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Part 16. Assault Preparation. Moving closer and placing your infantry into position for further actions. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

So we decided to lower one building down and then possibly get into a fight for another building. It is important to place our attacking vehicles right. 

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On this screen as you can see Ive decided to place one of my BMP's in a position from which it would be able to work on the place of entry (in the wall), and on that forest ahead. 

So when the time is right - sappers will blow up hole in that wall directly in front of that BMP - if enemy will wait behid that wall it will be engaged by 30 mm right away. Besides that hole in that in front of that BMP will allow my infantry move into the tower or push right in that building. So the logic here is to use this position for multiple purposes. 

Now to get closer to that wall without casualties we still need to work on that second building and we need to keep on lowering that building on the left so. 

Heavy MGs will work on that building we will use for ourselves.

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While infantry is moving out from those BMP's covered by those BMPs

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Each BMP stands in the right place - it can engage every building, forest ahead and any tower + RPG teams will have 0 chances to engage them because  there is a some fine distance and its like 9 more BMPs are standing behind.

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Our infantry safely gets ready to get in the game. 

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End of Part 16. 

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Part 17. Moving even closer. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

So everything goes by the plan - enemy forces are few in numbers, they are disorganized, shocked, hammered and suppressed. An entire battalion using all its power to destory a single company (following this math: platoon against squad, company against platoon, battalion against company and so on). At this point we are trying not to get into casualties - we are trying to wipe out an entire unit and in the same time minimize damage to our units. We know that there are mines somewhere, we know that there are some vehicles still active and we know that something was left from enemy infantry. So we lets keep it up. 

Under powerful firesupport our infantry units are moving forward. 

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Each squad rushing to take place in a specific area by the wall. 

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That building what we've decided to take down is finally down which opens a new sector for out BMP's to cover (forest which was hammered by our mortars for all this time).

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Our support units are moving closer to that wall without leaving their transport (at this point it is safe to get closer). 

 

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End of Part 17. 

 

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Part 18. Relocating FAST. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

While our assault units were moving forward towards that factory, first company suddenly was finding itself under arty strike (how did that happened? we just wiped out an entire mortar platoon, few mechanized infantry platoons and were about to finish this but then suddenly some shells came out of the blue). Shocking right? We were about to finish this and now we are under fire? OMG. Lets check it out. 

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This is where you should remember - even if your forces are 5 to 1 (and by the soviet military math you should have 7 to 1 in order to assault without problems) you should be very careful with what you doing. The thing is that using an entire battalion is so massive in terms of giving orders, planing stuff and so on that your attention can simply be lowered. Remember you should always be careful and look around after each round in order to see the problem before it will be too late. 

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So while I was moving my 2nd company towards that factory some bad boy was adjusting arty strike close to my 1st  company. What do you do when few shells fell near by? You move. You move fast. And this is where your positioning will pay off. If you did everything right - you will be able to put your infantry back in those vehicles before that arty will become deadly and on target. 

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As you can see - every second counts here - shells are laying closer and closer. 

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But because we were placing our infantry not too far and not too close to its vehicles we had 0 people hurt on our side. 

After one minute since the first shell came - 1st company was on the move.

But where should we move an entire company? We should adjust our frontline. At this moment our 2nd company moved  300 meters  further than our 1st company and that arty strike simply served as a reminder for us to move that company according to our somewhat solid front line (our front line will be something in between 600 meters and  2 km). 

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All these drammatic events were happening while our 2nd company was about to take that factory. 

As you can see on a following screenshot - RPO units along with sappers are moving towards factory walls while 1st company is moving away from that arty strike. 

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End of Part 18. 

 

 

 

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Part 19. Planing, viewing, and adjusting. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

Lets look on our general picture. What does it saying to us? 

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Well it is obvius that after moving away from enemy arty strike our 1st company came to an end of its ability to move forward as a solid part of the front. It was the first to engage enemy forces. It engaged mortar platoon close to that factory on the right, it was covering 2nd company from any possible threat from the road line on the left and it was keeping its eyes on that forest next to that factory. At this moment keepinng acting with same tactics as before will be not effective - it will simply  spread out. So at this point our 1st company should stop moving forward untill factory on the right is taken by company N2. Furthermore it is important to isolate and destroy all those enemy forces in that forest next to that factory. But doing that with force of company N2 will be not rational - first of all that factory isnt in our hands yet we and we dont know what is hiding behind those factory walls. It is now obvius that we will use company N1 to keep an eye on that road lines, we will use company N2 for that factory operation and we will finally get our company N3 into the game to clean up that fores. Furthermore we need to use our sappers and mark all possible mine feilds in this area before we can attack that city. 

So the point of this screenshot is to set an idea that sometimes you should stop pushing forward simply because it worked all this time. Now it is time to clean this territory slowly without being super agressive. At this point it is important to kill as much as possible in order to force our enemy to give up. If our enemy will not give up we will need to create some friendly enviroment for further actions. While commanding large forces always take some time to see the bigger picture. Think about what units should move forward, and what units should stop moving, think about how and when you can use your reserve, and ask yourself questions about how to make situation comfortable for yourself. Macro and micro should work together - tactics  and strategy should go hand by hand.

While thinking about your next moves try to understand what have you done already? Meaning what damage was done to your enemy? Lets check it out. 

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Our 2S1 strike was major succsess. Short firemission lines did a great job on that road line enemy placement. Note in game against a real person it is highly unlikely to see vehicles placed like that. But thats not the case now - it is all about what and how to do next - and viewing those visible results is important to understand in what condition your enemy is right now. 

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Looks like our left side is secured - if those BTRs are destroyed that means that infantry around it is dead as well. Well if not dead it will be broke for sure. 

One more look on that fire mission results. 

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Yep our arty made a great job. When Factory and Forest locations will be under our control it will be fair to say that we can regroup to attack that city. 

Now whats with enemy arty? 

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Well its all good as well - we see some wire around that mortar platoon position - that means that there could be mines as well (our sappers are already in the area so thats alright). We know that we were under fire twice - once in the begining of the game and then our 1st company got under some shelling - so that means that 2nd mortar platoon of our enemy will be out of ammo soon (that gives us operational freedom - we can use infantry more). 

Now about that forest ahead of us.

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It is interesting location on the map because it got a road line going through it. We already engaged some vehicles what were hiding there and we already shelled it pretty hard. Thats why I think that after taking control over factory we will move an entire company (3rd one) in there our enemy will probably give up. So we might avoid fighting in town - which would be very cool. Yet, something will be left from our enemy after our 3rd company will take control over that forest - it would be easy to regroup our battalion and attack that city by following main roads. 

Conclusion Part 19: This mission is totally demonstrational. Things will never go this smooth in your battles. But I was hoping to show you that massive assaults should be viewed in stages. You should have general plan, then you have to have tactical plan, then you should react to new variables appearing on your way, at certain point you should go from macro to micro, and then you should make a step back and look on a general picture, you should think about what youve already did, and what to expect, you should think about those reserves of yours and where and how to use them, you should plan what building to take and what to destroy, you should think about side on a left and side on your right, you should think about the distance between you and your enemy, you should look how and where to place certain weapon systems, you should know how to place your units to locate and relocate fast enough to avoid casualties, you should collect all the intell you can, and you should cover your some of your forces while those are on the move, you should consider what type of arty to use, how and when, and you should be prepared to face mines, defensive structures and so on. This entire series of screenshots - this battle was played by me in order to show many elements at once. Obviusly you will fight larger forces, obviusly you will face different conditions and you will face different enemy tactics. But all of those elements what were shown here will come in handy to you here or there. Moreover this battle is not finished, there will be more posts about it. And then I will talk about defence, and about attacking in small numbers, and how to beat up an opponent who is stronger than you technically or larger in numbers. Do not take these posts as a direct straight forward thing, instead try to see the logic standing behind each case. Maybe something from what I've showing here will be obvious to you, maybe something will be strange, and maybe you will see something and will think to yourself, "hey I can use this element one day." This whole battle is just a reason to touch on many topics at once. And... I thought it would be cool to do something by the book - for example this math thing - platoon against squad - company against platoon - and battalion against a company. I thought it would be fun to do so I did. Its not hard to win when you large in numbers and it is harder to win when your forces are smaller than forces of your enemy - but hey go back few pages in this same topic and see how I was showing how you can stop 3 companies with 1 company))) Its already here) Check out how I was suggesting to place trenches, how to work against tanks and so on. So this battle is for my fun and for your interest only. If you went through all these screenshots, all the pages of this topic, and didnt found anything new for yourself - Im sorry for taking your time then. Then that means that you are a better player and I would love to learn from you. Good luck in your battles against AI, and against real people gentlemen. To be continued (for years I think lol)... 

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Part 20. Breaching the wall. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

While storming into any urban areas protected by walls you should always try to take some sappers with you. Surely you can break walls with firing at them with your armor but that would be more dangerous for your units and that would make your vehicles busy. Instead if time is on your side I suggest to go slower. As you know our 2nd company was preparing to get into that factory area for a while. Now when our first few groups are placed by the walls we can start think about breaking them in few places. 

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Split your sappers squad into 2 parts - that way you will be able to make more entry spots in that wall (or any other wall you might face). 

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After making first few holes move your sappers away and plan your first moves. 

This is how it can look like: 

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Split your infantry squads, give each element its own order. Little adivce on those orders - make elements with MGs stay close to the breach because in case if there will be resistance behind that wall they will be able to provide cover for other lighter armed elements pushing through. Also keep in mind that RPOs are working good only on targets what are inside of those buildings so keep them outside as well. 2nd thing to remember - always start from taking 1st floor - dont give your units order to take 2nd floor right away. 

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while your forces are entering area like that always provide suppressive fire on 2nd floors of those buildings your infantry is going to take. But do not use main guns of your vehicles - use light attack only. 

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This is the most dangerous moment in all process - first few steps.

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Do not give order to all of your units at once - because if there is some static MG waiting for you behind that wall in the corner you cant see - you will loose more men. 

So avoid enetering through one window, and avoid massive forces to enter at the first time. 

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After your first teams entered that perimeter keep on going with your sappers. Make them breach that wall again and again for more points of entry. That will allow you to move more vehicles through to support your infantry. 

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If you will be lucky your pioneer teams will be able to reach first line of those buildings without being killed. It is important to provide suppressive fire on those second floors while your units are pushing forward to 1st floors. 

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If a building got 2 doors or more - try to enter it with few elements at one time from different sides. In the same time move few of your supportive vehicles closer to those entry points in those walls. Try to use MTLB and BTR's for that - they are lighter armed and in case if they will open fire they will not hit your infantry units. If you will move BMP first - and there will be an enemy on the first floor - and BMP will see that and will shoot - your infantry can get injured. 

 

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End of Part 20. 

 

 

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Part 21. Taking control over urban areas. When to push and when to stop. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

Ok our first units are in. Our infantry took control over few main buildings, we were lucky - no one from our side died but we do know that area might have mines, and that there are still some buildings to check on. The question now is - when to move some vehicles in? Answer - when your units will first time engage a group target while being in the building. Thats right - you are stop moving forward when your first unit inside of the building will start engaging group target. 

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Now the front line is this building becasue units in it werent under fire while they were moving, and now when they are in comfortable and safe positiong we can start getting some vehicles in. Note: to avoid mixed mines follow same pathways as your infantry. But that will not save you from anti vehicle mines. Thats why keep those sappers close all the time. 

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Now when you know that your units controlling an important and strategically well placed building - move the rest of your assault group in. Place your vehicles in a safest possible places. Always provide cover for those units what are on the move. It will be time consuming but it will pay off. 

 

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After first corners were covered, after main buildings were cleaned up - start searching for enemies in smaller buildings. Always remember that you should check everywhere before pushing forward. The enemy what was left behind can cause problems even in small numbers so dont give them a chance.

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After that done - move your sappers to those areas where you expect to find mines or defensive structures. NOTE: assaulting urban areas are taking a lot of attention but dont forget to check on your other companies and your other units - remember it is an entire battalion under your control. That means that on a huge part of the map different units are facing different situations. Dont let Micro take away your Macro. 

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After your entire assault group enetered area of its objective - start setting up this place for yourself - think about what units should go up on those towers, what units should control forest and feilds ahead of you and where you planing to move your supply units. Dont forget to check every building! 

End of Part 21.

 

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Part 22. Figuring things out. Again. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

Lets look at this factory area from the top. 

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As you can see we were able to take major structures under our control. Company N2 is doing good so far. Its first platoon took over that factory, its platoon N 2 alon with second squad of sappers are slowly moving forward towards those positions left by the enemy. Platoon N3 is providing cover for platoons 1 and 2 by holding its position on the hill - 400 meters behind. Our left flank covered by 1st Company - our right flank will serve as a highway for our 3rd company. The biggest problem now is probability of getting into those possible mine feilds. From games Ive played before I know that AI can put those mines directly on its own positions lol. Yet, sometimes mines are placed in order - corssroads, in front of some foxholes and along with defensive structures. So ignoring this is not an option because our general plan is to create some positive enviroment for further attack on that forest ahead of us. Thats why we will need to deal with those areas (marked in red) step by step. 

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The logic here is very simple - sappers moving forward - others following their way. Now it is impossible to locate and then to take out all of the mines. But it is possible to find a safe pathway to avoid tose mines here and there. 

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It is also imporant to clean out some roads from enemy structures if possible. Why? because units what are using roads to get into position are moving faster. That is critical for reserves. While attacking forces are moving in a slow pace - reserves should be able to move fast. 

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Little by little you company N2 is making its way forward. 

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End of Part 22. To be continued...

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17 hours ago, Oleksandr said:

how to beat up an opponent who is stronger than you technically or larger in numbers

This is the situation one usually finds in a typical CM game vs AI.

Also, re what to do when advancing/attacking under an enemy barrage.  Does one essentially get the inf back in armored transports and then wait the barrage out or withdraw all vehicles and any inf a hundred meters or more?  I hesitate to move forwards when under a barrage (into unsecured territory) as one could enter an ambush killing zone.

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1 hour ago, Erwin said:

This is the situation one usually finds in a typical CM game vs AI.

Also, re what to do when advancing/attacking under an enemy barrage.  Does one essentially get the inf back in armored transports and then wait the barrage out or withdraw all vehicles and any inf a hundred meters or more?  I hesitate to move forwards when under a barrage (into unsecured territory) as one could enter an ambush killing zone.

Now I did tons of posts here about how to defeat stronger enemy, how to defend positions, how to hide units and so on. I wanted to do something different this time - something by the book. By the book meaning by tactics of soviet and post-soviet statutes. Where mechanized infantry battalion supported by artyllery of 2 types (sometimes of 3 types) is attacking on area of up to 2 km width.

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The only differences Ive made to this is basically adopting to the terrain (and company N 2 was taking place of company N3). And right now in game its not 2 km its 700-1200 meters wide. But thats not crucial. So that was battalion general (very simplifyed) way of doing things. 

Now this is for company tactics

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So Ive tired to recreate that as much as I could on that part of a map and so on. 

Almost a year ago I was writing about tactics - and military math calculation. Nobody will attack battalion on battalion in modern days - casualties will be to big. Realistic scenario is when you attack enemy squad with a platoon, platoon with a company, company - with a battalion. Since I've already wrote and posted here a lot about unfair and disbalanced scenarios - I've decided to do one by the book. So Ive decided to take a single russian mech infantry company - provide it with battalion level arty, give it a lot of defensive structures and mines and then smash it "by the book" without giving it any chances. This type of scenario allows me to show how to operate in large numbers, how to act in the open, how to act in the urban, how to deploy and pack up, how to observe and how to use everything starting from binoculars and ending up by BMP level armor. This battle is actually beating beating, but it allows me to show certain elements in complex. Im not playing like that in my regular gaming mode - but for showcase I've decided to make it this way. It's like a tutorial and then you realize that in life everything is a bit harder. You will need to hunt for tanks, and protect yourself from air attacks, in order to then go into this or that formation etc. But that would take me weeks to show - so I've decided to do it little by little - first battalion in attack and then it will be battalion in defence - attacked by 3 russian battalions lol and yes I will acutally do this))) I will stand with one batttalion against 3 russians. And yes those will be with BMP 3s lol) I hope the game will give me enough points to do that - but i will turn down rarity so i guess i will be good. So again you dont need to repeat everything - just see the logic behind each moment of the battle - why I was suppressing that much, why i wasnt moving or why I was movin or why i was placing units like that and so on. Nobody is going to attack a company with a company - i mean its possible but its too dangerous. In real war company will be attacked by a battalion so here we are (and again that is soviet and post soviet statute logic). Then I will do tank oriented battle where I will finally put as many tanks as needed in real life - in real life its around 15 tanks per 1 km and so on. So what I do here is basically playing around scenarios and on a side showing how i manage some things. Please do same as well. 

 

Now back to your question bro.

The only reason I moved forward here its because it was in the open feild and moving backwards would be exposing 2nd company - while commanding large forces - always remember that one company is a "neighbor" (and yes we use that word so if for example you would be commanding one company and I would be commander of another you would be my so called neighbor) to another company. So only forward in this case. Another reason why I moved forward was that the strike on my right flank was very good. I knew that there was no armor left 

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and even if one single BTR would survive that - it would be smashed so fast that it would not even be funny. Thats why I've made a decision to move my 1st company forward to escape that arty and to adjust my frontline. 

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Now lets say you are in a different situation. Lets say you only got 1 company and you dont have a neighbor on your right. Then pushing forward is unacceptable. Remember some things are forgiven when you are large in numbers and some things are not going to work well when you are small in numbers. Situation dictates. Look around - is there any buildings around? If yes try to hide your infantry there - but those building can be lowered. Then look on the other thing - are you reciving direct or chaotic fire? Do you have time before its going to get concentrated? Do you have a forest near by to cover and minimize at least part of the damage. Do you know what is ahead of you? If yes - put your infantry back in their vehicles and push at least 250 meters forward to escape that strike. And this is where the logic of placing your infantry will come in handy - placing infantry too far would lead to casualties in case of arty strike, placing it too close will put it on danger in case if your vehicle will got hit from ATGM - explosion simply will damage your infantry. Now keeping your infantry in the vehicle when distance to enemy is less than 1 km or at least 600 meters is also dangerous - something might fly in and everyones is dead and sad. So - you put your infantry in right order (there can be more than one way to do things right depending on the terrain, weather and so on) will allow you to locate and relocate realtively fast. Look in my earlier posts here about how to break down mountain battalion platoon around 3 BMP's (somewhere in early postings) or use the logic from this series. So long story short - I've decided to move forward because I had positive environment for it. In other case I would order BMP's to deploy their smokes, order infantry to get back into vehicle and then would push back a little. If some of my IFV's would be damaged I would order some infantry to run into the forest or into the building. By the way a small hint here - when you keep forces in reserve right - dismount infantry from few vehicles and keep it a little behind just in case if some vehicles will be destroyed you will keep an opportunity to go and pick up that poor infantry later on (leave no man behind). And one more thing - this specific topic is oriented on Quick Battles where you can entertain yourself by playing different scenarios of your own like - company in defence, or battalion in advance, or platoon on platoon (very usefull to know abilities of your equipment) and so on. If you operate in small numbers - avoid open feilds at all cost. If you dont have reserve - do not act like you have one. Here I can afford to do anything Im so desire - but the same me in a different situation would be sneaking between hills and trees not to show myself and not to be spotted by my enemy. So the style of the game, desisions you made and atmosphere of each battle is unique. It depends on what and when it is happening. For example - with current equipment represented in the game my night time attack would look completely different. I hope that  answers your question brother.   

That feeling what you have - that it is dangerous to move forward when you do not know what to expect - that is wise. But if numbers and power is on your side you can make a bold move. Besides I've done a very careful bold move - my order and formation werent affected in any way. I've reached the point where my company could not move as it was moving before. Now the following action would already involve different tactics and actions done by neighbor companies (the one on the right and the one on the back).

 

 

 

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Part 23. Breaking Down that General Plan. 

Note: This mission got perfect conditions for a reason of showing some core principals. In real battle you should expect involvement of heavy armor (will talk about it later), aviation (will talk about it later), intell will not always be there from the very start (will talk about it later), and so on. The reason for this series is to introduce players who werent using massive amounts of units with some basics related to managment of huge force at once. Again - in real battle you will not have these conditions but by viewing this topic you might pick up something what you can further adopt to your own battles. Last but not least - fair and unfair scenarios will be shown here within time. This topic is not for days its for years to come so be patient - feel free to share your tactical lifehacks and feel free to ask questions. Critics are welcome as well - but a constructive one (imagine we are all sitting in HQ and thinking how to do things better together). 

Now I've decided to show what was the general plan behind all of those actions. I've had to make corrections to the "book" strategy where 2nd company goes behind 1st and 3rd because of the terrain specifics. Yet all the strategies and tactics should be adjusted accordingly each time new battle taking place. So if your general plan says - advance with your armor on the left and there is a forest on the left - do not do that. Try to keep everything close to general plan but be flexible. 

So this was the plan for first few stages. 

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As you can see it was impossible to take into the battle all 3 companies at the same time (in case if 3rd company would go behind it might've been catching that arty strike what 1st company avoided my moving forwards). Another moment here is when you concentrating too much vehicles tightly you going to feel problems with moving around - units will be blocking each other and that will turn into a mess. 

So lets see what was the original plan - 1st stage of it was for 1st company to secure left flank so that 2nd company can focus on that factory. Factory even though it has lower priority than the town is more important. Why? because factory got towers, wall, and it is located on a crossroads.

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It is comfortable to request arty support while being on the top of those roofs. 

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It will be perfect location for moving supplies there.

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So the task of 2nd company was to take control over that factory, check out those roads for possible mines. Checkout yellow area close to it so that 3rd company will be ablle to pass by factory quicky on full speed and then 2nd company had to provide cover for those units of 3rd company what will push through that forest. 

After everything would be ready for 3rd company to make a move it would rush through safe area and then secure that forest. 

But before that stage 1st and 2nd companies still had job to do (all stages will be supported by screenshots in following posts). First of all 1st platoon of the 1st company had to push through forest line in order to be sure that there are no rpg team what can do damage when 1st company will push to its new front line. Along with that 1st platoon what was moving on foot had to create positive environment for Spec Ops platoon to go through - because its task would be checking out those tranches so that 1st company will not break its formation. 

2nd company had to wait untill ATGM teams would arrive so that hunting on vehicles would keep on going (it is important for 1st platoon of the 3rd company to enter that forest when there will be no enemy armor alive).  And after all of that would be done - all 3 companies will start slowly regrouping. This is where sappers will do their do again. The main direction of assault would be those road lines. This is where an entire battalion would take a front line of a 2 km and where it would pushh forward as it meant to with 2nd company being a little slower and 1st and 3rd being more agressive. Why 2nd company should go slower you might ask? Well because it was engaging enemy the most so far - taking over factory was a task what involved a lot of ammo be used. After all 3 companies will start moving to those new front lines - factory and a little farm would became a place where HQ, special units, arty, and supplies will settle. Obviously they will be not alone - one of the platoons of 2nd company will stay in area to provide security for those supporting units. 

A bit later I will show how all of that worked out. But now in a bigger picture I guess all these actions what were shown before starting to make sense. Well at least I hope they do lol 

End of Part 23. To be continued...

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Interesting re Spec Ops formations.  I figured that they are useful for highly specialized roles (Am presuming that you would always make them a much higher experience level than reg troops) rather than being part of a conventional Bn-level attack such as outlined here.  Or, did you include Spec Ops just for fun??

 

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45 minutes ago, Erwin said:

Interesting re Spec Ops formations.  I figured that they are useful for highly specialized roles (Am presuming that you would always make them a much higher experience level than reg troops) rather than being part of a conventional Bn-level attack such as outlined here.  Or, did you include Spec Ops just for fun??

 

Each spec op platoon is always crack or at least a veteran. Yes I use them for special purposes - they are my finishing and discovering tool. Meaning in such a massive battle breaking formations for companies is a bad idea - you safe only when you control a lot of space. So those small forces of spec ops are nice for unting some unkilled enemy down and because they do have BRM-1K vehicles they are very nice for recconissance in interest of ground forces. I never use them as an assault unit - they are ususally doing some nasty things to those survivors he he. They appear in the right moment in the less expected place - they call arty support, they are taking down snipers, they are specifically good for hunting and destroying enemy arty positions and they are good for checking out enenemy trenches. Well long story short - they do the dirty job in a nasty way. They keep those enemies in terror lol 

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you know stuff like that 

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So for example I would take a squad of regular forces - order them to shoot in enemy direction - then enemy will turn around and will start moving thinking that its an easy target in front of him (because usually russian infantry equipped better) and then in the right moment... right in the back... and then a shell from BMP or a shot from RPO lol well horrible horrible stuff) lol Im a horrible person lol I love forest ambushes... he he) 

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I really really hope that with a module for CMBS creators of this game will add at least something from new Ukrainian equipment: like UAVs, night vision goggles (including american), special rifles Zbroyar, Z-008, those Barrets as well (US providing us with those), and I hope to see some normal night vision scopes for armored vehicles. + it would be nice to see at least some of new vehicles used by Ukrainian special forces, and u know thermal scopes on certain soldiers and all that variety of stuff what was already in service in 2017 and list can go on and on. Keeping my hopes to see at least something from it. But even with pure soviet stuff you can do massive damage))) 

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Tacticool way to safely cross open fields with your infantry. 

To make this happen you need to have 200+ mm arty on standby. In very begining of the game - check those fields what you are planing to cross. And do a following thing:

Set up "Heavy" and "medium" or "short" duration (depending on type of the field and amount of the forces you might want to move) fire mission with your 200+ mm arty.

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Let those shells hit the ground while you preparing your forces to move. 

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Then wait untill that fire mission is over so that you will see how many holes in a ground are there. 

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The thing with 200+ mm arty is that it makes foxhole level holes in a ground. 

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They are not as deep as in real life they would be but they are still nice for providing cover for your infantry. 

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Now all you have to do is to split your infantry squads into smaller team and move from hole to hole. 

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Your forces will be able to open fire, and stay in cover at the same time. 

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Moreover if you split your squads right you will be able to create an improvised defence line in case if some enemy units will try to deal with you. 

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If you move a company through area like this you need to use longer fire mission to have more holes in the ground.

Good luck in your battles! 

 

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2 hours ago, IanL said:

Or you could *not* cross open fields with your infantry :D Instead use the forest along the left edge of that field or the ditches along the road on the right or better yet both.

Think about it this way - you move your mech infantry through that field and then suddenly your vehicles are getting smashed - your units got some place to get cover. 

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It's better to just hit the enemy with the arty.  If a person's transports are getting destroyed and they have to bail out in a field then they've already lost.  The infantry can't attack since the enemy firepower will still be there and the defense isn't very effective.  The squads already have casualties and low morale.  They won't hold well and AP arty will easily destroy any resistance they could put up.

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Gotta say I'm with @IanL on this one. If your tracks get hit in masking terrain the dismounts can just dive into fairly dense cover - without what can only be described as total wasteage of heavy arty. I also doubt the efficiency of trying to advance tracks through fields you've just cratered into a mudpile (game models that iirc) with 203.

The ideas in this thread are interesting though, I'd be open to doing a PBEM so you could put them to the test in a flexible environment. Slots are opening up on my end. 

Edited by Rinaldi
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3 hours ago, IanL said:

Or you could *not* cross open fields with your infantry :D Instead use the forest along the left edge of that field or the ditches along the road on the right or better yet both.

I believe this level of tactical know-how makes you overqualified for the ukranian army ;) 

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It seems like a good idea for certain scenarios - the ones where a designer has created an unusual situation to stump the player.  So, if one had only infantry and heavy arty, this tactic would make sense.  However, would it happen in RL...?? 

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1 minute ago, sid_burn said:

I believe this level of tactical know-how makes you overqualified for the ukranian army ;) 

Yes, it might make a fun movie to have a commander in charge of real combat units whose experience at war was based on playing a wargame like CM2.  B)

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Something tells me that if I was a Ukranian soldier and my superior briefed us by saying "Our artillery has created cover in the open field we'll be crossing by blowing holes into the ground" I wouldn' be to "enthused" about the attack. My second question would probably be "Sir have they thought about firing shells at the enemy?"

Edited by Raptorx7
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3 minutes ago, Raptorx7 said:

Something tells me that if I was a Ukranian soldier and my superior briefed us by saying "Our artillery has created cover in the open field we'll be crossing by blowing holes into the ground" I wouldn' be to "enthused" about the attack. My second question would probably be "Sir have they thought about firing shells at the enemy?"

To be fair, it takes very little to strike fear into the heart of the ukranian army. Even uttering the simple phrase “that ridge is held by unemployed taxi drivers” is enough to turn the Azov battalion into a quivering mess. 

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