Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy - German Thread

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oystertoadfish: Jun 17, 2003

oh hey i wasnt able to check in until now. this is part of why i requested a reinforcement command. i'll catch up with the thread shortly

# ? Jan 19, 2019 07:16

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# ? May 4, 2024 05:28

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

Some admin to get out of the way prior to orders:

Hob's map request:

Assignments:
Glynnenstein and Hubis still unassigned. We also will need a commander for the pioneer company. OTF, I've put you in for one of the reinforcing pioneer platoons but there are a number of other positions available. Saros, it's up to you whether to have simplefish command all the Stugs or you could command 2 directly and 2 under simplefish.

Orders spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xw2R9i3fktis59tRyoJWGkgBcG9xhsl_dJX09mojNgk/edit#gid=0
Fray, could you please let me know if i've made any horrible errors in the OOB.

Requests:

How many men in our Grenadier and Pioneer squads? Any auto weapons aside from the MG42 and Leaders SMGs?

DSM, Could you get us more detailed overhead views? If you zoom in so that you can show the map in three or four pieces should do nicely. Also a full resolution picture from the editor. (If you can show the tile heights, I can do another contour trace easily enough.)

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 12:30 on Jan 19, 2019

# ? Jan 19, 2019 12:26

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

8 man pzgren squads, 9 man pioneer. Exact weapon load out depends a lot on if Fray has changed it but occasionally some squads will have a second MG but mostly just bolt action rifles.

Pioneer have six satchel charges per squad.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 12:34

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

I'm happy to go 2 each on the stugs btw

# ? Jan 19, 2019 12:51

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

Cool, that's about what I expected.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 12:52

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Yeah 2 each sounds good.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 13:11

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

Jaguars, thanks for the map. If those really are 150 and 300 meter radius circles, then I've misjudged the map size badly. It looks like it's 2 kilometers wide and double that in height. Are you sure you didn't draw 150 and 300 meter diameter circles?

In any case the road looks fairly safe from small arms fire. Machine guns and 75mm should be able to reach well enough, anything carried by infantry is going to have a hard time.

Let us know what the plan is and I'll start drafting orders.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 14:46

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

Oh yeah, my gently caress up, they're diameter, the scale is 1px = 2m and the map is 1200m x 896m

Oporder in a couple of minutes once I think of a snappy operation name (probably not possible at 3am)

# ? Jan 19, 2019 14:56

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

Operation Sichelschnitt. Or did we use that already?

# ? Jan 19, 2019 15:00

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

Orders:

Enemy situation:
Of course there's unlimited ways for the enemy to deploy, they could frontload the lot, they could break it into tiny ambushes, but here's what I think is most likely:

It seems bad, but think of it this way. Imagine how we'd the area, and then take away 1/3 of the player commands. IMO, the US simply won't have enough troops to defend more than selected strongpoints.

The Abbey is almost certainly the most heavily defended area. As well the strong structures, wall obstruction and approaches that stop long range observation, troops in the tops of the tallest buildings likely see much of the hills on the axis of our advance. I would expect this to be a full platoon with supporting MG teams and Mortars, and AT guns in the vicinity ambushing likely vehicle routes. Mortars could be based behind, in the courtyards or in the SW corner of the map.

The Hamlet is next most likely but how heavily defended it is depends on whether the US gets points from defending it or not. It's not a great position to defend against vehicles as our stugs can sit back and pound the buildings, while AT guns would be exposed to flanking. My estimate of strength ranges from a squad with a couple of MG teams to a max of a platoon saturating the area + surrounds.

The Peripheral forests of the Abbey are likely to contain squads in foxholes to maximise casualties on the approach. Estimate of strength: 1 Platoon. When we don't attack this way, these forces are likely to leave their foxholes to either defend northward or attack into our spawn. This possibility must be guarded against. The big forest directly north of us isn't very important, but it is a good place to defend, so caution is required there too.

The blue zone is fairly open terrain that we can dominate fairly easily. The big risk is AT ambushes either by bazooka teams or AT guns across the valley. It's important not to be roadbound as this is likely to be the best covered route. Good scouting and advancing methods will get us through here. The light blue zone is so close to our spawn and unable to be supported as to be a suicidal deployment area. This is a zone where we can take some early risks if desired to speed up our advance and grab the whole area in minutes.

The orange zone near the rail station is well covered with long sightlines and so is likely to be the base of long range fire by small teams. I would expect at least 4 AT guns if not more deployed in long range positions throughout the map. Apart from this zone, AT guns could be placed on the west side of the river wherever the ground is high enough to see past the forests, so do your best to ID those areas as well. Tank destroyers or light armoured vehicles are possible in place of some AT guns, but are pretty hard to predict so will have to be dealt with on the fly. The best way is probably to attempt to bypass them and set ambushes fro when they are forced to redeploy.

Mines are possible but it's fairly predictable as the can only have placed a small amount that will only be effective at chokepoints. These will be at the approaches to the bridges and pre-existing openings in the abbey walls. Thus, to use the bridges as crossings will need infantry (preferably engineers) to sit close stationary close to the bridges and try to determine if there's any mines laid. Luckily, it's looking like we should be able to ford the river at other places.

I consider it more likely that they will recieve tanks as reinforcements than start with them, but the contingency plan for tanks is to slow our advance right down and attempt to take all areas not dominated by the tanks. We'll end up spending a lot of time tank hunting with small units sneaking into ambush positions. When our reinforcement tanks arrive, their primary task will be to set up an anti tank defense that stops enemy tanks from flanking our infantry advance.

Mission:

Battalion Mission: To manoeuvre to gain a crossing of the river and attack the Abbey or other concentration of strength from the Northwest, North, North East and East in order to clear the map of significant resistance within 90 minutes.

9th Panzer-Grenadier company (Hob)
Attachments: Battalion XO team / Halftrack and the starting pioneer platoon. Once we link up with the engineer company, you will likely give over some forces to strengthen their advance.
Mission: To drive north-northwest in order to obtain the best positions for the Stugs to bombard the abbey, occupy access routes for an infantry atack on the abbey and minimize the hostile terrain that the Engineers have to traverse when they arrive at the north end of the map. Aim to complete this in 45 minutes after which be prepared to support the engineer advance followed by attacking the abbey.

Regimental Pioneer Company (Engineers)
Detachments: 1 Platoon is under 9th Company control. Some extra troops will be supplied for the attack on the hamlet.
Mission: Capture the North (Rail) bridge and hamlet objectives, disrupt allied forces attempting to reinforce the abbey and provide suppression to the rear of the abbey.

Armoured support group (Saros):
Mission: I'm going to break it down a bit because it's pretty diverse.
Recon and light armour: To determine safe routes accross the valley for infantry and armour and then to locate infantry positions and small ambush teams. Reinforcing light vehicles to perform the tasks to which they are best suited.
Stug Battery: To create breaches and destroy defenses of the Abbey, and to destroy buildings and fixed positions as requested by the infantry. Provide emergency AT capability if required.
Tank reinforcements: To establish an Anti-tank defense ASAP that allows the infantry to attack the abbey without having to face tanks. To support the Stug battery if required.

I'm sure that's enough to chew on. I'll give more detail tomorrow, but it will be more in the nature of advice and doctrine than direct orders.

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Jan 19, 2019

# ? Jan 19, 2019 15:00

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

9 Company, orders follow.

Our immediate task is to support scouts who will beat a path for us to advance. We have plenty of time so there is no reason to hurry.

--

Standard operating procedure: all halftracks at 25 meter distance from each other, 50 meter distance between platoons. Infantry stays near their halftrack until we need to assault or meet organized resistance. Whenever we are not on the move stay dismounted. Remember that we are facing Americans who have good integrated mortars in all their units. Do not stay under trees unless you absolutely have no choice. Airbursting shells will cause a lot of damage.

We have StuGs to help us out. Keep your distance from them, they are sure to draw a lot of attention. Usual division of labor: we lure them out, StuGs take them out. I don't need to tell you this but I will: under no circumstance go into places where StuGs can not support you. That will get you killed.

Two basic tenets of firefight:

1) more guns beat less guns
2) if its worth shooting at, shoot at it a lot

When under fire, don't maneuver. I want everyone shooting back. We have 20 machine guns between us and two assault guns to back us up. It's going to be a bad day at the business end if we can just keep it together and concentrate fire.

--

1 Zug - Frangible cover, deploy your platoon facing north. I want your men to give fire support if our scouts meet any resistance along the highway north.

2 Zug - McBagpipes, deploy your platoon near the road behind Frangible. You're in reserve. Your responsibilities for now are twofold. Watch west for American observers and shut them down. Be prepared to mount up and leapfrog quickly over 1 Zug once scouts reach the first buildings along the road. You will take position in them and cover further advance while 1 Zug packs up and prepared to make the next leap. We will keep leapfrogging every 200 meters or so until we hit resistance or reach dairy farm.

3 Zug will take up positions near the road at back of our column once they arrive. Find the best available cover. Who was leading this platoon again?

Dublish, send a squad of pioneers to clear the road heading north. Talk with Koolkevz so his armored car goes with you. First platoon will give you support until you're at the houses along the road, then 2nd platoon will move up to take positions and support you from there. You point, we shoot. Deploy your remaining men into positions where they cover the southern road and forest from abbey towards us. Shoot anyone who tries to gain eyes on us.

Mines are priority. I don't want to lose anyone to mines but especially not a halftrack full of people.

Keep it together, keep each other covered. Keep your distance in case of mortars. Hals- und Beinbruch, Kamarad.

--

I will personally take up an observing position in the tallest house, top floor and watch west. Have the other squad in command team take up positions in the house next to it and watch north. Hide our halftracks behind houses so they can not be seen from the west.

Dismount btn XO and have him enter a stone house in the rear. Hide the track.

Hob_Gadling fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Jan 20, 2019

# ? Jan 19, 2019 15:26

glynnenstein: Feb 18, 2014

Man, getting re-installed from version 1 discs can be a pain in the rear end.

Now that's done, I signed up for Pioneers 3rd Platoon.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 16:00

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

Jaguars! posted:

Some admin to get out of the way prior to orders:

Hob's map request:

Assignments:
Glynnenstein and Hubis still unassigned. We also will need a commander for the pioneer company. OTF, I've put you in for one of the reinforcing pioneer platoons but there are a number of other positions available. Saros, it's up to you whether to have simplefish command all the Stugs or you could command 2 directly and 2 under simplefish.

Orders spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xw2R9i3fktis59tRyoJWGkgBcG9xhsl_dJX09mojNgk/edit#gid=0
Fray, could you please let me know if i've made any horrible errors in the OOB.

Requests:

How many men in our Grenadier and Pioneer squads? Any auto weapons aside from the MG42 and Leaders SMGs?

DSM, Could you get us more detailed overhead views? If you zoom in so that you can show the map in three or four pieces should do nicely. Also a full resolution picture from the editor. (If you can show the tile heights, I can do another contour trace easily enough.)

You can expect a pair of HMGs in each weapons platoon but otherwise it looks correct.

I didn't mess with the infantry kit, so it should be a pair of LMGs in each PG squad plus the leader MP40. One LMG and MP40 in each pioneer squad.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 16:02

Fray: Oct 22, 2010

simplefish posted:

Fray, just a quick question - I think I know the answer already, but to clarify:

Running test simulations is not allowed, right? Say if one team knows "they probably have a tank over there x hundred metres away," and one player with the game recreates this in their own custom map editor or whatever, so they can tell their team "if we have our tank here it penetrates 8 shots out of 10" or "we know they have this type of infantry over here, if we run our guys round the corner we should be able to get thr drop on them with minimal casualties, more often than not"

This was an issue a few games ago and it always felt very very gamey. I know with Discord it might be harder to catch happening but could you make an official ruling?

Uuuuh, good question. I've always been a little off on this too despite being on a lot of teams that did it. I suppose since we're changing so much else this match we might as well set a policy on this too. Obviously it's hard to make a one-size-fits-all policy cause some things are much more gamey than others. Like, I don't have a problem with generic tests to see how two groups of tanks fare against each other; CM players do that stuff all the time just to learn the game. So here's my best shot at the issue:

Don't run turns on the scenario map or try to mimic any specific terrain feature from it in another map. For example don't do bogging tests in the creek or try to mimic the creek elsewhere.
Beyond that, I'm comfortable leaving it to individual conscience to decide if something feels fishy.
If you're uncertain over whether to do a test, just ask me.

If you test something I'd also like it if you post about it in the thread just so everything's in the open. I might decide something is over the line and say not to do it again, but I won't rip your head off or anything.

Fray fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jan 19, 2019

# ? Jan 19, 2019 16:17

dublish: Oct 31, 2011

Hob, what do you want your attached pioneer platoon doing while the scouts do their thing?

# ? Jan 19, 2019 16:46

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

I think pioneers have a company commander of their own. If not, detach a squad to go with the scouts and deal with obstacles. Minefields are priority. The main objective is to clear a route to the north.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 18:19

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

And a request to StuG commanders: unless you have more pressing things to do, please put a shell in both level 2 houses closest to us along the highway. They're excellent observation posts and I'd rather play it safe.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 18:27

FrangibleCover: Jan 23, 2018; Nothing going on in my quiet corner of the Pacific.

This is the life. I'm just lying here in my hammock in Townsville, sipping a G&T.

Hob_Gadling posted:

I think pioneers have a company commander of their own. If not, detach a squad to go with the scouts and deal with obstacles. Minefields are priority. The main objective is to clear a route to the north.

Command has given them to us until their HQ actually turns up I think.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 18:52

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

Ok, in that case.

Dublish, send a squad of pioneers to clear the road heading north. Talk with Koolkevz so his armored car goes with you. First platoon will give you support until you're at the houses along the road, then 2nd platoon will move up to take positions and support you from there. You point, we shoot.

Mines are priority. I don't want to lose anyone to mines but especially not a halftrack full of people.

# ? Jan 19, 2019 20:37

Dark_Swordmaster: Oct 31, 2011

e: Imgur resized these and basically halved the resolution. Anyone know of an alternative image host to give them the Full Glory?

ee: The full-sized images are posted in the Discord #open-chat channel. I'm still investigating a way to get them embedded here in the full resolution.

~~Look, it's stupidly high-resolution maps!~~ And the elevation one comes with pre-built topographic lines!!

The lines are at 10 meters and they aren't great so if someone wants to touch them up manually you're more than welcome to.

Dark_Swordmaster fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jan 20, 2019

# ? Jan 20, 2019 00:42

dublish: Oct 31, 2011

Orders are as follows:

Kill 'em all!

# ? Jan 20, 2019 01:18

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

Dublish, addendum to your orders: deploy your remaining men into positions where they cover the southern road and forest from abbey towards us. Shoot anyone who tries to gain eyes on us.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 02:06

dublish: Oct 31, 2011

Hob_Gadling posted:

Dublish, addendum to your orders: deploy your remaining men into positions where they cover the southern road and forest from abbey towards us. Shoot anyone who tries to gain eyes on us.

Got it, will have orders posted tomorrow.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 02:08

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

I want to clarify the AOs you can reasonably expect to be operating in. Across the river it gets very fuzzy because we don't know exactly when or where the remainder of Pioneer company will arrive other than the north of the map. If hobforce needs to go through or round the back of the rail station woods then they can still do that. If you need to move into the other company's area, it just needs to be coordinated so that you don't run into the neighbouring troops. Armour group operates as needed, where needed.

Planning is looking good so far, peeps. :thumbsup:

-

My best guess at reinforcements timetable:

3 Zug - 5 - 15 minutes
Armoured group reinforcements 10 - 30mins
Rest of pioneer platoon 30min +

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Jan 20, 2019

# ? Jan 20, 2019 03:16

Malick23: Sep 10, 2001; I bought all my friends forum accounts and all I got was this lousy custom title

Hob_Gadling posted:

3 Zug will take up positions near the road at back of our column once they arrive. Find the best available cover. Who was leading this platoon again?

I'm leading it. I don't think I'm on map yet. I have our back when I arrive.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 03:31

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

Since command structure is a bigger thing this time round, please correct my understanding before we begin if it's wrong.

I think my chain of command is :

code:

Jaguars! (Bn Cdr)
|
|
Saros (Sturmbatterie Cdr - historically 3 platoons of 2 stugs each)
|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|                                                     |                                                        |
Me/Simplefish (Stug Plt Cdr - 2 stugs)             Koolkevz666 (Scout car)                       Whatever other armour shows up
|
|
(nobody)

So basically if you aren't on that tree there I'm probably not looking too closely at your orders posts, more where stuff is on the map generally.

If you are requesting armour support from me for something, I'd say please go through Saros instead so I don't gently caress up his plan responding to someone else. But if you speak to him then we all stay on the same page and he can order me to go help you out.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 04:13

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

I also see that we have an unassigned Kubelwagen.

Do we want to give that formally to Pioneer for arty spotting, 9th for arty spotting, or maybe Koolkevs to assist his scout car in scouting?

In any case we should probably clarify whose it is

# ? Jan 20, 2019 04:34

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

Dark_Swordmaster, thanks for the maps

Quick question - how big is a grid square on these maps?
And is there a link to a key anywhere, so I know what's a tree and what's a bush?

Sorry for posting so much, just want to get it clear at the start

# ? Jan 20, 2019 04:37

Dark_Swordmaster: Oct 31, 2011

The full resolution maps are in Discord's #open-chat channel.

I believe each square is 10x10 m but someone will correct me shortly.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 04:41

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

8x8m action squares IIRC. Yeah, that's the chain of command. Kubelwagen is with the engineer's platoon HQ, I''ll correct that now.

Orders format:

Orders posts must be clearly labelled as such and must ID the unit involved.

As a rule of thumb, all platoon orders that take more than one sentence to describe should be accompanied by a map. Each squad's route of movement should be shown separately unless you are moving in formation, in which case include a diagram of the formation including the spacing between units. ID each squad on the map. Don't forget small units like HQs.

Company orders should tell the platoon commands what tasks they can expect as part of the company's immediate goal and how long it's expected to take. What the company will do after the task is complete should also be indicated. Between major tasks you can tweak or leave to platoon cmd. It is your responsibility to avoid platoons overlapping or clustering. Never order individual squads, that's platoon command's perogative. Indicating a few key positions you need occupied is acceptable.

Link orders on the spreadsheet. The hash button below your avatar gives a URL that links directly to your post. If you are around close to the deadline, link any orders that aren't on the sheet.

If you change your orders, make sure there is a single post that contains your current orders. Strikeout or wipe any redundant orders.

Platoon basics:

Has everyone here played before? I designed this crib sheet to allow an absolute beginner to carry out a dismounted advance to contact. Stolen from my doppelganger in the US forces shortly after the disaster at Foy late last year.

Pay special attention to the responsibilities section! As always, these are not hard and fast rules, they are there to make you think about why they are there before you break them.

For a mechanized advance, be aware of of the weaknesses of halftracks. Observe possible bazooka sites before advancing within 100m of them. Be wary of moving into sightlines of more than 500m because of the AT gun threat. Don't be afraid to dismount troops to observe an open area. Stationary troops are the best spotters because there are so many eyes and the leader can use their binoculars. Don't be afraid to put out dismounts in front of the vehicles to scout either, the beauty of a mechanized advance is that once you determine a route is safe you can cross it in the blink of an eye. You can take time to observe and still be a lot faster than footslogging.

Spacing and timing:
I can't emphasize this enough. These are really important and neglected areas in goon CM. If your troops are getting suppressed by mortars or machine guns hitting the squad next door, your spacing is too tight. Think about the space you have to work in (simplest way to estimate: Imagine how a football field fits into it!). If you're trying to fit into a space less than 100m wide, you are only going to put one squad up front. Don't forget to check how far from your neighbour platoon you are too.
Once you know how far you need to move, estimate the time available to you and consider what speed is most appropriate. Movement speeds can be found on the Combat mission Wikia.

Spliting units:
Splitting units has advantages and disadvantages. A platoon split into fireteams can cover hundreds of meters at once and is spread out enough to reduce the effectiveness of mortar fire. It allows your squads to perform complex tasks and gain multiple fire positions. However, you double your command and control needs which makes for mistakes. Sometimes the simplicity of working just three or four squads is more effective. Whole squads are effective for getting lots of guns onto a target as you can set a fire order and the Tac AI will focus on getting every troop in the squad into a position with LOS. A full squad also has more resilience, one or two casualties can make a fireteam completely ineffective. Ultimately it comes down to a choice you make based on the situation in front of you.

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Jan 20, 2019

# ? Jan 20, 2019 04:43

Hob_Gadling: Jul 6, 2007; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS; Grimey Drawer

Also to the above basics, keep in mind that maneuver doesn't kill the enemy. Shooting does. You can be accurate or shoot from a good flanking position but most often it is simplest to just stop and shoot a lot.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 05:01

dublish: Oct 31, 2011

Pioneer Ko., 1. Zug

Zug HQ, 1. Squad, 2. Squad:

Units start dismounted in the northwest corner of the deployment area. QUICK on yellow paths, MOVE on light blue, FACE in blue as shown. Vehicles will wait for the first minute, then follow at MOVE speed along the yellow paths.

3. Squad, 4. Squad:

Units start mounted east of the rest of the platoon. Vehicles QUICK north on the yellow paths, and DISMOUNT their squads. Squads will MOVE on light blue paths. When 4. Squad is dismounted, its truck should FAST to the road and continue north along Highway 3 until it reaches the hedgerow lining the west side of the highway.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 07:43

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Just a heads up that crib sheet is horrifically wrong about 'move' commands. You should never ever use move in combat it tells your men to stroll along at walking pace without any attempt to use cover. Its for traveling long distances without getting tired not for anywhere near combat.

Here's a boot camp post I wrote up for the previous game. It's pretty german-specific in the second half but the fundamentals are valid.

Saros posted:

If you have not read this do so right now it's crucial to understanding how to command in combat mission.

Combat Mission Boot Camp

The manual is available here. - it has some nice walkthroughs to help you understand whats going on.

Move orders

Most of these are fairly self explanatory - faster movement means less time to be shot at, but tires your men out - slow is the trap here, as it means crawling through the dirt on all fours - great for not being shot, but is actually the most tiring movement mode in the game!

Move orders are done by waypoints, so you can plot a good number of moves in advance if you want - pauses can be issued at any waypoint and go in five second increments and you can also issue target orders at the end of moevments.

Movement types

All sorts of movement reduce your spotting capabilities.

Fast = A flat out sprint - in combat situations you want to be using this to change location, 1-2 minutes will leave your men exhausted which will reduce their combat effectiveness.
Quick = A jog - Good for covering ground across multiple turns but in combat please use fast instead. Using for multiple minutes will exhaust your men especially in snow.
Move = Walking places - Good for moving long distances without tiring but suicide to use in combat. If you tell a squad to 'move' somewhere without specifying a speed Grey will probably use this and if they are shot at they will all die.
Slow = Crawling along the ground. Extremely tiring but good for moving short distances without exposing yourself. If you are being shot at and need to move a little bit to a better spot use this.
Hunt = Move forward while seeking the enemy and stop as soon as you see something. Use for slowing advancing through woods seeking combat and the like. No good for actualy combat as your men will immediately be interrupted by seeing someone.
Assault Noooooooo please don't use this. It basically splits a squad and tries to have your men use a bounding overwatch move up but the AI is uh, not very good at it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Fire orders.

Target - if you can see an enemy unit this order will tell them to focus fire on that unit.
Target area - The squad will fire at an area specified by you as well as shooting targets of opportunity that present themselves. Be specific with your target you have to set it to a single square. (combat mission maps are divided into 'squares' of terrain.) Best way to give this order is via a top down view with a red or otherwise line from your squad to the area/contact you want to fire on. Can be tacked on the end of a move order.
Target briefly - Same as above except you set a time e.g. 1 minute of fire onto X location.
Hide - This means your men will hit the dirt and not even attempt to fire back or spot. This should only be used for specific situations like last game when we were hiding in buildings from artillery. If used in a firefight it means you will lose because your men will not even try to fire back.

Again, fairly simple, Arc fire is another trap for the newer players, as it actually massively restricts your fire arc and range - it should only be used for ambushes or when you don't want your troops giving away their location by firing at something a kilometer away.

Area fire allows for firing at a location you suspect has a target, but cannot spot.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Special Orders

Smoke - You throw some smoke grenades, good for providing a bit of extra cover.

Deploy - means set up a crew served weapon.

Blast - blow a hole in a wall or side of a building to create an access point.

Mount/Dismount - ride around in Trucks, Halftracks and on the back of tanks.

Unit splitting options. So you don't have to get your entire squad killed!

Split orders

Split = Halves the squad. For most of your squads this will split the unit into a 4 man MG/rifle team and a team with 2-3 rifles and 1-2 SMG/Semiauto. The split happens along the vertical lines between the men in the unit card.
Assault = Splits an assault team i.e. anyone with SMG/Semiauto off - because of the scarcity of them in small Panzergren squads usually a rifleman or two will end up in there as well.
Antitank Team = Splits off your Panzerfaust carrier with a buddy. Good for sneaking up on tanks.
Scout team = Splits off a two man scout team with rifles you can send ahead to ~~scout~~ die.

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Example Orders

There are two very important rules about giving orders to Grey:

1) Draw Pictures
2) Keep it simple

Here is an example.

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Understanding screenshots.

A few important points. If you get a screenshot with your unit selected the individual parts in it will be the highlighted in a lighter color on their unit symbols. The interesting quirk here is that if you select a unit it will only show what that specific unit can see in terms of other units.

Reading unit Datacards.

Here is the infantry version.

1 - How tired a unit is, past 'tired' status you can no longer sprint and have reduced combat effectiveness.
2 - Morale. Taking fire and casualties will reduce your morale which reduces combat effectiness and how likely they are to cower under fire. Being near your HQ means you will recover morale faster but some damage is persistent so squads that lose morale will break easier in the future.
3 - Your command structure, red means there is a break in the Command chain as units are too far apart to communicate.
4 - Ammo count for the squad.
5 - The symbols mean you can both see and hear your direct HQ so are under full command. The triangle below them in teh 'pinned' meter - if it is full your squad will not be able to return fire.
6 & 7 - The halves of the squad. Yellow weapon symbol means a minor wound and yellow weapon with 'casualty' scrawled over it menas dead or incapaciated.
8 - HQ command link.
9 - HQ unit, you can see the fellow units in the platoon highlighted in a pale grey while other unit symbols are a darker grey. When you select a unit its other platoon members are highlighted like this.

Special equipment and symbols

Command and Control

By now you have probably begun to wonder just what the HQ units with flag icons are good for. These units contain your leaders. Usually, every section, platoon, company, and battalion possesses a HQ unit. Leaders fulfill two very important functions: they exert a leadership modifier on their subordinate units, and link units to the Command and Control (C2) network.

If you select your platoon leader, you will notice a "+1" next to his name in the unit information panel (1). This means that he exerts a positive leadership bonus on all units under his command. The details of what this bonus entails are intentionally murky, but the gist is that units under his command will perform their jobs better than units under the command of a leader without a bonus. In order for a leader to exert his influence over his subordinate units, he must have command of them. A leader must be within visual signaling or shouting distance of the unit he is seeking to influence. This is usually about 50 meters but will vary dramatically with the terrain; the more dense the terrain, the closer your HQ unit must be to have command of his troops. Note that most armored fighting vehicles use radios to stay in command and don't need to stay within a short distance of each other.

In the lower left corner of the Unit Info Panel you will see what organizational C2 levels the unit is linked to, and whether they are currently connected to them. A green dot means that they are connected, and a red dot means that they are not. If they are connected, then information and leadership bonuses can be shared. How efficiently this sharing happens depends on the type of C2 established. This is very important as units will pass on spotting info as well as pull down leadership bonuses from higher levels as long as they stay linked in the C2 network.

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Specialist roles.

Artillery.

Here is an example of an artillery strike. You need to specify several things for an artillery order.
HQ to call it: The HQ you specify to call the mission needs to be able to see the target area.
Target and type: Point target, linear target (a line) or area target (a circle). You need to be able to see
Guns: How many tubes of the battery to fire.
Mission: How fast to fire the guns, range is Harassing - Light - Medium - Heavy - Emergency.
Duration: Fairly self explanatory.
Effect: HE or Smoke are the usual options.

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The PanzerGrenadiers (Pioneers are similar but usually don't have as many SMG/Semiauto.)

A Panzergrenadier squad consists of three squads of 8 men plus a HQ unit with four. The squads have the following weapons/roles.
-1 Light machine gunner (MG34 or 42)
-6-7 Men with bolt action rifles, one of these will be the gunners assistant.
-1-2 men with SMG's or Semiauto rifles. The leader always has one.
-Mayyybbe if you are lucky a sharpshooter with a scoped bolt action rifle.
-Usually 1-2 men with have a Panzerfaust 60 or 100 which is a very short ranged single shot anti-tank rocket.

Basically all your firepower is provided by the light machinegun (LMG). It does not need time or specific orders to deploy like the heavier machineguns but there is a small innate setup time after a move (5-10 seconds afaik).

Using German Panzergrenadier squads effectively.

Compared to an american squad you are outnumbered and on an individual level outgunned by their Semi-auto Garand's against your bolt action rifles. However US squads do not have a decent LMG only BAR rifles. Essentially your squad exists to support and be ablative armor for your light machinegun (LMG.) Getting in close range firefights with American riflemen is a losing proposition but even there you can leverage your amazing LMG to suppress them via target area orders to keep their heads down.

The Volksgrenadiers

A Volksgrenadier company OOB.

A Volksgrenadier 'Sturm' platoon is a little more varied than a Panzergrenadier. It has two specialist sections as shown above, Panzershreck (anti-tank rocket launcher) and Gwehrgranaten (Rifle grenade section.) The weapon details are covered in the weapons section but it's important to note the Panzershreck can have trouble firing from inside buildings due to the backblast. However I still advise deploying inside buildings to avoid enemy artillery fire and getting them out to shoot when tanks come close.

The bulk of the platoon is made up of two nine man 'Sturm' squads and a 'Grenadier' squad as shown above. The Sturm squads are interesting as most of the unit have StG 44 Semi-auto rifles or MP40 SMG's so they are capable of putting out a terrifying amount of firepower at close range but do not have a machinegun to provide long ranged backup. The 'heavy Sturm' squad is similar but has at least one light machinegun the same as the Panzergrenadier squads and about a 50% chance of having a second machinegun. These squads should be used as your fire support squads while the Sturm squads are up front.

The third platoon in a VolksGren company is the 'heavy Sturm' platoon, these have three heavy Sturm squads instead of the 2:1 ratio of the other two platoons. This adds up to 5 or so machineguns which is quite a lot and this platoon should be used in a fire support role to lay down MG on the enemy while the others duke it out at closer range.

Finally, Grey has turned our VolksGren Green which basically means they will get suppressed easier, rout easier and just be generally more all round useless. the most important thing is for you to keep your HQ squads close to the platoon squads - inside shouting range (~40m) so that the platoon HQ can bolster their morale and stop them running away as soon as someone dies nearby or a shell lands somewhere within a kilometer.

Suppression

The key to winning an infantry vs infantry fight is suppression and morale. There is a little pyramid on squads unit cards that indicates how suppressed they are - generally this is how much lead is flying around near them and taking less fire causes it to go down while other things like casualties and wounds also influence this. Once it hits a crucial level they will basically stop firing back (become pinned) or doing anything at all except trying to hide and if this is maintained they will break and run which usually results in them getting mown down. having a bad time is cumulative across the battle so units who get pinned once are easier to pin in the future as their morale erodes.

The key thing is you don't need to have a specific target to generate suppression on men. Once you have a good idea where they are you can simply pour fire onto the probable contact and this will generate a lot of suppression - something German LMG means you are much better at than US squads. Once the enemy is keeping their heads down you can send the non-MG part of your split squad closer to get a better spotting and finish off the suppressed troops with grenades or just shooting them at point blank. Pouring fire on also results in things like wounds and casualties from ricochets (CM has a delightful ballistics model) which will further impede the enemy effectiveness.

Basically to win infantry vs infantry you need to put more fire on the enemy - even if some of it is not hugely accurate - than they are putting on you.

Using Heavy weapons (HMG and Mortar)

The main difference between heavy weapon (HW) squads and normal squads is they tend to be smaller (3-5 men) and obviously carry a heavy weapon. The main trick with HW's is that they need to be specifically ordered to deploy after moving or they will not be set up and will not fire (its usually best to give them a facing too. Some specific heavy machine-guns can be 'semi deployed' and will fire less effectively but generally you want to deploy them which can take 30-60 seconds and while doing it the squad is very vulnerable.

Heavy machine-guns are incredible weapons once set up properly. The bigger HMG generate more suppression than your squad base LMG and also are much more deadly due to higher rate of sustainable fire, bigger rounds and much more dangerous riccochets and penetration ability. HMG can usually tear up anything up to an armored car in toughness which includes things like halftracks and non-stone buildings will have their rounds easily go right through the walls.

Mortars are a bit more tricky, they also have to be set up but as we saw last game are very effective in the direct fire role.

Defending a town

There are a few things to remember when setting up defensive positions in towns. The first is that you have to be very very precise with your placement orders. Every squad needs FACE orders and to specify which floor of buildings to occupy. Those with HMG need to be specified to be deployed and if you are placing them in buildings I highly recommend splitting squads across floors or even adjacent buildings unless it is a large building as only one guy can shoot out each window most of the time.

You can also have foxholes and the like positioned back from buildings to create keyhole fire zones with buildings shielding your flanks like the allies used to great effect in the suburb in the second game.

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German Infantry Weapons

Exact weapon loadouts per squad are somewhat randomised by the game.

Your standard bolt action rifle, pretty mediocre really compared to the Garand due to slow rate of fire. 6ish of these per squad.

Rifle grenades attached to a bolt action rifle, short range but can be effective against infantry and maybe very lightly armored vehicles. US open top tank destroyers (M10, M18, M36) are also vulnerable.

Basic SMG firing small caliber bullets really fast and not super accurately. 1-2 per squad with the squad leader usually having one.

Babbys first AK-47. Probably the best small arm of the war but usually only found on specialist troops or occasionally replacing a MP40.

Squad LMG's. Covered pretty extensively above. 1 per squad but some rare lucky squads get 2.

The weapon of your HMG squads. Pretty great overall.

German Antitank weapons

Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust (literally "armor fist" or "tank fist") was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon. Basically a short range single shot bazooka. It consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead, operated by a single soldier. The projectile traveled at just 30 meters per second and could penetrate 140 mm of armor.

A German bazooka capable of breaking pretty much any allied tank. Generally only found in specialist AT squads.

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Vehicles

Our halftracks. Armored against rifle fire mostly but the gunner is very vulnerable as we have seen. Carries 11 men plus gunner and driver.

Flakpanzer 38t

20mm rapidfire AA cannon in a tracked mount. Great for mowing down infantry and okayish at shooting at planes I guess.

Stug IIIG

75mm Kwk L43 gun with no turret and a top mounted MG. Very small amount of traverse for the main gun, it's main advantages are that it is relatively light and mobile and very low to the ground which can let it use terrain as cover. In reality the 75mm L43 could penetrate anything the US have except a Sherman Jumbo from the front but in CM they seem to model the Stug IIIG with a much worse gun than reality (perhaps the 75mm KwK L38) so it can have difficulty penetrating all Sherman variants frontally.

15cm cannon with 100mm of frontal armor means the Brummbar can take hits while blowing the gently caress out of an objective.

King tiger and king of the battlefield.

Panthers. Everything except the allied 90mm gun only found on their superheavy (and rare) tanks and the M36 Tank destroyer will find it very difficult to penetrate the Panther frontally. However they will gently caress up optics, cause injuries through spalling and other misc damage as we have seen. From the side they are much more vulnerable.

Saros fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Jan 20, 2019

# ? Jan 20, 2019 13:34

FrangibleCover: Jan 23, 2018; Nothing going on in my quiet corner of the Pacific.

This is the life. I'm just lying here in my hammock in Townsville, sipping a G&T.

Auftr�ge 1. Zug 9. Kompanie

First Platoon deploys as marked and rushes up to the first hedgeline in their tracks before dismounting. Scout teams are split off and pushed up as shown. The Platoon track is to be hidden behind the house and other tracks are to attempt to put as many trees between themselves and the direction of advance as possible. If we take contact immediately then I'll move those HTs out to support manually but I want them to remain mostly unobserved while I can.

Wait until Second Platoon has leapfrogged through our positions and been set up for a minute before withdrawing everyone back to the tracks and leaping over Second Platoon thus:

Tracks again attempt to conceal themselves behind buildings and thickets. The position of 2nd Squad in that building is tentative, if there's no room with the pioneers in there then just leave them in the track for now. The scout team from 3rd Squad are to proceed at the Hunt, can't remember if that's pink or purple in game.

Obviously if everything starts kicking off stop and come back to us and we'll see what's up.

# ? Jan 20, 2019 21:53

mcbagpipes: Apr 17, 2010

PanzerGrenadiers Platoon 2 Initial Deployment

Lets set up my teams as follows.

# ? Jan 21, 2019 03:42

Jaguars!: Jul 31, 2012

How many minutes are we going to play this turn? Our platoon orders so far would be complete around the five minute mark.

Lets try and get the rest of the orders done in 24hrs. If you feel I haven't given enough detail about anything don't hesitate to ask!

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Jan 21, 2019

# ? Jan 21, 2019 09:02

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

I'm waiting on Saros

# ? Jan 21, 2019 10:25

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Tank orders are simple.

Starting in the NE section of the deployment facing west and North. Splitting into two pairs they will wait at least one minute then advance at hunt speeds along the following routes making sure to stay behind our infantry. All units unbuttoned.

Armored car is released to scout towards the north accompanying the advancing infantry.

Saros fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jan 21, 2019

# ? Jan 21, 2019 13:02

simplefish: Mar 28, 2011; So long, and thanks for all the ~~fish~~ gallbladdΣrs!

Are you going blue line or white line, or shall I put one to each of those areas?

# ? Jan 21, 2019 13:33

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 4, 2024 05:28

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Oops uploaded the wrong image. I'll go white.

# ? Jan 21, 2019 13:55

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