Viking vs Monkey - Training Match

[maniacalmonkey]

The germans have indeed [:D]

Sorry Viking, I got knocked out with a pretty serious head cold and spent the last few days buried under a pile of blankets [:(]

Your forces have swept the floor with my Kampfgruppe. Save for a handful of trucks and some scattered crewmen and depleted squads, nothing remains.


Here's my preliminary report;

My original plan was to take and hold the hills North and South with my Mech Inf. companies, one each. In the centre I intended to lay low for a while, with some minor efforts made by a platoon or two, but I had a couple of PzIV platoons standing by to rush up and punch through the centre. The Northern hill looked like a good place to lay down some flanking fire, so my third PzIV platoon was detached north to make a "hook", supported by a section of Jagdpanzer.

Things started to go wrong pretty quickly. Your recon was much stronger and more aggressive than I had expected (there's something the AI won't teach you) and, after cutting my recon to pieces, actually gave my main force units some headaches. This caused me to commit my Panzers far too early, and they ended up either slugging it out in close conditions, or being torn apart by the AT-guns in the deep of the desert. My Northern hook fell apart amazingly quickly, my PzIV's in the centre were insufficiently supported (there was practically no infantry with them), and the PzIV platoon I sent to the South to thwart your armoured push there was outnumberd and blown to smithereens. All the while I was suffering arty fire from 75mm Howitzers and 3" and 2" mortars, with my puny handful of 80mm SP-mortars unable to do much in return.

So, to sum it up, here are some lessons I learned:

- Recon doesn't just recon - it must also fight off enemy recon and forward units, so it pays to have some firepower with you. I had a handful of armoured cars and a motorcycle company for recon - I would have done much better with some recon halftracks loaded with foot recon, backed up perhaps by some light armour.

- Always support your infantry with tanks and your tanks with infantry.

- AT-guns are best kept off op-fire, or they will reveal their position firing at enemy recon, resulting in a lot of unwanted attention.

- Anything counts in large mounts. Eight 80mm mortars may seem like a nice bit of firepower, but a horde of smaller calibre artillery can easily outmatch them.

- Don't plan on making two or three sepertate thrusts. Pick one and focus all power there. Don't get outnumbered where you're making your main effort.

- Mechanized Infantry is expensive, especially if you'll only be using their halftracks as MG platforms once the infantry has been deployed. I reckon I could have bought quite some extra armour, and a decent recon force, had the infantry gone in trucks, or even on foot.


Of course... What I'm really interested in is what advice the master has to offer me [:)]

Cheers,

--MMonkey

[Mangudai]

Viking is schooling me in the curriculum of hard knocks as we speak.

My biggest lesson was smoke like crazy. Never let the enemy see you if it can be avoided.

- Recon doesn't just recon - it must also fight off enemy recon and forward units, so it pays to have some firepower with you. I had a handful of armoured cars and a motorcycle company for recon - I would have done much better with some recon halftracks loaded with foot recon, backed up perhaps by some light armour.

I used plenty of recon halftracks and motorcycles. I wasted most of the motorcycles by advancing too fast and too deep. Note: be cautious, save some recon for midgame. Recon halftracks are handy, but Viking keeps picking them off with hit and run hellcat attacks. I completely forgot about kubelwagons, wish I had a few of those to charge into smokey positions and see whats hiding.

- Always support your infantry with tanks and your tanks with infantry.

Yep, I learned that the hard way too. Once the lines of battle have developed, infantry are good for close recon. Keep some halftracks nearby so you can pull out of a tight spot, assuming they are not already routed.

- AT-guns are best kept off op-fire, or they will reveal their position firing at enemy recon, resulting in a lot of unwanted attention.

Also, unloading in a high visibility position is a bad idea. I thought I was safe, but he probably has invisible scouts hanging around.

- Anything counts in large mounts. Eight 80mm mortars may seem like a nice bit of firepower, but a horde of smaller calibre artillery can easily outmatch them.

Interesting, I've been using 80mm at the light end. 60's just dont have the range I want, unless they are attached to jeeps.

- Don't plan on making two or three sepertate thrusts. Pick one and focus all power there. Don't get outnumbered where you're making your main effort.

And, don't counterattack his thrust unless you have to, or you can really bring decisive combat power to bear. Then again, a passive defense doesn't work either. Opfire is much more decisive against the AI. I guess you have to hit and run, but Viking will still make you pay. And, besides Tiger's aren't so good at the run part.

- Mechanized Infantry is expensive, especially if you'll only be using their halftracks as MG platforms once the infantry has been deployed. I reckon I could have bought quite some extra armour, and a decent recon force, had the infantry gone in trucks, or even on foot.

I agree that you don't need to mechanize everybody. I've started buying about 1 halftrack for every two squads. After the initial deployment, advance mainly on foot and use the halftracks to get away. Once a squad has been spotted it doesn't pay to stay in the same spot.

Of course... What I'm really interested in is what advice the master has to offer me

me too

[maniacalmonkey]

Aye, good to see I'm not the only one getting "educated" here

Join zee army zey said... Ven ve get back to Berlin ve vill drink schnapps untill ve fall over and curse Viking's eyeballs for making our units kaput!

Lesson one was hard but very educational already - looking forward to lesson two. Hats off to Viking for taking the time to educate stripeless noobs like me [&o]

[maniacalmonkey]

Ehrm...

*cough*

[:)]

[VikingNo2]

I do have a few things to add, don't always turn you weapons off, I sometimes leave the AT guns on at about a range of 9 but make sure to set the range of supporting MG 2-3 hexs beyond the set distance of the AT gun.

Also know your equipment I know that sound simple, but with out playing a bunch of game you just don't know. The Bren MG comes to mind once you learn what it can do it can be effectively employed