About Tactics when assaulting prepared positions

[Pyros]

Hi,

I thought it would be great if everyone could contribute a small piece of his knowledge (tactics in WinSPMBT) in order to help the less experienced players.

So, I will post a couple of quotes concerning important Maxims of this game.

Napoleon's Military Maxim #16

A well-established maxim of war is not to do anything which your enemy wishes and for the single reason that he does so wish. You should, therefore, avoid a field of battle which he has reconnoitered and studied. You should be still more careful to avoid one which he has fortified and where he has entrenched himself. A corollary of this principle is, never to attack in front a position which admits of being turned.

By Major General John Frederick Charles Fuller:

...The principle of the Objective-the true objective being that point at which the enemy may be most decisively defeated ; generally is this point is to be found along the line of least resistance. The principle of Mass-that is, concentration of strength and effort at the decisive point. The principle of the Offensive ; the principles of Security, Surprise, and Movement (i.e. rapidly). *

From these elements I evolved four elementary principles, namely (i.) From mind, the principle of the objective.
(ii.) From protection, the principle of security.
(iii.) From weapons, the principle of the offensive.
(iv.) And from movement, the principle of mobility.


I next postulated a law, which I called "The Law of the Conservation of Military Energy," and from it extracted four accentuating principles of war, namely (i.) The principle of surprise.
(ii.) The principle of economy of force.
(iii.) The principle of concentration of force.
(iv.) And the principle of co-operation.

cheers,
Pyros

[SCAJolly]

Sun Tzu's Art of War is a must for all who wishes to secure themselves from a faux pas on the battlefield!

My own experiences, (first as the horrified defender and the thrilled assaulted):

Russian paratroop pioneers are horribly efficient in their use of flamerockets, in particular against soft targets (of course).

In the case of having mortars with smoke, these are (unless you have Thermal Imaging and the enemy doesn't) best used to screen supportive weapons, and not the infantry that you are currently dealing with. At least, when smoke is deplyoed, its goal should be to offer your forces a secure flank, so they may themselves flank.

The main goal of a mission should never be to "Take those hexes" or "Smash the enemy as much as possible", seeing as these encourage maneuvers that put your soldiers in more than their fair share of harm's way. Instead, it should be to develope a sound plan for all your platoons, that will eventually lead you to these hexes and those enemies.

Oh.. and don't just sit on the hexes when you've won'em. Artillery is doomed to come a-splashin'.

[Shadowcougar]

One important thing to do is always move every 3-4 turns or the God of War is a coming for a visit.

When you make a plan remember that you may have to change the Plan in motion.

Always know when to to push and remember sometimes it better to defend from behind the victory hex instead of in front or on the hexes.

Also have a reserve, even if its only a couple of squads or a AFV or 2.

[kevin]

One word for assaulting prepared positions: artillery

Arty is your best friend, use lot's of it.

Remember engineers. The computer will always throw out mines. I use them too. The idea is to slow down the enemy and use your own arty on them, so mass engineers and get through the minefield asap. Remember that regular Infantry can clear mines too.

Punch a hole in the enemy lines and move through it. Once in the rear try to hunt down enemy Mortars, take your objectives and find good defensive positions. The enemy will be forced to react (and leave those prepared positions) once you capture the victory hexes. At that point commit your reserve to the battle (I usually keep a larger reserve). Your reserve should be able to get some good movement shots as the enemy moves out of position. The reserve will drive them right into your operating group.

[serg3d]

kevin said:
Punch a hole in the enemy lines and move through it.

Taht is not a very useful advice for generated campain. AI cover all battlefield by mines, including some victory hexes. To the extent it can't move it's own forces. I'd suggest helo/air drop in this case.

[kevin]

Punch the hole using Arty, mass engineers to clear mines. I do it all the time.

I don't prefer helo / air drop because Helo's are too vulnerable to hand held SAMs and the fact that 15-20% of paratroopers die drives me crazy.

[Marek_Tucan]

I have so far assulted only AI.

I use this: Divide my force into 3 task forces. 1 and 2 will lead a small-sclae probing attacks on a wider front while focused on suspected soft spots (ie locations with poor LOS from other enemy positions). Once a softer spot is found, the TF making the probe begins to clean the mines and is ASAP accompanied bz the TF 3, a main strike force. I then try to clear waz ASAP using all available engineer equipment. After breaking through I rush to kill enemy arty and to take VH's, but I don't take VH's unless I have enough troops close to repel counterattacks. In the mean time, second probing force has already cleared atleast 1 hex wide passage so it can exploit enemy lines left bz counterattacking units, and usually it is able to join the main forces.

During all this, shelling with artillery any spot that seems fit to receive a group of heavy shells.

And in case you have to stop somewhere (for example minefield being too hard to clean), I tend to atleast scatter my troops as far as possible to soften the effect of arty.


NOTE: Damn that QWERTZ If there is some "z" instead of "y", I apologise, but I tried to find them all.

[Pepper]

Personally I find the key to assaulting prepared positions is to make sure that the defense can't shoot back at you. This is done through suppression, which is achieved via arty, mg emplacements, tanks, whatever you've got. Just hit the units over and over and over until they're routed or retreating or at least pinned, then move up slowly with smoke screens.
If they can shoot when you're moving, you're toast -- the damage you take when advancing is so high (not unrealistic, just extreme).

[RecruitMonty]

I agree with Pepper, although I prefer a light airstrike (if possible), it takes a little time but with the smoke from arty (mortars or howitzers) it works a treat, going around the fortifications is also good but taking care to recon just behind the fortifications is always a good idea.

[Mustang]

Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man.
-Patton

What I always do is use a lot of smoke. Even in the more modern battles, the enemy is going to have a lot of units with vision less than 40. Smoking them off out of sight will allow you to kill the enemy piecemeal. In any situation, use A LOT of smoke.

Here's a little trick. If your unit runs into an enemy at close range, lay down smoke in front of you. The enemy will try to close with you and pursue, but can't see you because of smoke and will get ambushed. MGs, for some reason, make excellent ambushers, better than most infantry when you take cost into account.