Men of War: Assault Squad
Tanks and vehicles
Everybody seems to like tanks. In fact, they are not born tank crewmen. I’ve seen a lot of people that put the vehicles, tanks and bling-bling shiny artillery on the first place; personally I think that they are very wrong. (On the first place should be infantry) A vehicle without infantry is going to be nice burning wreckage. First things first: I scatter infantry on my side of the map (this way I create a support for future vehicles, as well as visibility), so I don’t get flanked by infantry or even worse; get flanked by light armor. When they get a reconnaissance unit, I place an AT-rifle somewhere strategic so it can cover me the flank and the battle zone at the same time. I don’t want to buy and waste a light tank only for enemy light armor. AT-rifle has pretty big range. Full coverage at 50-60 points is pretty nice. Remember! Points are really important, you are not allowed to waste even 10 points if you target the best units from the game. AT-rifle is pretty good and cheap thou. (you can use it several times, it is not one-way unit like KV-1 or any reconnaissance unit, you can rearm the AT-rifle with an ammo truck and then it’s back on track). You can empty all the crew from light enemy armored units with smart shooting through direct control. After that, the enemy vehicle is either damaged (you can repair it), empty (capture it, tank crew men are cheap and a vehicle come always in handy) or destroyed (which rarely occurs on weightless armored units by AT-rifle). When it says “Hull destroyed” you can’t repair it and use it but you can salvage something from it even if it is inoperable unless it did a big explosion: repair kits, bazookas(only M20s which is a light American armored vehicle), dynamites(only light tanks or higher have dynamites but armored vehicles don’t; they are pretty important, you can clear buildings full of infantry with them), fuel tanks and canisters (which it’s good to know, sometimes one of my tanks runs low on fuel and I know I can find some gas in some wreck).
Salvaging can save you in many situations. I’ve been put many times in this kind of battle: 1 tank crew man against an enemy tank. (yes, it is possible!!) I couldn’t wipe it out soon with field guns or tanks; Infantry couldn’t advance to it in time but I knew there was dynamite inside a wrecked armored vehicle. As a result, I decided to crawl my tank crew towards it. (Therefore I won’t be seen by the enemy tank). The tank wasn’t protected by any infantry so it was a sweet target for me. Remember! Never leave tanks without infantry (capable of killing the incoming threat in time) surrounding it. Searching in the wreck, our chap found the dynamite and looked really pleased. Once extracted, the dynamite was going to bang the tank in its rear. Prone again, I made slow progress towards the side of the enemy armor where their visibility is zero. When he lit the dynamite, the man knew he had to disappear else he will be a victim of being ablaze, dismembered. Safe and hidden, our man lit his cigarette and called for reinforcements. In the bush he was resting, a piece from the enemy tracks fell right in front of him, burning in misery. His duty was done. A half-truck full of panzergrenadiers arrived soon near the burning wreck, securing the area tactically. (A lyric representation of the map “Bocage” which actually happened)
Diagnosis 1: My team advances on points really well, enemy doesn’t even try to resist my assaults. I felt confident about my infantry (1 squad) and I decided to invest in some medium armored tanks. Now I have no points for anything except some light infantry. Am I doing it right?
Answer 1: Well your mother fucking ass is going to be raped. What do I mean? Well, infantry should be the best counter against tanks near the assault-zones and 1 squad? Are you kidding me? That is no infantry. Clearly the enemy is going to counter you with a heavy tank you cannot destroy with your shitty medium tanks or your infantry and you will not kill their elite squad with your regular squad. You fell in your enemy’s trap. They hoped that you will get medium tanks and they betted you will get not that much infantry. You’re a lost cause. The match is turning.
What would I do 1: In this case, I would invest in elite infantry with good weapons and anti-tanks. Behind our front lines I would place heavy field gun for the enemy heavy tank.
Another good thing is to buy an officer. Sometimes your armor is too weak for enemy exposure. Officer spots, you shoot from the furthest point possible and the trouble is gone. This situation is the best case scenario. The worst case scenario would be buying both officer and tank and the officer will die in action leaving you only with a tank you wouldn't want to risk. Be careful what you do with the binocular man, he is very expensive and you don't want him to die very fast. (200 points)
Personally, when I am in serious combat, I play very strict. I only play with infantry until the enemy gets the first tank, so I see what I can get. For example: I am playing with Germany and the enemy is playing with Soviet Union. The enemy gets a T-34/56 and playing quite aggressive demolishing buildings, driving recklessly through everything. I tactically place an AT infantry with Panzershrecks by the corner, this is the cheapest and effective way of wrecking an enemy tank. Once the enemy tank is in open space and no infantry he thinks he is superior and he has the situation in control. He is really wrong, I am the only one who is in control, waiting for him to get closer. There could be two scenarios: the tank can drive past the wall where I am prone with the AT infantry and this is the quickest one, becoming juicy prey for my anti-tank or I could advance with it towards the enemy tank (if he’s a bit far for my AT infantry man to shoot) with my ‘shrek’ man towards one of his sides where he has ZERO VISIBILITY and then I aim and shoot. If I am lucky I can capture a free enemy T-34! Panzershrecks’ projectiles are shot fast and deadly and the hull is sensible to them. Only on very, very armored tanks I find myself in trouble, shooting twice or three times at enemy armor with it. You can shoot with the launcher and throw AT grenades with the support at the same time, double trouble!
If the T-34 is playing defensively, I place a Pak-40 or a Flak-88 (big AA one) on some hill behind the front lines trying to successfully destroy it.
Remember! Tanks have trouble seeing prone infantry and guess what, infantry can be prone with Panzershrecks right in front of you and that means the end of your voyage with the tank; to see what a single enemy unit can see just double click it when you have no selected units.
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