18. Specific Unit Roles

Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War has a vast array of unit types covering the major platforms (vehicles, aircraft, helicopters, field guns, etc.) and squads of the Cold War. The primary unit types are described below.

How these units are used in battle and more information about their systems and sensors can be found in FM02 Battlefield Primer.

18.1 Recce

Recce units (also known as Recon or Reconnaissance) are ideal scouts and should be used to find enemy units to build a picture of how and where the enemy is attacking from. Reconnaissance units can safely operate outside the command range with no penalties as they are trained to do this and often have better equipment and sensors to Spot enemy troops. Most of them are also harder to Spot, but the downside of these units (in most cases) is that they are only lightly armed and armored and therefore easier to lose.

Recon units are typically not meant to stop enemy line forces but to locate them so you, the commander, can plan how to deal with them using your line and other forces like artillery. It is also critical as a commander to find and eliminate enemy recon units to deny them the ability to find and attack you.

18.2 Main Effort and Line

Units with tank, infantry, or mechanized infantry subunits are defined as “Main Effort” or “Line” units. Main effort units are those tasked with taking ground and objectives and are usually tank-based units. Line units are the second line of attacking units and are generally the mechanized parts of the force. These unit types make up most of the player’s combat force. Line units can be divided into three types: infantry, mechanized (armored fighting vehicles and infantry), and tanks. The specific capabilities of these units may vary, but in general, these are their uses in battle:

• Infantry – These units are weak in the open and often in need of support, but when well-hidden and armed with specialized weapons like ATGMs, they pose a severe threat to any unit out there.

• Mechanized – These units are quick but often only lightly armored and should not be expected to hold their ground in the open against enemy tanks. Depending on the armaments of the unit, however, they can seriously damage enemy infantry and armor.

• Tanks – Tanks are the best units to kill enemy tanks and other armored fighting vehicles at range. Tanks have the toughest armor protection of any platform in the game. Large cannons can destroy enemy tanks at ranges over 2000 meters. Tanks are high-value assets, so don’t throw them away recklessly in battle.

18.3 Overwatch

Units in the Overwatch role are used to provide some form of defense for the units in the main effort or line groups. These units usually follow behind the main effort and line forces as units move, and they sit ahead of any support units in the rear such as headquarters. The capabilities of these units vary, but in general, these are their uses in battle:

• Anti-Tank (AT) – These units have weapons that are mainly used to kill tanks but can also take out infantry fighting vehicles. Weapons include anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), tank guns, recoilless rifles, and other anti-armor systems.

• Air Defense (AD) – These units specialize in finding and destroying aerial threats over the battlefield. These units need a good line of sight in and around the rest of your forces and should be used to keep them protected from enemy helicopters and aircraft. These systems can be gun- or missile-based and usually have air search radar or other optical sensors to find and track air threats.

• Artillery – In some cases, self-propelled artillery units with short ranges like mortars can be in an overwatch role if they provide fires for main effort/line units that they are part of the formation with.

18.4 Support

Units in the Support role provide a variety of functions for the rest of the force. Each function is detailed in the following subsections.

18.4.1 Headquarters

Headquarters (HQ) units are the command network of your forces. These units are the ones that draw up plans and issue orders to their subordinate forces or relay orders to other forces. Keeping these units alive and in command range of their subordinates will have a significant impact on your forces’ ability to fight and win battles. Most upper-level headquarters are full of troops, trucks, and command vehicles and are not meant to fight toe-to-toe with enemy units.

Lower-level headquarters for companies and platoons usually have the same type of units as those they command, like tanks, and can lend firepower during a battle. Headquarters function in the following ways:

• Each order sent out to a unit and each situation report back from a unit is a “radio event”. Excessive use of radio can reveal a unit’s location and show on the map in a “Detected” state if it is not Detected already. If an HQ is Detected and the enemy staff are enabled to give FSCC missions, a high-priority fire request against the HQ will be entered into the enemy FSCC mission queue. This is to say: move your HQs on occasion if order traffic is high or risk getting them shelled.

• If an HQ unit is destroyed, another unit will be promoted to fill its spot in the chain of command. This is called HQ subordination. Any unit that has subordinate units is a de-facto headquarters unit whether it is officially described as such or not. This state is not dependent on having HQ vehicles as subunits.

• Chain of command can be viewed in two ways: first, through a nested OOB list format in the Spotlight Panel, with “HQ” used in the unit designation of each HQ unit. See Section 13.3 above for more on the Spotlight Panel.

Second is through the Chain of Command overlay (Ctrl+X) which shows unit hierarchies via solid, dashed, darker, and lighter styled lines. Selecting an HQ shows lines of command to its higher HQ(s) if it is not the highest itself, as well as its lower, subordinate HQ(s). The style of the lines provides information on range and position in the chain of command. See Section 11.7.7 above for more about this overlay.

• HQs can be manually resubordinated under other HQ(s) if necessary using the OOB tree (see Section 20 below).

• HQ units can indirectly sight any enemy unit that its subordinate units have sighted which also means the highest HQ sights everything that any friendly unit has sighted. This is important for generating FSCC requests (see Section 25.4.1 below) and reflects passing enemy sightings of up the command chain.

• Units forced to retreat (Scoot) will move in the direction of immediate safety, or if there is none, towards its parent HQ as involuntary movement. See Section 21.8 below.

18.4.2 Engineering

Engineering units are used to do specific tasks such as laying a bridge over a stream or river, clearing mines and obstacles, or blowing bridges to deny their use to the enemy. One of the significant changes from the earlier version of the game is the addition of dedicated engineering assets on the map to do those functions listed above. This includes information reports dedicated to engineering assets and activities.

Currently supported in the game are dedicated short-span bridging units and engineering troops. Bridges are used to cross water obstacles and engineering troops do all the other functions. These units usually travel in the rear of the forces and then move up to do specific tasks. These are not combat-capable units and should not be placed into combat with the enemy.

See FM03B Tutorial Operations: Intermediate for more information on using engineers.

18.4.3 Artillery

Artillery is the “King of Battle”, that is, extremely powerful. These weapon systems represent guns, rockets, and mortars that can reach tens if not hundreds of kilometers into enemy territory and deliver several different types of munitions on targets with devastating effect. These assets can also be on- or off-map depending on the scenario design.

Several reports and information panels such as the Fire Support Staff Report provide details on these units and what they are doing, and provide access to order them to fire on targets of your choosing (see Section 15.4 above for Fire Support information and Section 14.5 above for off-map assets).

There is also an option to have these assets placed under FSCC (Fire Support Control Center) control which uses the staff AI to direct their fires on Spotted enemy units (see Section 25.4.1 below for FSCC information).

Artillery units that are on-map are best placed behind your forces but in range of the enemy to be able to fire on them. Artillery units can, when pressed and capable (noted as direct fire capable and carrying the right ammunition), engage in direct fire against attacking units. Artillery units both on- and off-map can be subjected to enemy counter-battery fire. This is returned enemy artillery fire based on locating your firing batteries via counter-battery radars and other means. Get in the habit of shooting and then moving to avoid losses.

18.4.4 On-Map Air Support

Several types of helicopters are included in the game. There are attack, recon, and utility versions of helicopters. Helicopters can carry a variety of weapons geared to anti-armor or anti-personnel missions, but they can also be assigned to perform reconnaissance tasks. Helicopters are just like any other on-map unit except for the following differences:

• They ignore all terrain costs when moving.

• They move much faster than the ground units based on their cruise speed and flight profile.

• Depending on Movement orders, helicopters often fly Nap of the Earth (NOE; i.e., flying low and using geographical features to maintain cover and avoid detection). Helicopters use terrain to screen and cover their movements at lower altitudes when Hunting (a helicopter-specific order for moving and attacking enemy targets), Holding/Screening, or doing a Deliberate Move. They fly at higher altitude if executing a Hasty Move or Scoot.

• Helicopters do not count against stacking limits in the location they occupy. (Stacking limits for a single hex include 35 subunits for NATO and 70 for Warsaw Pact.)

• They do not suffer NBC (nuclear, chemical, and biological) attacks if they move through a contaminated hex location.

• They do not suffer minefield attacks if they move through a mined location.

• Helicopter units cannot dig in or fortify as unit postures.

• Helicopters with mast-mounted sensors receive a bonus to Spot and a bonus not to get Spotted when looking for enemy units depending on the situation.

• To Resupply, helicopters must fly back and land at a FARP (Forward Arming and Refueling Point) unit. If the FARP is missing, then the units go to the current highest HQ on the map to Resupply.

18.4.5 Off-Map Air Support

Off-Map Air Support are units of propeller or jet-powered aircraft with various missions designed to strike targets on the battlefield. All aircraft are held off-map and they loiter areas while waiting for commitment to air strikes under the player’s direction or FSCC control. When the air strike is complete, the surviving aircraft either return to base to rearm if out of ammunition or go back on station if weapons are still available. After rearming they return to the loiter area to await future assignments.

Off-map air support can be accessed through the OMA (Off-Map Assets) speed button in the Commander Panel (see Section 13.2 above), by using the Staff menu bar item to click on Off-Map Unit Holding Box, or by pressing the hotkey F8. See Section 14.5 above for more information on the Off-Map Assets dialog. See also Section 22.3 below for calling in air strikes.

Doctrine generally allows for a certain number of fixed-wing Close Air Support (CAS) sorties within 40 km or so of the Forward Edge of the Battle Area (FEBA; the approximate edge or “line” closest to the enemy created by troop presence, sensor range, and weapons coverage). The FEBA is an extremely high-risk area for these valuable assets which means availability is limited and strikes should be reserved for high-value targets. Long-range artillery and helicopter assets remain the preferred platforms for routine fire missions within this zone. Off-map strike aircraft have the following capabilities:

• Aircraft that are rated all-weather can fly anytime visibility is 500 meters or better (even in rain and snow). Aircraft that are not all-weather are grounded if the weather is poor.

• Aircraft that are rated for night operations can fly normally at night (in the dark). Units without this rating are grounded and cannot fly at night.

• Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft are equipped to strike ground targets.

• Level bombers fly high over the battlefield and drop weapons against ground targets.

• SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) aircraft are equipped with special anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) that seek out and destroy air search radars rendering surface-to-air systems (SAMs) useless. They do not affect optical and infrared (IR) systems.

• Most scenarios have a limited number of air strikes (if any) and those assets will be available for a limited amount of time.