UK observations and questions (Full Version)

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eburr155 -> UK observations and questions (1/9/2006 11:18:30 PM)

Seven battles into my long UK campaign, I think I’ve seen enough not to look like a complete fool so I thought I’d bounce some stuff off y’all. I started in July ’40, so they all involve the desert.

Early war armour (if I’m playing and the Brits, Kiwis, Indians and Aussies, might as well spell like them) and anti-armour weapons are so bad, it’s almost funny to watch. The 20-mm guns on the Italian tanks bounce of my Vickers, while my 15-mm Besas have so little oomph, most of my tank kills are caused by getting six or seven hits on them, the crews abandon ship, and I get the points after the battle is over. After upgrading to Honies and tanks with the 2-pounders, it gets really lopsided.

Then the Bosche show up and it all changes. The 50-mm armed Pz-IIIs have no problem knocking out Matildas in defilade, forcing a change in anti-armour doctrine. Now I put my 3-inch AA guns in spots with good fields of fire, and leave my tanks behind the MLR and rely on them, artillery and infantry when defending. On offensive missions, my armour is now supporting the infantry, unless I can punch a hole in their lines and spring a troop loose to go shoot up mortars and hopefully find the enemy HQ. There’s 105- and 150-mm offboard artillery coming down on me. Jerry’s riflemen can cause casualties at five hexes and up.

Minefields suck/rock depending on if I’m attacking or defending. Which leads to question 1: Do the 25-pound guns clear mines? I think I read on here somewhere that artillery under 100 mm in caliber do not remove mines and the 25 is 88 mm. Most of my battles have been defend/delay, so I can’t tell if my shrinking minefields are because of my artillery or the Axis clearing them.

Were 8-inch guns really available in 1940 is question 2. They’re great killers, but I feel kind of guilty buying three regiments of them per battle.

My third question is what to do with my armoured car troop? Right now they’re all Bren and Boys armed units and I use them as kind of a last line of defense, or I have them hide behind hills, pop up, spray advancing infantry, and hide again. I figure I’ll upgrade them to Humblers and Staghounds, but making them another tank company also seems like a good option.



Puukkoo -> RE: UK observations and questions (1/10/2006 2:59:33 PM)

After reading that it seems that the "Bosche" is very displesed with his own showing. I think the worst thing in the Long Campaign is that the core force becomes too strong for the AI. It is however just for fun thing.



FlashfyreSP -> RE: UK observations and questions (1/10/2006 8:28:52 PM)

Well, it looks like you are 'replaying' the kinds of things that bedeviled the men in North Africa in 1940-43. British armour and AT capability is underpowered, German armour superior, but not plentiful enough, and so on.

Question 1: No, 25pdrs barrages will not remove any minefield factors; even calibers around 100mm only do so rarely, that I've seen. 150mm+ will usually remove a factor or two each barrage, but this is a very expensive way to clear a minefield.

Question 2: Actually, there were probably no 8in Howitzer pieces in North Africa for the Brits. According to Ian Hogg, British & American Artillery of World War II, the 8in was a WWI relic, being replaced by the 7.2in Howitzer. Cannibalized out of service by 1941, it was declared obsolete in 1943. Except for some counter-bombardment fire in France 1940, and training in England, this weapon saw little combat action. So, you are probably right to feel guilty buying regiments of them in North Africa where they probably never served.

Question 3: The armoured car troop in British doctrine was the recce element for the battalion/regiment/brigade. Proper use of it is as a scouting unit on the advance, to locate enemy positions and then retire, or as flank security when defending, in order to provide the main force with warning if enemy forces attempt to flank the MLR.



FNG -> RE: UK observations and questions (1/12/2006 3:44:40 PM)

I finished a UK long campaign not long ago, using ANZAC infantry and artillery, and UK armour. The best unit that I had was ANZAC heavy infantry - they have Lee Enfield, Bren, AT mines and a 2" mortar per squad. Back them up with Cruiser IIA CS and the cruiser (IV?) just prior to the A13 (which is junk) and a couple of Matildas.

While the cruisers cannot go gun to gun with the 50mm Panzers, the 2-lber can score kills at reasonable range. Make sure you have some on-board 25-lbers to supress the German armour, then you will have an opportunity to kill them with flank shots from the cruisers. On the defensive, the heavy infantry is excellent at tank killing, if positioned correctly. ANZAC infantry also have access to the .50 cal HMG which is incredibly useful against those hordes of half-tracks. 40mm Bofors AA is useful for taking out light AFVs and APCs.

On the offence I was as indirect as possible. I'd open with a smoke barrage, then use 25-lbers and squad mortars to supress enemy positions on the flanks prior to a primarily infantry assault. AFVs stood just back from the assaulting line to counterattack any counterattacks.

On the defence, the ANZAC heavy infantry would take the brunt of the attack supported by HMGs and 2-lber AT guns. AFVs were kept in mobile reserve.

It isn't too long before the Lee, Grant and Sherman appear. Things tend to get a little easier after that, as allied weapons systems become more competitive. On the whole, I got a lot more decisive than marginal victories (with a few draws), and this was achieved by keeping armour casualties as low as possible. As long as you don't get entire squads rubbed out, infantry losses are free to repair and won't score much for les salles boches.



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