Question: Your force?

[pdoktar]

What�s your force composition for year 2000+ battles (3500pts)? Nowadays I like to buy at least two top-of-the-line MBTs (vision 40) and maybe 2-5 "worse" (vision 20-30)tanks for flexibility and killing those darned arena/virss BMPs and for inf support etc. Then add two companies of APC infantry, preferably in fast APCs (30+ speed), to gain ground early on. I rarely buy IFVs, but sometimes again can�t avoid the temptation of Arena-BMP3s.

I try to settle for 120mm mortars for artillery, since these pack a true punch, but sometimes I can�t avoid the 155mm SPA stuff, just for the kick of it. I seldom buy towed artillery, in fear of on-map counter-battery, but my mortars are always towed. If low on points, I�ll settle with the 81mm, but think that they don�t usually meet my tactical needs for artillery, in 3500pts battles. Smaller forces, with lot of infantry is another matter for them though.

AA is usually non-existent, maybe a few Stingers or something like that. But when I�ve seen a lot of air, maybe fighting the Americans or Israeli, I find it very satisfying watching those birds go down. So if the situation requires and your 500point MBTs need protection, I try to opt for a high-tech SPAA and few Stingers in support. This doesn�t help with stand-off attacks, but those JDAM etc. aircrafts are so expensive, that the enemy force is usually that much weaker on ground, that I can lose some heavy vehicles.

Anybody want to lighten this forum up with comments?

[Smersh]

I honestly don't play many post 2000 battles.

[pdoktar]

I honestly don�t play anything but post 2000 battles in WinSPMBT.

[badger45]

I don't playmany post-2000 battles, but my force structure in those I play would be with such points - one btr company, two 3 tank platoons (like t-72BM1 - so the cheap vision 30 types) and artillery battalion (I like arty ). Depending on conditions I may choose rather one 4 high-end tanks with vision 40. I don't like mixing the types.

Arty I choose regarding the type of battle - heavy guns for assault, light field guns for defense.Most cost-effective are usually off-board towed pieces, though sometimes on-board towed arty can act like a magnet for enemy fire and maneuver, which can be suited to your needs (as you have very likely a decisive fire edge over the enemy, who rarely buys so many arty - therefore not much worry about counter bat strikes).

I don't usually buy many mortars (that would be too artillery heavy, once you have a battalion of "trees" ), though they are very effective in defeating infantry.

AOP is a must as well as two or three scouts. Onboard arty also requires armoured ammo trucks.

Cheers,
badger 45

[Listy]

A trp or two of Cr2, Or if I have points a squadron. Some ammo carries, and a few Starstreaks. Or if I'm shrt of points maybe a WAH-64 or two to do the AA thing.

A battery of MLRS is a must minimum to take out the enemy arty.

The hopefully a AI company (can't wait until we CTWS and stablised turrets on the Wr). However with the inclussion of the Bulldog things are about to get cheaper

[kongxinga]

I always play post 2000 year games at the standard 3900 forces. However I am still learning the ropes, so I am actually trying to find a good force composition myself.

I play as Taiwan versus China. SPMBT has very expensive tanks, and since I have a habit of buying companies whenever I can, that leaves me rather stuck when buying armor. I used to go with a Tank company of the cheapest tank possible (M48 A2s). That leaves me with 1500 points left which I spent on a reserve company of infantry and some rocket lauchers (Kung Feng) and the usual bits and pieces. The battle usually does not go too well, with my reservists outnumbered 3 to 1 by PLA regulars. To add insult to injury, simple rpgs tear apart my ERA-less tanks.

Now having a new view and respect for the grunt, but still feeling the obsessive need to have almost everything in companies, I have to resign myself to buying a heavy recon company, which leaves me with a grand total of 3 (nice) MBTs. But with LAWs and Apilas and RPGs and Javelins and all kinds of scary things flying around, it is rather dangerous to buy too many tanks. And my infantry actually do a great job at killing Chinese tanks, especially in the urban areas and forests of Taiwan.

To support that recon company I get 3 inf company +s, a battalion of Sp-MRLs (Kung Fengs again), a section or two of ATGM jeeps, and more bits and pieces. I am always tempted to buy commandos, but hand to hand fights are a rarity in MBT. And why buy helicopter mounted ATGMS when a simple grunt with a LAW can easily kill chinese tanks.

For a game called Steel Panthers: Main Battle Tank, there are surprisingly few tanks involved. Perhaps I am not using them properly, but my tanks and the AI's seem to blow up very fast. I know tanks have grown much more lethal since WW2, but are they THAT much more lethal to warrant the price hike? I actually think the infantry have really gotten better (or maybe it is just because I play NatChi in SP: WW2) as every soldier is a tank killer now.

A small side question. My MBTs in question are Cm21 "Brave Tigers" and are classified as cavalry tanks, which are a tank clone according to the manual. Now I am pretty sure cavalry does not mean leading the charge into the enemy lines, so should I treat these tanks as better for infantry close support (1 or 2 hexes behind the infantry line) than the average MBT?

[Mobhack]

In the late game era - you need more points to buy the hideously expensive modern kit. Before starting your campaign, go to the preferences screen, and set the min points for player 1 to something more like you want for the basic starter core.

As to what to buy - the local terrain is a major determinant. e.g. I have just finished the Iranian war side as Iran, and am now repeating for Iraq, 15 battles from 82-88 or whatever (in part, to test the new Iran/Iraq war batlocs, but also because that war pits reasonably even sides with interesting tweaks available to each ). Armour tends to dominate here as it is mainly open desert/arid.

However I still took a leg company (Pasadran for Iran, Mountain troops for Iraq) each side in the core - good for defending, and to walk forwards as a screen well ahead of the armour in the advance to detect/deal with milan/dragon teams etc. (Snipers with the infantry and overwatching 12.7 HMG (longer range than rifle calibre MG)are good for dealing with these as well). In that sort of terrain, I advance the leg grunts for 3 or 4 turns across the open areas while the armour and BMP overwatch, the only vehicles that step off the line quickly are recce, or those which are behind a screening ridge or similar - to take that dominant position and use it to fight from or in flank ambush from behind of it.

Generally though I tend to play BAOR in the early 70s. There I prefer to use the infantry heavy company team as my force base. Germany affords reasonable cover to work with and so infantry is better, so the building block there is such a team - mech co HQ, LAAD section in land rovers, 2 mech platoons, milan platoon, chieftain troop, and a section of fox or scimitar for recce and APC-killing, plus a SP mortar section.

But I always buy a core leg company - good defender, and useful for screening in the meeting engagement, or to defend the arty park or a refused flank, or use the "Zulu" APCs of a company team to act as a taxi shuttle to bring them up to "go firm" on a taken objective, then the comapny team can move on to the next item. The core rifle coy is usually a pure company - if I attach something to them later in the campaign, it is usually a MAW section, or a section of SP WOMBAT RCL for tank hunting.

If playing the USSR in that era, I usually go for the 10-tank T62 company as a base, with a BMP or BTR attached pplatoon. The problem with soviet kit is they go through the limited ammo quickly - so the extra platoon is a good reserve of ammo, while the emptied platoons cycle to the ammo carriers. I quite like the BTR with the 14.5/CMG combo as the 14.5 can reach out and touch ATGM teams at long range(and deal with M113 and FV432 quite handily at 2-300m or so). Also, you can usually squeeze some additional snipers, RPG teams and/or SAM teams into them as they have a decent load capacity. Plus they are much cheaper than BMP - which tend to die if they stand still to utilise the sagger.

"cavalry tank" is just a name for a tank class - the OOB designer might use that class for the armoured cavalry troops who may have lighter and more mobile tanks perhaps. e.g. Cromwells for post WW2 UK.

Cheers
Andy

[pdoktar]

You dont have to buy whole companies of tanks, you can buy a company, then delete the platoons by clicking, to have a tank Co HQ and say, 3-5 good tanks. You can also use the cross-attachment screen to cross-attach your tank section/platoon to a infantry Comp HQ. Dont mess with crappy tanks.