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AAR - A Lesson in Defense


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13 hours ago, Heinrich505 said:

Bil,

  Always great stuff.  Thanks so much for posting this.

  You said you weren't too worried about being spotted but were mainly sitting and watching to identify enemy compositions.  Did you have close covered arcs to keep your troops from opening fire or was that even necessary?

 

Heinrich505

Heh, funny story there... I neglected cover arcs on some important units in this game and I come to grief over it, my stupid AT Team in the scout party fires a rocket at some infantry in the next minute for example... blowing the surprise and making them a priority target...  there is a lesson in there for all of us to not get too complacent and lazy.

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23 hours ago, Bil Hardenberger said:

Bud, I get into this in my post on Reconnaissance on my blog.  To simplify, you always assume worst case, until you have confirmation one way or the other... so if you see two STuGs out of a potential five, ASSUME that there can possibly be three more that you will have to contend with. 

Gathering intelligence is a never ending process and you answer questions as you go, but often many questions are never answered until the thing ends.

Your blog is excellent. I’m re-reading it when I can find time because it’s such an informative work.

You’re right, of course, CM has repeatedly demonstrated that information is a scare commodity in war and I’m frequently astounded what I see when the battle ends and I can review both sides. 

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23 hours ago, Combatintman said:

Good question mate and you're right about the uncertainty. In this case, the game is a scenario rather than an H2H QB which I always think makes things easier for a number of reasons:

Scenarios are generally designed to be winnable by both sides which gives you a left and right of arc to scope the problem.

Picking units in the scenario editor is largely driven by the TO&E and most scenario designers are going to take that easy option of basing the unit picks on TO&E structures.

The information in the Situation Enemy Forces paragraph and the graphics will also help you scope the left and right of arc of the enemy.

FWIW, and I have no knowledge of the scenario because I don't own the title (I know burn this heretic now ...) but I don't think that there are 5 x Stugs, we've seen 2 x Stugs and I would be surprised if there are more than 3 x Stugs. As for the dismounts I reckon that we're looking at a full FJ company plus some support weapons, a recce platoon and an engineer platoon.

Of course all of this is moot if the scenario designer is a fruit loop ;)

As I said early in the piece, H2H QB games are a totally different matter. The only intelligence you have here is the number of points that your opponent has and the objectives. Whenever points are involved, a human being is going to squeeze every last advantage out of them which means a lot more randomness in the force makeup. However, the core of any force pick will still be TO&E based. The best that you can hope for here is to identify that core eg is it a an armoured/mechanised infantry/infantry based core. From your initial sightings you can then start to crunch the numbers. Taking this as scenario as an example, let's say the Axis player has a point allocation of 1000 and that a Stug costs 10 points each. Well we know now that there are 980 points to find. If an FJ company is worth 500 points then there are 480 points to find.

Of course it is more complex than that because soft factors affect points values so the best approach is just to average it out by assuming that all units are regular. Obviously this is never going to produce a 100% correct solution but intelligence is never a 100% solution, it is about reducing uncertainty.

Ah, yes ok, you’re using scenario information to assist you. That makes sense. I so rarely play scenarios, as my preference is for QBs, so the briefing doesn’t exist, and there is no meta game aspect like what a designer may or may not do. It really is only the points, and in that case, the standard TO&E is going to be quite mutable. And if I know the opponent well, I can gauge what he might do based on experience and play style preferences.

 

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SITREP

It has been another couple of minutes and things have developed a bit more... 

AXIS RED:

On Axis RED there are now two STuGs and they are pushing deep and ahead of their infantry.. in fact they do not seem to be coordinated with the enemy infantry at all on this axis.  Also, the infantry contact icons have settled down some, and it appears to me like we are looking at perhaps one FJ company with support assets on this axis.

No firing on this axis, other than my errant bazooka rocket a minute ago or so... which came to nothing, other than letting my opponent know I have an AT team in front of him.  Brilliant.

STuGs on Axis RED:

003-STuG-RED.PNG

AXIS ORANGE:

The Germans on this sector have positioned  several MG teams, many of which have started firing on my pickets causing a few casualties, but nothing serious.  So this confirms that he has spotted a few of my teams.  I am responding with some sporadic mortar fire, with no obvious effect.  

It really is starting to look like this is a support by fire position.  The third STuG is still present and sends a round toward my lines once in a while to no effect.. so far.

003-B.png

I need to reinstall my version of CMBN, the version I am running has some graphical issues that look really bad.. smoke, dust, etc... and I saw a German truck driving in his rear and the driver was sitting above the cab.. so yeah.. I need to fix this installation.  Once I do that I'll be able to show more closeups images.

Edited by Bil Hardenberger
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On ‎30‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 12:48 PM, Bil Hardenberger said:

Heh, funny story there... I neglected cover arcs on some important units in this game and I come to grief over it, my stupid AT Team in the scout party fires a rocket at some infantry in the next minute for example... blowing the surprise and making them a priority target...  there is a lesson in there for all of us to not get too complacent and lazy.

I hate it when they do that!  :P

The degree of precision that CM demands of the player is a big part of what makes it such a remarkable game in my opinion.

5 hours ago, Bil Hardenberger said:

The third STuG is still present and sends a round toward my lines once in a while to no effect.. so far.

That'll be the battery commander no doubt.....If it is, and he's unbuttoned, a couple of light mortar rounds might be well spent in an attempt to bugger up the morale of his two minions out front.  ;)

I know this battle already happened, just saying.....

Edited by Sgt.Squarehead
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AXIS ORANGE

I have another scout team, made up of a recon team and an HQ unit (from Dog Company) deep on Axis ORANGE.  Towards the end of this turn the STuG on this axis drove straight towards them...

004-ORANGE-A.PNG

However, I don't think these two teams have been spotted, as the STuG appears to have turned between two buildings, appearing like it was simply trying to get a better angle on my defenders.  I could be wrong as I lost sight of this vehicle right after this shot was taken, but it looked like it was starting to turn left.

004-ORANGE-B.PNG 

AXIS RED

On Axis Red I decided to try to take a long range shot at one of the STuGs to my front.  It is literally a long shot, but taking out or damaging one of these things now could really help in the long run, right Captain Obvious?

My AT Team rushed across the danger area to the hedges on the other side...

004-RED-A.png

Once in position they organized to take a shot...note in the following image that the STuG's flank is facing my team.

004-RED-B.png

Unfortunately... the rocket hits the trees and the STuG keeps moving.. I don't think they ever knew they were threatened...

004-RED-C.png

Both STuGs ended up facing Axis Yellow and appear to be guarding the flank of the Axis RED infantry, which can be seen linking up with the STuGs on the right edge of this image:

004-RED-D.png

Edited by Bil Hardenberger
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I apologize for the delay on this AAR, I've been distracted recently...  ;)

AXIS RED

008+A.png

We are now in the 8th minute of action.. not a lot has happened as my opponent is shuttling troops to his jump off positions.  On the back road he is running trucks back and forth,  each one dropping off a platoon of infantry with each load.  I guess he now must have close to two full companies of infantry with support arrayed against me on AXIS RED along with the two STuGs.

My three teams acting as my lead scouts in this sector are doing a wonderful job keeping the enemy at bay in this sector.  I doubt they are causing many casualties, but my opponent is being very cautious and has not advanced in the past several turns.  Once he does start his advance, and now that he is bringing more troops up, I expect it soon, my scouts will fall quickly.

008-B.PNG

AXIS ORANGE

AXIS ORANGE is definitely a Support By Fire (SBF) position, all of the units that have been identified have been MG or mortar units, along with the STuG of course.

In the image below is shown an artillery mission aimed at the corner of my ridgeline defense.  This did cause several casualties, but it was not as bad as it could have been as many of the rounds fell in front of my positions. 

008-C.PNG

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Bah! Nothing worse than watching a freaking tree jump out in the path of a bazooka round.  If I had a dime for every time that happened...[sighs wistfully...]  <_<

Great stuff Bil.  We are hooked as usual.  Have you doomed the forward scouts or do you plan to pull them back in the nick of time?  You don't want to lose Little Sure Shot and Four Eyes this soon in the battle.  Sgt. Rock would never forgive you.  

Heinrich505

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14 hours ago, Bud Backer said:

Must be frustrating to watch your enemy shuttle troops and get ready and have limited ability to intervene. I’d be aching for a tank right now!

Yeah.. not having any real long range firepower to deal with those STuGs is a bit of a pain, still, we fight with what we are given.  Having to close in to engage  them is risky.  He will lose a truck to long range MG fire during the period we are in the battle right now.. so I'm not entirely toothless.. still, that was too little, too late to have much of an effect on him being able to concentrate his attack force. 

By the way, I have a larger goal with this AAR,  so am staying at a higher level for the most part with my reports, not getting into the details too much right now as they don't really add much.. the details will start to be important very soon though.

Edited by Bil Hardenberger
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3 minutes ago, Heinrich505 said:

Bah! Nothing worse than watching a freaking tree jump out in the path of a bazooka round.  If I had a dime for every time that happened...[sighs wistfully...]  <_<

Great stuff Bil.  We are hooked as usual.  Have you doomed the forward scouts or do you plan to pull them back in the nick of time?  You don't want to lose Little Sure Shot and Four Eyes this soon in the battle.  Sgt. Rock would never forgive you.  

Heinrich505

They are a speed bump.. and their job is to delay and report the enemy movements.. I don't want to lose them but am willing to make that sacrifice if I can discern his exact attack route.

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15 hours ago, Bud Backer said:

Must be frustrating to watch your enemy shuttle troops and get ready and have limited ability to intervene. I’d be aching for a tank right now!

Yes probably :D.  But I'm guessing a Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR) may have just been answered.  Now BluFor commander has more information to decide on which Course Of Action (COA) to choose. :) 

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