High Casualties . . .

[Dweezil44]

In my PBEM games (in partiuclar), I notice I have problems keeping my units somewhat intact. They tend to have 60+% casualties (based on sheer manpower losses).

This obviously affects the level of victory dramatically. Unless I can get my opponent to surrender or autosurrender, it is very hard to rise above a marginal victory.

So what do you guys do to protect your troops and lessen losses?

Dweezil

[Redwolf]

What you see is in fact one of the major problems for a very good player when he partitipates in ladders or exact-scoring tournaments: it is very hard to get an overwhelming victory with the few flags on typical CMBO maps, both from designed scenarios and from the quickbattle generator.

Certain victory in CMBO requires heavy use of infantry, and then you are vulnerable to artillery. If you can bring a tank/vehicle force through unscattered it is optimal, but that is very unlikely, vehicle forces are too fragile.

I think what you can do is:

1) Assuming you need the infantry-heavy force: if you are thinking about the amount of infantry versus ary to get, keep in mind that spotters place very few knockout points for the opponent on the map.

2) kill his spotters and/or HE-intensive vehicles. For anti-artillery tactics see http://thforums.com/CMBO/ Killing the high-HE vehicles can be done by some breakthrough with tanks or TDs, or by 37mm flak guns (towed or Ostwind).

3) Get the flags and keep combat low. If you sit on the flags with no combat losses (not matter how much you inflicted), you get 100%. You might try to rush the flags in a ME and defend very carefully to keep the opponent off. Remember that if there are no losses in your force, you win 100% even if you sit on flag and all others are neutral. Of course, that can backfire if you miscalculate.

Overall, I think the decisive issue here is fire superiority, luck and robustness, in that order.

Killing or otherwise neutralizing his spotters is an important first step.

Fire superiority means e.g. the Ostwind. It high ROF and extreme hit probability give it a very high chance to dominate a piece of real estate to the point where noone fires back often enough to threaten it. Also very useful againt spotters. Long-range infantry like Fallschirmjaeger, Panzergrenadier or US rifle might be good if you want to sit on flags and just keep the opponent away. A Jagdpanther is obviously nice, but if your goal is winning at highest ratio, the point here is -again- not so much its ability to kill, but the fact that noone will move through its field of fire. So by extension any 17pdr armed vehicle can do a similar trick. The small recoiless rifles are an important aspect in fire superiority as well. They are cheap and they can do long-range AT shots immedeately after they drop out of a transport. Very useful to close approach routes.

I don't believe that just robustness as in Jumbos, thick Churchills and Pillboxes will do much good. If you dominate the terrain, fine, but using a force composed of these you may even lose the game when you have a bit of bad luck, no matter how much better you are than the opponent.

The only heavy tank I believe in is the King Tiger, it is robust to a degree where it has a realistic chance of survival even with bad luck and some screwups. Much more so that the Jagdtiger which is much more prone to get gun damage, and has insufficient rate of fire and self-defense (MGs) to start from.

[PiggDogg]

What does one do to protect his troops from losses?

Duh, . The flip answer is: one does not expose his men to enemy fire.

Less flip answer:

Concentrate one's forces to get local firepower superiority. In short, shoot at one enemy squad with everyone who can hit that enemy squad.

Where one is out firepowered, get those outfirepowered squads out of the enemy's LOS and firepower and shield them from the enemy firepower. Manuver those squads to a position where they can contribute to the local firepower superiority but be shielded from the bulk of the enemy firepower.

Also, use big arty and tank guns to kill the enemy.

Cheers, Richard

[Olle Petersson]

Originally posted by redwolf:

... the Jagdtiger which is much more prone to get gun damage, and has insufficient rate of fire and self-defense (MGs) to start from.

I think I have found a perfect use for JTs;

Sitting ducks in very visible positions way off to the rear of the map.

- They have long enough range to be a threat to anything at that distance.

- At long range the enemy has trouble hitting it back.

- Even when the gun is useless (due to damage or ammo depletion) the JT will be a bullet magnet, drawing attention from the lighter mobile forces ahead while depleting the enemies ammo.

Cheers

Olle

[Burma Doc]

On defend with Axis keep close control with hq to allow faster response to conditions, also put lower firepower or less experienced units out to make contact.On attack same thing except I have found you can spread out in a line sideways better than a single file advance. I also try to not put in too many movements that will go long into the next turn. Use withdraw rather than sneak or crawl to get out of a bad spot. With Allies they seem to be better using flanking movements and using 1 squad to cover fire and move 2 up. I suggest playing Grafenwar training for infantry tactics you really have to use los and movements carefully.

[Thermopylae]

Keeping Casualties Low on The Attack:

Do not fall into the pattern of "Find enemy position, assualt." Even with a full company versus one entrenched platoon, a hasty assualt meant to win by weight of numbers will leave you badly cut up. Close assualting is the final step, meant to be a mop up, not what wins the battle. 4 minutes of rifle fire by superior forces is enough to, within most reasonable ranges, increase your assualt teams' survival chances greatly. Add support weapons, 4 minutes of fire is enough to make a close assualt a fairly sure run thing, or maybe even enought o drive off the enemy entirely. Also, if you can, attack with a platoon or two that have not been in the firefight. More Firepower, Less supressed troop = more likely to cross the ground = less likely to get buthcered in the open.

On the defense:

Deep Fires. MGs, Mortars, arty, AT assets are all there to break up the attacker before he finds your MLR. These then attract more assets towards them, and away from your frontline combat troops, all the while sapping the enemy's strength. Also, don't be afraid to give ground or even the odd minor flag. For the attacker to win, he needs to take virtually all of the flags. If you concentrate on defending only 2/3s of the flags, preferably those with good defensive terrain, your force concentration goes up and so do the survival chances of your men. Meanwhile, above mentioned deep fires make advancing up the "Open" avenue towards minor flag a hassle, calling down a greater effort by the enemy would be thought necessary. A pair of MG42s, for instance, can shoot up the recon forces, and slow up the assualt.

[jjelinek]

Every situation is different so most advice is kind of general but a few sound principals can help maintain consistancy.

Try to maintain unit integrity. By this I mean keeping all of the squads and support weapons of a platoon under comand of their platoon leader. Avoid mixing squads from different platoons unless your really in a jam. This applies to the platoon, company, battalion levels on up.

When planning your actions think in thirds. Use 1/3rd or 2/3rds of your resources for suppression fire and 1/3rd or 2/3rd for movement. 1/3rd up and 2/3rds back or vise versa. Military units are often made up of groups of 3s. 3 squads to a platoon, 3 platoons to a company and so on.

Use mutually supporting and interlocking fields of fire for your units.

And while it can be good to mass your firepower there is always something to be said for a smaller unit attacking your opponents flank or rear to tie up some of his resources. Units attacking from the rear are often two or three times more effective than from in front.

While infantry and armour is the bread and butter learn how to most effectively use every type of support weapon, mortors, machine guns, smoke, etc. Never underestimate what even a seemingly small amount of firepower at the right time and place can do even if it's just supressing some of the enemys fire power or hindering free movement.

Like I said battles are like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same. You just have to use sound principals and adapt them to the situation.