distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

how far/close should the Company CO and the Battalion Co (ie, A0) be to the combat? especially important for the battalion CO since losing him means you lose the long campaign.

At first I tend to place the battalion CO in the rear with the artillery but he almost got killed by counter barrage.

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

A0 - in the rear and near nothing that will draw enemy indirect fires (do not sit him by arty, or AAA positions, or some SFMG that start blatting away etc). Put him on his own hill with a view of somewhere useful that he can use his observer skills on, maybe.

Do not get him into combat situations, nor convert him to a vehicle or whatever. Too valuable to lose.

Coy commanders probably should stay about 3-500m behind the fire-fight - and only join in if they have to (because its all going pear shaped, or it's a runaway success). If he is an AFV and an enemy starts shooting at him - don't duel with him, hide with pride (he has been seen). Put him near the reserve platoon of the coy, perhaps.

Cheers
Andy

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

Yes, never ever place the A0 near any kind of on map arty.

Don

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

I would actually recommend not placing anything else too near on-map arty either, since they tend to attract their fair share of counter-battery fire. Exception being ammo carriers, and possible transport vehicles (in case you use shoot-and-scoot approach and move your guns to a new position after couple of rounds of firing).

In case you are using AA-weapons to protect the artillery park, they should also be placed at a safe distance from the assets they are protecting. Around 10 hexes is suitable distance in my experience.

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

Unless I am playing soviets, I try to stick the company commander some 300 meters behind the one or two platoons in front, along with any machine guns that the company may have, or that I've given them extra. Reserve platoon goes behind him, or to the side (terrain depending).


Soviets, he goes a slight bit closer behind the advancing line.

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

If you PBEM you just told every opponent where to find your HQ :) ( right behind that cluster of MG's behind the main lines..........)

Don

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

hah yes :) The guy I do PBEM with doesn't read these forums.. I hope.

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

Just quoting myself really - but more on the overall commander (A0)

In the old Steel Panthers 1, players only had a small number in the campaign core (about 24 as far as I recall). Thus, it paid to "Rambo up" the A0 into a combat unit and get him stuck into combat, since he was about 5% of your core troops.

However, with the increased size of cores in the Camo games, this is absolutely not necessary any longer.

A0
--
- Is the overall commander, and his loss will terminate any campaign (bar 2 player PBEM campaigns). He is your on-table representative, after all. (You are not him, you are the all-seeing "Player God" in games)

- Losing him is a big morale blow for your entire force. It's a major element in the calculation for "force broken". When your force is broken, all rallying gets more difficult.

- He represents the rear communications link. If he is KO in any game (not just campaign games) then any comms with off-map units gets more problematic. Arty batteries will tend to be out of contact more often for example.

- If he is left as the default HQ type element, then he is an "FOO lite". He is far better at calling arty than any other non-arty HQ, if not quite at full FOO quality. In a campaign game, you should therefore use him as such - he will gain in the "arty command" statistic, and so get even better at calling in the guns quickly. If you change his element type to a tank or whatever, then he loses this FO ability. As an infantry type element, he is reasonably survivable to enemy arty strikes, and less noticeable than vehicles to enemy air strikes (for example).

So - A0 should either act the WW1 "general in the château" role, hidden somewhere safe in the rear, well away from any other elements which might draw fire (arty say). OR, as I tend to use him, in the rear of the advance on say a hilltop with a good view acting as my #2 arty FOO, but again away from any other troops which may draw enemy fires - esp indirect fires.

Treat him rather like a King in chess, therefore.

Cheers
Andy

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

You'll know one way or the other the next game you play...

........and if it's Andy look for the hilltop behind his lines with the best view of the map.....


Don

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

I'm rather curious that no one has mentioned the A0's role in rallying. I almost always keep a fast vehicle near the AO in order to move him to the 'point of maximum effort' as an additional level of rallying. Now Andy and Don have me wondering if I've been making a mistake all these years!

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

If he has radio contact, won't he rally units in any event?
Obviously that can be heavily dependent on nationality and year.

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

That point is likely where the shellfire is still landing, no?.

Yes, the battalion commander can provide a small extra rally opportunity, but no I'm not going to put him somewhere he may well eat a mortar bomb.

Now if you have a mass rout on your hands, then placing him maybe 1000 yds behind the front line where he can help sweep up the mass of runners (without getting himself stonked) may help out a little bit. But if it is that bad, then you really do have other problems to get sorted methinks :)!.

And when playing a human opponent - like me - then my policy is to "pepper-pot" deep harassing fires into the router stream to chivvy them along a bit and get some cheap kills. So anyone attempting to use the commander as a deep rallying point behind the front line may well get introduced to Mr mortar bomb (or Madame Katushka, as MRL are a really good thing for sprinkling on routers) :happy:!.

Andy

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

Errm no, unless of course it is my shellfire. I can see we have very different play styles!

Whenever the situation permits, I employ as much mobility and speed of maneuver as available in order to basically outrun enemy indirect fire. It is precisely in that situation where the ability of the A0 to supply that crucial extra tiny bit of rally capability can turn the tide by keeping the main units rolling over opposition rather than getting stalled and becoming susceptible to indirect fire.

This has been, of late, only against computer opponents. Unfortunately my health doesn't allow me to commit to pbem these days and I don't have player vs player experience with this version of SP. That may be where the difference lays and I'll definitely keep your advice in mind should I have the opportunity and ability once again to play vs a human opponent.

Thanks,
Brian

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

The "firefighter" method has it's merits as long as you are careful but if you are playing a campaign it's all over if you make a mistake.

20 games into a campaign my bet is most players would start to play more conservatively but for a regular battle or sceanrio the penalties for making a mistake and lossing the A0 are not as severe.


Don

Re: distance for company CO and the battalion CO
 

Well have you lost your BHQ in all these years?

If the Lt Col represents me, then what sort of CO will I be? Personally, I don't feel right about hiding the BHQ way back in some corner of a wood, but I agree that putting yourself right on the front line isn't sensible. It doesn't serve your troops to go and get killed by recklessness.

I usually prefer to keep BHQ somewhere between the front line and the rear artillery. An area that attracts little enemy artillery. If a company needs extra help then I'll move the BHQ forward to help, but will usually make sure HQ is situated in a stone building, or rough ground with trees, to give good protection from artillery.

I always keep fast or armoured transport nearby, for a quick getaway. But never let BHQ ride on a tank, way too dangerous.

I think I try to feel how the battles going, and get an idea of enemy artillery, and then move BHQ accordingly. So don't move your CO down a road that's being shelled. Don't move BHQ forward into a situation that's already collapsed, and know when to move BHQ towards the rear when things start to collapse and it's too late or too risky to exert meaningful rally influence.

Always keep friendlys between BHQ and the enemy

In my most recent PBEM I had BHQ forward about 300yds behind a successful company attack, helping to rally sections that were not rallying and moving forward with the rest of the company. No arty was landing nearby, and BHQ was safe in a stone building with transport nearby. But then my right flank fell apart, and I could soon have no units between BHQ and the enemy. So I loaded HQ into a vehicle and moved back to a safer location.

One time - in a PBEM that wasn't going well - my BHQ was moving to the rear through a wheat field when it ran smack into two Panther tanks. The jeep was destroyed, and there was at least one casualty when BHQ bailed out. Then I got stuck in firefight with two Panthers, as I attempted to bring a Bren Gun carrier and another Jeep into the field to rescue them. The Bren gun carrier was destroyed, the second Jeep was immobilised, and eventually BHQ escaped through the wheat field on foot after suffering 2 more casualties.



Cross