How do you use sharpshooters properly?

[Mad Mobeus]

How exactly do you use sharpshooters properly in CM? I find them very ineffective in all manners of combat except possibly for sniping unbuttoned armour crews. Their ammo count is a little low and makes them seem like a poor choice in QB's. Am I missing something in their usage?

Mad Mobeus :confused:

[Specterx]

I usually only buy them when I've got a few extra points to spare and nothing better to do with em. They're actually pretty good as forward scouts or outposts for your MLR. Since it's only one man you can hide them in forests, etc. and the enemy can basically walk right over them without spotting them.

Buy them en masse if you want to simulate Civil War combat (why it takes 20 seconds to chamber a round and fire is beyond me). If not, then stay away from them or use one here and there to fill up extra points, as I do.

Of course there's always going to be someone who can use his 200 elite sharpshooters to take out the enemy's infantry battalion...

[russellmz]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Specterx:

I usually only buy them when I've got a few extra points to spare and nothing better to do with em. They're actually pretty good as forward scouts or outposts for your MLR. Since it's only one man you can hide them in forests, etc. and the enemy can basically walk right over them without spotting them.

Buy them en masse if you want to simulate Civil War combat (why it takes 20 seconds to chamber a round and fire is beyond me). If not, then stay away from them or use one here and there to fill up extra points, as I do.

Of course there's always going to be someone who can use his 200 elite sharpshooters to take out the enemy's infantry battalion...<hr></blockquote>

i once did that vs the ai. funny as hell watching an individual ss squad disintegrate from one volley from twenty elite sharpshooters (and that was overkill, i could use five and rout the enemy).

anyway sharpshooters should really have a good field of view in a nice hiding place. don't tell him what to shoot at (unless it's an enemy tank you need to button up). each tracer "shot" is actually a full clip. i THINK they can take out more than one guy in that "burst".

also they are GREAT at screwing heavy guns over. one shot from them pins a gun, and they often cause guns to be abandoned or their crews killed.

so basically use them to see what's happening or button tanks or kill guns.

[Krinks]

SEt one up on a hill with a good line of sight, covering a road or an approach that the enemy can use for armor.

Put an AT crew in the forest just off to the side of the road.

When tanks approach, have the sharpshooter fire at the commander to make him button up (if you kill him, even better).

When the tank continues down the road with a restricted LOS because it's buttoned, use the AT crew to ambush the armor and take it out at fairly close range.

Of course, there are a lot of factors that can screw this plan up, but I find it generally simple yet effective in my games.

[Massattack]

I have found them best at ranges of 150-500 metres, so they are best in scenarios without too much restriction on LOS. I have found them worst in night/fog with visibility around 50m, where they have the lifespan of a chicken in a snakepit. The ammo loadout is not individual rounds, and their firing, like the infantry, is abstracted, so they are not actually firing once every 15 or 20 seconds as the movie clip shows.

Krinks plan for using them is IMHO the best way, as long as you realise, as he states, that not all plans come to fruition!

[CombinedArms]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Massattack:

I have found them best at ranges of 150-500 metres, so they are best in scenarios without too much restriction on LOS. <hr></blockquote>

I can't resist jumping off your handle and adding that I definitely wouldn't use them in a a Massattack!

[Toran]

Does the sharpshooter inflict higher morale penalties when firing into a squad because he is better hidden than, say, an attacking enemy squad? Or is the morale just calculated as any other attack?

[Stoffel]

Try to use them like they were used.

they are very good to take out high quality targets

Let the enemy advance,and shoot HQ's preferrably company HQ and platoon hQ's

this will lower enemy units morale very fast

[Moriarty]

Keys to using sharpshooters are:

1. Good LOS. They need an area of concealment that has good LOS. It doesn't have to be a wide area, either. It can be good LOS to a bridge, a crossroad, wherever you want them to cause trouble.

2. Let them pick their targets. I have found them much more effective if the AI picks the target. I just walk them where I want them and let them do the rest.

3. Don't let the low ammo count put you off. One sharpshooter nestled in bocage took out a mortar crew, immobilized a medium MG and whacked the better part of a platoon HQ ... and was never spotted. In another game, a veteran sharpshooter took out 2 H-39 Hotkisses (2-man crew, get the TC and the driver usually bugs out); and took out a platoon HQ (no C&C puts a real crimp in morale).

4. As with FOs, the more experience, the better they are. Go veteran or better if possible.

[YankeeDog]

I can confirm - one sharpshoter 'shot' (i.e., the usage of one ammo 'point') can take out more than one man - seen it happen, watched the movie half a dozen times to make sure what I was seeing was what I thought it was. As metioned above, I guess it goes to that whole small arms ammo count being an abstration thing. . .

[Screamineagle]

I just had the perfect tank ambush ruined by a sharpshooter. My opponent snuck him into some woods 400 meters away, shot my tank commander, now the crew is shocked and useless. I would say he got his monies worth.

I use them frequently. Put them on armoured cars, and drop them off in wooded areas while the car scouts. They have payed for themselves ten fold in information and damage.

[Gen. Sosaboski]

Try the Grafenwohr scenario as the British. It may seem against the purpose of the scenario, but your two sharpshooters out in front offer a very good look into how much these guys can affect an attack. One guy took out two FO teams, a mortar crew, 3 MG42 Crewmen, and a Coy HQ. By the time the Germans reached the MLR, even though it was weak, I was able to keep them at bay, even though a few squads did charge to the top of the hill (only to be eliminated in brutal hand to hand combat). Without them, I would have been crushed.

[Dogface21]

Always pick them up in an 'armour heavy' scenario, as stated, they pay for themselves, and can cripple C&C. Good buys.

[Wreck]

Ambush.

Nobody has mentioned this yet. When the enemy is close enough that the sharpshooter will reveal himself by firing, you generally don't want him to fire. So, put him on ambush with the aiming point right next to him, so that he will only fire if the enemy is really close. Or put the ambush point way out in a field somewhere that the enemy isn't.

Of course this means you won't get any sniper shots, but a live sharpshooter with 10 ammo is often better than a dead sharpshooter with 9.

[Louie the Toad]

While I cannot claim to have any special knowledge of proper use, a quite fine result just occured in my current pbem game. My Sharpshooter is on a small hill in a foxhole in scattered trees.

Remnants of an enemy force coming forward. Infantry riding on buttoned tanks. No other forces of mine can see this force. My sharpshooter is aimed at the enemy tank carrying a mortar team (2 men) and a surviving HQ (1 man). Still hidden and at less than 400m the sharpshooter takes ONE shot and kills the mortar

team and the HQ. The tanks don't see him. They move steadily forward. At about 200m he fires again at a different tank and kills another HQ (1 man) remnant. Wait til my opponent sees that !

At the Gates Toad

[Krinks]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Stoffel:

Try to use them like they were used.

they are very good to take out high quality targets

Let the enemy advance,and shoot HQ's preferrably company HQ and platoon hQ's

this will lower enemy units morale very fast<hr></blockquote>

Let's not forget the always juicy targets called Forward Observers. If I'm lucky enough to be able to find an FO that is within firing range of a sharpshooter, then I will do what I can to get the FO killed.

Out of curiosity, too, what's the difference (if any) between a "sniper" and a "sharpshooter?"

[Patgod]

sniper = school trained uber dude who lives with his rifle

sharpshooter = best shot in the formation(platoon, company, whatever) given a scoped rifle and told "go kill things"

[JasonC]

CM sharpshooters have certain quirks that it helps to know beforehand. They like to be hidden and a fair ways away from the target. They like targets with as little concealment as possible. There are also many "don'ts".

Don't sacrifice them as scouts - use a half-squad for that. They are too valuable (18 points and up) and vunerable (only 1 man, means can't take hits at all), and they can't shoot effectively themselves once spotted and under fire. They are not "expendable". Unless you get most of their 10 shots out of them, they will not pay for themselves.

Don't use them as close range ambushers - use a full platoon for that. They will hold their fire once the enemy is within about 100 yards, trying not to reveal their location. And if you do manage to get them to fire, they will not do much of anything with the one shot they get off, and will be torched almost instantly in reply.

The right way to think of sharpshooters is as an additional component of your *ranged, suppressive* firepower. Like light mortars and heavy machineguns. You want to use them at the same distances, around 200-400 yards. You want to let them pick their own targets - they will pick the high value ones, and won't fire when they have good reason not to (like, it would rapidly get them killed). The only firing decision you should ever make with them is when to take them off "hide" - which you should do well before the enemy gets close.

Their protection comes from the difficult of spotting them at long ranges, and from the poor reply firepower ordinary infantry has at such ranges, when shooting into cover. If they are spotted and taking any kind of incoming fire, break contact to the rear, and try again from someplace else a few minutes later. Always "sneak" to the treeline or forward windows, while "running" back when breaking contact to minimize time of exposure.

Most of the combat effect of sharpshooter fire is to morale. They pin and break teams, the smaller the better. Heavy weapons like mortars and MGs that are moving in the open are particularly vunerable to them, because they suffer a morale penalty from inability to fire while moving, and also can't get out of open areas as rapidly due to slow speed. Tank commanders, FOs, AT teams, and HQs are other useful targets.

If you want to see how to use them, try taking a German VG Fusilier Company on defense sometime. They come with 6 of the critters, a mix of short range SMG and long range LMG+Rifle squads, HMGs and mortars. Add a few panzerschrecks. Put the schrecks forward with the SMGs, and the sharpshooters back with the heavy weapons, the rifle squads a little ahead of them. Use the company HQ to make an extra "center" platoon, and add or take away squads from it to suit temporary needs and shift forces. It helps if you can also add a 4th platoon of Fusiliers, to get enough medium-ranged squads. It is quite a flexible force, and learning to use it will teach you a lot about all the different infantry types and team capabilities in CM. Not meant as any game optimum, but as a useful learning tool, realistic, and fun as well.

[Mad Mobeus]

Thanks guys.....This is MORE info then I ever expected.

Mad Mobeus