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Bud's Russian Attack AAR: Красная молния


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Minute 42-41:

 

With the Tankodesantnikii CO HQ gone, I have only 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon at the tip of my advance. They are down 3 men but in good spirits, and I have ordered it to carry out an assault to the edge of the woods. I want eyes on the far woods that cover the back side of Key Terrain 1 and the farmhouses.

2nd Squad, 1st Platoon is running to join them. It will leave the clearing in assault movement but going to a point a bit west of 3rd squad.

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RU035

These woods look like nothing when the foreground trees are switched off. Let me show you what this looks like when you’re in them. It’s hide and seek territory!

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RU036

I order one of my T34’s forward to support the two squads. Initial orders are to go up the clearing to where the BA-64B was destroyed. I’m now much more confident that the back portion of the woods are devoid of Germans.

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RU037

These SMG troopers are tough! They blaze away and kill one German soldier…

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RU038

…and the Germans break and run. The men of 3/1 squad show no mercy and avenge their fallen comrades. First one man falls, then two more.

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RU039

As 3/1 squad finishes their work, the T34 arrives at the end of the clearing, and 2/1 squad moves past the tank into the woods to join their sister squad.

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RU040

The butcher’s bill - 8 dead Fascists. Not won cheaply. The Commissar advises the regimental CO to smarten up, or else there is a nice marsh nearby that could be used to make him disappear!

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Edited by Bud Backer
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Ah yes, the probe on the other side of the map - hopefully they show a bit less uh...aggressive-mindedness. Obviously sending your HQ into certain death is just building up dramatic tension before your crushing victory.

I see you have unravelled the genius of my plan! :D

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Yes! I forgot about the tank rider-radio sharing. I tried to find your thread on this because I believe you had other useful examples, but could not find it. Can you post a link please, I think it really would be useful for anyone learning stuff on this thread.

I'd even go so far as to suggest you posting links on your signature with your amazing informational threads. The testing you did is really invaluable to new players trying to understand C2. :)

 

Thanks Bud.  This is the thread I think you are referring to:  http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119474-c2-information-sharing/

 

This is the thread that contained the screenshot of the scouts using a tanks radio for C2:  http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118325-xo-takes-over-from-kia-co/

 

Also C2 for calling in arty with backpack radios vs. vehicle radios might be applicable: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118608-command-vehicle-radios-vs-backpack-radios/

Edited by MOS:96B2P
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Thanks Bud.  This is the thread I think you are referring to:  http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119474-c2-information-sharing/

 

This is the thread that contained the screenshot of the scouts using a tanks radio for C2:  http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118325-xo-takes-over-from-kia-co/

 

Also C2 for calling in arty with backpack radios vs. vehicle radios might be applicable: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118608-command-vehicle-radios-vs-backpack-radios/

Ah, great, it's the first one I was looking for!

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Lol! Have your men rifle through the hq's pockets. They may find some vodka or binos.

Tanks can help infantry. Just sayin'.

Damn commissar confiscated the vodka... *kicks dirt*

But I have a tank now with my two squads. Overwhelming victory dead ahead! Mind the icebergs!

FFS: I wanted to upvote your post, Ken, and I misclicked. Grrrr. Gave you two upvotes elsewhere... Sorry about that! My thanks to Baneman for fixing that horrible -1!

Edited by Bud_B
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Minutes 45-43

The regimental CO looks at the commissar and says, “everything is proceeding according to plan, comrade. Right now, as we watch our men struggle for victory over AOA 2, to the West my plans are unfolding perfectly.” The commissar pretends to ignore the beads of sweat on the Colonel’s face and looks westward, where…all is surprisingly quiet…

Let’s leave this…er…planning mishap…and go West to see what the Regimental CO was talking about. Last we looked at them, we had a squad all by its lonesome, overwatched by a BA-64B, that stalwart little vehicle so beloved by it’s crew…ok, maybe not.

3rd Squad of 3rd Platoon's orders are follow Avenue of Approach 1 and enter the woods, proceed to the road and observe Key Terrain 2. East is the surviving armoured car, which also is to proceed to the edge of the woods bordering the road. Provocative, risky, and foolish.

But our men fear little, because this is not the Soviet Army of 1941! ;)

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 RU042

Unlike the costly skirmishes to the East, AOA 1 seems a tranquil, placid affair. Both units reach their first stop unmolested. Is it a trap? The men are still rested, eager to go forward and prove their worth.

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 RU043

If there aren't bullets flying at them already, there is no reason to delay. 3/3 squad rises as one to run across the road. They are perpendicular to Key Terrain 2, thus out of LOS, and Key Terrain 1 has been silent so far. Perhaps they can make the crossing unscathed into the woods ahead.

The armoured car sits by a shrub and overwatches Key Terrain 2, and to a lesser degree, Key Terrain 1

Almost there, when a HMG 42 opens up on them. It is not spotted by the men nor the armoured car. Will they make it, or is the regimental CO going to take a one way trip to a marsh?

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 RU044

Edited by Bud Backer
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Ok so those SMG troops are like rambo, but you could have just rolled up one of the big guns and blown that contact in the forest to bits.

Didn't your guys lose a lot of morale when the company commander was killed by the way?

Yes, I suppose I could have rolled a tank up earlier, but the woods are really dense and it would have run the real risk that some German would put a 'faust through the the hull. No way could a tank (or anything) hit that contact without being well in the woods. However, now that they are clear, things will begin to unfold better, I think. Just pretend the past few minutes never happened! :D

Morale was a peculiar thing. Just about all my squads have leadership -1 and morale +1. I didn't play with the settings when purchasing so maybe this is a way of giving Soviets a national "identity" distinct from say, Germans or Western Allies, who typically don't have the vast preponderance of units showing a leadership penalty with a morale bonus. To me the westerners seem more varied in their scores.

In any event, to answer your question, 3/3 squad did not suffer any evident morale penalty. 2/3 did, even though it was considerably further back from the incident.

Edited by Bud_B
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What?!?! You gave me a down vote? I'll attribute that to command paralysis. ;)

 

Scouts, man, scouts. Those are the men who no one else in the squad likes. Scouts are miserable curs and know the best thing for themselves is to seek death. You'll do them a favor if you use them. That HMG? Far better if two scouts were the bullet magnets rather than the whole squad. (Plus, if they survived the road crossing, you've got a two-man maneuver element in overwatch for the rest of the squad.)

 

Split 'em, watch 'em, THEN move 'em.

 

Or link arms, shout "urrah", and surge towards victory!

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What?!?! You gave me a down vote? I'll attribute that to command paralysis. ;)

 

Scouts, man, scouts. Those are the men who no one else in the squad likes. Scouts are miserable curs and know the best thing for themselves is to seek death. You'll do them a favor if you use them. That HMG? Far better if two scouts were the bullet magnets rather than the whole squad. (Plus, if they survived the road crossing, you've got a two-man maneuver element in overwatch for the rest of the squad.)

 

Split 'em, watch 'em, THEN move 'em.

 

Or link arms, shout "urrah", and surge towards victory!

It's beyond "paralysis", more like "total brain lock"!

You're right, I should have split the squad and sent scouts across first. Grrrrr. I have just the guys in mind - shifty eyed goldbrickers a bit too close with the commissar...

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Minutes 43-41:

As the turn starts, the HMG is raking 3/3 squad as it crosses the road. A bead along the tracer trail tells me this fire is not coming from the farmhouses as I originally thought, but behind them.

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 RU045

All of the squad safely reach the woods the will lead them to Key Terrain 2. The machinegun fire ceases. The armoured car sees nothing.

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 RU046

I order the armoured car to get to the road, and then back up toward 3/3 squad. Meanwhile, I split the squad into scout and cover element. The scout element has 3 men. I order the scout element to hunt no further ahead of the cover element than they can shoot, so that if the scouts run into anything the cover element will be able to pour lead on it.

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 RU047

The armoured car is ordered to advance slowly down the road, abreast of the scouts, so that it can also provide fire on anything the scouts encounter. If it’s infantry that they find, there will be the cover element hitting them from the front, and the armoured car catching them in a crossfire. The picture below captures it all in one go - the reversal of the armoured car, the split squads, and the overwatch movement.

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 RU048

To give the scouts rest time as Hunt is a tiring movement type, I will use bounding overwatch. Once the scouts reach the end point of their hunt, the cover element will hunt through them and advance beyond them to a point still covered by the scouts’ weapons. The armoured car now hunts alongside the former cover element.

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 RU049

Here you can see the cover element moving past the scouts, flanked by the armoured car. I've also inserted a clip of the scout element so you see its composition, ammo, etc.

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 RU050

Edited by Bud Backer
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Minutes 43-41:

As the turn starts, the HMG is raking 3/3 squad as it crosses the road. A bead along the tracer trail tells me this fire is not coming from the farmhouses as I originally thought, but behind them.

IMG_0113.JPG

 

 

 

By the way, the woods behind the farmhouses seem like the obvious place to set up the defense of the field. Because putting troops in those flimsy wooden shacks seems like suicide. But in the forest they will have cover, concealment and be keyholed by the buildings.

 

 

Ok, the voice from the peanut gallery shuts up now :)

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Ok, the voice from the peanut gallery shuts up now :)

LOL!

Yes, you were right, he put stuff behind the farmhouses. We shall see if he is simply keeping stuff in the farmhouses at short range covered arcs though. ;)

Don't you shut up though! :)

Edited by Bud_B
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Am I boring you guys? ;)

 

This is a great AAR.  I am a bit nervous for your armored car advancing up the road.  If I have my map locations correct a HMG was firing down this same road a few minutes back.  If so the HMG can easily knockout the armored car even an LMG can......

 

By the way your opponent keyholed crew served weapons back behind the buildings it seems he knows his business.  You may need to ask Heinrich505 to bring in some of his flamethrower units and clean the place out.   :D   

 

More screenshots and updates! Chop chop!! :)   

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This is a great AAR.  I am a bit nervous for your armored car advancing up the road.  If I have my map locations correct a HMG was firing down this same road a few minutes back.  If so the HMG can easily knockout the armored car even an LMG can......

 

By the way your opponent keyholed crew served weapons back behind the buildings it seems he knows his business.  You may need to ask Heinrich505 to bring in some of his flamethrower units and clean the place out.   :D   

 

More screenshots and updates! Chop chop!! :)   

You've got your map locations correct. :) Yes, I'm heading gradually toward that HMG. But it's gone silent even though I must be in plain sight. Which leads me to believe that it firing was an accident and not by design.  I could be wrong on this, but I can't see why he'd let it shoot, and only after exposing it give it a shorter ranged arc. Maybe he's nervous about the fact my force on AOA 2 is in that HMG's front yard, so to speak. ;)

 

My opponent is being cagey - he's good at that. 

Edited by Bud_B
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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.

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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!! ;)

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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.)

 

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.

Edited by Bulletpoint
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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.

 

What he says is sooth.

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