The Coil vs. Goliath - An Idiot's Guide to Beating Players Waaaay Better Than You...

[The Coil]

Turn 0 - The Setup
Finally got the first turn back from Leto and CT - took 'em a week to pick their units. This means either:

1) They have been trying to guess my password for the last few days (I guess they never thought to try "drevakrulz!").
2) They are scared silly at the possibility of being publicly humiliated.
3) They are putting a LOT of thought into their picks, and will come with the perfect force to pick me apart and destroy my little pixel-boys (which I picked in about 15 minutes, btw) by turn 13.

(Smart money is on option #3, by the way, but change "turn 13" to "turn 4")

Anyway, here's what the maps look like, and my basic strategy going forward:

Colonel T



Now, I'd just like to point out something about this map. It is "farmland". It's definitely "farmland" - I just double checked. The obsevant among you will notice there are no fields. None at all. We're apparently fighting over the least arable land in all of Italy. We'll be doing the civvies a favor if we blow up their houses - then maybe they can move somewhere (like Leto's map) where you can actually grow crops.

Anyway, I like this map. Two flags, close together, some decent covered approaches. Pretty much following the script on this one - two platoons of panzers, mounting FJs, rush the flags, shoot up everything in sight. This map is good, because I only have to cover one area in the middle, not two flags on opposite sides of the map. Going to have one big fighting clot o' armor in the center of the map...

Q: What about being flanked, Mr. Coil. Does that worry you, what with all your guys in the middle, and the map edges open?

A: Nope. Flanking is overrated, IMHO. Especially in tank fights. Don't get me wrong, if you can show up on the other guys flank and front at the same time, you can wax him. But the timing is hard to pull off, and you can usually position your armor so it's covered from one side or the other. Plus with the fast turrets and such, it's not as big of an issue. Let him flank. I should point out, I've got a half squad on each map edge, so I'll see him coming. A sneaky, unspotted flank attack is a different story...

Where I do get worried is if CT has a bunch of guns in the right places (there's a few spots pretty deep on his side that would be very nice gun positions...). I got some mortars positioned to take out a few likely ones, but a couple guns could make short work of the tank pack. Other thing that could suck is big arty. All my boys are going to be huddled in one spot in the middle of the map. A big arty barrage could be very bad...

All in all, though, I feel pretty decent about this map - I've got a pretty good run to the flags, and some decent places to hide when I get there. Certainly feeling better about this one than...

Leto's map



About the best thing I can say for this map is, "at least it has farmland". Other than that, I'm not liking it. Leto has way better overwatch spots - there's a few places (I don't think they're actually in his setup zone, but they're close) where a 150mm could murder me. Or arty. Or a big 'ol Panther or something. I have kinda exposed runs to the flags, and the one big one on the left is going to be tough - he has covered approaches, I've got to cross open ground to get there.

Here's where I make a bold, strategic decision... Notice there are three flags, big one on the left, big one on the right, small one a bit further right. I'm sticking with the basic plan - get on the flags quick with the infantry, get the first M10 platoon up front, hold back the 2nd M10 platoon. But I plan to ignore the left flag almost totally. Here's why: I doubt I can get it without throwing a lot of stuff at it, including big HE (which I don't have). If I can keep the other two flags, I still come out on top in flag points 400 - 300. I figure Leto will have a decent portion of his forces on that flag - I can concentrate my entire force on the other two, hopefully having local firepower superiority (figure Leto splits his force between the two flags, it's 50%-0% on the flag I gave up, 100%-50% on the other side, where I can hopefully KO half his force in a hurry).

Now, I'm not totally giving up the flag - there's a holding force (a platoon split into half squads to look bigger than it is, a couple mgs and a mortar or two) that will keep Leto from swinging right through the flag and coming to help his (hopefully) outnumbered boys on the other side of the map. That's the theory, anyway. Feeling less good about this map, though. Too many things could go wrong for me, and Leto's probably too good to not take advantage of any of them. Little more margin for error, though, in that I have a lot more infantry in this one than the other.