Attacking

[PoorOldSpike]

Michael Wittman (with map) briefs his men in Normandy

[PoorOldSpike]

Infantry on T-34s

[PoorOldSpike]

Planning is essential..

[PoorOldSpike]

SHALL WE DANCE?

This sequence from a ladder game illustrates how moves must be finely-choreographed like dance routines..
PIC 1 - That�T-34's momma has shown bad parenting in the extreme by letting him play out alone. That's fine at kindergarten but a bad call on the Russian Front, so I detail a 4-Hetzer group to go slap the brat around..






PIC 2 - It's essential you use the top-down key '6' view like this and shrink to 'realistic' size by cycling SHIFT-C to plot your moves so they don't trip over each other. Also throw in 'P' pause commands for some units for the same reason, if you have to. Remember a traffic jam is the last thing you want..







PIC 3 - My plan is to have the Hetzers arrive at these final waypoints pointing straight down the throat of the T-34. I'm using 'Fast' because I simply want to dump them at the firing points as quickly as possible (think 'shock and awe'), I don't want them crawling around on 'Hunt' in this particular situation. And note they'll be firing through the corner of the woods, no big deal because there are not enough trees to block LOS.







PIC 4 - Zappo, scratch one T-34, he went down before he'd even had time to fire back! Note 2x Hetzers are slow arriving (okay okay so my choreography wasn't perfect) but the first two Hetzers were enough to do the job and put a smile on my face like a wave on a slop bucket..





PIC 5 - The last 2 x Hetzers arrive and find they've missed the party

[PoorOldSpike]

LINE DANCE

This sequence illustrates the importance of formations and how your moves must be choreographed like dance steps with near inch-perfect precision, it's simple commonsense really and becomes second nature, although in this case I came off second best, but hey that's war..


PIC 1 - My 3x T-34/76's in the foreground want to have a crack at Monkeybutts 2x PzIV-longs up on the hill in the background.
At the moment we can't see each other through the blocking trees, but I know his line-of-sight will extend along the red dotted line (a 'line of death') and the T-34's will be zapped the instant they cross it.





PIC 2 - So it's to the key '6' top-down view (it's the ONLY way to do precision plotting), and I give each T-34 a 'hunt' order as shown, so they'll all reach and halt on the line-of-death together and open up.
I also unbutton them so they'll spot the panzers quickly, and I also give them an armour-arc so their guns will be pointing smack at the panzers when they reach the line..





PIC 3 - The T-34's arrive beautifully together on the line, but shock horror - there are four panzers up there (not 2 as I'd thought) and I begin taking hits!





PIC 4 - My T-34's are cut to pieces before they can get their act together, they fire back several times but miss, they had their chance..
A shocked survivor slams into reverse (purple line) to get off the line of death but was killed later..
Not a single panzer is hit..





PIC 5 - The panzers view. They just sat there in classic line-astern pouring fire into the kill zone below.




SUMMARY - Yes I know I was trashed even though I did everything right,that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. But let the action serve as an illustration of how to shake out into a formation suitable for poking its nose out from behind trees, coming out TOGETHER as a solid pack into the line of fire in order to return fire together rather than one by one as if on a conveyor belt.
Also note Monkeybutts panzers excellent line astern formation ready to pour concentrated fire straight down the line when I emerged.
(Incidentally he killed all 6 of my tanks in this game for the loss of only 2 of his own)
This was only our second training game, he contacted me recently to ask me to help him understand tank tactics, and I replied yes I'd be glad to help teach him how to kill..
He knows now... ;)

[PoorOldSpike]

[Copper]

Nice move!!

[PoorOldSpike]

Nice move!!

Thanx mate but I ain't out of the wood yet, that combat sequence is from an ongoing game against DevilThomas, 10x Panthers v 10x Stalins and a few assault guns, its like a butchers yard out there on both sides, I've played him in several games so far (he's won most of 'em) and he's one of the most formidable foes I've ever grappled with in my 6 years of playing CM, and his scenarios are also top notch, no fancy stuff, just armour-heavy slugfests steeped in blood and gore from start to finish..

EDIT to add - The one above ended in a draw, I was lucky because one of DT's Stalins yo-yo'd backwards and forwards on its own initiative rather than stay at the flag it was supposed to be holding, and he lost the flag. We discussed it later and concluded a bug might have been at work because in the rematch when I had control of the Stalins, they often disobeyed my orders too and I suffered a Major defeat.
If anybody else has the same bug let us know..

[Copper]

Ive played over 170 people in CM and got beat the one and only time I played Devil Thomas. Cant remember what kind of battle it was but I never came back for seconds... LOL

[PoorOldSpike]