7 mm sniper rifle, which Steve has shown with irrefutable photographic proof was operational years ago in at least some Russian sniper units.

 

Regards,

John Kettler

[Luka]

This one isn't too smart and i guess falls under recon but one rule that ive always had in mind since ages back (like since a few CMs ago) is to remember to give units time to spot. Remember that one turn is just one minute and your men are supernaturally able to see everything. Imagine yourself canvasing a whole valley and how long it would/could take you to spot anything.

Often i catch myself moving or operating on the assumption ive done my recon and checked what i should have but really im rushing and need to chill out. This is one of the main reasons im often happy to go over the time given for a scenario.

[Kinophile]

4 hours ago, Luka said:

This one isn't too smart and i guess falls under recon but one rule that ive always had in mind since ages back (like since a few CMs ago) is to remember to give units time to spot. Remember that one turn is just one minute and your men are supernaturally able to see everything. Imagine yourself canvasing a whole valley and how long it would/could take you to spot anything.

Often i catch myself moving or operating on the assumption ive done my recon and checked what i should have but really im rushing and need to chill out. This is one of the main reasons im often happy to go over the time given for a scenario.

I'd say it falls under recon and slow down, possibly more slow down as it accomplishes your recon.

Edited June 28, 2016 by kinophile

[Kinophile]

5 hours ago, John Kettler said:

kinophile,

Quisp or Quake? That ever was the question.  On a more serious note, if you go by the principle of the first thing you think of, then buying Barrett armed sniper teams would be my choice. Naturally, this won't be quite as much fun when the Russians in CMBS get the OSV-96 12.7 mm sniper rifle, which Steve has shown with irrefutable photographic proof was operational years ago in at least some Russian sniper units.

 

Regards,

John Kettler

While always good info, I'm not sure you're getting the gist of this thread - its less what specific unit you'd chose and more how you work them in-battle. I do mention in the first post its not about OOBs, rather a specific tactic or mentality during the fight itself.

Edited June 28, 2016 by kinophile

[Abbasid111]

On June 27, 2016 at 5:47 AM, Erwin said:

Recon by MG fire is always a good idea.  But, it's common that one has limited ammo.  How do you balance that? 

Also, re "RL tactics" vs "computer game tactics", was recon by fire (ie: area fire) used that often?  I wait till I see some sort of contact b4 area firing. 

Use an M1. 11k rounds of MG ammo onboard!

[Lethaface]

Never feed your important combat assets piecemeal into the meatgrinder (enemy lines).

[ParanoidMoron]

Bring more ammo than you think you'll need. 

Edited June 28, 2016 by ParanoidMoron

[Erwin]

That begs another question, is it "gamey" to load up with max ammo load?  Sometimes I wonder if in RL, troops do go back to resupply rather than have half a dozen guys carry 5K+ rounds.  (I know there is a max AT rocket load.  But, I don't think I have ever reached the max small arms ammo load.)

[TheForwardObserver]

30 minutes ago, Erwin said:

That begs another question, is it "gamey" to load up with max ammo load?  Sometimes I wonder if in RL, troops do go back to resupply rather than have half a dozen guys carry 5K+ rounds.  (I know there is a max AT rocket load.  But, I don't think I have ever reached the max small arms ammo load.)

In real life there's nothing stopping you from grabbing as much ammo as you are willing or able to carry, but yes, having vehicles nearby will generally encourage troops to leave ammo with the vehicles.  Typically soldiers carry more ammo in the beginning of a tour as the extra ammo provides a sense of comfort.  With time and tours the load a soldier carries changes based upon a better understanding of the enviroment/threat.  I'm talking hundreds of rounds though not thousands.  For example it's very common for troops to carry 300 rounds of 5.56 for their personal weapons  instead of your standard 210.

On longer dismounted operations the 7.62 and 5.56 belt fed ammo, rockets and mortars gets spread around the platoon or company, once again though mission, experience and enviroment affect round count much more than army standard load recomendations.  

[Jammersix]

Ten magazines has been the starting point since 1975. What's changed is that in 1975, the army had 20 round magazines and the Marines had 30 round magazines. Now everyone has 30 round magazines. In 1975, no one put more than 18 rounds in a magazine, and no one wanted the 30 round magazines. That may have changed, the reasons were urban legends.

The other thing I remember is the infamous ruck of loaded magazines. You didn't want to be that guy.

If you load your digital soldiers up with everything that's in a Stryker, I think you should go out, find a thousand rounds of 5.56, and carry it around the block. Just once. Then come back and look at the 3,500 or 4,000 extra rounds that are in the Stryker, let alone the missiles and grenades.

It's the oldest equation in warfare.

If we're going to fight, I want the 203 and every grenade on the vehicle. If we're not going to fight, I want an M4 with one magazine with one round in it.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Jammersix

[John Kettler]

kinophile,

Fair point. I use these  high quality (Veteran absolute minimum) snipers to inflict casualties on light armor and soft-skins in order to derail an attack without exposing the fire means employed.

Exposition

If present, I will preferentially target the Tunguska in order to clear the field for CAS and drones (if I have any) or to remove the deadly threat it poses to practically any weapon or force I have and especially for MOUT. If no Tunguska, then I'll be looking for Kriz, FO/FAC AFVs and other similar high leverage targets. Will I take kills vs more vanilla BMP, BTR and MTLB series IFVs and APCs? Sure, especially if deep, since even a simple kill with no explosion forces the occupants to debus and walk. I've yet to get a K-Kill anyway. When not engaging key targets, what I seek to do is take the steam out of the attack by progressively removing the mechanized component and slow down the attacker's momentum. I've yet to snipe personnel targets. If budget permits, I'll deploy several Barrett teams in order to generate crossfires and allow me to work the angles, have one shoot while another relocates and similar. Where possible, I will put them under command of a good officer.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

Edited June 29, 2016 by John Kettler