Recon, Recon, Recon

One of the most important things to learn in Close Combat is how to effectively utilize your recon.

First off, we need to understand the recon teams role in Close Combat. A recon team is not (in most cases ) an engaging force. It's there to probe unknown areas, to locate enemy positions, to observe enemy movements, to relay that information back to superiors, and withdraw from the area and recon further areas.

With proper care the recon team is very adept at sneaking into areas where most teams would be spotted, and not being spotted themselves.

To demonstrate this information I'm going to use a hypothetical battle, Ill first show you a map, then place arrows showing troop movements. How, when, where, and why I'm moving the teams. 

When finished it will probably resemble a play taken from an American football teams playbook, but hopefully you will get the idea.

For this demonstration I'm going to use a portion of Polish Drop Lz, Pictured below. The treetops are removed so it looks slightly different. 

1. As you can see I've got a 4 team force moving through the woods with my recon team advancing slightly ahead of my main force.

2 My first move ( 1 ) will be to sneak the recon ahead to the next tree. I use sneak so they remain undetected as much as possible, and they keep a keen eye open for the enemy while moving like this.

3. My next move ( 2 ) will be to sneak my teams into the "cleared" area. The reason why I use sneak is, its still considered a slightly hot area, given the terrain. In some situations you would be able to use the move or move fast commands to advance your teams. But in this forest I'm not going to risk detection, I'll remain in sneak mode.

4 Once my teams have reached their positions, I will begin my slow probing once again with my recon team ( 3 ). NOTICE the recon team has now spotted 3 enemy positions, Immediately I set them to "Hide". This is where finger crossing comes in :) We hope that while my next move is being executed our recon team isn't spotted. If in the case they are, Don't engage the enemy with this team, they're far too valuable to risk any casualties. Try and sneak them back till they're out of sight of the enemy. However for this scenario, they will remain undetected.

5 Now I've moved my Teams into an attacking formation ( 4 ), again using the "sneak" command. These teams aren't as adept at sneaking as the recon team, so at some point they will be spotted and attacked, be prepared once this happens to withdraw the recon team. Notice I've moved my Ad Hoc team to my assault teams flank. I've got several reasons for this, First is flank protection for my assault team which I intend on rushing the enemy with. Second I need more smoke from that area. Third when my assault team begins their rush they need more cover fire. Fourth I intend on moving my recon team in that direction when the assault begins to further probe the house and flank, as well as use them to break the enemies rear possibly cut off some escape also.

6 Now as you see below, this step encompasses several moves, but the main focus is getting our recon team out of the fray by sneaking them back out of the enemies LOS. Once this is achieved I blast smoke from my ad hoc and assault team in the eastern shutzen teams direction. I blast smoke from my bar team in between the 2 shutzen teams to alleviate any counter fire from the western team. Once the smoke is out I use the "move fast" Command to get my recon team into its new position quickly ( 5 ). Then I begin firing on the shutzen team to the east with my bar and ad hoc teams, I then rush, "move fast", my assault team in on the shutzen ( 5 )under cover fire from both the bar and ad hoc team. 

7. Now while this is going on, I'm going to sneak my recon team ( 6 )into an area where they can see if there is anything in the house, or anything moving into the house. Also they can provide fire on the enemies rear. This can be very effective against besieged teams, and can also help with the reserve team. In this instance I do use my recon to engage, as there's nothing in or moving into the house that I can see. I would also use them as cover fire to advance my ad hoc team to a position to relieve the assault team. Now my forces can begin to focus their attention the other 2 teams. I would most likely try to move my recon team into the house providing even more "rear" fire and cutting off any chance for escape.