How often do you use the "Assault" command?

[Major Belles]

How often per scenario? I find that I hardly ever use it; maybe there are some good ideas out there for using the command.

[Lucho]

The "Assault" command is just like the "Advance" command, it only boosts up morale of the assaulting unit a liitle bit more and it slows down the movement and causes more fatigue. I use it only at close quarters against pinned enemy units, maybe one to six times a scenario. I seldom use it in rural areas, because the chance of getting pinned in the open is too high. When in a firefight against single units at close quarters (for example in a building) I order this unit in the next turn to assaul and to close range, thus creating hand-to-hand-combat with beefed up morale. In night scenarios the risk is too high of getting pinned by friendly fire.

[flamingknives]

I use it any time I'm clearing woods that I'm pretty sure are occupied.

[securityguard]

I use it to crater hop. The morale boost when jumping 10m-20m is great

[Slappy]

Crossing the street under fire. That's about it for me. Anything longer than 30m, or in dense terrain is too tiring to be worth it.

[YankeeDog]

I routinely use Assault to move retrograde in order to break contact. It's just about the only way to move retrograde under fire and still have a reasonable chance of success. Even Advancing troops often pin if they take so much as moderate fire from their rear quarter while moving (unless they're very high quality or are under command of an HQ with a very good morale bonus). Assault really helps convince the men to make that critical 10-20m move to relative safety before the sh*t really hits the fan.

You just need to make sure that your units are positioned so they only have to move a short distance to break contact. Otherwise, Assault is too slow and too tiring. And don't expect miracles. Under moderate small arms fire from one squad or a single HMG, Assault will do the trick. If your squad is getting blasted by a whole platoon though, Assaulting rearwards probably ain't gonna save the farm. As such, I find it most useful for withdrawing forward scouts who have come under light fire from enemy OP/LP pickets when on the offense, and for withdrawing forward ambushes after hitting enemy scout teams when on the defence (get them out of there before the overwatch fire comes in!).

Cheers,

YD

[ June 29, 2004, 11:12 AM: Message edited by: YankeeDog ]

[Slappy]

Good tip.

Fatigue is the main drawback with Assault. The command gives a morale boost, but fatigue gives a netative morale modifier. By the time your units get to Tired, they've eaten up all the Assault benifit and then some. This usually happens in 30-50m depending on terrain, so use Assault only over short distances. Backwards certainly qualifies if only 10-20m and I like the use of the morale boost of Assault rather than the morale tanking effects of Withdraw.

[YankeeDog]

Agreed that Fatigue can be a big problem with Assault. You really need to make sure that Assaulting units have a turn or two to rest and recover after they're done the move. This is why I only occasionally Assault *into* combat. If I do Assault into combat, it's generally when I think the enemy unit(s) are already heavily supressed, and my assaulting unit will finish them off quickly once they get there.

My favorite trick with Assault is using it on the defense to evacuate a treeline I've just used as an ambush position. I will plot a long Assault order back deep through the trees and out of contact, but delay it (if necessary, sometimes command delay takes care of this for me) so it doesn't start until about 20-25 sec. into the turn. This way, my ambush line shoots at the supressed enemy for another 20 sec. or so, and then makes for the rear. 40 sec. of Assault is usually just about the right amount of time to get deep enough into the trees to guarantee a complete LOS break with the enemy. Assaulting, rather then Advancing or Running, ensures that they'll still move even if some moderate overwatch fire from MGs, on-board mortars, or a quick-responding AFV starts to come in.

At the beginning of the next turn, I simply edit the Assault waypoint into a Move waypoint. This way, my soldiers continue their retrograde movement without delay. I find this important because when ambushing from a treeline, it's very important to break off contact before your opponent can bring off-board arty in. With treebursts, even relatively light, quick-responding light caliber stuff can really cause some damage.

Cheers,

YD