Ambush Scenario - how to win ??

[foamy]

This might be a spoiler - unless you have played "Ambush" in CMAK

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Anyone have any pointers on how to beat or even draw as allies against AI in this scenario??

Each time I play the battle turns into a one-sided tank battle with the superior Axis machines popping up in large numbers and killing Allied machines at will.

The carriers and troops given to Allies don't even get a chance to fight against these Axis monsters -at least not in my 4 or 5 attempts.

Thanks from a "Very Slow-Learner"

[Lucho]

I played it as Germans and had a hard time against the hordes of british 2pders and those nasty Grants. I suggest you use your Valentines first until the Grants arrive. Keep tight together with infantry as your eyes behind this central hill and use scout cars and the agile carriers to recon your flanks.

[johnnymo]

I got a 60/40 draw as Germans by breaking my initial force into 3 groups, attaching a 'recon' tank to each. I used the recon to fast-move for each flag, trying to find where the enemy was hidden around the flags. The other two tanks in each group were 'hunted' into potential hull-down positions overlooking the flags (and beyond).

Once the enemy appeared and I realized how deadly they were, I did quite a bit of 'shoot-and-scoot', then went on the defensive and tried to set up ambushes to catch them as they moved forward to the flags. Mostly, these failed.

When the halftracks and better-gunned Panzers arrived, I sent the halftracks toward the main hill on the right to offload the infantry, which later moved up the hill (but didn't crest it until near the endgame). I sent one Panzer to help with the far left flag (they were in serious trouble over there, one tank knocked out and the recon tank gun-damaged). The others I fast-moved around the right flank to get some good angles/side shots. I also moved the AT gun up the center road and found it a decent (but as it turned out over-exposed) firing spot left of the road to overlook the two flags on that side.

The flanking manuever worked very well, I was able to get multiple side shots with my good armor and knocked out a good number of the Allied tanks; had their aim been better I think I would have gotten a Minor Victory. However I also lost a couple of my initial force tanks since I got greedy and tried to pincer with them, by going right over the top. Not a good idea against Allied armor that has fast turrets and high kill probabilities.

When my final reinforcements arrived on the left, I did a poor job with them. The Marders knocked out a couple Stuarts but got killed way too quickly. Even though I kept them back in what I considered 'defensive' positions, I should have found them some hulldown positions to fire from; the Stuarts especially are too fast, and they were more accurate than my Marder crews. The captured tanks spent most of their time throwing smoke (grrrrr) instead of firing.

Once I lost the second Marder I decided discretion was the better part of valor and asked for a ceasefire. 2-3 turns later, after the computer realized his forces left of the road (that's my left, his right) were flanked, he also declared a ceasefire. Had he moved forward en masse he would have overrun me and taken those two flags.

Don't remember the final tally, but I ended up with the two right flags, the left flag was uncontrolled. I'd lost about half of my total forces, while I think the computer lost a little more than half.

Oh how I love this game!