Head of column at road in woods
 

Hi

Who should be moving at the head of the column when moving by road through woods fast? By "fast" I mean in a terrain where I don't expect enemy resistance, but small presence (ambushes) or mines are possible. As I'm far from enemy my infantry is travelling in vehicles.

My experience shows that motorcycle (or cavalry) work very well. They move quickly and can survive more then one mine or an ambush assault.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

if you're on a rush, use a cheap truck or utility vehicle to lead the column so the loaded units don't get ambushed, this way you can dismount them from the vehicles if there's a minefield or enemy position ahead.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

If you're on urban terrain you better use engineer tanks ahead, best against mines, or, small ambushes. MBT tanks are damn fast compared to WW2 so there's no need to worry about the momentum.

In woods maybe try using motorcycles, if you are expecting light resistance or no resistance at all. But if you suspect some skirmish up ahead, use armored cars instead.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

Possible problem with this might be that the resulting burning wreck will slow down movement (creating a possible bottleneck) and further hinder the already limited visibility.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

Then a motorcycle unit is a good choice as it's fast and creates no wreck.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

Also the motorcyclists don't have any smoke rounds, so there is no danger of them popping visibility blocking smokes when they retreat in panic after taking horrendous casualties from whatever is lurking in the woods.

That said, if you are suspecting minefields, I am not sure how likely a motorcycle unit is to trigger the mines when plowing into a minefield (infantry units in general seem to have lower probability of triggering mines when entering a unit). Thus you might maybe want to have multiple motorcycle units at the head of the column, to ensure that one of them hits the mines before the vehicles will show up.

Edit: based on a quick test, it seems that motorcycle units are quite likely to trigger mines when entering a hex with them. That said, to be sure you might want to have at least 2-3 motorcycle units at the head of the column to ensure that you find where the minefield starts.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

Two motorcycle units trigger mines often enough for me to not have to worry.

I consider shielding a force advance with empty trucks a bit out of the atmosphere I like to play.

Re: Head of column at road in woods
 

If you are fielding a US force, then a scout jeep leading the column might actually be relatively historical. Especially for tank or armoured battalions, which had a scout platoon with jeeps on the battalion level.