So what is your favorite strategy to attack?

[Retigade]

I allways send some tank/Panzer before any of my infantry get`s green light to attack because who wouldn`t wanna use infantry against enemy infantry. whit my strategy i havent ever losed more than 3Panzer and 3infantry sqd.

but tell me if you have better strategys...

[netfool7]

Well, I'm still learning the ropes in this game, but I'd be hard pressed to develop a single strategy for all situations.

I do whatever METT-T (Mission, Equipment*, Time, Terrain & Troops) will allow me to (in no particular order):

- I try to figure out routes where my troops will be able to best utilize bounding & overwatching from areas of cover or concealment. I usually keep them in "tight" wedge formations and usually maintain at least 180 degrees of security while overwatching.

- If I suspect any anti-tank capabilities on the opposite side of a hill, I'll send in a light recon group to look over the hill etc before letting the tanks go over.

- I usually focus on attacking a single side instead of having a broad front. But I'll still have at least a single platoon element on the opposite side in case I NEED firepower on that side for some reason.

- I like to have at least one sharpshooter. They're excellent at keeping Anti-Tank Gun crews heads down while your tanks or mortars destroy them.

- I stay loose with my mortars now. If I have a platoon getting hammered, I won't hesitate to unleash a minute + of heavy mortar fire anymore.

I used to wait...and wait and wait until I caught the computer in a large group... But I've realized it likes to spread it's defense out quite a bit.

That's all I can think of now. I'll think of some more things later. I should probably get back to work 8^)

*Or Enemy

[Retigade]

Yeah recon sqd is useful some times when there are hills but allmost only flat open area and some woods all over i think my strategy is good but thank`s from reply...

[FM Paul Heinrik]

Originally posted by Retigade:

I allways send some tank/Panzer before any of my infantry get`s green light to attack because who wouldn`t wanna use infantry against enemy infantry. whit my strategy i havent ever losed more than 3Panzer and 3infantry sqd.

but tell me if you have better strategys...

I would think that if you use that strategy on an attack the defender's anti-tank defenses would tear your tanks to pieces. At least that has always happened to me when I've done that.

I much prefer to lead with infantry covered by infantry/AT guns if possible. Let some infantry probe the map to find out where the enemy is and see what he is willing to reveal. Once, enemy strong points are revealed destroy them enmasse with arty, towed guns, and tanks. Or if too strong, by-pass and attempt flanking. I generally, like to be very conservative with my armor only committing them once enemy tanks have hindered infantry advancement or using them to mop up retreating enemy. Occasionally, I'm forced to bring some up to take out very stubborned gun postions or pill boxes.

What I find really fun is to play using Ger inf. only (no tanks) to attack Soviet armor or mech. Makes you really appreciate towed guns.

[sugafudahuh]

im new to the game too...full version at least, and ive been practising with 1000pnt quick battles on sml maps as german infantry against american airborne infantry.so when im the agressor, i pick a flank(with the best cover)and setup so that in turn1 that flank is mine,and i use it for really big flanking manouveres.i leave the opposite half,and occupy the centre axis of advance to cover my 'flanking' dudes.it works cause the AI spreads its defence.

[Joachim]

There is no strategy that works on every occasion.

The most important thing is: Who am I fighting? The AI or a capable player? An aggressive or defensive player? Attritionist or maneuvrist?

which equipment will he have/can he have. What would be my nightmare? How can I counter that Which force works best for that? Does my counter work for other likely enemy force types?

After that it comes down to METT-T.

Gruß

Joachim

[Alexei]

Originally posted by FM Paul Heinrik:

What I find really fun is to play using Ger inf. only (no tanks) to attack Soviet armor or mech. Makes you really appreciate towed guns.

How do you use towed guns for attack? If you have hills on your starting position, it should be more or less ok... but how do you handle them when starting with no LOS on the objectives?

Mine are regularly smashed one after the other when advancing or setting up ...

Or I try to have them crossing a wood and they are so slow the game stops before they reach firing position

[Sergei]

You move them to a position and then wait for something to come within view.

[FM Paul Heinrik]

Originally posted by Alexei:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by FM Paul Heinrik:

What I find really fun is to play using Ger inf. only (no tanks) to attack Soviet armor or mech. Makes you really appreciate towed guns.

How do you use towed guns for attack? If you have hills on your starting position, it should be more or less ok... but how do you handle them when starting with no LOS on the objectives?

Mine are regularly smashed one after the other when advancing or setting up ...

Or I try to have them crossing a wood and they are so slow the game stops before they reach firing position </font>

[dieseltaylor]

First of all -

The different nationalities have strengths and weaknesses. Russians have some good tanks later but throughout the war there strength is cheap infantry and MG's, mortars. Smoke from mortars can get you across open terrain. SMG infantry are lethal in the right terrain

Russian tanks are fast and do not bog easily - what tactics can benefit from this? ....

The British have excellent guns ............ I pooted 4 out of 5 Panthers with veteran or better crews with a single 17pdr ATG. That is a gun and half. With the little Carriers you can tow the 6pdr [57mm] which with its special ammo an nail a Tiger head on at a 1000 metres [as one of my opponents has just found out two minutes into a game. British infantry is not strong but does have the PIAT which is useful killing tanks as an intrinsic unit.

Americans loads of fire power quick turrets on the tanks high rates of fire ....

I am just scratching the surface . Learning whats good and bad with each nationality is important.

How many points you have to play with is also very important in how you play the attack. If I have 3000 pts as the Russian my force mix is going to be a lot different from a 1000 point mix.

At a 1000 points a lost tank is 10% of your points blown away. If you have 10 of them in 3000 pointer the loss of one is not that critical.

And terrain. That is crucial. Having your finest Panzers fighting in Finnish woodland is a speedy way to learn that you should try and get a force suitable for the area you are fighting in!

Ther are many articles on tactics in the archives worth searching out.

[Retigade]

I use now new strategys and i send allmost every time a recon sqd and lead my Panzers to safety place behind woods or something i use truck`s more to give a raid to PaK or any big gun im cover my troops on attack whit Half tracks and much more i use now some time to think new strategys...

i thank you all from useful info replys but sure

don`t stop replying :|

[Carl Puppchen]

The most critical item on the attack is whether you are playing a skilled human or the AI. I am not being a critic of cmak but the AI is a poor player compared to a human.

Against the AI it obviously depends on the time frame, weapons at hand, etc... but the AI sets up a lot of defenders in a lousy fashion. They might have tanks / guns in the open and they might leave critical areas uncovered. Generally I would scout on a narrow front and pack my forces into that area and pound anything in the way, covering with smoke if needed. As far as leading with men or tanks, if there is a lot of cover use men if it is wide open they are likely to get pinned pretty quickly and you will end up using tanks anyways because they won't move. The AI uses artillery poorly and likely won't seriously be able to engage your concentrated forces and won't employ a mobile reserve to beat you. Some percent of their men / tanks / guns will be out in the open and you can blast them to bits and then you will likely stumble onto the rest of their assets...

For a skilled human opponent you need to be much craftier. The human opponent is likely to have a front screen and a plan to redeploy reserves to meet your likely threats. They should have TRP's and arty waiting in the likely places where you will concentrate forces. Their guns / infantry will be well hidden and in trenches / covered by wire and mines. They won't open fire until they get a juicy target, maybe not until you are right on top of them. And they will try to wait until they get a flank or rear shot on an AFV with their weaker weapons.

The most advanced human opponents will use reverse slope defenses which means you really CAN'T see what is going on until you cross the "lip" where you will be blasted to bits. Scouting doesn't work unless the scout lives long enough to get a good sighting. In these cases you need smoke / arty and need to go "over the top" en masse and expect severe casualties.

Other more advanced tactics are "keyhole" defenses - the AI will open up on long range when his one gun will instantly be met by your whole force. A smart human will open up from a spot where your visibility is limited so you can't "gang up" on him in return. If it is an AFV they will likely back out of that position so when you finally concentrate your forces he is already gone.

I constantly lose battles on the attack because I fail to use combined arms. Have all the types of weapons - use arty and mortars against AT guns, direct fire guns on your side against any available target (they are cheap as an attacker if you can get them into position), use your infantry (1/2 squads) as scouts but hold the bulk of your forces out of harms way until it is time to take the objective, and use tanks / TD's according to their strengths. If you have a panther or tiger you can put it on the heights and dominate the battlefield. If you have a TD like a marder you should fight from cover and retreat immediately.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

Don't forget that lazy / concentrated tactics that work well against the AI may not work against a human that can react and probably anticipates your moves. And use combined arms!

[Splinty]

Combined arms and cover and concealment are the only way to go in these games.

[Falcon988]

Depends on the terrain and enemy forces. You need to do reconaissance. For the most part I like to probe their defenses and see what's what. If it's an infantry stronghold you bring in your heavy guns to kill them. If they have armor it's necessary to defeat your opponent's armor while keeping enough of yours alive to continue the attack. If they have anti-tank guns I use smoke with mortars. You could wait a few turns to kill them with HE from those mortars but only 81mm's can do that quickly and I find it better to keep them under smoke until infantry can close with and destroy.

Essentially the idea is a methodical but quick advance. Infantry running forward and resting at intervals. Machine guns and mortars on the high ground with good LOS on our objectives. Tanks in the rear ready to engage enemy tanks, provide smoke, or blast infantry with HE. That sort of thing. Some air support would be nice, but you can't count on it.

[Berlichtingen]

Originally posted by Retigade:

I allways send some tank/Panzer before any of my infantry get`s green light to attack because who wouldn`t wanna use infantry against enemy infantry. whit my strategy i havent ever losed more than 3Panzer and 3infantry sqd.

but tell me if you have better strategys...

What you describe is a tactic, not a strategy.

[sugafudahuh]

so then whats a real good allround strategy, thats simple and user friendly, quick to implement and flexible?

[Sergei]

My usual tactic involves getting my men mowed down and my tanks set afire while the enemies hardly get a scratch.

Wait, that's not a tactic either...

[flamingknives]

A good basic tactic is the refused flank. On one flank, you have hard hitting, and possibly fast, units that attack at a very concentrated point. The other flank is held by minimal forces whose job is to hold ground and restrict the mobility of any enemy opposite them, so your opponent cannot move them oppose the main force strike on the other flank.

This tactic isn't so effective on a modern battlefield or where you are attacking a reverse slope defence (your enemy can move troops behind the ridge and you cannot interfere.) Also, if your opponent hasn't deployed across the field, it becomes more of a schwerpunkt attack.

[xerxes]

Convince your opponent to make force selection "unrestricted" and quality "unrestricted". Buy a ton of conscript big caliber FOs and bomb your opponent into submission.

It does make a nice looking movie.

Oh yeah, forget about flags, you'll win on kill points.

[FM Paul Heinrik]

Originally posted by xerxes:

Convince your opponent to make force selection "unrestricted" and quality "unrestricted". Buy a ton of conscript big caliber FOs and bomb your opponent into submission.

It does make a nice looking movie.

Oh yeah, forget about flags, you'll win on kill points.

I've done that against the AI on QB using a small map execpt I set very high pts and selected crack quality FOs. I'm on defense and AI had infantry only. The resulting prep barrage was very entertaining. Whole battalions disappeared.

[JasonC]

My favorite attack is creeping infantry. I also sometimes use a reasonably fast infantry column on one wing.

A point platoon goes first, occasionally a deception platoon as well to create multiple sightings. Infantry using "advance" to cross open areas, a few moving at a time, staggered movement times. The first five minutes are usually spent with these guys creeping close enough to see things and/or draw MG fire. All my tanks are hiding in full defilade, guns and FOs quiet.

Minutes 6 to 10 are typically the approach proper. The main body of the infantry attempts to close to within about 200m of the enemy position - 100m in favorable spots. In the case of a column attack on one wing, this goes in pretty fast with many units upright and using "advance" simultaneously.

In that case, pre-planned arty may also be falling ahead of them during the 6-10 minutes window. (If not, FOs have counted down to 1 minute and are displacing their aim point every other turn to keep a barrage a few minutes out).

Tanks still usually hidden, guns FOs and heavy weapons overwatching. Sometimes some of the tanks will show themselves, to overwatch the column, or even (if large HE load varieties) fire an "area fire" recon by fire shoot just ahead of the infantry.

If it is not a wing attack the infantry goes a bit slower, on a broader front. They creep from cover to cover, with only a half platoon or so in the open at any given time, in any given area of the map. This can stretch the approach to 15 minutes.

Often the defender tosses some light HE at me in this long approach. Very clever of him, to hit me with FOs and so stay hidden. But I'd much rather take all his HE before I'm really in contact and with plenty of time to rally from it, than while in the middle of the critical firefight. I absorb his ammo, a few revealed guns or MGs or snipers. As long as I don't bunch up, the infantry barely gets its hair mussed in all this, and a few minutes of rally are all they need.

Once my infantry makes contact the fight typically escalates naturally. He pulls out various weapons to mess them up, my heavy weapons try to mess those up, his tanks pop out to kill heavy weapons, my tanks go after his tanks. Stuff exchanges off. By minute 15-20, something is left. If I did OK in the heavy and armor war exchange, I've got enough infantry left and something to support it and eat what is left of his position.

The thing that makes this hard for the defender is he needs something that does lasting damage to the infantry. He can pin bits and pieces but not all of it. He can hurt platoons by expending ammo or weapons, but I pay him back by trading off those weapons and he can't keep it up indefinitely. By minute 20 he rarely has the assets left to continue, unless he does very well in the armor war exchange (like, just about all mine gone and his still alive).

[Akula2]

[ August 29, 2004, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

[Akula2]

Where the heck is the delete button?!!

Wrong thread ... sorry folks.