tactical retreats

[newlife]

Hi,

This is something I've been experimenting with lately. I'll move a few units into a position (usually a plt) I'll make contact and then withdraw quickly (provided the troops have a safe route out). So far, it seems to be working. Usually the enemy will move up units to hit the position i just vacated alowing me to locate several of his units. Plus, i seem to be getting hit by far less arty. Many arty strikes have been hitting vacated positions.

After I retreat and the enemy moves his units forward, I call in my own Arty down on his positions and then try to outflank him. The technique also seems to allow my men the advantage of fighting from preferable locations. As the enemy comes in, the eventually hit my real line of men who have chosen good cover and the situation is to my advantage. It also helps with keeping AFVs alive as you can have them setup in fairly safe spots with views towards the expected enemy advance. Since they're not moving towards the enemy its more difficult for the enemy to surprise them and get flank shots (though not impossible of course).

I've been using this tactic in town MEs, usually with restricted sight lines due to terrain or weather (one game had thick fog).

For what it's worth...

Pete

[tenfive2]

You're right. It works great!

[Redwolf]

Yepp. Managing retreat, both your own and the opponents should take more thought.

For example, I frequenty play people who are very good on infantry, and hence artillery. They bounce their infantry forth and back like rubber balls, strinking against outer units of mine in force, then retreating before I can hit them with artillery or long-range tank fire. If I would try to pursue, I would screw up my carefully built formation (which is critical when playing infantry freaks). Besides, just as you say, you would push into territory that the opponent controlled all along and may have (virtually) mined big time. It is usually preferrable to follow your plan, not the opponent's one :cool:

There are a number of dirty (read: tactically sound) measures against this. The first that comes to mind is that the opponent heavily relies on the "withdraw" command in CMBO. Especially in a metting engagement, this means several things for you. When making your overall plan, especially with a vehicle-heavy force, you can work to "turn" the battlefield, attacking left-right along the front so that the withdraw command doesn't work away from your units anymore and/or that you can cover the retreat paths with fire. This is especially worthwhile when the opponent's units have been hit lightly, and -while not entirely suppressed- suffer from long delays on all other movement commands. A small mortar FO, even firing the wide pattern, can work wonders here.

Another issue with these hit-and-run tactics is that AT teams, especially the German ones, usually cannot keep the pace, so you meet infantry that is light on AT defense. A flamethrower vehicle is a bad surprise when they stick their nose out.

[newlife]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Redwolf, your comments about this being a common tactic for infantry heavy forces got me thinking about that.

I have been using this with either all infantry or mostly infantry forces. I've been trying to decide whether the tactic can be used with more combined arms or not. At first glance, I don't see why it shouldn't be. But then I remembered how I've dealt with AFV heavy forces in the past, which is mainly to maximize my edge in infantry and concentrate on taking out his infantry while doing my best to avoid his AFVs. That tactic has generally worked fairly well since as soon as the infanry is removed the AFVs are much easier to pick off. That said, can a AFV heavy force afford to use a tactic which will risk it's infantry to a greater extent.

So then I thought, what about moving up armor elements with the initial elements. This would expose the forward AFV elements more, but risk could be managed depending upon specific terrain elements and approaches. I think the bigger drawback would be the sound contact giveaway. Usually when I see a sound contact I have a fair idea of where the screening infantry force should be and can act accordingly.

hmm

My other question is concerns force selection. I've been using regulars, but obviously veterens would be much more valuable in this role considering their better responce times. But is it worth the extra cost?

Thanks Pillar for the Fort Polk reference. I really like the flanking aspect of the whole exercise. One of my QB ME's I ended up getting behind my opponet and surrounding him on three sides, cutting him off from his own retreat lanes.

God I love fog.

Pete

[Monty's Double]

Are you using this technique against the AI or humans? In my experience the AI is very reactive, especially with artillery, whereas human opponents are often better at predicting where you'll be a couple of turns hence. When I used to play mainly against the AI I found static defences usually worked fine, but playing more TCP and email games against fleshies has taught me the value of mobility in both attack and defence. Feel free to send me a set up and try out your tactics on me. I have my Peng innoculations and can send a copy of the certifcate if necessary.

Jim

[newlife]

Originally posted by Monty's Double:

Are you using this technique against the AI or humans? In my experience the AI is very reactive, especially with artillery, whereas human opponents are often better at predicting where you'll be a couple of turns hence. When I used to play mainly against the AI I found static defences usually worked fine, but playing more TCP and email games against fleshies has taught me the value of mobility in both attack and defence. Feel free to send me a set up and try out your tactics on me. I have my Peng innoculations and can send a copy of the certifcate if necessary.

Jim

I've been playing versus random people from the CMHQ chat room, so I have no idea of their experience before I play them. Afterwards, I would guess from gameplay that they would be roughly around my own experience level (I am currently in the second round of the newbie rejects tourney, to give you an idea of my level)

Versus the AI I find it never dumps arty on speculation, where I think most of the arty hits I refer to above were from guessing where I should be, or at least where I was. In some cases the arty came down the same turn my men left. Boy was I glad I kept them moving.

I would love to play you, but I've found it better for me personally to play TCP/IP cause I can't consitantly get turns off PBEM every day. So if you would like to TCP/IP sometime, send me an email.

olandt@mac.com

Thanks

Pete

[Monty's Double]

What timezone are you in?

Jim