Boot Camp: Mutual Support

[Gremlin]

(Author’s Note: Below is an article that originally appeared as part of the Boot Camp series on Manx’s sadly defunct Combat Missions site. It was written quite some time ago, and I’d surely make changes and additions to it if I had the time, in light of all I’ve learned since writing it. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to post the original explanatory images that accompanied it. Still, I think this article will be useful for newer players. Enjoy!)

Comrades in Arms: Mutual Support

Tactical choices in Combat Mission can be complex and controversial, but almost every player will agree that units need to mutually support each other. Letting tanks or infantry run off and do their own thing can be disastrous, since neither can deal with all threats effectively. Make them work in concert, though, and you’ll have a powerful fighting force. This article discusses some of the basic principles and tactics of mutual support.

Intelligence

In Combat Mission, knowledge is a weapon. It’s vital to have good knowledge of your enemy’s positions and force composition throughout the battle. There are two fundamental ways to gather intelligence. First, during the setup phase you can place your units in such a way that you gain a view of as much of the battlefield as possible. Second, you can gather intelligence by actively advancing towards possible enemy positions.

Either way, try to ensure that between all your units you have the best fields of view possible across the full width of the battlefield. That’s not to say that you should spread your forces thinly solely to gain better lines of sight. Far from it. It does mean, though, that you’ll want at least a few units with a view of your flanks. Strictly in terms of placement and movement, sharpshooters and artillery spotters often operate independently and benefit from broad fields of view, so they’re useful for gathering intelligence. Try hiding them, for example, in the top floors of multi-story buildings, on high wooded hills, or at the edge of a forest that provides a view across large plains on a flat map. If, because of terrain restrictions, you can’t gain wide fields of view using just a couple units, then you’ll need a larger number of units with smaller, overlapping fields of view.

You may suspect that the enemy will primarily advance along one side of the map. Still, leaving your other flank unwatched could easily let part of the enemy forces slip by while you focus elsewhere. One of the ways you can both gather intelligence and defend yourself from such a threat is to hide multiple anti-tank and/or machine gun teams along your flank away from your main force. A fairly common tactic in CM is to rush fast, lightly armored vehicles down the enemy’s flank in an attempt to slip past the main body of his or her forces to disrupt defenses or get flanking shots against tanks. A few hidden bazooka, Panzerschreck, or PIAT teams on your largely unprotected flank(s) can provide you with a view of the flank and help defend it against such a tactic all at once. An MG team or two would serve a similar purpose, but instead would be used to spot and slow advancing infantry, which you could then hopefully deal with using artillery fire, reserves, avoidance, or whatever tactic you feel appropriate. A single MG team alone won’t last long, though: remember that infantry units can target one unit at a time, but they can be targeted by multiple units at once. So, a solitary team will quickly be suppressed, routed, or eliminated if multiple enemy units spot it at once.

In addition to relatively static observers, you should use advance parties when moving towards possible enemy locations. Depending on the type of battle and the size of your forces, such a party could be anything from a half squad moving a little bit ahead of an infantry platoon or a whole platoon supported by one or more armored cars or other light vehicles. Never rush a large group of forces towards an unscouted location, or you could stumble into a horrible ambush or crossfire.

You can also send out scouting parties that have no intention of taking point for a main force, but rather are primarily tasked with learning more about the enemy’s positions and force composition. These reconnaissance parties should generally be small, fast, and maneuverable, allowing them to engage in hit-and-run tactics. Their purpose isn’t to engage the enemy in a direct confrontation, but rather to stay alive and continue observation while harassing the enemy when the opportunity presents itself. A number of squads or split squads in a scouting party moving along tree lines can also deceive the enemy into thinking that you have a large force advancing into that area. Just when your enemy is distracted by these troops, you could launch a main offensive.

Combined Arms

Related to scouting, be absolutely certain that you’ve recently moved infantry through wooded areas or buildings where anti-tank teams might be hiding before advancing your vehicles near those areas. Infantry supports armor by establishing that an area is relatively safe from anti-tank threats, and armor supports infantry by destroying enemy tanks and field guns, as well as attacking infantry. It’s easy to become over-eager about rushing a tank forward to support an assault, but that haste could very well put your tank on the receiving end of a bazooka or Panzerschreck.

This principle of combined arms, where units with different capabilities work in concert for mutual support, is the bedrock of tactics in CM. Here are a few other examples of how combined arms can be applied. A lone anti-tank gun or field howitzer, even when positioned in a foxhole, is easily overrun by a couple infantry squads flanking it. So, it’s wise to set up a machine gun or two in flanking positions that have a clear view of the gun and the terrain directly in front of it. One thing to avoid, though, is placing those MG’s too close to the gun, as the latter is a likely artillery target. You don’t want to lose both units in one blow.

Suppose, as another example, you were about to assault an enemy force occupying a hill. You could hit the area with an artillery strike just prior to rushing troops in, softening the enemy up by causing casualties and weakening their morale. You could then create a smoke screen right after the initial artillery strike to mask your troops’ advance into the area. When your troops have made it up the hill and ascertained the enemy’s disposition (unit types and placement) in the area, you can bring tanks or self-propelled guns forward to provide long-range, powerful support fire.

Suppression

Suppression is another basic tactical principle that you’ll want to use whenever possible. It essentially means putting an enemy unit under such sustained firepower that the unit can’t fight or move effectively--it’s will be too busy taking cover. Generally, effective suppressive fire comes from high-powered, long-range weapons with high rates of fire and large stores of ammo. These include certain armored vehicles (see the other articles in this series for more details), machinegun teams, anti-aircraft guns, and mortars. Be careful, though, as some of these can run the risk of hitting your own troops, depending how close you are to the enemy.

Suppression of enemy units allows some of your units (chiefly infantry squads) to advance, retreat, attack targets, or whatever the case may be with more safety. You’ll find that the combat effectiveness of your infantry is generally much greater when defending from a set position than when rushing towards incoming fire. In the latter case, infantry will typically suffer high casualties and break more easily. Hence the vital need for suppression of enemy troops to keep fire off your advancing infantry. One other highly useful tool for suppressing the enemy is artillery; for a detailed introduction to artillery use, please see the Combat Mission Boot Camp article “Death from Above: Artillery.”

Here’s an example of how combined arms and suppression can work together. Suppose you were defending a small town against a numerically superior attacking force, and let’s say the terrain is slightly hilly and wooded. If you think the enemy might try to cross over a certain wooded hill toward you, you could do the following: first, place anti-personnel mines and/or barbed wire in the woods on the hill, preferably near the tree line closest to your troops. (Your troops should be hidden in woods or buildings away from that tree line towards your side of the map.) As the enemy advances over the hill, hit them with artillery. They might retreat, or they might rush forward to avoid the artillery. In doing the latter, they’ll likely lose some troops to the land mines and/or get caught up in the wire at the edge of the tree line. Now, open up with multiple flanking machine guns, anti-aircraft guns with a high rate of fire, howitzers, and/or vehicles with effective anti-personnel weapons. At the same time, on-map mortars start area-fire attacks on the enemy. (See the artillery article for tips.)

All of this should suppress and weaken the enemy quite effectively. If the enemy units still have their wits about them after all that, they’ll start trying to silence your flanking heavy weapons. Even a team with a powerful .50 caliber machine gun will be in trouble when four or five enemy squads target it. It will likely become suppressed itself or panic. This is when you can “un-hide” your infantry and let the enemy have it.

Overwatch

Another basic principle of mutual support is overwatch. This means that as units advance, others either occupy static positions behind them or follow them at a distance, keeping a field of view that matches the lead units’ field of view as much as possible. This way, should your lead units come under attack, they can quickly be backed up with supporting fire. Overwatch also keeps all your units from stumbling into an ambush at once. There are a number of styles of overwatch. You can have some units always keep the lead role, or you can have both groups leapfrog each other and assume the other’s role at every switch, or “bound.”

Reserves

One of the most important principles of mutual support is keeping units in reserve. There are two main principles that lead you to hold reserves. First, you shouldn’t reveal more than is necessary about your force strength and positions. Don’t commit any unit unless there’s a clear reason; it’s better to attack the enemy on your terms, when the situation is favorable. Also, try to gain the upper hand through deception and surprise by masking your true strength. You can play on your opponent’s fears this way, as he or she imagines the worst. The second principle is that you need to be able to react quickly and fluidly to the changing battlefield, sending fresh units to hot spots at decisive moments to bolster an attack, or to flank or encircle the enemy. You can’t do that easily with troops that are already engaged in combat since running away under fire usually means lots of casualties.

Committing all your forces at the start without keeping some of them in reserve usually has a number of major disadvantages. First, on the offensive it usually means exposing your units to the enemy before obtaining substantial intelligence about his or her forces. You could easily waste time moving units to what turns out to be a tactically unimportant spot. More likely you’ll end up the victim of an ambush or a situation where you don’t have the right units in place to counter the enemy units you find. On the defensive, trying to cover your whole front in depth is usually not possible, so you’ll need to cover selected areas with some, but not all, of your troops. As you saw in the combined arms examples above, the depth of your line is usually more powerful than its breadth when defending. Use reserves to fill in the gaps or reinforce strong points as needed.

There’s no set number or percentage of units to keep hidden behind your main body of troops and vehicles, but the more the better. You’ll generally want your reserves to be mobile or able to run quickly. Infantry in half-tracks serve well, for instance. You’ll want at least one group of reserves behind the middle of the battlefront, preferably two or more groups, with one near each rear corner of the battlefront to prevent easy attacks on your central units’ flanks. This two-pronged positioning can also let you counter-attack more easily while on defense. As a side note, it’s a good idea to keep all your vehicles hidden as long as possible, though they needn’t be treated specifically as reserves. Tanks and other powerful armored fighting vehicles are too valuable to expose before absolutely necessary. It’s better to wait until you can ambush enemy vehicles from their flanks when they’re busied with your infantry.

Remember that even the most powerful single unit, like a King Tiger or Pershing tank, can get into huge trouble on its own at the hands of stealthy anti-tank teams, well-hidden guns, or flanking fire. Units need to support each other by providing intelligence to coordinate your forces, complementing each other’s unique strengths and weaknesses, suppressing the enemy so other units can act with more freedom, covering each other carefully, and providing fresh reserves at crucial moments. If you keep these basic principles in mind at all times, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of winning the battle.

© 2002 by Scott Osborne

[ March 05, 2002, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

[Gremlin]

Bumped for newer players who might benefit from this old article.

[Magnum MGG]

Gremlin...

excellent articles, My gaming group has new members just getting into the series...

I noticed you have a copyright symbol, so thought I'd asked if I can copy/paste your articles for my guys...

(would of e-mailed you direct, but you don't have one listed)

Also, if you need a place for the full articles with the pics, contact me, and we'll talk about putting it up on our gaming site, your choice, just offering.

[Gremlin]

Magnum MMG,

Feel free to copy and paste them. Please leave the parenthetical intros and copyright notices intact (I'm a professional writer, so I like to protect my stuff--I've been plagiarized before ).

The articles were written for CMBO, but I hope your friends might still find them useful for either CM game. I was hoping to help newbies into the CM fold with those articles. The more of us, the merrier!

For the time being, I'll have to pass on the kind offer to post pics for the articles since I don't have the original screens anymore and would have to make new ones but don't have the time atm. Maybe some day, though. Thanks either way.

[ January 05, 2003, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

[sand digger]

Thanks for that, Gremlin. It is also reassuring to know that CMBO factors the points mentioned into the game, I being one who has just ordered it.