The "levelling houses" tactic

[Gen-x87H]

Ahh the blowing up the building routine.

I have had some luck doing this.

Dig your men in behind the building. Setup HMGs to the rear in taller buildings and have them hide. When you see the little flags coming sneak your men into the ruins or buildings that are left. When they attack let them have it.

I once turned back a 2 platoon attack using this tactic. And this was with a single SS Rifle platoon and a couple of HMG42s. I then counterattacked and wiped them all out. Too bad in the end my opponent had 180 more men than I I lost but he was surprised at my tenacity.

Building leveling is perfectly fine. Just odnt sit in the buildings and get waxed. Let them waste HE round after HE round on rezoning the town

Gen

[MikeyD]

People keep asking what use the Priest is in combat. This is it, knocking down buildings fast! Sometimes though the tactic backfires when instead of knocking a building down to get a clear line of fire you set it ablaze and the enemy uses the resulting column of smoke for cover.

[Cribtop Gamer]

I once won a Command Decision style-board game at a tournament using tactics similar to those suggested by a poster above.

I had crappy morale volksgrenadiers with no armor support until reinforcements arrived (delayed for a random number of turns by Allied airpower).

My only useful assets were MGs, a 75mm ATG, 120mm mortars and offmap arty consisting of a 150 battery and 2 105 batteries with limited ammo (keep in mind this was a game where 1 tank figure = 5 tanks and one infantry unit = a platoon, not a squad).

US infantry supported by tanks, TDs and arty were trying to force a stream crossing at a bridge. A town was on the German side of the bridge. I placed observation post infantry units in cover on the US side of the river to spot the enemy and garrisoned the "back" of the town. All three of the "front row" of buildings (those closest to the US side) were unoccupied, but were TRPs for off-board arty. The spaces just in front of these buildings were TRPs for the 120mm mortars and were covered by the MGs.

Basically, I let the US infantry occupy these buildings and then let them have it with the 150s and 105s. The US players decided to advance out of the barrage and took it hard from 120mm mortar and MG fire. This screwed up the timing of their attack, and they made little progress until german armor arrived to shore up the situation.

I would try this same tactic if you are trying to "defend the middle of town." If you can't afford the TRPs, buy a few 150mm infantry guns, but make sure they have "keyhole" LOS to the target buildings, or they'll be history soon after firing.

This is a variant of JasonC's "reverse slope defense" using the front row of buildings as the "ridgeline," but only 150mm and heavier indirect fire or direct fire HE seems to be able to negate the cover provided to the attackers by the buildings used as the ridgeline.

Hmmm, I may set up a scenario to try this tonight.

[Chad Harrison]

along the lines of the original question, i do not think its gamey. its only annoying when your on the receiving end of it. i only use area fire against a building when i KNOW theres someone in there to conserve ammo. the best way for me to ruin a ambush is with my red shirted green boys! save you big guns for more productive things.

[Pvt. Ryan]

I was once in a PBEM where I was pounding a church with a Sherman 105. I must have fired 20 shells at it and the thing would still not come down. That church must have had a high fanaticism rating. I see nothing wrong with knocking down buildings to get at the infantry inside the town, but knocking down every building on the map seems a bit much to me.

[FFE]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Sven:

What do you think of such a tactic?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Buildings are death traps. Plugging them full of holes and waiting for them to fall down, although fun, isn’t always prudent. Sometimes it’s best to put a few rounds into them to leave them partially damaged. Your opponent will generally vacate as soon as possible, anyway. And if you don’t see any men running away, then don’t bother wasting the rounds. Sometimes it’s best to level your own buildings, so you can defend the rubble. Rubble is great to defend if you don’t mind drawing some fire. Defending behind the building in foxholes is good up until your opponent turns your flank. And given that most players will gravitate their attack along one side or the other, your flank will become open in due order. Come to think of it, I cannot remember the last time an opponent has attacked up the middle of the map. There’s generally little reason to do this maneuver, since off center-axis attacks tend to make the attackers’ assets less vulnerable. Town and village destruction is typical and historical: especially when you consider the towns and villages in CM are but small villages and hamlets. True urban areas were much tougher to crack if the defender was keen on defending.