AFV Tactics Question

Count_Zero

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I was going over an old thread I started while boning up on rules knowledge to begin playing some ASL solo with my sporadic schedule and a question came up.

Several people mentioned forcing the opposing player to come to you to allow a shot as DF and then a second using Aq in your PFPh. I understand the rules and tactical doctrine well enough to understand the why of doing this, but I was wondering what methods/advice you had to actually accomplish it.

As a side note for the noobs out there: If you are looking to understand tank warfare and mechanics/theory, run (don't walk) to a website (MMP, Gamer's Armory, etc...) that carries Out of the Attic 2. Purchase. Read "Panzer gegen Panzer" and "Tactics 101". Apply. Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women. The first article in particular made me feel that much more fortunate to have played Bruce at Conquest several years back. Great guy. Just didn't know he was a freaking armor genius at the time. :laugh:
 

Count_Zero

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As a second side note:

Chas,

If you're reading this thread and you have articles like these in your back pocket, put them in Journals and future OotA 'zines. To me and probably many noobs out there, this is INVALUABLE information and to MMP, it's like printing money. Simply include a brief description of what tactics the article covers as a "promotion" in your post that something's going to print and then sit back and watch us all order it. AAR's are fun to read as is information of what's up for printing and historical articles, but let's face it, ASL - the game is why we buy this stuff. :)
 

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Several people mentioned forcing the opposing player to come to you to allow a shot as DF and then a second using Aq in your PFPh. I understand the rules and tactical doctrine well enough to understand the why of doing this, but I was wondering what methods/advice you had to actually accomplish it.
By controlling territory you know he has to enter. If you can do this from a hidden Location where he can not bring fire to bear, you should get the first shot. Remember to screen your tubes with Infantry or you will find your guys working to defend in CC and not killing armor. -- jim

PS: Bruce's article is pretty good although I have some small quibbles with it. In particular, I don't like his definition of "engagement" (it starts when one side has acq). If you wait for conditions to establish an "engagement", you might be dead. A BFF shot from a range <=6 can be +4/+3 TH considering only the moving vehicle and CE/BU. Throw in target size, BP modifiers, Armor Leaders, etc and you can begin to see a BFF shot almost as good as your D1F/DF TH odds. Generally, it is a very good article.
 

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One of the best, succinct armour treatises ever...
And not a bad place to start on the campaign trail as you have mentioned in the other thread. PB is good (I loved it) but if you want to learn armour Singling is a good place to get it wrong and learn, or play a good armour player and suffer the pain of learning. I played the campaign right through as the Yank and it's on my blog if you dig. I thought I had lost it on date one (I'm no tank ace) but I soon leant smoke smoke and SMOKE. It has the advantage of being a fast game and the German in my game had plenty of attacking to do so it's not boring play.

Ian
 

Carln0130

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I agree with Jim. Terrain analysis is important to getting the first shot as the defender. Always handy to put yourself in the other guys shoes and see where you would go through with your armor and how much time he has and space will he be able to clear with any covering infantry given the time he has to work with. Then figure out some possible alternate routes in your mind, and see what you have to cover them too. Possibly assigning secondary units to these roles. For something that is really so simple, it looks overly complex when you put it to paper.
 

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Several people mentioned forcing the opposing player to come to you to allow a shot as DF and then a second using Aq in your PFPh. I understand the rules and tactical doctrine well enough to understand the why of doing this, but I was wondering what methods/advice you had to actually accomplish it.
That's a little bit like forcing a pretty girl to ask you out. Perhaps easier said than done. It is one thing if you are the defender and your opponent the attacker; then there is a natural impetus for him to come to you.

Otherwise, how do you do it?

In military history, the classic way to get an opponent to come to you is to threaten something important. Napoleon routinely did this, maneuvering to threaten something key, like a line of communications, forcing his opponents to pick up and come to him and fight him on ground of his own choosing.

It is possible, sometimes, to translate this to ASL terms, by using your AFV assets to threaten something key of his, forcing him to deploy his own AFVs in an attempt to stop you. This often works better, in fact, when your opponent is the attacker, because he is not likely to have as many AT assets other than his own AFVs (or the occasional personal weapon). While you as the defender might well have AT guns, he as the attacker is far less likely to. So he may feel pressure to move his AFVs to defend whatever needs to be defended. This may well give you that opportunity for the vaunted first DF shot.
 
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