Counterattack To Galatas...

[Paul Atreides]

Hi guys,

I just got this game, and first of all I wanted to say that I love it already. So far I have only played againtt the AI, and have beaten "2 pounders and tigers", "A few boys from Texas", and "A ranger last stand". I loved them all, but especially the ranger last stand. I have tried some bigger scenarios, but I find them a bit too daunting, so for now I'll just stick with the smaller ones. One mission that I just can't beat is Counterattack to Galatas.

I know that the key to succesfully beating this mission is concentrated fire and basic infantery tactics.

Some questions however:

- What is the best way to use the scouting tanks in this mission? I usually rush one forward to the HMGer, and have an other one as a back up to reinforce my line when needed.

- Should I split my force in two? My usual tactic is to have the main force stick to the bushes next to the road, leapfrogging closer to the village, and have a smaller force flank the enemy for some crossfire.

Please give me some pointers, everytime I try to move forward the enemy concentrates their fire, and I have to take cover (Even when advancing or assaulting).

Thank you

[Kingfish]

Not a guarantee for victory, but I find this approach has worked for me...

I divide my forces into 3 groups. Group 1 will consist of 1 company HQ w/ 2x 2" mortar teams, 3 platoons and 2 Bren LMG teams. They are to advance across the top of Pink hill and work their way behind Galatas. I usually give each unit a long, winding path that terminates near the group of houses behind the town. The company HQ, both mortar teams + 1 Bren team will stay atop Pink hill to form a firebase.

Group 2 consist of both light tanks + one platoon as escorts. The tanks are buttoned up and given a short covered arc. This is important because they tend to fire off their ammo rather quickly, so best to preserve it until its needed. This group will advance down the main road, with the infantry keeping to the right where there is more cover. They should stop in the trees short of the stone wall, but to be prepared to withdraw once the inevitable mortar barrage falls on them.

Group 3 will consists of everyone left over, and they will be ordered to swing wide-right and come into the town from the flank. Their objective is the row of houses on the far right.

Once groups 1 and 3 are in position they should attack the rear and flank of the town simultaneously, with platoons leapfrogging one other to provide maximum covering fire. It is important to keep your units constantly moving because of the threat of German mortars.

Group 2 and the firebase atop Pink hill should provide long range covering fire, and to prevent any German units from switching positions.

With any luck groups 1 & 3 will link up near the VL. As soon as the German units realize the danger of losing the flag they will abandon their positions and try to counterattack. This is where the tanks will come in handy. Run them up to positions overlooking the main square. From there they can stop any Germans from crossing.

[Paul Atreides]

Thanks man! I never tried flanking them, and it worked. Today is going to be my online game against a friend, and I already love this game!

[Falcon988]

I played this battle TCP/IP against my usual opponent and lost it as well. Not for lack of trying though. My New Zealander infantry put up one great fight and penetrated very deep into the town. Unfortunately our attack just ran out of steam as the high attrition rates (casualties) and lack of ammo took its toll. My offensive was halted just ouside the center flag when practically all my men were low on ammo.

[dieseltaylor]

Probably the best scenario I have played against a human.

[pawter]

I have just tried (& was loosing when my pc crashed) an attack against a +75% reinforced Axis AI.

So, as well as considering the nuances of this new game engine (seemingly increased effect of side arms & light mortars?) I did a little reading.

Below is an excellent site:

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/Gallery/crete/day6.htm

Coincidentally my own thinking was tending towards the way the Kiwi's did it in real life too (company columns either side of road behind the tanks). A fair testament to the verisimilitude of the game's mechanism in teaching tactics.

I like Kingfish's pincer move but am worried about time/ammo running out, wholly aside from men getting lost & bushwhacked.

[Kingfish]

The same day I posted I also played the scenario using the tactics I described above. I ended up with a decisive vic with turns to spare. In fact, I did not lose one unit, and only 2 were panicked enough to get the red dot.

The timing issue is not a problem if you plot your units in wide flanking arcs, making sure they stay out of LOS of the village.

The garrison is deployed to defend against an attack coming down the main road and to the immediate right. What I did instead was come in from behind and far right, and when I finally encountered his MLR I had the concentrated FP of 5+ platoons to deal with it.

[Pinetree]

I had an absolute ball playing this one against the AI.Here's what I did:

I followed the historical route by columns either side of the road,when i got to the trees at the bend of the road I got plastered by mortars and MG fire.heaps of pinned and panicked units.I used one tank to charge at the mg in the corner house,which surrendered.

I sent as many units as I could to the stone wall on the right and they worked their way forward into the village,assaulting the dug in paras forcing a few to surrender.

The boys on the left,I sent house to house and i found it was just a couple of sections(squads)that were really effective in the house to house scraps.i'm pretty sure it was the guys that didn't shake or panic in the mortar attack.

The tanks quickly ran out of ammo so I just used them to charge German positions hoping they would panic or surrender.It didn't work very well,one was knocked out and the other immobilized.

The rest of the battle was just a leap-frog affair with the guys on the left just clearing house by house and the blokes on the right moving their way to the big building in the middle which gave me the big objective flag.

I managed to get a tacical victory with casualties and KIA's pretty even and a final score of 32%-68%.Great fun,I'll probably do what kingfish said next time and flank them.I'd love to give this a go against a human, maybe my next Pbem.

[ March 13, 2004, 05:56 AM: Message edited by: Pinetree ]

[Wisbech_lad]

Also played vs AI - a good scenario.

I made gamey use of the fact that AI fire discipline is poor, and the expected FJ with 2 LMG have low ammo points vs CW...

One platoon, and a Company HQ with support weapons went over Pink Hill. Two full platoons went way way right. The rest (about 4 platoons and the tanks) pushed up the road.

This thrust (and the right flanking move) then basically sat in good cover and traded fire for 20-25 minutes, only shifting to get away from mortar fire. The armoured prams took out the HMG.

The left flanking move then rolled up the defence on that flank, jumping from house to house against FJ now low in ammo. This made the AI reposition, and a general advance was ordered in the last few minutes.

[dieseltaylor]

Having played a human as my first game, I was Germans and victorious despite a rather good pincer attack. Curious to try out a few tactics against the AI - I advanced up adjacent to the road. Very traditional and designed really for my own investigation on how to lose as the ANZAC's.

I did lose but I wish to say how Lt Bundabeg lead his three men up the road in intense fire for two minutes to claim the little building that was housing a dead LMG squad.

The AI decided to send two 12 man squads to recover it the first one, down to nine men broke in and by concentrating my fire from my squads 100 metres away I must have pinned as for two minutes my four men were in there without dying having a little bit of action , the other squad must have been seriously weakened as it broke in and died, the nine man squad left the building shortly thereafter one man strong. Score for the 4 heroes 10 killed no losses!!!

Exciting - you bet

[Stalin's Organ]

I played the Kiwis against a human PBEM player & got caned - the flag was neutral at hte end, but I'd pursued a cautious attack, sending 1 platoon around the rear of hte Village to the left, and 2 platoons to the right.

My tanks both got KO'ed by the mortars - although 1 did use up all its ammo first!!

In all I think I only inflicted 24 casualties on the germans & lost 60-odd myself - a historical charge up hte guts wouldn't have done worse!!

[dieseltaylor]

Played it properly this time and got a major 73 /27 but what was gratifying was that I was trying not to be to bloddthirsty and lost 10 men and had 23 wounded which I thought v. reasonable.

And six of those dead were in the tanks that I played silly buggers with .......

An excellent learning scenario. Not too big and with the advantage that the troops come with built in combined arms to practice with.

[dieseltaylor]

Stalin ..

Posted my last one before reading your post. Strangely that was the tactics I used - but I suspect against a human you would have to be lucky to win.

One think I did do was to use the central platoons at a distance- with most of the Brens to keep his men occupied and under fire from virtually the beginning. I think spending 29 minutes firing at the front positions with a few feint advances tended to concentrate the AI's mind - and would be pretty much what I would do against a human.

[Mupid]

hi,

I also am seeking some advice here...

I have played this scenario once and lost and now with a different approach seem to be losing again...(both times vs AI (*embarrassed*))

1st game: one company advanced over the pink hill and moved into the house were the hmg was located; a small force moved together with the tanks up the road, another taskforce moved to the right and advanced over the small hill to support the main advance which i though will be made over the pink hill and then slowly working my way through the city; which did not work at all; the right flank eventually moved into the village but not far enough to get the victory flag; the whole advance lost power through low ammo and casualties and was pretty much bogged down.

2nd game: similar approach; one company over the pink hill, one company right, the individual platoons in the center; the plan this time was to concentrate on the right flank, as this seemed more profitable as the 1st scenario showed me; but now turn twentysomething its nearly the same, the assault also was stopped in the outskirts of the village; all my troops sit in cover in the outskirts but there seems to be no chance that they have the power to push the fjs back;

the main problems i have are: the firepower of the germans: the very moment i try to advance a squad from cover to cover they hit the dirt and become pinned or even panicked; so i sneak them from cover to cover which takes too much time; on the other hand even with concentrated fire i cannot push the fjs out of their positions on the left flank; it kind of works - but too slowly - on the right flank;

what am i doing wrong?

[Kingfish]

Originally posted by Mupid:

2nd game: similar approach; one company over the pink hill, one company right, the individual platoons in the center; the plan this time was to concentrate on the right flank, as this seemed more profitable as the 1st scenario showed me; but now turn twentysomething its nearly the same, the assault also was stopped in the outskirts of the village; all my troops sit in cover in the outskirts but there seems to be no chance that they have the power to push the fjs back;

How far to the right are you going before you begin the assault on the village? You should be as far to the east as the map allows, then run one platoon at a time across the open road and into the trees on the north side.

Once across you should organize your RH force so they advance along the axis of the village houses, with one strong platoon going house to house, while everyone else a tad bit behind and north (IOW, backyard to backyard). This advance shields the majority of your force from the main German defenses in the village center, while allowing you to roll up his defenses from the flank. Your lead platoon should leapfrog a half-squad forward into the next house in line, but only after the others have taken up position to provide the maximum in covering fire. If an enemy unit is encountered the lead platoon should pin them, allowing the followup platoons to flank and neutralize. Rinse and repeat.

[Mupid]

Originally posted by Kingfish:

How far to the right are you going before you begin the assault on the village? You should be as far to the east as the map allows, then run one platoon at a time across the open road and into the trees on the north side.

Once across you should organize your RH force so they advance along the axis of the village houses, with one strong platoon going house to house, while everyone else a tad bit behind and north (IOW, backyard to backyard). This advance shields the majority of your force from the main German defenses in the village center, while allowing you to roll up his defenses from the flank. Your lead platoon should leapfrog a half-squad forward into the next house in line, but only after the others have taken up position to provide the maximum in covering fire. If an enemy unit is encountered the lead platoon should pin them, allowing the followup platoons to flank and neutralize. Rinse and repeat.

i advanced approx. in the middle of the map (the part where i could use the depression and the small hill with the scattered trees and the stone wall as cover for my advance); idea was that they could give supporting fire to center and left flank; something they couldnt do if too far to the right; well, my mistake will give your approach a try

thanks for your reply!

[Kingfish]

Originally posted by Mupid:

i advanced approx. in the middle of the map (the part where i could use the depression and the small hill with the scattered trees and the stone wall as cover for my advance); idea was that they could give supporting fire to center and left flank; something they couldnt do if too far to the right;

The Germans defenses are generally arrayed along the axis of the village, IOW east to west, so any advance into the center will take fire from not only the center but from both flanks as well, and the TAC AI (the part that controls your forces in battle) hates taking fire from more than one direction.

will give your approach a try

thanks for your reply!

Keep in mind that timing is important, since you only have 30 minutes in this scenario. Give your RH flanking force one long plot line from their setup to the scattered trees just south of the "Y" road junction near the eastern map edge. This will keep the movement delay to a minimum. You should get there in 6-8 turns.

I would also suggest having a platoon + Bren ready to suppress that lone MG in the first house, since he will be the only one that can fire on your flankers as they move into position.

[Mupid]

i finished the 2nd attempt on galatas and after all achieved a draw; now i will do the "sweep"

I would also suggest having a platoon + Bren ready to suppress that lone MG in the first house, since he will be the only one that can fire on your flankers as they move into position.

thanks for the tip!

mupid

[Rodent]

You crazy folks have made me want to play this scenario, which I suspect came with the game. I, however, wisely deleted all the scenarios that came with the game. To make the scenario list prettier and easier to find the newly downloaded ones et cetera et cetera. I checked on the scenario-depot but naturally it isn't there.

Is there somewhere to download it from? If not, can anybody email it to me but not to the email in the profile?

rodent_hq yahoo couk

Five gold sovereigns to the kind folk that does it.

[Mupid]

done

[Rodent]

Thanks.