attacking in the open - potential spoilers possible

[coe]

Ok so I have tried several several battles like King of Debrecen and Into the Void

If you are german, you have to take over the open essentially against unknown positions...(and for some reason your infantry in some of the cases is in very vulnerable half tracks). I'm not sure how to do this and have the small number of casualties in both men and equipment that the germans had in these type of scenarios.

Any tips?

(you have tanks, a lil bit of artillery and infantry and somewhere after about 800-1000 yards of openness there are enemy troops with AT guns, infantry and tanks etc. hidden in the trees and all are at least in fox holes. (You can't do the massive bombardment before hand there's just too much space).

[SKELLEN]

Do you have smoke available? If so, use that as a screen prior to your assault although you may need to be swift depending on how much smoke you have. Try to coincide the fall of the smoke with your estimated arrival at location prior to any assault. Otherwise if you were to decide to use smoke to cover all your movement across open ground you may not have enough time to both move and assault, without incurring more/higher casualties.

Allow your self time to reach a chosen location which is not too close to enemy to help reduce any damage inflicted towards you while advancing. Then with the timed fall of smoke prepare to advance closer and assault, if possible of course. Keep your Tanks in overwatch and also any mortar teams if you have them to take out enemy ATGs.

If you don't have smoke you'll have to advance 30-40 meters so as not to exhaust your units, while covering with another unit, repeating the process. You will take some casualties but advance is required to make most ground, and you must ensure you have Leaders in command radius of your units to help them recover.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Sounds like you need some basic tactical training. Try www.blowtorchscenarios.com and look for the 3 Panzer training scenarios and the Russian training scenarios.

[JasonC]

You can't smoke the whole way, it dissipates too quickly. It can be used to get too harsh fire off the men for a brief spell, or to isolate part of the enemy firing line, or mask a specific gun. But it is not a solution to the problem of crossing open ground with infantry.

The solution is "advance drills". Drills because it is a standard technique you need to learn to get the most out of your infantry in CM. Advance because that is what you are doing and because it is the magical CM command to use, to get it to work - the "advance" command. There is also a role for the command "move to contact", initially, or when there is better cover, but the bulk of the forward movement will be done using "advance".

The main thing to understand about the entire process is that it is not a race. You cannot solve it by movement. You cannot get into occupied enemy cover on the far side of a wide field by trying to get there faster than the defenders can shoot at you. That way lies sorrow. Your men do not fire back while they are continually moving. As the range falls, and especially in the last 200-250 meters, enemy fire becomes more and more effective and kills or routs your men. In addition, as your men push as hard as possible, the least hit outstrip the most hit, and the whole force comes in "ragged". We say, the overall forces "comes apart" on the buzz saw of enemy firepower.

The right mindset to see the problem is instead one of "rally power". A unit at "alerted" snaps back to "OK" in 10-15 seconds. A unit at "cautious" may take 30-60 seconds to recover, but recover it will. A unit already pushed to "pinned" may take 2-3 minutes, but if not hammered in the meantime will recover. OK, so the idea is to have as many units as possible continually recovering from the moderate "yellow" morale states to full, for as long as it takes, to soak up the defender's firepower. Rally - power. Power, because it increases with time, instead of decreasing. Stretching the advance out in time will actually make it easier to get there, and especially to do so all in one piece.

The actually outcome of the advance will be decided by a firefight between the attackers and the defenders at about 200 meters range. At that distance, your infantry can return fire effectively and, importantly, it will have spots on the men opposite. So the key idea is to get as many good order squads to that distance, together, in shape to fire.

Now here is the important bit - you want your men to get to that range with *all their squad ammo remaining*. You expect the defenders, on the other hand, to be quite low on ammo by that point. Yes they will still have cover against your lack of it. But if all your men have 40 shots left and all his men have 10, the cover difference will not matter. You will outshoot him, not the other way around.

Otherwise put, you want the defenders to *waste* a bunch of their ammo firing at you at *long range*, over a *long period* of time, so that you can *absorb* their firepower gradually, and *neutralize* it with your accumulated *rally power*. After which, you hit them hard and all at once, together, with full ammo, at close range, and thus punish them faster than they can rally through your own fire. It is "chicken" played with guns and firing early is "flinching" - because fire at long range may slow you, but it won't kill you. Your men's morale can rally, their ammo supply will not.

Now, that basic logic applies to your *squad infantry* (including HQs), the guys rated "fast" and able to use the "advance" command. Your supporting heavy weapons teams, guns, FOs, and tanks have a different role. That role is "overwatch". Meaning stand ready to destroy with accurate reply fire, the right weapon on the right type of enemy, each shooter messing up the advancing infantry.

There are 2-3 main issues with managing the overwatch. The first is fire discipline aka ammo efficiency. You cannot afford to spray every bush, nor can you afford to "tickle" every enemy shooter with light fire for the entire length of the approach, or fire at the wrong sort of target that you can barely hurt with that weapon. That would just get rally power working against you, with cover against you as well. Instead, you want to pick your shots, match ups that are the right weapon against that enemy, and then fire at that target intensely for 1-2 minutes only. To prevent rally, a high ammo weapon like a single HMG or a vehicle coaxial can be "left" shooting the target to "maintain the pin" - do not waste HE on an already pinned target.

The right weapon means an on map mortar against a gun, a 75mm or larger direct fire HE weapon against a machinegun, house, or trench, an FO against a full platoon position in a body of trees, etc. The opposite would be squad infantry firing 400 yards into cover, or trying to silence an enemy MG in a trench by just shooting at it with 2 MGs of your own, or a heavy FO firing at a single enemy gun off by itself.

The second problem with the overwatch is getting "spots" against the "stealthy" components of the defense. MGs, ATRs, light AA, snipers, FOs, mortars from defilade - these do not give neat targets to reply to when they open up, especially at long range. Sometimes you will not get more than a sound contact until someone gets within 200 meters of the shooter. Against these enemies you have to push something forward to get spots - frequently armor, since infantry can't close the distance under fire fast enough - or just "take the pain" and leave them alone. You can't afford to waste fire on "area fire" at sound contacts - usually.

There are some exceptions. Vehicles can "recon by fire" with their coaxial only if you have a good guess where the shooter is (e.g. because there are only a couple bits of cover near the sound contact). If you see the sound contact guy "duck" you know you have the right bit of cover. Very high HE load vehicles (e.g. plain 75mm Shermans or T-34/76s) can afford to spend a third or so of their HE just area firing at the most likely enemy firing points, if you have enough of them to get coverage that way. But don't overdue it - keep 2/3rds of the HE for fully spotted targets. And everything, for any vehicle or gun with say 36 HE or less (6 minutes fire).

The third problem is reply fire trading off your overwatch. Normally this isn't a large issue, because the defender doesn't have the ranged heavy firepower to kill your whole overwatch, which is by definition a long way off and in whatever cover you have. And is presumably more numerous, since you have attacking odds. But it can be a problem in the armor war, and first "exchanging off" enemy armor can be a critical phase of the fighting, early, before the advance proper can really get going. If the enemy armor hangs back to avoid this, fine, you have that exchange later on and in the meantime your overwatch is relatively unmolested.

The goal of the overwatch is to cut the number of heavy and long range defending shooters in half, by fire. Roughly. The idea is, only a portion of the defense is long range or heavy hitting at range. The heavier part is also the less stealthy part, usually (the tanks and larger guns e.g.) Well, if you overwatch deals with that, the advancing infantry takes only a third or half as much ranged pain going in.

For the rest, you run them out of ammo. An FO lasts about 4 minutes. An on map mortar maybe 6 minutes. HMGs are the nastiest because they can keep firing for 15 minutes straight - but if half of that happens beyond 400 yards it is likely to delay you rather than actually kill many men.

Now to the infantry part, the "advance drills" themselves. First point is to maintain proper intervals. In CM, fire directed at another unit within 25 meters will harm the nearby unit as well, if only some suppression. You want all your infantry units 26 meters apart or farther, throughout the entire advance. 30 meters is a better initial interval. To keep the men in command range, do not put a platoon "on line" side to side, but instead form a loose "blob" around its HQ, in 2 or more lines. This also lets the platoon reuse any cover available along the route (front rank in it this minute, back rank in it the next).

Move using "advance to contact and hide" until fire it taken. This will cause everyone to halt and hit the deck when the enemy first opens. Units not moving take far less suppression when hit than units up and moving. And that goes double for "run" (fast move), and maybe 1.5 times for "move" (the least cautious movement besides run).

Once the enemy has opened fire, use "advance". Set short waypoints, 50-75 meters, that you can complete in one minute. If you haven't finished it at the end of the minute and are taking any fire, void the movement order (backspace) to hit the deck. When a unit is hit and pinned, give it no movement order at all - its only job is to rally. In steppe terrain use "hide" - at long range a prone, stationary infantry squad in any kind of concealment will be readily "lost" by the enemy shooter in 30 second to 1 minute.

Everyone who is *not* being shot at, steps off in another "advance" command. Units that are "tired" also wait. Do not press the men, instead "listen" to their morale state. If they are all on yellow, that's OK, but slow down a little. If you are seeing red more than 1-2 places you are moving too much and waiting too little. The whole force should be "creeping" toward the enemy.

Make use of every scrap of minor cover - brush, shellholes, rocky patches, wheat, whatever you can get. Use dips in the ground as rally locations, too - the best cover is no LOS at all. Advance behind the "shadow" of houses or other LOS blocks ahead of you, to reduce the number of enemy shooters who can see any given mover. It is worth pushing through some fire on "advance" to reach a spot of cover.

If you get a unit that changes its waypoint and starts "sneaking sideways", but is at pinned or better morale, understand that unit is in "cover panic" and will not fully respond to changed orders. Until it reaches 50% cover or better it will not be willing to close with the enemy. If it is sneaking towards cover it can reach in one minute, let it. Otherwise, void the movement (backspace) and "hide" instead. Resume advancing after the unit recovers to "OK" - that will clear the "cover panic". If the enemy keeps shooting him, there isn't much for it, just "sneak" somewhere and soak up his fire.

Keep higher HQs - company or battalion - in a second wave behind the advance. In fact you usually want a pretty deep clump, so sometimes these are actually in 3rd or 4th back. They pick up the stragglers, units that pinned and their HQ moved on, or panicked but have since rallied.

You want the enemy firing at a *different* set of foremost units every minute or two. By rotating who is farthest ahead, you spread the pain around and maximize your rally power. You get that effect just by having those shot at pause and others continue.

Continue this process endlessly until you get within about 250 yards of the enemy.

Then, all the guys not moving are doing something else instead of hiding. Shooting back.

Fire by entire platoons at a single enemy shooter. Once he ducks, shift to another. Put an overwatch MG on the original, or a ragged out half squad or company HQ. The point is to slow his rally but not waste lots of ammo doing it.

Some of the enemy will have been neutralized by the overwatch by now. Others will be low on ammo. And you will outshoot a few more every minute or two. Move in closer every time there are few or no enemies firing. Fire takes the ground and gets you into the position - their own "outgoing" replies will be reduced by prior losses and ammo supply limits.

That's how it is done.

[Rosseau]

With almost 7,000 posts, you would know how it's done! That's the thing. I still like CMBB and CMAK but it takes a lot of work to play them right. I wonder if the same tactics are of any value in TOW2 Afrika and Kursk, or they just dumbed down the algorithms?

[SKELLEN]

I suppose you could try using the same tactics in TOW2 although you have to remember that that game is real time compared to BB/AK turn based. I've never played TOW though so perhaps someone else can chip in here?

[Rosseau]

Yes, RTS with no replay feature, it's hard to tell. I'll set up an infantry battle, keep pausing the action, and see! Morale is modeled, but I've never run out of ammo.

The CM purist may not like these games, but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Centauro.

[coe]

hmmm advancing all the time... you'll get there with enough time? some of these games require you to cover 800-900 yds just to get to the first line of defense and you only have 30-40 minutes to chew through the different layers.

also if everyone is always advancing don't they get tired?

I've noticed that the computer has an uncanny ability to identify headquarters and machine gun units and pin them even at a long distance.

Do you attach a machine gun to a platoon or do you have the machine guns follow en-masse as like a wave in the back.

[JasonC]

The approach generally take 10 to 15 minutes, and another 5 minutes for the development of the firefight at the other end. The distance doesn't much matter - the farther part the fire is less and it goes faster.

The men will hit "tiring" in 2 minutes on advance orders, in normal weather and ground. In mud or snow if does get harder, no question. After those 2 minutes, one minute stationary will get them back to "OK" on fatigue. If you push them for 4 minutes or so they will hit "tired" and take longer to recover. But I routinely push with men at "tiring" if they are in good morale, not under serious fire yet, or have a patch of cover they are steering toward and a minute or less shy of.

The average speed of the advance is about 50 meters a minute. In the close range stuff with the fire going both ways that can drop to 25 meters a minute, from some moving and some firing or rallying, rotating the movement role, etc.

Squad infantry in CM has ammo for about 7 minutes of continuous firing. The weakest rifle squads 10 minutes, and stronger 2 LMG squads more like 5-6, partly depending on the squad size (reflecting ammo carried etc). An HMG team normally has 12-16 minutes of fire, the longest have 21 but that is rare.

Now, naturally the squad infantry won't open up at extreme range, and the HMGs will lose some time to jamming or being pinned by reply fire. But the upshot is still that you do not need to worry about being under continuous heavy fire for even 15 minutes, because the enemy shooters simply can't keep it up that long. Only a handful of HMG teams can, and they are a small part of the defending force mix. Enough to slow a company, not enough to kill one when firing at 500 yards or more.

But the advice to start off with "move to contact" is partially related to this. If the defender opens fire too soon he is going to run low before his hits even start killing people, rather than just making them duck. You may tire sooner at a longer range, but the fire will be zero before long, if he picks "open up early". If instead he waits for a decent range, to milk his ammo through the whole approach, then you can often cover the ground down to about 500 yards unmolested or essentially so. If that part of the closing operation is done on "move to contact" it won't tire your men out at all, and they can get from 900 meters to 500 meters in 4-5 minutes.

In its fire that slows you down, not distance, basically.

As for HMG teams, they belong in the overwatch. Once the squads have stepped out and are already drawing fire, then sure you can move some of them closer. I like running them up to a cover patch on the back of a vehicle, with the squad infantry 200 yards ahead of them or more. If they are on foot and you don't have cover, then don't move them all at once. If one takes fire leave the others where they are. The shot-at teams "hide" - and set up again wherever they are. They can sneak short distances. But basically anything rated "slow" and unable to use the "advance" command doesn't belong in an infantry attack over open ground.

HQs, on the other hand, most definitely do - send them. If an HQ is pinned or panicked by enemy fire, stop him and let his only task be to rally. And steer a higher HQ that way.

A good company force should always have at least one higher HQ inside the formation directing the advance. This lets all squads "flex" between the company HQ command span and their own platoon leader's, and more than doubles their deployable command area, etc. Properly used, higher HQs (especially ones with morale and command bonuses) are the most important units in a sustained infantry attack. And the minimal force to do this kind of thing right is a reduced company. One platoon couldn't hurt the enemy even if it got close enough - unless the defender is a single unit.

As for the command of heavy weapons, HMG teams and mortars belong in their own section to platoon sized groups. I like teams with 2 MGs and 1 mortar as a minimum. Sometimes an FO, or pair of ATRs, a sniper, or a second mortar may be added. All of these are weapons that can hurt things at 400-500 yards and do not need to close within the dangerous range of enemy squad infantry. Having a team of them lets me pick the right weapon for the specific target that comes up - MGs for open, mortars for cover, etc. If I have enough HQs then these are led by them. I will often turn over all the squads is a relatively poor platoon HQ to the company commander, and have the poor platoon HQ just direct a weapons section in second line.

Fair questions...

[SKELLEN]

hmmm advancing all the time... you'll get there with enough time? some of these games require you to cover 800-900 yds just to get to the first line of defense and you only have 30-40 minutes to chew through the different layers.

also if everyone is always advancing don't they get tired?

I've noticed that the computer has an uncanny ability to identify headquarters and machine gun units and pin them even at a long distance.

Do you attach a machine gun to a platoon or do you have the machine guns follow en-masse as like a wave in the back.

Hence the reason I mentioned advancing 30-40 meters (my preference) and JasonC 50-70 meters. You allow your units to catch their breathe (so to speak) or rest, and use them for covering another unit's advance. You shouldn't be advancing faster than your units can recover though, as that is only going to prevent you reaching your objective and also make your units more vulnerable to enemy fire causing them to panic/route, especially without a Leader in command radius.

You obviously don't want to be hanging around in the open too long either and so it is a bit of a balancing act if you like. You have to know when to advance, when to rest, when to take cover in any favourable patch of ground, when to hold fire, when to engage - you get the drift I'm sure. But don't sweat it, it's all a learning process and the game is supposed to be fun (first and foremost) and you will learn more with each new play what works and what doesn't.

I suppose you could also have the best CM player in the world explain tactics to you, but if you can't understand basic advance procedure due to inexperience or otherwise then I'm afraid you need to get some more practice in, or you're most likely continue to have a bad day at the office (so to speak).

And no, I don't wish to seem patronizing here, just trying to be realistic that you need to practice more to understand the importance of the 'Advance' requirement of CM. I'v owned the game since 2003 and played off and on, but feel I have now earned the right to consider myself an above average player. I've had my share of bad experiences with the game also and then I've had days where I've completely amazed myself, even my opponent admitting to feeling humbled. Just don't get discouraged and learn from each game and try to improve in your next game, also learn from each opponent.

[coe]

hmm ok let me give that a shot... I tend to advance german platoons in kind of diamond shape... (two flanking squads , a lead squad and the platoon hq in the back... and I have the flanking squads and the lead squad leap frog or should I just have everyone advance and let the overwatch worry about things). I'm wondering about this advance till tired and pause for a turn...I presume this is why you might have two platoons start a minute ahead of another platoon so that there will be overlap of who's advancing and who's resting?

[SKELLEN]

If you remember that a Company of Infantry for example has 3 Platoons - this is no accident BTW. This is a tried and tested unit formation which when used properly can cause a headache or two to a force much larger than itself. I tend to go with 2 Platoons up front and one in reserve when on the attack and you should be thinking along the same lines with regard to your Sections/Squads.

Using the same principal for my Platoons, 2 Sections upfront, 1 Section in the rear/reserve close to HQ (V formation) and all in command at this point but not too close together for obvious reasons. Choose a point on the map for 1st Section to advance to, covering with the second upfront Section but holding fire with the rear Section, he is a reserve unit remember. Then once 1st Section reaches it's location (I personaly advance no further than 40-50 meters) so units don't tire or become exhausted early, advance 2nd Section who is now being covered by 1st Section, whilst still attempting/remembering to maintain the same V formation you began with in the process.

I tend to time the advance of my HQ to coincide with the halfway point of 2nd Sections advance so I still have command of my Platoon. With the HQ in place, 3rd Section or reserve if you like will advance completing the advance up to this point and maintaining the same formation. So you see as a formation they are better prepared to defend themselves than they would be if they were all over the place or out of command etc.

Ideally 2nd Platoon should be attempting to advance in synchronization with 1st Platoon with 3rd Platoon in reserve and covering only if required, to conserve ammo obviously. Depending on the situation at hand, you may only be able to/want to advance 1st Platoon first then 2nd Plattoon etc, but remember to maintain formation (Golden Rule).

[Lt Belenko]

.....

I suppose you could also have the best CM player in the world explain tactics to you, ......

..

He already did. That would be JasonC.

To JasonC: I've been reading your profound and articulate dissertations on tactics for years. One question: Do you retype this every time or copy/paste from previous releases?

[SKELLEN]

If you say JC is the best player in the world of CM that must obviously make him so then.

[JasonC]

Lt. Bel. - I retype it every time. And I am definitely not the best CM player in the world, I just like to analyze things and write about them. Lots of experienced CM players are better at the game than I am.

[coe]

***KING OF DEBRECEN SPOILER ALERT***

Interesting... in the CM world, sometimes I think you can discardthe 2 up, one back if you have reinforcements constantly arriving (I wish they'd arrive in an organized manner instead of a hodge podge group of intermixed sections of various platoons).

SPOILER: In King of Debrecen you initially start with a complete company on a wide frontage and then you get some platoons of another company gradually arriving...this is a bit of an organizational headache because initially you'd want to be advancing on both sides of the road (this is to avoid flank traps and also in my experience those King Tigers seem to bog alot and so I need to keep em on the road a bit more - yes I know the ground is frozen but I've had them bog alot) and thus your might have your company widely spread about but advancing. So much for the company commander being able to effectively pick up routed/panicked units. What ends up happening is that on one side of the road you have a platoon of the first company plus several platoons of the next arriving company and same thing on the other side.

Anyways, in KING of DEBRECEN, I think it's a good exercise for open ground advancing. Just I'm not sure if the 2 up one back should be initially used in this case (given the reinforcements)

[coe]

I suppose this isn't an issue in CM since a Co Commander can exert effective control over any squad regardless of whether it is in the same company. However in real life I wonder how this would have been handled - a company advancing on a wide front with others constantly arriving - I suppose at some point the front company would either be pulled back or consolidated on one side of the the front with the other companies filling in? this would be tough under fire I bet

[SKELLEN]

It's sometimes hard to describe things when I can't see the map you are playing but given your Company is on a wide frontage and extra units arriving I'd be tempted to hold off their advancement if possible, to help provide covering fire for advancing reinforcements. In real life if you were attempting to advance against a well defended Company/Battalion for example you'd want as much fire power bearing down on the enemy as possible, so I'd imagine CO HQ would wait for the reinforcements for sure.

Yes if you were suddenly ordered to pull back under fire it could be costly but not necessarily so. The experience of units and overall command, terrain, cover, etc, all come into play I guess, and obviously whether or not you had time for overwatch teams Mortar/MG to set up in preparation for that very scenario. In reality of course you could have way more possibilities than CM can allow, being abstract and all.

For instance you could use the Tigers or other vehicles as a shield for your advancing infantry, make good use of smoke grenades if available, perhaps you are ordered to hold off the advance until dusk/nightfall, the weather could drastically change hampering your advance, so on and so forth.

But in general you'd want to gather as many Platoons as possible in preparation for your eventual advance, but which ever formation you use keep them in command of HQs where possible.

[coe]

yeah this is one where you are supposed to start probing forward first at the very least...

[JasonC]

Non issues.

First on the scenario mentioned, it is a farce of a scenario to start with. It has giantism in spades, late war uber armor, hopelessly unbalanced forces, is scripted, etc. Just about the worst sort of scenario there is.

If you must play it, however, I see no reason at all to send infantry down both sides of the road. Especially not the initial infantry company - splitting that up seems just crazy, it is so weak to start with.

In any attack, you must start by assessing your force, then come up with your plan, and then create tasking for your plan. Don't let the set up force any of those upon you just to "save time".

Here the force is clearly 8 King Tigers, and everything else an afterthought and support. The tactical problem isn't "advancing in the open" at all, it is "kill everything that moves with 8 long 88s". Assessing the force and mission, the indirect arty can be used to prep fire (rockets), with the mortars saved for counterbattery or smoke. It cooperates with the armor against enemy guns and the infantry has approximately nothing to do with it.

The role for the infantry is just to advance to keep the defense from holding its fire forever, and to mop things up that the Tigers has smashed. There is no reason to do that on both sides of the road. Of the two, the brush field on the right is clearly preferable to the wheat on the left, in ease of access and in the cover you can reach at the far end.

So it is time for the plan. Hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle promises flanking fire hitting the Tigers and is as dumb as a bag of rocks, even if the scenario designer tried to write that into his movie script. Tell him to get out of your commanders chair and lump it.

Wing attack on the right side of the board is a typical attack plan you'd try here. That means from the road to the right edge, and from the starting woods to the end of the brush field, you want to "own" by midgame. For there you expect to shoot the heck out of everything on your side of the railroad "berm", killing all of it. Then you will crest the berm at a point of later choosing, preferably near one of its ends, or just contest everything from your side and kill everything that shows itself on or past the berm.

Do you need to move at all to do this? The tanks, not a lot. A base of fire at the point where the road exits your woods, sure. More can be stretched rightward to the right edge if you like - I would. There is one route on that side through a bit of brush that only has to clear a single scattered tree tile and is probably the least likely to bog. But the set up zone is horrible in trying to force you to go down the road and solve the problem by movement; don't fall for it. Instead you'd plan on 4 Tigers by the road - woods exit, taking their own sweet time and mostly just shooting stuff, and 2 off on the right via the brush route mentioned. The other 2 between them, say by a short segue off the road (preferably smoked to avoid giving side shots etc). Eventually 2 may proceed a ways down the center road while the right side tanks may advance some, but they probably won't need to. The long 88 doesn't exactly need close range to kill everything it points at.

For the infantry, only an HMG section goes left of the road, into the further tongue of scattered trees on that side. 2 HMGs with a leader, and I'd throw in the 81mm mortar FO. That will suffice to sweep the wheatfield against any infantry and to similarly cut the road for side to side Russian movements by dismounts on your side of the berm. With no need to advance them.

The on map 81s can take the lousy green HQ with no bonuses - that butterbar cannot be trusted with infantrymen. Just let him spot from the treeline. The company HQ is good enough and the others poor enough I'd give him like 5-6 units to command, personally. The other two platoon HQs keep 2 squads (no greens) and get an HMG and schreck each. They form the front skirmish line, one platoon on left and the other on the right side of the brush field. Squads are up, HQ MG and schreck in second line in both cases.

Behind that front wave comes the main body, consisting of the company HQ's mega platoon on the right, and the pioneers on the left, each trailing the leading wave platoon by 50-100 meters.

When infantry reinforcements arrive, funnel them right and into the brush, left side nearest the road at first. They are to catch up and in the meantime line the road-side of the brush field. They can drop an HMG section of their own wherever looks appropriate, doesn't need to be close, etc. Supporting armor thickens the tank nest at the place where the road leaves the woods, replaces any vehicles lost there. Single vehicles thinner than a King Tiger might be risked down the road a third to half way through, after all spotted enemy guns have been silenced, just to draw fire.

Shoot stuff with the Tigers. Infantry first uses "advance" to make the move from woods to the brush field. Then it uses "moves to contact and hide" inside the brush until fire halts them. Then they go to short advance drills, with portions still out of contact using move to contact to save fatigue. Avoid bunching into neat artillery targets, that will be the main issue. If rounds do fall, dodge them actively, do not ride them out.

By minute 15 or so you want the effect - either the Russians have shown all or most of their guns and MGs or the infantry has closed to the far side of the brush field. If they have opened, then you just sit and shoot them all dead with the tanks. It may take 5 extra minutes for infantry to reach the far end of the brush field in that case, but you don't much care. The Russians are likely to throw lots of tanks at you before then and nothing the infantry does will matter much for that. If a schreck or two has made it far enough to see the embankment, gravy. Mostly, they just won't be able to run around your right to get side shots because too much of your infantry with schrecks et al will be hanging out in the brush field. Your Tigers face left and in, perpendicular to the line of the railroad "berm", do not close, and thus show sides nowhere.

I fail to see how this is a problem of infantry attack in the open, anyway. The infantry as such a side show in that scenario they barely even need to be there.

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Hey, I managed to win that one in ROW as the Soviets first up against Michael Dorosh, from memory. Probably more an indictment against MD rather than my playing ability.

Regards

KR

[JasonC]

If the Tigers show flanks they die to 57mm ambush or IS-2s. If they advance too far they show sides one way or another. If they don't, they needn't show sides. I suppose a human might make them show turret sides at least by using the T-34s on a flank, but that armor war stuff is going to drive the outcome regardless. Not whether the German infantry advances well, or in how many places.

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Good point.

The King Tigers did advance too far in an attempt to take the objectives without much infantry in support, thereby allowing flank shots from T34/85's.

Regards

KR