What's your favorite core force composition?

[Jaax]

While playing the Germans or Soviets in a long campaign, what's your typical force makeup, for core forces?

I'm going to begin a long campaign from '39 as the Germans and am wondering what forces to choose for an effectively balanced campaign, and what aux forces to choose for my advancing.

I've always chosen several tank platoons (one heavy, two medium), two Flak 88's (hoping they become Elite forces) and the rest mechanized SS infantry, and maybe an armored scout team, but wondering if I'm not choosing the best mix.

Thanks in advance for any advice =D

[serg3d]

I would say - include couple of motocyclers platoons ( if you don't have them as a part of mech infantry) and may be some engineers or/and AT rifles...

[Irinami]

My post got eaten.

I have posted this in several other threads. Basically...

1xMotorized PzG Co.
1xLight Recon Co.
1-3 other Pl's of support (eg, arty, recon, etc).

[rbrunsman]

In a long campaign, if you want to have a really killer force later in the war (which gets a little boring after a while, IMHO), what you do is go for QUANTITY rather than QUALITY in your force selection. The reason is that you never get any more units added to your core force, so buy alot of cheap units and as they gain experience and get upgraded with new equipment, they will really start to be a awesome force.

So, I would not buy mechanized SS infantry. I would buy motorized regulars. That way, as they improve in experience and you get more points to upgrade with you can make them SS with HTs later.

The same applies for you AAA and AT guns, etc.

The only thing to remember, is don't buy a bunch of Kubelwagons or snipers as "place holders" for your later purchases of a different class of unit. Keep apples to apples (ex. armor to armor) and oranges to oranges (i.e. infantry to infantry). i.e. a sniper doesn't make for a good KingTiger commander.

[Sturmpionier]

I like big forces.

1 co tanks
2 co arm inf
1 co engineers
1 recce co
2 batteries AT
2 SPAA batteries
2 suppt tank plts
1 CAS section
4 batt OnBA
2 motorcycle plts
4 FO vehicles
Trucks for the guns

Just remember, no core force will ever be perfect. That is why tinkering is so much fun.

[mattenhoff]

Has anyone else played SPMBT (by SPcamo workshop?) There you can change units AND expand your core force size with brand new units later. Does anybody know if anything similar is coming to SPWAW?

The expanding of core could add some playability. You could buy some those elite ss-PzGr -guys and add more later on as you earn credits. That could solve the problem of buying just low qualitys stuff at the start.

But, on the other hand, the SPWAW is best played with a small scale - or what do you think? Expanding the force too much is good neither? I could get :sleep: while commanding a whole PZgrenadier regiment! We have a tactical game here.

For Sturmpionier: How about the credits? Your force sounds quite expensive. Bought low quality troops first?

For Jaax

I try to get 1 hi-quality Inf. Co + 1 lo quality inf Co (both with some mobility) + Tank Co + some AT,AA, ARTY (The "god of war" by Stalin!) . Some motorcycles for recon (they can also slip through to the enemy's rear and inflict some chaos there...)
Low quality inf. can be later changed to something better. I also found tankodesantniki useful, if used in tight group. You can buy some extra MMG's and beef up your Tank desants with them.

At the early campaings with soviets, the HMG's and 37mm Flaks work fine in AT role too. The 12.7mm Dshk or 50-cal. AAMG can destroy HT's and damage a Pz III, and the 37mm. can be deadly side/rear-hitting weapon even agains tanks.
PTRD's are worth trying, but, I haven't been able to get it right with them this far. I quess they must be use in tight groups of 3-5 weapons, all firing in one target.

[robot]

My core force
4-secs scouts w/tranport
2 -secs armored cars
1-sec pz1b This is my mech recon
4-platoons motor pz grenadiers
1-platoon pz1b upgraded to stugs later
2-platoons of pzivs
2-sec at guns 37mm to start
4-sec inf guns 75mm to start
2-sec 81mm mortors
3-secs sp flak
2-platoons engineers w/transport
3-fos
next comes my fast attack force
2-sec 238 cars
2-sec pzII
2-platoons pz38 upgraded later
If any points left buy 2 sec of 221 changed to sp at guns later. Also buy 2-221 for hq upgraded llater to pvds. Will always buy with support 2- batt of 150 off board. I use this set up when defending or assaulting doesnt matter. In defend always buy 70 mines. Also will purchase any transport i need for the job.

[gainiac]

AO with an FO and + scouts for a bodyguard, I mech them.

I like 2 mech recon platoons with FO's...........usually 2 AFV's, 1 SPAA, and scout platoon with a jeep (or equivalent) for the FO. Later on I usually upgrade the AFV's to some sort of FAST tank (Panthers or Wolverines/Hellcats/76W's).......

1 company mech infantry with an AT platoon for support if need be......(American mechanized usually has an AT gun per platoon)


1 mech engineer platoon, 1 special forces platoon (I mech them just in case I don't want to use them as infiltrators)

Half a tank company: Composed of the CC section and 2 platoons..........


1 platoon SPAA, 1 medium mortar battery (upgraded later to SPA usually).....

This is as about as large a core force as I'll play with, I think smaller is better for gameplay, even smaller than what I've put above.......

Martin

[Sturmpionier]

For Sturmpionier: How about the credits? Your force sounds quite expensive. Bought low quality troops first?

I usually start with my 'core' parts and then fill the rest up with either low-grade or just space holder units. I buy a lot of Kubels and they usually become my arty (in spite of advice against it.) I go back later and just switch the attributes later in the editor so the armour goes to the arty column. If I start feeling guilty about exchanging an elite sniper later in the war for an elite tank, I let the editor do a re-roll of the attributes. It helps me sleep at night.

This is all a function of the fact that you can't expand your core force.

[faulty_intelligence]

39' I went with 2 engineer platoons, with ht's to assign for transport, 3 motorized panzergrenadier platoons in company formation, 10 more guys than a mech formation, and upgrade the trucks to ht's later, 30 Pz 38 t's 6 secs of 5 tanks, 12 Sdkfz 6/2? I think they were, 3 secs of 4, 3 mech fo units, and 3 batteries of mortars, took the infantry from the mortars and assigned them to the A0 as a guard force and an impromptu extra infantry platoon, force broke down engineers with pzgrenadiers on the flanks extra panzergrenadier platoon in the middle 10 tanks 4 sp flak 1 tracked fo supporting each of the three infantry groups, buy extra support for precieved mission

[Alexandra]

Well, I don't have a fave core force, but here's what I'm using in my current long campaign, starting in Sep '39 as the Germans.

A0 HQ
A1 Benz Commannd Car

B, C, D. Motorized Infantry Platoons. All have since been upgraded to tracks.
E Engineer Platoon.
F Truck platoon for E. I dunno if I will upgrade these to tracks for the Engineers, or to some kind of AFV.
G Scout Section Originally Sdkfz-231's, and now Pz II's.

Yes, it a low point, reinfored infantry company.

I'm three battles in, all DVs and doing well. My advice would be to play the core you like and for the point scale you like. I'm running around a 1000 point core, some people love 5k ones, and I'd never do that.

Alex

[KG Erwin]

Choosing core forces is a frequent topic of discussion, and everyone has their favorite recipe. Generally, I'll use the default purchase points for a long campaign, using "true troop on/rarity off".
For the Germans in Sept 39, that's 3100 points. My basic recipe is a reinforced panzer company (about 30 tanks: 9 Pz Is, 15 Pz IIs and six Pz IVs), two motorized infantry companies, an engineer platoon w/trucks, four SdKfz 10/4s, four SdKfz 231/8s, four SdKfz 221s, two motorcycle platoons, two scout platoons mounted in Stoewers, and two Inf-AT platoons also mounted in Stoewers. For advance missions, I like to split my forces into two recon groups, one on each flank, and three maneuver elements each with two infantry platoons and 8-10 tanks. The engineers are my HQ reserve (I also play with mines off), and the Inf-AT platoons are attached to my recon groups. I'd like to think that this combination is a fairly accurate historical mix for a battalion-sized "Fast" Kampfgruppe of that period.

[FNG]

I've recently been playing a GE long campaign starting May 1940. I kicked off with HQ, Rifle Co, Spec Ops, 2 x 37mm PAK with 2 trucks, 2 x 20mm FlAK with 2 trucks, 3 x StuG IIIb and 10 x Pz-38t.

I'm now in early '44 and it has grown into a Fallschirmjaeger Co., still with Spec Ops, 4 x Elefant, 4 x Sdkfz 7/1, 3 x Brummbaer, 5 x Tiger, 5 x Panther G. For my taste this core composition gives enough flexibility while keeping engagements a reasonable size (I like to play out a few battles in an evening).

[thatguy96]

Lemme try and remember, because I started a German Campaign in '39 a while back...

In '39 it was, 10x Pz-38(t), 5x Pz-IIIE, 5x Pz-IV (whatever model was available at the time), 1 Mech SS Company, 2 Motorized Rifle Company, 1 FJ Infantry Co (w/ attached aircraft in the core), 2 Engineer Co's (motorized), 2 sections of 81mm Mortars, 2 sections of 88mm AA guns (w/ mech transport), and a hobbled together recon team (3 recon teams, 1 Scout HT, and a Kubelwagen)

Now...in '43...

Its 10x Pz-IIIJ(s), 5x Pz-34(r), 5x Pz-IVE, 3 Mech SS Co's (the 2 Motor Rifle units became SS infantry, the original SS Co's embedded ATR became a Stug IIIE, and its embedded 50mm mortar became an SP-Mortar), 1 FJ Infantry Co (same as before), 2 Engineer Co's (now Mech), 2 sections of Stuka zu Fuss (I forget what the SP-Rockets are designated in game), 2 sections of 88mm AA guns (same as before), and a reorganized recon team (1 Sniper, 1 RT, 2 Scout HT, and 1 Mech FO).

I'm currently having trouble penetrating the front armor of enemy T-34s, because the 50mm gun in the Pz-III is pretty worthless. The Pz-34(r)s have alleviated some of the problems, but I still find that the heavier Russian tanks are problematic. Eventually that recon unit might become a TD unit to pick up the slack.

[faulty_intelligence]

I'm finally back to playing now, force is in the spring of 43 now, it breaks down: 30 pz 38t's became 15 early tigers, 15 pz-IVh, one motorized Pzgrenadier company became a mechanized ss company, each platoon has 4 sdkfz HT's and one 250/9 stummel for the additional mg42, 12 sdkfz 7/1 upgraded from the original 6/2's, the quad 20mm give a good antiinfantry punch at range, 2 pioneire platoons, 3 mech fops, and the three mortar batteries became 18 whurframmen 40's, the A0 unit has a mercedes command car and then 2 spec ops squads to support, the spec ops squads are transportable if I piggyback some ss on the tigers and lend the HT's to the spec ops to keep up with the A0

[mattenhoff]

I play mainly with the Soviets.

- Lot's of SMGs to have the short range firepower.
- Tanks, KVs are good for sucking ion some shots, they can withstand the 50 mm from longer ranges. They don't hit anything so much , thou.[:(]
- ATGs to support them
- 12,7 HMGs to pop ACs and Hts
- Later, from 1943 onwards, SUs with SMG troops riding

- 82mm Mortars and 122mm Arty are my favourite arty supporters.

Take a balanced mixture of all those, Imo, you can't have too much infantry when playing the Soviets...