Fighting tight

[PoorOldSpike]

Keeping your tanks in tight groups is THE most important tactic in CM, so that you can bring concentrated firepower against the enemy









Even SWAT do it..

[PoorOldSpike]

[PoorOldSpike]

[PoorOldSpike]

BELOW - THE CONVEYOR BELT
Sometimes you'll be lucky enough to have the enemy feed you his tanks one by one like on a conveyor belt as here.
My Rumanian R-2's (foreground) are pouring concentrated fire into the head of his T-26 column as it emerges from behind the trees in a straggly line, and I go on to butcher almost the lot of them.
To have stood any chance he should have come out in a solid tight pack to slug it out..

[PoorOldSpike]

(Eye candy) - Tiger in Normandy

[PoorOldSpike]

Panther and crew

[PoorOldSpike]

(This post has already appeared in the AAR section but the 'Fighting Tight' tactic is so vitally important in CM that it needs to be repeated here in the Tac Forum too)..

SCRATCH ONE FLAT-TOP

POS's 4-Firefly hunting pack clears their throats and down goes a Tiger.....it never even had a chance to fire back


You must operate your tanks in hunting packs.
The aim is to always confront the enemy with maths superiority to overwhelm him.
In boardgaming terms, the counters would look like this, with odds of 4 to 1, there's no way the Tiger could beat those odds..



It doesn't have to be 4 to 1, it can even be 2 to 1, or 6 to 4, or 12 to 10 etc.
And if your tanks are weaker than his (or vice versa) adjust the number in your pack accordingly.
But whatever the final odds are, just make sure they're in your favour.
Right kid?
"Right"..



Some players still argue against the tactic, but I say to them - 'Talk to my medals cos my ears ain't listening'..

[Ratzki]

For concentration of fire, there is not better tactic then what you are speaking POS. I think the tactic works extremely well with ME's as both player rush for superior positions but not so much with Attack type games. The problem of closely packed units is if you are flanked or outguned from a distance, the firing unit(s) do not have to traverse much to bring the next target under fire after KO'ing the first one. Some sort of overwatch where you can bring common ground under fire from multple locations is the better way to go. Adding to the problem is you expose all your force at one time, so if ambushed, the whole formation gets ambushed. Again, converging lanes of fire from multiple locations limits exposure and concentrates fire almost as well.

[PoorOldSpike]

I think the tactic works extremely well with ME's as both player rush for superior positions but not so much with Attack type games.

No big deal mate, just adapt and improvise to suit the fluctuating tactical situation.
For examp here's a shot from a 1943 Attack WPC ladder game I just finished, my Tiger pack and infantry forced a river crossing in the face of 3 guns and infantry, and I got the win with no Tig losses at all..
There was no reason NOT to go with a tight pack, so that's the way I went.
(I detached the lone Tig at bottom left from the main pack so's he could sit there on overwatch to pop at any reinfs the enemy might try to send forward)
TAC NOTE - my oppo (Stukateur, currently 4th in WPC ladder, he's played 15 lost 2 so far this year) lost this at the buy screen, he wasted his cash on T-34/76's and medium guns which couldn't scratch the Tigs.
He only bought 1 x 57mm AT-gun which the Tigs quickly took out,
he should have spent to the hilt on them, they can hurt Tigs real bad..



PS - in the mirror with me defending, we got a draw, I spent to the hilt on 4 x 57's, he bought 1 Tiger, 5 x Pz IVH's and 2 x Stugs.
My 57's killed 4 x Pz IVH's but he held his Tig and Stugs well back and i couldn't get at them..

[McIvan]

Doesn't prove anything using Tigers if the opponent can't scratch them, Mick.

Hunting packs like you're using are useful, no doubt about it, even if completely unhistorical (because what you're doing (as do we all) is exploiting a game limitation that lets tanks shoot THROUGH each other), but it has its limitations too. Don't think we're saying never use packs; just that they're not always the way to go, especially in games other than your tank heavy speciality.