Flenser

Pah! Rookies. I had a Kraut TH kill not one, not two, but three T-34s in one round in a most impressive demonstation of why you never ever move tanks in a column. It then hosed down all the crews with SMG fire. If you zoomed in close enough, you could hear him laughing.

Sweet jeebus. 20-30 20mm AA pieces all firing in during the same round. I think you would have to turn the sound off.

Hmph. Didn't realize you could hitch an 88 up.... just has to start the game hitched. Interesting. Still a pretty risky proposition, compared to bringing a bunch of IGs.

I did the same test with a bunch (5 or so... dont remember) of PzIICs... Failed to impress the KV. Though they were firing AP rounds.... In fact, the AP/AT stuff seems to fair worse overall. The 75 IGs tend to cause more track/gun hits, breaking the crew, never actually penetrating the tank. For the time frame, you can't beat the 75 on price (22 pts in Aug 41, 30ish later). I can't believe this acutally works. But I'll take it.

Xerxes: Just tried out your idea on a little test map. Very encouraging results with the 75s. Under ideal conditions it takes about 4 75s to knock out the KV (at around 500-700m) Only 1 gun is usually lost. Tried the same tactic with other guns... the 37 AT doesn't work at all. The 50 AT can... if enough of the guns firing have T rounds (and if they're not lousy shots). The 150s can too (was real fun to watch that one) though it takes longer. The 75 is definitely the gun of choice for this endeavour. Thanks for the tip. Anyone else got one?

Ahh. Here we go. Thats an interesting idea. I've been trying to fight fire with fire... maybe water works better. Still sorta terrain dependent, but at least the 75s can move. It also requires that the KV comes out to play, but thats a bonus. A keyholed KV can only effect a relatively small part of the map. I might give that one a go next time. Thanks.

Heh. Well. The 88. Its immobile. IF the map is hilly, it might work. If it isn't... maybe you can lure your opponent towards it. Probably not. Stukas. WHEN they show up they MIGHT be able knock one out. The 88 and stuka cost about 200 and 180 repectively (this is a 1000 point QB mind you). Thats a lot of points to spend on some "ifs" "mights" and "whens" I'm looking for something a little more conventional.

Yeah, I know this subject has been beaten to death. Speaking of beaten to death.... I just got wailed on by 2 KVs in a 1000 QB Aug, '41 (Axis attack). I brought 8 PzIIIHs and a couple of IICs and some infantry. It all lasted about 10 rounds. I certainly did some stupid things, like having my mortar FO shoot HE instead of smoke during a crucial round... but still. It seems to me, that in this time period (41 and some of 42), the best hope for the Germans is to close and flank. All well and good in theory, except even a semi competent ruskie is gonna buy a few AT guns and it really doesn't take much kill the early panzers. So, fine, you send the infantry out first to find the AT guns... but what is that, way in the distance... a KV! Troops get pinned/rout. Panzers have to close to do anything to a KV, so the infantry has to advance to find the AT guns so the can flank, ad nauseum, ad infinetum. In Real Life the Germans called in bunch of Stukas and towed in a bunch of 88s... but of course you don't have that option in a QB. 1 KV I can deal with. 2+ is damn near impossible from what I've seen. Anyway... I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Any bright ideas out there?

JasonC: If you don't write books, you should. Thanks for all the tips. I think the underlying message in all this is that I need to be more methodical in my approach. Trenches assaults can't be "rushed". I like a more freewheeling style of offense, but when encountering trenches that all has go out the window. Not a big deal, if the defender is mostly static, he isn't likely going to do much to surprise you. Must....learn....patience....

The fellow in the previous thread thanks you. The situation that I tend to run into more isn't the lone HMG in a trench, but a few squads in one trench covered by a HMG in another. HE chucking will eventually drive the squads out, but then the Germans don't have a whole lot of HE (compared to the sovs) in their tanks. They might be able to clear one trench, but won't have much leftover for any future encounters. Surpressing the MG with an 81/82 is a fine idea, though, applicable to all sorts of situations, though have an ammo problems (for the Germans anyway) of their own... ah well.

Hmm. Will do. If I recall, there is a moral penalty when a squad is being shot at from widely different angles (part of the reason for getting behind). Is that penalty enough to spook squads out of trenches? Or is loads of direct HE still the best way to go?

More good stuff. I don't send the HTs into unexplored areas. (well, I did. once.) JasonC's post makes a lot of sense as well, a battle taxi for the heavy support elements. I'm trying to use them in more of a flanking role, for getting troops around/behind entrenched positions without exposing them to too much fire and keeping them fresh. There is probably a better way to this... On a side note, what are some efficient techniques/weapons for taking out entrenched troops (not necessarily involving HTs )? Big arty seems ok... but is rather expensive. Attacking from multiple directions works, but...(see above). Haven't tried some of the larger (81mm) mortars much, if they're effective then JasonC's post makes even more sense. Thanks again, you guys have been a great help.

Good stuff so far. The "wall of fire/smoke" idea seems to be the way to go and I've had some success with that. Its rather expensive (in terms of points spent on FOs), but I guess if one can't afford that in the first place, one probably doesn't have any business making this kind of assault. Keeping the HTs alive after the smoke has cleared (and after they've dropped off the footies) is probably my biggest problem, since I want them to be able to support the attack (otherwise why not just use trucks...?) Thanks for the help so far.

A question about mounted infantry tactics for superior thinkers... The problem: Getting your infantry to the place where they can do the most good as fast and as safely as possible. The solution: Halftracks (and the like) The problem with the solution: They're damn fragile. Just about anything can kill one. I'm not talking about trying to drive halftracks up to enemy positions, just getting them close enough (200-300m) to dump the infanty and possibly cover their advance, but I have a rather hard time doing this (see 'problem with solution', above) Any hints, suggestions, derisive laughter?

So... I start a QB. Play a turn. Save it. Start another QB. Switch roles (allies attack to axis attack) Load the old QB's map. The Axis are indeed on the offense, but from the same side of the map (the side they defended in the previous QB)! Which makes things easy I guess, starting at the flags... Am I missing something? Thanks for the help so far.

Well... yes. You can load the map from a quick battle via an autosave or some other save... but that doesn't let you switch sides. The editor won't load an save from the battle either....

After annihilating my opponent in a recent quick battle, the question of replaying the battle with the same map, only reversed roles (Soviets attacking instead of Germans) arose. Is there a way to do this? There didn't seem to be one, but admittedly I didn't look very hard. Thanks.