CP: From my recent Red Barricades campaign game experience I would like to add the following points to the discussion of AFVs in RB.
Russian infantry can kill AFVs fairly easily in RB by CC attacks, MOL usage, OBA, and MTR attacks. Don't laugh about the mortars, they were my most effective long-range AFV killer. The Russian has plenty of them after a few days. When placed on the roof of a level 2.5 building they have a 20 hex range with a dominating view. A hit followed by a low roll (2 or 3 and maybe a 4) will kill or shock/immobilize any of the AFVs the German might buy. Place a rifle squad with 2x50mm MTRs and fire one until it loses its ROF and then switch to the other. If nothing else, the German _will_ quickly move his AFV after he has lost one or two through repeated mortar attacks. The 82mm MTRs work even better. And OBA that is going after infantry that also hits the AFV can kill even the best of the German AFVs.
ATRs work best to immobilize the AFV. If the AFV (especially if immobilized) is in a manhole location, then use the sewer to take it out in CC. Conscripts work quite well for this task. Even if they don't pass their PAATC, the German will shift infantry over to protect it. If they do pass and the manhole is in concealment terrain, then the conscript will get a net -3 on the ambush dr. And if the day ends, the conscript in the manhole must emerge (read passed PAATC) and will get repeated CC attacks against the immobilized vehicle until one or the other is eliminated. Best of all if the AFV is a StuG III B, which has no MGs, then there is virtually no risk to the attacking units during refit (just don't roll a 12 or your unit is Casualty Reduced. [I think this is 11 for Conscripts. -jds]) I really liked to take on StuG III B's during the bottom of turn #6 and hope the game ended then. It really frustrated the German that he had no attack back and taught him not to venture up front with his StuGs.
If the AFV is in a building/factory/rubble, then toss molotovs at it. The building and any intervening smoke do not affect the MOL attack at all. Plus a kill less than the TK# will burn the building/factory/rubble down eventually with the flaming wreck. (Blazes are the Russian's friend.) Don't overlook the fact that units in factory hexes are fanatics, and need not to take a PAATC to CC an AFV in a hex adjacent to a factory location. Conscripts kill AFVs in this manner just as well as an elite unit.
I believe the Russian is better off not placing his AT guns in a fortified upper level of a building. [Chuck is referring to the discussion on ATGs in RB. Instead move them into new ambush positions every day. Make the German guess where they are. If his tank pushes through your line to cut rout paths, then he might find it where he least wants it. But keep them back from the front line so that they are not easily lost.
German tanks still cost CPP to buy, which pulls CPP away from what the German really needs -- infantry. Kill his AFVs and his infantry do not have the mobile firepower that they need to continue their advance for the day. Separate his infantry from his tanks and the tanks are vulnerable to CC.
In my campaign game, German AFV losses were caused by (in order of effectiveness):
The Germans killed my AFVs with Stuka MGs (1), StuG III B using HEAT (1), StuG III L using APCR (1) and DC (1).
In regards to terrain, the eastern part of the map and the west edge are good tank country. But as for the factories and debris-strewn areas, the main use of the AFVs is for StuGs to use smoke/HE against the Russian upper level strongpoints. Debris and rubble just take too long to move through. The Russian can easily react and get resources into position to stop AFVs from prowling in these areas. Tanks in factories are an invitation to burn and gut them.
(One of the most critical mistakes my German opponent made in hindsight was getting a PzKw III L torched by a molotov while in the O6 factory. When the factory burned during Refit, the German lost his only level 2.5 roof location from which he could deny HIP to the Russian OBA spotters and 82 mm mortar spotters from using. Once that burned down, my guys were free to use the roof levels to my advantage. But with HIP, he constantly had to guess where they were and waste FP trying to find/kill them.)
A good use for mobile Russian AFVs is to encircle German platoons that get too far in front of their flank support. Russians can cut German rout paths too. Let the Russian infantry take on the German armor and the Russian armor take on the German infantry by getting behind it.
The roads and control of them is very important for both sides. If the Russian fails to control the roads, then the German is quickly behind his lines. But if the Ruskie does control the road, the German must be concerned with streetfighting and MOL attacks. Thus, he cannot blitz down the streets without assuming a lot of risk. After losing a couple of tanks to molotovs or streetfighting, then the German will become more tenative with his armor. Psychologically, losing armor to infantry does affect the German and how he employs it on future campaign game days. I only took MOL twice, but the threat of whether I had it or not usually kept the German AFVs at least two hexes away. And with the PzKw IIIs having the MG firepower that they do, distance was important.
The Germans surrendered on Oct. 24th after taking another day of massive losses.
Typical losses were 60+ CVP per day for each side early on and 90-100 CVP or more by Oct. 23 as the total number of squads increased. Russian OBA and my quantity of squads were a major factors in the Russian keeping the CVP near even. Another major reason the German never caused excessive Russian infantry losses were my leaders were used for rallying unless they were 9-1s or better. I also took as many commissars as possible. MOL is expensive, but it does keep the German honest. The German surrendered during the middle of the 5th turn on Oct 24th, or MOL might have eliminated 1 or 2 more AFVs.
My opponent lamented about how brutal I was to his armor. Only 4 CCs against his armor failed to eliminate it, for roughly a 50% kill rate. One of these immobilized a tank for the day, but I couldn’t get any more squads in a position to kill it. [Indeed, CC is an excellent way to kill tanks but most of the time the infantry break or die trying to get into position to take on the AFV. -jds]
He had expected to use his armor to move adjacent to my squads or freeze them and then bring up his infantry. But generally I kept the infantry at bay and then went into CC against the tank. To adjust he became too tenative with his PzKw IIIs fearing either CC or MOL attacks. AFVs in close need plenty of infantry to protect them.