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Hello all,

I'm new to FOW have played 4 games so far. My friends and I are doing an Infantry Aces style escalation campaign set during operation market garden.
We've mostly been concerned with how the rules work as opposed to any tactics, but I figured I start talking tactics with you guys to get some ideas.

So tonight's game...

I'm playing as Irish Guards (Confident Veteran) - 1 HQ, 2 Rifle platoons (6 Rifle/Mg stands, 1 light mortar, 1 Piat and command stand per platoon), plus 2 medium mortar stands with FOO to take me up to 500 points. Not a lot!

My opponent Fallshrimjaegar (Fearless Trained) - 1 HQ, 2 Platoons, 1 with 6 stands and 1 with 9 stands, plus 4 mortars.

I have enough XP to unlock the "God of War" ability to give me a 6 mortar barrage once during the game.

So i'm thinking i've got 2 choices, hang back, dig in and shoot him down. Or charge and lay down smoke.

I have no idea which is the best option, last game I lost because my opponent assaulted me, but we got some rules muddled up. Previous game to that I won, by digging in and shooting the enemy down, but he didn't really put much effort into assaulting me.

Any thoughts would be good, i'll let you know the outcome.

Shoot him at a distance to best take advantage of him being trained, thus easier to be hit.

Likewise, keep in concealment to best make use of Veterans being difficult to hit.

Always make sure you've got a good front facing anything that might assault you. Try to get an HMG in there to give extra dice that can prevent an assault by pinning.

Cool, so you think the ranged approach is best. He bailed on me, so I didn't get to play the game, but I'll have some mockups to practice. Will report back. Thanks for replying Vert*

If I may suggest something - get the drop on him first.

I'm sort of in the same situation as you. I play 50th Rifles, my friend plays Fallschirmjagers (except we play full sized games). 'Jagers love to get into the assault - since you're Vets and should have the Brit Bulldog rule, you should be able to do some damage. And since most FoW games are won/lost in the assault, you want to take away that advantage from him.

Gathering outside intel eh Hangfire!

I'm also partaking in this campaign using a Soviet infantry battalion, so I most certainly have the numbers advantage fielding:

Battalion HQ (30)

Strelkovy Company (14 Rifle MG stands 1 command) (215) Kommisar (15) Maksim HMG (25) - 230Pts
Strelkovy Company (14 Rifle MG stands 1 command) (215)

So far I have only played 2 games, both were against a fallschmjager
The first didn't go so well, and I was far too overcinfident rushing at both his platoons and generally getting blown apart.
The second game I moved the HMG company into the centre, dug in and layed down fire on the platoon on one objective, while the other company pushed out on the flank towards that objective out of range of most of the enemy army, forcing him to split his fire between the 2 units, and allowing me to hit home with a mostly in tact company and sweep an objective clean.
This seemed to work fairly well for me and make the most of the numbers in assault.

At least we're on the same side! Don't tell Alex!

You stand the best chance if you get the drop on him, digg and make good use of cover. Make sure to have atleast one HMG to pin him, I have found that three is a good amount, And yes mortars are great, but make sure to save your god of war ability until you have him where you want him.

Right I have reached lvl 1 for an ability any one got any suggestions on an infantry ace that will complement my list?

Yup dig in, and get those HMG's with the high ROF and you will find very few units that make it through the storm of bullets you put out in Defensive fire, just be careful of becoming pinned or continuously smoked.

A very effective tactic if assaulting a position is to continuously hit it with smoke. Then pin the unit restricting the defensive fire, and then assault it. But Fearless Trained, is an odd combination and some random wierdness can occur, 6th Regiment Fallschirm is Fearless Veteran (Hells Highway) and remember alot of their support options are different. Flak 88's are good example and are usually Luftwaffe crewed with a lower threshold for trouble and pain. So smashing them can be a easier than a Fallshirmjager platoon and can prove a quick win if you have artillery or alot of Mortar fire (Mortars in FoW are amazing 12cm German ones are deadly!).

Hangfire wrote:I have no idea which is the best option, last game I lost because my opponent assaulted me, but we got some rules muddled up. Previous game to that I won, by digging in and shooting the enemy down, but he didn't really put much effort into assaulting me.

Any thoughts would be good, i'll let you know the outcome.

First off welcome to the joys of FoW. It is a great game.

Secondly, the best option really depends on the scenario and whether you are the attacker or defender.

As the defender in a mission that doesn't require you to take any objectives yourself, your best bet is to dig in, sit back and shoot as they approach. Dug in veteran infantry, especially in woods around objectives are very hard to deal with, especially by other infantry until an assault happens. The goal here is to take out enough of his forces that once he pushes his actual assault he just doesn't have enough stands to get it done.

If, on the other hand, you have to capture objectives as the attacker or defender you'll want to use your smoke to cover the advance tactics. Yes you can win a game by wiping out the enemy, but if the opponent doesn't need to capture any objectives there is no reason for them to do anything buy dig and await your arrival. So eventually you will lose if you don't move in to take the objectives you need to capture before the end of the game.

No one tactic fits every game you play. You need to adapt your tactics to the situation you are involved in and to achieve the objectives your force has to accomplish for the mission.

When I was playing my early war divisional cavalry force, on the defense I would dig in my guns and infantry and then rocket my carriers and light tanks into the face of my opponent usually holding them in their side of the table for half of the game and making it harder for him to even consider taking my objectives. In this case I used a mixture of both tactics at once. Of course in 500 point games your flexibility is rather limited.

Skirker