Some random thoughts

[narwan]

Originally Posted by Ramm

As for fighting size 0 TI ATGMS with aging soviet bloc "shiny toys" (that have been upgraded) I have not figured out a way that works to protect them while still deploying them in battle.

If someone has then I would very much appreciate hearing how to deal with it

Sincerely,
Andrew Nault

Easy answer. Plenty of artillery, area fire and scouting (including by heavy choppers).

Don't make the mistake of firing arty AFTER you've made contact. Fire en masse at places you don't want them to be while advancing.
When advancing your force and you're fairly certain the enemy knows about them hose potential trouble spots down with area fire from all those mg's your vehicles carry. That's what they're for and believe me, few if any will run out of mg ammo. Main job of mg's in all shapes and sizes is to force the enemy into cover, ie reduce the chance of them getting of a succesful shot or even any shot. Hit chances and ROF drop when a unit gets pinned. You got the ammo so use it. Poor it into that treeline. It gets even better if you can take a round or two to position some HMG and/or MMG squads to cover your advance as their splash zones cause suppression in adjacent hexes too.

Have advance units that can spot the enemy when he does open fire. It's a win/win situation, if he opens up on your vehicles caarying the scouts with those AT units you fear then your recon units have just done their job. Make sure you have arty zeroed in close by to let go at once. If they don't fire at your scouts and wait till your main force approaches your dismounted scouts (and off course you dismounted out of sight so the enemy doesn't know about the 0-size teams) should be in or move into positions to spot the firing units. Then the big brutes can fire on the spotted opposition.

And always be prepared to spend cheaper units to fix and locate more expensive enemy units. Part and parcel of the soviet shiny toys approach.

Narwan

[Mobhack]

MG fire is good, but 20-30 units of 100-125mm tank HE is even better for suppression. Add in a battery of 152 firing direct area fire from 3000m behind the front as well and things get interesting for any troops in that "suspicious" treeline...

The 73mm on BMP-1 is also good to add to a z-fire party, as is the 30mm autocannons on later ones.

Some of the units in your advancing phalanx may also be able to target spots 2-3 hexes into the tree line/village or whatever (depending on LOS and smoke) thus getting some deeper fires into the suspect patch.

The X-fire is of course entirely additional to the indirect assets in use to "mow the lawn" out in front of your advance. Apply liberally to anything remotely suspicious. Soviet tanks usually have 20 or so HE - so use 10-12 for the area bash, with a few kept for the fighting later.

Andy