Matrix Games Forums

Is there anyone here who prefers town/city engagements to open country?

Eric Maietta

When I'm feeling masochistic.



Urban fighting is tough.

If I should prefer a terrain, I would pick semi-urban area. But I don't have any preference. I don't simply like too open map, like deserts or steppe.

I like having a few buildings here and there, in a logical place. Put a road connecting them, and maybe paths to the road. Some waterholes, maybe a fence. Gardens, either a single hex or a ranch, no difference. IOW, I like being reminded that there are other people than just these warriors in the world.

I played a game against Robin "Red Devil" a while back ( ) who is a good opponent. He customized one of the most fun maps I'd played on to date at that time.

It had an island in the far north center, with one bridge joining it in the west, two joining in the east. It then had a city section in the center, small section of buildings in the west center, small hills in the center east, and the buildings tapered off as you approached the center south. There were elevation 20+ hills in both the southwest and southeast, along with some wooded terrain in the center south.

Outstanding! that map had everything.

Steeler13 posted:

I love the city battles when I am on defense, against an assault, especially a dense city with many buildings...easier to pick off and slip around and otherwise annoy my opponent.

From the attacking perspective, that is where infiltrators come in mighty handy, IMHO. They can pop up in the middle of the city and start shooting. Very disconcerting to the defenders. (Of course, infiltrators are always a crap shoot as to when and whether they will show up.)

Eric Maietta

AbsntMndedProf wrote:Steeler13 posted:



From the attacking perspective, that is where infiltrators come in mighty handy, IMHO. They can pop up in the middle of the city and start shooting. Very disconcerting to the defenders. (Of course, infiltrators are always a crap shoot as to when and whether they will show up.)

Eric Maietta

In attack, you must do like the Russians in Grozny in the second war of Chechnya. You form reco groups with sniper, FO and escort, and you send them in the town. When they find a enemy strongpoint you call the artillery, the mortar and the air force.
Otherwise that would be fun if Infiltrator could lay down mines. That would be the hell for the defender.

Here a link about urban war :
Urban Operations

Aga wrote:In attack, you must do like the Russians in Grozny in the second war of Chechnya. You form reco groups with sniper, FO and escort, and you send them in the town. When they find a enemy strongpoint you call the artillery, the mortar and the air force.
Here a link about urban war :
Urban Operations

And before that enemy suppressed by fire of multiple rocket launchers with fuel-air warheads (TOR-1, armored on tank chassis). Fuel-air is great for city.

Aga wrote:...
Otherwise that would be fun if Infiltrator could lay down mines. That would be the hell for the defender.
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In RL in WWII, infiltrators wouldn't be able to infiltrate if they had to carry mines. Mines are heavy and bulky and then there's also the shovels and other tools needed to hide them.

Notice how the infiltrators, and particularly recon and scouts, don't have much ammo? It's hard to sneak quietly through the rubble with a 25lb pack on your back and all sorts of things hanging off your your belt and in your pockets.

Yes, in Viet Nam, they used a lot of smaller mines that were tripped by by wires across the trails but even then, I think the number that could be carried by a squad was limited.

To the AbsentMindedProf, I wouldn't say I 'prefer' city/urban battles since I don't have a preference for the type of terrain, but I certainly don't mind fighting a game in the city if that's what comes up.

City tactics are quite different than open country, as I'm sure everybody knows but it also means that you have to start out differently right at the buy stage.

Big, LR guns like 88's are useless in the cities and speed is also not advisable. You need lots of small recon units, snipers are excellent for this (anybody seen 'Enemy at the Gates' or read the book "War of the Rats' on which it's based will know exactly what I mean herre).

For tanks, use ones with short-barreled HE guns, since you'll have to defend against a lot of close infantry assaults. FT's are another plus in that they not only kill the entire infantry unit, but they create a permanent LOS block down the street.

You still need a few LR guns but they can be the hard to spot 76mm or smaller ATG types. You park them at the end of a street to stop the enemy from flanking you down the next row of houses.

Most tanks are weak in the cities since they can't get through the buildings and if they retreat, you lose them because they get stuck so you have to be extra careful about where they go.

If you use these tactics, and a few others you'll find that you can get through a city fairly easily and surprise your opponent who thought the town was keeping his flank safe.

I tend to enjoy a nice close quarters city battle, particularly if I have a company or two of German pioneer troops at my disposal. Nothing is niftier than watching 2 to 3 squads of enemy inf quickly flee or get wiped out by the flamethrower a pioneer squad employs in close quarters fighting.

Not to mention ambushing and close assaulting enemy armour trying to make their way through a narrow city street with panzerfausts, panzerschrecks and satchel charges.

Of course my most preferred map would be a nice open one with 2 or 3 nice high hills with which I can send my Panthers and King Tigers on overwatch to pick off my opponents armour from a nice comfortable distance.