Axis Side - 20 000 point Quick Battle DAR

[A Canadian Cat]

Over near the farm, since the Churchill tank I was hunting seems to have pulled back I will move my men forward to get a better look at where the enemy has moved too.

The Panthers begin moving forward under good cover getting into their final positions before sending the infantry out a head as the make their move to the town.

In the town several Shrek teams reposition trying to deal with that Stuart tank.

Over at the other entrance to town I order some shifting around to deal with that scout car and the loss of my eyes on the road out of town.

[$Pec5]

Glad to see this DAR is still going! What are you going to do about your shrek teams reluctance to fire? It seems that the shoot'n'scoot method is not working in this instance.

[poesel]

Re: Schrecks - try to slow your troops into position and give a pause for at least 15-20s for the return leg. Their awareness is much better on slow and add to that that it's much more unlikely that you get spotted.

[A Canadian Cat]

Glad to see this DAR is still going! What are you going to do about your shrek teams reluctance to fire? It seems that the shoot'n'scoot method is not working in this instance.

Yep, I apologize for being slow - I have a new job and a longer commute so game play time is shorter. Plus my PBEM partner is traveling for work right now so we will be even slower. I have couple of turns to write up so while he is away I can catch up on updating this thread.

Re shrek teams: A 5s pause was all that I needed to finally get that Churchill in town. Adding a pause from the shooting location seems to be needed if there is any distraction or visual obstruction. The no pause, just a way point, only seems to work if there is a clear LOS and nothing else going on. It also seems to matter which team member gets to the way point first. If the tube guys gets there first he will usually fire while waiting for the loader to catch up. Whereas if the loader gets to the way point first then the tube guys barely breaks stride as they both head for the final way point.

From now on I am going to add the 5s pause unless I think they are in additional danger or there are no visual obstructions at all.

[A Canadian Cat]

Re: Schrecks - try to slow your troops into position and give a pause for at least 15-20s for the return leg. Their awareness is much better on slow and add to that that it's much more unlikely that you get spotted.

Yes, slow is good in many contexts but I would not use slow in the middle of a road for example. Being in the middle of the street is just to exposed. To get a single shot off 5s pause is enough or no pause many even be enough.

[A Canadian Cat]

Suddenly a tank crew comes running out in the open. Oh that can be dangerous…

…or not. Even uber tank crews are no match for two fire teams with MG42s. But even so they only managed to take out one as they ran away.

A fire team heading to the other entrance to town to deal with those pesky scouts.

More bad luck with Shrek teams. At least this time they got a shot away and hit too. But since it was against one of those impossible to kill Churchill tanks, it survived.

And returned fire. The Shrek team did not survive that 95mm HE round which was right on the money.

[A Canadian Cat]

There is a little Churchill tank party happening outside the farm now. I am going to take advantage of this and take more of the farm. The more spread out my infantry at the farm the better. If I was in Dungeon Tiger’s shoes I would just start bringing those farm buildings down. One by one… Shhhh don’t tell him.

Some of my men taking up new positions at the farm.

5 Company is now in their new cushy positions in the woods. Their mortar teams are now setup behind the woods so they can actually fire.

One of the AT guns all set and ready near Battalion HQ.

[A Canadian Cat]

First order of business is try to disrupt that Churchill tank party near the farm. I am not sure what I can do here but I want to be ready for any opportunities. I am now down to one Shrek team and two Stug but they are no good against Churchill tanks head on so I need some kind of luck. Let’s see if I can make some by being ready to pounce.

A little rearranging in town now that that Stuart has backed off I want eyes back on that side plus my men have buddies that need attending too.

Near the other entrance to town my men are almost in position to deal with those scouts. I think I am going to just leave things as they are. Once my infantry have eyes on that field again I will just wait and see what comes. But they will not venture down the road and get anywhere near that immobilized Churchill.

Just about ready to move the Panthers towards town.

[Lethaface]

Greed read so far! Thx

[A Canadian Cat]

Overall this was a very quiet turn. Over at the farm my men watched as the Churchill tanks did nothing at all.

The second AT gun finished setting up to cover the bridge approach.

The Panthers and their escort are still getting ready to move out.

The best news was the 150mm barrage started to fall – for real.

Same for the barrage on the opposing ridge line.

[A Canadian Cat]

The town was also quiet. No sign of that Stuart pushing forward any more.

[A Canadian Cat]

It is time to start leap frogging the infantry and moving forward. The first truck unloads with two teams taking up positions on each side of the tree lined road.

My men take full control of the farm – but they are careful to stay out of the LOF of those Churchill tanks. Meanwhile the Stug takes up position where it might get a side shot of one of them.

1 Platoon from 5 Company has been assigned to help reinforce the town objective as well. First step is to from up in their half-tracks on the back side of their woods.

[A Canadian Cat]

Apparently the men at the farm were not as unobtrusive as I had hopped. One of the Churchill tanks opened fire.

Thankfully the Stug fared better. Saved by foliage.

Infantry screen passing a Panther.

Members of 5 Company heading out of the woods.

The 150mm rain. No pillars of smoke this time – yet.

[A Canadian Cat]

After a little over a minute of shelling I am adjusting the barrage to the other end of town. This will allow my infantry and soon to arrive tanks some space to take up positions and help clear out the rest of the town objective.

The infantry screen proceeds ahead of the Panthers.

Repositioning at the farm around the edges not through the middle.

5 Company beginning to emerge from the woods.

[A Canadian Cat]

This was a fairly uneventful minute. At the farm my Stug spotted and exchanged fire with a Churchill tank. The Stug missed and the Churchill’s round hit a tree.

By the orchard members of 5 Company began loading up in their half tracks.

And the artillery kept falling on the town.

[A Canadian Cat]

Just refinements to the orders from previous turns: the panthers continue their journey to the town.

The infantry at the farm consolidate their hold on the farm buildings being careful not to anger the Churchill tanks.

And 5 Company start to move out.

[$Pec5]

I'm glad this DAR got updated. This is my favorite one going on currently and I was concerned it ended prematurely or something.

[Lethaface]

I'm glad this DAR got updated. This is my favorite one going on currently and I was concerned it ended prematurely or something.

+1, almost forgot about it!

[A Canadian Cat]

I'm glad this DAR got updated. This is my favorite one going on currently and I was concerned it ended prematurely or something.

+1, almost forgot about it!

Yeah, sorry guys. Both of us have been busy in RL (me new job, DT new project, old job). It is hard when you only have a little time to play and you have to choose between playing one turn of this or three or four smaller games. Things are a little better now. I have one more turn to write up and it is my turn to play. Since I got caught up on just about all my turns this morning there is a good chance I can get a couple of turns in before the end of the week. There should be more action coming up now that I can move into the rest of the town.

[Baneman]

I'm glad this DAR got updated. This is my favorite one going on currently ...

Ah man <sadface>

Just kidding

I do find this one interesting - after playing a 12000 pointer on this map, my opponent and I agreed that 12000 points buys a very decent combined-arms force and another 8000 points would probably be almost all spent on more armour only ... which seems to be exactly what is going on here with masses of armour duels.

[A Canadian Cat]

But more is better though

Our first time through was a nearly pure armour 12 000 point battle. I was fielding totally Royal Tigers so with 20 000 of Stugs and Panthers plus a battalion plus of infantry I actually started off with more AFVs and loads of soldiers. DT has stayed pure armour so god knows how many of those blasted Churchills he started with but 20 000 points has been loads of fun.

I am not sure we would do a write up for a battle that large again. We are both finding it taking a lot of time to write up. When I think about it it is like having three or four battles going at once. For a while I had action at the Orchard, Farm, Town and outside of town. Now that I am trying to concentrate on the town itself the action has dropped back. But I still have to keep track of the other areas and write up a bit about them.

Anyway this is loads of fun and I am sure we will keep doing big battles. I am looking at the big urban map that was recently released for GL and thinking about a big battle there next.

But first we better finish this one

[A Canadian Cat]

Another slow turn but there were a few exciting moments. The first elements of 5 company being their journey.

While moving along the tree line this Shrek team spots a Churchill tank and takes a shot.

But miss.

The Panther’s move along the road being and next to their infantry screen.

In the town a stray 150mm shell just about ruins the day of my crippled Panther (no main gun and no weapons controls. And the just about were goners. They are about 70m outside of the artillery target circle. The blast did shake up some infantry in a nearby building and they ended the turn out of commission hiding. I will take the luck that no one was actually killed.

[A Canadian Cat]

The Stug in a key whole saw a Stuart drive by but was unable to get their gun on it.

Then a Churchill tank appeared. This time they were ready. They scored a hit but had no effect. The Churchill returned fire and missed hitting the building behind. Yikes.

[A Canadian Cat]

The artillery has moved to the edge of town which means my men are free to start moving into more of the town’s buildings.

I will move my flank protection force out of the woods into the edge of town.

Another platoon will leap frog the lead platoon into buildings that were just under fire. They are moving along an avenue away from the Stuart, Churchill and Achilles that are infiltrating the town.

Some infantry teams will reposition to get into Faust range on the Churchill. This is risky but I need to get those tanks somehow. There are two Shrek teams and the Stug in front of them so if they venture further into town they will regret it. The Stug (just visible in the upper right) will try to get out of the key hole they are in and hide behind a building to force the Churchill tank to come further into town to get him. I only hope they can get out of the way fast enough.

More advancing on their way to town for the Panthers. I am assuming there could be an ambush waiting for them so they are moving with caution.

[A Canadian Cat]

This last turn had two rather serious problems. Please note that Dungeon Tiger and I are playing this game with version 1.1 so these may be issues that are already addressed but one of them is a new variation for me.

First one of the squads from 5 Company had a wondering guy while they were loading the HT. You can see one guy circled on the left he is 200m ish away from the HT and running the wrong way. Crap! Last time this happened the guy ran until he found the enemy was killed – problem solved. I would really rather that not happen this time.

I have a variation of the wondering gun crew except this time it is the guy with the gun who is wondering. At the beginning of the turn they were getting into a final position in the trees (where the rest of the crew are, circled. This is going to suck.