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#2 Tip for Newbies ????


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Actually, I have two.

1. Start Small

If you can't win a 500pt battle, you're not going to win a 2000pt battle. Spend some time learning the mechanics, the orders and the interactions, preferably in a particular terrain and time set, then move on.

2. Test Things

The scenario editor is your best friend. Set up small situations and see what happens. Either run agains the AI, or hotseat them out. Test firings will show you how armor stacks up. You can put units in different terrain situations and see exposure ratings. Want to know how to take out a bunker? Put 20 on a map with different units behind them and see what happens.

These, taken together, will give you a very solid edge in game mechanics over most players. They won't overcome superior tactics, but the only way s to get those are military training and extensive human v. human gaming. Given equal tactical facility, knowing the game is a distinct advantage.

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How about this:

1. Defend in layers. The best defense is a mobile defense behind layers.

2. Attack by dismantling layers.

I tend to think of defensive layers as projecting out in term of lines of fire. For example, an ATG, an MG and a SMG squad might be in the same line of woods, but they represent different layers because of the different reaches of their weapons. In this context, a line of barbed wire 300m in front of your clump of trees covered by MGs in foxholes in the woods might represent a single defensive layer. Then a rifle squad represents an intermediate layer. The SMG squad represent a closer in layer. A reverse slope defense can also be a layered defense, with one layer above the crest to observe the attack, and then successive layers on the reverse slope of the crest to hit the enemy with ranged fire as he comes over the hill, then force him to fight his way through the layers on his way down.

One thing the farther out layers are doing is buying time for you to maneuver your more mobile assets behind cover to meet the main thrust of the attack. On defense, never disclose your positions unless you can fire with advantage, and never fire outside the effective range of your weapons. If you find your self at a disadvantage, fall back to the next position, bring up your reserves, or bring your next layer of weapons into play. Keep the attacker fighting at cost through prepared layers of defense, with the aim that his attack will either run out of time or forces before reaching its goal.

On the attack, I try to move methodically forward with infantry to trigger the opponents successive defensive layers, then target or move up the heavy weapons to attack that layer. When that's been neutralized, it's on to the next layer. Of course, all of this depends on what forces you and your opponent have and the nature of the terrain. You need to adapt to the approach to the particulars of the situation.

Hope that's helpful.

[ January 23, 2003, 08:10 PM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ]

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I think those comments were spot on, Combined Arms. I have a few things to add, though.

The defender does have to worry about being hit in a whole sequence of fights with only a few of his units engaged by too many attackers to handle. You can deal with this while still using layers, by fighting only the foremost attackers, and bugging out when their "friends" show up.

But sometimes you want the option to "escalate" instead of "run". Someplace on the map, plan "kill zones" that you can hit with a significant portion of your force - as close to "all" as you can manage. When the attacker gets there, hit him not with a little delaying action, but a "mad minute" where everybody blasts away at once. Sometimes this can turn the tide, and it will almost always hurt him. The contrast with slower "ambush and fall back" action can catch the attacker "getting cocky".

And last, defenders should understand that "fire discipline" is their biggest single problem. Meaning the decision when to shoot, with whom. The sooner you shoot the more of your defense you reveal, and the more targets you provide for the enemy's longer range weapons (tanks, arty, etc). You can also run yourself out of ammo before you run the attackers out of men, especially if you shoot into cover at long range, or if the attacker takes him time and pauses to rally his men. You have to go the distance, in other words, not just put up a good "front" for 2-3 minutes.

The flip side of this for attackers is to remember you don't have to "run the defense off its feet" in one "go". Wear him down. Pick him apart slowly. Don't press so hard your men fall apart on you; pace them and "listen" to them if they start getting into trouble. Infantry's greatest power is the ongoing ability to recover from previous damage by rallying from the effects of fire. Dead defenders don't rally, and their ammo does not grow back. Superior infantry "depth" (from attacker "odds", e.g.) is strongest *late* in the day.

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Jason, I'm glad you liked my post and you're definitely right about the importance of kill zones--You can't just keep delaying and falling back. At some point you have to put a real hurt on the attacker.

But I'm also not always right about where the attack is going to come. I'm might prepare for an attack down the center and instead get a concentrated attack on the flank. That's one reason I think having a mobile defensive element is so important. You can adjust to the enemy attack and put the hurt on him at the other location. Mobility doesn't have to mean vehicles, either. I could be a platoon or two of infantry that move to meet the attack. Sometimes they're held in reserve, but sometimes I just pull them out of a quiet part of the line and march them over to where the attack is landing. I try to scope out covered lines of march for lateral movement before the battle starts and one of the things my outer layers are defending is these covered lines of movement.

I also agree that taking good care of your attacking forces is important. I try to keep tanks in cover until they are needed and commit them carefully, and my infantry advances (esp. in CMBB) in little spurts of fifty yards or less, moving from cover to cover under the overwatch of MGs and other support weapons. Any known enemy positions have been suppressed before an attempted advance is made. CMBB seems to insist on a methodical approach to the attack, and I've found that infantry, while no longer uber, will perform extremely well if you don't push it too hard.

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