From the Front - Bunker Assault!

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

The bunkers are hard to break, but not too hard. I didn't read the manual either, still haven't and probably won't. I play blind or off of memory and by the seat of my pants. I have tried different things, some worked, some didn't. But when it comes to bunkers, the two common denominators is direct fire weapons and infantry assault.

Direct fire with armor, at guns, aa guns, inf guns works decently to help reduce the bunkers. it will not always happen in one turn, but not all bunkers in real life fell in one shot either.

Disruption - Not all units in bunkers in real life disrupted easily either. Most bunkers I have read about, sometimes it took direct fire weapons, isolation, bazookas, flame throwers, grenades and satchel charges among other things. Artillery is useless on stoutly built bunkers except for maybe the biggest guns like 8in howitzers. Even 155s had a tough time except with direct hits. Many is the time some SP arty was brought forward for direct fire. I am also finding air strikes to be useless. So maybe I will start saving those for any units I find outside a bunker. Arty is better suited for the same and for smoke. I don't always practice what I preach about these comments. Maybe I would win more if I did. My joy is in being able to play no matter a balanced scenario or not. Just doesn't matter to me.

With inf assaults, leaving an escape route isn't always necessary if you think you have all the units spotted and in your opinion whittled down enough, one assault to eliminate them is all that is needed. But remember with fog of war, it is still a crap shoot, even with single digit units. You may have come across a Russian Rambo. It is not always necessary to clear with eng first either. I have had some success with assaulting from a minefield or obstacle and taking the bunker and then clearing them when an eng arrives. Even though I know what works, I may not do it as I want to try other things as well. Might find another way that works better depending on terrain or something else. One never really knows until you try something.

I think the game works like it is. Still, other than my own mind, the only problem I have had is the hidden units. I think that needs tweaking, maybe by quality, that lesser quality units just don't have the experience for fire discipline that higher quality units do and at times they also lose it. In a game now, I have just found a unit in a village I have already passed through by around 10-12 hexes for a few turns now. If it is not at least A or B quality. Maybe fire discipline will change and go by quality. I'm sure there are times a better quality loses it and a lesser quality maintains it. Maybe install a percentage system or something.

The only other thing that I could see be somewhat changed would be for air to be like squad battles so that you could choose what ords for the planes to bring. It may or may not be the right call on the ords, but that would be for follow on air to correct.

The other thing I mentioned before is Kursk would not have been my first choice. I am more of a West Front/Med fan than East Front. I am hoping the next one will be in west/med and little to no bunkers. If the titles are spread around, it will only take a couple of titles to have a little taste of everything. We have bunkers, west/med could introduce more maneuver space and maybe beach invasions and airborne. Eventually, a Pacific title would be more bunkers and beach assault and then adds jungle. Then you pretty much have everything that CS offers in a different system. Even though Kursk wouldn't have been my first choice, I am thoroughly enjoying the title.

In the end, all that matters is a good working title and keep them different and spread out over ww2. I hope the early war does not get overlooked. Post ww2 to present as well.