What do I do with the 'all tank' battlegroups?

[RichM]

I had a disconcerting battle the other day. I was using the all tank battlegroup, I believe it is the first unit with tanks that appears on the allied side, and trying to fight a night battle in Cheux. I was the defender.

So the battle starts, and I can't see a darn thing anywhere. The objectives, which were mostly in buildings only accessible to infantry, steadily flipped throughout the battle by invisible Germans. By the time that my 30 minute time limit ran out, I had seen only one German soldier, who I killed, and lost a tank to who knows what, while losing every map objective except two. I've since pulled them to a rear area where they are taking up valuable space.

In this game series, it has always been crucial for tanks to rely on infantry to find targets. Why introduce an all tank unit and what should I be using them for? It's too risky to find yourself completely blind like that!

[Dowly]

I keep them with one of my other BGs. If I know there is going to be a tank battle with suitable terrain, I just switch them as frontline BG and do whatever damage I can and then clear the rest next turn with the mixed unit BG. You could also merge the armored BG with some other BG, I guess.

[Cathartes]

This is the only all-tank BG at the Allies' disposal (2 Northamptonshire Yeomanry). You can merge it with another battlegroup (one of the 15 Division infantry BGs) and you will then have the Cromwells be available in a supporting role to the infantry, and more able to avoid the low-visibility handicap of night battles. Night time=leaguer and rest.

EDIT--btw, introduced them because they did move forward on their own, without infantry support, and ran into some trouble and some success. They eventually withdrew and were held in reserve once again.

[RichM]

Ah, I didn't know you could merge battlegroups. That's very useful. How can I find out what is in a battlegroup? Each one seems to have a lot more units available than you can see on the map. How do I know what infantry unit has no tanks such they might benefit from merging with an all tank unit?

[Dowly]

I dont think there are any easy ways to see what units a specific BG contains. There are few large infantry BGs, just look for the ones that are completely full of infantry/ATGs.



EDIT: I believe the infantry BGs without tanks are: 214/43, 129/43, 130/43, 160/53, 227/15. Not 100% sure about all of them though.

[Cathartes]

I'll try and get around to writing a brief guide giving a rundown of all the British and German BGs.

In the Editor, you can click on a BG and then click on "Battlegroup info". It doesn't give you all the finer details, but gives an OOB breakdown.

[Cathartes]

Also, in the strategic screen, this little green icon, representing the 31 Tank Brigade, indicates that this BG has the support of Churchill tanks

[Dowly]

Thanks Cathartes. I know the NATO symbols, but some of the supposed infantry BGs have M10s, quite a lot of them actually (3+9 or so)

I did my estimation in editor, the first with the NATO INF IIRC, has M10s.