Infantry in melee

[Zarquon]

What's the best way to attack in close combat? I know about suppression but sometimes you just stumble upon somebody in the woods or you don't have the time/resources to suppress that squad/machine gun properly before going hand-to-hand. Is it worth to split the squad, one half squad going in and the other firing?

Is it better to attack a machine gun sitting in a foxhole by moving directly on top of it or to move into grenade range, say 10-20m, and fire?

[Gaylord Focker]

If at all possible it's better to surpress the machinegun before moving in to take it out. Swarm tactics on machine guns work all to well, wich thankfully will be fixed in CMBB.

One way to counter this simply is to take more machine guns and support them better, they still make difficult targets.

You failed to mention what kind squads you were talking about to engage in close combat.

A basic rule of thumb is to have more fire power then your enemy at the place of attack.

[Olle Petersson]

A simple test I did some time ago showed that in melee one on one squad, then splitting the squad and set up crossfire is better.

Then the full squad (opponent) will be supressed most of the time.

Cheers

Olle

[xerxes]

Can you post more details of your test Olle, I've never heard of anyone actually testing it so it would be interesting to see how you ran the test, what you found, magnitude of advantage, etc.

[Olle Petersson]

It was nothing fancy.

IIRC I used one British infantry platoon vs one German rifle platoon. (To have about equal squads.)

Terrain was flat woods, I think.

One platoon had the squads spread out, out of C&C, stationary.

The opposition went hunting for them; as single squad, as two squads and as split squad.

Immediately close to within 40m when spotted.

Most of the results were expected;

- One on one full squads were an even match.

- Two on one gave superior advantage to the two.

- Split on full gave advantage to the split, provided the teams attacked from different directions.

Cheers

Olle

[Frunze]

Close range fighting has positive advantages, it's not just a last resort. For one thing, it lets you finish off enemy units conclusively. It uses up ammo, but to far more effect. It also can help you avoid enemy long-range and heavy weapons, tanks, mortars, etc.

In a game, it probably won't be like that test. You probably won't be fighting single squads out of C&C, but platoons. Which makes it harder to surround any particular squad with half-squads. And in deep woods you may not have a good idea of the enemy's location in order to send in half squads from different locations.

So how do you maneuver your platoon to hit part of the enemy platoon with all of yours? In large solid wooded areas, one method that's worked okay for me is to arrange my squads in a line, close enough to have LOS to each other, with the HQ behind, and sneak them towards the enemy. That way all three squads will hit at once.

As for hitting only part of the enemy platoon at once, that depends, but involves picking which direction to come at them. Assuming you know where they are and how they're arranged....

On defense, if enemy heavy weapons keep you off the edge of the woods, wait until the enemy's first squads enter the woods, then hit 'em with full platoon shortly inside. Pulled this repeatedly on a human opponent recently, with good results.

[Holien]

With this manuever in woods one has to be careful not to run into more forces than you expect, as you can lose a whole platoon this way...

H

[Nidan1]

One of the key things to consider, especially in the woods, is to maintain C&C with your platoon leader and to keep your squads/teams in visual contact with each other. You must also be aware of their experience level. I dont know how well CMBO models the isolation factor in woods, but I have had many a squad break when under fire in wooded terrain. The ability to place superior firepower onto targets in the woods is really the key. Many rapid fire weapons attached to squads heading into close terrain is also a good thing. Having the ability to conduct flanking assaults on defensive positions is also a plus.

This is where planning comes in, but it is easier to discuss it here than in the heat of a wooded ambush situation.

[Frunze]

Yup, Holien, I learned that the hard way! Also, in that game, I ordered my platoon to run, instead of sneak, part of the way towards some units I was trying to finish off before they got away. Turned out to be a big mistake. Didn't think you had anything else in the area.

Nidan1 wrote: "I dont know how well CMBO models the isolation factor in woods,"

C&C distance is shorter if the squad is not in LOS of the HQ.