Unsupported tanks behind enemy lines

[Cross]

Originally Posted by Lt. Ketch

What organization do you normaly have when you hit the rear area? For example, your set up your forces: recon up front, tanks and infantry main body, mobile reserve in rearish area of main body and then just press forward maintaining the spacing between the recon and body.
Or, after you hit the enemy do you fold around his flanks and penitrate his line at weak spots letting the units that penitrate in force ravage the rear? Let me put it another way, do you advance like a bulldozer or like water?

The reason I ask is because I'm curious how you keep from losing too many units to the rear forces. As I've related, I'm always losing the units that penitrate the line. I understand that good recon can help with this, but how do you set it up? A basic thought for me is to regroup my forces after sending the enemy packing and reestablish the scouts (which ever ones are left) and basicly begin another advance against the rear units. Any thoughts or personal experiences?

Usually, I find the bulldozer works better when attacking. It's easier to defend them attack, so a half competent opponent can make you pay a high price (too high) as you steadily advance across the board.

Most military colleges will probably tell you that you need a three to one advantage to prosecute a successful attack (rule of thumb).

In the world of wargames, three infantry sections 'always' beat one infantry section. That doesn't mean I lose one of my three and he loses his one; but the three overwhelm the one, and the three take minimal casualties.

SP battles are often fought against equal forces, so to shift the odds in your favour you must plan an attack in a specific geographic area (choose an area that gives you the advantage); and bring your combined arms forces to bear in this place.

The beauty of SP is that your opponent can't see your build up. Hold off the attack until enough units are in place to suddenly apply overwhelming force.

Don't bunch your forces up and let enemy artillery turn your brilliant planning into a disaster; but place your forces close enough to one another where they give mutual fire support.

Remember 3:1, you want three of your units firing at one of his, or rather your opponent's unit has to try and fire at three different targets. This will actually give you a much better than 3 to 1 chance of success.

I don't actually try to have a 3:1 advantage, but I do try to overwhelm a weaker defense with superior fire power. The better the odds, the better the odds.

I'll attach a SP tactics doc I wrote a while ago. It's called 'Top Ten PBEM Mistakes'; and is geared towards human opponents, but much applies to AI battles.


cheers,
Cross