a few new player questions

[Bacillus98]

Hello. I recently started playing squad battles and I picked up the Winter War game. I began the "getting started" scenario as the Finns and had some questions.

1) I am trying to use my southern squads as a flanking force while my other forces tie down the defending Soviets. Is there flanking fire bonuses in squad battles? The way it seems is that flank fire attacks don't do much in the game. A few other tactical games I have played have a bonus for flank attacks.

2) Do infantry units have a facing? Is there an arc of fire for units firing?

3) Is it better to get within 4-5 hexes of the enemy and use direct fire repeatedly until a pinned result occurs? I can't seem to get a squad close enough to assault without getting shredded to pieces.

I have read the squad battles new players thread here but I am finding it difficult to play as the attacker in this scenario. Any help/advice is appreciated.

[gabeeg]

Hello. I recently started playing squad battles and I picked up the Winter War game. I began the "getting started" scenario as the Finns and had some questions.

1) I am trying to use my southern squads as a flanking force while my other forces tie down the defending Soviets. Is there flanking fire bonuses in squad battles? The way it seems is that flank fire attacks don't do much in the game. A few other tactical games I have played have a bonus for flank attacks.

A: There is no flanking bonus vs. infantry but you do get a better kill result vs. armor

2) Do infantry units have a facing? Is there an arc of fire for units firing?

A: Not for Infantry. Certain weapons that require setup may have a restricted facing, same goes for units in certain fortifications/caves. Armor may have some facing restrictions to MG's that are hull mounted.

3) Is it better to get within 4-5 hexes of the enemy and use direct fire repeatedly until a pinned result occurs? I can't seem to get a squad close enough to assault without getting shredded to pieces.

A: The closer the better as when shooting at over half the weapons max range limits its effectiveness. Suppression and not outright unit destruction is the name of the game in SB and then close and assualt.

I have read the squad battles new players thread here but I am finding it difficult to play as the attacker in this scenario. Any help/advice is appreciated.

A: Read the quickstart guide and the SB User Guide...they are not too long and are pretty well written. Also this site has some more techincal and intersting info and tests: https://sites.google.com/site/jzs-place/...-home-page

[Jeff Conner]

I am not familiar with the scenario you are playing, so I can't speak to the specifics. However, there is not currently any advantage to firing at a non-vehicular target from more than one direction. Only vehicles (and some fortifications) have a facing that affects fire attacks against it. There are some situations where a unit can only fire in limited arc (some fortifications, setup weapons), but generally units can fire in 360 degrees without any reduction of lethality.

My interpretation of the rules is that most weapons have four range values. They are CQB, short, medium and long. CQB is fire within a hex (ie assault combat) and uses the assault value for the weapon. Short range is one hex (double lethality). Medium range is from two to half the maximum range (normal lethality) and long range is from half to maximum range (half lethality). So for most bolt-action rifles in the game which have a maximum range of ten hexes, short range is one hex, medium range is two to five hexes and long range is six to ten hexes.

With that said, before you begin an advance against a prepared enemy position, it is highly desirable to obtain fire superiority. In game terms, this means you want to disrupt or pin those enemy units that can bring fire on your advancing troops. This halves their lethality and gives you a much better chance of closing with the enemy. Depending on the terrain and how close you can get to the bad buys, fire superiority may need to be conducted with heavy weapons and support (artillery and/or air strikes) if the range is long. If you can get close, you might be able to accomplish fire superiority with one infantry platoon while a second moves forward. This is even more likely if your basic infantry weapons outranges your opponents (you are armed with rifles while he is armed with SMGs). You can also accomplish this to some extent with the placement of smoke screens, but there are rarely enough smoke shells to this well or for very long.

So the answer to your third question really is "it all depends."

Hope this helps some. Feel free to email me if you don't understand the poorly written dissertation above. I have to get back to work right now.

Jeff

[Mad_Dog]

Gabeeg gave you some good specific answer, but do a search of the forums. There are some great threads from the past few years with good discussions of gameplay and tactics. I used to have the links saved, but that laptop broke down...

[Bacillus98]

Thank you for the informative replies. I must admit, it seems odd that flank attacks on infantry do not cause extra casualties. In other tactical games, it was a viable strategy to pin the enemy with a main force and move another squad/platoon to their flank for either withering fire or an envelopment type of strategy (ex: conflict of heroes tactical board game). I will have to play more to pick up the minutiae of the system.

[gabeeg]

Bacillius98,

I believe *some* hexside features provide directional cover so flanking in these instances would probably give a benefit to the attacker or more precisely negate the defensive bonus the defender is enjoying. This probably not a common case in most scenarios though. The best tactic is still to pin or suppress the enemy and manuever in just as you describe...you are not in the case of SB going to get a flanking bonus but the unit is pinned hopefully and vulnerable to your flank assault...which is key. I guess IMO in the scale of SB I do not miss a flanking bonus. I hope you enjoy SB and hope to see you on the "battle ground"