MnB:Forest Warfare

## Overview

### *"Why are the trees speaking in German?"*

Ah yes, the green scenery lush with trees and bushes. A nature's testament to beauty and elegance, too bad you won't enjoy those in war. Forest warfare sets your environment to tight spaces, scattered and dense trees, the lack of *cover* and for all good and purposes if a cover does exist, then the krauts already took control of it first.

In this type of scenario, a commander must adapt to quick and close encounters against enemy forces. Ambushes are prone to happen where and when you least expect it, and your long range units will be rendered nearly useless due to the ample amount of trees blocking their sight.

## Setup

As stated earlier, forest warfare is filled with sight blocking trees which will reduce your long range units effectiveness. An appropriate squad setup is necessary to carve their way through the forest. Here's a base list of equipment which raises your chance of victory in forest warfare:

1. **Light Automatic weapons** : A M2 Carbine, a Tommy gun, or hell even a Sten if you're desperate, any weapon that can ensure a quick rapid fire unto any contact is a must have in your squad.
2. **Shotguns** : Considering you'll be frequently facing enemies in close range, bringing in a Winchester Model 12 Trench Gun will decimate any Germans foolish enough to get close to your squad in a single shot *(not a guarantee)*.
3. **Explosives** : Sooner or later, you'll encounter situations in which a little boom can help solve. You can never have too much explosives.

Though these are the primary ones, there are a handful of optional gears that you may take:

1. **Flamethrowers/Molotov** : A good substitute to explosives, fire can help clear out a section of the forest to reveal what's on the other side and also burn any Germans hiding in the trees. Be careful, starting a fire in a forest is not a healthy option.
2. **Flare gun** : A flare gun will help reveal any krauts in the surrounding area of where the flare dropped, very useful when *LOS* is limited. (flare gun is exclusive to scout)
3. **Shovels** : Due to the lack of cover, bringing in a shovel to create a makeshift cover is an option though you'll be moving quite often which makes the shovel *an* option not as *the* option.

## Offensive Tactics

You got your squad all prepped up? Good, now unto the critical thinking part of forest warfare. In forest warfare, you have to excel in close engagement scenario slightly similar of which in a house to house scenario but instead of clearing houses, you're clearing whatever the hell is on the other side of the trees.

### Recon

Knowing what's ahead is a vital part in an offensive, more so in a tight space environment. A reconnaissance will reveal what will be your problem ahead, emerging from a tree only to meet a flamer is something none of us would want to experience again (Don't lie to me, that **has** happened to you). Here are some ways to recon an area:

* **Flare gun** : Remember those secondary equipment that was written here? One of them is the flare gun, quite a handy piece of tool. Shooting a **flare gun** at your intended location will reveal any hostiles near that flare for around 30 seconds, enough time for you to devise a plan.

* **Camo** : Using the camo loot or your commando's first ability will allow them to not be detected, though it is not a full guarantee when you use the camo loot. Being hidden will allow you to move your man to the other side without worrying about getting shot at. Beware, enemy snipers and several other **[insert stuff]**

* **Explosives** : *"Why are we using explosives for scouting?"*, good question me! An explosion will affect an area and any krauts in that area will be wounded, causing blood to appear on the ground near them. This is a great way to see if there's any Germans behind those trees AND damage them at the same time. As I've said, nothing a little boom can't solve. Toss a frag grenade and watch for any blood that appears.

* **Joe** : Let me introduce you to Joe, a GI fresh from bootcamp ready to serve for his country. Joe will become a pointman and scout through the trees to spot any danger. Oh no, Joe got shot riddled with bullets from a volk with an MP40 in a trench! At the very least, Joe's sacrifice will not be in vain as everyone else knows about the German in the trench now.

### Combat

You know where they are or might be at, now we get into the action. Take stock of what is available at your disposal, cook up a plan, and then execute it quickly and efficiently. Time is of the essence in a firefight, ideally a commander should finish a firefight as quickly as possible as to maintain momentum and element of surprise. Here are the basic steps which serves as a foundation for you to modify according to your playstyle:

1. **Positioning** : Prepare your men and move them to an appropriate position before an assault, going in the wrong direction will be fatal to your men and the entire firefight. Due to the amount of trees on the AO, it shouldn't be too much of a trouble moving your soldiers around without getting shot at, just be careful not to shake those trees or the Germans will be alerted.
2. **Probing Attack** : Use those trees to your advantage by slowly peeking around the corners of those trees *(Pie Slicing).* Pick off isolated Germans and if possible, sneak in a flanking team.
3. **Preliminary Phase** : Always soften up the enemies before an assault, use whatever is in your disposal to make that happen. Artillery bombardments, air attack, burning up enemy cover, anything that can weaken the Germans while ideally not exposing your men to danger.
4. **Assault Phase** : Your men will now be dedicated into the assault, limit the amount of enemies your men have to engage and make sure EVERYONE is shooting at the Germans. Smoke grenades will be useful in blocking LOS while a flamer will be a risky but worthy tactic in clearing out hardpoints, the overall short LOS will help your flamer get closer without getting shot at. Letting a vehicle to lead the attack is a great option, just make sure you take out any Germans with a Faust before they blow up your vehicle.
5. **Defensive Phase** : On the event of a successful assault, dig in your men and be on the lookout for Germans attempting to counter attack. Generally, 30 seconds of silence is enough to know that the Germans won't launch one.
6. **Regrouping** : After making sure the Germans won't try to retake your position, regroup your men and check on their conditions along with what equipment are still available. The battlefield may be littered with useful goods or intel so make sure to grab those. Patch up your men, gear up and then prepare to push up and repeat the whole cycle.

### Ambushes

In forest warfare, the attacking force will often be pounced by defensive forces waiting to ambush and cause havoc. You need to be ready to respond quickly to any ambushes sprung up on your men, and it will be guaranteed to be short and brutal. Whenever an ambush appears, here's 3 things you can do :

* **Retreat** : Pop a smoke and retreat, the trees will be able to conceal your men away from the ambushing party and allow you time to think of a plan. Oftentimes the ambushers will retreat to the nearest friendly line and reinforce their ranks. This is the safest option in the short term but will cost you in the long term as they will be reinforcing nearby hardpoints making it even harder to assault.
* **Hold your Ground** : Halt your men and focus their fire on the ambushers, if you halt them quick enough then they'll have the advantage of firing first into the sneaky krauts. Toss in a frag, shoot an RG, or fire a bazooka as the ambushing krauts will be all grouped up when revealed so use that opportunity to cut down their numbers quickly. If you're lucky, all those krauts will be dead without even firing a shot at your soldiers.
* **Advance** : A high risk maneuver, as your squad may encounter an enemy hardpoint and get attacked from 2 sides at once. If you're lucky, they may encounter no resistance and it will give you the opportunity to attack the German ambushers retreating toward their friendly line, only to get shot at by your men waiting for them. Talk about a twist of fate.

## Defensive Tactics

Establishing a defensive line in a forested area is much more different than in the open field obviously, some tactics and strategy must be changed to fit with forest defense. Here's some key aspects that you need to remember:

1. **Avoid fires** : Fires will burn away the trees and with the trees gone, your entire line will be exposed.
2. **Minimal explosions** : Use small scale explosive devices such as a grenade or a rifle grenade to minimize tree damage.
3. **Close range weapons** : Same thing with offensive, short distance means auto guns and shotguns will come in handy.
4. **Play those LOS** : You can create a Killzone by funneling the Germans into your soldiers sight while reducing risks to your soldiers.
5. **Secondary line** : Establish a second line of defense because you and i know that your first line forest will crumble when the trees are gone.

Now you understand all of this mumbo jumbo, go and teach the Lorax a lesson about trees (and possibly get GW!).