Boris Balaban Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 Originally posted by John Kettler: Tom Norton, Boris Balaban, Owner of the fastest shooting M-10 in the West! Every now and then I cross paths with the AAR of our fight--and cringe! Do either of you have any AARs from back then, Invitational or ROW? If so, please post them at the link and be sure to E-mail them to Kingfish, keeper of the official archive. Mine was more of a dig through the public material. Speaking of Kingfish, he's converting FotM to CMAK. http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=30;t=003745;p=2#000026 WineCape, Meant to say I was glad to know Ultimate ROW was still on. Regards, John Kettler Sorry , no. But I claim the fast reload time to that extra cup of joe that morning for the tank crews 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pascal DI FOLCO Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Hey, I would have bet my right arm CMC was dead vaporware, but now after reading Moon... I'll bet my left only ! But Hope is here again ! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Köhler Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I still wouldn't hold my breath though. Last post on the Beta forum is over two weeks old. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Jussi, that's mainly because we have moved to a new beta test area which is invisible here. It is part of our new forum that we will be migrating to this summer. MArtin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jussi Köhler Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Originally posted by Moon: Jussi, that's mainly because we have moved to a new beta test area which is invisible here. It is part of our new forum that we will be migrating to this summer. MArtin Ahhaa, thats devious. Damn devious. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Norton Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 John. I do not have those AARs any longer. I did do them, and sent them into who it was we were suppose too. Ironicly, I do have in my Lessions Learned Journal, notes from our battle. As you recall, our fight was at night, visibility was about three to four. My attack was three prongs, the center immeditely went from contack, to a full firefight. At the short range we were at, losses were high. The American picket force (in foxholes) was overrun in the center. The German assult then started to proceed through a hedge line, one of three that grew left to right across the map. The German troops started to be pinned and casualties started to mount. This was really a mystery to me, as I could not see where they were getting hit from. LESSION NUMBER ONE: After action, I discovered that you took the battle for what it was named, to heart. You had a fall back position beyond the hedge line, and beyond the visability range BUT NOT BEYOND THE RANGE OF SOUND. Sounds in the night. You had your men area fire the sound contacks, too great effect. Due to the above, the center assult lost coordination, resulting in lession learned two. LESSION NUMBER TWO: Due, to the center slowing down, the left fland, your right, rushed forward, ahead of the other two prongs. This group did not have any hedge delay, and made fast progress using the standard combat assult. Again, American pickets were encountered, and quickly disposed of. Due to the obvious progress, the center prong started moving in that direction as well. I do not recall seeing the spotter rounds fall, but when you called in the fire for effect, the barrage devastated my assult. How, at night, could this happen? After action, showed me the value of your preregistered fire location. You had zeroed in the very area you guessed my assult would gain the greatest speed. As you know, that prong never recovered from that bombardment. Preregistered 105mm fire is just as effective at night, as it is in the day. Finally, the right flank (your left) did break through, but ran out of time. I wrote your comment to me at the end was that you had to commit your company HQ to that flank, as you had run out of men. You are obviously a good teacher, John. I hope to give you a good return in Campaigns! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithers Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Put me on the Beta list.............. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Tom Norton, While I appreciate the kudos, I think you're overestimating my planning capabilities. Basically, what I tried to do was block as many approach routes as I could, as effectively as I could, with limited means. The battle was far from being one sided, in that it devoured men wholesale on both sides. Remember that house? Am sure corpses were stacked outside of it like cordwood. Couldn't tell you how many times we slaughtered each other just to be in that cursed building. What you saw as precision fire was anything but from my end once you were no longer close to my TRPs. It then became a hair-raising exercise in trying to get fire down where I wanted it, in time to do something meaningful. Accomplishing this meant taking repeated risks, such as bringing my FO forward and being fired upon, not to mention the extreme measures I used on my left. M-10s have no business doing what mine did at night with hostile infantry about. Desperation dictated otherwise. Nor were you in my shoes when the 105 FO went Winchester, leaving my entire right dependent on a weak infantry screen in which, I believe, even the company HQ fought and took casualties. As Wellington said of Waterloo, it was a near run thing. My defenders were out of nearly everything, but your force, which took all kinds of punishment because it had to advance, folded first. Even so, that fight very nearly gave me PTSD. Even now, thinking about it makes my skin crawl. As far as our next clash, I can't do to you what I did before, for the game has been dramatically changed. The artillery I wielded like a rapier is now more of a maul, and clumsily swung at that. Even a high grade German FO will be slower than my veteran American FO and will likely have fewer rounds to play with. Should also point out that part of my "artillery miracle" before was that I made sure to stay within command radius of a high grade HQ, thus multiplying my already high combat effectiveness. If Russian, it's all about astute fire planning, preplanned fires and using the "Q" button to add delay to the impact time. On the other hand, the days of charging through multiple MGs firing are over, for MGs not only do a better job of suppressing than before, but now go to high ROF when targets get close, simulating final protective fires. Nasty. It'll be a pleasure to cross swords again with you, Tom Norton, and test each other's mettle and metal! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellysheroes Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 I'm so looking forward to this as I wasn't really impressed with Kharkov, dunno exactly why, but, it's something niggling and everytime I load it I just get a sick feeling to my stomach? Maybe it's like cheating on your wife? I was so dedicated to Combat Mission (until that disaster CM:SF) it was like she cheated on me first. But, being the great guy that I am it doesn't feel good cheating on her. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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