Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 19, 2019 Author Share Posted February 19, 2019 Using my sweet Photoshop skills, you can see my basic plan. I planned to take companies of infantry, C company on the Left represented by the Green arrow and D company on the Right, represented by the Blue arrow. The Red arrow in the centre is where the AFV's will be travelling. I plan to seize the church to use as an observation post and possible strong point. Once I have cleared the right side of the map, including the church and surrounding buildings I will wheel left and attempt to push as far through the town as possible. The AFV's are in the middle to help the first company to come into enemy contact. Each motorized rifle company comes with three platoons of three sections of 9 men, and one 2 inch mortar per platoon. Each Platoon also has one section with a PIAT. When I chose the men, I left selected all my men and vehicles as regular, with high motivation and left the leadership settings at Typical. Each Rifle company also came with two tubes of 81mm mortars in carriers. They have 58 rounds of HE per tube and 8 smoke rounds. These are my AFV's, 9 Bren carriers, 4 Staghounds, 3 Daimler II and 2 Humber IV. While we had agreed to only take AFV's with two rubber wheels, RH made an exception for the little Bren carrier, if I win this battle, he will claim I cheated and take the victory by default. All of the AFVs are split fairly even into two platoons, one under each company. They will be working in close proximity to each other and should be able to help spread communication through all my ranks. The Bren carriers are part of the scout platoon of the Recce Regiment, so they came with a 2 inch mortar and rounds. There is a know, documented and hopefully fixed in the upcoming patch, issue with these mortars. The scouts can acquire them, but then they are not able to use them. To avoid this problem, I unloaded all my scouts and gave the rounds to the platoon level mortars. They started the battle of with 9 HE and 9 WP rounds. They now have 26 HE and 13 WP each. Each company then has 78 HE rounds and 39 WP rounds for the 2 inch mortars and 116 HE rounds and 16 smoke rounds for the 81mm mortars. You have probably noticed I did not take any independent machine gun teams. Each Bren carrier has 2000 rounds for their Brens, the Staghounds have 7000 rounds for their mg's and the Daimler and Humbers are also carrying 2-3000 rounds of mg ammo. My plan is to use them as mobile mg's and other than the Brens, they have the bonus of their main guns to help clear out any serious opposition and any enemy AFV. The Staghounds have a 37 mm main gun, while the Daimler and Humbers come with a 40 mm gun. Gunners in Bren carriers seem to be quite well protected, hopefully a little better than the German halftrack gunners will be! Here are my orders for turn one. The 81mm mortars and Company HQ's will remain stationary, everyone else is heading out to find RH and his men. As a surprise for RH, I have hired some special janitors for the church. These two Brens will be heading on FAST for the church. There are two Crack Scout teams, 2 Elite sniper teams. The sniper teams will be given orders to climb the steeple and get eyes across the map while the scouts will take the lower floors to provide some cover. No, that is not a spare tire for the Bren carrier but rather an Elite flamethrower team, nicknamed The Preacher. I hope to have The Preacher in the church before RH shows up and he can rain down fire and brimstone from the pulpit onto RH's men! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BletchleyGeek Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 4 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said: These two Brens will be heading on FAST for the church. There are two Crack Scout teams, 2 Elite sniper teams. Hmmm that sounds familiar Great initiative to start this AAR, following it closely too! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Turn 1: C Company on the left hustles to their first positions. A Staghound rumbles past in the background taking up an overwatch position. On the right, the scouts in the first carrier race to the church. The route up into town looks clear... but is it? Can you see the enemy in this pic?? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Turn 2: On the left, C company continues to take up positions, no enemy seen. On the right the story is completely different. First Carrier with the scouts, rounds the corner and speeds off to the church. Enemy halftrack in the distance! Second Carrier with the snipers and the Preacher reach the corner and begin to turn just before the clock runs out. They don't make it. 20 mm autocannon fire rings out and the Preacher goes up in flames. All the snipers make it out alive, several with severe burns. They are given orders to double time it to the church and hopefully safety. Overview of the battle just before the preacher goes up in flames. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 As I continue to add to this story, feel free to chime in with your tactics suggestions and what you think you see developing on the battlefield. If there is an area of the map you would to see a screen grab from, let me know and I will see what I can do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 I am going to change the numbering here for the turns, this would be turn 3 but minute 1:58-1:57. On the left, nothing to report. Troops still moving into positions and advancing into the town. On the right, the action continues to heat up. The scouts in the church see some men running into the small house just past the church. They open fire and one man drops. Let's hope it was the squad leader, but if your games play out like mine, the scouts hit the least important man in the team. The snipers from the burning carrier sprint into the church while the scouts continue to blast away at the incoming German infantry. Another man goes down and other turn tail and flee for cover. As the snipers start to climb the tower, more Germans spring into view. Looks like RH has sent at least one mounted platoon, with support, to attack the church. A closer up look at the halftracks in the rear. One is firing away at my men. Note the puff of smoke yet lack of tracer fire. As the turn ends a new threat rumbles into view. Stummel! Orders for this turn include continuing to move C Company into town in small bounds, always trying to keep a few men stationary in overwatch positions. While cycling through the C company platoons, it turns out they can spot the halftracks in the objective zone. One two inch mortar is given orders to open fire. The AFV's up the center are starting to spread out, two Staghounds are using the buildings for cover and slowly moving forward to try and spot the enemy halftracks. One of the scout teams is given a face command to view the enemy side of the church. One D company platoon is spreading out into the buildings to the right of the church, hoping to gain some spots on the enemy. A second D company platoon is advancing to the houses on the flank of the church. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 It's fun to play with those HT's with the 75mm. They are powerful, but very vulnerable. It's like riding a motorbike. If you are a good biker, you will probably be a very good car driver - same with going from being good with a Stummel to a tank. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMac Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) Ok, HT, "SEND MORE BRAINS"...err, I mean send another update with pics...Sorry, don't mean to rush you, but this DAR is getting more interesting Now, you know what must be done...Send the Rug-Rats to bed, kiss the Wifey good nite, then head back down to your Gaming Parlor/Man-Cave for a couple hours to finish-up and post another DAR turn...I want no less then 2-3 DAR turns per Week...And, don't give me any of that "Real Life Issues Come First", Crap...Capisce Edited February 28, 2019 by JoMc67 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 1 hour ago, JoMc67 said: Ok, HT, "SEND MORE BRAINS"...err, I mean send another update with pics...Sorry, don't mean to rush you, but this DAR is getting more interesting Now, you know what must be done...Send the Rug-Rats to bed, kiss the Wifey good nite, then head back down to your Gaming Parlor/Man-Cave for a couple hours to finish-up and post another DAR turn...I want no less then 2-3 DAR turns per Week...And, don't give me any of that "Real Life Issues Come First", Crap...Capisce Busy week Joe, but I can post one up tonight! Minute 1:57-1:56 We will start on the left with C Company as it has been a while since their positions have been updated. The platoons have been moving in leap frog, one moving, the other two in over watch. They are almost to the edge of the objective, near the middle of town. A few more bounds and they should be on the objective. They have some contacts on the right side of the map, but still nothing ahead of them. They will continue this same movement until they secure the first line of buildings in the objective or make contact with RH's men. Back to the church. The scouts I gave a face order to last turn decided they would sprint out of the tower, into the main part of the church and go all the way to the far end of the building. Before they even make it to the end, incoming fire first drops one man and less than three seconds later another That did not go as planned. Who is to blame for their deaths? Some PanzerGrenadiers! Note the snipers in the bell tower come under some sort of HE fire this turn, somehow RH has seen them moving up the tower. In the background, some men from D Company are rounding the corner of a house and making their way to the church. The men from D company get close but those PzG nail another one of my men He must have been the best friend to every man in the squad as a few seconds later, his squad mates turn tail and run away. Their fellow platoon mates and the remaining scout, pour fire onto the heads of the PzG, and while I see no one drop, one man appears to be starting to run away. Have I broken their will to fight?? Near the end of the minute, one of my Daimlers gets a bead on a fully loaded halftrack! HA HA revenge is ours Except instead of hitting anything important or the passenger compartment, my gunner decided a road wheel needed a hole... I hope he gets a chance to fire again. This image also shows what appears to be a 20mm cannon halftrack. Could this be the one who killed the Preacher? Whoever he is, he draws a bead on a passing Daimler, takes aim and hits, killing the driver. The crew bail and run away. Here is an overview of the positions of my men at the end of the turn. I have taken a close up view of where I have seen RH's men so far. The buildings circled in red have had some infantry spotted running into them. My analysis at this point of the battle leads me to believe I have found the one of RH's companies as well as some of his support vehicles. I have counted at least 6 halftracks including two support versions. While I have some solid contacts, like the fully loaded halftracks, others have been only a single man spotted here or there. I feel confident still with my plan laid out at the start of the battle, but I have more questions than answers. Where are the rest of his men? Are they with this company and I have not yet seen them? Could they be just out of sight and next turn come rolling into view decimating my men? Or did RH split his forces into two battle groups and his other half is just infantry working their way in on the other flank of the map? Should I push in hard with my AFV's and another platoon of men from C company and attempt to crush his men by the church right away? If I do, will I leave my flanks exposed and potentially walk straight in to a trap? The answers to these questions and more in the next post. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 For those keeping score at home, at this point in the battle I have lost a complete flamethrower team, a Bren carrier, three infantry and one driver. To my eyes, I have taken out three of his men and one wheel. I will need to see if I can make a blood board to keep track of the losses and will start to post it up with each turn. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletpoint Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) 4 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said: That did not go as planned. Who is to blame for their deaths? Some PanzerGrenadiers! Certainly not their commanding officer, no sireee.. Seriously though, it's an interesting AAR. Thanks and keep it coming. Edited February 28, 2019 by Bulletpoint 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Canadian Cat Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 9 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said: I have taken out three of his men and one wheel. You know its bad when you start counting tires punctured on your win column Loving the AAR - some really nice pictures of the action too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMac Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 (edited) Looking Good, HT...As a change of Pace, there are many times I prefer watching an DAR/AAR, then actually playing the Game. Only Suggestions for taking esthetic looking Pics...Turn off Objectives (turn on once every 5 minutes to update/refresh the Forumites), Turn off Landmarks, Turn off Hit Locations. Edited March 1, 2019 by JoMc67 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 6:30 PM, JoMc67 said: Looking Good, HT...As a change of Pace, there are many times I prefer watching an DAR/AAR, then actually playing the Game. Only Suggestions for taking esthetic looking Pics...Turn off Objectives (turn on once every 5 minutes to update/refresh the Forumites), Turn off Landmarks, Turn off Hit Locations. I will be doing this for the screenshots I have yet to take. But in the meantime.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 RH has been asking lots of questions about how this DAR is going and I have been bugging him about starting up one from his side of the map. He has indicated he is going to be starting one soon so I had better maintain my lead on him! I left things with a question about what is happening and my next plans. I decided to stick with the plan and here is how things turned out. This turn will focus once again D Company as all the action seems to be happening in their sector. Turn 1:56-1:55 Well, it looks like I missed some signs but RH has at least one more Stummel. This Stummel begins to fire on my men supporting the action at the church. Soon it has caused enough damage to knock down a wall and send my men fleeing for safer cover. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 Over at the church there is a battle between a Staghound and the 20mm auto cannon halftrack. First, the halftrack shot in the wheels last turn takes some incoming rifle fire and reverses to safety. The sniper in the tower draws a bead, exposing his location to RH's men. It doesn't end well. A Staghound supporting D Company soon spots a 20 mm AC halftrack. The Staghound crew opens fire with their MG's while the main gun takes careful aim. The 20mm AC is reversing out of trouble, hopefully he will be unaware of the danger he is in. Uh oh, looks like that cannon is starting to draw a bead on the Staghound. He is reversing at full speed so any shots should be hasty and off target right? The Staghound takes careful aim and fires! A clean hit! It misses everything important and the 20mm AC is able to return fire. Not just return fire, but fire accurately, while reversing, just after taking solid hit to halftrack. Can the battle luck be any worse?? If you look closely there are two holes in the Staghound, one of which killed the driver. Not only does the 20mm AC halftrack take a hit and kill my Staghound driver while reversing, somehow while all that is going on, he manages to spot the sniper in the church tower as well takes him and the spotter out with a perfectly aimed shot. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 D Company catches no luck this turn. While sitting in over watch of two Staghounds, 3 section of 13 Platoon come under heavy HE fire. Two shots later they have lost 4 of the 7 men in the section. Where did that come from?? The only clue is this cloud of dust. As the men flee cover, the cloud of dust is revealed to be yet another Stummel. But how did he manage to see my men in the house from so far away and through such thick cover? Here is an un-zoomed in view from the Stummel's position. See anything? Me neither. But on max zoom, ah there they are. RH's men have eagle eyes! The second shot makes it mark and leaves me with yet another letter to write home. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 The turn ends with even more good news for the men of D Company. As if three Stummels isn't bad enough, another 20mm AC halftrack is spotted at turns end. My gunners have yet to take out one of his halftracks and now there are two of the most lethal ones seen yet in this battle. Just great news. In discussion via PM with RH, we have decided to call this little house by the church, where I managed to score one lucky shot earlier in the battle, Sexton's House. Again at the end of the turn, these men pop into view. Note the marksman in house in the background. He appears to be taking aim at someone, but who? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOS:96B2P Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 11 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said: Not only does the 20mm AC halftrack take a hit and kill my Staghound driver while reversing, somehow while all that is going on, he manages to spot the sniper in the church tower as well takes him and the spotter out with a perfectly aimed shot. After the battle it would be interesting to know the soft factors of the 20mm AC halftrack. Is it luck, a really good crew or maybe both? Nice AAR. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMac Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Yeah, I'm afraid to say it, but I still think using Vet/Crack and along with High Motivation/and Leadership (or whatever High quality units both sides tend to purchase) in CM tends to make things happen too fast and too accurate. This is why I just generalize all Units and tell Opponents in my QB's to only use Green (as the basis for quality) with Low or High Motivation/Leadership Soft Factors (depending if actually Inf, Para, Ranger, SS, etc)...ex; U.S. Para would be Green, High Motivation, +1 Leadership. A standard German Field Div would be Green, Normal Motivation, 0 Leadership, etc (2nd Rate Germ Div would be Green, Low Motivation, -1 Leadership)...I also tend to give HQ's one higher Leadership. Anyways, something along those lines as it tends to help the too fast too accurate syndrome a little... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMac Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 I also wonder if HT & RH are allowing Units to fire against enemy Units/Icons they can't see ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOS:96B2P Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, JoMc67 said: .ex; U.S. Para would be Green, High Motivation, +1 Leadership. A standard German Field Div would be Green, Normal Motivation, 0 Leadership, etc (2nd Rate Germ Div would be Green, Low Motivation, -1 Leadership)... Interesting. I may try this. 1 hour ago, JoMc67 said: I also wonder if HT & RH are allowing Units to fire against enemy Units/Icons they can't see ? I'm not sure. I did a quick scan of the beginning of this thread and didn't notice any rules on this. However, they are playing with enemy icons off. I think this also means enemy tentative contact icons are off. I'm not seeing tentative contact icons in the screenshots. So if they are doing recon by fire it is really recon by fire. Edited March 3, 2019 by MOS:96B2P 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701e Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Great DAR indeed !! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heirloom_Tomato Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 3 hours ago, JoMc67 said: I also wonder if HT & RH are allowing Units to fire against enemy Units/Icons they can't see ? We are playing with no enemy icons at all visible. No spotting contacts, no sound contacts, no spotted contacts. The only enemy units I know about, are the ones currently being spotted and those where I remember spotting them in a previous turn. Any area fire happening is either completely blind or onto a location I have seen enemy troops in. As for giving my men target commands, to this point in the battle the only target orders I have given are to the 2 inch mortars. Every other unit has been engaging on its own. I have also not given any target arcs to any of my men. In a normal battle this might seem like a bad idea, in this battle I need my men to start shooting so I know they can actually see something. The next turn has a clear example of this. I am working on the screenshots now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoMac Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Heirloom_Tomato said: We are playing with no enemy icons at all visible. No spotting contacts, no sound contacts, no spotted contacts. The only enemy units I know about, are the ones currently being spotted and those where I remember spotting them in a previous turn. Any area fire happening is either completely blind or onto a location I have seen enemy troops in. As for giving my men target commands, to this point in the battle the only target orders I have given are to the 2 inch mortars. Every other unit has been engaging on its own. I have also not given any target arcs to any of my men. In a normal battle this might seem like a bad idea, in this battle I need my men to start shooting so I know they can actually see something. The next turn has a clear example of this. I am working on the screenshots now. Ahh...That's right, and you did mention it in one of your first posts...Ok, and all is Good :-) Edited March 3, 2019 by JoMc67 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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