How do you go to battle?

[Weasel]

RightDeve:

Sounds like you spend much efforts on tailoring your battleplan!

Could you post an example with it´s map or AAR?, I´m interested in what factors you take into consideration, specially how detailed are they. Seems like my mind works best with given examples.

Thanks in advance

This may help. While a bit deep, it might get you thinking a bit. It is taken from a Canadian Forces training manual for officers, and I then adjusted it to SP. You can find the whole document at the top of the forum, game guides for new players:

Battle Planning: (For all versions)

You can have the best equipment ever built but you can still die a horrible death if your tactics are faulty. Before you purchase take a good long look at the map. Look at it and try to determine which pieces of ground will be key in the coming battle. Is the map flat with one hill dominating the terrain? Is there only one road which will most likely be used as an axis of advance? Are there north –south roads in the rear area that can be used for rapid shifting of forces? Now consider, how am I going to attack? What is my objective and how can I deploy and advance to achieve that objective? Look at the ground and see if there are any areas that are going to hinder your movement, or force you into a small area (a defile). Also look at your axis of advance and ask yourself, “If I were the enemy, how could I deploy and attack to stop my advance?” Once you determine this, how are you going to counter act it? Will you be able to deploy units in over watch, or will you plot artillery into those areas? Once you feel you have a decent plan take a look at the map from the enemy point of view. Try to determine how he would deploy and attack. Once that is done, try to figure out how you could stop him.

Once this is done take another look at the map and come up with a secondary plan. What will you do if the enemy prevents you from achieving your first battle plan? How will you switch your forces?

Now to the forces: Compare your units to his and determine who has what capability. Does his armour have thermal sights while you don’t? Does his infantry have longer range then yours? Once all things are considered determine how you will counter act the bad and exploit your strength. For instance, if the enemy has thermal image sights then smoke is useless to you, therefore you must use the terrain to cover your approaches.

The following check list will sum all these points up:

Mission

What is the primary mission?

Secondary Mission:

Contingency Mission:

Mission Statement (What are you going to do) (Force or Terrain oriented)

Enemy Forces: What abilities does his best tank have over yours? (Direct fire, mobility, special capabilities)

What abilities does his best AFV have over yours? (Direct fire, mobility, special capabilities)

What abilities do his infantry have over yours? (Direct fire, mobility, special capabilities)

Preview the map for routes of advance. Remember that the best route of advance is normally the best defended.

AVENUES OF APPROACH


Open ground (favours attacker)

Choke points (are there areas where multiple points of advance meet)

Decision points (are there areas where terrain merges or separates)

Concealment (where can you and your opponent move and fight from without being detected)

Best route (that allows you to fire on the enemy from flank or above)

Alternate route (if best route is blocked)

How will your opponent shift units laterally and how can you block it?

Where can your forces employ over watch?

Where can your opponents forces employ over watch?

Inter-visibilities (long areas of open terrain that favour the player with better long range gunnery)

Characteristics of a Good Plan
For whatever the mission and situation a good plan has several common characteristics:
• It is general enough to be flexible but specific enough to be executed.
• It focuses on one main effort and objective at a time but allows for variations in sequencing as conditions change
• It preserves your freedom of action while pinning down your opponent (either physically by fires that suppress his units or by causing indecision/poor decisions on his part by employing security, surprise and deception)
• It is built on a firm foundation but is not dependent upon them, that is if one (or more) of the factors turn out to be different than was anticipated the plan will not collapse.
• It anticipates several possible enemy courses of action (at least the most likely and most dangerous) and has a counter for each. It is not one scripted, lock step plan but a series of actions that can be taken as the battle unfolds. These are known as branches (what if something else happens) and sequels (what do I do next). Developing branches and sequels allows you to anticipate when & where your units need to be so that you can have them there.
• It makes maximum use of cover and concealment and deception, avoiding or masking actions that would alert the enemy to preserve surprise.
• It balances protection, firepower and manoeuvre.