Need for a "Tactical Academy"....

[G B Scurlock]

I love the game but I am just terrible at it. It would be great if some better players could post some best practices. I am right now playing Veteran level. I especially have trouble with arty if I don't plot my bombardments on the first turn. After that I of course have to get either an FO or HQ or a mortar unit in eyesight of a target which sometimes takes a few turns and then it sometimes takes up to an additional 6 minutes before indirect fire can begin. In these cases I have usually found the enemy unit by being shot at. Now I have to move the above mentioned up to view the target and then the delay before firing can commence. Also, by then, I sometimes have suppressed or otherwise killed or run off the enemy with my Inf.so I have to cease fire before it starts so as not to waste ammo and the process starts all over and I have to get ambushed again.

Any advice is much appreciated or if there has been a thread discussing such combined arms tactics, please direct me.

Thanks

Greg

[The_Capt]

My best advice to to get TRPs if it is a QB. They can cut you call time in half and you can fire on them blind with accuracy.

If it is a scenario, you really have to plan ahead. Couple ways to do this, take a look at your route of advance and pre-plot fire missions where you suspect likely contact. So long as the spotter has LOS by the time the spotting rounds start you should be on and accurate. This way you can have fire pre-positioned.

The trick of all arms is to get all of your elements working together, reinforceing each others strengths and shielding weaknesses. That and patience, a lot of patience.

I have been playing CMBN for over a year and have been in the RL military for 25 yrs and I can tell you, I still get my ass handed to me on occasion (damn you Paper Tiger!!)

[Cymru]

Maybe an extension of the tutorial scenarios would be useful to many of us. If some dedicated grog could take some of the existing battles and do a walkthrough, pointing out what to look for, explaining why specific tactics were used at key point etc. This would obviously be a considerable amount of work, but could become the start of a BF military academy.

[Pig Dog]

As an addition/alternate to walking through an entire battle, FRAPSing some common tactical problems and putting them up on YouTube with a searchable tag like "Tactical Academy" would allow people to see rt how certain problems that can be applied to multiple situations.

ie, "Fire and Maneuver" showing how both a squad or platoon sized element might take defended positions.

"Bocage Busting" showing the standard procedure on how to bust through the bocage (rhino and breaching charges), suppress and smoke the corners, mortar the other side of the bocage, and then press through to the next hedge.

"Indirect Fire" showing how to use FO's and other indirect fire assets.

etc, etc, etc.

If I had the time (and tactical prowess) I'd do it myself, but as it is I only get a couple hours a week to even play, let alone record tutorials. I hate RL - bleh.

[MikeyD]

Instead of learning how to 'play the game' it might be some help to surf the net for actual old army manuals on platoon and company tactics. Some are downright entertaining to read, especially when you recognize a bit of CM:BN in every page.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-5.pdf

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-15.PDF

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-35.PDF

[WriterJWA]

Instead of learning how to 'play the game' it might be some help to surf the net for actual old army manuals on platoon and company tactics. Some are downright entertaining to read, especially when you recognize a bit of CM:BN in every page.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-5.pdf

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-15.PDF

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM7-35.PDF

FTW! To me, the best place to learn to play the game (as far as tactics are concerned) it to look to the field manuals on the subject.

[jnt62006]

I put these tutorials together for CMSF but the basics of fire and maneuver are the same. Take the principles and apply them and I think you will have more success.

http://cmsfwarchest.blogspot.com/

[lookeylou]

CMSF Strategy and Tactics Forum is a good place to surf

And here are pictures and brief explanations.

The bocage tutorial i think would help some people here having problems dealing with em

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forumdisplay.php?161-CM-Battle-for-Normandy-Tactics

[Johnny Canuck]

I put these tutorials together for CMSF but the basics of fire and maneuver are the same. Take the principles and apply them and I think you will have more success.

http://cmsfwarchest.blogspot.com/

Very nice. Thanks.

[Sergei]

Psshh, tactics? More like cheat sheets! Real players win with stubborness & luck!!!

[Erwin]

Like others have said, the CMSF tutorials give many of the basics. Substitute ATG's for ATGM's is about it.

Am curious how others do it, but my SOP playing Elite WEGO is split into a few scouts, and move them forward as observers. They move mostly on HUNT and HIDE with arcs restricted to 50m-75m so they don't open fire and reveal thei positions prematurely.

When they find a great LOS position or an enemy, let them HIDE, sit and watch. Bring up an appropriate weapons system to deal with the target. Arty/mortar spotter vs inf and guns/mortars. Zook/Shreck vs armor if close enuff.

Use smoke to move your main forces safely across enemy covered ground. Mass fire on a single enemy unit from (preferably) keyholed positions, so that other enemy units cannot fire back. Move within a couple of minutes to avoid getting your important units mortared etc.

That's 90% of it I think.