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Bud's Russian Attack AAR: Красная молния


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Keyholing via flimsy wooden buildings?  I'd be tempted, tempted mind you, to scoot a T34 (first T34 from your first platoon, or whatever) over to that side and creep up just enough to put a few rounds into those buildings (after some infantry are in overwatch to see if that sent any rats scurrying). Then back the T34 off, and send to over to the right to do something similar from the other angle.  

 

No sense exposing any more info about just how many pieces of armor you have (learned that trick from watching Mr. Hardenberger's analysis of identified units in previous AARs -- damned scary what he can deduce from exposed units). If you show the same unit in both locations, then either: you bought precious few tanks, or you are being a cagey bastidge. In any event, you're exposing a single cad in your deck, no more.

 

I'm tempted to do what you say and roll a T34 within range of the houses, but I want to make a bit more certain that there isn't a horde of panzerfausts scattered about the area. In any event, with rocket artillery coming down I'm not going to advance just yet. ;)

 

I learned the same thing from Bil, the less I show the better. My friend/opponent has always been someone who liked to hide his intentions and surprise me, often to good effect. I'm curious what his ace in the hole would be in this battle. 

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I like the way you're not afraid to use your men's deaths to advance your career. I think that's the mark of a great commander! Lesser men would try to save their little, pathetic, worthless lives. Trust me, they have no future. Allowing them to die, gloriously, is doing them a favor. That armored car crew on the left will thank you. ;)

 

In a serious vein, the scouting teams on the left: HUNT is tiring and takes time. Personally, once the lead element HUNTS to a position, I will QUICK the follow-up element until they're even, then HUNT them forward. HUNT-QUICK-HUNT for one, QUICK-HUNT-QUICK for the other. (With the obvious tactic of keeping one element stationary while the other one QUICKS.)

 

Nice analysis on the HMG opening up. Once you start shooting an HMG, you'd better be ready to keep firing. I'm surprised he didn't give an area target 15/30 second burst (J or J+J) at the "?" he must have. Since he did not, I think you're spot on with your analysis.  If his HMG can shoot down the road, surely your AC can shoot up the road? A few bursts may pin his HMG (don't expect any permanent effect). That will keep the HMG from shooting at your scouts, and my keep them in place for the rockets. (If they opened up too early, your oppo may try to extricate them. Not likely: HMG's are usually a key part of the defense, not a tripwire meant to fall back.)

 

 

(Nothing here meant as a criticism! Just offering possible courses of actions, etc.)

 

Post more. MOAR!! ;)

 

Ken, you flatter me. I'm nowhere near as ruthless with my men as you are with yours. You set the bar for friendly force expendability, par excellence! ;)

 

Great advice on the bounding overwatch procedures. I guess Quick is less tiring than Hunt; yet another thing I didn't know. 

 

Glad you agree with my analysis. I wonder if my opponent changed the weapon settings on the turn after his HMG fired on 3/3 squad. I'm going to let the rocket barrage land first, and see what that shakes loose. Given the pack-up time for the HMG, I also doubt he'll be pulling it away. 

 

And don't worry, I'm not worrying about your comments being critical. That's just the nature of an AAR - I know I'm doing tons of things that could be improved at best, or are downright crazy at worst! :D

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I was going to say the same thing. I'll just add that having teams leapfrog through each other in forest is not always a good idea - when the point team makes contact, they are likely to take immediate fire. And they are likely to take that fire very close to the other team. Because the road up to the previous team will generally be safe, but just 1 or 2 squares ahead might put you in harms way.

Result is: you're bunching up and incoming rounds might miss the point team and hit the guys behind. And let's not even begin to talk about hand grenades.

It's better to have the teams act like two feet - advancing in turn, with about 2 squares between them.

I'm not quite sure I follow what you're meaning. I am advancing them in turns. One team is stopped, watching and ready to shoot, and the other team passes forward and stops. Then the watchers repeat that, each one alternating.

What am I misunderstanding?

Edited by Bud_B
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Minute 41-40: Part One

 

The point of this exercise was to see what is in KT2. The fact that there is nothing at all shooting at the men on AOA 1 leads me to believe there might be nothing holding the western woods. AOA 1 may be, as IanL suggested, the easier course. This means that my enemy is concentrating his defence heavily on AOA 2, which is, after all, the more obvious approach. It’s time to give him something to worry about.

 

The trees that form the Western Wood and that are part of Key Terrain 2 form a natural flank cover to any vehicles moving along the road. They are not deep but it's difficult to shoot at anything from the German lines in the village through the the woods to the road. You can see that with trees removed this looks very exposed to flanking fire from the town, but it’s actually not. The screenshots below show the least covered area, and most places it’s even worse for the Germans trying to hit my units near the road.

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This means that if I bring armour to the road I can bring concentrated fire on the farmhouses and Key Terrain 1 from both Avenues of Approach. I have a masked approach where my opponent will only see my tanks when they are already on the road and in position.

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Seeing as nothing has fired on the scout car on the road at AOA 1 I am beginning to suspect that he has no AT long-range on KT1. This works to my advantage. One IS-2 is ordered West, and goes along behind ridge line to AOA 1 now that it's clear of panzerfausts to join the armoured car and 3/3 squad. I want my opponent to see the tank cross the road (at a distance where I know it will be untouchable with its heavy armour) and for him to worry what a heavy tank is doing there. Plus it lets me fire on the farmhouses without exposing myself on the ridge at the base of the Field of Death to unseen ATGs or panzers. If I can, I'll totally avoid the big field in the center anyway.

At the same time I order a second T34/85, carrying 1/1 squad and 1 platoon HQ to go into the woods along AOA 2 to join the rest of the platoon and the other T34.

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Edited by Bud Backer
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Minute 41-40: Part Two

My squads at the north end of the woods get a contact in the gully that runs from the Eastern edge of the map toward the woods behind the farmhouses. For a moment I worry I made a big mistake going up this way. AOA 1 seems so….clear. Empty.

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Once the T34 and its riders dismount, I have all of 1st Platoon just on the edge of Key Terrain 1. The platoon’s leader is with them, and they are only short 3 men in 3rd squad. I will move them to the edge of the woods to await the bombardment.

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I’m pushing them forward in the woods quite far because even 20m inside, one can’t see a damned thing!

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Edited by Bud Backer
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Minute 41-40: Part Three

 

As the approaching rockets can be heard in the distance, that sole surviving armoured car in the west spots another HMG. Not the one that fired on 3/3 squad; this HMG is more east toward AOA 2

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The IS-2 is speeding West, covered by the ridgeline. It will be another 2 min before it is revealed to the enemy.

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And then it begins…

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Edited by Bud Backer
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I'm not quite sure I follow what you're meaning. I am advancing them in turns. One team is stopped, watching and ready to shoot, and the other team passes forward and stops. Then the watchers repeat that, each one alternating.

What am I misunderstanding?

 

My .02: You seem to have advanced the two teams through the SAME terrain. The second team (the trail unit) gains nothing by doing so. As well, with no lateral offset, they simultaneously decrease their outgoing firepower while increasing their vulnerability to incoming fire. Offset one team laterally about 2 or 3 (4?) action spots. Never have one team directly behind the other.

 

With the lateral offset, the stopping positions of your two teams would resemble footprints, as opposed to a wheelbarrow track (or pogo stick tracks?).

 

Sometimes terrain does not allow that type of offset.

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I was going to say the same thing. I'll just add that having teams leapfrog through each other in forest is not always a good idea - when the point team makes contact, they are likely to take immediate fire. And they are likely to take that fire very close to the other team. Because the road up to the previous team will generally be safe, but just 1 or 2 squares ahead might put you in harms way.

 

Result is: you're bunching up and incoming rounds might miss the point team and hit the guys behind. And let's not even begin to talk about hand grenades.

 

It's better to have the teams act like two feet - advancing in turn, with about 2 squares between them.

  

My .02: You seem to have advanced the two teams through the SAME terrain. The second team (the trail unit) gains nothing by doing so. As well, with no lateral offset, they simultaneously decrease their outgoing firepower while increasing their vulnerability to incoming fire. Offset one team laterally about 2 or 3 (4?) action spots. Never have one team directly behind the other.

 

With the lateral offset, the stopping positions of your two teams would resemble footprints, as opposed to a wheelbarrow track (or pogo stick tracks?).

 

Sometimes terrain does not allow that type of offset.

Ah, ok, now I get what you're both saying. Thanks for the clarification! I suppose by having a lateral offset I also increase the amount of territory scouted, which is an obvious benefit to this method as well. Thanks!

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By the looks of that barrage - you should have snotted those two HMGs your armoured cars spotted - hopefully things are swinging your way now.

  

Here comes the pain!

I hope I cause some damage, but looking at the visuals my first impressions are that this can't have been all that bad for my enemy. I don't know if this is how it normally looks, because it's my first use of rocket artillery, but my thoughts observing this were:

-not very big explosions.

-tiny craters

-wildly scattered (yes, you folks warned me!)

-didn't knock down or even visibly damage wooden houses.

Just how effective is this stuff? That was 192 rockets and I feel like I used birdshot for all I can see!

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They are quite effective, but not very efficient. You might be spending hundreds of points to saturate an area, but if there's only a couple of enemy there, not much point.

Interesting. I guess we shall see just how much a mess they made as we go forward. Thanks for the advice about how to maneuver my units in over watch.

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Interesting. I guess we shall see just how much a mess they made as we go forward. Thanks for the advice about how to maneuver my units in over watch.

 

No problem, we all get better by sharing tips and tricks.

 

About the rockets, I'm no expert in using them, but since they take a long time to call in, and are super inaccurate, I speculate that the only good way of using them is as a prep-bombardment against suspected positions.

 

For example, if you know you need to go through a forest, a shower of rockets before you go in might mean that you can advance much more rapidly. But it needs to be a huge shower, since forest offers pretty good protection against (at least the smaller) explosive weapons.

 

Then again, you get most bang for the buck from the first apprx 100 rockets against a point target. Then the enemy ducks down and lethality is hugely reduced. So if you have say 400 rockets, better to either do a bigger area mission or save half of them for a second strike later, if you think you might get the enemy to hole up for a stand somewhere.

 

Ideal situation being something like this: You need to pass a very likely location for a first line of defense - trenches, or a forest. You pre-plan a strike with 200 rockets, then save the rest for the second line of resistance, which you estimate will take place in a town or on a hill - and which you will have LOS to from a reasonable location

Edited by Bulletpoint
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deal situation being something like this: You need to pass a very likely location for a first line of defense - trenches, or a forest. You pre-plan a strike with 200 rockets, then save the rest for the second line of resistance, which you estimate will take place in a town or on a hill - and which you will have LOS to from a reasonable location

 

 

This is great! Why? Because that is exactly what happens. Half the 394 rockets go this first round - and pummel a fairly large (actually larger than I intended) area of the farmhouses, the woods behind them, the open field, the field behind the woods behind the farmhouse, even going so far west as to hit the trees of KT 2. So I did what you suggest - I have half the arty left for more fun later. 

 

:)

Edited by Bud_B
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Looks like some rounds were impacting behind the farm and into the treeline where the HMGs were spotted; potentially good news for you.

 

Good catch! Yes, the rockets plastered not just the line I gave them but to both sides of it quite extensively. Recommendations by people reading the AAR to keep well back was good advice!

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To be honest I was scared for the guys on point - I thought from the get go that some of them would have got whacked by some of your rocketry. I'd take it as a bonus mate :). Keep the screenshots coming, I am enjoying this and also picking up some great tips for the execution of my forthcoming battle.

You know, when people were saying I needed to even pull back my FOO I was surprised, given that he is nowhere near KT 1. It seemed incredible that there would be that much scatter. But as I watched the rockets land, and saw them going all over the place I got a bit worried I'd lose 1st platoon, maybe a tank, and heaven knows what else!

Thanks for commenting; I'm really glad you are enjoying the AAR!

Edited by Bud_B
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This is great! Why? Because that is exactly what happens. Half the 394 rockets go this first round - and pummel a fairly large (actually larger than I intended) area of the farmhouses, the woods behind them, the open field, the field behind the woods behind the farmhouse, even going so far west as to hit the trees of KT 2. So I did what you suggest - I have half the arty left for more fun later. 

 

:)

Have you definitely cancelled the rest of the barrage, Bud? The reason I ask is that rocket barrages come in salvoes, as mentioned earlier in the thread. The other half of your rocket ammo might just be being loaded onto the rails, ready to land in 2-3mins' time...

Enjoying the read so far. Looking forward to when your units can properly sink their teeth into some meaty defensive positions!

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Have you definitely cancelled the rest of the barrage, Bud? The reason I ask is that rocket barrages come in salvoes, as mentioned earlier in the thread. The other half of your rocket ammo might just be being loaded onto the rails, ready to land in 2-3mins' time...

Enjoying the read so far. Looking forward to when your units can properly sink their teeth into some meaty defensive positions!

I didn't give it a long duration, Tux, so I didn't cancel it, I think it actually is over. The FOO is able to give new orders, and doesn't have to cancel existing ones so I guess it means it's really done. I'm impressed with one thing: that it fired 194 rockets in one salvo. Wow! That seems like an incredible amount!

Good tip for future battles though; I will always pay attention to rocket artillery to see if they are reloading and continuing, or if they are actually done. Would hate to get plastered by my own rockets! :D

Thanks for posting!

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Minute 40-39 Part One:

The armoured car doesn’t have an exceptional crew. Sure, they’re fairly high-spirited but leadership seems below par with most of my force - which is to say, truly uninspired. However, one thing the crew of that little BA-64B have in spades is 20/20 vision! For the third time this battle, the armoured car spots something no one else can see: an infantry contact - perhaps the HMG that fired on 3/3 squad as it crossed the road?

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It’s forgivable that moments later, they are distracted by the sight of the massive rocket barrage landing on…er…near…well just about everywhere close to the designated linear target! Looking at it at ground level I admit it's a bit more impressive. Perhaps I should not judge the effectiveness purely on what I saw in a distant overhead view.

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Meanwhile, at the eastern edge of the map on AOA 2, I'm getting 1st platoon ready to move into KT 1. I'm splitting 1st and 2nd squads into their component sections for overwatch movement; 3rd squad, that took three casualties, I’m not going to split to avoid having one section of only two men. I’m also shifting my tanks to the edge of the woods to be able to provide cover fire for my infantry. It’s a bit tricky to maneuver them as the trees are quite dense, there is a gully running in the middle of the woods that makes LOS even more complicated.

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Edited by Bud Backer
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Minute 40-39 Part Two:

The barrage takes about 20 seconds from start to finish. While it is generally concentrated on KT 1 as I wanted, some outliers are really far away from the target, reaching the ridge line that hides my deploy area, one landing perilously close to my FOO, some in the trees where 1st platoon is, and a fair bit of it just north of the woods where 2/1 and 3/1 squads are waiting. Luckily, the only thing that happens to my forces is 1 bar suppression for some units, and 1st platoon CO, as well as both elements of 1st squad, drop to the ground seeking cover.

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In terms of results on my enemy, the situation is a bit murky. As mentioned before, the houses look unscathed. I don't have eyes on the entire KT 1 area so I don't see bodies, if there are any. But 1A/1 section spots a running HMG gunner behind the houses.

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Before he disappears from view and just becomes a contact one can see him running away from the area that the HMG that my armoured car spotted earlier was in.

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Zooming in high magnification can have a distance-distorting effect, so here is a more overhead shot.

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Edited by Bud Backer
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