Idea for using flamethrowers on defense

[Cortes]

Oh, you mean the pyro approach.

There's a problem to this.

I used the pyro approach a lot- obliterating the buildings my enemies came close to and then flaming them while my fire support (either a light MG42 or a light MG for the allies) just sprayed them- until they called in artillery strikes. This can only be used as a temporary diversionary tactic, because if the enemy has any brains he'll just use something like an artillery strike or a mortar or a distant tank.

*shrug* Fun, but costly, in time.

[Silvio Manuel]

Originally posted by Cortes:

Oh, you mean the pyro approach.

There's a problem to this.

I used the pyro approach a lot- obliterating the buildings my enemies came close to and then flaming them while my fire support (either a light MG42 or a light MG for the allies) just sprayed them- until they called in artillery strikes. This can only be used as a temporary diversionary tactic, because if the enemy has any brains he'll just use something like an artillery strike or a mortar or a distant tank.

*shrug* Fun, but costly, in time.

Getting the enemy to waste arty on a small target like an FT is OK by me. With any luck, I'll have either transport or solid LOS breaking cover to move behind after the FT is done. It does seem to be hard to get the FT is to damage commensurate with the big loss of Victory Pts if he dies. He would have to rout prolly two squads and have them fully killed by the rest of the team...not easy.

[CombinedArms]

Originally posted by Silvio Manuel:

Getting the enemy to waste arty on a small target like an FT is OK by me. With any luck, I'll have either transport or solid LOS breaking cover to move behind after the FT is done. It does seem to be hard to get the FT is to damage commensurate with the big loss of Victory Pts if he dies. He would have to rout prolly two squads and have them fully killed by the rest of the team...not easy.

I'm with Silvio here. Moreover, since the FT is in a heavy building in the middle of a block:

1) arty and mortars will have limited effect on the FT. He starts out hidden and protected and remains pretty safe against all but really heavy arty.

2) He's a hard target for tanks to find.

3) After firing his blasts he's out the back door or deep in the rear of the building somewhere

Some further observations--this works best if the FT is in command and flanked by supporting infantry.

And ultimately: there's no perfect tactic and no guarantee that a tactic won't ultimately lead to losses. BUT, my previous experience has been that its hard to get any value out of FTs before they get killed, and here's a way to get some value for your FT and just possibly keep him alive.

If there's a better idea out there for how to use FTs in an urban defense I'd be very happy to hear it. :cool: :cool:

[ May 07, 2002, 10:46 PM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ]

[Mannheim Tanker]

Originally posted by Louie the Toad:

Duck, here come the 'gamey birds'... Toad

Why is it gamey? It could be done in real life, hence there's no way you could call it gamey. Ahistorical maybe, but not gamey.

[Cortes]

Alright, Silvio was correct. My apologies.

*whimper* I'm new here!

[Silvio Manuel]

Originally posted by Cortes:

Alright, Silvio was correct. My apologies.

*whimper* I'm new here!

No sweat...I'm sure such an arty strike might kill your prized FT, but for your opponent that quite an inefficient use of its main killer, off-map arty.

If you get FTs in a scenario, and are weak with using them, you might consider having them head for the rear, lest you lose 37pts reg/44pts vet for those buggers...that's like three squads weakened to ~50% by losses, in Victory Points.

Heh, I foolishly charged the last known position of an isolated enemy FT (in woods) in a current game, thinking that he was already panicked from previous fire; unbeknownst to me it must have only been Shaken. The FT had crawled away, breaking contact. As it turned out, the FT killed 2 men from one squad before they could spot the FT, and 3 more from another squad, routing them both. I got too greedy, hate when I do that.

[ May 08, 2002, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: Silvio Manuel ]

[BaD JoKe]

Fires have been used in a strategic sense in WWII.

For example, Russians lighted fires intentionally in the Winter War. They were surrounded by infantry in winter uniforms and they couldn't see where enemy was. Smart or not, they lighted fires (paper, wood, even maps and vehicles) to obscure finnish los and to keep warm in -30Celsius.

But I think that this kind of strategy has only very limited use in CM