Looking for guidance on specialists in quick battle

[newlife]

So here's my desire. When I play quick battles I want relatively realistic TOE but then see all those cool specialist teams like snipers and so on. How do I include them in a realistic way? I haven't seen snipers appear in the standard infantry btns, so where do they come from and when and by how much is reasonable to include them. I joked with my CMFI opponent that one of these battles he's going to see a hoard of crack snipers coming over the hill led by the FO formation. Clearly not reality (and no clue on how effective) so that is one extreme. What does make sense for snipers? How about the other specialists? Does it make sense to attach scout teams to panzer pltns?

What are your out of box purchases and how gamey do you consider yourself when you do them?

[eltorrente]

When I pick snipers, I usually attach them to Platoons and they support and scout for the Platoon.

Every now and then, I'll get an elite/fanatic sniper that's attached to the Battalion that I move around independently - just for the heck of it.

Snipers aren't like super soldiers, just so you know. They are no better than the average soliders in your infantry squads with scoped rifles.

[womble]

When I pick snipers, I usually attach them to Platoons and they support and scout for the Platoon.

Every now and then, I'll get an elite/fanatic sniper that's attached to the Battalion that I move around independently - just for the heck of it.

Snipers aren't like super soldiers, just so you know. They are no better than the average soliders in your infantry squads with scoped rifles.

They're better than your "average" soldier in a squad if they're "Elite"... unless you prefer to run Elite troops as your average...

Newlife, you do see snipers as part of normal squads; the "Marksman" specialism appears relatively frequently, along with a scoped rifle. At least in BN; I've not got the exposure yet to FI to say that's so in that time period. The "Sniper team" is just one of these guys sent out with a buddy.

[eltorrente]

They're better than your "average" soldier in a squad if they're "Elite"... unless you prefer to run Elite troops as your average...

Heh - yeah. Usually I make them the same level as the platoon, but if I have extra points left over, I go in and bump up certain units a bit. It's fun to have certain units that are badasses.

[womble]

Heh - yeah. Usually I make them the same level as the platoon, but if I have extra points left over, I go in and bump up certain units a bit. It's fun to have certain units that are badasses.

Indeed. And Snipers are sooo cheap to bump up, it seems a shame not to Certainly on the German side, it perhaps comes closest to representing a Sniper School trained marksman.

[eltorrente]

Indeed. And Snipers are sooo cheap to bump up, it seems a shame not to Certainly on the German side, it perhaps comes closest to representing a Sniper School trained marksman.

Speaking of bumping up certain units.. I almost always make my HQ support unit crack or elite/High/+2. I use them as medics for the beginning phase of most battles, and keep them out of harms way at first. Often times they pick up an MG42 or BAR - a couple times they've ended up with 2 MG42's, plus their SMG.

Usually when a platoon has been chewed up and are barely holding on, I send them up to hold a key position. Kind of like in Band of Brothers when Winters tells Spears to take over the attack, and Spears just runs straight into the battle with no questions asked.

I swear they always make a difference. In one of my PBEMs I have going, my HQ support is the strongest, most capable unit at one of the VL's. I had suffered horribly from a mortar attack that decimated a platoon, so I sent Spears running over there, under fire, and they just kept going and arrived fresh and motivated and have allowed me to hold on to a crucial spot.

In another PBEM, 2 of them were killed by a Sherman, but the leader with his MP40 is still "ok".

Stuff like this makes the battles more fun to me, when I have certain units that I care about.

[newlife]

Thanks guys. Any thoughts on the other specialists? Attaching scout teams to tank units? I assume the breach teams are for those times you want some combat engineer capability without buying a whole platoon.

How about stripping out units like the platoon 57mm ATG on offense?

I relooked at the specialist teams and the rest seem to be mostly ATG, infantry guns, mgs, and mortars so buying them in formation (and eliminating what you have to to get the cost right) for larger battles seems to make the most sense.

[Michael Emrys]

How about stripping out units like the platoon 57mm ATG on offense?

I can't recall ever not doing that. So far, I've found ATGs pretty useless in offense, although I can conceive of circumstances where they wouldn't be.

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

Newlife, you do see snipers as part of normal squads; the "Marksman" specialism appears relatively frequently, along with a scoped rifle.

Actually, I'm not sure that marksmen in the squads are in every way equivalent to snipers. At least they shouldn't be in the German and British armies, where snipers were given specialized training.

Michael

[eltorrente]

Thanks guys. Any thoughts on the other specialists? Attaching scout teams to tank units? I assume the breach teams are for those times you want some combat engineer capability without buying a whole platoon.

How about stripping out units like the platoon 57mm ATG on offense?

I relooked at the specialist teams and the rest seem to be mostly ATG, infantry guns, mgs, and mortars so buying them in formation (and eliminating what you have to to get the cost right) for larger battles seems to make the most sense.

Sometimes, when I'm going to purchase an extra platoon to go with my company, I decide instead to just beef up my other platoons instead. I'll attach a scout team, 1 or 2 light MG teams, a mortar, a sniper or whatever. Maybe a bazooka for a little backup against tanks. Each platoon becomes quite powerful when loaded up with specialists.

I use Breach teams sometimes. They can be used to blast stuff, of course, but they can be used to scout and to hold a position without tying up a squad or section. You might even use them instead of normal scouts. Always useful to have demo charges. Whether knocking a wall down, or blowing through a house. Also, they'll throw their demo charges at tanks or infantry when close enough, whch is usually devastating.

A lot of times specialist teams get used away from the main body of the platoon, so it's a good idea to bump them up to +1 or +2 leadership, so they won't get scared when their platoon leader isn't around to comfort them.

I always see if there's units in my heavy weaps platoons to strip out and use. Remember that it's usually cheaper to use the units purchased as part of a Battalion than it is to purchase them on their own.

I don't use AT guns much on offense, unless I'm playing the AI. I play mostly PBEM games, and humans are too good at targetting those things if they see them moving around at all. I like to just find a spot quickly and set them up and hope for the best.

[womble]

Actually, I'm not sure that marksmen in the squads are in every way equivalent to snipers. At least they shouldn't be in the German and British armies, where snipers were given specialized training.

They are, however, equivalent to the Marksman specialist in the misnamed Sniper teams. Steve has distinctly said that the Sniper team represents the company "designated marksman" not the "sniper scout"-equivalent that some armies certainly, as you say, had. The specially trained sniper is definitely not directly represented on the CM battle field, which is why I said the "Elite" sniper team comes the closest to the Ghillie-suited sniper trained in stalking and sniping. "Sniper" teams from the "Specialist Teams" list should be renamed "Marksman teams".

[womble]

Thanks guys. Any thoughts on the other specialists? Attaching scout teams to tank units? I assume the breach teams are for those times you want some combat engineer capability without buying a whole platoon.

Yeah, or you want the team to have some C&C, but expect it to be operating well away from any command elements that might be included in a pioneer platoon.

How about stripping out units like the platoon 57mm ATG on offense?

Yep. Leave 'em at the base line, to provide somewhere to run back to, along with most of the half tracks.

I relooked at the specialist teams and the rest seem to be mostly ATG, infantry guns, mgs, and mortars so buying them in formation (and eliminating what you have to to get the cost right) for larger battles seems to make the most sense.

Depends. Every distinct "Formation" has an overhead cost. I think it's 50pts. And then there's the cost of any command elements you can't get rid of (who don't contribute any more to the purpose of your specialists than having them organic to a platoon HQ would).