Quick Battle - purchasing units

[FroBodine]

So, first time for me delving into the quick battle set screens.

1. First observation - it really helps to know A LOT about actual army force compositions in order to build any sensible forces for a battle. I have very limited knowledge, so I will just pick what looks cool and experiment.

2. What do the two columns of numbers mean? I could not find this anywhere in the manual (I'm sure it's there, but I could not find it).

3. So, mechanized infantry don't come with tanks? You have to select tanks from the drop-down in order to pick any tank battallions?

4. Is the general process to pick a battalion, regiment, what have you, then pare them down by deleting companies, platoons, etc. to get the actual force you want that fits in your budget?

5. How do you increase your budget? I picked a small battle meeting engagement, and was barely able to buy a couple tanks before I used up all my points in both columns (back to question 2 - what do these two columns mean?)

Thank you from a WWII fan, but a details noob when it comes to army compositions.

[Collingwood]

2. the two columns of numbers represent purchase price, then rarity points. The rarity points are to stop unrealistic forces, e.g. "ha! I choose 20 king tigers!" While you may have enough purchase points to afford them, you can't go over the rarity budget.

3. No. If I want infantry and tanks, I select "mixed". Edited to add - you can attach single vehicles to your force too.

4. Yes. You can make further adjustments to experience level, motivation etc to trim off a few points here and there. Likewise if you have 20 spare points at the end, give your key units some bumps.

5. choose a medium or large engagement.

Basically in quick battles you're setting up a kind of fantasy Kampfgruppe (battlegroup) because our computers (at least mine) can't cope with divisional or even regimental scale battles. It was extremely common practice to form battlegroups by cherry-picking a company here, a platoon there, a battery, maybe attached to a battallion or part of one, to get a certain job done. At least that's the way I think of it.

[FroBodine]

How do I add single vehicles to my force? If I select the "Single vehicle" drop-down (it may be called something else), all I get are some halftracks or similar. No tanks.

[Collingwood]

I don't have the game in front of me right now, but perhaps you do need to select "mixed force" to get single tanks. I don't think there's any downside to selecting mixed force. You could still select it and then purchase only inf, or only armor. It just makes more choices available to you.

I've only played one QB in CMRT so far (mixed) but I could purchase both a platoon of tanks and a single tank to add to 3 companies of inf.

[FroBodine]

Thank you, you are being very helpful.

So, if I just want a single tank, for example, do I buy a platoon of tanks, then delete all but one? Is that how it works?

[AttorneyAtWar]

Thank you, you are being very helpful.

So, if I just want a single tank, for example, do I buy a platoon of tanks, then delete all but one? Is that how it works?

Well you could do that or you can just do this:

Select armor in the bottom left where it says infantry/armor/fortifications ETC. Then select under formations single vehicle and voila you have single tanks to choose from!

[Collingwood]

You're welcome.

Regarding buying just one tank - I guess so, I've never bought just one

[womble]

As has been said, first, make sure you have selected "Mix" as the Combat Force in the setup screen.

Then you've got two options on the left hand side:

At the bottom you've got the choice of which arm you're picking from:

• Infantry - the only vehicles here are the odd jeep and truck.
  
• Mechanised Infantry - you get access to all the organic light armour and transport in any given battalion; armour and "line" infantry weren't permanently mixed in the TO at this scale.
  
• Armour - the formations here will sometimes contain infantry elements in "HQ companies, but mostly will be pure tanks/TDs
  
• Airborne - wot it sez on the tin
  
• Artillery - This is for off-map artillery assets. They are not considered "core" formations and can't have things added to them.
  
• Fortifications - bunkers, wire, mines and the like
  

Many of the formations you can buy will have options for some integral, organic light artillery: mortars, infantry guns, flak and the like.

As you can see, this option limits the general type of force that you can select at one time. During the course of your selection, you'll be changing that so that you can get the elements you need to build combined arms.

The other box you're interested in on the left hand side has three options:

• Formations - You have to buy at least one of these as the "core" for your force. Each formation you buy is a separate TO; you've already discovered you can delete the bits you don't want. If you buy anything from the other two opitions in this list, the "addons" will be attached to the section of the "core" formation that you had selected when you bought them - there's a yellow arrow to show you, and they'll appear as the last items in that section.
  
• Specialist Teams - everything from scouts (2-3 men, heavy on the SMGs) to heavy ATGs and infantry guns. When you have Armour or Artillery selected at the bottom (as described above) there won't be many options here.
  
• Individual Vehicles - this generally lets you buy singletons of the vehicles that would be available in the formations you see for the given "arm" that you have selected. Hence, when you have "Infantry" selected, there aren't many choices, same as there aren't many Specialist Teams available under "Armour".
  

There is no reason whatever why you cannot add "Specialist Teams" or "Individual Vehicles" from one arm to a core unit selected from another arm. So you could add Scout teams to a Panzer Battalion, or ISU122s to a pure leg infantry battalion. Or airborne PIAT teams to a Lorried Infantry Battalion.

Whether you buy singletons as add-ons or buy a formation and pare it down depends on two things: Chain of Command and cost.

Buying tanks, say, as a formation means you get tanks in their own, separate chain of command. You get HQ tanks, and once all the tanks have radios, they are in C2 by radio contact most of the time. Buying them as addons mean they are incorporated into the C2 chain of the formation to which they have been added. This might tie them in tighter to the flow of spotting data, but generally means C2 is less easy to maintain.

Buying elements as addons carries a points cost premium. For vehicles, it's usually 15 points. However, every formation you buy carries a premium of 50 points. So the break-even is around 3 vehicles, if you can get them in the same formation, and you have to allow for any "unwanted" elements that the formation requires you to have (like HQs, if you're buying a bunch of pioneers for your tanks, say).

After that, there are further layers of customisation, but I think that's enough for today.