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During Action Report - hcrof vs Mike Churchmoor!


hcrof

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The Major called his called his company and platoon commanders to his command post. He wanted to brief them personally. He began to lay out the best knowledge of enemy positions and exactly what every unit should do...

On the south hill, the FO radio operator spotted a man creeping through the trees and let off a burst. The man hit the deck.

A few minutes later, the man appeared again and he squeezed the trigger again, emptying the magazine at his target. The panicked fire went wide and enemy bullets began to snap overhead. As he franticly reloaded something hit him in his leg - a grenade! A desperate kick pushed it away and the huge bang shook him. Dizzy now he turned and began to crawl away but it was too late, an enemy soldier was only feet away!

In the north Mike has tweaked his defence. He has moved some carriers and infantry back, occupied HILLFARM and put some infantry on the edge of the woods. This doesn't change my plan one bit. I now have 2 minutes before the first arty rounds drop onto Mikes position. The heavy guns will hopefully destroy a vehicle or two as well as any exposed infantry but their main role will be to create confusion and force his defenders back from the treeline.

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HILLFARM will then be isolated and can be attacked by a scratch platoon of infantry and a platoon of tanks.

My other platoon and the rest of my tanks will then race to the treeline and dismount just as the arty stops and the smoke drops, preventing Mike from counterattacking. Finally, I will hammer and anvil the remnents of his force to destroy them!

Mike seems to be probing in the south, it would be unwise of him to attack though as it would stretch his forces, especially during my attack of the north hill. Just to be sure though I have prepared my defenders in a nasty reverse slope defence if he does. Hopefully I can hold off any tanks that come my way!

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Hi. In my opinion its a bad move. Go to decisive battle without, "everything or notching" without some strategic deception, you now without little intrigue in plan. From my point of view you should think more about what opponent planning. Don't focus now on great "kursk battle" on the left flank because you can lose everything and you cant use your hole anti tank potential, first do little diversion on right flank. Wait with attack on hillfarm.

I'm advise you to start dummy attack on right flank, maybe tray to provoke and lure his forces to attack your AT luncher positions. Meanwhile drive witch one tank between forests. Create appearances of big offensive on right flank. When he respond, then attack witch full power on hillfarm. In this moment try to do only little firefight on left flank.

I wish you happy battle:)

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The other spotters on the south hill couldn't see anything, they could just hear gunfire and a few grenades followed by silence. A few seconds pass and suddenly there is a huge explosion where the FO used to be. What happened!?

They crawled over to get a look at the other side of the ridge. If the enemy tried to move down the friendly side of the hill they would get a nasty surprise.

In the north orders had been given and the commander ran back to their vehicles. They avoided revving the engines and crept towards their lines of departure as the first spotting round landed in the trees...

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My Radio operator in the south died but just as the enemy overran his position there was a large explosion. I don't know what caused it but his men are probably all dead or wounded by now!

The artillery is about to start and my guys are getting ready to go. Mike has sent me an email and I suspect he knows what will happen. It doesn't really matter now to be honest, nothing short of a full tank company will stop me now!

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ilochim - I considered what you suggested but I think in this case it would not change the outcome of this fight.

1) I have a huge advantage in intelligence. I know where Mike is but he doesn't know where I am. For this reason he doesn't fully know where an attack is coming anyway.

2) Because of this he has not allocated enough assets to defend the north hill. He is stretched quite thin.

3) I want to concentrate my forces as much as possible at the point of decision. Since Mike has a numbers advantage overall now I can't afford to waste a single tank

4) Even if I wanted to send a tank to the other side of the map it would be very difficult. Mike can watch my lateral routes from his position and would see me shift sideways.

My AT launchers have proved quite useless so far. With all the wind and relatively dense vegitation I have a very low chance of kills. My southern launchers have been taking pot shots all game and I am almost out of ammo. Result - 1 enemy tank destroyed, 4 Freindly BMPs dead. Not a good ratio!

We will see how this attack goes. If it fails you can say 'I told you so' :D

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Hi hcrof,

Love your DAR.

I noticed your tanks have covered arcs engaged. How has that worked for you? Do you usually use covered arcs when you are attacking?

I find them to be a hindrance most times. (Hindrance meaning, dead tanks for me.) :(

Good luck on your attack!

Gpig

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The advantage of this avenue of attack is that I only have to worry about a relatively narrow area which has LOS on my vehicles. My tanks will advance with cover arcs basically because I cannot get flanked and I want to react faster to frontal attacks. As I get closer to the treeline I will take off the cover arcs as the angle of threat will get wider.

My BMPs following will be doing most of the shooting though. Everything without artillery falling on it will get shot up by their guns to keep the defenders heads down.

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Hcrof,

My advice; as tanks move the cover arc will move relative as well, imo you better use a full 180 degree arc stretched out maximum (not sure if you did that already).

Lost 2 tanks in a flank attack because of this feature (to narrow cover arc). I think a full 180 arc doesn't have any negative issues, it will point the barrel in the 'right' direction but allows for more wider engagement. I think any spotting bonus for a further narrow cover arc i negligible.

Anyway hope your attack will make it! I think the effect of your artillery will be the deciding factor.

Cheers

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You got right. I saw again pictures from the beginning of this post and think again about whole my plan. This map isn't easy for actions on right flank, like dummy or real attack. He will see all your moves.

But if he can see all your moves out there and you can see his action there, he for 90% sit wit his reserves at left side of bridge. Because he can use them more quickly to answer some surprise from left, he think probably if you try to attack bridge from right flank, he will see your forces from long distance and order his troops to cross river to help his defenders.

If anyone from you will think about attack from surprised he will gather forces on left flank.

So be careful that will be hard fight, point the attention on forest and foliage near bridge there can hiding some AT infantry. I wish you lack and I hope that there will not be the time when I could say "I told you so".

Don't take any captives and kill them all. Forward to victory. :D

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The men waited, cramped together in their carrier and listened to the muffled crump of artillery, barely audible over the sound of the engine. It was a reassuring sound, promising an easier path.

The squad leader was shouting. Check weapons! Make sure you can get at your grenades! Watch your sectors!

They all knew what to do but it was reassuring to hear the man, anything to take their mind off the wait.

The squad leader was going over the plan again.

'...until I give the command, then debus, find the tank and follow it! Remember to keep your spacings!'

A large explosion interrupted him mid flow and one a man shouted from his viewport. It seemed enemy arty was beginning to range in on them...

1 minute to go till departure! My men are all ready to go, they will form a firing line next turn before advancing one minute after that. From then on they will keep moving and shooting until the tanks reach the treeline and my infantry debus. HILLFARM will be left to a scratch platoon of infantry but everything will shoot at it as they drive by so any survivors won't be in a mood to fight!

Mike is beginning to fire spotting rounds near my position. By the time the rounds arrive I will be half way up the hill :)

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My artillery is in full swing now and the whole of the front of the hill is a mass of explosions. Mike is being agressive and has refused to move a tank out of a keyhole position. It is however being targetted by artillery and must move or be destroyed!

A BMP has crept up to a ridgline position and his artillery is falling on a field on my right. He is expecting an attack from another direction :) A smoke mission will drop straight on that BMP and my tanks are now moving to firing positions under the cover of more smoke. The advance begins next turn!

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The battalion CO watched as artillery crashed down, both to his right and to his front.

The tanks were in position now and all they needed was the order to advance. In the headphones though came a call, the enemy are attacking in the south!

'Call the tanks, they are to open fire!'

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Enemy artillery falls in an empty field while my tanks apprach their firing line.

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A keyholed enemy tank waiting in ambush, ignoring artillery rounds falling dangerously close

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Spotters on south hill see the enemy too late and they are in grenade range by the time they open fire, my dead radio operator can be seen in the background

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More enemy appear to their left. Time to leave!

Well Mike has chosen a funny time to attack! My spotters on the hill will run to safety under covering fire from my machine guns on the other side of the river while my platoons lie in ambush on the reverse slope.

In the north my tanks will open fire blind on 2 known vehicle locations. They are mobbing the enemy with numbers so more vehicles will cover the shooting ones. My tanks are unbuttoned, his arn't - hopefully that will give me an advantage. My biggest problem is that keyholed tank, it has delayed my attack because it hasn't moved to safety and my arty isn't quite getting close enough. I might just have to bypass it uder cover of smoke - the disadvantage of a keyhole position is that if I know where it is I can blind it!

You might call a lot of what I plan to do in the next 5 minutes gamey. Its not, my CO has excellent intellegence on enemy positions and has had over 15 minutes to plan an attack in great detail so blind firing etc are all legal!

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The tanks opened fire, sending round after round into the trees, a BMP tried to evade the incoming rounds but was hit with 125mm HE and ground to a halt. 2 more rounds hit the vehicle and finally a dazed crewman opened a hatch and ran for it.

The keyholed tank was harder to hit and the one round fired missed. At the last moment, its turret started to swing round...

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Mikes keyholed tank from my firing position

In the south the spotters on the hill ran as fast as they could towards friendly troops, machine gun rounds flying the other direction to cover them. They were almost surprised when they arrived breathless but unscathed.

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I am now sending my right hand platoon of tanks forward, supported by a spare BMP. I have rehearsed this (planning time again :P) so should be able to do a perfectly coordinated attack – barring any surprises of course!

They will advance quickly on HILLFARM and will open fire as soon as they crest the hill, putting HE in all known and suspected enemy positions. Phase 2 will begin as BMPs full of infantry advance up behind them and unload. One tank will then move forward and smoke out that keyholed tank and the rest of the vehicles will switch to MG fire while the infantry assault the houses.

When the keyholed tank and BMP in HILLFARM are smoked out or destroyed, the rest of the tanks will rush up the left followed by more BMPs full of infantry. These will unload at the treeline and will advance supported by fire from HILLFARM.

56.png

An enemy BMP on the ridgeline made impotent by my mortar dropped smoke screen

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The tank surged forward seconds after the order was given and raced to the top of the hill. Peering through his periscope, the commander could see an exchange of fire to the left but there was no time to get distracted. Both vehicles to his right took hits and a tank fired back in response, without orders, his own gunner had lined up the target building.

'Fire!'

The breach crashed back and a tree exploded in front of him. As the gunner reloaded, the radio opened up, BMP and RPG team, straight ahead!

The message hadn't even finished before there was a huge bang and the engine ground to a halt. They had been hit!

'Is everyone all right?'

Acknowledgement came from within the tank, it was time to get some payback...

Mike has done more damage than I expected, he seems to have caused a tank crew to bail out of a perfectly good tank on the left and he has destroyed a BMP on the right as well as immobilise another tank.

On the other hand, I have destroyed his keyholed tank and am beginning to line up the BMP and RPG team in my sights. My BMPs are speeding up behind and will unload next turn, overrunning HILFARM!

Now that the AT threat on my left has been removed it is time to begin the next phase of the advance...

58.png

Mikes tank begins to burn as my armour rushes up the hill

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Mike has done more damage than I expected, he seems to have caused a tank crew to bail out of a perfectly good tank on the left and he has destroyed a BMP on the right as well as immobilise another tank.

If the tank is undamaged, you might be able to get the crew back inside it when their morale has improved a little; I've had a challenger tank abandoned by the crew, and a few turns later I managed to get the crew back in and the tank returned to the battle.

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As they he looked into the farm, the TC saw a huge explosion as a shell from his partner tank tore into a BMP.

HEAT up! Shouted the loader

Before he could give an order, the commander heard the screams over the radio from the other tank. They had been hit! Not knowing where the firing was coming from he gave the order to exit the vehicle.

There was a brief scramble as the crew rolled over the side of the turret and it was not a moment too soon – following the remains of the other crew they ran from the tank, just as it was hit by a second round.

In front of them, the second wave of the attack surged forward firing, there were evidently a lot of enemies in those trees!

Mike has rushed a lot of BMPs into the trees and a tank that he left sitting out the artillery barrage has just opened up, destroying a tank, bringing the total to 3 dead tanks in this turn alone!

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The attack sweeps past a knocked out tank

Why is it that every time my vehicles are in the most minor of artillery barrages they get KOed and yet Mike can sit out 2 modules for 6 minutes and yet be fine!?

Yet again my plan is essentially good but flawed in the details :( It is just my bad luck that because Mike happened to be attacking in the south he can take advantage of it.

My right hand vehicles are just visible from the south hill and Mike just happens to have moved a tank there last turn so is able to take flank shots. It was due to my oversight that I have taken heavy casualties this turn but I think I can also blame bad luck!

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A defender fights from the ruins of HILLFARM

Still, there is no turning back now, I will use smoke to cover my left hand group and bunch up my tanks to get 2 guns on the first target they see. On the right I will push forward and left to get out of the field of fire of that tank, I will probably lose another vehicle though!

Things are not looking good...

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Why is it that every time my vehicles are in the most minor of artillery barrages they get KOed and yet Mike can sit out 2 modules for 6 minutes and yet be fine!?

The same reason that I think the AI BMP's are a lot more dangerous to Strykers than my BMP's (mine seem to cower and retreat when the .50's start up, and not spot until they are cheek-to-jowl) - confirmation bias.

Good luck! This is a nail-biter.

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