Your one golden Tactical Rule

[Jammersix]

Don't confuse him. He's looking for dust plumes.

[sburke]

On June 30, 2016 at 9:16 PM, Jammersix said:

Okay. I have different objectives, I think.

My objective is to win the scenario, not for everybody to have ammo at the end of the scenario.

So. In most cases, my MGs never fire, let alone run low. I realized this after I started tabbing through my forces after every scenario. First I did it just to see what was inflicting the most casualties on the enemy (Abrams, across the board. The game is built on the premise that he who has the Abrams and the Bradleys wins. First place Abrams, second place Bradleys. Always.) and then I noticed that everyone still had 3 Javelins left, as well as all their AT-4s. That's when I started taking careful note of what ammo everyone had after combat. That led to another problem-- why do all these people still have full ammo loads? The answer was that only a small percentage (far less than ten percent) of my infantry ever engages. I average less than one enemy vehicle per scenario to all infantry AT weapons. Then I started to look at ammo consumption only on those units that had inflicted casualties. Those were the only units that I knew had engaged the enemy, and they're the only units that matter as far as ammo consumption goes.

And that's when my personal epiphany occurred. (I never knew how to spell that word, but there's a sloop in our club named Epiphany.)

If all a unit does is walk, (and such a unit can still make a significant contribution to a victory) then it doesn't need extra ammo. A unit doesn't need more ammo until it's running low. It only runs low when it engages the enemy, and when that happens it may well die, in which case it will do so before it runs out of ammo, and it still won't need to carry extra ammo. There is no need, therefore, to carry ammo for everyone, because they won't all engage the enemy, and of that tiny portion that does engage the enemy, most won't run out of ammo, and by then you're down to a small enough percentage of your force that it just doesn't matter.

 When a unit does runs low, it will take ammo from a vehicle if the vehicle is close enough. It still doesn't need to carry that ammo. And if a given team uses all it's ammo, it's usually easier to get a vehicle next to them than it is either for them to carry extra ammo or for them to get next to a vehicle.

And finally, the grim truth.

If you have a team that runs low on ammo, be it an infantry team or an MG team, the bottom line is that your victory better not depend on the survival of any single team.

So my suggestion is that you start tabbing through your force after every fight. Every Javelin you have left on the back of some private, every thousand rounds of 5.56, every 40 mm grenade is a waste. It's nothing less than a waste of mobility and endurance that you could have used to win the fight. You traded that mobility and endurance for something your people didn't need-- dead weight.

Hey, I am always eyeing my javelin count as I do go through them pretty quick. I will also make sure I distribute AT 4s around. I just hate when an AFV rolls by and a team is not armed to deal with it. And yeah I do use those a fair amount as well. I guess it shows I lean on my infantry a lot. Armor dies too easily so I tend to let my armor deny areas to the enemy to move and let my infantry try and hunt them if they are stationary.   I'll also use the armor to hose down any defended buildings as opposed to making my infantry try and suppress them. 

I follow your view though in not loading up small arms ammo. 

[Erwin]

The above makes me wonder if I am doing everything wrong:

My SOP in the sort of maps we nearly always get in CM2 (lots of trees, hills/cover) is to lead with inf to scout for armor - the inf get into firefights and deplete regular load quickly.  Usually, it is dangerous to bring an ammo vehicle to the inf as the vehicle then gets exposed to AT fire that the inf has not triggered.  So, the inf always runs back to safety where the ammo carriers are located.  (That's why I would load up with ammo at set-up.)  My experience is that the Javelins get used first vs enemy armor at longer ranges as the inf spots em.  I try to cover the ground with AT weapons before sending in tanks. If any enemy armor or AT weapons pop up, they are targeted by both AT missiles as well as my armor. 

My SOP seems effective.  However, is it "wrong" per RL?  Am I instinctively playing vs the "game system" as opposed to applying RL tactics?

 

 

 

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

Both methods are acceptable, it really depends on what's working vs some sort of rigid "thou shalt" guidance.  

Leading with infantry in complex terrain is generally best practice.  Pushing the ammo forward, or bringing the troops back to resupply, again really depends on how you prefer to do business.  I like to bring to bring the vehicle as far forward as I feel safe, but then again I tend to mostly use Bradleys so they're fairly robust so there's less chance of losing one to the last RPG on the objective or something.  Using terrain or buildings to mask a link up point is also a good practice, often you can get farther forward if you're chasing low ground or masking your final approach with a barn between you and the enemy position.  

[Blazing 88's]

On 2016-08-24 at 10:53 PM, panzersaurkrautwerfer said:

...If we're talking about books to read though, Team Yankee, despite being rather dated is one of the greatest, most accessible books on maneuver warfare, written from the echelon that the player occupies in CMBS.  I used to make my LTs read it, and it certainly seemed to have at least some results.

Team Yankee is in my bookshelf.  I have read it twice.  I might dust it off for a third.  Why?  Because I can. 

[rooibos]

On 6/28/2016 at 7:39 PM, John Kettler said:

kinophile,

Fair point. I use these  high quality (Veteran absolute minimum) snipers to inflict casualties on light armor and soft-skins in order to derail an attack without exposing the fire means employed.

Exposition

If present, I will preferentially target the Tunguska in order to clear the field for CAS and drones (if I have any) or to remove the deadly threat it poses to practically any weapon or force I have and especially for MOUT. If no Tunguska, then I'll be looking for Kriz, FO/FAC AFVs and other similar high leverage targets. Will I take kills vs more vanilla BMP, BTR and MTLB series IFVs and APCs? Sure, especially if deep, since even a simple kill with no explosion forces the occupants to debus and walk. I've yet to get a K-Kill anyway. When not engaging key targets, what I seek to do is take the steam out of the attack by progressively removing the mechanized component and slow down the attacker's momentum. I've yet to snipe personnel targets. If budget permits, I'll deploy several Barrett teams in order to generate crossfires and allow me to work the angles, have one shoot while another relocates and similar. Where possible, I will put them under command of a good officer.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

I can't seem to user snipers effectively.

 

I find they get targeted and shot rapidly. The other annoying thing is when their spotter decides to fire his carbine and give away the position before the long gun has come to bear.

[Erwin]

Are you using the snipers at under 400m?  Snipers should probably be used at ranges like 500m-600m+.  Then carbines are useless and won't be used.

[Jotte]

10 hours ago, rooibos said:

I can't seem to user snipers effectively.

 

I find they get targeted and shot rapidly. The other annoying thing is when their spotter decides to fire his carbine and give away the position before the long gun has come to bear.

It would imho be nice to have a target area function similar to how you select area for artillery. ie not only fire at that area target like now but also a fire within this area if something pops up there kind of command. With the fire arc you risk them giving themselfs away if something passes by closer to the unit.

[Sublime]

Snipers partner using small arms was fixed for the ww2 titles. this is a problem that shuda been fixed for BS same with US ww2 mortar crews now almost never using small arms (60mms) especially on target light to conserve shells but the team lets m4s rip on target light for BS.

And yes even at say 200m where its absolutely stupid.