Ant

As the OP said they're on the mod database site. This is the link: http://cm.cozog.com/

Thanks for the good info guys. I think I'm going to spend my next couple of scenarios just Concentrating on my mortars and putting some of your advice into practice. That's one of the great things about this game, learning how best to employ all the different weapons systems (look for future posts from me entitled: What the heck's all this smoke for anyhow? ) even if you read a fair amount of military history you rarely get a good feel for how it all comes together until you actually try it. So they're mainly for suppression. That's very interesting. I thought I read somewhere that mortars were one of the biggest killers of infantry in WW2. Still infantry seem (realistically) vulnerable enough without upping mortar lethality I suppose. I must admit that one of my biggest failings is to treat a mortar as a mortar and almost disregard it's caliber. Using heavy and light mortars as in your example is a good idea, I'll have to try that. Once again thanks for the tips guys

After reading of many people's experiences with CM I have come to the rather unfortunate conclusion that I'm not getting the most out of my on-map mortars. They never seem to be where I want them to be.........then when they get to be where I want them to be, where I want them to be becomes somewhere else. I'm never quite sure exactly how I should be using them either. How do I get the best out of these potentially very valuable assets? assuming in this case that I've no preset TRPs If I've got (say) three mortar teams do I group them together in a sort of mini battery, or spread them out for wider support? What's the best spotting option, direct line of site from the mortar team, use the HQ as a spotter, or fire blind (target wide)? how far back should they be from the initial line of assault? Or should they be right up there with the bullets whizzing about? Any advice would be welcome because at the moment I've got a job lot of unused mortar bombs going spare!!

I remember one of my first battles in CMBO. It was the scenario (can't remember the name now) where German paras are fighting US in bocage country. I had an FJ rifle squad in a house engaged in a firefight. There was a panzerschrek team with them which I ordered to lie down because I didn't want them getting involved in a firefight with infantry. All of a sudden this Sherman tank comes round the corner. My FJ rifle squad shouts "PANZER" at which point the panzerschrek team gets up and fires at the sherman, taking it out. Both the panzerschrek team and the rifle squad then hit the deck because they've been suppressed by the backblast from the 'schrek. I sat and watched that replay about half a dozen times, amazed. I remember thinking that this is one hell of a game.

Agreed. The first time I tried to assault a tank I kept waiting for the infantry to do something really clever. Instead they just calmly stayed next to the tank until it slowly traversed it's turret and blew them to kingdom come. I learnt that lesson really fast.

In order to assault a vehicle like that you need to issue the 'follow vehicle' command.

Not with the files I sent they aren't. Shoerners anticensorship loader changes them to SS

Oops. Daft. I've just seen your address in your profile. Sending you the files now.

I've got that mod but I can't remember where the heck I got it from now. If you want to I can e-mail it to you, just let me know your address.

I can honestly say that's the funniest four posts I have ever read on any site It just tickled me, I'm still laughing [ October 25, 2002, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: Ant ]

Thanks for the link Gremlin, good read. That's probably because you're using German infantry and therefore have access to: Panzerausts, grenade bundles, panzerschreks, and those funny anti tank mine things that I can't remember the name of (panzerwurfmine?) Try using soviet infantry armed with a couple of molotovs Once again I'm not criticising the game at all..........just very surprised that the red army never bothered to come up with any decent man-portable anti-tank weapons. Oh and one more thing. Am I the only person dissapointed that my 1910 maxim guns haven't got little wheels on?

Thanks for the feedback guys. It seems most people are having similar frustrating experiences using standard infantry against tanks. I did a search on the internet regarding this and it would seem to be realistic. This is from one tank site: Forget the movies: it is not easy for infantry to overcome tanks. The simplest tactic to use if infantry jump on a tank is to have another tank in the unit shoot them off with machine-gun fire. Since small caliber bullets won't penetrate the friendly tank, it is easy for another tank to clear off the infantry. A tank may have limited visibility when its crew has the hatches closed, but it is not a sitting duck. Likewise, jumping on a tank and throwing a grenade down the hatch is not easy. When crews close the hatches, they also lock them. Firing into vision slits is hard, since there are few such slits and many are blocked by thick glass or wire. What infantry usually does, if it catches a tank, is to destroy it with bazooka-type weapons or explosives. They first want to kill its mobility, which means ruining the track or suspension. Next they will place explosives in a place which is likely to cause spalling. They can pour gasoline into the engine compartment to set it afire or any number of tricks. First ,they have to catch a tank alone and vulnerable. Since tanks work in units and are supported by their own infantry, such scenarios are rare. I'm just left a bit surprised that the Soviets never came up with any usefull man-portable anti-tank devices such as the other major powers used. I suppose they usually had enough T34's to not need to, late on in the war anyway.

Hey, that's one better than I get. They'll quite happily throw molotovs, but I haven't yet noticed my infantry use grenades on a tank.......mind you by your description they don't sound too effective either I know pioneer and tank hunter teams are a lot better, but so many times it ends up being the bog standard rifle squad that ends up in that position.........Maybe I need to review my tactics! I was under the impression that infantry was quite effective against tanks in a close urban environment but from my experience, Soviet infantry at least, is nothing of the sort.

Just got CMBB last week and am thoroughly impressed with it and enjoying it so far, but I'd like to ask a wee question if I may. I was wondering what people's experience was of using infantry to assault tanks. I'm particularly referring to Soviet infantry, bog standard rifle squad type infantry in fact; because as far as my somewhat limited experience goes they are a bit useless. I'm using them in a tactically sound way (Enemy tank buttoned up and isolated, fairly close to my squad. Infantry in urban environment rather than in the open etc.etc.) I'm using the correct commands (follow vehicle) It's not that they won't do it, it's just that they're, well, hopeless. The assault starts out promisingly enough.........molotovs thrown about, they make a nice smashing noise and the flame looks pretty but it's all rather futile, then it gets worse. As soon as the molotovs are used up my infantry squad runs out of ideas, kneels down and patiently waits for the enemy tank to traverse it's turret and blow them to bits. Aren't they supposed to clamber up onto the engine decking and lob grenades down the hatches/ports, or is that all a bit of a Hollywood myth? They're very good at assaulting half-tracks.....grenades lobbed about everywhere, but give them a Tank to take on and it's all a bit suicidal. Is this the way it was? I'm not criticising the game If that's realistic then fair enough, I'm happy. I just find it a bit surprising that the Red army considered the primary personnal anti-tank weapon to be a bottle of petrol with a rag in the top (I know molotovs were usually more sophisticated than that but you know what I mean) particularly considering all the stuff that the Germans had available for the average infantry squad.

You can find a lot of them here http://members.shaw.ca/grossdeutschland/