Re: Help this poor Vac-Head

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Martin <Al.Bri@xtra.co.nz>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: Help this poor Vac-Head

> Roger asked:
> > One big failing all of us had, what do you do with Infantry?
>
> Find points you want to keep hold of and dump your infantry there. It
helps
> if those point are covered in forest as well.
>
> If you're playing on a desert-like terrain, send them home, as they're
"just
> useless mouths to feed" as one British general said in the desert in
WWII.

Send them into crap terrain to dig out other infantry stuck in crap
terrain.

Put them in crap terrain overlooking someone's nice maneuver corrider
and
shoot GMS/Ls at everything that drives past.

Ambush (using hidden deployment rules) tanks with buzzbombs.

Anything you please in urban situations.

Escort your tanks into urban situations--keeping the guys with buzzbombs
away.  This is a synergistic thing.  Your infantry find the enemy and
pin
them, your tanks knock down the buildings they are hiding in.  For a
detailed discussion, see: Battle of Berlin, 1945.  Direct fire artillery
is
a Good Thing for this.

Hide on a hill in the woods and call for artillery all over the damn
place.
This is really cool--you buy 1 cheap APC for 22 points (CFE, Fast
Tracked,
Size 2, Armor 2) plus shell out another 70 points for a FIST team (Line
team
+ Artillery Observation).  So now you don't have to make a decision
whether
you want to shoot your tank's gun or call for artillery this turn.

Desert options: As above, but only if you've had time to dig them in.

On the attack, you are limited somewhat.  The best idea is to take a
book
from the old Dragoon model.  You send them in IFVs close to pieces of
terrain you want, then use a coordinated attack to drive out whoever is
there now, and then park your guys and let them cover your tanker's
advance
with GMSs.

Superior GMSs are the best thing going for infantry.  I've currently got
one
or 2 per platoon.  You could do more.  They swat light armor EASY, and
disrupt and sometimes whack heavy armor.  To operate in a hig-density
Superior GMS environment, you have to shell out 45 points per vehicle. 
So
for 240 points (3 platoons, 2 missles per platoon, 40 points per
missle),
you have forced your enemy to shell out (in a company-sized game), maybe
700
points.  3 for 1 value.  If they don't buy superior ECM, they tend to
get
swatted by by superior GMS, so you only have to kill 2 tanks in the
whole
damn game to make your points.

I once used a light infantry company to clobber a heavy armored
batallion,
reinforced with mechanized infantry.  I designed the scenario as a
delaying
action--infantry delays an armored attack in a town, while engineers rig
a
bridge for demolitions.  I inflicted nearly 50% casualties, rigged the
bridge for demolitions, withdrew the engineers and infantry, and blew
the
bridge. Total casualties:  9 stands of infantry.

John M. Atkinson