Tips from the Frontline

[RNL Tiger]

Rescue Mission

I had decided to wait for a turn or two before mounting the rescue mission just in case the T34s went in for the kill immediately. In the meantime to occupy the STuGs I turned their attention to laying down some HE support but with one anomaly in that I don't seem to be able to say to an AFV - move there then area fire? Is there a way to achieve that? “No it can't be done”

The turn or two passes by and I asked why haven't you gone for the kill on that last Tiger? “I've lost 5 tanks so far and have only got 4 left, so I don't want to risk losing any more unless I have to....I'm winning at the moment and am therefore happy to just sit tight until the end of the game. That's another lesson - don't do anything you don't have to do..:)”

Chance is a strong element in war. Looks like you have decided to reverse your T34s at the same time as I decided to move my STuGs - the chance element coming out to play :-) I guess that means the next few minutes will be interesting to see how this plays out. If they had reversed 45 seconds later then I would have been OK. As it is I have the STuG turn time to contend with before I can even shoot! I think it is fair to say that you will shoot first! I just hope that they are not on target :-) It's pretty exciting and seems the next minute or two will be decisive for the armour battle, even if you do have a clear edge at the moment... “Yes, I miscalculated, I thought your Stugs would stay put and blast my infantry, but instead they've come looking for trouble, scuppering my plan of sneaking up on them while their backs were turned.”



My STuGs never even got a worthy shot off - clearly demonstrating their weaknesses when moving. “No turrets = no chance”

Given that my STuGs had been in trouble I had asked about how I could try and save them or generally any tank. “It sometimes pays to dive forwards behind cover instead of reverse. Reversing is fast but not as fast as Fast forward.. When a tank comes under fire, there are 3 options -standing its ground and shooting it out, diving forward behind cover, or reversing. If the tanks already moving its often best to let it carry on if there's cover ahead. Firing smoke shells to blind the enemy is not an instant solution because the smoke won't begin to blossom and take effect until near the end of the turn. And tanks under fire sometimes take steps to preserve themselves on their own initiative, like when many of mine slammed into reverse (and some slammed forward) when they saw the Tigs and Panths in Jaegermeister.
Also, most German/ Brit/ American tanks (not Russian) have smoke grenade dischargers which pop smoke just in front of them if the tank comes under serious threat, your Tiger did it in this game when he was hurt by a partial penetration, but because it took the usual time to blossom it didn't shield him from another hit which finished him off.”

However, the distraction of killing my sitting duck STuGs does open the way for the Tiger to hunt forward and hit back:



And it also gets the tank on the hill but not before that hill tank causes havoc with my infantry in the centre. I even tried to move infantry up to it in cover to try and get an infantry tank kill but cannily it was placed out of reach and anyone that showed themselves got a burst of MG for their trouble or worse an HE round. It led me to observe to POS - your tank on the hill is dominating the area! It seems that if my infantry take a burst of fire they get broken - seems like I need to try veterans, especially if I end up attacking. “You're learning just how fragile infantry are, especially in open ground, one tank can make a whole group hit the dirt in fear. Even vet/crack/elite troops are fragile. That's why tanks were invented, to help the infantry, so always support your troops with tanks backing them up.”

Meanwhile at the left flag that was supposed to be mine now:


[In the background you can see the hill tank still dominating the centre]

Whoops. I got the coordination between the STuGs and the other platoon completely wrong. Consequently, I lost an entire platoon and with it any real chance to overwhelm the defenders.

Some other activity is worth mentioning – just because I was fooled.
1) I thought the flag on your left was mine [went Axis] so decided to run a squad [2 half squads actually] to it and they got ambushed! I guess the flag markers should be taken with a pinch of salt - especially now that I have just looked at your tactical thread on it
“Yes, one player often sees the flag in his colour while at the same tiome the other guy is seeing it in HIS colour, never trust flag colours. As for that small flag, I stationed a 4-man half-squad there and he cut down your guys in the open, another lesson how fragile infantry are in open ground”