Cauldron Posted August 19, 2001 Share Posted August 19, 2001 Hy, After just wiping out a concerted attack of 3 Sherman 2's, 3-4 Serman III 's and 2 Firflies with 4 Pz IV I though I might just tell you how.. You you already know- don't read/// The game is near Cean with a British armoured assualt on a town. The area of engagement is in flat sparce woods terrain. The AI usually puts AFV close together so FIRST best not use a piecmeal approach. The second thing if you are outnumbered is to GET TO GROUND LEVEL and look for short term LOS lanes. Putting a AFV on a hilltop is inviting disaster. The third thing is to FLANK one approach. OK so these are the basics... The method is as follows: Those familiar with German strategy know that one of the things to defeat an enemy is to "hold him in palce" while you organize the attack. The second is to disorganise the enemy while attacking. I used oba ( 120mm HE) in front of his attack on the town, this stopped him in an area that he could only attack a small portion of my force. I then moved my AFV ( 4 Pz IV's) CAREFULLY down a scattered tree line ( at a distance of 300+ m), at first i used move but when I saw it was save went to move FAST. The next part was to cause confussion, my attack force was in its take off point. Here I used 150mm OBA SMOKE ( it lasts a long time and is more blinding) between my path to the AFV's. I have given up on OBA hitting anything these days anyway.... I also used 120mm HE IN the AFV group. As I waited for the OBA to start landing I finely tuned the attack getting the Pz IV's in close to line -abreat for maximum FP. The smoke landed - big beautiful white clouds- and the HE exploded all around. ATTACK TIME. I looked at all the smoke for ANY visibile path through the smoke to isolated ( visible) AFV. Having found two these were hit by two Pz IV's ( one got me in LOS but was hit first). The other Sherman;s were now a bit disturbed by all the OBA flying around and started to move in a disjointed fashion. KEEPING CLOSE watch at making sure I had more AFV facing him at any point than he did at me as well as his target facing ( whether he is aware of my moves) I proceeded in the next three moves to destroy all his AFV. By turn 10 of a 60 turn game I was on victory 61% and morale 70% or above. So, keep it tight keep it organised hold disrupt/ blind attack Took me a while to figure it out Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaBellum Posted August 19, 2001 Share Posted August 19, 2001 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cauldron: Here I used 150mm OBA SMOKE ( it lasts a long time and is more blinding) between my path to the AFV's. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You're using 150mm arty for smoke missions?? :eek: Wow, something new. 182pts for laying smoke? Seems like a lot of points to me. I prefer to use such IMO highly effective weapons against infantry, usually with good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiggDogg Posted August 19, 2001 Share Posted August 19, 2001 Cauldron, Your well executed plan & victory (congratulations) was great & probably would have worked no matter what competent tanks that you may have employed. Your tanks being Pz4s is simply incidental. I suspect that Panthers, Tigers, (maybe) Pz3s (with good guns), Stgs, etc. would have brought you victory. Further, I suspect that your opponent may not have been the best (I am assuming that you were playing a human). (Also, you may have beaten the crappe out of me with your tactics. ) Even an attacker with numerical and firepower superiority must act prudently, carefully, & with proper vigor while covering all avenues. However, one takes everything as Lady Luck has dealt. Your concise 5 rules were well put. I will keep them in mind & utilize them. Good hunting &, again, congrats. Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipper Posted August 20, 2001 Share Posted August 20, 2001 IMO, 4 Pz-IVs popping out from behind a ridge (hull down) from 400-600 m away could duke it out with those Shermans without all this finesse. Some 120mm to button 'em up wouldn't hurt, otherwise - why bother? I'd, too, keep those 150 mm for infantry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie the Toad Posted August 20, 2001 Share Posted August 20, 2001 Cauldron Great out of the box thinking ! All the criticising you got from those posts above (you should have, could have, would have) is a lot of bunk. You took on odds two to one against you using tanks that others deem to be rolling coffins. Your tactics remind me of Stonewall Jackson. The only problem is now everyone will be using the "Cauldron Maneuver" Impressed Toad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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