Army formations

[unmerged(185936)]

Hello, i guess this may have been covered before but can`t seemt to find any threads on it. Anyway i wanted to know what you guys use in your army formations that seem to get the best results. I tend to rely on a group of Armour say 4 led by a Panzer leader to spearhed. I do this with 2 different armys and always head for an encirclement, i.e these 2 spearheads will both meet a certain point and will have encircled a few of the enemys provinces. Behind them i move in mot divisions normaly led by a defensive General and they hold the flanks of the encirclement trap. Once these are in palce and more are following up behind the spearhead and holding more flanks, i then move up into the encircled provinces large groups of infantry to `mop` up the surrounded provinces. Tac and Cas squadrons interdict and ground attack non stop. It seems to work fairly well and all these units i tend to attach AP Art.
Speed seems to be the strong point here and can work very well, however sometimes the flanks are pressed very hard and the spearheads cannot always break through (especialy when fighting the SU forces)
Would i be better putting infantry with my armour but sacrificeing speed or is this a strategy that a few players use. Please tell me your suggestions for grouping armys and the tactics you would use. Oh playing Sweden btw, Allied with the Axis so SU is my main target. Thanks for any tips in advance.

 

[unmerged(105989)]

Well, I do things differently than many, but here goes:

All divisions are grouped into homogenous corps of three (three tank, three mot, etc.). This lets me use LTGs for most of my formations. Germany (my preferred nation) has a ton of LTGs, and it's not that big of a loss to promote a good MG one level. Sweden, I'm not so sure about the numbers of leaders, but three division corps are better than 4 division units any way around. Four division formations require a general, which are scarcer, and a four division formation wastes the abilities of the general. The exception are HQ units which move about singly. I do this for speed, as I only make about 6 of them, so they move around the front quite a bit. There are some good reasons for not doing this (they are good aircraft targets), but I've never really had a big issue with it.

I only brigade ARM (with SParty) and specialist units like MAR, PAR (with ART). Everyone else doesn't get anything (except Garrison, but that's another story)

My leg infantry assault with HQ support to make a hole. Once the enemy line is defeated, my mobile corps of ARM and MOT assault through to achieve overruns or encirclements. The mot do the same function as leg infantry for the armor against any secondary lines enountered. I also try and keep a HQ behind the front edge so that I can at least get a two corps assault moving without a command penalty. As the penetration deepens, the MOT pull off to hold the flanks, and the ARM keeps going. Eventually though, you will need to pull things in and consolidate, at least a little. For Barbarossa, for me, this generally happens in front of Moscow, when I need to pull some leg infantry up to assist in the heavy fighting around the city.

You may have noticed I didn't mention mech. I use them, but they are in about the same numbers as armor, they're hard like armor, so I use them as cheap tanks in sectors where I can't afford a panzer corps, or to back up the panzers.

This method does not take advantage of the combined arms bonus, but works rather well for me.

 

[unmerged(142503)]

Well, what ecnan proposed is one of the simplest ways to do Barbarrosa and organize the german army.

For other countries, such as Sweden, which greatly depend on infantry, cavalry and some late MOT/ARM, I would suggest that you distribute your troops according to the capabilities of your leaders. For example, get a LT. Gen 3 divisions of infantry, and for a FM and a General 6 division in the same "corps" (But it would be wise that you keep your cav/mot/arm in groups of no more than 3)

I personally would never suggest putting infantry along with armored divisions in the same "corps", specially when you need a lot of speed to finish Barbarossa before the URSS can recover.

 

[midget_roxx]

I do basically what ecnan does except I like to grouop my MOT and ARM together. I also use nearly all army sizes of 3 with the occasional 12 (this is mainly so I can find my Field Marshalls).

I know there's this trick that people do where they set as many divisions to 1 army that way they maximize experience gain when fighting. However it can get a bit messy with all the 1 division armies around the place and you also need to have all the Mj Generals, so only major nations like Germany or SU can pull it off.

 

[unmerged(105989)]

After reading (and agreeing with) Morlak's post, I would caveat that you must first consider your leadership available. I just did a quick game as Guatamala, and had to alter my organzation since I think there were only five generals to use period. This forced me into using a larger stack than normal. That said, it was not the most efficient means of fighting, but rather a mode I was forced into by the lack of leadership.

The stack 'o doom doesn't work very well in HOI, as it is generally very inflexible and incapable of moving in many different directions at once. Instead of one 12 division stack, I stack 4 three division corps with an HQ, then after the battle, I can move in 4 different directions (5 if you count the HQ). That said, you have to make your resources work for you.

If you have to create a large stack, make it out of pure infantry. This will be your line breaker stack, that will make the penetrations through which your smaller formations can then pour.