Infantry-only Tactics and Help?

[Zinegata]

Originally Posted by Cragspyder

So far this has been very helpful, thanks so much to everyone who is participating!

Regarding the Light Mortars that come with Infantry Platoons, from what I have gathered from the discussion here, is it always better to fire them directly at a unit (similar to an MG or Infantry Squad), or is it sometimes better to use the Indirect fire option?

I have found so far that if I use the indirect fire option with those light mortars, they don't seem to have much effect, but perhaps I am using them wrong....

It depends.

Indirect fire is generally the safer option for the mortar team. While it may not "seem" to do a lot of damage (i.e. cause casualties) firing mortars can often be enough to suppress an entire enemy company. A suppressed company will fire much fewer shots in retaliation, and it will generally be much less accurate. I've had a single platoon bayonet charge and wipe out an entire company after it got suppressed by a particularly accurate mortar barrage.

On the flip side direct fire will tend to inflict more casualties to the targetted unit. However, you will only be able to suppress the targeted unit, and the units in the six surrounding hexes. In comparison, indirect fire will often hit a much wider area, and thus inflict more suppression.

Finally, note that firing indirect generally takes a while, since you need to plot arty fire for it (unless you're skilled at plotting priority hexes during deployment).

Anyway, good rule of thumb is to use direct fire when facing few enemies that you wanna kill quicky, and indirect fire when facing a lot of them to keep them suppressed.

Also, don't forget the value of smoke. Direct-fire smoke is great for silencing one or two specific positions (i.e. That HMG tearing up your men), while indirect-fire is good for covering a whole front.

So I can see that the main idea is to use Infantry level support weapons, such as Machinegun Teams or Mortars, to supress the enemy, then advance with your main troops, and above all try to have a numerical advantage . I suppose lacking in specialized squads, you have to use additional generic infantry to provide covering fire, though no doubt with much less success.

Personally, the ideal team is a mix of regular infantry, heavy weapons, and tanks. I generally have a platoon each for an assault company.

If you don't have heavy weapons or tanks though, it's still possible to win even with inferior numbers. Use the terrain to your advantage

In defense, it mainly boils down to making sure you have good fields of fire and forcing your opponent to advance over open ground. Generally, if my squads have LMGs I try to engage them at long range first (6+ hexes).

Once they get closer I usually lay smoke (or better yet blow up their vehicles) at around the 6 Hex range. This way, the enemy squads will come out one at a time frome the smoke, with the squads from behind unable to offer their friends up front any covering fire.

If they get past even this and they're around the 4 hex range (and still have huge numbers) I tend to pop smoke right in front of my positions. This again lets you deal with the opposing squads coming in one at a time, and the fire from point-blank fire is often devastating.

(Don't forget to fire mortars at every interval as well)

So, in summary, in defense:

1) Shoot at long range with MGs.
2) Create a cordon of smoke/burning vehicles at the 6-hex range. Drive off enemy squads as they come out one at a time.
3) Pop smoke in front of you if they get pass the smoke cordon with a lot of guy still active. Engage the enemy one at a time when they enter the 1-hex range.
4) Drop mortars on the enemy at each of the above steps.

When advancing, the key to a successful assault with inferior numbers is to use the terrain to mask your advance. Pick a spot in the enemy's defenses with few troops and rush it. Use smoke to cover yourself from fire from other positions in the battlefield that the terrain couln't mask you from. I've been able to infiltrate lone platoons (or in one case, a single sniper) behind the enemy lines that wreaked havoc on his artillery and mortars. After they were destroyed, dealing with the enemy was much easier.

In another scenario, I was trying to defend my position using Infantry only, against a combined force of tanks and Infantry. The problem was that the enemy infantry would spot my own infantry before the tanks could get in assault range, and then the tanks would take them out.

Obviously a diverse force is going to be better then my own by default, but do you folks have any advice in that sort of situation?

As well, is there any point in firing Korean war era anti-tank teams, such as Bazookas or Recoilless Rifles, at a distance of more then 1 hex? Even if they do hit (which isn't often) I find that they just go 'tink' and then the team is immediately shot down.

It depends on your anti-tank kit and the type of armor you're facing.

Armored cars and WW2 armor can generally be destroyed by Bazookas and recoilless rifles. It takes a few shots before getting a penetration, but I would generally like to destroy enemy armor before they get into assault range. Check your kit's AP value vs your enemy's armor value. If your AP value is higher (not equal) than your opponent's armor value, you have a shot of taking them out at range.

The main reason for wanting to take out tanks at range in defense is that burning wrecks block LOS. If you wait until assault range before hitting the tanks, the wrecks are gonna end up blocking your LOS and prevent you from shooting the incoming infantry at range. So you'll either have to abandon the position for one with better LOS, or brace yourself for close-quarters shooting.

OTOH, sometimes you can't kill a tank at range with your weapons. In the Polish Peacekeepers campaigns I had a squad facing T-72 tanks, whose front armor as impenetrable to my RPGs. So I set my shooting range to 0, allowed the tank to get to point-blank range (the infantry still lagging behind), and then promptly blew up the tank with a shot to the side armor. The squad then went on to drive off three enemy squads that advanced into point-blank range.

Of course, in this game I was playing aganst Ethiopians, so I was more or less confident that the enemy infantry would break after suffering just a few casualties. Russian or Western infantry would be more resilient, and the more prudent thing in that case would have been to withdraw after knocking out the lead tank.