Rinaldi
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Posts posted by Rinaldi
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Off topic, Ian, but is it that egregious to do an assault? I've defended in PBEMs a few times w/ success, but now I feel a tad guilty subjecting my current opponent to one in my AAR. We always just liked the larger scale of it...
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Rinaldi,
More AT Tree Defense assets. Masterful placement...
Stunning screenshot of the 81mm barrage lighting up the forest...trees shrouded with ghostly smoke in fading moonlight.
Heinrich505
You're quite the artist Heinrich, most often what I do is jam on the screenshot button and hope one of them is worth putting up!
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Looking forward to this
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Nice tracer mod. Think your sharpshooters will make the shot?
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Turns 42-45
This set of turns begins with my 81mm barrage coming down on the last known position of the ATG that hit my tank on the high ground:
That about sums up the action that occurs on the high ground, as the rest of the turn set is dominated by getting everyone in position and mounted up to attack. On the right however, its busy, and here's the situation:
I've decided that the engineer platoon doesn't need the Tank Platoon to cover my exposed left, and have sent them back to their parent company, their job is to set up overwatch and make sure the main thrust off the high ground doesn't deal with any bypassed infantry trying to filter out of their positions. The idea is that with the 3 tanks over watching the most obvious route, they will filter instead towards my company team on the right...
...and that they do, but unfortunately for me, my enemy filters through the wood faster than I anticipated, and I take a Panzerschreck shot from the woods that narrowly misses and lands among the trees. I'm willing to change the plan and allow the right-side company team to root out the bypassed enemy while I attack with 2 platoons of tanks and infantry off the high ground towards the town instead, so here's what I came up with:
The Platoon HQ is now in position to observe the last-known ATG position, but doesn't re-establish contact with it, meanwhile a MMG squad and a rifle squad should be enough to push back or kill the Panzerschreck team, and they dismount and begin moving towards the woods (inset). In the distance you can see the main striking force now. I'd like to try and stick with the idea of pincering the town but with the right-side company team having been delayed greatly by the firefight with the Germans along the river-bank and the orchard I'm not sure that can happen now. -
Only a quick update this morning, but I may be able to update again tonight, as we have quite a few turns between what we're actually on and what I've yet to report.
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Turns 39-41
The only interesting thing that occurs in this time-frame is that the enemy artillery I identified previous report begins to fall. Off-target, excellent.
With the High Ground in my hands, I can now strike essentially at will, and under friendly observation, towards any of the objectives. Since there's not much going on this report, I think its a good time to ask myself 'how well did my original plan survive?'
Quite well, I think, despite hiccups. The main tenet of the plan; secure crossings on either flank of the high ground and be in a position to strike deeply towards the rear, has largely been accomplished. My losses in Officers is going to become a problem late game if I continue to take 4-6 casualties every time I get into a dust up with enemy infantry, but so far the main striking forces are still in good spirits. I'll leave it up to the peanut gallery to decide if my losses are acceptable
The situation at the end of turn 41 shows my reserves finalizing their crossings on my left, whereas the XO is spotting for artillery on the previously spotted ATG. My engineers have eliminated the HMG position and are now deploying to set up a blocking position in that tree line. The two farm objectives are off map. The post-mortem on the right-side orchard confirms that I had quite the fight on my hand, for the loss of a Halftrack (sigh...) and 5 infantrymen, I was able to confirm that 22 Germans were killed or wounded in those foxholes and the orchard. Had I let such an intact force escape, or worse harass my flanks as I moved through the wheat fields I would've had a disaster on my hand.Hopefully an update later tonight. -
Discussion about operational art in a tactical game....yes, this will go perfectly. Oh wait, its a complete mess, shocking!
Lets stop confusing terrain objectives at the tactical level for terrain objectives at the operational level, one is necessary, the other is only contextual next to the main body. Considering the 'main body' in a tactical scenario may be no more than a reinforced platoon of enemies, there's often serious considerations viz. force preservation to not break your neck trying to completely destroy them.
What, precisely, is the point of this thread if not to stroke some ego and take cheap shots at the design philosophy of these games? That's clearly what its devolved into. Also: regurgitating quotes from Guderian doesn't make you an expert on operational art, it simply makes you a good reader. Obviously going after the bulk of the enemy is always a sound option, but terrain, context (which despite your asinine wording, is neither stupid nor unrealistic) and what your force is offensively capable of (which is dictated by so many factors that I'd rather not rival the length of your average post trying to jot them all down) may mean a more limited approach is necessary.
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Love these mini AARs, great shots.
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Thanks for this AAR: just found it, and eagerly read from beginning to latest post.
IMHO it's a great mix of narrative (your thoughts / plans, and descriptions of the action) and really good screenshots, including the zoomed in insets.
Just the right level of detail: enough to follow what's going on, without covering every step and second.
Really good!
Thanks Phil, that's what I was shooting for and I'm glad you're enjoying it so much. I hope to have an update soon.
Some belting screenshots in this AAR - good work.
Cheers, thank you.
Rinaldi,
Talk about frustrating. As soon as you think the area is reasonably clear and start moving the boys forward, more AT rounds start coming in from somewhere.
It is a good thing you staged those anti-AT assets [disguised as trees] at just the right place. Ever the cautious one, eh?
Great job. You are keeping us right in the thick of things.
Heinrich505
Yes, I think I was due for a lucky break after losing two COs back-to-back, but I'll gladly take credit for the tree's hard work
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That orchard looks like a pain but in my experience it doesn't offer a lot of cover to an armoured opponent. Hopefully you'll be able to clear it without major losses.
Given how the last few turns have played out, I'd agree
Turns 35-38:
Picking up where we left off, the firefight at the Orchard is winding down, with a rifle squad in a good firing position and a tank and a machinegun moving up next to them, there is very little the enemy Grenadiers can do except offer themselves as targets for HE. You can see the effectiveness of said HE in the inset.
My opponent has one last gasp of success though, another annoyance. The enemy that had been trapped in the forest along the riverbank decides to make a suicidal gesture, MGing a parked Halftrack and knocking it out:
The perpetrator is immediately killed by the Sherman babysitting the rear:
Losing the halftrack would've been a devastating blow at this stage had a squad not suffered casualties, I've done the quick math and I can actually still cross-mount the platoon between the surviving four halftracks. This is very good news as far as keeping sufficient amounts of infantry forward to protect the tanks is concerned, as well as getting them to the town in a reasonable time. A post-mortem of this little firefight (hands down the longest lasting affair in the battle so far) will come shortly, after I clear my 5 casualties and push a team through the orchard to make sure the Germans are in fact all KIA/WIA.Back on the left, the engineer platoon is making what I hope will be the last offensive effort I demand of it this battle; silencing that isolated HMG for good. Under cover fire from the two HMGs and two tanks, an assault team breaks across the street and works its way up to grenade distance. There's only 2 enemy crewmen alive, and the flanking assault team doesn't take so much as a potshot from the cowering crew:
With that bit done, the Engineers will go firm, establish observation on the bypassed Farm objectives, and prevent any threats emerging from these locations. If the enemy decides to vacate the farms to counterattack the bridge, he'll hit the two HMGs and the remaining members of the Engineers. Hopefully that will be enough, but I doubt my enemy is keen to counterattack over such a distance with unsupported infantry.The rest of the forces still on the opposite side of the river are beginning to cross:
Soon I'll have a powerful force of 3 Tank platoons, the tank destroyers and 2 full strength infantry platoons with FOOB on the high ground, poised to hit the town. As the Battalion command begins moving to the bridge to cross however, they come under fire - are you kidding me!?
The AT round thankfully impacts harmlessly in the trees that mask the roads I selected to move upon, sparing me what would've been another embarrassing loss. The XO of the Armored Infantry company, who had been moving with the Taskforce commander, gets a spot on the PAK gun, and an 81mm mission will be coming downrange on it shortly.
Speaking of artillery, on the high ground, what are undoubtedly spotting rounds land near my dismounted platoon:
I've marked what I think the fire mission will be, something tells me it won't be an accurate call-in, but I'm going to remount the weapons teams and move them a bit further right for good measure none the less. -
I rarely HE blindly for that precise reason Vanir, just a waste of precious ammo. I personally agree with the idea, but I disagree this is something that should be implemented into the game beyond an agreement between players. The use of 'blind' HE fire for suppression or denial of key points (e.g: A church tower) can and was done in WWII; recon by fire be damned. Why would you deny players the same ability to use this same tactic? If a player wants to be foolish or expedient with his ammunition, that's their prerogative.
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Turns 31-34 (Part Two):
Lets move back over to the right, where that little platoon attack has been raging since the last report, a fireteam is about to try to take the foxholes at a rush :
They suffer a casualty and fall back; the orchard just beyond the foxholes are still raging with enemy fire, and I shift my focus to that accordingly:
Not before I stop however, and toss some grenades into the foxholes for good measure; an enemy is seen fleeing with a MG42 as this occurs, the foxholes were occupied after all!
The right flank is able to get two fire teams up to the treeline unmolested and they immediately begin engaging targets lying prone in the Orchard:
At around the same time, armor watching the flanks begins to get spots on the German infantry fighting from the orchards, and the enemy bodycount begins to rise:
Its incredibly obvious to me now that there's more than a squad, probably less than a platoon in the orchard. One of the enemy casualties is carrying a panzerschreck. This obstacle won't be bypassed, I don't want him using the orchard to mask his retreat and hit me from the flank as I move. I've lost about 4 men wounded so far for about twice that number killed, and have achieved fire superiority. The goal now isn't to win this little firefight, but win it with no further casualties if possible. -
Turns 31-34 (Part One):
Moving up towards the high ground now, so far so good; but I'm about to make a mistake..
As the Halftracks move up to a covered dismount...
...most of the armor is in good cover, in masked terrain, ready to light up the treeline if it proves to be occupied:
Except for the one tank over the crest of the hill, which is promptly struck three times in its side. Chips! Its an annoying loss because it was totally avoidable, and I had gone out of my way to move up every other unit on the part of the hill masked to the ignored left-side of the map. For whatever reason however, I failed to do so with this one tank; I'm down 3 tanks now.
The culprit is spotted, yet another intelligently placed Pak-40, and this time its fire was actually effecitve:
Besides that little hiccup, the rest of the dismount goes smoothly, and a smoke barrage from the remaining armor covers the dismount and the deployment of the Platoon's crew-served weapons:
The immediate objective now is to make sure that treeline beyond where I knocked out that Pak is clear of enemy, then hustle up my Forward Observer and go on a spree of indirect violence throughout the map. I want all known AT positions knocked out so that I can maneuver freely from the high ground to pincer the town. -
Deeply enjoying the Ukrainian Campaign, still doesn't beat the experience of crossing the Dnieper, but its a close second. From the third mission, pursuing the enemy when the lead platoon runs into a roadblock.
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Taking the thorough approach. How many glasses do you have on enemy approach routes?
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Looks like you're stuck into it now.
I am indeed. Its the way I like it. Emory seems more focused on gritting his teeth and making me fight for every inch rather than trying to pull back towards better cover every time; so I think I'll be taking losses in these dust-ups until his cohesion breaks down completely. We'll see, I have a turn waiting for me, so expect an update soon.
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Sorry for the belated update, the last set of turns were once again relatively quiet, with myself securing any casualties not yet cleared, so we'll jump forward to turn 27. Appreciate all the kind words viz. the AAR, I think I'll make a habit of this.
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Turns 27-30:
With the PAK gun on the hill knocked out and the Panzerschrecks dealt with, I take it as a signal that its time to punch a little harder with my armor, and have them now lead the attack. On my left the first half of the Company team begins to drive towards the hill, with what's left of the Engineers and their supporting tanks covering the only exposed flank:
Pushing the engineers up proves to be a wise choice, as a HMG was in that treeline, it manages to wound two men and kill a third before the Engineers are able to get into better cover. The tanks spray the treeline with HE and move in a way as to make sure the HMG cannot displace without being seen.
The engineer platoon is approaching combat ineffectiveness, but the greenhorns still have enough manpower and morale to hit this HMG; at the very least it will be too busy defending itself to enfilade the Halftracks as they move up to the high ground. Above is the plan for eliminating or forcing it to displace. We'll see how that develops in the next set of turns hopefully.
So far, so good. The tank platoon is leap frogging in sections of 2, alternatively hunting and moving, and as they drive over the fences all they do is move past knocked out HMGs and kill the occasional straggler. It looked like my opponent was attempting to set up a considerably deadly cross-fire around the orchard, in hindsight the losses suffered so far seem light compared to what potentially could've happened.On the right, the probe towards the foxholes has begun, I don't want to begin an armored thrust until that treeline and orchard has been cleared, and I'm beginning to suspect he has quite a bit more in that orchard than just a squad.
As the scout team moves cautiously towards the foxholes, the entire area erupts in fire, and a scout falls wounded:
Just like that, a mutual orgy of fire erupts:
Although I only have a potential spot on the series of foxholes, I'm taking MG fire from the orchard behind as well; way more than simply 2 MGs. He's got more than a squad in here, and so the entire platoon along with the tanks is dedicated to the attack, As you can see, I have MGs in position now and able to fire on the foxholes and the orchard behind. I'm going to leapfrong a squad on the left in fireteams, stopping to area fire while the other one bounds up a few action spaces, and try to occupy the foxholes proper, while the Platoon NCO takes his squad and wraps around the right. Tanks will remain in overwatch until I got some breathing room from anti-tank weaponry. -
Yep, and the descent into the rabbit hole begins.
Oh you mean this thread would eventually devolve into inane babbling and senseless appeals to completely change their sale model? I never would've seen that coming.
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Did your Companies have XOs? If so it would interesting to see one of the XOs assume command for a KIA CO.
Yes actually I do have several XOs on the field. They behave the same way as PNCOs and become the new HQs. The "XO" for Armored Infantry however is only a Sgt (for whatever reason) and is by the task force commander still, acting as liaison. C2 hasn't been completely destroyed, its just going to be more annoying to maintain.
I'm going to be fighting largely buttoned up now as well, for the rest of the battle to spare potential losses of Tank platoon leaders to small arms. I don't like having to do it, but I've lost quite enough officers to random acts of God already.
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Turns 21-24:
What's worse than one Company leader KIA?
Out of nowhere, the M3 carrying the company leader, which has not moved since the start of the match, is hit. The CO who was mounted at the time, is instantly killed and the M3 brews up. The who, how and why doesn't remain a mystery for long; despite the current bombardment on the hill, I watch in amazement as Shermans from the main company team (deploying to cross) get a spot on a Pak40 being manhandled through the bombardment zone:
Despite being wounded, the crew manages to haul the PAK-40 out a few feet from its original position and fires off a single effective shot, immediately killing the Infantry company leader. Jesus what cosmic force did I insult this week? Regardless, vengence is swift:
The PAK is in excess of a kilometer of the Shermans that were deploying from their reserve position, and is therefore incredibly easy meat. Over the next turn a quick duel occurs between the lead two Shermans and the uber-Pak. Luckily, sanity prevails, and at such a long range the only shot on target, bounces harmlessly off the hull of the Sherman. Scratch one:
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So far so good, it's too bad you didn't push your bridge security element out further before crossing the tanks, but hey live and learn!
Little mistakes like this in the name of shockpower or speed are usually the number 1 reason for such vehicle losses, so yeah its a damn shame. I'd be a bit less miffed it wasn't the Company leader, but the Battalion HQ can take over if morale gets shaken. I will say this, its interesting that there appears to be two parallel battles developing, and I'm making mistakes on the left that I'm not making on the right, and vice-versa. Hoping his little slip-up with the PAK-40 on the right will allow me to crack that flank wide open for the armor to move through.
Rinaldi,
Some really gripping action there. Ain't no "sticking with it." Not at all. It is drawing us in.
I am enjoying your presentation. Did you lighten it up or is that moonlight effects? Your shot of the armor approaching the bridge through the village is really stellar. Love the lighting.
Heinrich505
Its the 'artificial night-bright graphics' (alt + b ) as suggested by Bud_B. Its still quite dark out without that on, although the game's skybox has been noticeably getting lighter every 5 or so minutes. Thanks for the kind words, means quite a bit from someone who plays a big screenshot game such as yourself.
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Bud if its any consolation I've had as many brain farts as you've had so far in my parallel AAR; I'm officially down more officers than you are.
c3k is on the money, your losses are frustrating but not back-breaking, they're what I call 'teeth-grinders.' In my experience as an attacker, you always get the worst deal in the first half of the battle, and you don't get to make up for losses until you've disrupted the enemy's cohesion. Keep at it.
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Turns 18-21
As the turn begins the Company team on my left begin crossing through the Engineer units:
My presumption that the bank is clear is not entirely correct and resistance is ratcheting up. These last few turns and the ones that follow have not been kind to me. It looks like that despite the shellacking his outpost units took, they have the morale to try and actually push back and enfilade the crossings. My Company team on the left has begun crossing, when I notice something very early on:
Oh no. I know its not the Panzerschreck team I knocked out earlier, as I have an Engineer unit quite literally sitting on their corpses. Looks like there's at least some fresh units in this little attempt to interdict my crossing. Luckily the first shot misses, but I can only clench my teeth and watch in horror as the rest of the turn plays out. That's when....
This happens. That's the "B" Company commander's tank, and yes of course he becomes a casualty. There's not much else I can do but just grind my teeth at this one and make sure that Panzerschreck team causes no further unnecessary losses. I'm officially down to 23 tanks. While these enemy infantry begin trading fire with my Shermans and Engineers from the tree line, I get audio contact on a (thankfully inaccurate) MG from the opposite flank. Not only am I being harassed at the bridge, but its a crossfire; wonderful. Luckily, its too little, too late, and the HMG is immediately obscured and suppressed by HE fire from the M18s still in over watch. Here's the situation in the bridgehead:
Note the Halftracks currently crossing. The HMG and the harassing riflemen all have spots on them from several elements and can be suppressed and overwhelmed in short order, I'm far more concerned however by the Panzerschrecks, as they appear to all be on the ball this match. The Engineers still on the bank will have to sweep down along the river and try to create more breathing room for me to force-feed the Company team across. I think this is the crucial part of the battle; I don't have the room to deploy. If I can create the room to deploy without losing too many armored vehicles, I believe I will win. Luckily, as this fraccas begins, Artillery begins to hammer the high ground:
The dillemma now is, should I attempt to attack the hill while mounted and hope there is no significant anti-armor threats to either flank, or should I keep the armor in cover along the road, and dismount the accompanying infantry and definitively find and kill those Panzerschrecks? If I was under artillery fire I'd be tempted to push the pedal to the metal here and now, but my enemy hasn't had anything more than some 81mm mortars that have been a non-factor.---On my right, things are going smoothly once more. My Platoon HQ (now the PNCO) has remounted and is calm, the tanks are all down a few crewmen but can still affect a presence. What's more, I have the forests on either flank of the crossing far more covered than I do on my left, and I have no nasty surprises as the first tanks cross:
He does, like on my left, launch a counterattack but this one is incredibly futile; made up of an HQ unit and what's left of the previously engaged HMG team (2 men). There's a brief grenade duel, and they are all killed.However something even more interesting happens as I prepare to cross on this flank, a crossroads begins coming under HE fire...
I have no units there, so I at first suspect its just belated mortar fire, but then the infantry platoon's HQ and the Company team leader spots the perpetrator, a PAK-40, firing at well over 1100m.
I have no rational explanation for this other than he has an old "?" contact and decided to be cheeky. PAKs have choppy penetration at best against M4A3s at this range, and I have no qualms about letting a pair of Shermans find a firing solution for the treeline its in. This is a well deserved lucky break, the PAK40 was intelligently placed and could've caused me some serious trouble. As the Shermans find the range, I remember that there's no such thing as Overkill, and my Platoon leader is ordered to climb into a Halftrack and call in some 81mm on the tree line:
More to come, thanks for sticking with the AAR so far. -
Well I've already learned something SLIM, I'll be putting that quick-move to use next time I'm advancing in open order. Enjoying the AAR so far!
Because Bradley
in Combat Mission Black Sea
Posted · Edited by Rinaldi
Hm, fair enough you three. I'll fall back on the water obstacle excuse for my WW2 battle. I agree that the points in CMBS are a bit more intimidating, and I'm of the opinion that the forces are a lot more asymmetric than in BN and RT.