Question: Dismounting Crews

[RetLT]

Often in defensive scenarios I will dismount the crews of my soft vehicles (unarmed trucks and such) and use them as scouts or as last ditch ambush units.

In offensive scenarios I usually only dismount truck crews if they get stuck. Again I use them as scouts or observation posts.

Do you consider this to be a valid use of these units or a gamey manipulation of the system?

Discuss.

[DRG]

IMHO you are utilizing your resources in a way that suits your gameplay so if it works for you....go ahead

[scorpio_rocks]

"Gamey" - sorry.

I think you could persuade a crew to leave a stuck truck and skedaddle back to the rear. Persuading them to go looking for trouble and/or fight would be a very different thing.

They would NOT be able to report anything they found, call arty, etc as they would have no radio and few, if any, weapons (a pistol in the game)!

[RightDeve]

Depends on the circumstances...

If in a PBEM game both you and your opponent agreed it's okay, by all means.

If you're playing solo and you believe it's okay, go ahead.

Just remember that if those drivers were under Joe Stalin's order No. 227 "Ni shagu nazad!" probably they'll even attack the enemy, not just observing

Kinda reminds me how the Soviets stormed a village, and then each villager, old men and children included, were compelled to follow behind the tanks for assaulting another village, despite only 1 in 10 were given rifle.

[IronDuke99]

related to this question.

From my reading and hearing veterans speaking, WWII tank crews who had their tank seriously hit, and immobilsed, almost always tended to immediately 'bail out', before they were hit again and 'brewed up'(ie set on fire/exploded).

This was especially the case with tanks like the Sherman that had a reputation for catching fire easily.

[Mobhack]

Dismounting crew from a recce jeep or scout car, if it had no passenger scout team carried, is something I do from time to time. Dismount crew in cover and walk the crew a couple of hexes to the ridge line, tree line or an adjacent building where they are able to observe but aren't as obvious as a moving vehicle, however small.

Other than that, I only dismount crew from a vehicle which is disabled (M-killed)and likely to be shot up by the enemy. Thus an experienced core crew might survive the battle.

Mass dismounting of drivers of "unused" vehicles is probably a bit gamey. Also - the crew is the vehicle and so if lost, you will usually lose the points of the truck etc, or if enemy enter the same hex as the now unoccupied truck it'll bee destroyed (In my case - the points would be given, but the experienced crew will re=crew the repaired unit if they have survived). So unused trucks (in the defence say, where you hae your towed AT guns dug-in) - I might leave on the baseline.

In addition - if the crew is out of the vehicle then the enemy cannot shoot it up in direct fire and area HE has no effect on it (unless the crew is nearby and is killed off). It becomes a mere decoration, only able to be destroyed by remaining in the same hex for a turn, or finding the crew wherever it has wandered off to and dealing with them there. So again - a bit "gamey".

So bar very limited dismounting of crew as local scouts from a real recon vehicle or to preserve core crews and those from M-killed vehicles (damaged vehicles which can still move are usually best driven into cover instead), you probably should would not find an opponent who was very happy with mass dismounting of crews, I would think.

cheers
Andy

NB - crews are size 1, not size 0, so are not particularly sneaky as ad-hoc scouts anyhow.

[RightDeve]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

.....
In addition - if the crew is out of the vehicle then the enemy cannot shoot it up in direct fire and area HE has no effect on it (unless the crew is nearby and is killed off). It becomes a mere decoration, only able to be destroyed by remaining in the same hex for a turn, or finding the crew wherever it has wandered off to and dealing with them there. So again - a bit "gamey".

.....

That alone should make dismounting crews a prohibited thing, esp. in PBEM.

Also dismounting crews is akin to Z fire against AI: they can't use it unlike human.

[Imp]

I tend to always try & preserve my crews, if have spare soft vehicles due to say defending delaying in a campaigh tend to do the following.
Set up near map edge & imediatly drive off any I dont think will be required.
For defend so they get an entrenchment may place to get an entrenchment in a fall back position so another unit can take it over if required.
Then drive them off or make sure they at least remain out of sight otherwise the fortification is detected.
Rational when defending artillery is normally fairly heavy so why give up the points for vulnerable soft vehicles that get caught when you can drive the taxis off to safety.

[jp10]

I a situation where I have 'parked' transports not needed for a battle, I will use the best choices for 'medic evacuation' transports. I use them to run forward and bring back bailed-out crews I am retreating or those 'shot up' Infantry squads that stay pinned most turns and get left behind. I dump their passengers on the map edge to leave the game. Jeeps are very effective for this.