Panzer Battles Normandy - Tips Needed!

[pokeytrev]

I am playing the first mission of the British 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards campaign, and I am nowhere near getting past the beach to the large VPs. As a new player, I wanted to reach out on this particular scenario and see if anyone would be willing to give a few pointers? I have read other tips searching through these forums, and some of them have really come in handy. 

Edit: see picture below of a good portion of the map. I am rarely able to get past the red line before I run out of time (10 turns).

[Landser34]

To get off the beach scenarios a few things combine your platoons into companies and assault the bunkers your going to take casualties but you will get off the beach quicker best to combine with engineer units or armorattacking bunkers by platoons will take awhile and most of these scenarios you only have some many turns to get the objectives and everyturn you're held up on the beach is a win for the Germans

[Gris]

Hi Pokeytrev,

I agree 100% with Landser34, you have to get off the beach. One of the problems you face with this scenario is it is only 10 turns. These small scenarios (10 turns or less) make it very hard to recover from a mistake. Landser34 showed me that on more than one occasion:) Often, the Axis didn't win, it is more like the Allies lost. Here is how I would try to tackle it.



You have 2 big obstacles, the first is the time. The second is there are only 275 points on the board. Exactly what you need for a minor. You have to fight this one almost in reverse. Think of the Axiom, "The last domino must fall first". What this means is you are going to take your first wave and take the last (or farthest) objective first. The rest will fall in turn. Since we are talking in game terms, I'll skip the planning phase, but I did use the same method in this post for those interested.

The map above is basic, here is an overview of the steps. Not everything is charted or discussed. Feel free to post questions.

1. Place all your reinforcements first!

This is very important. Place them before you do anything else to draw opportunity fire from the Axis and expose their positions.

2. You want to get off the beach. Land as much of your first wave as close to 6,19 as you can.

The only reasonable exit hex you have in a 10 turn game is hex 6,19. You do not have enough time for anything else. Follow Landser34's advice and assault hex 6,19. You do not have to wait for disruptions. just keep hitting it till you clear it. If you assault with 200 SP, you will clear it in 1-2 attacks disrupted or not. You can use your armor to disrupt, just remember, every shot cost movement points. Shoot one shot at a time. once disrupted, stop shooting. I would just assault and move on through. Your call.

Note : Artillery - This is an entire post in itself, so this is very brief. Don't waste all your artillery shooting at random bunkers. You are not going to have any good targets anyways unless you get lucky and the Axis pop off during opportunity fire. Hit 6,19 with your single use rockets (don't move or shoot them first, you need them to spot) and air. Save your Destroyers for smoke and anything you push out of the bunkers. Then you can hit bunkers if you have nothing else. I would fire my artillery dead last in the turn. Your will need your artillery to provide smoke and inflict losses for the victory points. Very important - your spotters are the single use Rocket units. If you fire them, they can't spot. Your have to balance the spotters and the smoke so you do not block your LOS. Your destroyers can't see land at 8 visibility and can't spot if moved. See page 37 of the user.pdf for indirect spotting.

3. Push the first wave through the breach. Do worry about losses. Once you are past the breach, send a small engineer, recon, armor or infantry unit (motorized, not a foot) down the road and find the mines and obstacles the hard way. Don't waste time clearing them. Just keep going. Put all the motorized infantry and armor in travel mode and head down the road bypassing any Opfor (Opposing Force) or obstacles. MOVE ONE UNIT AND HEX AT A TIME. Hitting one mine at the wrong time can literally cost you the game.

4. You have two bridges that are heavy. Take the undefended one. You know the one on the obstacle is defended. Use Air recon to spot Opfor. The Air recon TRP (target reference point) are good places for air recon. 

5. Hopefully you have four or five turns to take the final objective. You can take it in three. Use your infantry on foot from the first wave to take the square objectives. Your follow on waves can take the triangles. If everything works according to plan (you gotta laugh), you will take most of the objectives in the last three turns. Just taking the inland ones give you 175. You will have over half the game to take the beach objectives with follow on forces.

Pro Tip: Breach Breach Breach and push on through. A traffic jam on the beach is nothing more than a mass casualty exercise. Get off the beach!

Realistically, because of the time, this is almost one you have to practice. In a campaign it is not an issue. In 10 turns it is a challenge. This is one you can lose, so take it with a grain of salt.  It is winnable, sound tactics (and a little luck) will carry the day:) 

Good luck Commander, see you on the beach - Gris

[pokeytrev]

To get off the beach scenarios a few things combine your platoons into companies and assault the bunkers your going to take casualties but you will get off the beach quicker best to combine with engineer units or armorattacking bunkers by platoons will take awhile and most of these scenarios you only have some many turns to get the objectives and everyturn you're held up on the beach is a win for the Germans

Great advice! I didn't consider combining for some reason...

[pokeytrev]

Hi Pokeytrev,

I agree 100% with Landser34, you have to get off the beach. One of the problems you face with this scenario is it is only 10 turns. These small scenarios (10 turns or less) make it very hard to recover from a mistake. Landser34 showed me that on more than one occasion:) Often, the Axis didn't win, it is more like the Allies lost. Here is how I would try to tackle it.



You have 2 big obstacles, the first is the time. The second is there are only 275 points on the board. Exactly what you need for a minor. You have to fight this one almost in reverse. Think of the Axiom, "The last domino must fall first". What this means is you are going to take your first wave and take the last (or farthest) objective first. The rest will fall in turn. Since we are talking in game terms, I'll skip the planning phase, but I did use the same method in this post for those interested.

The map above is basic, here is an overview of the steps. Not everything is charted or discussed. Feel free to post questions.

1. Place all your reinforcements first!

This is very important. Place them before you do anything else to draw opportunity fire from the Axis and expose their positions.

2. You want to get off the beach. Land as much of your first wave as close to 6,19 as you can.

The only reasonable exit hex you have in a 10 turn game is hex 6,19. You do not have enough time for anything else. Follow Landser34's advice and assault hex 6,19. You do not have to wait for disruptions. just keep hitting it till you clear it. If you assault with 200 SP, you will clear it in 1-2 attacks disrupted or not. You can use your armor to disrupt, just remember, every shot cost movement points. Shoot one shot at a time. once disrupted, stop shooting. I would just assault and move on through. Your call.

Note : Artillery - This is an entire post in itself, so this is very brief. Don't waste all your artillery shooting at random bunkers. You are not going to have any good targets anyways unless you get lucky and the Axis pop off during opportunity fire. Hit 6,19 with your single use rockets (don't move or shoot them first, you need them to spot) and air. Save your Destroyers for smoke and anything you push out of the bunkers. Then you can hit bunkers if you have nothing else. I would fire my artillery dead last in the turn. Your will need your artillery to provide smoke and inflict losses for the victory points. Very important - your spotters are the single use Rocket units. If you fire them, they can't spot. Your have to balance the spotters and the smoke so you do not block your LOS. Your destroyers can't see land at 8 visibility and can't spot if moved. See page 37 of the user.pdf for indirect spotting.

3. Push the first wave through the breach. Do worry about losses. Once you are past the breach, send a small engineer, recon, armor or infantry unit (motorized, not a foot) down the road and find the mines and obstacles the hard way. Don't waste time clearing them. Just keep going. Put all the motorized infantry and armor in travel mode and head down the road bypassing any Opfor (Opposing Force) or obstacles. MOVE ONE UNIT AND HEX AT A TIME. Hitting one mine at the wrong time can literally cost you the game.

4. You have two bridges that are heavy. Take the undefended one. You know the one on the obstacle is defended. Use Air recon to spot Opfor. The Air recon TRP (target reference point) are good places for air recon. 

5. Hopefully you have four or five turns to take the final objective. You can take it in three. Use your infantry on foot from the first wave to take the square objectives. Your follow on waves can take the triangles. If everything works according to plan (you gotta laugh), you will take most of the objectives in the last three turns. Just taking the inland ones give you 175. You will have over half the game to take the beach objectives with follow on forces.

Pro Tip: Breach Breach Breach and push on through. A traffic jam on the beach is nothing more than a mass casualty exercise. Get off the beach!

Realistically, because of the time, this is almost one you have to practice. In a campaign it is not an issue. In 10 turns it is a challenge. This is one you can lose, so take it with a grain of salt.  It is winnable, sound tactics (and a little luck) will carry the day:) 

Good luck Commander, see you on the beach - Gris

As to be expected from you, an excellent and very insightful post. Want to know something kinda funny? The axiom about the last domino really resonated with me. It was like a moment of clarity that made perfect sense. "Yes, of course!", I thought to myself.

I am going to go and give it a few tries with this post pulled up. Even if not everything lines up perfectly, these are sound tactics that will help me get past this thorn in my side.

[Gris]

Right on Pokeytrev, the time is the real enemy in this one, but the tactics will work in others scenarios too, especially the campaigns. 

As Landser34 pointed out, combining your infantry into companies is critical. As with most areas in this game, the system is subtle, but dynamic, providing the Commander with a wide range of options. 

I learned the above lessons playing Landser34 (wait till you get to the Cotentin Peninsula!) and many others, one advantage of the Blitz is the vast amount of knowledge available here. Great opportunity to pass it on, thank you.

Good luck Commander, see you on the beach - Gris

[pokeytrev]

Off to a good start I think. Hex 6,19 fell in two turns, and a few tanks have made it through. Now to drive forward to the end and see how things turn out!

[Gris]

You are going to advance past Crepon, a marked improvement. Busting the bunker in two turns, Well done. 

Remember to use the follow on waves to take the beach and closer inland objectives. Keep pushing forward with the first wave, use air recon if you have it. Use your artillery to hit the units inland, most of them are in trenches and IP's (Follow spotter rules). The artillery will wear them down and make it easy to assault. Once you are on the objectives, close and clear the enemy. You need 50 points over the objective in losses for the major. 

4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards - Quis Separabit! - Gris

(Latin - who shall separate us)

[Landser34]

Looks good your off the the beach and have tanks racing inland.