Axis AAR: A Route to Ribera or "A Bridge Too Far" (CMPzC)

[Kuderian]

Fizou and I are using Noob's hybrid system to play a small example campaign in the Sicilian Invasion of '43.

I am the Axis CIC with poesel71 as my 2IC while Fizou is Allied CIC with TheJetSet as his 2IC.

The morning of 20/07/1943, The situation so far...

Allied airborne forces have landing during the night while US Rangers and light armour push up from the Platani river and from the beaches near Route 115.

Italian ,mostly conscript, coastal forces have been recently reinforced by elements of the 104th PzG Division. These grenadiers are better armed and have good morale compared to their Italian compatriots.

I must retake my Victory Point location and push the Allies back into the sea!

Next OoB compostition..

[Kuderian]

Hex 5,9 Battle Order of Battle

(Tip: To easily count your troop numbers, create a separate scenario with just your side then run this scenario, press quit and hey presto you have your headcount!)

(Tip: To transfer the correct OOB to the scenario, take a screenshot of your side's in the above, then use it for reference as you add your side to the scenario)

To beef up the Axis side a bit my opposite CIC agreed to allow any CM battalions with organic heavy weapons to be added to the CM OOB even though they are not featured explicitly in this PzC scenario.

To work out the number of Guns and Mortars we used this simple method (Smaller Heavy weapons at one's discretion).

Find the on map number of the full strength unit in this case a 1943 PzG Battln - 704

Divide that number by the current battln unit strength - 351/704

If the result is > 0.5 then all that battln heavy weapons are added.

If the result is < 0.5 then all that battln heavy weapons are halved rounding up.

So for this battle, I had just over half of a full strength battlion therefore I received 3 x Pak 40,2 x IG1918 etc.

[Kuderian]

I have taken over command from my 2IC for the battle at Hex 5,9 against Fizou.

Therefore while I work out whats going on, here are some screenshots!

34 minutes

My first thoughts are that if I keep control of this Key Terrain then his forces are very vulnerable to both artillery and MMG fire.

Second thoughts are that I need to establish a mobile reserve probably a combined arms force of Grilles, 81mm mortars, HMG's.

Thirdly my opponent similar to myself is heavy weapon rich but infantry poor. Therefore as long as I avoid his destroyer's barrages and maintain KT he is going to have a job pushing me off this map. So for the moment I am cautiously optimistic...

[Kuderian]

36 minutes

The enemy appears to be retreating!

It could be the case that he unloaded his heavy weapons and artillery on me and now after the 30 minute mark he is falling back to the exit zones (In our rules there are no morale penalties for retreat after that time period).

On the other hand it could be a trap with him waiting for me to expose some juicy targets and then summoning the Gods of shrapnel and blast on me!

So my plan;

Hammer both his avenues of retreat with HE from Grilles and IG1918's plus 81mm mortars.

I am sending my other other force of Grilles around the left flank to get good side shots on his retreating forces.

Reinforce the Key Terrain with more automatic weapons. Continue my Italian cannon artillery barrage on his forces still at the foot of the hills. Continue to be weary of destroyer barrage on KT.

On the right flank, move my regrouped Infantry Zig forward.

In the centre, get my mortars and some infantry back over the hill ridge.

Form two ad hoc 'cavalry' formations (infantry with MG's in KubelWagens) on either flank, ready to harass retreating enemy.

Screen shots, overall view

Italian 75mm cannon barrage

Right flank Grilles firing on enemy retreat routes

The receiving end

[Kuderian]

36 minutes cont.

Pair of IG's firing

Grille firing on Northern retreat route

Receiving end as enemy uses smoke grenades to cover himself

Grilles race to intercept enemy led by their Hq

[Kuderian]

42 minutes

The enemy is in full retreat it seems. I guess my opponent was going for a 'hit & run' attack.

In our morale rules, less than 20% casualties means there is no negative hit. I guess he passed the 30 minutes retreat mark and figured it was time to exit.

Although I just received a destroyer artillery spotting round near my pair of IG's. So I am getting them out of the area ASAP.

Overall view, mobile forces pushing forward on flanks

Close up of my left flank

Mobile infantry rush to support Grilles

Right Flank

Infantry mounting

[Kuderian]

42 minutes cont.

Left flank view of advancing infantry & Grilles

Incoming destroyer shell near IG1918's

[kohlenklau]

Kuderian,

In your post #2 above you show the icon for the Germany unit and it says in wee writing that it is 9/III/PzG104 +++

That is just the 9th company right, not the whole bloody battalion? Or maybe I just don't understand PzC system yet. Granted the +++ must mean it is very reinforced.

I only ask because I am over here in CMBN trying to play as axis in the Caen PzC Super extravaganza demo battle combination cocktail party and lingerie show....

If you got any info on this issue, shoot it to me, if you don't, sorry for the bother, keep on chooglin'!!

[Fenris]

Interesting. Force preservation, pulling back instead of fighting it out to the death and potential for unbalanced sides. Some of the things I like about the idea of Ops layer is that you get situations rarely seen in stand alone scenarioes.

Thanks for sharing.

-F

[Kuderian]

Kuderian,

In your post #2 above you show the icon for the Germany unit and it says in wee writing that it is 9/III/PzG104 +++

That is just the 9th company right, not the whole bloody battalion? Or maybe I just don't understand PzC system yet. Granted the +++ must mean it is very reinforced.

I only ask because I am over here in CMBN trying to play as axis in the Caen PzC Super extravaganza demo battle combination cocktail party and lingerie show....

If you got any info on this issue, shoot it to me, if you don't, sorry for the bother, keep on chooglin'!!

'+++' in PzC means that the unit is combined and can be divided into 3 Companies.

So my unit is the 3rd battalion of the 104th PzG Regiment consisting of three Companies.

p.s. how do I choogle?

[kohlenklau]

Thanks for replying. I still don't fully understand. But I do have PzC Bulge 44 so maybe the user manual is in there and will take me some time to read through, drink a beer, re-read it, drink a beer, forget what I was supposed to even be looking for, and then drink another beer. Then and only then will I finally give up and have someone explain it to me...

Deep down you already know, just keep on Chooglin'!!

[noob]

Thanks for replying. I still don't fully understand. But I do have PzC Bulge 44 so maybe the user manual is in there and will take me some time to read through, drink a beer, re-read it, drink a beer, forget what I was supposed to even be looking for, and then drink another beer. Then and only then will I finally give up and have someone explain it to me...

Deep down you already know, just keep on Chooglin'!!

If you place three companies from the same battalion on the same hex, and then select Combine / Breakdown from the game UI menu bar, they will combine into one unit with the +++ sign next to the unit name to denote there are three companies combined into one. Select Combine / Breakdown again, and they will split into three separate companies.

[kohlenklau]

Why doesn't the little postage stamp picture just say III/yadayada rather than 9/III after the transformers recombine?

Is there another one that says 10/III/yada yada? and 11/III/yada yada?

Just asking...

oh, and keep on Chooglin'!!

[Kuderian]

44-45 minutes

overall view

centre & right

leIG1914's do not escape his destroyer barrage

Left flank mobile infantry dismounting

Zug switch to North side of KT to observe southern enemy retreat route

[Kuderian]

44-45 minutes cont.

Close up attacking Grille

Heavy weapons Zug relocate forward in case of incoming

Centre infantry advances into the 'bowl'

[Kuderian]

48-52 minutes

Situation update.

On my flanks my infantry supported by Grilles continue their bounds forward while in the centre two infantry Zugs advance down the hill into the 'bowl'.

A couple of enemy stragglers have been spotted but more importantly a destroyer spotting round, not unexpectedly, has landed near my KT. I am exiting my Zug from the KT and moving them forward pronto. And the HMG's and FO are taking cover on the bottom floors of the multistory buildings.

overall view

Zug hightailing out of Key Terrain

Southern Avenue of Retreat

Lone Ranger (Where's Tonto?)

Holy Ballistics!

[kohlenklau]

Kuderian,

Nice screenshots. GO BIG GREY!! Axis Teams gotta stick together and cheer each other on...

[kohlenklau]

Hey, I got PzC Bulge 44 loaded and messed with the combine/breakdown button.

In this example I have I./PzGR 902 +++ and when I break it down it becomes 3 new unit "postage stamps icons. You know what, I think Volcano Man was over-worked that day and when he did the mods for your PzC Sicily 43, he must've inadvertently not removed the company number from that Battalion artwork. Yep, that is probably it. OK, case closed. Thanks.

keep on..oh, you know...CHOOGLIN"!

[Kuderian]

54-55 minutes

My opponent's barrage as predicted arrives on my KT. Thankfully it is only a short one and apart from a wound or two my hiding MG's and FO are ok. They head back to the top floors to resume their watch.

KT during barrage

After barrage

My opponent,since he has nearly finished his withdrawal off the map, agrees to a ceasefire.

Hex 5,9 Results screen

So this battle is over and next I will apply to results for this battle and the others to the PzC OOB.

Next applying results

[Kuderian]

Turn 5 Recap

Fizou & I are fighting a Sicilian campaign using Noob's hybrid rule system.

We have just finished 2 battles in CM and are now applying the results to the operational game Panzer Campaigns.

As I also refused 2 battles my formations involved are forfeit. Therefore I have to edit 5 formations in all.

overall

using string finder to select correct formation

Hex 17,14 & 19,13 - Italian Coastal Defence Coy edited down to DEFENCE 4 for easy assaulting.

Hex 20,8 - Italian Armoured Car Coy. This battle was fought in CM against TheJetSet with all 6 of my AB-41s' destroyed.

Hex 5,9 - This battle was just played out in CM, see post above. Looking at the AAR screen I have suffered 26 KIA & 36 WIA and 1 Grille lost.

To work out the casualties for my PzG Regiment ,irst I multiply the WIA by 0.75 to get the adjusted WIA (We allow a 25% return on WIA to encourage buddy aid). Result 27 WIA

Then I add this to my KIA total - 27 + 26 = 53

Because 5 of the KIA are from my Grille Coy ,which are tracked separately, I subtract 5 KIA from total.

53-5 = 48

This figure is then subtracted from the original headcount of the regiment to get the adjusted headcount, in this case 351-48 = 303

In this particular case the regiment is made up of 2 Coys therefore I allocate 152 to one and 151 to the other.

Because neither the Grilles or the PzGrenadiers lost >20% of their strength , they do not take a morale hit.

Both formations now successfully edited

Once all the formations are appropriately edited I send the modified OOB back to Fizou.

He does the same and then we can continue where we left off in PzC.

[noob]

That unit finder function in the PzC OOB editor is new to me, nice one.

[Bil Hardenberger]

As I also refused 2 battles my formations involved are forfeit.

What is the reason for this rule? It seems to me if you refuse a battle that represents a unit leaving the terrain to the advancing enemy and falling back perhaps one hex, but certainly not losing the unit, unless it is surrounded. Like a proper delay drill.

Otherwise, why would you not just accept every battle and then play hide and seek until you could escape with minimal loss?

[Fizou]

What is the reason for this rule? It seems to me if you refuse a battle that represents a unit leaving the terrain to the advancing enemy and falling back perhaps one hex, but certainly not losing the unit, unless it is surrounded. Like a proper delay drill.

Otherwise, why would you not just accept every battle and then play hide and seek until you could escape with minimal loss?

Kuderian asked me to answer this so I will

We have not decided 100% on all the rules yet. This whole operation is a trial and error to get comfortable with the whole system and hopefully have everything ironed out for our next operation, probably something related to Market Garden.

So the main reason behind this rule, was that we wanted to some how get around the need to fight all battles in CM. If a battle is just too one sided and one part really doesn't think it will be any fun. At the same time we want to favor battles being fought in CM. We also want to keep rules to a minimum so we first decided that the enemy unit is to be considered destroyed/captured. This was far from ideal as the attacking unit would get away whit zero casualties and the defender would always be wiped out. On the other hand assaults in PzC will give you results that are far from what one would expect from a CM engagement with the same forces and favor the defender.

Fortunately noob did some testing and when lowering the defenders defense value by a quarter, or at a set number of 4. One will get results that are very favorable for the attacker but still leaves some room for the defender to have some tactical choices.

CM combat will still be favored by this rule but PzC assaults will play a role and the defender can use units to block the attacker with some success and the attacker needs to be careful so that he attacks in the correct formation (not travel formation) etc.

As presented in my part of the AAR a big US force destroyed a small Italian force without any US casualties and on the other hand a Italian Coy was able to fend of a US Bn assaulting over a stream. US taking 4 cas and the Italians 5.

I'm really happy with the outcome with this change.

[noob]

I'm really happy with the outcome with this change.

So am I ,it's the icing on the cake

I am continuing to test the new values, however I am confident that a 75% defence reduction for "all" units is about right. I was going to reduce only recon units, but as other units become depleted, they will also be exploitable as blockers, so it must be all units.

[Kuderian]

Situation Map with Assaults Marked

Now it is the Axis turn to Assault.

As the CIC, I choose two assaults, both of which my opposite number Fizou accepts.

Hex 6,8 - Continued from the last AAR, my PzG supported by a Coy of Grilles counter-attacks up the Road to Verdura. Their objective is to relieve the town from its siege and hold on to the 300 point Victory location. They are up against their old friends, two very depleted Coys of Ranger Infantry with another Coy arriving as reinforcements in 15-30 minutes.

Hex 16,9 - A few hours ago two Coys of his retreating 82nd Airborne Paratroopers retreated into the 200 point Victory Location of Ribera. Now my Italian Bersaglieri attacking from the East and my recently arrived PzGrenadiers attacking from the North will pincer assault his depleted Paras and drive them out!

Both these maps are stock QB that we have modified to reflect the operational map(Credit to original authors)

All the OoB conversions are done, now battle awaits

Coming soon AAR's....