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That isnt to say the other two Regiments are lacking in AT capability - The engineers just have more durable tanks which is a lot more forgiving against enemy armour.Posts: 1,592
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thanks for the update
I have seen in replays and the forums a bit of confusion over how the Brits do this so I've decided to follow Tamiyas lead and write a guide for the community.
For the defensive British army position is everything. Where you set up your HQ, defences and the deployment of your units, all play a big part in winning or losing the battle.
The Trench and the Vickers MG
The placement of these defensive positions are already covered in depth here.
Mortar Emplacement
Mortars are fantastic tools in attack or defence. They can sometimes be misused by trying to get a bit of both worlds and placing them too far forward of your defensive position and inviting all kinds of destruction.
This will become something of a mantra through the guide but the further back from the front an emplacement is positioned the more likely it is to survive. This is due to the reduced risk of direct enemy fire, the position being overrun and the scatter effect on long range artillery.
You are much less likely to lose an emplacement to fire if the scatter area is wider. This is because the chance of two or more fires on the one emplacement is lower and the chance for it to be missed entirely is higher. You are also much more likely to get the structure repaired without harassment.
However the trade off for greater survival chance is reduced offensive impact on the battlefield. This becomes something of a judgement call when in the field.
My personal preference when using mortar positions is to place the first one well back near my hq to create a safe zone for your troops and provide limited rear echelon capture protection.
This mortar can be vital if you have set up your HQ away from the safety of the initial vickers emplacements as it provides a 360 degree zone of anti infantry fire.
Should you later choose to use a mortar in a more offensive way you can place it much closer to the enemy and without fear of reprisals on your HQ.
Bofors Emplacement
This is probably the most misunderstood of the British emplacements. The Vickers and the Mortar are arguably more effective against infantry and the 17 pounder a better vehicle counter. It also seems to die really easily - what role does this weapon serve?
As well as providing a unique AA role, the Bofors is incredibly potent for its pricetag. Once again this is an enplacement that gets positioned too far forward and draws a lot of fire which destroys it pretty quickly.
I believe this structure is intended for rear lines area security. It excels at long range and becomes quite poor at short. This alone suggests that it should be placed in a manner which ensures it engages in its highests performance envelope.
I am also convinced that it is designed for rear line defence because of posts from people asking what to do about an early Puma or similiar class of vehicle.
If you are surprised by an early Puma and you have placed a Bofors near your retreat point, you can retreat there and be safe until you can field an effective counter. This prevents you from taking potentially game losing losses before destroying it.
I put together this image as an example.
Here I have placed the Bofors well back from the trench in front of it. This is a favourite defense tactic of mine against vehicles attempting to finish off retreating squads (losing a 450 mp + 75 muni squad is a great deal more damaging than replacing them at 25mp a man)
In the trench we have our squad of Bren Tommies. These guys are great for base defence as they are very potent against infantry at long range and a death sentance for any vehicle straying too far into the base.
It is difficult to see in the reduced size of the image but the orange dotted line of button fire range is up. You can see the start of the line just below the 17 pounder. When a Puma tries to enter the base, once its well inside the button zone you can pin it down and the Bofors will shred it.
If the Puma attempts to flank on either side hoping to avoid the Brens, the Bofors will turn and force it to retreat. The Bofors in this picture is able to cover both HQ trucks when they are reforming sections as well as any healing troops. Speaking of which...
Casualty Clearing Station
This is a building that is designed to be built just behind the front lines. Though not very resistant to damage, they are reasonably cheap and like the American Medic Stations they share casualties - the more you have up the more likely you are to recieve a free 450 mp Tommy squad which is quite a bargain even if you do lose one.
In addition in the above picture the CCS is placed so that the Bren Trench is just inside the healing radius - this can be very handy in preventing the section inside from burning to death and potentially losing the trench.
17 pounder Anti Tank Gun
This is a very effective anti tank tool but they are often built far too early in the game. Spending 55 fuel on a 17 pounder can greatly reduce the speed with which you can field your own tanks. Buttoning up an enemy tank and using Piats will only get you so far - you have to get your own tanks into the field.
This is due to the fact that when your opponent sees the 17 pounder he also knows you will be lagging behind on mobile AT and will decide to go hit you somewhere it can not reach and that hit may put you out of the fight.
If you are on a map with a lot of fuel and you are swimming in it by all means build them but if you are worried about enemy vehicles when you have limited fuel and no Armour Command Truck you are shooting yourself in the foot building 17 pounders.
Stick to Brens+Piats as neither cost any fuel and if badly outmatched you can always fight it out under the cover of that Bofors gun.
When you do have a Cromwell or two out and decide its time to strengthen your defensive position with a 17 pounder to free up the tanks to go on the offensive, remember the mantra. The further back the position is the more likely it is to survive.
All too often the 17 pounders get placed far forward and in front of any nearby support in a bid to secure more map position. Then Jerry spoils your day with a few stovepipes and incendiaries.
Referring again to the above picture. The 17 pounder here is well positioned back and has covering support from the Bren and Bofors. It is also clear of any nearby LOS blocking obstacles.
Never Never Never build a 17 pounder near something that can provide cover for an attack on the position. The added benefit of this is that with less things blocking the way your 17 pounder covers a much larger area of the battlefield.
25 Pounder Artillery
This is an interesting emplacement because it embodies the British army. Tough, dug in, hard to remove and brutal in its destructive potential. Interestingly 25 pounders are heavily influenced by the players Regimental Choice.
Royal Canadian Artillery: These guys have all the options and are the best choice if you wish to make use of artillery. The supercharged rounds are fantastic because of the Mantra. You can build 25 pounders in much more secure locations further back while still retaining a long reach. The special artillery modes provide great offensive and defensive tools.
Royal Engineers: Can be more aggressive with the positioning of 25 pounders because of how much tougher they are with improved emplacements. This would be the regiment of choice if your battle plan involves building an advanced 25 pounder and shelling the enemy base into submission.
Royal Commandos: I tend to avoid building 25 pounders with the Commandos however there is a strong argument that could be made for building one far back for defensive fire then using victor target to overcome the range issues on the offense. The other reason is that the decoy artillery and barrage is much more flexible with a fast cooldown, fake out options, only limited in range by LOS and costs no fuel allowing you to invest in tanks / other emplacements.
When using artillery on defense always target slightly behind where you anticipate the enemy to be when the shells land. This will inflict heavier casualties on weaker retreating units and also instinctively force the enemy forward into your defenses. The damage done by an artillery strike doesnt necessarily have to come from the shell impacts themselves. If possible try to time such a barrage just prior to when you think the enemy will retreat, keeping him in your kill zone for longer.
In 1v1 play I do not advocate building a 25 pounder before you have the fuel to spend on an Armour HQ unit unless you have a very good reason to do so. You may need the mobile AT for reasons I suggested in the 17 pounder section. If the enemy is playing a dynamic game and not attempting to secure and hold territory there may be few effective targets for your artillery.
Sapper Defences
Sandbags, wire and landmines tend to be forgotten abilities with new British players. This is a result of the relatively late entry into the game Sappers have, that it is an aquired skill to be able to plan defences when you are heavily engaged and that many players consider these defences obsolete when heavier vehicles appear. Sappers are often criticised for being easily killed but more often than not this can be attributed to failing to observe the 7Ps.
Prior Planning and Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Have some ideas about what you could do with these defences prior to the game and if you see an opportunity to put it into effect do so. Over time you will increase your variety of defensive combinations and have a great deal of fun doing so
These defences allow you to get really creative with British emplacements. Sandbags provide Sappers the stamina to stand their ground under an assault and provide several tactical advantages to the Piat Sapper squad. The Piat suffers from accuracy and rate of fire issues. These can be offset by the presence of a LT, a bonus that they would otherwise not have when cowering in a trench.
Secondly once that LT has heroic charge you can further enhance the effectiveness of the Sappers by using the firing delay to swiftly position them near a vehicles vunerable point, fire, then rush them back to the sandbags. Reloading happens at the same rate whether the unit is stationary or running like the wind. Even if you do not have access to heroic charge being behind sandbags allows you to switch between defence and offence much faster than in a trench and without the concern that the now empty trench will be occupied.
Sandbags are not only for Sappers - they can be very effective temporary defences when in enemy territory. Building a trench this far forward is often a very bad idea. If you are forced back from this position and know your enemy is now taking advantage of the sandbags a 25 pounder bombardment will remove them, any nearby enemy forces and really mess with your opponents head.
If you time that bombardment right before you launch a counter attack in that area you can often take the area with little resistance. Another trick if you know you are going to have to fall back from your sandbags is to leave a present like a mine or demo charge for the germans to unwrap. The last tip I have about sandbags is they are less vunerable to fire weapons. This is because the AI will often dive out of the way or otherwise move your soldiers automatically. If you still find your troops are taking burn damage you can move them to safety much faster than a trench evacuation.
Wire is a great area denial and anti infantry tool. The effectiveness of wire is entirely dependant on your ability to cover it with fire. With the vanilla armies it was more difficult to do this because of the risk and prohibitive cost of placing lone troops or an MG nest just to cover some wire. With the British defences this is much more affordable. Instead of using it to completly seal off an area it should be used to enhance natural obstacles and to channel enemy forces into kill zones and other traps. If you just leave a section of wire out in no mans land of course the enemy will simply go around or over it.
If you have a section of hedgerow on your flank you can place a few sections of wire on the end to draw the enemy forces deeper into your defences. As a deterrant to your enemy you can also place land mines near wire which makes the enemy pay for clearing it. Making the enemy pay to clear something that is free is a very good deal. Place the mines directly behind the wire if you wish to ensure it hits a vehicle, otherwise place the mine in front of the wire with the understanding that it may be triggered by infantry being channelled along. Mines often result in engine damage so be sure to have forces ready to turn that engine damage into a smoking wreck.
Do not build landmines in the gaps between your emplacements - they will all go off under the first enemy barrage and simply add to the destruction. Instead they should only be placed in areas which you do not anticipate will be subject to that kind of attack. Conversely they are not much use too far away from your forces. There is a happy medium to be discovered that only experience and experimentation can provide.
Placing wire sections next to an emplacement also allows you to turn a once easily passed structure into a physical obstacle that shoots back. Be aware though that this wire could hinder your forces as much as the enemy. (I intend to finish this section off with some illustrations of tactical minefield / wire combinations that I learned from a book called McAleese's Fighting Manual which was written by a professional British soldier with the SAS and that I highly recommend as a good read)
Turning a Defensive Trench Loss into an Advantage
Sometimes your base defence trench can be set on fire and you can have little option but to evacuate. A canny enemy will attempt to use that trench against you but it is possible to turn this to your advantage. Remember how we set up our CCS near both the trench and our reinforcement point? You should be able to set your infantry up to be within your HQ reinforce zone and the medics pick up range. Engage the trench with your infantry, being careful to keep reinforcements coming in so you take no losses. The enemy will begin wounding your troops and your medics will pick them up quickly. All of a sudden you are getting Infantry sections at dirt cheap prices and the enemy will either eventually be killed or forced to run away to prevent helping you.
I have a replay of this in effect here - It is an otherwise unremarkable game but it does show off several of the things I have discussed in this guide.
The Mantra
Yes I'm going to talk about it again. Remember: The further back your positions are the less likely they are to be destroyed through direct fire, being overrun and because of scatter. In addition thou shall not clump thy positions next to each other. Putting all your positions very close together increases the effect of enemy artillery and turns scatter into targets of opportunity.
You can drastically increase the life expectancy of your positions as well by having your captain in the sector of the positions taking the most fire - boosting their HP with his presence. I also like the use over repair on my emplacements and it gives your rear line sappers something very important to do.
General Anti Vehicle Tips
Rifle Grenade Smoke is very useful on a vehicle in lock down mode, such as the dreaded Marder III. Pop that smoke then charge it down before it can be repositioned. Flank speed on Cromwells is good for this. If you are RC you can use the Tetrarch smoke for this but be damn careful the Marder cant shoot you.
When you button down a vehicle so the Piat sappers can do their thing be sure to take advantage of the fact the vehicle isnt doing much shooting back. The Piat is inaccurate at range and has a long reload time so move them in closer between volleys.
Additionally the Piat has poor frontal penetration against vehicles like the Panther or Tiger so use this firing delay to get in behind them. Be sure as hell to get them out of there when button fire wears off though.
The Cromwell can take more punishment than a Firefly can. So I like to get a Cromwell out in front to 'tank' for my Firefly. Getting the tank commander upgrade on your lead Cromwell provides awesome line of sight for the long range Firefly. I try to keep the Firefly at max range due to the accuracy of its fire and the relative inaccuracy of counter fire against it.
If they get wise and ignore the Cromwell to go after Firefly then the Cromwell really comes into its own. Its gun actually does good damage, its just that its penetration value against frontal armour is poor. When they drive past the Cromwell to go after the Firefly shoot them in the weak rear armour.
If you are fuel starved and can not really afford to build a Firefly after the initial Cromwell, building a second Cromwell can be an effective workaround. If you position the two Cromwells on opposite sides of a target it is forced to expose its rear to one of the tanks and the other tank will most likely survive the pounding. Flank speed helps set this up but be careful to clear out any shreck infantry with your own infantry before attempting this manuever.
The Cromwell Command Tank is worth its weight in gold and yes I am aware how heavy it would be. Anybody who has claimed the Firefly as weak has never used it properly with a CCT.
This concludes my guide for now - thanks for reading this far and hopefully its been of some help
Change Log
5 October: Added Sapper Defences, 25 Pounder and Turning a Defensive Trench Loss into an Advantage sections.
This post has been edited by Finch49th1stAIF: Oct 5 2007, 00:26 AM
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