Gremlin

Sure they did: "Private Ivan, carry conscript Boris over to that Panther and throw him in the treads. That should gum up the works!" Portable anti-tank weapon, NKVD style Seriously, Zaloga and Ness discuss Soviet man-portable AT weapons, such as they were, beginning on p. 193 of their excellent Red Army Handbook: 1939-1945.

You all may find this interesting, considering the topic at hand: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=014827 It's a translation I did almost two years ago of a German field manual (geared towards the Ostfront, no less) about how to close assault tanks. Bits of the translation are a tad rough, but it does capture the style of the document, even though it may not appear that way at times! (Some day I'll go back and revise it if I have time--my knowledge of both German and the technical terms involved has increased substantially in the past couple years. I'm just too busy now!) I haven't been able to find active links to the manual, but there are some pictures from it here: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/wwii/panzer/images/ (search down) Apparently, you can buy reproductions here: http://www.kommiss.de/literatur.htm I know nothing about that site, though. The manual is certainly worth checking out if you can get a hold of it. [ October 21, 2002, 06:37 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

That's not far from the truth Just bear in mind they have very slow reload times (3 or 4 turns, iirc). Make sure you protect them with escort AT and AA assets, too. And make sure you try them in city assaults! Nothing beats leveling whole blocks at a time.

You have to love the Sturmtiger. I caused 131 infantry casualties with one in a QB (and not one where all the enemy infantry was conveniently bunched in an open field ) and obliterated six buildings with one shot in another QB. Word to the wise: keep your men and vehicles way the heck away when you fire. Two guys in one of my HQ units got wounded from standing around and chatting near the front of the Sturmtiger when it fired instead of rushing for the nearest concrete bunker. Another time, I fired at a platoon of Russians in the woods, killing about three squads in one shot but also inadvertently blowing up a nearby wood building with one of my squads in it. Guess they weren't beyond the mandatory 10km safe distance

Wait til you try the German Sturmmörser Tiger! I caused 131 infantry casualties with one of those. That's got to be some kind of record It's hilarious, in a twisted sort of way, to watch one of those shells explode in a forested area and see it take out three squads at once. Every single man.

Fwiw, you may want to look for John Keegan's Waffen SS: The Asphalt Soldiers (Ballantine, 1970) (silly title, but Keegan is an important war historian), in which there's a chapter dealing specifically with the Waffen SS in the East.

I was the previewer in question, and while I don't normally comment on my work to anyone but my editors, I'm a long-time member of the CM community, which makes me almost a gaming cousin to you guys here So, I wanted to say that Mr. Cater is correct: I was fiddling around with different approaches to see how the AI reacts since I've seen too many strategy games with really weak or illogical AI. Warmgames are almost always best enjoyed against other humans, but it's important to me that you can enjoy a good match against the AI, too. I'm not at liberty to say more about the game than what I wrote in the preview, but I was impressed with what I saw of the AI. It rightly seems to punish you if you don't properly coordinate your service arms. [ July 12, 2002, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I was the one who wrote that review. Just for clarification: I don't believe that portrait mod is included on the disc, and I took the screenshots--they're not from the publisher. I'd tell you what site I dl'ed that mod from, but I don't recall--probably CMHQ, maybe Kump's CM Outpost back in the day. I believe that face mod didn't get properly cleared out when I installed the mods from the disc that I didn't already have (and I was already using almost all of them). Apologies if that screenshot created any confusion.

It's sadly MIA yet fondly remembered. Fwiw, I reposted some of the Boot Camp introductory strategy articles I had written for that site over in the Tips forum here. They might be of some interest. There are four in all. [ March 15, 2002, 04:54 PM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

They're in the Tips forum here. The subject lines begin with "Boot Camp." I posted them this morning, so they should still be on the first page.

I used to have a long series of articles called Combat Mission Boot Camp posted at Manx's late, great Combat Missions site. These were primarily geared towards helping newer players get into the game, but they may be of interest to others, too. Instead of letting the articles collect dust, I've reposted a few of them in the Tips & Tricks forum here, hoping someone might get some use out of them. I think the one on tanks is probably the most useful. Thanks to Manx for giving these articles their original home! (One of the articles was a translation I made of a German field manual about close assaulting tanks on the Russian Front, but since the site that hosted the facsimile of the manual seems to have disappeared, I don't know if it's worth posting the translation since you won't be able to reference the pics. Let me know if anyone is interested.) [ March 05, 2002, 10:06 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Still, I think this article will be useful for newer players. Enjoy!) Comrades in Arms: Mutual Support Tactical choices in Combat Mission can be complex and controversial, but almost every player will agree that units need to mutually support each other. Letting tanks or infantry run off and do their own thing can be disastrous, since neither can deal with all threats effectively. Make them work in concert, though, and you’ll have a powerful fighting force. This article discusses some of the basic principles and tactics of mutual support. Intelligence In Combat Mission, knowledge is a weapon. It’s vital to have good knowledge of your enemy’s positions and force composition throughout the battle. There are two fundamental ways to gather intelligence. First, during the setup phase you can place your units in such a way that you gain a view of as much of the battlefield as possible. Second, you can gather intelligence by actively advancing towards possible enemy positions. Either way, try to ensure that between all your units you have the best fields of view possible across the full width of the battlefield. That’s not to say that you should spread your forces thinly solely to gain better lines of sight. Far from it. It does mean, though, that you’ll want at least a few units with a view of your flanks. Strictly in terms of placement and movement, sharpshooters and artillery spotters often operate independently and benefit from broad fields of view, so they’re useful for gathering intelligence. Try hiding them, for example, in the top floors of multi-story buildings, on high wooded hills, or at the edge of a forest that provides a view across large plains on a flat map. If, because of terrain restrictions, you can’t gain wide fields of view using just a couple units, then you’ll need a larger number of units with smaller, overlapping fields of view. You may suspect that the enemy will primarily advance along one side of the map. Still, leaving your other flank unwatched could easily let part of the enemy forces slip by while you focus elsewhere. One of the ways you can both gather intelligence and defend yourself from such a threat is to hide multiple anti-tank and/or machine gun teams along your flank away from your main force. A fairly common tactic in CM is to rush fast, lightly armored vehicles down the enemy’s flank in an attempt to slip past the main body of his or her forces to disrupt defenses or get flanking shots against tanks. A few hidden bazooka, Panzerschreck, or PIAT teams on your largely unprotected flank(s) can provide you with a view of the flank and help defend it against such a tactic all at once. An MG team or two would serve a similar purpose, but instead would be used to spot and slow advancing infantry, which you could then hopefully deal with using artillery fire, reserves, avoidance, or whatever tactic you feel appropriate. A single MG team alone won’t last long, though: remember that infantry units can target one unit at a time, but they can be targeted by multiple units at once. So, a solitary team will quickly be suppressed, routed, or eliminated if multiple enemy units spot it at once. In addition to relatively static observers, you should use advance parties when moving towards possible enemy locations. Depending on the type of battle and the size of your forces, such a party could be anything from a half squad moving a little bit ahead of an infantry platoon or a whole platoon supported by one or more armored cars or other light vehicles. Never rush a large group of forces towards an unscouted location, or you could stumble into a horrible ambush or crossfire. You can also send out scouting parties that have no intention of taking point for a main force, but rather are primarily tasked with learning more about the enemy’s positions and force composition. These reconnaissance parties should generally be small, fast, and maneuverable, allowing them to engage in hit-and-run tactics. Their purpose isn’t to engage the enemy in a direct confrontation, but rather to stay alive and continue observation while harassing the enemy when the opportunity presents itself. A number of squads or split squads in a scouting party moving along tree lines can also deceive the enemy into thinking that you have a large force advancing into that area. Just when your enemy is distracted by these troops, you could launch a main offensive. Combined Arms Related to scouting, be absolutely certain that you’ve recently moved infantry through wooded areas or buildings where anti-tank teams might be hiding before advancing your vehicles near those areas. Infantry supports armor by establishing that an area is relatively safe from anti-tank threats, and armor supports infantry by destroying enemy tanks and field guns, as well as attacking infantry. It’s easy to become over-eager about rushing a tank forward to support an assault, but that haste could very well put your tank on the receiving end of a bazooka or Panzerschreck. This principle of combined arms, where units with different capabilities work in concert for mutual support, is the bedrock of tactics in CM. Here are a few other examples of how combined arms can be applied. A lone anti-tank gun or field howitzer, even when positioned in a foxhole, is easily overrun by a couple infantry squads flanking it. So, it’s wise to set up a machine gun or two in flanking positions that have a clear view of the gun and the terrain directly in front of it. One thing to avoid, though, is placing those MG’s too close to the gun, as the latter is a likely artillery target. You don’t want to lose both units in one blow. Suppose, as another example, you were about to assault an enemy force occupying a hill. You could hit the area with an artillery strike just prior to rushing troops in, softening the enemy up by causing casualties and weakening their morale. You could then create a smoke screen right after the initial artillery strike to mask your troops’ advance into the area. When your troops have made it up the hill and ascertained the enemy’s disposition (unit types and placement) in the area, you can bring tanks or self-propelled guns forward to provide long-range, powerful support fire. Suppression Suppression is another basic tactical principle that you’ll want to use whenever possible. It essentially means putting an enemy unit under such sustained firepower that the unit can’t fight or move effectively--it’s will be too busy taking cover. Generally, effective suppressive fire comes from high-powered, long-range weapons with high rates of fire and large stores of ammo. These include certain armored vehicles (see the other articles in this series for more details), machinegun teams, anti-aircraft guns, and mortars. Be careful, though, as some of these can run the risk of hitting your own troops, depending how close you are to the enemy. Suppression of enemy units allows some of your units (chiefly infantry squads) to advance, retreat, attack targets, or whatever the case may be with more safety. You’ll find that the combat effectiveness of your infantry is generally much greater when defending from a set position than when rushing towards incoming fire. In the latter case, infantry will typically suffer high casualties and break more easily. Hence the vital need for suppression of enemy troops to keep fire off your advancing infantry. One other highly useful tool for suppressing the enemy is artillery; for a detailed introduction to artillery use, please see the Combat Mission Boot Camp article “Death from Above: Artillery.” Here’s an example of how combined arms and suppression can work together. Suppose you were defending a small town against a numerically superior attacking force, and let’s say the terrain is slightly hilly and wooded. If you think the enemy might try to cross over a certain wooded hill toward you, you could do the following: first, place anti-personnel mines and/or barbed wire in the woods on the hill, preferably near the tree line closest to your troops. (Your troops should be hidden in woods or buildings away from that tree line towards your side of the map.) As the enemy advances over the hill, hit them with artillery. They might retreat, or they might rush forward to avoid the artillery. In doing the latter, they’ll likely lose some troops to the land mines and/or get caught up in the wire at the edge of the tree line. Now, open up with multiple flanking machine guns, anti-aircraft guns with a high rate of fire, howitzers, and/or vehicles with effective anti-personnel weapons. At the same time, on-map mortars start area-fire attacks on the enemy. (See the artillery article for tips.) All of this should suppress and weaken the enemy quite effectively. If the enemy units still have their wits about them after all that, they’ll start trying to silence your flanking heavy weapons. Even a team with a powerful .50 caliber machine gun will be in trouble when four or five enemy squads target it. It will likely become suppressed itself or panic. This is when you can “un-hide” your infantry and let the enemy have it. Overwatch Another basic principle of mutual support is overwatch. This means that as units advance, others either occupy static positions behind them or follow them at a distance, keeping a field of view that matches the lead units’ field of view as much as possible. This way, should your lead units come under attack, they can quickly be backed up with supporting fire. Overwatch also keeps all your units from stumbling into an ambush at once. There are a number of styles of overwatch. You can have some units always keep the lead role, or you can have both groups leapfrog each other and assume the other’s role at every switch, or “bound.” Reserves One of the most important principles of mutual support is keeping units in reserve. There are two main principles that lead you to hold reserves. First, you shouldn’t reveal more than is necessary about your force strength and positions. Don’t commit any unit unless there’s a clear reason; it’s better to attack the enemy on your terms, when the situation is favorable. Also, try to gain the upper hand through deception and surprise by masking your true strength. You can play on your opponent’s fears this way, as he or she imagines the worst. The second principle is that you need to be able to react quickly and fluidly to the changing battlefield, sending fresh units to hot spots at decisive moments to bolster an attack, or to flank or encircle the enemy. You can’t do that easily with troops that are already engaged in combat since running away under fire usually means lots of casualties. Committing all your forces at the start without keeping some of them in reserve usually has a number of major disadvantages. First, on the offensive it usually means exposing your units to the enemy before obtaining substantial intelligence about his or her forces. You could easily waste time moving units to what turns out to be a tactically unimportant spot. More likely you’ll end up the victim of an ambush or a situation where you don’t have the right units in place to counter the enemy units you find. On the defensive, trying to cover your whole front in depth is usually not possible, so you’ll need to cover selected areas with some, but not all, of your troops. As you saw in the combined arms examples above, the depth of your line is usually more powerful than its breadth when defending. Use reserves to fill in the gaps or reinforce strong points as needed. There’s no set number or percentage of units to keep hidden behind your main body of troops and vehicles, but the more the better. You’ll generally want your reserves to be mobile or able to run quickly. Infantry in half-tracks serve well, for instance. You’ll want at least one group of reserves behind the middle of the battlefront, preferably two or more groups, with one near each rear corner of the battlefront to prevent easy attacks on your central units’ flanks. This two-pronged positioning can also let you counter-attack more easily while on defense. As a side note, it’s a good idea to keep all your vehicles hidden as long as possible, though they needn’t be treated specifically as reserves. Tanks and other powerful armored fighting vehicles are too valuable to expose before absolutely necessary. It’s better to wait until you can ambush enemy vehicles from their flanks when they’re busied with your infantry. Remember that even the most powerful single unit, like a King Tiger or Pershing tank, can get into huge trouble on its own at the hands of stealthy anti-tank teams, well-hidden guns, or flanking fire. Units need to support each other by providing intelligence to coordinate your forces, complementing each other’s unique strengths and weaknesses, suppressing the enemy so other units can act with more freedom, covering each other carefully, and providing fresh reserves at crucial moments. If you keep these basic principles in mind at all times, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of winning the battle. © 2002 by Scott Osborne [ March 05, 2002, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Still, I think it will be useful for newer players. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Enjoy!) Heavy Hitters: Tanks and Their Kin One of the most enjoyable features of Combat Mission is its inclusion of numerous armored fighting vehicles (AFV’s), all carefully modeled after their historical counterparts. Unfortunately, just figuring out what the names of some of them mean—let alone how to use them—can be challenging, particularly for new players. In this installment of Combat Mission Boot Camp, you’ll get an overview of the AFV’s in Combat Mission. Since half-tracks and other light vehicles were covered in the second Boot Camp article, we’ll focus on their big brothers: tanks, tank destroyers and tank hunters, assault guns and close support tanks, self-propelled guns, flak vehicles, and armored cars. We’ll look at their basic uses and some fundamental tactics. One thing to bear in mind: despite an AFV’s official designation or what it was originally designed for historically, many were used in multiple roles, and the same can apply to their use in CM. For example, many versions of the German StuG (“Sturmgeschütz,” or “assault gun”) were effectively used both in infantry support and tank hunter roles. As with everything in CM, don’t feel restrained by what you read; experiment to find out what works in practice. Similarly, it’s important to remember that a vehicle’s official name or designation isn’t as important as its vital statistics. Whenever you select a unit, press “enter” to view detailed information about it. You can access the vehicles you’re interested in through the scenario and Quick Battle generators, too. These are the most important things to note about each vehicle you’ll be using: * Armor strength: Note both the thickness and angles, as steeper angles create greater armor effectiveness. Also note if the vehicle has unusually weak sides compared to frontal armor. You’ll want to keep these facing away from the enemy. * Speed: Mobility is a key to survival and keeping up with running troops. * Weapon type: Particularly note the muzzle velocity, as higher velocity generally indicates better armor penetration capabilities. Note that gun caliber alone isn’t as important: short and long 75mm guns, for instance have very different muzzle velocities. * Ammo counts: Note the number of high explosive (HE), armor piercing (AP), tungsten (T), hollow charge ©, and smoke (S) rounds. AP, T, and C rounds are the ones you’ll want if you’re going to engage other AFV’s. HE rounds are best against troops. * Blast number for high explosive (HE) rounds: A higher blast number means more damage inflicted. * Turret speed: Faster is better, since you can aim quicker, particularly when you or the target is moving. * Silhouette: The smaller the silhouette, the harder it is to be spotted and hit. * Ground pressure rating: The less ground pressure, the less likely the vehicle will bog in snowy or damp terrain. * Presence or absence of a gyrostabilizer: Having one makes aiming while moving easier, though it’s easiest to score hits from a stationary position. * Presence or absence of a turret: Without a turret, the vehicle has to rotate to aim at an enemy, which reduces its ability to react quickly and deal with multiple threats. * Presence or absence of a top: Open-topped vehicles are particularly susceptible to damage from mortars, artillery, and nearby infantry. * Number of machine guns: The more and the larger the caliber, the better. Tanks Tanks are the mainstay of your armored forces and come in a wide variety of types intended for different roles. Tanks can typically engage both armored and soft targets (infantry and unarmored vehicles), but some are clearly more suited towards one role or the other. The best role for each tank can be determined by flexible experimentation, but here are some general guidelines. If most of the ammo allotment consists of HE rounds and the muzzle velocity is relatively low, the tank is better suited to supporting infantry by blasting enemy troops and demolishing buildings they might be in. A tank with lots of AP, T, and/or C rounds, coupled with a high-velocity main gun (preferably 76mm or larger) is probably better suited to taking on enemy tanks, particularly if your tank has thick, deeply sloped frontal armor able to withstand return fire. A faster tank is also better suited to dealing with relatively quick-moving armor threats, as opposed to slow-moving infantry. In fact, fast light tanks may have weak armor and small guns, but their speed can let them rush by a lumbering heavy tank, like a Tiger, to get a flank or rear shot, where armor is generally weaker than in the front. It’s beyond the scope of this article to discuss individual AFV’s in any depth, but here are some tips to tell American Sherman tanks apart, since that can be confusing at first. “HVSS” (horizontal volute spring suspension) decreases the tank’s ground pressure rating, meaning it’s less likely to bog in snow or damp ground. A “+” in the name means it has greater armor than its standard counterpart. A “W” in the name refers to “wet stowage” for the ammo, with the ammo racks protected by glycerin to reduce the Sherman’s tendency to “brew up” (burn) when hit. Here are few basic tank tactics, and these often apply to the use of other AFV’s: * Strength in numbers: A couple tanks with similar or near-identical fields of view clearly have a better chance against a lone target. Conversely, try to avoid exposing a single tank to more than one enemy AFV at a time. * Front forward: Always keep the front of your tank towards the enemy, since the front almost always has the best armor protection. * Flanking: Try to hit enemy vehicles from the side or rear. Simultaneously engaging a vehicle with multiple tanks from widely different angles can assure that at least one has a shot at the enemy’s weaker sides. * Surprise: Stay hidden until ready to engage the enemy. Patience is a vital virtue here. (However, there’s a little something to be said for the intimidation value of a Tiger or Sherman Firefly on a hill overlooking the battlefield.) * Overwatch: Just as infantry should advance while being covered, tanks should do the same, with one tank or group of tanks advancing, while another temporarily stays back and watches over their shoulder. * Infantry protection: Don’t drive a tank near a tree line or building that hasn’t very recently been explored by friendly troops, or you could get a nasty surprise from a bazooka, Panzerschreck, PIAT, or anti-tank gun. * Hull down: With its hull hidden behind a slope, the tank presents a much smaller target. The “hunt” command often works very well to get in a hull-down position: hunt up a slope that stands between you and the target, and the tank should stop with just its turret exposed if it spots an enemy. * Buttoning: Closing the hatches can prevent the crew from getting “shocked” by the loss of their tank commander, but buttoning dramatically decreases the tank’s field of view. It’s usually better to leave the tank unbuttoned, unless it enters an intense small arms crossfire or artillery/mortar barrage. There’s always the danger from sharpshooters, though, which you also should use against enemy tanks. * “Tophat and lowsky: “Hunt” up a slope, reverse back out of sight, hunt back up, and repeat, preferably in a slight zigzag. This leaves you exposed for a minimal amount of time (hopefully enough to get a shot off) and brings you back into view in a different position. Make sure you don’t move so much diagonally as to expose your flank when you crest the hill; you want to crest the hill facing toward the enemy, not at an angle. * Shoot and scoot: Stationary tanks almost always have better accuracy, yet they almost always survive longer when they stay in motion, moving out of enemy sight and reappearing in an unexpected location. Taken together that means: fire while stationary and then get the heck out of there to try again from another position. * Smoke: Smoke screens from artillery or massed on-map mortars can provide cover, allowing you to rush armor to a new position unseen. * Area fire: Use the “area target” command when you want to demolish a building or hit infantry units that are closely bunched. * Roads: Staying on roads, particularly paved ones, in damp or snowy terrain can lessen the chance of bogging. Vehicles also move fastest on roads in any conditions. Watch out for the threat of anti-tank mines placed on dirt roads, though. Tank Destroyers A tank destroyer/hunter/killer is an AFV specifically intended to attack other armor. (The German ones will often have “jäger” or “jagd” in the name, referring to “hunting.”) Instead of dealing with these separately, we’ll look at them as a group for convenience. Tank destroyers, or TD’s, typically have long guns with high muzzle velocities and lots of AP ammo. Other than that, they vary quite widely: some will have open tops, some will lack a turret, some will have armor only thick enough to stop small arms fire—basically just an anti-tank gun on a mobile mount. Those without turrets, like the German Hetzer or Jagdpanzer, are best deployed in groups and back a bit from potential targets, to minimize the need to rotate as much when forced to take on multiple targets. Those with minimal armor, like the German Marder II and Nashorn, are best used defensively as the equivalent of anti-tank guns. You should use their mobility to reposition them in ways that surprise the enemy and achieve flanking shots, but don’t ever directly engage the enemy in a slugging match, as your vehicles will easily get knocked out by heavy machine guns, not to mention tank guns. Open topped TD’s, like the American M10, need to take extra care against infantry close assaults and mortar or artillery fire. Assault Guns/Howitzers and Close Support Tanks Assault guns (“Sturmgeschütze” in German) and assault howitzers (“Sturmhaubitzen” in German) were generally designed as infantry support vehicles. They were typically built around older medium tank chassis and lacked turrets. The most notable examples of this type of AFV in CM are the German StuG and StuH in their various guises. These vehicles, particularly the StuH’s, are well used as heavy-duty firepower against infantry. Depending on the gun and ammo allotment, assault guns can be quite effective against many medium or light tanks, too. They’re also useful for taking up covering or overwatch positions behind turreted tanks. Since they’re farther back, they don’t need to rotate as much as they switch their aim between multiple targets, since the angle between them will be relatively small. Close support tanks, like the British Cromwell VIII and Churchill VIII, are also used in the infantry support role: their large-caliber guns with slower muzzle velocities are well suited to blasting troops or buildings with HE rounds. Their turrets let them aim faster than turretless assault guns, but they usually only have a few hollow charge rounds to deal with armor threats. Self-propelled Guns Self-propelled (SP) guns are field guns or howitzers mounted on a tank chassis and often provided with only light armor and an open top. Adding mobility and armor to these guns gives them better survivability on the battlefield than their stationary counterparts. Still, as with light vehicles like half-tracks and scout cars, many SP guns can be knocked out by heavy machine guns, not to mention AFV main guns. Use them only in areas that are clear of anti-tank threats, and take advantage of their mobility to reposition them frequently. Their main purpose is attacking infantry, and they’re excellent for destroying buildings with the “area target” command. Some of the prominent SP guns in CM are the American Priest and M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage, the German Wespe and Hummel, and the British Sexton. Flak vehicles Flak vehicles mount anti-aircraft (AA) guns. (“Flak” is the German abbreviation for “Flugzeugabwehrkanone,” or anti-aircraft gun). In CM, these include the German Wirbelwind (20mm guns) and Ostwind (37mm gun), both built around a tank chassis with medium armor, and the Sd Kfz 7/1 (20mm guns) and Sd Kfz 7/2 (37mm gun), which are unarmored trucks with rear-facing guns. AA vehicles, particularly the armored Wirbelwind and Ostwind with their huge ammo allotments, are among the most versatile vehicles in the game. The Ostwind especially can easily knock out lighter vehicles, including light tanks, as well as deal with heavier vehicles from the rear or flanks. AA guns are excellent for attacking infantry, and the 37mm Flak gun can demolish a light one-story building in just one turn. Of course, these vehicles can also help ward off fighter-bombers, should the battle include them. Armored Cars Armored cars are wheeled vehicles with light armor, excellent speed, and good off-road capability. Examples include the German PSW 234/1 (20mm gun), PSW 234/2 (aka “Puma,” with a 50mm gun), and PSW 234/3 (turretless short 75mm gun), American M8 Greyound (37mm gun), and British Daimler (40mm gun with all AP rounds). Armored cars are excellent for scouting, close infantry support, and fast flanking runs against tanks, since the guns on many of them can knock out a tank from the side or rear. To make up for their light armor, make sure to use their speed to your advantage when faced with AFV’s: take a shot, get to cover, and then take a shot from a new location. Summing It Up Learning the characteristics and capabilities of the many vehicles in CM can be a bit daunting, but also great fun. If you’d like to learn more about their real-life counterparts, two highly recommended books are Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis’ British and American Tanks of World War Two and Peter Chamberlain and Hilary Doyle’s Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two. Both are published by Cassell and available in paperback. Probably the most important thing to remember about vehicles (and all units, for that matter) in Combat Mission is that you should experiment to find what works best for you. © 2002 by Scott Osborne [ March 05, 2002, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Still, I think this article will be useful for newer players. Enjoy!) Workhorses of the Battlefield: Half-tracks and Other Light Vehicles Welcome to the second installment of Combat Mission Boot Camp, where we’ll look at half-tracks and other light vehicles. Of all the vehicles in Combat Mission, half-tracks are among the more versatile and useful. Before looking at their strengths and uses, a few words of caution are in order. Half-tracks should be considered the lightly armored equivalent of off-road trucks. Just as you wouldn’t drive a truck onto a battlefield crawling with tanks, you shouldn’t do it with half-tracks. Their armor is only thick enough to stop small arms fire from infantry. Infantry heavy machine guns and any larger guns will quickly immobilize or destroy them. With their open tops, they’re also highly susceptible to mortar and artillery fire, as well as grenades from nearby infantry. Destruction of a transport half-track will generally eliminate or seriously injure squads or teams carried within, too. So, take great care with these vehicles, or they’ll quickly be reduced to smoldering wrecks littering the battlefield. Despite their weak armor and open tops, half-tracks are still very valuable assets. First of all, in Quick Battles they’re inexpensive to purchase. Secondly, they’re among the faster vehicles in CM, able to rapidly carry troops, bring their guns to bear, or scoot to cover. As the Germans powerfully demonstrated with their Blitzkrieg tactics, the ability to move armor and infantry quickly and in concert is a key combat strength. It’s important to set the pace proactively instead of simply reacting defensively to your opponent. Speed and timing are always vital. On larger maps, it’s often not possible to safely get troops to an area in a reasonable time, and that’s where half-tracks come into play. Let’s look in more detail at this troop transport role, since it’s one of the most common and important uses for half-tracks. You’ll often want to seize vital terrain or establish a front line quickly, and four half-tracks (depending on the model) can rapidly carry a platoon of three squads, an HQ unit, and a weapons team to the area while providing them some protection. That’s a sizable amount of men and firepower. When using half-tracks this way, you’ll want to keep out of enemy view as much as possible while advancing, both for protection and surprise. It’s safest to park the half-tracks a little bit away from your objective, hidden behind some cover, and then disembark infantry, letting them advance the remainder of the distance on foot. This is because you never want to send any vehicle near unscouted territory, like a tree line or village, where anti-tank weapons or teams might be hiding or where tanks might suddenly rise over a hill crest. Even a regular infantry squad without any anti-tank weapons can knock out many vehicles at point-blank range. Keeping your half-tracks back also gives you a mobile reserve to move up and support the dismounted infantry with mounted machine guns as needed. Another useful task for transport half-tracks is their ability to carry slow-moving weapons teams quickly enough to keep up with running troops. The problem there, though, is that vehicles can’t travel through the rough or forested terrain that infantry can. Since you should always have reserves of some sort, if only a squad or two held back a moderate distance, half-tracks are excellent for quickly bringing them forward to the main lines, particularly later in a battle when most of the enemy armor has hopefully been dealt with. The half-tracks can then advance fairly close to the front lines, firing as they go for suppression, and then disembark troops when they arrive. You still want to dismount your troops under cover if possible since they’re very susceptible to fire when leaving vehicles. Let’s take a closer look at some specific vehicles. For the Germans, the older SPW 250 half-track series tends to be a bit faster than the larger SPW 251 series. The armor on both the 250 and 251 series is roughly equivalent. However, the 250/1 can only carry a team, while the larger 251/1 can carry a full squad. Another difference between the two series is their ammo allotments: the SPW 251 mortar and 75mm versions carry more ammo than their counterpart SPW 250’s, for instance. With a crew of only two (unlike the three in Allied half-tracks), an injury to one crewmember leaves the German transport half-tracks unable to shoot their machineguns. Remember that you can button up half-tracks to keep crewmembers’ heads down, though spotting capability is reduced. The Allied M3 and M3A1 both carry a full squad. The former has one MG, and the latter has two MG’s (including the extremely effective .50 caliber) and more ammo. The slightly slower M5 and M5A1 both carry a squad, as well. The M5 has a .30 caliber MG, while the M5A1 has that plus a .50 caliber MG and more ammo. In addition to the troop carriers, there are many German half-track variants that mount heavier weapons than the usual MG’s. The SPW 251/16 flamethrower half-track is useful for attacking infantry along wood lines or in buildings, provided you’re reasonably sure they have no anti-tank weapons and that they are being fully suppressed by other units. This is because the flamethrowers have a very short range, requiring you to drive right up to the enemy. Another use for the flamethrower half-track is intentionally setting woods or buildings on fire with the “area target” command. This denies that territory to the enemy, forcing him or her to move around into incoming weapons fire (hopefully), and creates small smoke screens to block line of sight. Some opponents might consider this tactic “gamey” (unrealistic), though. With a quick rate of fire, the German SPW 250/9 half-track with its 20mm gun is useful for suppressive fire, destroying light vehicles, and warding off fighter-bombers. However, the small ammo allotment of the 250/9 means it can’t sustain fire very long. Standard transport half-tracks, particularly the Allied ones that carry the brutal .50 caliber MG, can often be just as effective overall, since they have much larger ammo allotments and can also destroy light vehicles, though admittedly not as easily as with a 20mm gun. Either way, a quickly moving heavy MG or light cannon that’s impervious to small arms fire can be a powerful tool. The German 250/8 and 251/9 half-tracks with 75mm guns primarily use high explosive rounds, but they carry a few hollow charge rounds for anti-armor use. The penetration capability of these guns is fairly weak, though, and in the anti-armor role they’re best used against other light vehicles and light tanks. Beware that their lack of a turret will make aiming at moving targets difficult, as the whole vehicle has to turn to aim. When engaging light vehicles, take a shot, relocate, and repeat, since any tank and many other vehicles can obliterate a half-track in no time. These half-tracks are often better suited to serving as infantry support vehicles, covering your troops as they advance. They can then blast enemy infantry and also demolish buildings with the “area target” command. Mortar half-tracks (including the Allied M4A1 and M21 mortar carriers, which are half-tracks with another name) have the advantages of speed and high ammo counts that standard infantry mortar teams lack. However, mortar half-tracks seem to be high on the TacAI's target priority list and are usually eliminated quickly, particularly by return mortar fire or artillery. They also can’t fire indirectly in conjunction with an HQ unit the way on-map mortar teams can. Now that we’ve taken a look at half-tracks, let’s look at their cousins, like trucks, scout cars, armored personnel carriers (APC’s), and carriers. For the Allies, the Kangaroo APC’s offer much better armor protection than half-tracks since they’re built from a tank chassis. The Ram version can carry a full squad and has a forward MG, while the Stuart version is unarmed and can only carry a team. The lack of armament poses a problem since you normally want an MG on a vehicle to provide cover fire as infantry dismount. Still, the Stuart Kangaroo is substantially faster than the Ram, albeit less well armored. The carriers used by the British, Canadian, and Polish forces are small, tracked, open-top vehicles with minimal armor and medium speed. The universal carrier can transport a team. These are most safely used for ferrying teams around rapidly behind main lines, though the flamethrower and MG versions can be useful infantry support vehicles, as long as you keep them out of view of any big guns. The unarmed Allied jeep is extremely fast and can carry a team. Its speed makes it somewhat useful for scouting or quickly getting a team into position, but the complete lack of armor means it has minimal survivability. There’s also a version with a powerful .50 caliber MG, useful for mopping up towards the end of the battle, but only from a good distance, again because of the lack of armor. The German Kübelwagen is the equivalent of the Allies’ unarmed jeep. Scout and reconnaissance cars, which are fast, but typically open-topped, with light armor and armament and a small ammo allotment, can indeed be used to scout. However, their low survivability and combat power, coupled with the inability to move through woods or rough terrain, make them a questionable choice for the scouting role, at least when used alone instead of as a support unit for an infantry scouting party. If they’re eliminated before they provide useful info or at least harass and disrupt the enemy, they’re not worth the cost in this case. They’re arguably better used as mobile machine gun mounts, akin to transport half-tracks. Trucks are inexpensive and carry a full squad, but like jeeps they lack armor, leaving passengers utterly exposed. Only use them where they’re highly unlikely to come under fire. Trucks, gun tractors, and troop-transport half-tracks can tow various field guns, anti-tank guns, and anti-aircraft guns, provided no troops are also being carried. Vehicles can only tow guns with an equal or lesser transport class number than the vehicle. This towing capability is important, since most of those big guns can be moved only painfully slowly—if at all—by their crews. When towing guns, be sure to unlimber the guns out of incoming fire, or you’ll likely lose both the truck and gun. As you can see, CM provides a wide variety of light vehicles that can adopt many roles. The most important thing to bear in mind with all these vehicles is that they’ll withstand small arms fire, but they’re susceptible to heavy machine guns and any larger weapons. Their open tops are another liability. Even when mounting large weapons like a 75mm gun, they’re no replacement for armored cars, tanks, assault guns, and the like. When used with care, though, they can provide an excellent resource for rapid troop deployment and support. © 2002 by Scott Osborne

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Still, I think this article will be useful for newer players. Enjoy!) Death from Above: Artillery Welcome to Combat Mission Boot Camp, an occasional series of guides for newer CM players, particularly those who have little wargaming experience or who aren’t very familiar with World War II vehicles and weaponry. These guides, which assume you’ve read the CM manual carefully and played at least a few CM battles, will help you learn a little about the different units at your disposal and some basic tactics for using them. These guides are based on my playing experience and reading. I make no claims to being an expert; I’m offering suggestions, not inflexible rules. In fact, flexibility is a key to good playing. CM can be a very subtle, sophisticated game, and every CM player will have his or her own opinions and theories on tactics and unit use. Still, I hope these guides will help you learn the basics in a way that will quickly improve your playing by focusing on fundamentals. It’s often said that artillery rules the battlefield. Artillery, or arty, is definitely one of your most vital assets in CM. In this guide, we’ll look at off-map arty, represented on the CM battlefield by spotters, also known as forward observers, or FO’s. These are the men who locate a target’s coordinates and relay it by radio to batteries of howitzers, mortars, or rockets. We’ll take a brief look at on-map mortars too. Spotters can call in arty strikes anywhere on the map, but remember that strikes come more quickly and accurately when spotters can actually spot targets: try to position them where they have a direct LOS (line of sight) to areas where the enemy might appear. The initial positioning of your spotters depends, like most tactical decisions, on terrain. Just like you, the enemy will generally try to stay out of view behind hills and pass through heavily wooded areas and grouped buildings that provide cover and concealment. The broader the fields of view your spotters have, the better, since information is a key weapon on the battlefield. Getting a good field of view poses a problem, though: the more ground you can see, the more ground you can potentially be seen from. Placing spotters near the front lines might expose them to fire, and spotters are prime targets that will be eliminated easily. Try to keep them as far back from the enemy as possible, preferably on forested heights or in upper floors of buildings for a good field of view coupled with cover and concealment (though the enemy might guess their positions on a map with only a couple buildings or hills). Never advance spotters into areas that haven’t recently been scouted carefully by your other units. Spotters are far too valuable to risk needlessly, though it can perhaps be helpful to have a spotter advance slightly behind a scouting element to call down suppressive fire in a hurry. An on-map mortar team might be better suited to that task, though they move rather slowly. To help your spotters, you can use target reference points (TRP’s) to cover spots where the enemy is likely to approach, allowing you to more quickly and accurately call in an arty strike at that location than otherwise. TRP’s can be particularly useful in covered approaches, letting you keep your spotters in areas where they retain wide fields of view, instead of, say, hidden in the woods near a crossroads, only able to watch one little area. Naturally, you’ll still need some other unit in a position to see the TRP’s in order to know that the enemy is near them. A sniper and/or anti-tank team might be a good choice if you expect vehicles to enter into their range. An MG team or two might be good if infantry is expected. Anything that will slow the enemy down until the arty arrives should serve you well. When choosing your arty in a Quick Battle, you’re presented with a variety of types and calibers. Your basic choices include mortars, artillery (standard howitzers), VT (proximity fuze) artillery, and rockets. Mortars, which fire at angles greater than 45 degrees to lob shells over obstacles, and artillery, which usually shoots in lower arcs, both fire high-explosive shells that have the same practical effect on the CM battlefield. The important difference is that mortars typically provide more shells per spotter than similar-sized artillery has. VT shells have proximity fuzes that cause them to airburst over targets before hitting the ground, ensuring maximum damage to troops by directing the blast downward. VT arty costs more than standard arty of equivalent caliber. Rockets are generally cheaper and have a smaller blast and wider spread than standard arty of the equivalent caliber. In fact, the spread for the rockets—they can land around 500m apart—is probably their biggest drawback. Don’t use them anywhere near your troops, and try to hit areas where you suspect large concentrations of enemy units are spread out over some distance. When selecting your arty, you have to consider what you expect to use it for. The answer isn’t as simple as “blow up the enemy.” It can of course do that very well, but an equally important use is to suppress and rattle them. Just before assaulting a known concentration of enemy units, you almost always want to dump arty on the area for at least a turn or two. This can produce casualties and break troops’ morale, as well as keep their heads down as you advance. If you’re lucky, by the time you reach the enemy, they’ll be too busy cowering to fight effectively. (Generally, you can and should use your most powerful units like machine guns, on-map mortars, and assault guns according to this same general principle: these “big guns” suppress and attrit (wear down) the enemy, while infantry moves in to occupy. Then the big guns can close in as needed and help mop up with more direct fire.) In addition to being used in assaults on static enemy positions, arty can break up enemy advances. Since arty usually takes at least a turn to start dropping once the strike is ordered, practice targeting the area where you expect the enemy to be by the time the arty starts raining down. Try to target the strike so it lands slightly toward the front portion of the advancing group to prevent troops from running forward to get away from the blasts. An exception would be if you had well placed machine guns, for instance, ready to mow them down in an open area just ahead of the strike. Then you’d target the center or back of the group. You’ll learn the proper timing of arty strikes with experience. Remember, though, that a smart player won’t be so obliging to you by always running troops in a straight line or bunching them up excessively. In fact, the very fear of your artillery hitting the enemy’s massed troops can cause your opponent to spread his or her forces dangerously thin, letting you isolate and pick them off, unit by unit. If you can’t get a direct LOS to your target area and have to spot indirectly, you should use the “target” instead of “target wide” command, since the spread will be greater than normal anyway due to the lack of direct LOS. On your first turn, it’s a wise idea to target areas where you expect to spot the enemy shortly, even if you have no visual or sound contacts yet. If the enemy doesn’t appear there by the time the arty is about to fall, just cancel the targeting orders and retarget a new area or the same one. The idea is to have arty ready to fall as soon as possible, and you can extend this practice to where your spotters are always targeting areas, and then repeatedly canceling or letting the strikes commence as needed. Since smaller-caliber arty usually strikes quicker than its big brothers, don’t underestimate the use of light arty, like 81mm mortars. When you need to suppress an enemy or stop an advancing group in a hurry, these can be invaluable. Once the enemy is restricted to an area or at least significantly slowed by this suppressive arty, on-map weaponry, and/or terrain, you can dump the heavier shells on them. If you have on-map mortars, small-caliber arty isn’t as important. Despite their strengths, on-map mortars nevertheless lack off-map arty’s ability to target anywhere without LOS. Still, with direct LOS to the target or while under the command of an HQ unit with direct LOS, on-map mortars can be excellent tools for instantly hitting the enemy or creating small smoke screens quickly. In fact, it’s often useful to set up a small firebase with a bank of on-map mortars hidden out of view—behind a hill, for instance. Hide an HQ unit in front of them with a good view of likely target areas while still in command of the mortars. The company HQ you get with a complete infantry company is good for this role. This setup protects the mortars from being spotted or hit with direct fire. As with most weapons teams, mortars do have the disadvantage of moving quite slowly and being prime targets, though transporting them in halftracks or other armored vehicles can lessen these problems. There are also a number of lightly armored vehicles that carry mortars, and they tend to have good speed and high ammo counts but are readily destroyed if not used with great care. While small-caliber arty can be useful against infantry in many situations, it’s almost useless for inflicting casualties or even suppressing troops when they’re in buildings, particularly heavy ones. The same holds true for infantry in foxholes, though perhaps to a lesser extent. Try to hit infantry in open or wooded areas if at all possible. For hurting infantry in buildings, you’ll want to use larger caliber arty (over 105mm), though the random spread means you’re unlikely to hit just one specific building. When you need to destroy a particular building, it’s typically better to use on-map howitzers, self-propelled guns, assault guns, and other high-powered weapons that can fire directly. What applies to buildings applies more so to bunkers or pillboxes. While high-caliber arty can blow a wooden bunker sky high, the chance of a round actually hitting such a small spot is often slim. As with buildings, there are other units better suited to eliminating bunkers, like engineers/pioneers, flamethrowers, or direct fire from a tank or assault gun into the firing slit. When you’ve selected your target, you can use multiple spotters to hit the area at the same time for maximum damage, preferably using the “target” command instead of “target wide” in order to concentrate the blasts in a relatively limited area. However, since you usually only have a few spotters in a typical battle, you need to be very careful about using up arty too quickly. Then again, don’t hold off until the enemy is on top of you and arty would result in friendly fire casualties. Be sure you can hit a large body of troops or a group about to make a significant breakthrough. Don’t waste precious rounds on just one or two infantry squads. On-map mortar or machine gun nests, anti-tank guns, or anti-aircraft guns that are giving you trouble are possible exceptions. Conversely, when defending an area, you’ll typically open up with your MG’s and on-map mortars before ambushing with your infantry squads from closer ranges. This means that these weapon teams will become prime targets for shelling, so be aware of this trade-off and position them away from infantry squads, so they aren’t taken out along with the teams. For maximum, sustained damage to an area, you also don’t want to constantly start and stop arty strikes, except perhaps to throw the enemy off guard by making him think the coast is clear. Try not to keep “walking” (re-adjusting) the strikes, but instead wait until you’ve found a dense concentration of troops (preferably pinned by your other units), and then hit them hard. Of course, you may need to slightly adjust your targeting on occasion, but this will pause the arty for part of a turn, reducing its suppressive effect. In addition to attacking infantry with arty, it can be used against vehicles. A lucky hit can penetrate a tank’s weak top armor, or land right in an open-topped vehicle. At the very least, it can immobilize a vehicle with a nearby blast. Because of arty’s random spread, it’s strictly luck whether or not you’ll hit a vehicle this way. (Rushing to take vital terrain, I once drove five German half-tracks directly through an 81mm mortar barrage unscathed. Needless to say, I would have taken a different route or waited a bit had I anticipated the strike, but you take the point!) Generally, you don’t specifically want to target vehicles with arty, unless there are a number of them that are stationary or bunched together when the arty falls. However, a competent player won’t oblige you by just leaving all his or her vehicles parked in one place, since mobility is a key to their combat effectiveness and survival. In addition to destroying, suppressing, and breaking the enemy’s morale, many spotters can use their arty volleys for smoke screens. Small-caliber off-map mortars, which can sustain firing over a few turns because of their high ammo allotment, are usually well suited for this. Remember that arty has a limited number of rounds per spotter, and smoke rounds will use up the total allotment. Still, smoke is an invaluable tool in CM. It can mask your movement across otherwise open areas, allowing troops to run from cover to cover or letting you reposition tanks or other vehicles where they’re either safer or have a better shot at enemy vehicles. Smoke can blind enemies caught within it, and it can also be used for a feint by hitting an area where you don’t really have any intention of going. As with all arty, when you’re going to use smoke, commit to it. You really have to pour it on for it to be effective; otherwise, it will dissipate before you can get your troops moving. When timing your movement in conjunction with a smoke screen, note that substantial smoke usually only begins to form a turn or two after the shells start falling. As an aside, arty can also create smoke (and block LOS) unintentionally by setting woods or buildings on fire, but since this is random and not particularly common, you can’t count on it as a planned tactic. Flamethrower teams or vehicles are much better at that. Fighter-bombers are also considered to be artillery in your Quick Battle purchases. These are quite expensive and can be devastating when they strike an enemy target, but whether or not the planes will reach and hit the target (or your tanks by mistake) is very unpredictable, making the purchase of these units a gamble. You have no control over them. Now that you’ve learned the basics of arty in CM, you know that it can be used to cause casualties, suppress the enemy, and/or break morale. It can also be used to create valuable smoke screens. Higher caliber arty does the most damage and can level buildings, but its spread is often larger than smaller-caliber rounds, and it usually takes longer to start falling and quits falling sooner because of less ammo. Since bigger isn’t always better, you’ll want to choose your arty carefully based on the terrain and whether you’re conducting a meeting engagement, attack, or defense. Most of all, you’ll want to position your spotters with great care and preserve them at all costs. If you remember these basic concepts, and bear in mind that the enemy will likely apply them to you, you’ll have gained a vital weapon in Combat Mission. © 2002 by Scott Osborne [ March 05, 2002, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I used to have the Boot Camp series up at the late, great Combat Missions site run by Manx. The articles are homeless now, though I can cut and paste them into the Tips forum, minus the images, if you like. Let me know. I got good responses to them back in the day, though I'd personally like to update them based on all I've learned since then, yet I don't have the time. [ March 04, 2002, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

If you're ever looking for technical details, drawings, and photos of German armor, you may want to check Walter Spielberger's Militärfahrzeuge series from Motorbuch Verlag. Most, if not all, of them are available in English translation from Schiffer as the "Spielberger German Armor & Military Vehicles Series." Jentz and Doyle's Tiger books from Schiffer are along the same lines: highly detailed works with lots of technical data and unusual photos. [ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: Gremlin ]</p>

If you visit http://www.combat-missions.net (Manx's old site), and go to the Boot Camp section, you may find the "Panzerknacker" article of interest in this regard. It's a translation I did of a German field manual about close assaulting tanks on the Eastern Front. Unfortunately, the link to the original document no longer seems to work

double post [ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

In my experience, veteran units are well worth the price under certain circumstances. Buy them when single shots really matter: infantry can engage in extended engagements, but AFV's, AT guns, and PIAT/zook/schreck teams need to be accurate with the initial shot(s). These are valuable, high-profile units whose strengths should maximized not only through proper use but through their experience rating. The same applies, in essence, to sharpshooters. Also, buy veteran units when those units will anchor defensive setups or help hold key ground: MG squads in particular, though the principle could extend to an infantry platoon just as easily. In general, I think veteran status is less vital for reserves, who should ideally be coming in to fight already weakened enemies. [ 10-17-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

Links to my Boot Camp articles for newer players, covering a variety of topics. The one on tanks is probably the most useful for beginners. Arty: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001004 Basic tactical concepts: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001007 Tanks: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001006 Half-tracks and light vehicles: http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001005 [ March 16, 2002, 01:42 PM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Its only downsides are cost per gun, and vunerability to indirect fire once spotted. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Rather slow ROF too.

You may find the articles linked below useful too, even if this response doesn't directly answer your question [ 08-19-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I/O Error, that was just general info in case someone was interested.

"Pyrrhic" derived from Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus in Greece. He defeated the Roman armies in 280 BC but couldn't go on to attack Rome since he lost too many troops. Hence, "Pyrrhic victory."