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Gustav Line QB AAR Axis


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OK, I picked myself up, it wasn't such a terrible blow really, just a bunch of nasty suprises all at once.

I noted an HMG coming over the ridge at the right flank of P523. I think this is an indicator he really is doing more than just scouting. So I've pointed some arty into that area, and it looks like there will be a fight :)

GaJ

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Morale blow? You call THAT a morale blow? I've just lost 8 tanks in one little field to an opponent with 3 German squads and YOU think THAT'S a blow? You need to transfer into one of my units. I'll show you how to take a gut shot! ;) (FWIW, I'm getting destroyed in 2 pbem games and also in one vs. the TacAI: oh, how fickle a mistress this game can be!)

Get back in the fight!

Ken

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This turn I've cheered up a fair bit.

Over on the left he's pulled his Stuart over towards the centre. I guess the thinking is to move it from where it was spotted shooting at my mortar last turn, and to see if I'll walk again into it's repositioned line of fire. This means that he doesn't know I have eyes on the far left that can see this.

T13Stuart.jpg

Over on the right, his scout-with-scary-weapon open fire on my guys who for some reason decided to move around in their action spot:

T14Shots.jpg

... but they might have wished that they'd pulled back a little instead:

T14Revenge.jpg

Once again I'm left just hoping the required damage was done: I didn't see any red crosses. But the "bang" looked like it was in the correct place.....

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However, those are small things.

The more significant thing this turn is action in the mid left and centre.

First of all, he's moved his Shermie that was defending P532 valley back higher up that side of P523. This appears to be a compromise position: it doesn't really defend against my right flank push... he's given up that view in order to be able to see down the middle and further across P509. I guess he's making sure he doesn't leave this guy in one position for too long, lest I take a careful shot at it.

T14Sherm.jpg

At the same time, he has moved men, and by the sound of it one of his Shermies, up towards the MonteP saddle:

T14Plateau.jpg

My spotting HQ over on MonteG ridge opened fire on them, from what appears to be a nice reverse slope position. Unfortunately this stopped them in their tracks, so I'm not sure what their plan was, but it seems as if they were likely going to try to stop me continuing my press up the left.

The heartening thing about all this is that it seems like perhaps Bil is being reactive rather than aggressive, and if he has so many men and a tank in the central valley, then the it means he does not have a "full force defence" waiting behind P523.

One thing I need to start planning is how to get rid of the previously pictured Shermie. It is a nuisance having it controlling the MonteP plateau.

One option is to put the PzIVHs on P509. There is a nice view of the Sherm from there...

T14ShermieShot.jpg

However this is unlikely to succeed, because the whole of this side of P509 is exposed to Bil's men in the main valley:

T14Exposed.jpg

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So instead, I'm going to have Christoff and Braun go up to the MonteP Plateau and see if they can drive him away from there:

T14SideShot.jpg

6Co1Plt will support, helping with spotting and warding off nasty bazookas if they pop up:

T14Plan.jpg

Finally, on the right, it seems like the time has come to resume the push up the flank. Smoke is 4 mins away, and a scout group has been chosen to go see where that nasty MG we spotted before got to

T14Smoke.jpg

I _could_ just stay put and hope to attrit Bil as he bumps into me in various places. I may be marginally better placed than him for this sort of engagement, now that he's started to get drawn onto the various TRPs. But the idea of a more decisive battle is a bit more appealing ... even though it has the risk of a decisive defeat :o

GaJ

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On the left hand side, Bil's Stuart has decided it needs to go see what I'm up to behind MonteP. What I'm up to is sending a Shrek to greet it:

T15Stuart.jpg

In the centre plateau there has been some strange comings and goings. First, some guys departed the ruins:

T15Plateau1.jpg

Then some other guys headed up there (with a Piat):

T15Plateau2.jpg

I tweaked the artillery planned for this area slightly ... I wasn't sure if he was going right up to the ruins or not.

On the right, those bastards with the scary gun are still alive and doing damage :(

T15Bastards.jpg

I'm talking another shot at them with the mortar, while I wait for the smoke on P523.

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One option is to put the PzIVHs on P509. There is a nice view of the Sherm from there...

T14ShermieShot.jpg

However this is unlikely to succeed, because the whole of this side of P509 is exposed to Bil's men in the main valley:

T14Exposed.jpg

Why do you care what his infantry in the valley spots at this moment?

This would have been perfect IMO. I guess even hulldown. If you time it to the turn's end, it should be all over until Bil can react in the next minute: 2 PzIV against 1 Sherman that has been forced to button down i guess @~800 m. Doesn't matter what his infantry sees at this moment.

And his inf. in the valley would probably have been toast two minutes later before being able to react.

His whole plan for the centre would have been destroyed and only two or so minutes later you could have dealt with his far right flank and the Stuart. Afterwards you would control the centre and the left, while your main pincer is on the far right. Trap closed.

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Why do you care about his infantry in the valley at this time?

This would have been perfect IMO. I guess even hulldown. If you time it to the turn's end, it should be all over until Bil can react in the next minute: 2 PzIV against 1 Sherman that has been forced to button down i guess @~800 m. Doesn't matter what his infantry sees at this moment.

Because of the flat shape of the hill, the inf would spot the upcoming PzIVHs well before they have LOS on the Sherm. It would take better timing than I possess to time it so that it would all happen in one turn ... as soon as the inf spot the tanks, the Shermie would be pulled

back the next turn.

I too wondered whether I should hunt up to spot the Shermie from the planned location. I didn't because time is of the essence. Based on the pattern so far, Bil only leaves that thing in one place for 3-4 turns. So he's going to be thinking about moving it away next turn.

I have become deeply suspicious of covered arcs in general, except for very early in the game when critical threats are far away and not-giving-yourself-away is important. Covered arcs are far too powerful: units do not reply to life threatening fire from outside the arc. If, for example, a Stuart or a Piat pop up over P511 direction, the PzIVs need the freedom to respond to those.

Back in the good old days, units with covered arcs would still respond to critical threats outside the arc, which made covered arcs much more useful.

GaJ

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It depends. In this instance they are open.

However, I forgot the golden rule: never get cheerful while playing CM.

In the last movie, Bil has come out of the woodwork everywhere. It's as if he's decided "carumba, Gaj has no tanks, just Arty, I can beat him by keeping on the move".

Screenies and more later...

GaJ

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Whoa, it started happening all over the place this turn!

Bil appears to be pushing a lot of infantry into various positions up the left flank, and also pressing from the centre up MonteG. He seems very spread out ... and why not since he must be feeling largely unopposed!

Over on the right it seems I wasted 8 81mm smoke shells on a screen to block his rightmost tank ... which came rushing towards me!

T17Sherm.jpg

As you can see, the lookout in the MonteG saddle is going to take a pot shot at the tank, in hopes of closing it up, then get the heck out of there.

On the centre left Bil has made a rush with at least 4 squads up the right hand side of P509. I really really hope that this is going to result in him discovering why I have been reluctant to camp on that place. My HMG on the rear of P502 has a lovely view back to this area of action:

T17Ing.jpg

T17HMG.jpg

... and I can quickly pull my rear mortar up onto the rear slope, and one of the organic mortars on the far right up near the HMG to add HE to the mix. If his guys try to continue on over the top of P509 to get out of view there will be 6Co waiting for him.

T17Withdraw.jpg

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GreenAsJade,

Ten mortar rounds to frang a Vickers? JasonC will be along immediately to explain what an extreme outlier (past six sigma) this event is. He will not only have production stats, but the results of lot acceptance tests, debits for losses in transit, excruciating analyses of bomb fin bending types and frequencies, paint thicknesses, bore fouling rates, the effect of that letter from home, velocity variations between individual powder increments on one bomb, never mind among several bombs.

Until he shows up, I say enjoy your good fortune! On a slightly more serious note, you have to admire the man's research. Now, if he'd only write a book!

Regards,

John Kettler

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As you can see, I've completely abandoned the plan of pushing the PzIVs up to the central plateau crest. I've lost track of where Bil's other Shermies are right now, and it just took waaay tooo long for them to get up the valley. Ironically, it seems like I chose the slowest path up the valley:

T17SlowTanks.jpg

... this rough bushy stuff seems to slow them to a crawl.

On the left, a bunch of inf has appeared pushing up the valley behind MonteP. They are meeting resistance from 6Co2Plt.

T17Left.jpg

Bil poked out my eyes on the far left, but not before they spotted another platoon of his coming over the lower part of P511. I must surely be seeing the bulk of his infantry here, which is heartening again (dare I say that) about the prospect of pushing around the right.

Speaking of which, I threw a few more mortar shells at Rambo, and am pushing gently forwards there again:

T17RightPress.jpg

while also trying to get Shreks in place for that tank that's heading this way:

T17Response.jpg

Overall:

T17.jpg

GaJ

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