RD tournament - Midsummer Madness

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by Kingfish:

I have to ask: where is the recon screen????

I understand the point you are trying to make about night, fog and it's lethal effects, but don't you think that your opponent's losses would have been greatly reduced had he sent a half-squad ahead of the main body to scout the far bank?

Yah, well, I didn't want to point out the obvious to the guy by rubbing it in --- I was beating him so badly I didn't want to add insult to injury by lecturing him.

I took the same route he did with an engineer platoon, only it took me almost the entire scenario to island hop my way around the archipelago, because I was paranoid as hell that he'd pull the same number on me, and so scouted every crossing before committing.

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by xerxes:

It sounds like a complaint against night/fog games. That's fine if it's not you cup of CM tea but it certainly doesn't (by itself) make a scenario bad.

I agree, the fog alone didn't do in this scenario --- it merely exacerbated it's weaknesses.

I enjoyed the previous scenario immensely, and that was foggy. It just had more cover to even it out.

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by lucero1148:

von Lucke

Loved that screenshot as I had similar results wrecking havoc and mayhem against my opponent in both my battles. However in regard to the islands being an advantage for the Germans I managed to row 2 Soviet platoons to the islands set up a reverse slope ambush by the flag nearly 2 turns before my opponent casually walked into my flamethrower. I think the point is everyone sets their strategy differently and if they are careful in the deployment and execution of their movements and orders will have a higher chance to succeed. Of course if your boats get tangled midway in its approach making you lose a turn or two in deploying efficiently you're not going to win the islands in this battle or for that matter takeover the KGB bldg.

Sounds mighty close to what I did (only I used a full platoon). That screen shot is from the far west side of the map, actually. My problem was, I needed almost all my boats to assault the peninsula, so had only two to spare, and had to use them to ferry my troops to the islands. If my opponent had been more straight-forward (instead of trying an end-run), he could have had the islands for free, and chopped me up.

Others above have stated their approach to winning the battle by blowing up the bridges and just occupying the peninsula. A really sound and viable tactic and one in which I'm glad I didn't have to fight against. Since I went for a conventional approach if my opponent had chosen to be a bridge burner I think I'd be on the sidelines.

Yes, it's so viable, there's almost no way to defeat it --- that's the problem. It would have made for a short game.

But, as I pointed out, the Sovs have a ford on their end, so even with no bridge, they can still reach the peninsula --- not so, the Germans.

[Broken]

Originally posted by von Lucke:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Broken:

The scenario seemed fairly balanced to me. The Russian rifle squads have almost 50% more firepower at 40m than the German rifle squads. As you pointed out, the Russian squads are generally bigger. The Russians have a slight edge in getting to the key terrain quickly. All in all, I felt balance was good. The scores posted so far are roughly equal between the two sides.

Actually, the Recon squads are even at 111, German engineers (with LMG) beat Sov engineers slightly (104 to 100), while Sov infantry have only a 20% advantage over German (180 to 124).

</font>

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by Broken:

180 to 124 is a 45% advantage. If you add up all the infantry on both sides (including reinforcements), the numbers are dead even. If you total the infantry squad firepower at 40m, both sides come in at about 4800, with the Russians being slightly higher. The Germans have more flamethrowers, the Russians are slightly closer to the key terrain. It appears that the designer put a lot of effort into balance.

Actually, it's just about 31% --- but who's counting? The Sovs have more weight of fire in their regular infantry squads, I'll grant you that. (Unless you factor in the German's having twice the demo charges; and the fact that German squads all have grenade bundles). But since the Sovs are out-numbered (by squads), and the weather / terrain conditions trump FP factors anyway, it's not really an advantage.

As for starting distance from the main VL, using the road down the peninsula as center, the Sovs start out 410m away by land, to the Germans 300m. By boat, the Sovs are 140m away from the end of the peninsula, sure, but they then have to cross another 130m of ground to get to the NKVD building. The Germans are 200m away from a landing at the base of the main barracks --- as are the Sovs, actually, if they use the most direct route.

Yes, it is important to get there the fastest. An experienced opponent will do exactly the same and neither side will have the advantage. Then the advantage lies with he who gets there "the fastest with the mostest".

That's true in every situation. I only mentioned it because, in this scenario, the tactical defender has a much higher advantage, thanks to the fog multiplier. In several instances, as both Sovs and Germans, I held off numerically superior forces, because he had to come to me, and moving through fog makes that a much riskier prospect.

The key terrain is the peninsula with most of the VLs. The island VLs are not critical to winning. If you focus all your forces on the peninsula and your opponent diverts some platoons to the islands, you will have the "mostest" and win.

Yah, there are 900 pts east, and only 400 west. But, let's say yr opponent gives you a nice thrashing on the peninsula, and your losses are heavy --- or he holds a few flags there, and all the flags in the islands. Can you really afford to give up 400 pts? (Though, as the Sovs, you really don't have much of a choice, since those islands are pretty much German property at the start anyway).

The problem is, you can't fit everyone on the boats. You end up dividing your forces again, and risk losing the decisive battle.

Thanks for reminding me. This was also a problem, in that the Germans (due, again, to their platoon structure) have an advantage: Their command "fits" better in the assault boats. The Sovs end up having to leave units out, or breaking up platoons, to use the boats.

As for force distribution, I sent 2 platoons (+) across the bridges, 2 platoons to the islands, and everything else by boat. My opponent sent most of his across the bridges --- but since he took his time, my 2 platoons had the defensive advantage, chewed up his company (+), and allowed me to hold long enough to use the Vet reinforcements as assault troops at the NKVD barracks (were I had his landing force pinned already) --- the guns I (mostly) left by the bridges to pound his reinforcements as they tried to cross.

If the "NKVD headquarters" offered a huge defensive advantage, it would make sense to mount a fast assault boat attack and bring the rest of your forces overland. However, the reinforcements include three 75/76mm infantry guns and light armor, which nullify the defensive value of "NKVD headquarters".

Agreed --- but see above.

If you win the battle of the bridges, you deny your opponent his reinforcements. With the force advantage gained, the rest of the peninsula fight is well in your favor. Since the bridges are decisive, it makes sense to put all your forces there.

Again, I agree --- to the first half of yr statement. And frankly, given my set-up and what you've said of yrs, I think you would have, probably, beat me.

But, yet again, I think it highlights the flaws of this scenario, when you realize all you have to do to win is destroy a single bridge in the first 10 turns of the game.

[ August 20, 2003, 11:48 PM: Message edited by: von Lucke ]

[demoss]

I just hope we get a scenario that doesn't have sharply limited visibility for round 5.

[Tanaka]

So, is snow & rain sharply limited visibility ?

[demoss]

Yes, which is why I said for round 5.