CMBO Newbie Tutorial Guide

[markshot]

I got CMBO it seems a couple of years ago. At the time I got it, I had never played a tactical war game.

Despite reading the manual, I was completely lost. I must have played the tutorial quite a few times clueless and just could not seize the objective or have any idea what I did wrong.

I actually put the game down for at least six months out of frustration. Then, I took the time to read through the tips forum and found many wonderful and educational threads. A light bulb went on. I started to play again and CMBO became one of my favorite games. I decided to replay the tutorial today and I thought I would produce to this illustrated guide for people who might be in a similar situation. I am by no means an expert, but still very much a novice. However, I might still be able to help some others just same.

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000812

This collection here is shows screen shots of each order phase. In the discussion, I will try to highlight some basic principles that I have learned. I hope to pull together the many basic tips which I have picked up in a clear and illustrative manner.

***** Setup & Turn 1 *****

Time is tight. There is only 15 minutes. This is a meeting engagement. So, I can assume that the enemy is not dug in and resources similar to mine. The flag is closer to the enemy side of the map. Thus, it would seem logical that the enemy will get their first and I will have to take it away from him.

My plan is to develop a well planned coordinated attack on the objective. I will bring all my resources to strike at once and in a methodical fashion. I want to achieve an intial shock, followed by causing rapid casaulities, and wrapped up be a drive on the objective after the enemy has been greatly supressed.

---

Here are the classes of units at my disposal:

Infantry squads are only effective at short ranges around 100M or less.

Machine gun teams are effective at greater ranges and when situated properly can own the empty space which the riflemen must cross.

Bazooka teams can kill tanks at 100M or less. There chances are good if they can move in unobserved and the tank has buttoned up due to small arms fire and is distracted by many targets.

The arty spotter is good for calling down a quick barrage on enemy positions once they have been spotted.

This will supress and possibly break them.

Tanks are an effective anti-tank weapon beyond 100M. Once enemy tanks have been eliminated, your tanks will do plenty to route and break enemy troops.

So, I want to get my infantry and MGs close to the objective unobserved. If they are observed at a distance, then they will likely meet tank cannon fire, MG fire, and artillery shelling. They will be slowed down and suffer casualities; nothing will be gained.

I will move my entire force up the road on the right, since it will provide concealment. Also, movement along a road should be fairly fast.

---

I arrange to get my LMG and HMG teams on to my tanks. These guys travel fairly slow. So, giving them a lift to the engagement area is a good idea. I put my company HQ on a tank to keep them company and in command.

My two infantry platoons I arrange into a road march formation. It looks like this:

Squad 1

Squad 2

Platoon HQ

Squad 3

Bazooka Team

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut01.jpg

***** Turn 2 *****

My tanks are moving along to pick up the LMG teams and are giving my FO team a lift to join the rest of the troops.

One platoon is already deployed on the road. I give them orders to move in formation to the intersection, and I have the second platoon form up on the road.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut02.jpg

***** Turn 3 *****

The LMG and HMG teams are mounted up on the tanks and the tanks will take them up to the intersection. My two platoons are on the move down the road.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut03.jpg

***** Turn 4 *****

I have identified two nice wooded areas from which to stage my assault. You want to try keep your infantry near the tree line of woods and tall pines when engaging the enemy (assuming now heavy buildings are present). Your infantry will become much more durable and effective when you situate them in decent cover.

Here, I have given orders to the two LMG teams to take up positions in the wooded area to the left. In the wooded area to the right, I will place my HMG team (for longer range fire) and the arty spotter. The MG teams will be able to provide suppressive fire to cover the advance of my troops over the open ground to the objective. My arty spotter will have a LOS to most areas where the enemy could take up positions around the objective. With LOS, my spotter will target more accurately and the delay for the shells to start falling will be shorter.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut04.jpg

***** Turn 5 *****

I have now given orders to my two platoons to advance to the two wooded areas. Notice that everyone's advance is hidden by keeping the woods between them and the likely position of the enemy. Also, notice that I have constituted the final waypoints such that they are on the far side of the woods relative to the objective. I want to get everyone in position before risking being spotted. I am also doing some sneaking,

but retrospect simple move orders would have been satisfactory.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut05.jpg

***** Turn 6 *****

The tanks have dropped everyone off and now have orders to position out of sight behind a large area of scattered trees. When my attack begins, they will move forward to gain sight of the enemy. I also have converted some waypoint orders to run. I think my plan is moving a little too slowly or maybe the clock too fast. You should avoid needlessly running your troops. Save their strength for when you need it. Avoid running in dense environments such a woods or heavy snow; if you can avoid it, since it is very tiring.

Roads and open ground are easy sprints.

My tanks were given hunt orders just in case if they run into any surprises. Also, notice I have straddled their paths across the road. You want to do this in order to avoid and tank traffic jams.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut06.jpg

***** Turn 7 *****

I have issued sneak and hide orders to my two platoons to get them into position at the tree line, since the clock is running and things seem to be well coordinated.

I have called in my first arty fire mission even though I haven't gotten LOS yet. I want to make sure the party starts with a bang.

Notice that my approach to the area has been quite successful. There are no enemy sightings and correspondingly my troops have not been spotted for fired upon.

Although you cannot really see it, I have given my platoon HQs their final way point such that they are on the far side of the woods from the enemy (and generally you will tell them to hide). In general, you want your HQs to be out of LOS to the enemy, but in command of your troops. HQs are a priority target for the

enemy. If your HQ team gets taken out, then your troops will be out of command and lose any benefit of the experience bonuses that the HQ team conveys. Also, your troops will become much more likely to rout and panic. Finally, they will experience excessive order delays.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut07.jpg

***** Turn 8 *****

Well, the fire fight has begun. A trigger happy LMG team broke my stealthy advance. In reality, it was my fault as I neglected to give them a hide order. However, this is not a problem, since pretty much everything is already in position.

A tank has been spotted, I order a number of my units to fire upon the tank. Generally, you will want to let the AI automatically target. However, in this case, I want to make sure the tank gets buttoned up. Once the tank gets, buttoned up it will lose it lot of its visibility and become much vulnerable to my attempts to kill it.

I order my two bazooka teams to sneak around the flanks and see what type of shot they might get. Also, I order my two tanks to hunt through the scattered trees. Hopefully, they will surprise the enemy tank. I give them reverse orders too, since I want them to move forward for a shoot but pull back in case they don't get the upper hand. Maybe they will achieve a kill and otherwise they will distract the tank and maybe the flanking bazooka teams will get it.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut08.jpg

***** Turn 9 *****

My tanks have killed one enemy tank and continue to hunt. The other tank has already been buttoned up by small arms fire. I target my arty onto a concentration of enemy troops.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut09.jpg

***** Turn 10 *****

The other enemy tank has been killed. My troops have been shaken by the enemy tanks, but they are now in for an easier time.

Phase I and Phase II are now complete. Phase I was the positioning of my forces. Phase II was the elimination of the enemy armor. Phase III is about to begin which is the reduction of the enemy infantry strength.

I order one of my tanks to take a position directly on what will be my axis of advance. I order the other tank to take up a flank position by which to harass the enemy. Both of these are fast move orders. My tanks are relatively safe and the clock is ticking.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut10.jpg

***** Turn 11 *****

One tank is already in position and the other is on the way. My arty continues to pound the enemy. The enemy also launches his own arty barrage on me. My MG fire is beginning to take its toll.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut11.jpg

***** Turn 12 *****

Both tanks are now in position. I unbutton them, since I now am outshooting the enemy. The risk to my tank commanders has been reduced and they are more responsive like this.

Phase III, the reduction of the enemy infantry strength, is drawing to a close.

Phase IV, the final assault on the objective is about to begin.

I order the platoon on the right to advance 70M forward to the scattered trees. I put them under the command of my company HQ who advances forward to tree line in order to maintain command. I leave the platoon HQ in command of my HMG team. The company HQ is a better choice to lead the assault, since this units ability to command any units allows more flexibility of which units to use in the assault and now worry about platoon organization.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut12.jpg

***** Turn 13 *****

My platoon as planned has advanced to the scattered trees. I now order them to advance another 80M to the scattered trees by the objective. The company HQ also advances, but hangs back a considerable distance.

I underestimated the amount of small arms fire and my tanks have buttoned up again. I decide to take control of my tanks' targetting. I assign area fire to two heaviest concentrations of enemy return fire. I want to make sure that these two areas are supressed as my platoon rushes forward and closer again.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut13.jpg

***** Turn 14 *****

My tanks were sucessful in supressing the enemy positions. They are now safely unbuttoned.

I now have a platoon within 30M of the objective.

I order two squads of the platoon further back that was providing fire support to advance 110M through the position of the forward platoon who is quickly recovering their composure and will provide supporting fire for the rush to be made by the two squads.

Notice that I am using a technique called overwatch. Thus, one force maintains fire upon the enemy while another force advances. Additionally, there is the supporting fire of my MG teams and tanks. It is very important to have the enemy surpressed if you want to safely cross an open space. Failure to do so will result in very high casualities. Squads will break and turn tail.

Also, notice that my tanks are standing off from the enemy. Tanks unlike infantry have a lot of punch at range. They do not need to close. In fact, closing can be hazardous to their health, since they can always be suprised by an anti-tank team. So, instead they stand off and batter the enemy from beyond 100M.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut14.jpg

***** Turn 15 *****

I now own the objective.

Remember overwatch. Well, I order platoon further back to make its final advance towards to objective. The battle is at an end. Let's see how it came out.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut15.jpg

***** The Result *****

A total victory! Well, although this looked easy, it was a big accomplishment for someone who used to only play aircombat flight sims. I hope that my experience may help to speed up someone else's learning curve.

By far, the best resource for learning the game are the BTS forums.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/markshot/tempimages/Tut16.jpg

The following thread is particularly helpful.

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000812

PS: Please let me know if you found this tutorial to be helpful.

[ December 11, 2002, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: markshot ]

[Hat Trick]

Great post, wish I had seen it when I first got the game. Two points of clarification for newcomers:

1. If the terrain looks different than on your game, that's because the designer added "mods" to change the look of the game. It still plays the same. Similarly, the units sizes have been increased to make them easier to see.

2. "Button up" means that a vehicle has closed its hatches. This reduces the crew's exposure to small arms fire, but reduces their effectiveness.

[Christopher Short]

Fantastic for a newbie (me . The visualisation of distances for tactics is extremely helpful as is the move by move discussion of objective and seeing it plotted.

Very much appreciated.

cheers,

Christopher

[Redwolf]

This is very Quickbattle oriented but some might find it useful:

http://thforums.com/CMBO/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=30

[mdr220846]

A great post MarkShot! I only began playing CMBO two weeks ago and love it. Having played Close Combat a Bridge Too Far before, I didn't have much of a learning curve to deal with, but someone new to these types of games could easily get overwhelmed.

The great thing about CM is that you can choose to deal with the details of strategy/tactics/etc. or simply ignore them.

I wanted to also commend you on your STK/EAW guide. From that, and this post, one can tell you take your gaming seriously (and enjoy sharing your knowledge with others). Many an evening was spent with European Air War, and I anticipate spending many an evening with Combat Mission.

[Garulfo]

Very nice and clear analysis of the situation, the objectives and the adaptation of your stategy accordingly.

BTW, what grass are you using on the pictures? I am actually looking for a nice gridded grass mod.

[markshot]

I picked up all my MODs a long time ago; long before CMMOS.

I got them from an article on www.combatmission.com http://www.combatmission.com/mods/MMG.asp

I believe its Rich's gridded grass. The grid is really nice for estimating distances; end to end a grid is 20M.

[lcm1947]

The other great thing about this game are the people like yourself who are willing to give up some of their time to help others. I am quite sure this will be very useful to some of the newbies and very much appreciated. Good job Hat Trick.

[Hat Trick]

Originally posted by lcm1947:

The other great thing about this game are the people like yourself who are willing to give up some of their time to help others. I am quite sure this will be very useful to some of the newbies and very much appreciated. Good job Hat Trick.

Much as I'd like to take the credit, it rightfully belongs to markshot.