July 22, 2014

Battle Techniques - Masked Movement

Use Terrain to Mask Movement – when moving units, you must strive to keep your enemy from spotting your units, or least strive to keep him from being able to place direct fire on them.  Whenever possible place an obstacle between your moving units and the enemy.

Historical Example:  the important point is to ensure the terrain feature you are using lies between you and the enemy as shown in these images.  (from US ARMY TD Platoon field manual)
Technique:  whenever possible keep terrain obstacles (woods, hills, etc.) between you and where you either know or suspect your enemy is located.  When an obstacle is not available you can create one with smoke (if it’s available), then use that as if it is an intervening obstacle to mask your movement. 

The goal is to maintain security and attempt to keep your movements hidden from the enemy... failing that, at least make your units tough to spot to keep them from taking fire.

Example 1: from my CMBN-MG BETA AAR versus c3k I maneuvered my reconnaissance assets as far forward as possible behind a ridgeline, then dismounted and moved forward on foot to spot the area ahead without risking their valuable halftrack.

Example 2: from my CMRT BETA AAR I plotted the movement of these infantry teams and ensured their movement was kept behind any rise in the ground I could find. 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Thanks for posting this info! I am new to CM gaming and your posts are saving my bacon. how if possible can you check that your units are completely masked by the terrain? I've been using LOS checks from each way point to known/ suspected enemy positions. is it safe to assume that if I have blocked LOS to enemy position his LOS to me is blocked too? thanks! -Matt

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  2. Usually yes, if LOS is blocked for you it is for enemy units too (not always the case however). Also, you might be giving off sound contacts that you will never know about.. so even masked movement can be "spotted".

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  3. Are there any methods to ensure your troops dont make any noise while traveling? Maybe splitting squads into teams? Using hunt orders instead of move/quick orders? Or if possible marching your units through water obstacles?
    Thanks, Matt

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    1. Matt, obviously the slower you move the less noise you make, so Hunt and Slow will keep sound contacts for your enemy to a minimum. I cannot say for certain whether splitting teams decreases noise as I always split my teams when in close proximity to the enemy.. but it makes sense that it would.

      Rule of thumb for me when I play, if it makes sense in real life, then it "probably" makes sense in the game as well.

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