Matt the Paladin Posted December 7, 2000 Share Posted December 7, 2000 What sort of units should I have riding on the backs of my tanks? Does it matter how many tanks I have at the time? I usually group my tanks in quartets, and put three rifle squads, an officer, and some sort of support unit like a machine gun or a flamethrower, but I'm still learning and I'm not that good. If anybody knows a better way to arrange my men on tank back, please let me know. ------------------ "War is like a cat, it is easy to let out of the bag, but hard as hell to put back in!" -Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terence Posted December 7, 2000 Share Posted December 7, 2000 Matt, Your arrangement sounds good to me. I would guess that there are few hard and fast rules for this. The Russians put smg (and other) squads on tanks during the war and they dismounted and close assaulted when they were in range of the German troops. That's a tactic I haven't tested yet in CM, though. I would think you could put anyone you want on a tank, as long as you keep in mind these guidelines: A tank is not a half track. Usually you can find something better for it to do than play taxi. If your operational tempo lags because your tanks are delivering troops around the battlefield, something is wrong. At tank is often shot at by a variety of nasty exploding things and automatic weapons. And when it is, the people clinging to the outside are going to feel it. good luck, comrade, Terence [This message has been edited by Terence (edited 12-07-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdmorse Posted December 8, 2000 Share Posted December 8, 2000 That arrangement is one I use quite a bit, but circumstances may change. If I am going to take an advantegous position as soon as I can, I may use the tanks to transport slower units, such as MG's and let the grunts hump it on foot. I try to keep in mind the relative speeds of the units. Sometimes sending tanks and a platoon of inf can break open the enemies MLR with a flank attack, but if there are slow units that jump off when shot at or tank is killed or bogged, then if they are too slow you lose the advantage of speed and quickly thrusting into the rear areas, letting the opponet adjust forces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samhain Posted December 8, 2000 Share Posted December 8, 2000 One serious problem of using tanks as transports (other than troops getting massacred, as mentioned), is that for practical purposes you need to stop the tanks for a full turn to dismount troops (two or three pauses often don't seem to work). Keeping tanks stationary defeats one of their major strengths. It's generally safer to use HT's to transport troops, though you of course don't always have that convenient option. ------------------ Hope you got your things together, Hope you are quite prepared to die. --CCR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THoellering Posted December 15, 2000 Share Posted December 15, 2000 Mount up Panzerschreck on your tanks, drop them off at a good flanking terrain piece beside the point you want to hunker down with your Panzer. Hide them, this will give you a great advantage when you face superior speed armor. They will try to manouver behind and around the terrain, while keeping your tank occupied with goodies to shoot at...hit them at point blank, rake the enemy tank with MG fire to keep him Buttoned...if you have smoke, make a sreen to hide your Panzerschreck again, change position. An Ambush never works twice... Wotan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popper Posted December 15, 2000 Share Posted December 15, 2000 The Ruskies were able to get away with that trick for a couple reasons. One was that they had a ton of men and few consequences for a squad or two evaporating in the name of Mother Russia, but the better reason was that they actually had the best tanks of the war. The T34 was survivable, fast, reliable, and had a gun that could do man's work (unlike the anemic pee shooter the Western girliemen were using). By war's end, the Americans and Brits were primerily relying on a weakass 76mm gun that the Russians had largely discarded as underpowered for German armor in favor of the far more potent 85. Even the barely adequate American tank destroyers with their 90mm guns were unable to do the work of Russian 122 equipped Panzermashers. The Sherman did, however, serve one very important purpose. It gave Germans someone to surrender to after they were done running away from REAL armor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grobdeutschland Posted December 20, 2000 Share Posted December 20, 2000 The shermans also gave the russian army something to shoot with until they were able to make their "real armor" in great #'s. I love placing HMGs on Puma's, it then becomes a light AT & HMG unit on wheels...send it to a flank & wait for a enemy unit If 1 never comes then use it speed to get where the action is. ------------------ "Far better it is To dare mighty things... Then to take rank with Those poor, timid spirits Who know neither Victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt 1899 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monte99 Posted December 27, 2000 Share Posted December 27, 2000 Hmmm. You can mount an HMG on a Puma? This is news to me. I'll have to try it. ------------------ "Arms are my ornaments, warfare my repose." - Don Quixote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts