Guidelines to winning CM battles

~~Colonel Talvela~~ · (This post was last modified: 08-03-2006, 07:16 AM by Colonel Talvela.)

I sent this to a new CMer who was asking, so I thought it would be worth posting.

Here are my guidelines to winning CM battles.

1. Know your units capabilities - everything else depends on this.
2. Engage the enemy with superior firepower - ie dont fight a fair fight.
3. For units with limited ammo (mortars, artillery, SMG squads, flamers, etc) shoot to kill.
4. Win the infantry battle

During a game do the following:
1. Make a simple plan
2. Concentrate your force while having eyes over the maximum area.
3. Lead with infantry
4. Unless defending - get control of the flags as fast as safely possible.

Pip Roberts · 08-03-2006, 07:00 AM,

Thanks Colonel ! As an old gamer but a new convert to CM there are probably quite a few like me who welcome such tips so keep 'em coming you vets !

ATCS · 08-03-2006, 08:12 AM,

Some good tips there. I think the most glaring omission is "know your enemy". The more you know (force composition, deployment, etc) the more likely you will be able to defeat him on the field of battle. Knowing is the biggest thing, IMO.

That, and having better stuff. ;)

But knowing what's going on is a big deal.

~~Colonel Talvela~~ · (This post was last modified: 08-03-2006, 08:16 AM by Colonel Talvela.)

ATCS · 08-03-2006, 08:19 AM,

Ah, just me being dense.

I always enjoy reading what other players believe to be critical or important strategies, then comparing it to my ideas. Never hurts to modify and improve your game.

Ratzki · 08-03-2006, 09:51 AM,

I'd add not to be afraid to back up. Sometimes things don't go your way, don't just plug more troops into the fray with hopes of improving things. All this does is waste energy and time, back up, regroup, make another plan and carry on.
The problem is that every plan is a good one under the right conditions, it is just knowing what those are and taking advantage of them. There is a time to flag rush and a time to sit back.

ATCS · 08-03-2006, 10:05 AM,

Backing up or changing the focus of the attack is great strategy, but unfortunately time is often against us in a QB or the shorter scenarios. Quite a few times I have played a game where you are forced to live or die by your pre-planned route of attack. Of course that just may be evidence of my flawed tactics, by not allowing myself to change fluidly in mid-battle...

~~Colonel Talvela~~ · 08-03-2006, 01:43 PM,

Ratzki Wrote:I'd add not to be afraid to back up. Sometimes things don't go your way, don't just plug more troops into the fray with hopes of improving things. All this does is waste energy and time, back up, regroup, make another plan and carry on.

I think this is extremely important as well as being very hard to do. I dont know what it is - maybe the time constraint combined with the fact that if men take fire from the rear they are much more likely to pin - but it is hard for me to pull men back and advance along a different route.

McIvan · 08-03-2006, 02:01 PM,

About the best you can do is go to ground with what you've got and switch the focus elsewhere by moving your armour and retargetting support weapons. It's insanely difficult to regroup and refocus with infantry, mainly because of the timer......there's just never enough time....but also because (especially with defending troops) they get pinned in an instant and ritually slaughtered.

ATCS · 08-03-2006, 02:16 PM,

McIvan Wrote:mainly because of the timer......there's just never enough time....

I've often wondered about this aspect of my favorite game. The majority of battles (in my experience) in CM are of the 20-35 minute variety. I've often wondered how this compares to an actual meeting engagement type clash between say, an inf company combined with a platoon or two of tanks (~ 1000-1500 pt QB, right?). Instead of less than an hour, wouldn't it seem appropriate for a battle of this nature to last an hour or more? Is this just part of the abstraction of CM?