Tanks vs Infantry?

[Adamo]

Is it wise to expend ammo from the main gun of a tank on infantry units? Sometimes I turn off the main gun and just fire the secondary and tertiary weapons of the tank and save the main gun for other armor.

Any thoughts?

[AbsntMndedProf]

IMHO it depends on how far away the infantry units are and what main weapon the tank in question sports. If they are two or three hexes away, I blast away at them with everything I've got. Beats the heck out of them assaulting your tank during their next turn.

Far off, it depends on the size of the main weapon and its HE load. For example, the early model Pz IVs 75mm cannon do well against infantry, and have a large enough HE load to do the job. (They were designed for infantry support, so this makes sense.) The smaller cannon on the Pz III and Pz38(t) aren't as effective and their HE are best saved for close encounters with infantry. Now something like the PzI with the 150Sig on it is great for clearing out assaulting infantry formation. Just 'z' in their midst and watch them disappear!

Americans have the M4 with the 105mm cannon, that can devestate infantry formations, the British CS tanks with the 3inch gun on board are also good vs infantry. I hope this helps answer your question.

Eric Maietta

[Wolfleader]

How much damage depends on the size of the cannon. A 75mm is gonna do more damage to a squad than a 50mm cannon since a 75mm round can carry more explosive charges than a 50mm one.

I seldom use the main gun on infantry and opt instead for machinegun fire instead. One reason for this is if you run out of AP ammo for your tank, you can use the HE rounds on a target so long as what your shooting at isn't very heavily armoured to begin with (ie: scout cars, light and medium tanks) so HE can be used as reserve ammo in case your main ammo peters out. Also I've noticed that the machinegun is much more lethal at close ranges against infantry than the main gun.

[Irinami]

Agreed. My rule of thumb is that anything sub-75mm is going to be about as effective as a .30/7.92mm MMG. So, depending on how much AP ammo I have and how much armored resistance I expect to face... I'll usually save the main gun shots. Now, if I have 2 tanks in the area, I'll spare an HE round from each to help throw that infantry into disarray. But really, 37-50mm HE can only be relied on to cause suppression.

[serg3d]

I really like KV-2 152mm gun. One boom and nazi are running. And from ajusting hexes too sometime. It's more effective vs infantry then flaming tanks IMHO and have quite good armor.(But I'm a newbie, so don't take ne too seriously). It's completly unrealistic also - KV-2 practically weren't used/produced in WW2. They were desined for offensive war, Stalin's blitzkreig, for assault on heavily fortified concrete bunkers/pillboxes and forts of Koenigsberg. But Hitler blitzkrieged him first and KV-2 weren't produced...

[Vathailos]

I’d say check your ammo loadout. I’ve never been in a battle where my tank’s main gun ran out (save large Soviet tanks, and you know that’s going to happen), and I play with “Reduced Ammo” (or whatever that option’s actually titled).

Now, if you’re playing a country (or collection thereof) like the Soviets, buy a darn ammo truck. Leave boxes and dumps for refilling your artillery, and follow large guns (150mm, any Russian heavy tank with > 122mm gun) with your ammo trucks. Support IG’s (sIG 150mm’s, etc.) will run out, so plan for it. The US and Soviets have adequate means to deal with light armor/scouts, and that’s their .50’s and 12.7mm’s.

IMO, use that main gun at least once for the suppression factor. The 85mm will add suppression in adjacent hexes. I’m curious as to what you’ve purchased for a core force that’d leave you having to fire so often with your tanks at infantry and lightly armored vehicles.

I’d suggest buying infantry support tanks. The Pz IV series is good for this purpose, the 105mm Sherman is better. And the reason I suggest these is that I’ve learned they’re invaluable against AT gun positions. Fire a smoke round in front of that AT gun position, and roll up one hex from it with a HT, and drop off your infantry, and bust ‘em in the head next turn:).

If SP 8.0 has White Phosphorous smoke rounds, I’m going to do a little happy dance.

[Irinami]

I’d say check your ammo loadout. I’ve never been in a battle where my tank’s main gun ran out... I’m curious as to what you’ve purchased for a core force that’d leave you having to fire so often with your tanks at infantry and lightly armored vehicles.

Oh. Have to fire so often? No, they don't have to fire so often. I could be less liberal with my firing policies... but I'm not, and sometimes my "sprint" method doesn't last long enough for a battle that turns into a marathon.

[john g]

I’d say check your ammo loadout. I’ve never been in a battle where my tank’s main gun ran out (save large Soviet tanks, and you know that’s going to happen), and I play with “Reduced Ammo” (or whatever that option’s actually titled).


IMO, use that main gun at least once for the suppression factor. The 85mm will add suppression in adjacent hexes. I’m curious as to what you’ve purchased for a core force that’d leave you having to fire so often with your tanks at infantry and lightly armored vehicles.

I guess you never tried a campaign against the Communist Chinese? Or the Nat Chinese for that matter? I did a 1930's campaign against them with the Japanese and in one battle I had all my Armored cars out of ammo and almost all my infantry and cavalry out of ammo, and if the Chinese hadn't broken, I would have run out in another turn or two. Some armies can flood the map with so much infantry you will run out of ammo shooting at them.
thanks, John.

[Vathailos]

MC and Cavalry squads run out of grenades quickly, and then rifle and MG ammo shortly thereafter.

I know in protracted engagements these may run out, but there are workarounds IMO. I'd suggest ammo carriers/trucks. The Italians (go figure) have a well-armored carrier in H2H.fr, as does the US. If these stay a terrain feature or two behind the FEBA, Motorcycles in particular can get back to them in one turn. Small-caliber weapons systems reload VERY fast. One turn with both stationary and not suppressed and you'll be close to 1/2 reloaded.

I’ve not played a game against the Chinese either (in years) but I’ve been playing SPWaW since its release (in various incarnations) and rarely if ever find myself seriously hampered by running out of ammo. In some scenarios, it may be by design that you’re low on ammo, with no means to purchase carriers or other means of resupply. But in the computer-generated “long campaign”, I am still somewhat curious about the shortage problem.

For those of you that had responded with chronic shortage problems, what was your core force composition?