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Your favorite mix for QB?


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Some infantry, some armour, some DF HE chuckers (heavier calibre than your tanks, if available), a heavy arty battery for problems that just won't go away. How you mix 'em depends heavily on the setup. Are you defending, attacking, ME? Can you inspect the map? What arms are available?

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I think there was a related thread earlier. Turns out (surprise) that people all have their favorite mix. Some love straight armor vs armor, others love combined arms and others infantry battles. I would suggest trying all possible combinations in various terrain settings and see which appeals to you most.

FWIW my preference is infantry vs infantry in moderately closed terrain, but I mix it up to get a better feel for other options.

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I wouldn't say a must, they are nice though. Either way it comes down to objectives, and if you are on the defense, he will come to yours. Infantry AT is deadly when used properly, draw them into an ambush, and boom.

I prefer a mix. I like to have a couple platoons of engineers and some armor, plus a battery of 105s and some half tracks to dole out bazookas if there are none included with the force. Rhino tanks are expensive, so if you can't have them, engineers are a must on bocage maps.

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My old Cmx1 set-ups have made it into cmbn....

For a medium match I like to go for a core of around 2 platoons + one or two goodies such as hmg's or snipers, and my armour approach revolves around one part anti-tank and one part anti-inf, so in cmbn StuH's are an absolute must (in cmx1 it was that upgunned 'semonovente' or whatever it was called that I used or the 150/105 range of vehicles). My 'proper' tanks have always been chosen for one purpose - to kill the other players tanks, so a good tank killer like a stug 3 does nice or the jpz4 - in cmx1 the jpz4 with the extended barrel (called the (70) i think) was a deffo fave, so looking forward to it coming back to the series.

Im not usually a fan of big arty as the delay vs effectiveness is questionable. Direct HE is the best for anti-infantry imo. For smaller or bigger matches I just adjust the amount of this core group that I have. For defence matches the 150mm inf gun used to be an old fave but in this game it seems a bit more vunerable so I'm still 'field testing' it ;)

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I haven't settled on a favorite mix in BN yet, I am still playing around with it as there are some intriguing new units I want to experiment with. But basically, what I am going with is a variation on the pattern I used in x1. I mostly play as the US and I mostly play as the attacker, so my team is set up taking those things into account. My core force is usually a company of infantry (either leg or armored) supported by a platoon of tanks. I usually have an FO with one or more batteries of off-map arty. It's nice that he can now call on on-map mortars as well.

I am now experimenting with dedicated scout teams. I may take a sniper team or two. I've been taking a couple of extra MMGs, but I am beginning to doubt that they are worth it, at least on offense. Maybe they will if they get un-nerfed. Since I have so far been playing against strictly vanilla infantry defenders with no armor, bazookas haven't come into play, but if enemy armor was present, I might rethink that.

All of the above will doubtlessly evolve as I get into other battle types and enemy force compositions.

Michael

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Vets usually, maybe even regulars. Cracks are over-rated (in terms of inf) and using units effectively can overcome any shortfalls. Also the extra units you get can really help with one last push. For armour on the other hand, you dont wanna be in a face off using some gunner who always misses, so vets or cracks for sure.

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There were a few ways I enjoyed using force selection in cmx1 that I now use in CMBN. It would differ depending whether I was playing another person or the AI.

Playing a person I preferred a combined arms approach usually using regular quality units and now and then some vets or higher. Tanks for U.S. were 2 Shermans and 1 M10. German tanks were usually stugs. I also loved guns so 1 or 2 were always present.

Small meeting engagements were my preferred scenarios and I always liked dawn with a medium overcast map.

For a QB with the A.I. , like many, I gave great advantage to the computer opponent. Very enjoyable games these are.

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US on the attack : two regular companys of infantry and one platoon of Shermans .You need a Rhino or a platoon of pioneers if there is bocage .

German defense : two regular companys fusiliers plus two 120 mm mortar modules with TRP .

Really, it depends on the map. And your opponent. And what special rules you both use.

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I have to advice against depending on infantry AT weapons on the defence. In a recent battle I tried a German defender with just infantry and (an extra helping of) panzerschrecks, as the map was advertised as bocage. The cover was less then expected, and the infantry insisted on opening up at the tanks at 250 meters (ignoring the enemy infantry). The enemy armor on the other hand was very good at picking of the panzerschrecks - even if the MG was the one opening up at the tank. Of my first 10 casualties 7 were panzerschrecks (of the 10 I had).

At the end of the batle, not a single panzerschreck had fired.

Nb: I see I did not formulate exact enough. I had my infantry (with Schreck) set a target arc at 150 meters. The enemy advanced with infantry in front, tanks behind. When the enemy infantry came in the covered arc my infantry started firing - only to switch to the tank immediatly afterwards. The enemy tanks were to far away for the Schrecks, the enemy infantry was ignored, while the MG's plinked the enemy tanks. The enemy infantry then suppressed my infantry, and the enemy tanks killed them - the Schrecks first. The ambush went ok, in so far that I could disengage most of the troops, but most of the Schrecks were killed - even though they did never engage. With hindsight I should have bought some AT guns, a Stug or a tank....

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Vs AI, I love defending as German infantry from massive combined arms assaults by US forces in all types of terrain. I make sure to have plenty of AT assets in the mix and I recently disallowed artillery for US since all they do is dump on you at turn 1 in the objective areas. I never use arty on turn 1out as germans either. Sometimes Ill throw in a Lonley team of vet/crack Tigers, Panthers or MkIVs to give me some mobile toys when things get slow. Also, but more rarely, Ill play German armored. (Tanks) attacks into US territory with some panzer recon and or a small mech infantry force thrown in.

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What do you think about using crack specialty units, like scouts, snipers, and AT teams? That doesn't seem to increase their cost to budget busting proportions and it occurs to me that their improved performance might be critical.

Michael

Yeah I guess so.. it depends how many Im after or what I intend to use em for. I'm not too sure about AT guns or Inf guns in CMBN at the mo... they seem to be able to get themselves quickly killed once they have opened up so I don't like spending all my £ on them ... but then on the flip side you want the quality so that the first ambush shot actually hits its target, so its hard to say.

Im not sure if its the arty model being better in cmx2 or the abstraction of cmx1 that did it but once a gun has revealed its location, within minutes accurate mortar fire kills it, which has put me off using them too much. Mobile is better IMO.

Snipers are in a similar boat. In cmx1 you could have a sniper pop at a squad and stay undiscovered for the entire match, provided the cover was good enough, or even if they were in the command of a decent C2. In CMBN and SF (and CMA come to think of it) I'm yet to see any sniper take a shot and the target not know instantly where it came from. I'd put it down to the 1:1 unit spotting...I'm sure it does happen in the game but I have honestly never noticed any of my men get shot and everyone else be clueless as to where the shot came from, and once the position is identified, a squad full of people all firing at the target location doesn't take long to kill off the sniper. Then again, as you pointed out the cost is hardly breaking the bank so I probably would. I usually choose my specialist teams after Ive got my main core units sorted so it depends how many points I have left over. If I had a choice between one crack sniper or two regs, I'd go for two regs though.

I'm not saying I'm anti-crack or anything - a bit of crack is good now and again :D;) but I just think you can do the job with vets or regs - conscripts on the other hand, are awful, so the quantity over quality falls on its arse - regs n vets seem to be the sweet spot for me

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I like taking regulars.

And then I will raise and lower certain units, as I see fit. For example lowering some mere support troops ( like Jeeps or trucks ) to green, and upping my tanks platoon to vet as much as possible.

The problem with taking veteran or better troops, is that you are loosing numbers of man and ammunition, cause of the higher cost, you get lesser men. Taking greens OTOH, to get even more men, is really hard, cause green troops are somewhat hard to maneuver the way I want ( longer responsetime ).

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No more than a Company. My sweet spot - 1 tank per infantry platoon, each supporting each other with a little arty thrown in. Nothing more enjoyable for myself. Though one surprise I didn't see coming is the use of Shermans in these roles and the amount of fun I'm having playing this way. I'm playing almost exclusively Americans now.

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Some infantry, some armour, some DF HE chuckers (heavier calibre than your tanks, if available), a heavy arty battery for problems that just won't go away.

I need to play some more to be sure, but right now I'm feeling dubious about the utility of large caliber HE chuckers like StuH 42 or Sherman 105. It seems that in CMBN even medium caliber HE like German 75mm or US 76mm will wreck any infantry or AT gun it lands near. The extra oomph provided by 105mm HE seems to be overkill at the cost of reduced anti-armor effectiveness.

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