Purchasing units-1000 points

[TexasJeff]

What is your favorite mix of units for CMBO, ME, random map, no unit restrictions? Allies or Germans?

[TexasJeff]

This is my first try at purchasing units. Nov. 1944

1 Vet Rifle CO HQ

3 Vet Rifle Platoons -1 Squad

2 Vet M4 Shermans

1 Vet M10 Tank Destroyer

1 Vet M7 Priest

1 M 1917 HMG

1 M2 .50 HMG

998 points

This seems to me a fairly historically accurate force with the glaring exception of artillery and air support an American Company would have had. Comments?

P.S. Just in taking a cursory look at the Axis point costs, it seems they have the more gamey units. Pucchen and Flak guns are very cheap, IMHO, validating some comments I have read.

[Krazy Canuck]

Originally posted by TexasJeff:

This is my first try at purchasing units. Nov. 1944

1 Vet Rifle CO HQ

3 Vet Rifle Platoons -1 Squad

2 Vet M4 Shermans

1 Vet M10 Tank Destroyer

1 Vet M7 Priest

1 M 1917 HMG

1 M2 .50 HMG

998 points

This seems to me a fairly historically accurate force with the glaring exception of artillery and air support an American Company would have had. Comments?

P.S. Just in taking a cursory look at the Axis point costs, it seems they have the more gamey units. Pucchen and Flak guns are very cheap, IMHO, validating some comments I have read.

Wow, its been awhile for CMBO,....hmmmmm, I'd trade a vet. Sherman for a regular and then trade the M10 for a HellCat(if the HellCat is available). I always went for quantity vs. quality for the bulk of my forces and picked vet. for select units(the HellCat for example). Also, when possible I would always get a Stuart V, those 3 MG's worked great against infantry.

KC

[easytarget]

funny you should post on this - i've been digging around myself for the first time on purchasing units - only i was doing it from the german side

trying to put together a PBEM with my brother

anyway, i got to agree on the flaks for the germans - they seem pretty cheap for what they can do

in a 1500 pt game against the AI i bought 1 flak 88 and put it on top of a well positioned hill in a randomly generated moderat hilly map and took out 3 allied tanks with it

course part of this result was generated by the positioning of the flak - i'd been hard pressed to of gotten any result out of it at all (since it's not mobile far as i can tell) if the map hadn't partially gone my way

one quick question to anyone: when buying mobile AT, i see in the list a vehicle that says it's for pulling them, yet when i buy it i can't make heads or tails in set up how i'm supposed to attach it - yeah, noob question!

[easytarget]

btw tex,

how did that battle turn out?

[Krazy Canuck]

Originally posted by easytarget:

one quick question to anyone: when buying mobile AT, i see in the list a vehicle that says it's for pulling them, yet when i buy it i can't make heads or tails in set up how i'm supposed to attach it - yeah, noob question!

Bring the hauler up as close as possible, tell the AT unit to embark(this takes awhile).........very similar to troops and AFVs. When disembarking try and drive in so that the AT is facing the direction you want it to fire, this speeds up the unit set-up times, oh yeah, it won't fire while hooked up.

KC

[Stoffel]

This is the SDKFZ 6 gun trailer vehicle.

With it you can move an 88 but only if you hook the 88 on it from the start of the battle.

Once you unload the 88 it cant move anymore,its better to buy the AT (88)gun.

But I rather buy the pak 40 which has a lower silhouet,reloads faster and is just as deadly and more stealthy.

But more important you can move it out of danger.

Best places are just on top of a hill/ ridge,place a Halftrack or a truck close behind.

very good way to kill those pesky guns is to buy an on board mortar.

happy hunting

[easytarget]

thx for the responses - useful info

i'll try and get it to embark tonight when i fire up another QB against the AI

have to also purchase one of the pak 40's i keep hearing about and see what that's all about

is there more than one vehicle that can haul these guns? and do the ones that can haul always get designated as such in the purchasing screen?

[TexasJeff]

Originally posted by easytarget:

btw tex,

how did that battle turn out?

I was just seeing what 1000 points would buy. The other drawback is mobility without halftracks.

[AutomaticFire]

Originally posted by TexasJeff:

What is your favorite mix of units for CMBO, ME, random map, no unit restrictions? Allies or Germans?

Don't purchase MGs. Get Vet bazookas and save up for VT artillery.

[easytarget]

VT artillery?

[easytarget]

btw, ran a QB against the AI tonight (haven't been able to sync up with brother for IP game yet) and since i had heard the pak40 was a good AT i bought a couple along with transportation for both - still basically running battles to test out weapon effectiveness and how best to use them in combination

the best laid plans of course didnt survive the 1st turn

trying to position each on top of hills i quickly discovered that LOS on these hills ran both directions and on the very first turn had both getting shot at - one i managed to move behind a hill and got some use out of it later in the battle - the other one was apparently messed up by the driver of the transport backing up over it he was too busy avoiding a sherman to notice

one further note of interest in this one - i also bought a jagpanther (very cool low profile) and for the first time i finally managed to position a tank into a hull down position (and even got confirm from the game that it was hull down when sighting targets - i now finally have an idea of how this works and looks like

[Bertram]

Good to see fun can still be had with CMBO .

As for the troops for 1000 points: the common opinion seems to be that a historical mix would involve mostly regulars, with some green thrown in for the new replacements (and maybe an occasional vet). Vet troops are what you would expect in the airborne, for example, with crack or elite for special forces.

In general troops in CMBO are to brave (or stupid), and despite the name regulars would not have been regular in real live. In CMBB the average experience level of has been lowered accordingly.

Bertram

Bertram

[Stoffel]

Off course you should not put a gun in open space use trees of every kind, even on a hill topp

Other usefull thing is to keep them in hidemode.

Also give them a TRP(not in meeting engagements,a TRP increases their hit chance )

and even better to avoid early firing an ambush order into a direction you know the enemy is not coming from.

If possible place a high quality HQ near it,best are the ones with stealth and fighting bonus.

Several vehicles can carry guns

Halftracks and trucks carry anything up to 75 mm and howitzers.

The special guntractor is the only vehicle capable of carrying the 88's

Jeeps and kubelwagons can pull the light guns

If you want I can play a PBEM with you.

[AutomaticFire]

Originally posted by easytarget:

VT artillery?

Variable timing artillery - shells that explode overhead. One shell can wipe out a platoon.

[easytarget]

interesting

how do i indentify which AT has this?

[AutomaticFire]

Originally posted by easytarget:

interesting

how do i indentify which AT has this?

Only Americans have this type of artillery, I think.

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Just to clarify Easytarget. No anti-tank gun has VT high explosive only the Americans with their 105mm & 155mm off board artillery have VT explosive as well as the British with their 25 pounder off board artillery, however it costs more compared with standard artillery. You can't purchase VT capability for anything other than Forward Observers and only the ones listed above for the British & Americans.

Regards

Jim R.

[easytarget]

always learning something new in the forums - thx for the further explanation on VT Arty

at various times i've seen treeburst arty and wonder if it was just hitting the tree and blowing up - guess in some instances it may of been VT?

anyway, one followup question, i had 105 arty being used by the AI with great effect against my troops in a QB last night - it was leaving craters so i assume it was regular 105 - does this VT arty leave craters or all blow up at tree level? just wondering how i'd tell the difference, working off the assumption that if it is VT i'd bug'em out a lot quicker than if it wasn't

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Damn. Dreaded double post. First time for everything.

Regards

Jim R.

[ December 27, 2002, 02:28 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

[Kanonier Reichmann]

VT artillery tends to burst in the air and not leave craters on the ground. However, the VT rounds don't always burst in the air due to the random factor so they will still occasionaly leave craters if the VT fuze doesn't work correctly. As for treebursts, this has a similar effect to VT airbursts but of course, you're only going to get them when firing artillery at either tall pines, scattered trees or woods. I would suggest that the treebursts you saw when your troops were in scattered trees were in fact regular artillery rounds simply exploding in the air when hitting trees first.

The beauty of VT artillery is that you get the treeburst effect without trees although the downside is that they're not as effective against buildings or tanks if you're needing to bombard something like that. The other plus for VT artillery however is that they're usually devastating against open topped AFV's like Marders and Priests etc. since the crew has nowhere to hide while large artillery is exploding above their heads! Expect widespread abandonments of these types of vehicles when VT artillery is targeted at them.

Regards

Jim R.

[easytarget]

thx for the reply - still more good info on VT

this raises another question i've been struggling with, and i'm pretty sure i know the obvious answer, which is move it off the hill, but thought i'd see if there was anything even a bit more subtle being done to properly position AT guns

AT guns strike me as handy and relatively inexpensive ways to help combat opposing armor

the problem is my failure to utilize them properly - i've been putting them on hills with great LOS in setup and discovered at least one fundamental truth about AT guns - they blow up real good when arty targets them

so, thus far all i've managed to do is waste the other sides arty blowing up my AT guns and i've managed to flank more than a few opposing tanks that start targeting them and while they're distracted i've flanked them with my own armor - amusing, but not terriblly effective use of AT guns

so, what are others doing in terms of positioning AT guns to improve survivability? btw, i've bought the truck/halftrack to move them, so not a question of mobility, but more one of proper placement

[Brightblade]

ATG should be placed in woods or scattered trees whenever possible. That way they are protected from direct fire (though maybe more vulnerable to artillery in form of treebursts), but which is more important, they are much harder to spot. Usually they can fire several rounds before anyone notices it.

Don´t shoot too early, whenever possible don´t fire at distances of more than 500m (17 pdr maybe up to 700m). That way they should score with only a few shots and have a good chance not to be detected.

When a gun is spotted and your opponent still has some artillery left, it´s as good as dead. You can only try to move it away then. So, if you hold their fire at the beginning, your opponent may use up his artillery and when your guns start to fire from their hidden positions, they are quite hard to take out.

[ December 27, 2002, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: Brightblade ]

[Silvio Manuel]

Originally posted by easytarget:

always learning something new in the forums - thx for the further explanation on VT Arty

The British also have 5.5inch VT arty... which is ridiculously powerful, more so than the US 155mm. VT arty is only available from a certain month onwards.