Tank Man

I hear so much talk about 1500+ point values like they are the most difficult things to play. I guess the mass amounts of clicking is difficult, but the tactics? No, thats not difficult. I play really small games, around 300 points. In small games like this you don't have large tanks or company after company after company of infantry. You're lucky if you have a veteran platoon. In small point values the Allies have better tanks than the Axis. In small point values mistakes aren't forgiven. If you lose a squad without taking out an appreciable amount of the enemy then you're at a major disadvantage. I'd like to see Fionn play a 300 pt defense as the Germans. It would be a big difference when compared to his custom 6000 point defense PBEMs. I would so laugh at his wasteful tactics then.

Well, recently I read a post by a certain Predator. He spoke of the point allocations and how they affected the "300-500 Cubic Elimination" Hotseat Tourneys we have at a friends house. He was quite miffed at one battle we had where he lost badly, and (as per tourney rules) he watched my subsequent battles and found that I had a damn near unstoppable tactic and unit selection. I would like to remind him of two things about my play style. First, there are four factors to my victories. Before I begin I would like to tell you a little bit about these tourneys. There are certain drastic ways that these smaller point values differ from larger ones. One is that EVERY POINT AND EVERY UNIT AND EVERY MAN COUNTS! I cannot stress this enough. In these small point values you LEARN how to make those 2-inch mortars perform miracles. You LEARN that your infantry doubles as a primary AT asset. You LEARN how to make your troops dodge arty fire. Because if you don't, you lose. Small point value games are SO drastically different it isn't funny. You have limited vehicle access for one thing, axis players constantly find themselves totally out tanked. So, I will continue with what I was saying before. (1) Unit Selection I have found that the extra allocation of infantry points is drastically magnified in small point games and in most cases I can afford a Veteran FJ platoon when the allied player can barely get a regular platoon. I have molded my setup to a very efficient point. (2) Sausage Head I am the supreme commander of the sausage head people. I have an articulating hat that shows my position as sausage head commander. My troops, being selected from the sausage head people, have won while severely outnumbered. I credit most of my victories to the sausage head people. (3) Lady Luck Lady Luck and I are currently passionate lovers. Due to my prowess in bed with her she is quick to jump to my aid in various things. One of these things being CM. (4) Cheese I am a master of the ancient spirit martial art of Che-ese (pronounced Cheese). I can focus the cheese within me and actually affect the trajectory and physical properties of my 20mm flak cannon rounds. They have been noted to pass through hillsides to hit infantry. Despite my distinct advantage there is one thing that can stop me dead in my tracks, a giant samoan male in a deer-skin thong that goes by the name of "Karma". The savage cannibal known as "Karma" often gets offended by certain acts such as the time my understrength FJ platoon utterly wiped out three American rifle platoons WHILE under cover fire. When offended, "Karma" tends to force the victory to my opponent by doing such things as making my squads REFUSE to fire their panzerfausts at a tank that they have been staring at for three turns at 30 meters. Predator, I know that you have had a difficult time in these tourneys but I urge you to keep trying. Eventually the sausage head people will make mistakes.

I have three friends that play CM hotseat all the time. A while ago we thought about making a mini campaign but we stopped really playing CM after the last few patches. I know they fixed some problems but they did things like radically change point values and allocations in ways we feel are not reasonable. Also there is that pesky problem with the grenade-immune halftracks.

I guess this is my last attepmt to post after my ISP started giving me IPs that were banned. If this doesn't work I guess I'm going to have to send posts via snail-mail

A hug? A hug??? My 2-inch mortars are better off as pistol commandos and I need a hug? My german vehicles are nothing more than really really expensive pistol teams and I need a hug? Dennis the Menace can lay down more firepower with his slingshot than my Vickers MG can in a 60 second period and I need a hug?

Ok... after getting my hetzer killed by reversing it an extremely long distance I have decided to blank the word "Rotate" from my mind and instead replace it with the word "Orient" as in "Orientation" so that way when I press "r" I know I am reversing and not rotating and when I press "o" I know I am orienting the unit. I suggest you all do the same. [This message has been edited by Tank Man (edited 12-17-2000).]

Would someone please explain to me how to use a 2-inch mortar. I've tried using them in all the ways I can think of and in every case I feel they would be more effective if they ditched their mortar and pulled out their pistols. Another thing, german halftracks, does anyone else feel that these things are .50 cal bait too? In fact all german vehicles are .50 cal bait. I hate to buy vehicles as the germans now, especially german armored cars. To me german armored cars are really expensive pistol teams (a.k.a crew). Oh yeah, while I'm at it... I hate the Vickers MG. That thing is just a rapid fire BB gun. I had two vickers MGs fire away at a Kubelwagen at close range and it took them 3 turns to get the driver to park the damn thing and stroll out to get a bite to eat in a nearby building. I was afraid that the Kubelwagen crew was gonna walk up to my two Vickers and kill them. God knows the two Vickers MGs wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to stop him. One more thing, QBs are really hard to win when you force restrict yourself to the Volksturm.

Another thing I couldn't find, how much ammo did the MG42 (in the squad support role) clip/belt/clip-belt-canister contraption have?

Recently I had a discussion with my friend about the BAR and ots role in WWII. I say that it was less effective than the MG42 and the Bren as a squad support weapon. I also say that the BAR was ineffective as a squad support weapon in general. He says that when you take into account the other weapons in an American squad the BAR is well suited to its role as a squad support weapon and the Bren and MG42 were oversuited for the role. One of his arguments was that you wouldn't have to maintain supressive fire for long and the 20 round clip was fine for that. I have searched the boards and done outside research but I would like a few things clairified and under one topic. 1. In the squad support role how was the MG42 handled? Did it have an ammo canister or was it belt fed? Was it ever fired from the hip? Did another squad member man the belt? 2. How did American troops feel about the BAR as a squad support weapon? Did they like it? Did they hate it? Did they feel it inferior to the Bren and MG42? 3. Was 20 rounds enough for decent supressive fire? 4. With all things considered, which was the better squad support weapon? The BAR? Or the MG42?

You people act like the Axis and the Allies had the same things in mind when they built tanks. Most Shermans have three MGs on them for a reason, and its not to make other tanks button. Most German tanks have heavy armor and big guns for a reason, and its not to blow up a bigger area where you think the enemy infantry is hiding. After hearing complaints like this I start to think that these people have never used bazooka or PIAT teams. a PIAT team can take out a King Tiger easily. The Allied player has to realize that it is highly likely that the Axis players tanks will out gun his. So you have to find another way to deal with them. The airborne squads have anti-tank teams, use them. When you have dealt with the Axis tanks then you can roll up your shermans (which I consider anti-infantry when they have 3 machineguns, one being flexible). Another thing, it sounds to me like people use Allied tanks in the way that Axis tanks should be used. Allied tanks are faster and have a faster turret rotation rate than Axis tanks. Allied tanks are agile, Axis tanks are lumbering. Most Allied tanks can supress entire platoons with MG fire alone. German tanks have a maximum of 2 MGs, and only bow and coaxials. But the German tanks will eat allied tanks. Recognize why shermans are more expensive and you will do a lot better with them.