QBs in Africa -any way to make them more interesting?

[Dmitri]

Hi all

I've been a CM addict for a long time, mainly playing medium sized meeting engagments via

TCP vs friends of mine. CMAK has renewed my interest in the series. I've had some great time

playing some online QBs in the italian theatre

and lately I tried some desert battles as well.

Unfortunately north africa maps dont come out as interesting as I had hoped for and end up usually

in tank duels without infantry engagments. The only way I found so far to make these maps more infantry friendly, without removing tanks at all,

is to set the map generator to Large town and Heavy trees, thus providing some cover for infantry maneuvers and close firefights.

Otherwise, the guy with the most hills and some rough terrain to his side is usually the dominant

of the battle.

So, what about you QB fellas? Any of you playing

North Africa at all? If so, what are the map settings and force selections you chose to make things more interesting?

I really hope that some challenging pre-made desert maps will soon appear on the net created by the many talented designers out there. When it comes to QBs they realy dont need to be 100% historically accurate. Some interesting terrain features here and there and sensibly placed victory objectives are quite enough ingredients for a gripping fight imo.

Cheers

[Nero's Cat]

I second the above - have been having similar problems myself - am interested to hear what settings other people are playing North Africa on

[DevilDog]

Haven't had time to play much lately, but from Rommel's books that I'm currently reading it sounds like your compaints are actually historicly accurate. He said fixed infantry positions were usually not very useful and the battles usually were decided by mobile tank forces.

Whether or not "historicaly accurate" = "really fun" may be another matter of course.

[Redwolf]

Play at nighttime or in sandstorms.

That's the realistic timeframe to get infantry involved.

[Slappy]

Set to 'Italy'. That's what I do, and it's way more fun.

[dieseltaylor]

Consider mortars etc to give smoke cover to enable your forces to get into position. I play a lot of QB's with 2000+ points and lots of people suffer because they are not tooled up to get across ground. You could also consider planes..

[xerxes]

Redwolf has a good, and historic point. Many British offensives were started at night with infantry making the first moves.

[Mark Gallear]

Try all armoured encounters or one side defending.

[Ansbach]

When playing in North Africa I try to add more of the infantry manuevering aspect buy using the largest map size, relatively small forces, and then purchasing the transport for the infantry - even if it's just some extra trucks.

Manuevering the infantry into position is always an interesting early challenge of the battles.

[Tigrii]

Since early tanks don't have very infantry-deadly guns, moving infantry in a skirmish line supported by a firebase on your rough hill works fairly well. Machine-gunned infantry pins, but they eventually get up and keep moving. It's harder once you get close, though, and then you need smoke (also, driving vehicles back and forth can create "smokescreens"). Another thing to keep in mind is that even a slight dip that you can hide your infantry in is great cover. You don't always need woods and such.

[REVS]

I'm enjoying the North African games, although it'd be nice if the Allies actually got some artillery in the 1000pt games in the earlier parts of the war!

I've stuck to the village maps, with the tree cover set to heavy and the damage to medium or more, to increase the number of craters and rubbled buildings to provide good playable infantry cover.

Smoke is extremely important, so you'll need to have a plan of where you're going, lay down smoke to cover the area beforehand, and move decisively.

Also, try to use minor vehicles to run around creating diversionary clouds of dust to confuse your opponent, to draw off fire and keep him guessing (eg, I use scout cars or bren carriers for this; they're pretty hopeless at standing and fighting in most cases.)

Also, though the maps are bare at first glance, there are lots of little dips and hollows in the terrain if you check it out closely, especially when you set the hills to medium or large.

I agree that it's much harder in CMAK, but it's worth persisting with.

[British Tommy]

Have you tried HERE for desert maps?

Lots of good comments from the guys about the terrain.Drop down to ground level and look around! You will spot the dips and rises in the terrain.A big map is a must for desert battles and if you add sand storms(fog) you will have a superb battle on your hands (just realised I'm repeating what the other guys have already said!) AND your Bren carriers and portees will last longer!

Also think about having several mortar groups as artillery will be very limited due to LOS.

And don't forget about the AT guns...vital in the desert!! :cool: