Defense Advice

[weapon2010]

I am defending with 3200 points on a very large bocage map.Germans are defending a small town against human opponenet.

Are the fortification purchases a smart buy?Out of bunker ,trench,foxhole,sandbag wall,hedgehog obstacle,barbed wire,mines.What would you get?Or none at all and stick to a mobile defense plan?

I remember from back in the Cmx1 days, experienced players would not purchase any fortifications.

I have no experience with new defensive systems other than finding out trenches do not offer much protection against artillery.

[FragerZ]

Fortifications are not good purchases. On a large bocage map, buy Panthers and Stug's.

Personally, I'm a fan of buying those 95 point Stummels. But I can never seem to use them well.

[weapon2010]

Agreement was no Panthers, Tigers,M10, or Sherman 76.No Trp's

[Statisoris]

Since you can't have panthers I would purchase some PzIVs and upgrade their experience and leadership to give them the edge they need to make up for lack of armor. You will definitely need a mobile defense on such a large map with so many points. Your opponent is sure to purchase significant arty with his wad if points and so anything immobile like bunkers and AT guns will eventually get pounded.

[weapon2010]

The map is flat and loaded with bocage.There are no good vantage points for the fo.It is loaded with hedges, trees , and bocage.He wont have a clear los to the target or spotting rounds, so the arty will most likely not be accurate.So why buy alot of arty?

[Blazing 88's]

When i am on defense i always want to try and counterattack if my force permits. Once i know where they are it begins. Since you are purchasing your units, turn the tables on your opponent right off the bat... make a kampfgruppe for attack if you can.

If your opponent cry's foul... remind him or her it is a WAR game. ;-)

[GreenAsJade]

TRPs?

GaJ

.....

[Statisoris]

He might load up on 60mm mortars which can move up and direct fire. Even if they are called in, it only takes ~4 min for those to start falling if indirect fired. Same goes for on map 81mm which can be called in indirect in about 5 mins. Lack of mobility is almost always, eventually a bad thing on the battlefield, even if you are not facing any artillery.

On a different note, I have found it very useful when playing with non-armored (no halftracks) infantry, to purchase a couple trucks and strip them of all ammo during setup. It will give your squads staying power if they have a few hundred more rounds with them. US truck crews come with a set of binoculars so after u strip their trucks you can use them as makeshift scouts, im not sure if german truck crews have binoculars, I know they are better armed vs US though.

[Other Means]

The map is flat and loaded with bocage.There are no good vantage points for the fo.It is loaded with hedges, trees , and bocage.He wont have a clear los to the target or spotting rounds, so the arty will most likely not be accurate.So why buy alot of arty?

It can be on-map, as in mortars, accurate and instant if he has direct LOS. Otherwise a 6 minute delay and can be called from an officer with a radio. A bit of planning on his behalf and he's golden.

If you can get some long sight-lines the best defence is HMGs out of reach of the Garand. But if it's a very dense map it sounds like you're going to need infantry. A good thing about German infantry is that the firepower doesn't decline in a linear fashion with the manpower, as it roughly does for the US. As long as you keep your guys in place so they can recover the LMG they're pretty hard to root out.

I love the 105mm StuH's, and the StuG continues to be a bargain. German players generally lean on armour and so should you. Using them keyholed where you can either force his armour forward to cover and so be exposed or just hit him with a load of HE.

If it were me, I'd go for a forward defence, going forward from your deployment area with a 1/3rd of your infantry, hitting the US and stopping the infantry advance, possibly trying to pick off some armour with the StuGs, then falling back to the next line before he brings down his arty. No more than 4 minutes in any one place, like a bank job.

You need to find the holes in the bocage (turning shadows on to see where the gaps are helps) and have your guys by them to rush forward, hit his guys and run back, with a second line behind the bocage covering them.

The other great thing about an approach like that is it stops the watch-movie-click-go borefest some defences can become.

[Bimmer]

Depends how much space you have to deploy. If you have sufficient depth in front of the objective, I'd buy lots of infantry and make your opponent fight for every field; a small mobile reserve should be enough. If, however, you are constrained and forced to defend close to the objective, a screening infantry force in front, a second line through or even behind it, and a large combined arms reserve would be better. Stick with on-board mortars for artillery.

Of course, if I were your opponent, I'd buy a metric ton of artillery and blast a patch right through to the objective, or simply flatten the objective, again depending on the way the map is set up.

All the above is IMHO; I take no responsibility if you follow any or all of it and get your ass handed to you.

[StellarRat]

I think everyone is jumping the gun with the technical stuff here. The first question you need to ask yourself is how much do I need to defend to win?? If you have three objective areas, but can win by only holding one of them, you should allocate your forces to make sure you hold one and the throw the rest to the wolves or defend them just enough to delay the enemy. If all the objectives are of equal value defend enough of the ones that are easy to defend to win then worry about the others. The old adage is "he who defends everything defends nothing". After you've got that figured out then worry about the technical stuff.

If your map has only one objective point I suggest moving forces out of the town at the beginning to escape any pre-planned barrages and then moving back in after the artillery is done. Also, keep in mind that sometimes it's better to position forces OUTSIDE the objective if that helps them get a better defensive position or more coverage. For weapons with good defense and a long reach, like a Tiger I, probably want on a hill outside of town where it will have excellent LOF because it can effectively shoot the whole map, others you'll want to put in an ambush position and defend only a tiny slice of the battlefield, like an AT team.

[sburke]

The map is flat and loaded with bocage.There are no good vantage points for the fo.It is loaded with hedges, trees , and bocage.He wont have a clear los to the target or spotting rounds, so the arty will most likely not be accurate.So why buy alot of arty?

Arty doesn't have to be accurate to have an impact on your ability to move reserves. They could simply use it to cordon off the main point of attack. Throw in a couple TRPs and you could be in for a world of hurt. In that case you may need some mobile firepower to recover.

[RockinHarry]

From latests experiences with the games features and as defending germans, I´d aim for a "Fusilier" unit for their big short range punch (many SMG´s), either as part of a maps main strong point, or a good infantry counter attack force.

Foxholes and trenches are good, if placed tactically sound. You can choose to place them in keyholed positions, mutually supporting, but avoid placing them too close to bocage and trees (air bursts!!). Spare isolated buildings in the defense and rather use them as "shield" for keyholed defenders behind. Aim for mutually supporting keyhole defense positons as oftenly as possible.

HMG´s should be placed with longest possible range of fire in mind (if map parts allow) and both, frontally covered, as well as the flanks.

A platoon of Stug or Pz-4 should be enough as counter attack armor, if any US tanks get beyond the screen of Fausts and Schrecks. Thus avoid towed AT.

[womble]

Mines are excellent for making your opponent cautious. If you're outside July, he'll only have explosives for making holes in hedgerows, and the odd mine at 'convenient' bocage holes can go a long way to jamming up the works if he's not brought enough demo charges. One good FO and a few TRPs placed near where you've put mines, plus scout teams (either split or bought) to make sure you know when to drop the world on his head.

If there are any long sight lines at all, StuG front armour stands up very well to 75mm AP, so you can use armour to cover any long straight roads.

[weapon2010]

What about AT guns?behind bocage?

[Statisoris]

I find placing AT guns behind bocage hit/miss. I would really like to do it but it seems like half the time the AT team can see and shoot small arms through it just fine, but the AT gun ends up with no line of fire out of their position. Same thing with deployable MGs sometimes.

[Erwin]

Re defensive/ambush positions, it is critical to NOT have them have easy LOS to the enemy starting positions, as they will inevitably be spotted and easily killed by his guns, armor, arty etc.

Better to sight bunkers and guns to fire ACROSS the enemy's line of advance - ie hitting him in his flank, so that his supporting heavier weapons systems cannot see or shoot at your units.

You then need to predict what your oppo is likely to do to attempt to neutralize your key ambushing units, and set additional ambushes, TRP's etc to defend against his attacks to take out your flank shooting bunkers/guns/armor. And so on... At the very least this frustrates your oppo and makes him waste a lot of time.

And yes, if you can in addition afford to keep a hard-hitting mobile force even better.

[Sublime]

In regards to 'blasting the objective' or 'blasting a path through the objective' I notice players often overestimate the strength of off-board artillery.

For me to really consider an area I've shelled to be 'dead' Ive come to expect at least a 'heavy/medium 81mm mortar strike on a point or small linear target. For buildings it has to be the same on 120mm.

But if I REALLY want to be sure - 120mm or higher and if its a large area it needs to be 150mm or up.

60mms, 81mms, and even 120mms really are better for target specific strikes and dont do as well for destruction by area. (which is what you're working with if you're doing pre-planned attacks) There is an art to preplanned arty in the attack, and in this game with the new arty system it becomes important, at least in my method of play. (btw I play rt/warrior setting)

As far as arty in the defense, you want a happy medium. So far in BN unless you are using DF I find that things in the 120mm range are an excellent bet. For US forces this translates to 105mm fire. 155mm US fire rocks, but the delay is rough for a fluid defensive enviroment. And for Werhmacht defense TRPs can really make it or break it, especially with 120mm mortars, as they can have slow response times.

Ive also noticed that though arty is obviously very lethal, I always need to plaster it on a little longer than what I always 'feel' is enough, to really kill or put out of action what Im shooting at.

[Vanir Ausf B]

Remember the OP stated that TRPs are not allowed in his game. That being the case I would use 81mm mortars for the quicker response time. In CMBN even the smaller caliber explodey stuff is highly lethal to infantry.

[weapon2010]

Thanks for all the input guys, its great getting other people's perspective.

[c3k]

Defend everywhere! Don't give up a single hedgerow, field, farmhouse, or intersection! This is a game of inches! The battle is one for moral ascendency. When he attacks, attack back! Everywhere! Crush his spirit and you will crush his forces. Numbers mean nothing. Purity of purpose determines the outcome. Focus on the battle. Do not worry about your family. The State security forces are keeping a very close eye on them. Failure would reflect poorly on your values. It could only be caused by a lack of appropriate vigor of spirit. Excuses are defeatist. We expect you to do your duty.

Ken

[Erwin]

Now that is what I would like to see more of in the German briefings. Puts one in the right frame of mind - either cynical/ignoring the rant, or a true believer...

[RockinHarry]

Now that is what I would like to see more of in the German briefings. Puts one in the right frame of mind - either cynical/ignoring the rant, or a true believer...

"Funny" for sure, but from a more serious point of view, you´d rather see any such "briefings" for a soviet union commander, but surely not for a german one. Or maybe in a Hollywood made film at best.

Beside anything else, taste matters off course.

[Erwin]

I would imagine there were hard core ubermen fanatics in the SS as there were in the NKVD.

Regardless, the above briefing elicits an emotional response of some sort which is a lot more fun than the usual dry "just the facts, mam" briefings we tend to get.

[Sublime]

Definitely after the July 20th assasination attempt. Making the fuhrer salute mandatory and having 'political officers' assigned to military units ensured all sorts of rhetoric was flying around. Whether or not it was actually applied to tactics often depended on the commanders however.