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Child pages

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Misc thoughts on the game

  • CMBO
    • There are around 200 individual battles
    • There are around 10-15 operations in addition to the battles above, each of which has ~6 battles
    • They explain how to gauge how well you did in the AAR section. Basically you look at the ratio of points you scored to the points the opponent scored.
  • Don't be surprised by heavy casualties: "companies and even battalions were often totally wiped out after an hour of intense fighting.

Tutorials / Tactics / How-To's

Manuals

...

Videos

One-off / individual articles of written advice (eg forum / blog posts)

Collections of advice / websites

Tutorial scenarios

Unit-specific information

  • Mortars
    • 81mm

      • Mortars are the precision munitions" of WWII. Mortars are best used against point targets. They have the advantage of being able to fire on the enemy without return fire hitting them, and they are relatively accurate and lethal enough to knock out enemy support weapons.
        The 81mm mortar is about as heavy as a weapon can get and still be regularly man packable (broken down), thus able to reach any terrain. It has enough range to hit MGs without reply, and the mobility to move after firing to avoid counterbattery (which was rudimentary at finding them in that era). The casualty radius of an 81mm mortar round is not much below that of a 105mm round. However, it is much less effective against men with cover, because it is getting that effect from smaller fragments.

        The effect of the shell is quite high, when a target is caught moving. Infantry mortared in the open will be stuck there like cement as long as your ammo holds. You watch them, when more than two get up you drop another several rounds on them. The German combination was MG42s if you leave cover and 81mm mortars if you stay in it but try to move around at all. The typical result is simply paralysis - the targeted formation will not move. Net result is, a targeted platoon is lucky if half of it can continue the mission half an hour later. If they are under immediate attack, maybe they can fire back with 2/3 to 3/4 strength in five minutes.

  • Machine guns
    • If you have your machine gun in a building that has infantry approaching it, put an SMG squad in a further-back position on the first floor of the building where they can take out any infantry that try to approach the machine gun. (Source)
  • Fixed defenses
    • Trenches

How to create custom missions

  • You can choose an elevation from "0" to "19". From running a simple experiment, it seems that the number corresponds to tens-of-feet, so that "19" is 190 feet higher than "0". (This is useful to know if you want to use real elevation data to create a scenario.)
  • The minimum map size is 240m x 240m.
  • The max map size I was able to create was 1200m x 4000m. The editor was extremely (unusably) laggy with a map that big, but in-game it didn't seem to lag at all.
    • It even crashed when I was using it.
  • You can have the editor auto-generate terrain for whatever map size you decide on.
  • A mission can be between 1 and 120 turns in duration.

Tutorial Missions

  • General advice / notes
    • When creating tutorials, get rid of the zones.
    • A flag shows up as captured *after* you click "Done" and the next chance to choose orders happens. You *can* capture a flag on your last turn, and you can see it's captured by looking at your score, but you'll never see the flag change in-game.
    • It seems if you give a "Move / Disembark" order to a unit at its current location, it's executed without any delay.
    • It seems if you order a unit to embark in a jeep that has an order to move to that embarking-unit's location, the jeep will stop as soon as the other unit beings moving towards the jeep, even if that unit is very far away from the jeep.
    • It seems that units (at least Jeeps) will "cut corners" if you give a series of waypoints. In my case I ordered it to fast-move to a building and then fast-move to another point, but when it was within maybe 100m of the building it just kept going towards the second waypoint without actually driving up to the building.
    • If you don't have a jeep keep going on its own, you lose 10 seconds + (the extra time you had in the last turn - 10) seconds.
  • Before I start to suffer from feature creep it may be a good idea to think about what the most crucial tactic to teach is. Maybe...OCOKA? Fire superiority? Being patient?
  • Maybe rewatch the Armchair General videos and see what he says. I think it was mainly OCOKA and the 5 questions he keeps asking himself.
    • Major ideas he covers:
      • Fire superiority.
  • You can really just look at the CMBO manual's table of contents and make each subsection a different mission or series of missions.
  • You can make tutorials of the form "get this unit to this position in this amount of time". That would be very helpful for a player.
  • You can make tutorials of the form "estimate how much time it would take to get this unit to get to this position".
  • Have a puzzle where you control a jeep and you need to navigate it through a city / woods / etc. terrain with lots of obstacles blocking off routes, and you need to get the jeep to a particular location in a single turn.
  • The idea is to teach the player how a jeep moves through various terrain.
  • Have a puzzle where you need to drop off a MG, pick up another MG, and then drop that MG.
  • Misc observations
    • You can't capture flags using a Jeep (and presumably using other transport units).
    • If the opponent doesn't have any units when the player hits "Go", the mission will immediately end, without even playing the moves the player has set up.
    • It seems you can't have an '@' symbol in your scenario name or it'll crash CMBO when you try to click the 'Load' button when editing the scenario.
    • The audio file that plays the AAR sound is 00000129.WAV. It might be a good idea to remove or change it if you're going to be doing a lot of testing of a scenario (like my tutorial scenarios).
    • 00000170.WAV is the drum roll that plays when you go to the main menu. 
    • Jeeps can rotate in-place.
  1. Cover each unit type independently.
    • Infantry
    • Guns
    • Mortars
    • Vehicles
    • Tanks
  2. Have multiple missions for each unit type to cover different major abilities.
  3. Aim to have each mission take 15-30 mins.

AARs

...

  • NW: This is pretty cool; it basically just makes CM a strictly-first-person game, with the aim of making it more immersive, which is what OFP / WW2OL do so well.
  • Source
  • Selecting units
    • Use "+" or "-" keys to move from friendly unit to friendly unit. Then, use the "tab" key. You can then only rotate in place to scan the surrounding terrain.
    • If there is friendly unit within the line of sight (LOS) of the unit you have currently selected, you do not have to use the + and - keys. Instead, you can simply point and click on that target unit, THEN hit the tab key. Any other way of accessing an enemy unit is forbidden.
  • Looking around - After accessing the unit and hitting the tab key(which orients the view of the unit forward), you can only "look around" by using the pivot keys (1,3,7,9) on the keypad.
  • Buildings - If a unit icon (such as vehicle), blocks your view, you can use the "8" key to click ahead only such distance which is necessary to clear the sprite.
  • Elevated views - Once turns begin (after setup), you may use only the lowest-level view ("1" on the keyboard), unless the following apply:
    • A. If your unit occupies are a two-level building, you may use View 2
    • B. If you are on the top floor of a church, you can use View 2 or View 3, whichever you prefer
  • Enemy units - You may not "click on" or "select" an enemy unit. Use the "N" key to select targets.
  • Zoom keys - You may not use the "zoom key" (the brackets), unless:
    • A. You may use up to Zoom 2x if you're unit you are "looking from" is platoon leader or above.
    • B. Your unit may use up to Zoom 4x if it has optics (e.g, an artillery observer, an AT gun, a tank). Buttoned tanks or tanks that suffered casualties can only use up to zoom 4x in the direction of their turret facing, because, that's where the gunners optics are facing! American tanks may not be able to zoom at all.
  • Weather
    • You must always have weather and fog set to "full".
  • Setup phase
    • Attacking - During setup you may use View Level 7 to aid in setup, in addition to the views you are permitted in Rules 1, 2, or 3, above. This "attacker's map" rule represents the "map" your troop commander would use to help prepare your troops for the assault.
    • Defending - During setup you can use the map rule, above, if your signal corps has its act together. In addition, you can freely move about the map in level 1, or view level 2 (or 3, if a church) if that part of the map your viewing from is a multi-level building
    • Meeting Engagement - Both sides may only view using the Attacker's map rule, or from any spot in their setup zone (only). Again, if a spot in their setup zone has a church or building, adjust accordingly.
    • (Optional) During setup you may print out a map (by taking a screen shot and printing the .bmp file) for use during the battle.
      • This map should be at the minimum View Level 7.
  • Game settings
    • Use only "Realistic" Sized units.
    • Always have "full terrain" on.
    • Turn unit bases and detailed armored hits "off".
    • Generally speaking, use only those feature that the troops could use.
    • Needless to say, Fog of War is ALWAYS set to FULL!

Multiplayer

  • It seems like some people would play using "Franko's True Combat Rules" on the honor system.

Sites no longer up

Advice from players known to be knowledgeable

Miscellaneous players

  • 2014.01 - BattleDrill - LTC Scott Coulson - The Patience to See ← Discusses reconnaissance
    1. Main idea of the essay: how do you plan and execute a recon plan that actually finds enough of the enemy to let you make informed decisions without losing half your force in the process? The answer is, largely, through patience, planning and attention to detail.
    2. The first thing a commander must do to 'see' the enemy is to look at the terrain through his enemy's eyes. 
      1. If you have the patience, screenshot the map and draw pretty arrows and blobs on it in Photoshop to represent the different elements in OCOKA.
      2. at least do the following: take a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and then fly the camera to the far side of the screen and look at the terrain from the perspective of the enemy. Scribble down a few notes or pictures to represent his top 2 or 3 likely plans.
    3. Now, spin the map around and try to figure out where on the map he would be if he went with plan A.
    4. Identify a point or two on the map where he would either have to position a unit or would have to pass through to do A.
    5. Now do the same for his plan B and plan C.
    6. Try to find points on the map that will discriminate between A B and C. The doctrinal US term for what you have come up with is a Named Area of Interest or NAI, and these are what US planners build reconnaissance and surveillance plans around.
      1. If one or more of your NAIs represents a critical capability or unit for the enemy (if I see his heavy AT gun 'here' it represents the key position on this side of the battlefield) you could designate it as a Targeted Area of Interest or TAI.
    7. TODO: Finish summarizing this.
    8. Recon takes time, as well as planning. It will take time to get your recon forces into position, and more time for them to learn anything useful. If you can build a plan to place observation on all of your NAIs, and direct or indirect fires on all of your TAIs, you will find that it will take you half the scenario to execute it and you won't have moved the bulk of your force one meter.
      1. Do not assume that once you get to your NAI they will instantly and automatically spot all enemies there and give you perfect understanding. Your scouts may be in position several turns with enemy directly within their LOS, but not spot them. Advance your scouts a bound or two, then let them sit for a turn... or two or three. Frequently, you can have them ‘hide’ for their first turn or two in a new position, then ‘unhide’ them to look around a bit later. Then advance them again. 
    9. For mounted recon, consider whether to actually dismount at some locations (yes, vehicle crews can perform limited scouting and get back in their vehicles) and check around the corner or over the little rise. Also consider noise and how much your vehicles make
    10. Another thing that works well that CM players are reluctant to do is to simply back up. If your recon element encounters the enemy and gets fired on, run away!
    11. As a young lieutenant told me that the solution to nearly every tactical problem is to make your enemy fight in more than one direction at once. Find the enemy with recon, fix his attention to the front with suppressive fires, then maneuver to a flank and shoot at him from there. The element putting down supporting fires to help the scouts disengage becomes the base of fire. The guys behind them do the maneuvering.

JasonC

Misc forum posts

  • 2003 - Fighting MGs, infantry in trenches etc
  • 2005.11.11 - Infantry Tactics - I have structured his prose so that it's easier to see how different ideas relate to each other.
    1. On the subject of books, Guderian really doesn't discuss tactics at the level relevant for CM. Rommel does, not in a WW II context but in his book about his WW I infantry experiences, "Infantry Attacks". That is a pretty good book, though most of the stuff in it is well known these days. (Covering fire, fire and movement, the importance of suppression to restrict enemy observation, etc).
    2. Many of the most useful tactics date to WW I anyway.
      • Examples
        • reinforce local success rather than failure,
        • attack in depth with scouts leading, designed to blind specific portions of the enemy defense before the main body moves over that route,
        • deal with the threat of enemy fire by "packet movement" (sending only a few at a time from cover to cover, most stationary and therefore not exposed, at any one time),
        • defeat thin forces with concentrated maneuver units and thick ones with artillery instead,
        • attack with infantry immediately behind a barrage,
        • fire dominance takes ground rather than sending bodies - bodies hold stuff,
        • the strength of a tactically defensive posture (stationary, in cover, firing),
        • many on few engagement (a platoon against a squad, a company against a platoon),
        • escalation counters (spending reserves as needed to beat whatever appears, quickly).
    3. What is added in WW II is mostly a more elaborate set of combined arms to counter each other, essentially a whole separate "armor war" as the top of the escalation chain. It is more important to use weapons or unit types for the things they are specifically good at, the things they can hurt without getting hurt themselves e.g. Instead of putting your As up against his As and "exchanging off", you want paper to his rocks and rocks to his scissors etc.
    4. What are those relationships, at the CM scale?
      1. Hidden guns kill tanks.
      2. Mortars kill spotted guns.
      3. To spot things you have to get somebody close, usually infantry.
      4. Stealthy shooters with good range can pin infantry before they get close:
        • heavy machineguns,
        • snipers, 
        • light Flak,
        • hidden mortars
        • artillery FOs.
      5. Such light stuff can't hurt real armor, though.
      6. And around we go.
    5. Then there are specific target relationships.
      • Examples
        • Artillery
          • which AT gun can kill which tank,
          • does it need a side shot or to be under range X?
          • Direct fire, flat trajectory HE deals with men in buildings better than mortars or off map artillery.
          • Mortars and off map artillery will get "tree bursts" against infantry in woods, making them more effective against those.
          • Mortars or direct HE are effective against trenches, off map stuff isn't accurate enough.
          • Direct HE has trouble with stuff right behind a slope, mortars and FOs don't.
        1. Infantry
          1. Infantry can kill other infantry cheaply if it catches them in the open under 100 yards, or if it can wade into them while they are cowering from prior fire.
          2. Otherwise, if close they tend to exchange off bloodily, and run out of ammo just keeping each other's heads down if the range is too long.
          3. Higher quality infantry handled well to get "many on few" match ups against just the forward crust of the enemy, can roll through equal numbers of enemy in tight terrain (woods interiors, inside a factory e.g.)
          4. Infantry can even kill armor at around 30m range, from ambush, but is hopeless if the tanks can stand off at even 100m in open ground, and have functioning (with ammo) MGs.
      2. A lot of these details are things common sense might suggest. Some of them are specific to CM and you just have to learn them.
    6. You will find the basic story is usually trying to "disarticulate" an enemy force, in the sense of picking apart its mutually supporting weapon types, more than wiping every last unit. Once articulation is gone, you can use everybody for the thing they are best at, and rack up lopsided local win after lopsided local win. But beforehand, it is hard.
    7. An integrated defense has a counter for every move, and any single thing you try can fail.
      • Examples
        • Send infantry, MGs pin them and you can't see them.
        • Send tanks and ATGs you hadn't spotted yet blow them up.
        • Send shells while still far away and you have to hit everything, and the enemy rallies too fast, before you can follow it up from so far away. A few MGs slow you down.
    8. There are various ways around that, all of which turn on eventually disarticulating the enemy defense so your mortars, not your tanks, fight his guns; and your tanks, not your infantry, fight his machineguns.
    9. They have different ways of getting there.
      • Feints,
      • speed,
      • an expensive exchange-off attack to get close enough in one area,
      • a cleverly timed prep barrage.
    10. My favorite is the stubborn infantry attack.
      • Explanation: It works by outlasting the enemy rather than razzle dazzle.
      • Step-by-step process:
        1. You absorb the enemy fire while still at range, rally through it, and gradually but stubbornly accumulate in cover near his positions.
        2. Meanwhile all your own ranged weapons ("overwatch" - tanks, guns, mortars, FOs, etc) blow up anything spotted.
        3. Each individual unit he can pin or break, but he doesn't have the firepower to break whole companies at 400 yards.
        4. If he uses only a few stealthy shooters, you just take the pain and close in.
        5. If he fires with everything he has, your infantry stops while still at range, and your overwatch cuts his shooters down before they proceed.
    11. On defense, a different approach is the reverse slope defense.
      • Explanation:
        • Instead of trying to keep the enemy at a distance, you want the opening range to your nearest units to be nearly point-blank, but only a few of the attackers to be across some LOS blocking feature (like a crest), so your whole defense clobbers a few of them at a time.
        • Or you can build a defense out of local traps - a minefield here, a TRP for artillery there, a cul-de-sac here from wire across the last bit of cover on an otherwise promising route, etc. [NW: Is this generally solely used as part of a reverse-slope defense? Or is "Or" referring to this being an alternative to the reverse-slope defense?]
      • NW: This is what you're doing when you play a FPS or Action RPG and camp outside a room filled with enemies, taking them on one at a time as they come through the door to fight you.
  • 2005.11.28 - Re: Winning in a hurry
  • 2006.08.05 - The German Tactical System
  • 2012.05.14 - Woods fighting

...

  1. your whole army can readily destroy any small portion of the enemy force. If you could arrange to do this many times in sequence, you'd easily win. War is about not fighting fair, and the fundamental original way to be unfair is dead simple. Gang up.
    • NW: Most of the rest of the points below are just implementation details for this idea.
  2. it is easier to gang up on people if you surround them and their friends are far away. Little separated clumps that don't support each other are fresh meat, dead already and just don't know it yet.
  3. therefore, to live and support each other, a side's forces need to stop the enemy from "running rings around them". Hence, lines. If you don't have one, see 2 then 1 - the enemy is going to kill you effortlessly.
  4. just because the enemy has a line right now doesn't mean he still will at the end of your combat phase. Blow holes faster than he can close them, and you get to go to 3, and you win.
  5. to patch holes, reserves are needed. Somebody not absolutely needed to hold the line in his own sector is free to move where he is needed. Others can't or they just move where the hole is, they don't close it.
  6. "overprotected" points or sectors can supply reserves to either side of themselves. They can also attack in their own sector.
  7. multiple options are good. Taut ropes barely enough to do the job will get cut.
  8. someone is hammering and someone is getting hammered. Someone is calling the tune and someone is being forced to dance in response. This is called "the initiative" and other things being equal you want to have it, not give it away to the other guy.
  9. the single most important thing is always to keep your own force alive and in being effective at supporting each other. The second most important thing is killing the enemy. Terrain, objectives, scenario victory terms and rules don't matter. If your force is alive and the enemy force is dead, you will win regardless.
    • NW: Jeffrey Paulding would seem to say "Getting and keeping fire superiority", which sounds very similar to this, maybe just a better-stated version of what JasonC is trying to get across here.
  10. have a plan. Use options for yourself and forced reactions on your opponent to "command both armies" and steer to some way you can win. You can be sure your enemy has a plan, and if you don't have one, his will wind up coming true almost by default.
    • NW: "Forced reactions" are a very big idea in chess.

Summary of Jeffrey Paulding's 'Armchair General' series

Summary of advice given

General advice

  • The single-most-important thing to know is that gaining and keeping fire superiority is how you win. Gaining fire superiority should be your highest priority.
  • Use OCOKA as a checklist to maintain situational awareness. Use it during the setup phase and at the beginning of each turn to analyze all relevant characteristics of the battlefield.
  • Maneuver to match up your units against the enemy units they are effective against, and to not allow your units to be matched up against enemy units that they are easily destroyed by.

...

Defending


Episode summaries

Episode I - Key Concepts for Combat Mission

  • Link to the video
  • Summary of the mission: He controls a company(?)-sized US force as it attacks down a road towards a light German force holed up in a few houses.
  • 1:00 - The screen lists three key concepts: 1) Situational Awareness, 2) Vulnerability, and 3) Fire Superiority
  • 1. Situational Awareness
    • Read the briefing
      • Read each section carefully, looking for clues that will help you.
        • Pay particular attention to the 'Enemy Forces' and 'Situation' sections.
      • Examine the tactical map to get an overview of what to expect in the battlefield.
        • Note the 'Reinforcements', 'Support Available', and 'Objectives'.
    • Initial phase (set-up)
      • Review your troops
        • He does this by tabbing through each unit (Ctrl + '-' and Ctrl + '=')
        • He takes note of:
          • The quality.
          • The organizational structure.
          • The weapons they possess.
            • He pays particular attention to the heavy weapons and anti-tank weapons.
    • Put yourself in your men's shoes:
      • Move the camera down to their level.
      • Zoom in like you were using binoculars to see what their leaders see.
    • 2:30 - OCOKA is a classic method of situational analysis of the battlefield [which you should use]
      • It stands for Observation, Cover and Concealment, Obstacles, Key Terrain, and Avenues of Approach.
      • It is important to look at the elements of OCOKA as an integrated whole, and not in isolation.
      • Buildings and forests are obstacles for armor (because they restrict movement, limit fields of view, and can hide ambushing anti-tank infantry).
      • Buildings and forests are cover and concealment for infantry.
      • Key terrain is terrain that gives an advantage to whoever holds it.
        • It may include forests (or other sources of cover and concealment) that provide good (long-range?) observation and fields of fire.
      • "A thorough reconnaissance and understanding of the terrain before the battle starts is crucial. It is an essential part of situation analysis."
  • 2. 4:15 - Vulnerability
    • Knowing what will get you killed is extremely important.
    • For your infantry, the key to survival is the proper use of terrain.
      • This begins with understanding the difference between cover and concealment.
        • For example, stone walls and buildings (and to a lesser extent, trees) provide good cover because they stop bullets and shells, and bushes provide good concealment but poor cover.
      • 4:50 - Indirect fire (mortars and artillery) are the real killers of infantry on the WW2 battlefield.
      • Walls provide poor cover against indirect fire (obviously).
      • The best protection from indirect fire is dispersion or staying well-hidden.
      • Hedgerows provide excellent protection and concealment for infantry and antitank weapons.
      • Buildings are good to fight from.
        • The top floors frequently provide long-range observation.
        • They provide good concealment but limited cover.
        • Buildings are easy targets for tanks.
        • Against tank fire and concentrated small arms, buildings are often death traps.
    • AFVs provide speed and protection on the battlefield.
      • Half-tracks give limited protection from small arms and indirect fire.
      • They're good targets for antitank weapons.
      • They're vulnerable to the smallest caliber of cannon fire (20mm from other AFVs, for example).
      • You should avoid exposing them whenever possible.
    • For armored fighting vehicles, vulnerability is all about 1) armor, 2) angle of fire, and 3) weapons ballistics.
    • American 37mm from an AFV is effective against the frontal armor of a German armored car.
    • The frontal armor of a Panther tank is nearly invulnerable to the fire of a Sherman.
    • The Panther's cannon easily penetrates the Sherman's frontal armor.
    • You can minimize your vulnerability by knowing both your own and your enemy's fighting vehicles' strengths and weaknesses.
      • Check the weapon and defensive data at the bottom of the screen.
  • 3. 6:50 - Fire Superiority
    • On my first combat exercise in basic training, I asked my drill sergeant, a Vietnam War veteran, what was the most important thing to know about winning a firefight. He said–without hesitation–fire superiority. In combat, you must work continuously to gain fire superiority, keep fire superiority, and prevent the enemy from gaining fire superiority. When on the attack, you can't advance without fire superiority. When on the defense, you can't stop the enemy without fire superiority.
    • Gaining fire superiority should be your highest priority.
    • Advance is not possible without fire superiority.
    • Fire superiority is the key to all combat.
    • As a defender, your plan for gaining fire superiority begins by analyzing enemy avenues of approach, then positioning your weapons to create a kill zone where you will have interlocking fields of fire that will quickly overwhelm the enemy forces. As a defender, knowing when to open fire is very important. You don't want to reveal key weapon systems such as a antitank guns, prematurely. But you also want to make sure you overwhelm the attacker with your fire as quickly as possible to obtain fire superiority. Gaining fire superiority is a race to see which side can build up a volume and weight of firepower that will overwhelm the other side.
      • Heavy weapons such as antitank guns, mortars, and machine guns are the foundation of your defensive fire strength. As your shots hit home, your fire begins to gain superiority over that of the attackers. The attack starts to falter, and the attackers become pinned down. The attackers' fire slackers, and then is suppressed. The enemy's morale collapses. They cower and seek cover. Finally, the enemy runs. The attack is defeated.
    • When attacking, gaining fire superiority is an essential prerequisite for all forward movement. Usually, advancing without fire superiority means exposing your forces to excessive casualties. Often, the enemy is hidden from view. An analysis of the terrain will allow you to predict where they may be hiding. Position forces capable of delivering a heavy volume of fire, such as machine guns and mortars, to fire upon possible enemy locations. The first step to gaining fire superiority is discovering the enemy's position with the least possible force and loss. The majority of your maneuver forces position themselves to fire on enemy locations. You advance small forces until contact is made. Once the firefight begins, build up your fire quickly to overwhelm the enemy and gain fire superiority. The use of light armored vehicles such as half-tracks and fire support is effective once the enemy heavy weapons are suppressed. Move forces to where they can fire on revealed enemy units to suppress them before attempting to advance exposed troops. Tanks hammer suspected and known enemy positions to ensure fire superiority is gained and maintained throughout the attack. Use combined arms to deliver devastating firepower in support of advancing infantry. Position attacking forces to ensure fire superiority, even if the enemy moves up new forces or attempts a counterattack.
  • If you take one concept away from this video, it should be the following: gaining and maintaining fire superiority is key to success on the Combat Mission battlefield.

Episode II - Attacking a fortified position

  • Link to the video
    • Summary of the mission: He is controlling a battalion(?)-sized US force as it conducts a frontal assault across ~1km of open ground against a fortified German position. He needs to cross a bridge as part of the attack.
    • If you read the comments, this is apparently a really hard mission.
    • He fought on the "Warrior" difficulty. I'm not sure what that entails.
  1. Planning for the attack - 0:21
    1. Begin by reading the briefing.
      • Pay particular attention to:
        • Any information about enemy forces.
        • What indirect support you have available.
        • When and what reinforcements will be arriving.
    2. Look over the battlefield and form a plan.
      1. Have the objective area highlighted.
  2. Movement to Contact
    • In most scenarios, the attacker starts with little or no information about the enemy's positions.
    • In those situations, you should perform a movement-to-contact, with a small group of your forces moving forward while the bulk of your forces provide supporting fire.
      1. He shows the avenue of approach he plans on, which is just straight up the middle of the map.
    • Once the enemy is located, we will perform a hasty attack.
    • Since there's a bridge that we must cross, there's no opportunity for a flanking attack. Thus, this will be an exercise in brute strength. Success will come from good execution of a simple plan.
    • He starts the mission with an infantry company and a weapons company which has 81mm mortars.
    • He places his mortars and machine guns in a position where they can overwatch his advancing units.
    • He decides to advance only one platoon while keeping the other two concealed.
      • NW: That still seems like a lot to me. I guess you have to advance the entire platoon since it isn't realistic(?) to have squads and 6-man teams going out by themselves. And I suppose for the platoon, you'd have maybe a single squad leading out front...(?)
    • A key element of the plan is to use heavy supporting fires to gain fire superiority and allow his forces to advance.
      • Much of this will come from the mortars and supporting artillery.
    • To effectively employ these indirect fire assets, we need forward observers positioned well-forward. Thus I have my FO teams ready to move forward. (2:40)
    • In CMx2, the organizational relationship between a unit calling for supporting fire and the support unit (eg mortars) will affect the time it takes for that supporting fire to arrive, so make sure you have these relationships clear in your head before you decide which units go where.
    • Be patient when you're attacking. When attacking in CM(x2?) he rarely worries about running out of time; instead he worries about taking too many casualties. (3:30)
      • NW: He says in this scenario he's been given 90 minutes (90 turns). In a similar scenario in CMBB I'm given 25 turns, so it may be a change from CMx1 to CMx2 to give the attacker more time.
    • When advancing, he breaks his squads into teams, which reduces casualties from direct and indirect fire.
  3. Use of Engineers
    1. Engineers are used to destroy obstacles.
    2. Engineers are very valuable, so it is important to keep them dispersed, and only bring them up as you need them. (4:00)
    3. If you hit mines, move your engineers to them to have them mark the mines so that future infantry don't hit them. Engineers can't mark mines until you find them 'the hard way'. It takes a few minutes to mark the mines. (6:20)
  4. Use of Supporting Fires
    1. The most effective way to eliminate antitank guns is with mortars. (4:35)
    2. When calling for fire, he looks for a spotter that 1) can see the target area, and 2) will get the best response time from the indirect fire unit. (5:30)
    3. For small targets, he usually uses a short-duration shoot at a slow pace to save ammo. (5:40)
    4. He doesn't use 'Emergency Fire' unless firing at a TRP because otherwise the chance of hitting the target is too low (5:55).
    5. From time to time you should unbutton your tanks to allow them to search for enemy positions. If they come under fire they'll button up automatically (9:00)
    6. When using indirect fire on a large target (like a trench system) in preparation for an assault, he uses a medium or heavy bombardment at a more-rapid pace. (10:00)
  5. Combined Arms
    1. While it's unclear whether there are AT guns around, he has his tanks sit hull-down behind a ridge and provide supporting fire with their machine guns and main guns from afar, while the infantry advances and spots AT gun positions.
    2. He has an FO team follow his infantry as they advance so that the FO team can call for fire on enemy positions as they reveal themselves.
    3. When HMGs arrive as reinforcements, he spreads them out and uses them as long-range support to suppress enemy forces. (6:50)
    4. After each turn, figure out which of your squads are getting fired at and from where, and, if necessary, shift supporting fires to suppress those enemy units. (7:00)
    5. Use your infantry to spot enemy positions, and then have your tanks use 'Area Fire' to suppress those enemy positions. (9:10)
      1. NW: One mistake I made on a recent similar mission was to have my tanks / supporting MGs suppress suspected enemy positions from the very start, which depleted my ammo too quickly.
    6. Keep your tanks behind your infantry and at least 200m from suspected enemy infantry positions to protect the tanks from enemy AT teams (Panzerschreck, Bazooka, etc.).
  6. How to Maneuver
    1. Once the obstacles across the bridge are cleared, he has the mortars create a smoke screen on the opposite side of the bridge and advances the rest of his infantry company across the bridge (6:40).
    2. If you are taking too many casualties because you do not have sufficient fire superiority, have your infantry stop and hide until you can regain fire superiority. (7:20)
    3. After destroying all observed enemy AT guns and taking the opposite side of the river bank, he advances his tanks across the bridge to provide supporting fire against the enemy's second line of defense. (7:30)
      1. NW: It isn't made clear what determines when the "coast is clear" and it's safe to move the tanks across. The bridge seems to be only maybe ~500m from the fortified position, and I would've thought that the enemy would have AT guns hidden there to attack tanks as they cross the bridge. I guess it's relatively safe because that position is to the front and further away? Now that I think about it, the AT guns that were knocked out were positioned well to the side, so that they would have flanking shots at the tanks as they cross the bridge. I guess what I'm not sure about is how dangerous these AT guns are to a tank at various ranges and angles.
    4. His first company was used to assault up to the enemy's fortified position, at which point he brings up his second company for the final assault(?). (9:40)
      1. NW: It isn't clear whether he uses both the first and second company together or if he just uses the second company.
    5. He has his infantry stop a few hundred meters from the enemy's fortified position to wait for an artillery barrage before their final assault. (9:50)
      1. NW: It looks like around 200-300m.
    6. He gives his infantry a "hunt" order as they get within 3m-10m of the trench system, but has them doing short rushes before then. (10:30)
    7. NW: Strangely, he has his tanks advance alongside his infantry for the final assault. I guess they get better visibility that way?
  7. Conclusions
    1. We could have suffered far higher casualties if we had lost our tank support or if the enemy indirect fire had caught our infantry bunched up.
    2. If you are to remember one thing, remember this: When attacking, the key is to be patient. Never be in a rush to die.
      1. NW: I agree with what he's saying here, but because of the tight turn deadlines you're given in some CMx1 missions, you really need to know how to schedule the movements of your forces so that units aren't generally waiting too long for any other unit to get into position.

Episode III - Key Principles of the Attack

  • Link to the video
    • Summary of the mission:
      • First mission: A US infantry company supported by some tanks must move through bocage and woods to attack a German position on a ridge.
      • Second mission: He is controlling a German company attacking from a corner of the map towards a town in the center of the map. This was played against a human opponent.
  • Background
    • Modern infantry tactics were developed in the late stages of WW1; they were referred to by the German Army as "Stormtrooper tactics". The idea was to:
      • use small groups of infantry...
      • to attack the weakest point in the enemy defense...
      • using coordinated fire and movement...
      • and to gain fire superiority to suppress the enemy.
    • In WW2, armor support was added to the tactics.
    • NW: This is exactly the description that JasonC gives. He goes into a bit more depth.
  • First mission
    • Setup phase
      • He uses OCOKA as a checklist to identify the key characteristics of the battlefield.
        • He identifies an infantry avenue-of-approach through woods on the right flank.
          • The forest is surrounded by bocage, but engineers can use explosives to create holes for the infantry to pass through.
        • The far ridge is key terrain both because it gives the Germans good observation and fields of fire, and (relatedly) because it is our objective to occupy it.
        • The main road and open field on the far side of the forest are avenues of approach for the tanks.
        • The ridge we start on is key terrain because it gives us good observation and fields of fire.
        • A big question is whether the enemy has any infantry in the woods.
      • He creates a plan from the information he has gained from running through OCOKA.
        • The plan he arrives at is to send a platoon of infantry through the woods with some engineers to blow holes in the bocage, and to send another platoon down the road in support of some tanks, while other tanks provide supporting fire.
          • NW: It would not have occurred to me to send a tank down the main road. I guess it does a good job of suppressing enemy MGs if they're not visible to tanks up on the ridge.
        • The plan is to then advance towards the "center" of the ridge from the right flank of the ridge. Doing it this way will avoid having the infantry caught in the kill zone that is the open ground on the left flank.
      • The basic structure of all attacks is the same: find, fix, destroy.
        1. find the enemy with the smallest possible force to minimize casualties,
        2. fix the enemy with suppressive fire,
        3. and then destroy the enemy by advancing your forces into a position where they can overwhelm the enemy.
    • In the first few turns, the engineers blow holes in the hedge rows, scouts begin to move through the forest, and spotters for the indirect fire crawl to the top of the ridge (using the "SLOW" command) to scout enemy positions.
      • He doesn't want his spotters getting too far up on the hill, so he uses the "T" command to check the line-of-sight from various locations to see where it'd be best to have them.
      • It is also worth noting that he seems to have his spotters hidden from the ridge directly opposite them (on the left flank) by some forest, but they are able to view the opposing ridge on the right flank. It seems he wants them to be able to see both the right flank and the center of the opposing ridge.
      • An AT gun fires at the spotters(?), and he has his 60mm mortars fire on the AT gun.
      • "The American 60MM mortar is one of their most effective weapons, especially in the direct fire mode."
      • He also has the 81mm mortars fire a 'short - light' mission against the AT gun.
  • TODO: Finish this.

Episode IV - How to Conduct a Fixed Defense

Episode V - How to Conduct a Hasty Defense

  • Link to the video
    • Summary of the mission: He is controlling a company of German forces defending a French town against a British attack in somewhat dark conditions (overcast? evening? early morning?). There are some small woods on his right flank, bocage on his left flank, and a collection of buildings in the center of the map. This was a game against a human opponent.

Episode VI - How to Fight

  • Link to the video
    • Summary of the mission: There are two missions. In both he is controlling Italian forces against US forces, and both take place on the same battlefield, a valley with a river running down the center of it, from the Italian side to the US side, and woods at the top of the hills on both sides of the valley. In the first mission, the Italians need to take a small "town" (a few buildings) in the center of the map. In the second mission, the Italians need to defend the town against a US counterattack.
    • "...this video focuses both key concepts, as well as the details of how to fight at squad level. We go over the use of area fire, the assault command, the importance of understanding ballistics, understanding match ups, as well as the use of terrain. A review and primer all at the same time"
    • This video is twice as long as his other videos, and he covers two battles on the same battlefield: one in which he is attacking, and a second in which he is defending.

Advice from players of unknown sophistication

Websites

Articles

  • 2008 - QuarterToThree Forums - Where to learn about field level tactics
    • There's other advice in here I need to summarize.
    • CSL
      • Again hold your fire. This is especially true with infantry, even more so when playing a defensive battle. Don't open fire with an MG or anti-tank gun unless the target is in relatively open terrain or close, especially when your troops are green.
      • I love, love, love anti-tank guns. If you're on a defensive map it probably better to purchase anti-tank guns than getting tanks for you're anti-armor defensives.
      • Self propelled guns. Cheaper than tanks and other than the fact that you usually have to rotate the entire machine to rotate the gun just as good at a tank. Some are particularly good - the German Stug for instance was perhaps the best anti-tank vehicle I noted in Africa Korps, low profile and a good gun. Most of these lack good anti-infantry weapons though, so beware and try to keep them hulldown as much as possible.
      • Echoing other comments tanks cannot be sent out without support, even a King Tiger will get knocked out quickly without support. I suppose you can use them as long range fire support, but thats still slightly problematic.
      • Advance with fire support. Generally you'll have artillery or aircraft so when launching your attack use it. Especially go after buildings close to your axis of advance cause this is where the most probable ambush point will usually come from.
      • Purchase some recon units such as armored cars or scout infantry, sure they die easy but I'd rather use a cheap unit like them than move with tanks or regular infantry.
    • Janster
      • Infantry should never move unless they have to.
      • Tanks should be still while shooting.
      • Rifles suck, get bigger guns...make sure you have lines of sight..open ONLY when you know you can do some damage.

My thoughts

Questions

  • Should you use Green troops as your forward scouts, since they're less valuable? Or should you use Regular troops, since they'll be more likely to get away without getting hurt?
  • If a tank is angled (like, its right side is higher than its left), does that affect accuracy?
  • What is the radius of an 'area target' when using mortars?
  • Just how much cover do craters give you? How deep are these craters? Is there a limit to how many men can be hiding in a crater?
  • How should an attacker combat a reverse-slope defense if the enemy is on the far side of a forest?
    • Maybe have the enemy charge immediately after a mortar barrage.
  • What does "25+" mean for the length of a map?
    • A: If you look at the mission briefing, it says "25 turns variable", which I guess means that the mission gives you at LEAST 25 turns, but may end early if you've captured your objectives(?)
  • What kind of spacing should you have on your platoons?
    • A: Well, given that MGs will suppress anything within ~25+ meters, you probably want your lead squad ~25m+ in front of your main force if you can do it.
  • How far away are sound contacts?
    • It seems like they're anything out-of-sight, but it looks like the distance is limited to maybe 200-300m(?).
  • What happens when a Jeep hides? Does it do anything?
    • A: I think so, because when I tried to move a hiding Jeep it got blown up.

...

  • The actual CMRT manual doesn't contain all of the information you need to do to play the game. To get the rest of the information you need, refer to the CM Engine Manual.
  • Navigation
    • Your perspective is far easier to move around by solely using the keyboard than by using the mouse. Use WASD to move the position and the arrow keys to move your perspective. R and F to move the camera up or down.
    • So far I'm finding it much more of a pain than in CMBO to get a rough idea of what will happen if I move my units to a particular position (like, what will they have LOS to / who will be able to attack them).
  • UI
    • The three round buttons are shortcuts to give orders to the selected unit: Halt/Resume, Cancel, and Evade.
    • It isn't as easy to tell where to tell your men to go because you don't have the ground colored the same way it is in CMBO.
  • If you tell infantry to enter a building, they will always enter through the door. They won't enter through windows if those are the closest / safest entrances available (ie the only entrance not facing the enemy).
  • If you lose your platoon commander you can still give orders to his units.

Specific Missions

CMBO

...

  • 2017.10.07
    • This was my second time playing the mission.
    • I didn't notice the pillbox that showed up on my right on the first turn (but wasn't visible during the Setup phase), and it killed one of my bazooka teams that I'd ordered to run right past it.
      • It would be nice to have the AI say something like, "Hey, that's going to put us in dangerous range of that pillbox, are you sure you want to do that?"
    • I assumed that the enemy would spawn on the other side of the map, and so I ordered my units to rush to the buildings that it was my objective to take.
      • I lost most of one of my two crack squads because it rushed headlong into about a platoon of enemy infantry, including one squad that was in the house I wanted to take.
    • At that point I realized I had made a critical error and ended the mission (after just one turn).
  • 2018.06.27 - Third attempt
    •  
    • Third time was the charm, although I benefited from knowing where the enemy pillbox was.  I should make another attempt while using the deployment from my initial attempt.
    • Allied Major Victory
      • Allied Attacker:
        • 25 casualties (6 KIA)
        • Men OK: 53
        • Score: 77
      • Axis Defender
        • 49 casualties (11 KIA)
        • 1 mortar destroyed
        • Men OK: 61
        • Score: 23
    • I put ALL of my forces in the tiny square to the side, since it seemed to offer a better avenue of approach: I could avoid the pillbox, I could have the light and heavy buildings in line with each other, preventing the infantry in the heavy building from seeing a lot of my infantry as they approached, my machine guns and mortars would be in a position to attack any reinforcing enemy infantry coming from the town, and the scattered trees near the light building seemed like the best way to assault the two buildings.
    • I kept my machine guns and mortars in the rear, hitting infantry squads and enemy mortar from afar.
    • I sent in my least-depleted crack unit to seize the light building and then the heavy building, then I sent another crack unit to follow it a turn or two later, and then I sent in my other (veteran) units after them after that.
    • On two different occasions I had enemy mortars targeting my squads, and in both cases I ordered the squads that were within LOS of the enemy mortar to move to the side in such a way that the light building (one of the two objectives) was blocking the LOS for the enemy mortar.
    • I lost my more-valuable CO (Lt. Roberts), which apparently mirrors what happened in the real event, where one of the COs was killed by a sniper.

    • One of the interesting differences between CM and OFP is that in CM you find yourself ordering men to do things which in OFP you'd have trouble getting human subordinates to do, like to charge a building while the enemy is only 30m away, because you can see that it's necessary to take that location to maintain a positional(?) / defensive / morale advantage against the enemy, meaning a small sacrifice now will lead to saved lives later and a better chance at achieving your objectives. But in OFP multiplayer missions, there's really no morale / defensive bonus to different terrain or buildings, and so there's no incentive to sacrifice men to take those positions. Which I think contributes to the feeling in OFP of having a shoot-out in an empty parking lot. In OFP multiplayer I've found COs to be more of coordinators, where all they do is go, "OK guys, we're going to go this way, and then this way", but the COs don't really seem to be making tactical decisions; it's just a shoot-out: "see which side can shoot the other side first".

    • Bazookas are useful for suppressing enemy infantry in buildings.

    • It's *very* helpful to order a bunch of squads to all target a single enemy squad if you want that squad suppressed, even if that enemy squad in a heavy building.

Combat!

Played as the Allies
  • 2018.06.29 - First attempt
    • Allied Minor Victory
    • Allied Attacker: 11 casualties (3 KIA), Men OK: 44, Score: 25
    • Axis Defender: 6 casualties (1 KIA), 1 pillbox knocked out, Men OK: 24, Score: 18
    • Deployment: Image Modified
    • One squad ordered to run forward, another squad ordered to run into the house: Image Modified
    • Advancing on the pillbox after it'd been knocked out: Image Modified
    • While deploying I saw that there was a clearly-superior avenue of approach up the right flank, but I wasn't sure how far my men could run in 8 turns, so I didn't move as aggressively as I could to get my men over to that flank on the first turn.
    • I made the same mistake here as when I played A Ranger Challenge the first time, which was to not notice a pillbox that appeared after I had finished deploying and was choosing my moves for the first turn.  In this case it was a pillbox on my left flank.  On my first turn my lieutenant got pinned by both pillboxes and suffered a casualty.
    • My supporting tank arrived on turn 2 and knocked out the pillbox by around turn 5 or 6.
    • I suffered most of my casualties while my men were close to their starting point.
      • I lost several men when I had a squad move up to the main wall before the pillbox had been taken out, and IIRC they ended up in the LOS of the other pillbox as well.  I should have just had them move up to the rightmost part of the wall, where they'd be out of the LOS of the left-flank pillbox.
      • I also lost several men when I had my platoon running to the scattered trees on the right flank.
    • I had the 81mm fire on the bunker but I'm not sure what, if any, effect it had.  It may have been better to have the 81mm fire on the woods on the far side of the bunker on turn 7, to get any remaining enemy squads to flee away from the flag.
    • I'm reminded of the real-life account I read of a Captain who'd taken out multiple pillboxes by just having his men focus their fire on one at a time while another approached and attached demolition charges, and I wonder if it would be possible to similarly-suppress the pillboxes in this game.

Periers-Roaring Rescue

  • 2018.06.30 - First attempt
    • This is a "just for fun" scenario" where you control a single Panther (Crack) and need to rescue some wounded soldiers on the far side of the map.
    • I guess I sort of "won", in that I retrieved the 'wounded soldiers' and brought them back to the starting point, but I don't think I played the mission the way it was intended, and I think I inadvertently gamed the AI. What I did was to have my Panther immediately go back to the flag and go all the way around the right flank. The Panther never got into a fight until it was back at the starting point, where the enemy AI had ordered all of their men and tanks (it maybe would have made more sense to not have the flag at all so the AI would stay in their defensive positions). So I think I inadvertently gamed the AI by taking advantage of the fact that they would head straight for the flag at my starting point. But even back at the start neither the Panther nor the enemy Shermans were able to hit each other in the several shots they took (inexplicable to me).  I think it would be worth replaying the mission while going right down the middle of the map.
    • I was shown as controlling the flag for most of the last few turns, but on the very last turn it turned grey as the Allied forces got in closer to where the flag was, even though it was within view of my Panther.
    • It seems like the main disadvantage of going straight down the middle of the map is that you have to worry about enemy tanks shooting at your flanks once you get into town. It might be better to go into the town via the right flank (the way I did on this first attempt), but then come out of the town through the center, because by then the Allied AI would have moved out of the town and would be funneled between the hedgerows that line the road down the middle of the map into the town. One downside of this is that your wounded would be in danger when the enemy Shermans open fire on the Panther with their machine guns.
    • The scenario gives you so little time (15 turns to get across the map and back) that you're forced to do reckless things, like Fast Move in areas where there's a high danger of encountering enemy tanks / AT guns.
    • The plan I came up with during the Set Up phase: Image Added
    • Where my Panther and the wounded soldiers ended up meeting up: Image Added
    • Up-close-and-personal duel with the enemy Shermans back at the extraction zone / flag: Image Added

Son

  • 2017.10.07
    • I played as the Allies, defending a bridge from an attack by a mechanized force.
    • An important characteristic of the mission is that visibility is limited to ~140m (because it takes place at night).
    • I had to play the mission twice; the first time I tried defending using the set-up the mission-maker gave me, which was to have one platoon in a forward position, one platoon at the bridge itself, and one platoon in the rear. That was a disaster: the first platoon was surrounded and annihilated, making the mission probably-unwinnable because it had two of the company's three bazooka teams, and on the next play-through those bazooka teams were really important. So on the next play-through I used the kind of strategy I would use in Shogun, which is: wait on your side of the river and position yourself so you can hit any units that attempt to cross the bridge, but can't be hit by units on the other side of the river.
    • I had the forward platoon immediately walk to the back-left corner of the land on the far side of the river, and then used them to flank the infantry that showed up on the opposite bank of the river. They also took out two light tanks that ended up in the vicinity of where they were hiding.
    • I had my rear two platoons both on the left side of the two bridges, because I had learned in the first play-through that the visibility was better there, and that the enemy infantry was more likely to sprawl out on the opposite side of the river on that side of the bridges.
    • One issue I noticed was that by having the AT guns behind the line of my troops, the enemy tanks and half-tracks were able to set up in a position where they could shoot at my infantry without getting within visible range of my AT guns.
      • This was only an issue because the visibility was so dramatically limited. But I guess the more-general question you can ask yourself is, "Is there a way for the enemy armor to hit my infantry without being visible to my AT guns?"
    • One thing I learned was that veteran bazooka teams are extremely good at what they do. They can take out a light tank or half-track at 100-140m with the first shot.
    • Mortars and artillery really do work well for separating armor from its protective infantry support, just as Jeff Paulding recommends doing.
    • After the mission ended I saw that the enemy had an 81mm spotter in their rear that they had never used for some reason. That could have made the mission a lot harder.

The Farm

  • 2017.10.09 - Playing as the Allies
    • Axis: 86 casualties, 20 KIA, Score of 21
    • Allied: 25 casualties, 8 KIA, 1 gun destroyed, 1 vehicle knocked out, Score of 79
    • I had a bad break at the beginning where my AT gun was firing at an enemy assault gun, trading shots, and the enemy assault gun won the duel and took out my AT gun. I was so despondant at that point that I quit, but after maybe 30 minutes I remembered the chess lesson that it's really important to "never give up", and so I decided to keep fighting, and I was pleasantly surprised at my good fortune from then on.

    • otherwise-useless crew or ammo-less spotters can be used as recon: have them keep an eye on any angles that you don't otherwise have eyes on.

    • the AI finally used their assault gun on turn 11 of 15 for some reason (VERY late), by which time I had assumed (from its lack of firing) that it was stuck in the mud or otherwise out of action, and so I had used up my PIATs on enemy infantry.

      • Lesson: Maybe always keep at least one AT round in reserve...? But it can take 3+ rounds to take out a tank...and the mission worked out fine, so I'm not convinced I made a mistake.
    • I was constantly directing my infantry to fall back when they started coming under heavy fire. That's something I used to not do, and it really helps. It's one of the single-most important things to do in the game.
    • Just as in chess, one of the main things you want to be thinking about is, "How can I make maximum use of the resources I've been given?" Meaning, if you were given mortars, and bazookas, and an AT gun, you ideally want to spend all that ammo.
    • One thing I was trying to figure out at the beginning was, "How can I create a reverse-slope defense here?". But because the AI ended up trying to advance on the sides (rather than a head-on assault), I ended up being able to put my MGs and squads on the far side of the two-story buildings, so that the enemy supporting fire couldn't hit them, but they could still hit any advancing infantry. If the enemy had tried a head-on assault, I think I would have just put squads in the heavy buildings and tried to take them on as they tried to get through the bocage. I was afraid they would mass infantry outside the bocage, but I guess the AI isn't smart enough to try something like that.
    • Weirdly, the enemy didn't use their artillery support until turn 13 or so.
    • If I was attacking, I would probably have a platoon or two of infantry move through the woods on the left flank as quickly as possible, and then use them and the assault guns to provide a base of fire so that I could advance another platoon of infantry to the bocage, but on the left-flank side of the bocage, out of sight of the right-flank woods. ...Hmm...but then I'd need to worry about the units on the right-flank woods shifting to the farmhouse to meet any infantry coming through the bocage...This seems like it would be a really fun mission to play from the German side.

Wittmann's Last Hour

Played as the Allies
  • General thoughts:
    • I did eventually succeed, but my successful attempt seems significantly dependent on knowing exactly where the enemy would go and when reinforcements would arrive that I wonder how I would have done if I'd had the same tactical knowledge that I gained from repeated failures, but without the knowledge of where the enemy would go.
  • First attempt: failure
    • Deployment: Image Modified
    • My main memory of this attempt was that I had no idea what the enemy Tigers were going to do.  I suspect a human opponent would not just advance right down the road into the town, but would instead try to move up a flank, clear out one side of the map, and then advance to the town with their front-armor protecting them from the enemy armor on the other side of the map.  I would probably have one Tiger go down the road to be in a position to capture the flag, maybe another Tiger go down the Allied left-flank, and then another two Tigers go down the Allied right flank.  Or maybe just have all of my Tigers go down the Allied right flank, take out the reinforcements when they arrive, and then wrap around back to the town.
  • Second attempt: failure
    • Just for fun, I put all of my armor just behind the rise that the Axis tanks start behind, all the way forward on the Allies' left flank. I wanted to see if getting all of my tanks firing up-close and all-at-once would help.  They were positioned as close to each other as I could get them
    • I did do better than my first attempt (I knocked out more Tigers), but the enemy Tigers shot smoke to blind my tanks, which allowed them to focus on fewer tanks at a time.
    • I learned that having the tanks that close together seems to maybe make it difficult for the AI to move the tanks when they want to.
    • When the reinforcements arrived I tried to have them do a fast move up the right flank to the woods but they were blown up before they could get there. So that was a bad idea. I rectified that in later attempts.
  • Third attempt: failure
    • Serious attempt but I still failed.
    • Deployment: Image ModifiedImage Modified
    • My main idea for this attempt was to get the Shermans as close as possible to the Tigers by putting almost all of them on the right flank, and just have my Firefly on the left flank since it was more powerful at long-range.
    • Attempting to save the reinforcements: On the third turn I had a tank on the right flank fire smoke rounds onto the road so that the enemy Tigers wouldn't see the reinforcements arrive on turn 5. I then tried to have the reinforcements do a fast-move towards the town on either side of the road to get to those scattered trees, with the idea of keeping them out of the LOS of the Tigers. (Picture: Image Modified).  Unfortunately I think the smoke didn't last long enough and the scattered trees on the right side of the road weren't easy enough to get behind, so again, all of the reinforcements were destroyed without being able to do much damage themselves.
    • I ran into the same problem as with my second attempt, where, because my Shermans were so positioned close to each other, the enemy Tigers were able to fire a single smoke round and have it blind four of my tanks, making it easier for them to focus their fire on my other tanks.
  • Fourth attempt: Axis surrender, Allied Total Victory
    • Axis: 11 casualties (3 KIA), 9 captured, 4 vehicles knocked out, 0 men OK, Score: 9
    • Allied: 4 casualties (1 KIA), 1 vehicle knocked out, 55 men OK, Score: 91
    • Deployment: Image ModifiedImage ModifiedImage Modified
    • I really learned my lessons with this attempt.
      • I spread out my tanks on the right and left flanks so that the Tigers wouldn't be able to blind more than one with a smoke shot.
      • I deployed all of my Shermans far back enough so that they did not have LOS to the town or its avenue of approach, so that I could choose when they would engage and be engaged.
      • I kept my Firefly and a single Sherman in the scattered trees in the center but deployed them far back enough that there was no LOS to them from the town or its avenue of approach (the idea being that I could advance them forward when the Tigers had turned to the Shermans on the flanks, exposing their sides to my Firefly and Sherman in the center).  There was only one spot in the center that I found that blocked LOS to the town, which is why the Firefly and Sherman are deployed so close to each other.
      • On turn 3 and turn 5, I had one or two Shermans on my right flank shoot smoke rounds onto the road on our side of the town, so that the Tigers wouldn't see the approaching reinforcements.
      • I had all my reinforcements do a fast move to the scattered trees and small woods on the left side of the road, and they all survived the move.
      • IIRC the engagement began when the reinforcements arrived on turn 6 because the smoke from turn 3 was starting to dissipate and the Tigers were shooting at my reinforcements on turn 5, so I had my Shermans on both flanks 'hunt' forward into LOS of the road to help distract the Tigers from the more-exposed reinforcements.
      • At some point (maybe turn 7 or 8) I had my Firefly and Sherman in the center to 'hunt' forward.
      • I only lost one unit, the Firefly reinforcement, and it was while it was hunting forwards from its safe position in the scattered trees.  I suppose I could have made sure the Tigers were facing away from it before I ordered it forwards.
      • I really did a great job in this attempt of having all of my forces engage the Tigers simultaneously.
      • IIRC turn 8 had me simultaneously destroy maybe 2 or 3 of the 4 Tigers at once.  I luckily saved right before I hit 'Go' for that turn.
    • Lessons:
      • Because you get aircraft support, it's worth holding back a bit and letting your friendly aircraft provide some help.
      • Keep your tanks spread out to avoid having enemy tanks blind more than one at a time with a smoke round.
      • It's really useful to have your tanks (and possibly AT guns?) deployed far back enough behind scattered trees or woods that they can't be seen, but in a position where, if they move forwards, they do have LOS to some area of interest / kill-zone.
      • Be sure to use smoke rounds to temporarily deny LOS to some area of interest.
    • Save game: Wittman's Last Hour - Turn 08.cmb

CMRT

Demo mission

  • I lost my platoon commander and half a squad because I ignored Paulding's advice: make contact with the enemy with the smallest-possible force. I should have sent up the scout team.
  • It didn't occur to me that enemy troops might be on the far side of a building, waiting to attack infantry that entered the building. The enemy infantry would have no way to escape, so I figured they would just fall back when they heard my guys approaching. I was following Paulding's advice to "imagine what you would do in r/l, and then do that".

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