Fighting in the woods

[AttorneyAtWar]

I know this has probably been brought up many times but, what is the optimal way of clearing a forest other than avoiding it. In this hypothetical scenario lets say you HAVE too go through the woods with a platoon of Panzer grenadiers . What is the most optimal way of accomplishing this with the largest chance of success?

Thanks!

[Lt Belenko]

Scout ahead with scout teams.

Use the hunt command so they move slow and stop when the bullets fly.

Split your squads and spread out so fewer die.

Concentrate your fire.

And if you run in to SMG squads...good luck

[Andrew H.]

All of the above, plus stop a lot and use area fire.

[YankeeDog]

It's very dependent on context. If the patch you need to clear/transit is relatively small and stealth is not an issue, with Panzergrenadiers Area Fire is your friend; you have lots of MG42s and usually good ammo supply back in the halftracks, so use it -- hose down a section with by plotting Target Briefly orders as far away as you can, then move a few action squares forward. Men never go where bullets have not gone first. Repeat until you've cleared/transited the area.

If this is not practical then you've got to decide how much time you can afford to burn on the move. The slower you go and the more listening stops you use, the more likely it is that first contact will go in your favor.

Once you do make contact, make heavy use of Area Fire. Remember that the effect of MG fire especially often extends several action spots beyond the the target point, so use this feature to suppress known or likely enemy positions before you're actually in full contact with them. On any recent "?" Contact locations, one team lays down suppressive fire while the another moves in for the kill.

Also, just because you're in the woods, don't forget to look for defiles and other terrain advantages. On well-made maps, even very flat terrain has small elevation variations that can create partial defilades and the like. Keep a lookout for these and use them to your advantage.

Fundamentally, you've got three commodities: Time, Ammo, and Pixeltruppen. You'll need to spend at least some of all three to clear any patch of dense terrain, but to a degree you can choose tactics that will allow you to spend more of one, and less of the others, depending on which you have a surfeit of.

[MikeyD]

If you can surround the woods then wait a month til they've all starved to death that would be optimal. But make for rather tedious gameplay.

[Dadekster]

HE if available works wonders.

[PeterH]

Screw that, my PGs are ready to die for their fatherland. CHARGE THE WOODS!

[Redwolf]

I know this has probably been brought up many times but, what is the optimal way of clearing a forest other than avoiding it. In this hypothetical scenario lets say you HAVE too go through the woods with a platoon of Panzer grenadiers . What is the most optimal way of accomplishing this with the largest chance of success?

Thanks!

Numerical superiority.

[Oddball_E8]

Did everyone suddenly forget that we have flamethrowers now?

BURN IT ALL DOWN!

(yes, I know it won't burn, but move flamethrowers through one "square" at a time and do a "target briefly" on the area ahead each turn )

[Combatintman]

Or go through the Beta AAR threads where Bill and Elvis played out a game - lots of woods there and work out what worked and what didn't.

[Vanir Ausf B]

When playing as the Germans you can be a little more aggressive with your use of armored vehicles in close terrain against the Soviets than you can vs. the western Allies given the former's lack of bazooka-type weaponry.

[Crinius]

Did everyone suddenly forget that we have flamethrowers now?

BURN IT ALL DOWN!

(yes, I know it won't burn, but move flamethrowers through one "square" at a time and do a "target briefly" on the area ahead each turn )

Yeah paint them all red.