Attacking Set up Hints

[General Bolt]

So far I've played mostly scenarios and I mostly start my units where te designer put them. Now I'm playing more QBs.

Does any have any suggestions on how to setup?

What do ya'll do survey the battlefield before the start of a battle?

I can mostly handle defense setups - look for long fields of fire when your dudes are in the cover of woods, buildings, or terrain slopes.

Its offensive setups I'm having trouble with!

[mikeadams]

Look at the terrain as the defender and ask where you would most hate to see an attacker coming at you

[Eric Alkema]

Originally posted by mikeadams:

Look at the terrain as the defender and ask where you would most hate to see an attacker coming at you

Bearing in mind, of course, that the defender is likely to put some emphasis on defending that most inconvenient route.

Assuming, of course, that you and the defender agree on the ideal attack route.

[MikeyD]

Also, look at the terrain as the defender as to where he'd most LOVE to see you coming from! ...and don't pick that route.

AND try to start out your artillery spotter w officer in command within LOS of the objective if you can (in cover, of course) just in case you want to try an opening move bombardment first turn.

And don't try to move spotters using land lines (no radio) via truck!

[ August 08, 2003, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: MikeyD ]

[SgtMuhammed]

Try to use cover to give you time to develope the battlefield. Of course this is not always possible but it usually pays off. Scout around. Pick a good looking route and mass there. Don't dilute your effort or you will not be able to achieve a decisive breakthrough.

On the other hand, if it is not possible to make a good approach march you might consider massing as close as you can at a single point and hitting as hard as you can. This is an all or nothing approach but often there just isn't any choice. In such cases you often have to hope for that lucky shot that turns the tide. Of course a good plan often produces its share of luck.

It also helps if you can detach a force as a diversion/flank attack. If you can give it enough firepower to fool your opponent into thinking it could be your main attack it will hamper his ability to react decisively to your real attack and may catch forces in the process of shifting fronts.

[Other Means]

i'm still new to this so take this advice at your peril.

i'm begining to think this of like this:

the defender is all about time, the attacker is all about space.

to amplify & avoid talking like i'm in marketing:

when you're the defender, you don't need to hold out forever. you need to delay the attacker just enough so he doesn't get to the objectives in time.

as the attacker you get to be more mobile & to choose where the attacks go in. most of the time, when you've got past the main line of resistance (MLR) you can then attack his rear areas without too much bother.

i try to attack by finding various areas on the map which i can dominate with ranged weapons without exposing myself then move forces into. then use that area to dominate the next.

i wrote this in another thread

i like to get keyholed LOS and dominate an area with HE, then move my scout armour into that area. moving radially i expose my armour to pre defined LOS where the enemy has 1 or 2 decent AT gun placement areas. this is all behind my infantry screen which has been able to advance into the dominated area only taking fire from one flank as the area they are going into is suppressed. get your on board mortars to LOS of the AT positions & you can time your off board to hit his AT guns as they uncover to get your scouts. leave your on board unassigned with covered arcs to the areas where his guns could be. you can work your way around the map exposing your scouts for 20 secs at a time.

[ August 08, 2003, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Other Means ]

[manchildstein (ii)]

the heavy weapons are important. these include machineguns, mortars, cannons (art, at, aa), and the afv (armored fighting vehicle) weapons.

if i have panzergrenadier squads i'll split each platoon's squads then put the sections with smgs out front and keep the mg sections back. the platoon hqs will stay with the 3mg sections of their respective platoons.

the heavy weapons will be set up further back.

so from front to back the formation is basically:

--------will move forward:

half squads with smgs

company hq

half squads with lmgs

platoon hqs

--------will overwatch:

heavy weapons

afvs

then the squads' smgs will go forward and if they make contact, hopefully the other units behind them can 'get the drop' on whatever units your opponent has firing.

regarding the squads with 2-mg sections; the 3 of these per platoon represent 6 mgs. combined these can put up over 300 firepower in the right circumstances - each section still has 2 mgs and all of the 3 sections are inside 100 meters or so. these squad-level lmgs can project about 50 firepower apiece out to several hundred meters.

ideally the smg half-squads will close to within 30 meters while the mg half-squads stay outside of 40 meters; and on top of that will be the fire of the heavy weapons from their - hopefully well chosen - overwatch positions.

however you carry out your attack, with half squads or full, you may need to bring your heavy weapons forward.

once you have won a piece of ground with your squads, that same ground overwatched by your heavy weapons and with no incoming hostile fire; move the heavy weapons forward to roughly the same positions as the leading infantry.

then from there you set up your heavy weapons in new overwatch positions and send your squads out to take over another piece of ground.

the movement of infantry platoons forward; taking some ground; then waiting while the heavy weapons move up; then the infantry platoons moving foward to take some ground again is, overall sort of like an 'inchworm' movement.

an actual 'bounding' occurs between the squads or sections of the manuever elements (infantry platoons). i find that even with split squads, the squad mg sections often find themselves in the lead.

ideally though the smg half-squads stay in the lead and close to within 30 meters while the mg half-squads stay outside of 40 meters; and on top of that is the supporting fire of the heavy weapons from their - hopefully well chosen - overwatch positions.

when a lead infantry 'squad' platoon makes contact, having an mg or other heavy weapon in good position to participate in ensuing firefight is a lot better than having to move the thing and suffer through the chance of being hit while changing position, and the penalty of having to set-up the weapon in its new position. so having the heavy weapons in good positions at the start of each firefight is a good thing. from out front the infantry squads - even with 2 lmgs - need the firepower of the heavy weapons behind them. another reason for this is that the squad elements will run out of ammo more quickly than the heavy weapons.

it's often the heavy weapons which decide the outcome. the lead (squad) elements are simply out front finding targets for the heavy weapons in overwatch.

one thing to watch out for when attacking is concentrating your units too closely together. this can result in getting hit with some nasty artillery barrages.

depending on your opponent's artillery plan, you might only be able to occupy a given area for a few minutes before needing to move again.

so the main thing is to, as you attack forward 'get the drop' on whatever the defense throws at you in the way of 'direct fire.' if you can 'win' each engagement within the greater battle and still have ammo to spare, and avoid getting hit by disastrous artillery barrages, you can have a successful attack.