catnip

Jarmo, I tested a double row of AT mines against the AI only to find out that out of 20 tanks, only 3 died and 5 were immobolized. Sadly, the AI drives any sized tank through the cracks. The AP mines work better and cause casualties. I am going to try barbed wire, Sharpshooters(to button tanks), 140mm VT, TRPs along the barbed wire line, and an army of Vet Piats(the only way to go). This time I want to stop the infantry at the line with arty/wire and hold my fire until the first tank enters the town. The nice thing about the AI is it doesn't unbutton the tank after your sharpshooter hits it. Those buttoned tanks are easy targets once they get into town.

I don't think american airborne would work very well. First the 57mm AT gun doesn't have tungsten ammo and the bazooka gets spotted too easily. With Vet piats I can usually fire 2 to 4 shots before they die.

Well, I did it again and this time I got a slightly higher score. My victory was over 75% at the end. This time I bought 6 vet sharpshooters to go along with the 25 piats. With only 2 AT mines and the rest AP, I was able to stop about 90% of the enemy infantry at the minefield. Still, some of them went along the edge of the map and got through, but my vickers held them at bay pretty long. For this game I placed 20 of the piats very close to the front lines inside buildings or in trees. The problem with that was the AI used artillery to blast the front line and in doing so killed a lot of piats and this reflected at the end of the game(only 14 tanks killed). The highlight was one piat team with 4 tank kills and the 485 axis infantry casualties.

I really wish I could buy more artillery with a 1500pt infantry defense. As it stands, the best artillery I can purchase is 2x 140mm VT british(march 1945). I might try the defense in "unrestricted" mode and buy Mines, TRPs, Piats, and 4x 140mm VT. Right now my 2x VT artillery helps me get 350-450 infantry kills per game with the total axis attacker having about 1000+ infantry.

I understand, but my ultimate goal is to find a defense that stops the AI cold without losing many flags. The real fun is trying to figure it out.

MrSpkr, Thats true that AT guns easily pay for themselves, but 8x 6pdrs cost me over 400pts and were getting about 12 kills on average even after I set them up with only limited LOS. With the AI on armor assault and +200 bonus, they have way too many tanks. Parabellum, Try it as Axis assault at +200 handicap(+300 force increase). I feel it is much harder, especially with the heavier axis tanks.

Ok, this time I stopped the Axis attacker (+300) cold. I would have had all the flags, but the AI flag rushed me on the last turns and turned half of them into question marks. Here is what I bought on 1500pts: 5x AT mines 7x TRPs The rest of the fortification allotment spent on AP mines. 2x 140mm VT 20x Vet Piat(will buy more next time!) Rest spent on Vickers MMGs As usual I placed an AP minefield that spanned 80% of the front line leaving the edges open. I placed AT mines where I wanted traffic jams to build up. Behind the minefield and in the village I put piats and vickers. Trps were in front of the mine belt. What happens is the infantry gets cut down at the mine belt, but the tanks continue past it allowing my piats up front to get side and rear shots. This worked so well that in the end I totaled 21 AVFs killed!!! Of course some were probably killed from VT artillery, but this is much better mileage than AT guns and I was able to widthdraw a few piats to new firing positions. For my next game I plan to buy more piats and with sharpshooters and maybe some infantry to help clean up the enemy crews. Overall it was very fun and I ended up with an allied total victory. [ 06-26-2001: Message edited by: catnip ]

Well, I tried it again this time with only mines, piats, TRPs, 2x 140mm VT, and 5x 6pdr guns. I was able to stop all of the armor with AT mines and piats. I almost stopped all of the infantry at the minefield, but ran out of arty and they eventually went around and flanked me. Still, I managed a draw this time. The next time I try it I won't buy any AT guns at all since they seem to only get 1 to 2 kills before they are supressed and killed. I think I'll just buy all AP mines except 3 to 4 AT mines then piats and the 2 140mm VT.

I just won a close tactical allied victory(Infantry only) vs the AI(Axis armor) with the +300 bonus. The settings were pretty much default except for the map settings on small. Here is what I bought on 1500pts: 2x British rifle 2x 140mm VT artillery 5x TRPs 4x anti tank mines(shoulf have bought more) Lots of AP mines (bought too many) 3x 6pdr AT guns. Some piats I placed the AT mines on the roads leading into the village and the AP mines in a wide row in front. I placed the TRPs about 100m in front of the AP mine belt. Two of the three 6pdrs were near the side of the map and one was in the middle of the village at the road intersection. I waited until the enemy tanks came single file down the main road before opening fire with VT. To my surprise the first panther hit the mine and exploded causeing a huge traffic jam. When the VT artillery hit, all the light armored vehicles died too. I was even lucky enough to kill 2 hetzer and immobilize a few other tanks. Next I used the 6pdrs to open fire and finish off the rest of the tanks stuck in the jam. The AI next tried to flank me on both sides and after losing a few tanks, made it all the way to the outskirts of town. About this time I was keeping the axis infantry at bay with VT barrages along the mine belt. At this point I didn't have a way to stop the hoardes of infantry coming around the flanks. I decided to pull everbody back to the flag areas and leave the piats in town to slow down the armor. The piats killed a bunch of tanks at point blank range and the traffic jam they caused allowed my remaining men to escape and make it to the flag areas by turn 20. In the end most of my troops were badly weakend and most were pinned or broken, but enough have made it to the flags to give me a 59% score. The key to killing the infantry and light armor is the 140mm VT. I plan to try it again with more AT mines and a few more piat teams.

All the other replies gave good information. One other thing you might try is using smoke on the enemy armor so that you can get your shermans into position to make side shots. You should never try to take on axis tanks head on unless you are playing short 75 rules. Also, you might want to try out the Cromwell VI instead. The armor is just as weak as most allied tanks, but the speed of the tank is 40mph! Most of the time you can dart from cover to cover and the axis tanks won't even have time to turn to shoot at you.

For panther 76 rules you pretty much have to take the hetzer and or the panzer IV/70. For 1250pts you can buy these (regular quality): 2x hetzer (or 1x panzer IV/70) 1x StuH42 8x Volks SMG squads (if allowed) 1x PSW 234/3(75mm gun) or Puma 2x reg 81mm spotters (for smokescreens) 1x halftrack with 20mm gun If you feel your opponent is going to buy a churchill, buy the Panzer IV/70 instead of the two hetzers. With this force you should be able to get your troops really close to the flag area by sneaking from tree patches. Once you get to the point at which you want to launch your attack, call in the smoke and as soon as it lands send out 1 or 2 split squads 15 to 20 seconds in front of your main advance. Follow the main advance with your tanks poking out from behind trees. If all goes well, your troops will make it with little casualties and if they do encounter tanks, they will button them up and become easy targets for your tanks. Just make sure to overwatch your troop advance with your tanks. In conclusion, your goal is to get those SMGs in as close as you can. If your game date is March 45 they even get panzerfaust 100s which can kill tanks at 50m usually. Good luck

I got George Washington. Only two others got him. One was fangorn and the other was Capt Canuck. It would be very interesting if these two people played CM the same way I do. Here are a few questions for the other two George Washingtons: 1) Do you like playing allies or axis? (I like the allies) 2) Which allied country do you play the most? (I play brits the most) 3) Which game rules do you prefer? Short 75, panther 76, recon, or CAL? (I like Short75 or CAL) 4) Do you like maps that are light trees with hills or Flat with no hills? (I like light trees with hills) [ 06-22-2001: Message edited by: catnip ]

With Moderate trees and no hills, you probably won't get a chance to setup AT guns in nice spots. Same thing for infantry guns and to a lesser degree, onboard mortars. If you are not playing a short 75 game, you can take advantage of tanks like the hetzer, as long as you can cover your flank. If you are allowed to buy VG SMG squads, all you have to do is lay down a lot of smoke and walk right in from tree cover to tree cover. For armor, I would buy hetzers for AT work and StuH 42s for anti intantry. Oh, and one puma to cover the flank. Good luck!

My experience with Elijah meeks was very bad too. Four dead half tracks and he didn't respond for a month. Off the top of my head here is a list of very reliable pbem opponents I have played in the past(3 game minimum). 1) Sgt. EE (very FAST player) 2) GClement (lets you know in advance if he will be late by even a few hours) 3) KiWi Joe (fast, will not waste your time) 4) Jarmo (very Honorable player)

In the last game the settings were Heavy woods on a flat map. I tried my best to advance my troops through nearby tree patches in an effort to get close to the village and with smoke, most of my troops made it into the village area suffering minor casualties. As usual, jarmo fought very well, but was outnumbered. Jarmo played defense better than I ever could have. It looks like i'll need all 9 lives for our current game.

Thank you Jarmo. Actually you killed two Cromwell VIIIs and all six of the humblers. So far you are the best player I have played so far. I am sure our second game will be much harder for me.

Jarmo, The best way to stop fast recon vehicles and not lose anything on your side is to buy a few of those armored cars or the armored 20mm half track(the cheapest one is ok for this). When playing as defender or in a meeting engagement, I'll always try and use my mobile vehicles to kill enemy recon first so that you don't give away the positions of your fixed guns. If I were defender, I would place a few armored cars behind tree patches near your front line and open fire on the recon vehicles as they pass by. By doing so, they can't be killed by direct fire and you have the option of moving on the next turn. Also, if you buy armored cars, shifting your defense becomes easier as the battle develops. Sorry I bought that many scout vehicles.

Ok, Let me clear a few things up. First, here are the units I chose for the second game. 5x reg rifle 45 squads 2x reg 81mm spotter American 1x reg 6pdr AT gun (it came with 4t) 3x reg on board 81mm American mortars 1x reg M7 priest 3x reg Cromwell (the one with the 95mm gun) 3x reg M20 scout cars Only one field gun this time. I would like to add that in both games Kiwi Joe surrendered because of heavy losses to his support units(tanks, arty, etc). In fact, I don't think Kiwi joe lost one platoon between the two games. For those of you that question the 6x75mm infantry guns I used in the first game, let me say that I didn't know infantry guns were used by system players or "technicians". My understanding was that SMG squads and king tiger tanks were. In the first game I volunteered to not buy SMG troops so that I could avoid being "gamey". Also, they were not on the restricted unit list for that game. Maybe we need a list to define what a "system" or "technician" player uses? I let kiwi joe choose the map and settings(I didn't care what map or settings I played on as long as it looked fair on both sides). In both games he sent me the first file. Jshandorf, I outlined my objectives in my first posting regarding my tactics. The tanks were behind buildings or hills. The AT guns you see in the corners were on hide with an HQ unit(I moved the HQ unit on the left one so thats why it is not there) that had the stealth bonus. Also, I won't be taking on any new players. While I met some very nice people on this board, I have also run into some very arrogant ones. These type of people have made me lose interest in the game. I hope this clears up all the questions.

Kiwi, to be fair, you should count my missed shots too(which I don't). When you say things like you fired 7 shots(throughout the game) and they all missed(sounds like an excuse again), go back and look at the distance and how the target was situated(hulldown makes the target hittable on average 20% of the time, 1 out of 5 shots). Btw, I think that is our last game together. I didn't like having to argue with you over your reluctance to give me a fair map and now this 150mm arty I find on the map. I play this game for fun and don't like it when people break the rules just to, "win". [ 04-26-2001: Message edited by: catnip ]

Kiwi, take a look again, you have 3 arty spotters. One is 81mm, the other is 120mm, and the last is 150mm. The spotter is located in the trees above your three infantry guns along the edge of the map. I have a screenshot but don't know how to post it, so if anybody wants to see it, please email me.

Just for your information Kiwi joe, I am a woman. And yes kiwi played me a month ago and won, but at that time I didn't know how to use the hunt or hide command. Also, after looking over the surrender map for this game, I noticed Kiwi joe bought a 150mm arty spotter when the rules stated that no artillery over 120mm(I still have the email where he agreed to the rules). I don't know what to think about this, but most people would call that, "cheating". [ 04-26-2001: Message edited by: catnip ]

I just finished my rematch game with Kiwi Joe(AXIS player) tonight. It was a VERY tough game and Kiwi played extremely well, but I won after 5 turns this time(kiwi surrendered). The map and weather settings were the same as our previous game. The unit restrictions were the same except that Kiwi Joe was allowed to purchase two non-volksgrenadier SMG squads. I won't go into my unit selections, but the key to winning this time was getting my tanks into hulldown position with the hunt command(everybody needs to learn this command!). I also took advantage of my fine allied scout cars to locate Kiwi's tanks, most of which were sitting out in the open.

I finished my game with Kiwi Joe(allied player) yesterday evening. It was a tough game and Kiwi played very well, but I won after 4 turns(kiwi surrendered). Here were the settings and restrictions: Dec 1944 Light trees modest hills village clear dry Meeting engagement Unit restrictions: Short 75 Rule No AA half tracks or trucks. No Axis SMG squads No flag rushing on the last turn No scouting with AT teams or crews Axis must pick from only one service branch Allied can pick from mixed branches. 120mm Maximum for artillery. The forces I chose were: 2x reg STuH42 assault howitzer 2x reg PSW 234/3 heavy armored car 1x reg 81mm spotter 1x reg pak 40 75mm AT gun 2x reg pak 38 50m AT gun 6x reg 75mm INF guns 7x reg volksgrenaider rifle squads Since the settings were light trees and modest hills, both of us would have few places to hide our support units. My objective in the game was to use the INF guns and 81mm artillery to deny Kiwi of any good positions and then locate and destroy his infantry first. During the setup I noticed that Kiwi's setup area only had 2 good tree spots on top of one major hill. Out of his buildings, only 3 of them had commanding LOS. On turn #1, I opened fire with my 6 INF guns and armored vehicles and destroyed the 3 buildings. Also, I targeted the top of his main hill with my 81mm spotter. On turn #2, I lost one gun to mortar fire. After tracing the shell holes back to the hilltop, I area fired all of my guns/vehicles at the main tree patch at the top of his hill. Near the end of the turn a few of my mortar rounds hit the top of his hill. On turn #3, I lost yet another INF gun, but all of my direct fire HE and 81mm arty seems to stop his mortar fire. Also absent is any form of offboard artillery from Kiwi. Late in the turn one of Kiwi's tanks(cromwell) tries to make a move for a new position, but my pak 40 kills it after two shots (I also had a pak 38 with a shot opportunity earlier, but it was on hide). Turn #4, Kiwi joe surrenders. After looking at the AAR, it appears that I had killed all of his artillery spotters in two of the three buildings. On turn 2 and 3 I destroyed the rest of his support units(3inch mortars, 75mm howitzer, 6pdr at gun) located in the trees at the top of his main hill. After the game Kiwi requested a rematch game. I agreed and requested that we play the exact same game but with sides switched. I'll post my results if we do play the second game.

I am betting that if you can't button them up, you'll miss and end up with a dead RCL in the trees. I once played a PBEM where my greyhound was being attacked at about 500m by a RCL in trees (not sure what experience level RCL though) and the greyhound killed him without even moving.

I almost completed this scenario, but still failed three times. Still, I came pretty close on my last try. Here is what I did: 1) Move all the boats to the left side. 2) Move spotters into different boats. 3) Move all the Bazookas to the left side of your landing party. 4) To the right of the bazookas, there should be the Hq units, Spotters, and units with satchel charges. To the far right you should put the MGs and other expendable units. 5) When the boats land, use the bazookas to kill the left wooden pillbox. Run the spotters,HQ, and Engineers to the left ramp. 6) Leave MGs,mortars, and flamethrowers on the beach to suppress the 20mm quad flak and the 81mm position. 7) I had the other group of rifle squads run to the 3rd from the left ramp and distract the enemy spotter into firing at them. 8) On the left ramp, run a few units in front of the spotter, but only allow the spotter and one HQ unit into the first house above the ramp. 9)Put the rest of the troops on the left ramp on hide and use the spotter to target the bunker tops starting with the one with the flak 20mm. You won't be able to kill the 88 bunker with 14inch arty, it seems, so use the rest of your arty to clear the houses closest to the right side of the beach. 10) With the bunker tops cleared, I sent the rest of my HQ and satchel charge teams back down to the beach and up to the 88 bunker. After rushing up behind it, I was able to destroy it and when my shermans landed none of them got killed. My problem is that when the shermans get up to the area behind the bunker, a wespe and two light armor kill them off. To make matters worse, my tanks take small arms fire and button up which makes them easy targets for the wespe. [This message has been edited by catnip (edited 03-13-2001).]