Infantry Tactics

[Cuirassier]

I am new to BATTLEFRONT online, though i have owned, and have been playing, CMBB for some time. I would like to hear some commonly used tactics for a Battalion sized combined arms force on open ground and in terrain with lots of cover and broken lines of sight. Where could I purchase books written by Rommel or Achtung Panzer by Guderian as well? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[imported_no_one]

Look through all the archived forum postings dating all the way back to '99.There are tons of good tips and such in those.

JasonC has done numerous tutorials around here;you could do a search for some of those.

Search the net for actual military doctorine.You will find that their practical application works pretty well.

Learn for yourself through experimentation.That is the best way you will learn,and you may even figure out a better way of doing it,instead of learning to imitate someone else.

Good luck,have fun!

[Cuirassier]

Thanks a lot. I'll experiement and develop my own tactics, though refer to others when I must. Also, what do I need to do to play some PBEM games. I have never played against another human, and I think that would be good practice as well.

[imported_no_one]

Originally posted by Cuirassier:

Thanks a lot. I'll experiement and develop my own tactics, though refer to others when I must. Also, what do I need to do to play some PBEM games. I have never played against another human, and I think that would be good practice as well.

Well,I explained precisely how you setup multiplayer games in this thread,just the other day.

And,to find an opponent you can go into the opponent finder forum here.Or,you could try here(this place is great for new scenarios and such also).

There is also the Peng and Waffle threads,but you may want to get some playing experience first

Multiplayer CM is great.I guarantee that you will enjoy it,as well as,learn a great deal from it Just make sure to play with your growlie face( :mad: ) on

[Cuirassier]

Thanks for the help again! I can't wait to find a human player to fight. I will probably recieve a drubbing first time around, but that is how you learn I guess. Thanks again!

[Vixen]

I'm still too chicken to play anyone.

[imported_no_one]

Originally posted by Cuirassier:

I will probably recieve a drubbing first time around, but that is how you learn I guess. Thanks again!

Depending upon how good you are,and how good your opponent(s)are,it may take a few battles before you can hold your own.But,it will get better.Just don't give up.Always try and challenge yourself as much as possible.

Maybe you and Vixen could play.You are really missing out,Vixen

[Vixen]

Yeah...I know. Just shy I guess.

[JasonC]

On the subject of books, Guderian really doesn't discuss tactics at the level relevant for CM. Rommel does, not in a WW II context but in his book about his WW I infantry experiences, "Infantry Attacks". That is a pretty good book, though most of the stuff in it is well known these days. (Covering fire, fire and movement, the importance of suppression to restrict enemy observation, etc).

Many of the most useful tactics date to WW I anyway. Examples are reinforce local success rather than failure, attack in depth with scouts leading, designed to blind specific portions of the enemy defense before the main body moves over that route, deal with the threat of enemy fire by "packet movement" (sending only a few at a time from cover to cover, most stationary and therefore not exposed, at any one time), defeat thin forces with concentrated maneuver units and thick ones with artillery instead, attack with infantry immediately behind a barrage, that fire dominance takes ground rather than sending bodies - bodies hold stuff, the strength of a tactically defensive posture (stationary, in cover, firing), many on few engagement (a platoon against a squad, a company against a platoon), escalation counters (spending reserves as needed to beat whatever appears, quickly).

What is added in WW II is mostly a more elaborate set of combined arms to counter each other, essentially a whole separate "armor war" as the top of the escalation chain. It is more important to use weapons or unit types for the things they are specifically good at, the things they can hurt without getting hurt themselves e.g. Instead of putting your As up against his As and "exchanging off", you want paper to his rocks and rocks to his scissors etc.

What are those relationships, at the CM scale? Hidden guns kill tanks. Mortars kill spotted guns. To spot things you have to get somebody close, usually infantry. Stealthy shooters with good range can pin them before they get close - heavy machineguns, snipers, light Flak, hidden mortars or artillery FOs. Such light stuff can't hurt real armor, though. And around we go.

Then there are specific target relationships, like which AT gun can kill which tank, does it need a side shot or to be under range X? Direct fire, flat trajectory HE deals with men in buildings better than mortars or off map artillery. Mortars and off map artillery will get "tree bursts" against infantry in woods, making them more effective against those. Mortars or direct HE are effective against trenches, off map stuff isn't accurate enough. Direct HE has trouble with stuff right behind a slope, mortars and FOs don't.

Infantry can kill other infantry cheaply if it catches them in the open under 100 yards, or if it can wade into them while they are cowering from prior fire. Otherwise, if close they tend to exchange off bloodily, and run out of ammo just keeping each other's heads down if the range is too long. Higher quality infantry handled well to get "many on few" match ups against just the forward crust of the enemy, can roll through equal numbers of enemy in tight terrain (woods interiors, inside a factory e.g.) Infantry can even kill armor at around 30m range, from ambush, but is hopeless if the tanks can stand off at even 100m in open ground, and have functioning (with ammo) MGs.

A lot of these details are things common sense might suggest. Some of them are specific to CM and you just have to learn them.

You will find the basic story is usually trying to "disarticulate" an enemy force, in the sense of picking apart its mutually supporting weapon types, more than wiping every last unit. Once articulation is gone, you can use everybody for the thing they are best at, and rack up lopsided local win after lopsided local win. But beforehand, it is hard.

An integrated defense has a counter for every move, and any single thing you try can fail. Send infantry, MGs pin them and you can't see them. Send tanks and ATGs you hadn't spotted yet blow them up. Send shells while still far away and you have to hit everything, and the enemy rallies too fast, before you can follow it up from so far away. A few MGs slow you down.

There are various ways around that, all of which turn on eventually disarticulating the enemy defense - so your mortars, not your tanks, fight his guns; and your tanks, not your infantry, fight his machineguns. They have different ways of getting there. Feints, speed, an expensive exchange-off attack to get close enough in one area, a cleverly timed prep barrage.

My favorite is the stubborn infantry attack. Which works by outlasting the enemy rather than razzle dazzle. You absorb the enemy fire while still at range, rally through it, and gradually but stubbornly accumulate in cover near his positions. Meanwhile all your own ranged weapons ("overwatch" - tanks, guns, mortars, FOs, etc) blow up anything spotted. Each individual unit he can pin or break, but he doesn't have the firepower to break whole companies at 400 yards. If he uses only a few stealthy shooters, you just take the pain and close in. If he fires with everything he has, your infantry stops while still at range, and your overwatch cuts his shooters down before they proceed.

On defense, a different approach is the reverse slope defense, where instead of trying to keep the enemy at a distance, you want the opening range to your nearest units to be nearly point-blank, but only a few of the attackers to be across some LOS blocking feature (like a crest), so your whole defense clobbers a few of them at a time. Or you can build a defense out of local traps - a minefield here, a TRP for artillery there, a cul-de-sac here from wire across the last bit of cover on an otherwise promising route, etc.

I hope this helps.

[Cuirassier]

That was more than sufficient information JasonC. Your tactics and knowledge of small unit actions is excellent. I'm sure this information will go along way if I can find the common sense to use it. I will also read some of your old posts. Thanks!

[RockinHarry]

Guderian wrote a book (finished by Oskar Munzel after Guderians death in 1954) named "Panzer Marsch!". Don´t know whether this had ever been translated and published in english (or other) language since, but it fits Combat Mission scale just right! Have mine from ebay and beside Jentz Panzertruppen is the best "Tank combat tactics" stuff I have! :cool:

Just arrived from online purchase: "Panzerkampfwagenbuch" (armored fighting vehicle book), an original german tank training manual from 1941 that deals mainly with single tank and tank platoon tactics and general combat tactics. Experiences from Poland and France campaign are already assimilated into this precious little book (93 pages). Great stuff! :cool:

During the late 30ies Rommel wrote a little training book named "Aufgaben für Zug und Kompanie" (exercises for platoon and company), but that deals with infantry stuff only. Still looking for that one.

Free online stuff that is of good use to improve ones CM skills, would be "Handbook on german forces TM 30-410" available here (downlaod all 3):

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usamhi/DL/chron.htm

That ebook contains lots of stuff translated from original german tactics books and field regulations (some that I owe in original).

Also to recommend, the "Combat Lessons Pamphlets" from same website, this time from US army point of view.

The great thing about the Combat Mission game is that the real world tactics explained in those books really work most of the time (fire and movement, proper use of terrain, proper employment of support weapons ect.) Too bad the AI knows little about all that.

[ng cavscout]

Currasier and Vixen, I am what I would call an Intermediate level player, if either or both of you would be interested in a PBEM game, I would be game, my email is in my profile. Just email me, either with a set up or I can pick one if you prefer. If not, no problem.