John Kettler Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Winecape, Since you asked for AARs, here are a few blasts from the past. SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! [quote Fire On the Mountain John Kettler vs. Michael Dorosh Important Note Since I may or may not have the time and energy for a blow by blow account of a long, complex, multidimensional battle of hair-raising intensity, at the very least I wanted to be sure I provided extensive feedback for the benefit of the designers. Initial Impression My eyes!!! Next Impression My eyes!! Third try Mountains! Real mountains! And chasms! There folowed multiple bouts of vertigo, elation, confusion and utter perplexity, after which I belatedly noticed my units. I wasn’t at all sure quite what to do with them, though, and I missed several even during subsequent setup. Learning to Fight in 3-D After several rounds of brain collapse, I finally began to be able to make sense of what my eyes were seeing, but seeing was only the beginning of a long, painful, expensive learning process. Now I had to deal with severe defilade problems, tiny range errors translating into big misses when short rounds hit cliff faces sometimes hundreds of meters below the target, AT guns nesting with eagles, and the positively unnerving sensation of having fire raining down on me from the heavens. I had to learn to fight not only on multiple terrain levels, but also in total depth and even backwards, the latter the result of seemingly unending target masking problems. The Briefing Given the absence of grid coordinates, penciled in maps, tactical overlays and the like, CM briefings are inherently challenging, but the addition of such a huge, compartmented, and stunningly vertical map to an already problematic situation put the problem into another realm of difficulty altogether. Not only did I have a terrible time connecting the briefing to what I was seeing, but even repeated readings and map scrutiny left me totally at sea, so much so that my 57mm AT gun was sited to cover the main road, to protect me from an armored attack. Frankly, I was hard pressed to decide how to even begin to deploy my forces, and I missed several units because I was so flustered. Troop Quality I was depressed when I saw the quality of what I was given, a depression offset only partially by some fairly good HQs. The depression returned instantly when fire began coming in from seemingly everywhere at once and my men started behaving like newly beheaded chickens. Seems as though I spent the whole game rallying the troops. The combination of generally poor troop quality, huge amounts of ground to cover, and near total tactical confusion was downright terrifying. Immersion Put it this way, I nearly cracked under the myriad strains this battle imposed upon me, for I was in it from Turn 1 when my right Sherman was suddenly fired at and near missed, then with mortar support outdueled the gun and destroyed it. The combat tempo was mind shattering and nonstop. I told Michael Dorosh that I’d run out of fingernails, fingers and hands and was about to start in on my arms. Everything was in doubt through the last turn as the P-47s rolled in and hosed the Germans trying for the umpteenth time to seize the flag on Hill 219. Even then I didn’t know what had really happened until the end of game screen and map arrived. It was that close. I’m still baffled as to why all those cutoff German units, many broken, panicked, taken from behind and under the guns of my tank and halftracks, not to mention my infantry, didn’t go into the bag at game’s end. Fire Support It must’ve been a lot of work to manhandle the 57mm AT guns and the even heavier 105mm howitzer up the mountains. They were real surprises. It was also pleasant to belatedly discover the 75mm and 105mm FOs on their high perch from which amazingly, they couldn’t see much of interest because of defilade and buildings. Timeliness and accuracy of fire from the FOs had me tearing my hair out, and even the veteran one couldn’t seem to shoot a tight pattern. Part of this may be because there was no HQ helping things along. In another scenario I had a veteran 105mm FO, in command of a strong HQ, who produced deadly and responsive fires at night and in fog. Admittedly, at least initially the process was helped by a couple of TRPs, but most of that battle was fought well away from the TRPs. In this battle, my 105mm FO seemed slow and incompetent, even against observed targets. The various mortars had better fields of fire, but suffered huge effectiveness hits because they were limited to LOS from the firing pit or the HQ, and in no case could really see the critical approaches to Lucio or Hill 219. Offsetting this to some degree was my ability to bring down near instant suppressive fires and on multiple targets from the same battery. This was most helpful in my gun killing program, of which more later. I realize that in CM, a TRP can be used by any indirect fire weapon in range, thus can really skew the tactical situation, but because of this, I wound up in a tactical fix highly unlikely in real life. Standard tactical procedure would’ve been to register company and battalion mortar defensive concentrations as soon as the units secured their various objectives. Later, field artillery would also conduct its zeroing in. By contrast, my men were stuck way out in Indian country with not a single tube registered on the vital approaches. Thus, it fell on my rather inept artillery FOs to provide in an untimely, ineffective manner the defensive fires which the mortars would’ve historically provided in a timely, effective manner. This in turn led to early artillery ammo exhaustion, which nearly cost me the game. Either several TRPs need to be included, perhaps padlocked on the dead ground around Lucio and the masked side of Hill 219, or at the very least one or more mortar FOs need to be provided, with or without removal of the existing mortars on the board. It is both manifestly unfair and ahistorical to force the Allied player to remain in the present militarily crippled posture. Mortar FOs, even absent TRPs, would at least provide some semblance of actual battlefield capabilities. Of course, what we really need are multiple TRP types. I discussed this earlier on the CM Board. Counterfire I learned very quickly the importance of smashing guns as soon as they fired, and I soon became adept at it. For this, the various DF weapons were great, especially the Shermans with their plentiful and potent 75mm HE, when used with mortar fire. While the gun found the range, the mortar fire kept the crew sufficiently disrupted via treebursts and near misses that the hostile gun couldn’t operate effectively. MG fire probably helped, but a gun and one or two 81mm mortars or a whole 60mm mortar battery worked wonders in knocking out gun after gun. Had even a few guns survived, I would’ve lost, for I nearly lost while largely subject to just infantry, MG and mortar fires. The guns would’ve systematically wiped out my pricelss Shermans, smashed my infantry positions, and butchered my light armor and softskins. Airpower Those P-47s may not have won me the game, but I guarantee you that they stopped me from losing it. They stalled an attack which would’ve carried Lucio from the left flank and front, inflicting direct and indirect casualties on targeted units and units nearby. I felt both joy and terror when they rolled in--joy because my resources were all but spent; terror because even one bomb in the wrong place would destroy the integrity of my barely working defense. Luckily, even though the bombs didn’t hit a great target, they both took the wind out of the attack and knocked out an HMG and some sort of IG, plus putting lots of Germans facedown. A couple of turns of strafing considerably lessened the pressure on my backs-to-the-wall defenders. The P-47s also helped me hold Hill 219, roaring in and strafing Germans advancing up the hill and on the approaches even in the last turn. All in all, they gave Michael Dorosh fits. Offsetting this, nearly everything he had gave me fits, particularly the unending hard to engage infantry and MG positions firing effortlessly from multiple directions in the mountains into my troops holding Lucio and playing hob with them and the mortar barrages which time and again all but stripped the crest of Hill 219. The 30cm. rockets or whatever they were which shattered my center rear merely scared the soup out of me. I was most unhappy when the second set of those arrived. One such volley was quite enough. Had his aimpoints been a bit closer together, he would’ve essentially wiped out the whole town, inflicting such severe casualties I would’ve surely lost. Ambush! An ambush by definition consists not just of the physical damage inflicted, but the shock and disorientation caused by the sudden application of withering fires upon an unsuspecting target. I certainly found this to be true. From my perspective, I was sorting out my disorganized mess of reinforcements and supplies when the world exploded, everything fell apart and kept getting worse. Halftracks and trucks died like flies, and the troops were torn apart even more by morale effects than casualties, which were heavy. This left me with a horrendous command mess to sort out while in the middle of multiple firefights and a counterambush drill. Things got even worse when the troops in the riverbed blasted my vehicles trying to exit the kill zone. I spent the rest of the game trying to get my shattered men and dwindling vehicles out of that ghastly mess and back to their own lines. It’s fair to say that I was practically in shock when I saw the initial ambush unfold. The counterambush drill may also have prevented me from losing, since it inflicted enough casualties and burned enough time that the survivors weren’t able to march up the rear of Hill 219, gun down my last few men, and seize it. There certainly were enough men to do exactly that, and they were heavily armed, including having demo charges. Eek! Reserves My “reinforcements” aside, I found that the road network and positioning of my main body made it possible for me to repeatedly inject reinforcements into the critical fights for Lucio and Hill 219. The forces I rushed to Lucio took heavy casualties, but stabilized the situation enough to prevent the Germans from taking the place outright. At Hill 219, my reinforcements arrived when there were practically no defenders left, yet intervened to such good effect that I owned the hill at game’s end, killing the gallant Hauptmann leading the last attack. The positioning of my reserves was far from ideal, being exposed to several sorts of fires, but having them where they were, even with the losses I took while bringing them out, allowed me to obtain a draw in a game I would otherwise have lost outright. Conclusion This scenario, even with the problems described, is my new gold standard for CM pucker factor and nailbiting. My previous one was “Sounds in the Night.” The changes I suggest would make it even more realistic, I believe. Thanks for a superb scenario! Sincerely, John Kettler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head for the Hills Bertram vs. John Kettler Note This AAR takes the same approach as did my earlier one for Fire on the Mountain, in that it’s less a detailed narrative than a discussion of key aspects and an effort to get appropriate feedback into the hands of the scenario designers. Troops What can I say? The good, the bad, and the ugly! A real late war hodgepodge in terms of quality, they gave me headaches galore at setup and feelings ranging from horror to elation in battle. Particularly shocking was the savaging my SS left flank guys took. They didn’t fare at all well against platoon fires from ‘45 pattern U.S. infantry up close, even as veterans, in command, in foxholes. By contrast, my extreme right, though only marginal as soldiers, put up a fierce fight (didn’t last long) which really slowed down and disrupted Bertram’s drive to take the right flag. Support Weapons Given the frontage and greatly reduced LOS on many axes of approach, the MG allocation, especially HMGs, was grossly deficient. Generally, the MGs were forced to fight in highly awkward ways, frequently without proper infantry support. The absence of an FO and/or more TRPs made my life hellish, in spite of the 88 battery and great crews. I’d argue that the lack of an FO for most of the game in fact cost me many premature 88 losses, which in turn greatly reduced the resultant pain to Bertram when he finally exposed a significant fraction of his troops in order to take the town. The sharpshooters were quite a surprise. Regret to say that few of them did much. Static Defenses Was glad to get them, wished I’d had more, especially the addition of AP mines, and did so well with them as maneuver impediments that I caused Bertram to find a softer target. Basically, he noted them and bypassed. In some places, though, he used engineers to clear daisy chain mines. Terrain Would’ve been great had he attacked the town frontally. He didn’t. Basically, the terrain was a huge advantage to the attacker, providing seemingly unending opportunities for invisible maneuver, protected assembly areas, hidey holes to retreat into if hit hard. I could effectively engage only the fringes of whole areas, especially woods. By and large, the terrain denied me the ability to mass fires, forcing me to fight a series of piecemeal engagements, each of which cost me assets I desperately needed. Of these, the most critical were the 88s. Offsetting this somewhat was that all the trees enhanced what HE I was able to bring to bear, though degrading small arms. The town was not good defensively, being multiply overlooked and largely devoid of heavy cover. Battle Plan Priority one was to deny use of the main road, which in practice also meant fortifying the town and approaches using wire and mines. To this end, a conscript platoon was placed in the town, foxholes in depth. MG in church. Mortars, MGs and 88s were sited to cover the roadblock and the town from end to end. Sharpshooters were positioned to cover both flanks, and an additional veteran Panzerschreck team lay in ambush to the left of the town. Priority two was to deny all other AFV approach routes, a scheme carried out with daisy chain mines, Panzerschreck teams and dug-in infantry. LOS was so short on my left that it was hard to find a region in which my sharpshooter would even fire. Priority three was to protect the flag to the left of town. Part of this was the natural result of covering one of the AFV approach routes, but the rest came via a wire barrier and system of foxholes for split squads. Additional help came from an 88 sited to shoot armor in the flank and rear if it got past the town and to backshoot infantry trying to attack some of the deeper gun positions. Sitzkrieg For five turns I sat and spun, hearing and seeing nothing. Turn 6 brought the first inklings of infantry, and none of it was where I wanted it. The Battle Unfolds From what I can tell, Bertram mounted his main attack on my left, with his secondary effort on my right. First came the usual collection of markers, then infantry, with armor appearing in the center rear to the left of the road. Very hot firefights soon began, but my poorer quality troops were on the losing end on the right, a condition greatly worsened by enfilade fires from a Sherman and a halftrack towing a 57mm ATG. One of my sharpshooters did succeed in buttoning both, but I have no idea whether anyone was actually killed. This engagement destroyed most of my forward units, but it created a lovely treeburst target for some of my 88s when the Americans suddenly ran into dug-in veteran SS, aided by several HMGs and a mortar. Did some good work on them, but got ripped up by that Sherman and lost several 88s on big hill to 105 fire. When Bertram tried bypassing the town by taking the gulch to the left, he got infantry fire, observed mortar fire and 88 treebursts for his pains. This caused him to pull back and shift left, a decision aided by having seen the barbed wire protecting the flag to the left of town. The next blow fell in rapidly mounting pressure as he tried to find an AFV route on my extreme left. The LOS was short, with the dire result of having to fight whole platoons of Americans at grenade range. Veteran SS broke, but held together long enough for a geezer with a Panzerschreck, undaunted by the loss of his loader or the disintegration of the formations around him, to coolly track the Sherman which greatly aided that disintegration, dispatching it with one shot through the side which stopped it cold. The geezer was put to flight and killed, but he greatly aided the war effort first. His shot was doubly important in that American engineers had already lifted the daisy chain mines covering the exit. Action thereafter shifted to stopping the now inevitable drive against the flag, to which end I shifted the few survivors left, plus stripped off part of the conscript platoon covering the route to the left of town. I committed every weapon I could find to impeding the advance by firing into the flank. When the attack came, for I had no indirect fire capability to cover a flank in deep woods, it came in multiplatoon strength and really carved my low quality guys up, in spite of holes and commanders. The 88 dished out some 25 meter range pain to several squads, but eventually fell to close assault. The ultimately lost battle for the flag took several turns. On my right, I did everything I could to stop the juggernaut, but the combination of fire and seeming stealth capabilities made things way too exciting. My sharpshooters were overrun and killed, several platoons were outflanked, and only luck and good tactics took the steam out of an estimated platoon size attack against my extreme right unit. Those guys took an uncharacteristically big bite gefore falling apart, making Bertram scream in both pain and frustration (men ever before him). As it turns out, that battle may’ve been critical. The remnants of the next platoon over, aided by an all too brief HMG, fought well, only to be gutted by that Sherman’s havoc producing enfilade fires. Fortunately, it couldn’t see everybody, allowing me to kill a bazooka team, cut up several squads, and very nearly wipe out a company HQ before being overwhelmed while surrounded. This was pretty much the game pattern: killed in their initial positions or killed after having been forced out. Very few prisoners. I dealt with that Sherman eventually, crawling a veteran Panzerschreck team into place and setting an ambush, even though the team couldn’t quite see the tank. Bertram solved that problem with a general advance order, costing him the demise of the Sherman and the halftrack in the same turn (KO Sherman, K-kill on the halftrack). Tried to kill the gun the next turn, but only got a couple of crewmen. Return fire from several directions, notably fire from my right, inflicted a casualty on my heroic team, and by then the attack on the town’s left had begun. The situation in short order was that the Americans had destroyed my front line almost everywhere but the town and were closing on my mortar and HMG positions on the left slope of the ridge holding the right flag. Enter reinforcements. A Chance! Reinforcements brought not just resources but hope, for I knew I’d bled Bertram extensively on my right, a right essentially held on the vital flag approach by a single LMG team. All the infantry was rushed over there, while I sent the towed Pak 40 and the Marder to the base of the big flag hill to the near right of the road. In conjunction with surviving 88s and a mortar, both pounded infantry, especially pricey engineers, at every opportunity, but that was after the Marder covered itself in glory by K-killing Bertram’s last Sherman after he’d worked it through the forest trails, through the once mined approaches and onto the road behind the forward flag. Spectacular shot! American infantry found blind spots and began working forward in an effort to outflank the Marder and friends. Meanwhile, I belatedly discovered the FO in the truck and ordered that worthy into a keyhole position. The infantry reinforcements I rushed forward got there just as my lone LMG was falling apart and about to run. In short order, the American drive was wiped out, and the platoon went into more carefully chosen positions. Elsewhere on the left side of the ridge, my mortar team fired off its last rounds and under fire from three directions, was put to flight. A veteran SS HMG, though, was made of sterner stuff, for he fought like a wildcat on steroids, this while under several MGs and infantry attack. He clawed up Bertram's boys but good, only to have his tremendous run ended by several gouts of flame. When Bad Things Happen to Good Pioneers My pioneers, who started the battle weary from their frantic fortification building, recovered to full fighting form just in time to take a 155mm pounding which all but destroyed one squad, pinned a second, and dealt a sharp blow to the platoon HQ. Ironically, Bertram complained bitterly that he'd missed the 88, a problem quickly corrected. 60mm mortar fire and MGs put another completely out of business, leaving me with an otherwise unoccupied company HQ. Sending the survivors to the rear, I sent the HQ to help defend the flag on the ridge. A wise move, as it turns out. The Ridge Fight While every available gun blazed away in an effort to disrupt or stop Bertram's drive on the town, including the unkillable 88 (last gun to the rear save the two on the hill), Bertram was moving strong combat elements forward in preparation for a surprise attack. Luckily for me, by the time it came, the company HQ had arrived, and the LMG remnant was more or less functional. The woods erupted in tubes of fire, and two thirds of my SS platoon fled in terror. Not happy at all, I promised retribution. Was it ever sweet! Pinning the flamethrower team with my one functional squad, I flanked it with the company HQ and LMG, destroying it utterly and finishing off an already damaged squad. Killed a bazooka team somewhere along the line, too. This bought me some time to sort out my scorched men. Such combat stability didn't last long, for a few turns later came another attack, and my own cleverness nearly undid me. I'd located an exposed American company HQ slightly downslope and forward and took it under fire, hurting it. I then tried to execute a repeat of what I'd done to the flamethrower team. Bad idea! Got hit while jumping off by another confounded flamethrower, the company HQ, and a previously undetected squad. Pinned my company HQ and broke the LMG. Fortunately, I did some damage, which bought me priceless time to regroup. I brought my platoon HQ and remaining squad into enfilade position, using the semifunctional HQ as the fixing force and the broken LMG as a distraction. When Bertram surged forward to finish me off, I tore off his head by wiping out his platoon and company HQs, plus taking out the squad remnant. The flamethrower was out of ammo and took no part. The Town Falls Though I punished Bertram severely with my remaining assets, including the 75mm FO who worked the jumping off points to the rear of town in the woods, the imbalance was sharply revealed when the 155s smashed the town to pieces in only a few turns of fire. Determined resistance from the buildings, a necessity to get LOS with my infantry, was ripped apart or burned out by the shattering blasts. My unkillable 88 made such a nuisance of itself by hammering HQs and engineers attacking the town's left rear that Bertram screened it with smoke, then close assaulted it. The gun gave its best, but fell, seemingly forcing its attackers to ground in the process. The Pioneers which might've protected it had been given urgent combat tasking after my Marder came under attack and was destroyed by infantry. Desperate Defense at the Main Flag The Pioneers were run to block a drive against the big flag, a position held by a company HQ and a damaged 88 crew. They got there barely in time to interdict a drive by the battalion HQ, a squad and a bazooka team, first putting the squad to flight, then the battalion HQ, then killing the bazooka team. The action finished off my company HQ on the big hill. The delay cost me not only the Marder, but the Pak 40, the tow vehicle and crew, plus a casualty to the FO and the breaking of same. The FO did subsequently manage to leave the board, but I really could've used the nearly thirty rounds he had left when he was discovered and rudely interrupted by fire. Evacuation! As morale sank to alarming levels and casualties soared, I faced a ticklish and potentially game losing problem: minimizing capture points without triggering autosurrender. Working more by guesstimate and gut feel than science, I got three trucks, the Kubel, a couple of crews and the FO minus off the board, and did it without triggering autosurrender. I didn't even try to pull out line infantry, for I never had enough, and what I had was heavily engaged and often too far away to make it. My idea was to bleed Bertram white, thus holding down his victory margin. The idea worked out? End Game I figured that of the two flags left, I might lose the ridge flag, but was confident of holding the big flag. Wrong! In spite of sitting on the flag on the ridge, the Americans well away and downslope made the AI see gray. Worse, an American platoon had managed to move undetected halfway up the slope from its victim the unkillable 88, which meant that a last turn rush put the main flag into dispute, too, in spite of the abuse I dealt. I had more force, in better shape, but the AI again didn't care. It was incredibly galling to be undone by the shreds of a platoon after having hammered the battalion HQ and all other comers. Closing Thoughts Though I didn't win, the bleed Bertram white strategy worked well enough that he only won an Allied Tactical Victory, instead of the smashing victory he so clearly expected. The score was 59 to 33, in Bertram's favor. Had I botched the evacuation and triggered autosurrender, it might've been Allied Decisive. A defense based primarily on direct fire weaponry and which is also infantry poor and further limited by terrain and some pretty marginal troops is an exceedingly tough proposition, let alone with Borg spotting and so much artillery and mortar fire to contend with. I did the best I could with the relatively meager force and terrible tactical conditions I found. I managed to kill two more Americans (79 to 77) than I lost, some consolation for the 313 casualties I took versus his 266. The real revenge, though, for the near annihilation of my pickup defense is that his formation not only lost over half its strength, but that I badly hurt his combat engineers, killed an FO, destroyed many bazookas and flamethrowers, while killing several platoon HQs, a company HQ, and taking a big bite out of his regrettably surviving battalion HQ. The armor losses are serious but easily replaced. But where's he going to find infantry to replace the losses I inflicted? My guys should be able to reinforce and retake the big hill before his guys can reinforce the remnants presently there. My ridge force is toast, though. Quite a scenario, but I believe it significantly favors the Allies as presently constituted. Sincerely, John Kettler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- St. Mere Eglise Spanish Bombs vs. John Kettler Summary Statement The existence of Hell is no longer in dispute, for I have been there as the Germans at St. Mere Eglise. The battle against Spanish Bombs was one of unending military frustration and enormous casualties, one made worse by the promising start and subsequent multiple military train wrecks, as pretty much everything fell apart. Basic Approach I went after Spanish Bombs hammer and tongs with the forces I had and pressed him mercilessly throughout. This was done to conform with the letter and spirit of the orders given in the briefing. Initial efforts concentrated on breaking into town by smashing perimeter defenses with direct and indirect fire, followed by multiple drives to locate weak points and an attempt to advance the armor. Such was the plan. The results weren’t even close to the desired outcome. Brief Optimism The initial fires did a good job of clearing the way and inflicted substantial losses, but that was evidently to build my optimism before Murphy took over the entire German fight. The StuH 42s and StuGs went to work on several heavy buildings and pounded them as I sweated out the arrival of the 15cm. fires on the main approach to town. In conjunction with direct fires, artillery on the TRP killed quite a bit of expensive airborne infantry. I advanced my infantry on the far left, down the road, and to the right of the road in an effort to secure positions in town. It was then that things began to disintegrate. A StuG on the road took a hit from something and died, and a 251 had its MG carried away moments later. A priceless StuH 42 moving forward through the wheat field on the left became immobilized in low ground from which it could see nothing and was helpless to intervene when my left flank was taking fire from several buildings full of paratroopers. Attempts to finish the destruction of a big wooden building on the left in order to wipe out the occupants and open up LOS to an otherwise masked heavy building foundered when it became apparent that the FO, under a veteran company HQ with double command bonus, was a hybrid of a fool and an incompetent. This guy couldn’t even manage to knock down a damaged wooden building under his direct observation. He scared some of my foe’s men out of their positions and rattled the ones near the front left VL, but it was necessary to break off the assault when the flanking platoon was cut to pieces and to shift fires to support to support heavily pressed units by the road. The bombardment had eliminated the strongpoints overlooking the road, but he had troops in the forward buildings, troops my men found the hard way, necessitating a long hard fight to clear them, only to encounter a roadblock. This was done under enfilade MG fire down the wall and while under fire from what seemed like practically every building in sight. The ferocity of the fight may be measured by my dead and ruined units to the right of the road. I attempted to storm the forward heavy building to the right of the road, killed an MMG team, but lost most of a platoon in spite of all the suppressive fire I could muster. One turn of mortar fire on the 57mm AT gun and the enfilading MG made lots of craters but did nothing useful, and smoke the next turn exhausted the remaining ammo, but it did allow me to put more infantry into the meatgrinder and to actually enter town with a StuG. Starting the mortar FO with reduced ammo seriously compromised my tactical flexibility and options. Things Fall Apart A 251 near the road and presumed out of sight isn’t and is eaten by the same deadly 57mm AT gun. The StuG in town lasts all of a minute before a bazooka team appears from nowhere and kills it with a single shot, this in spite of heavy infantry presence. The rapid demise of the bazooka team is no consolation for the loss of such a potent streetfighting weapon, without which my men can’t really advance against seemingly unbreakable infantry and MGs in stone buildings overlooking and frequently enfilading every approach. The weight of incoming fire is such that whole platoons are shot to pieces and HMG crews in stone buildings and under strong command are killed to the man. My capture of the VL to the right of the road disintegrates with the annihilation of my men on point, shot up from several directions in a wooden building. The story is much the same on the left when I mount a drive on that VL, only to butchered in the attempt. Battle there devolves into a raging firefight between high morale troops in heavy buildings, and it looks before the final tally as though I’ll carry that VL, but that is a forlorn hope. Efforts to deal with the AT gun meanwhile fail on several counts. An urgently needed StuG immobilizes in scattered trees to the right of the road, while a StuG tasked to kill the AT gun is first buttoned and then killed by MG fire and the AT gun. By this time, my last engaged StuG has been doing all it can (to near ammo exhaustion and under mortar fire) to support the finally arrived Sturmgruppe, which is grinding forward under fire from more buildings than I can stand. One I’m in is on the verge of collapse. Several American mortar and bazooka teams are wiped out in crossfires from my formation on the left and the Sturmgruppe. Artillery fire for me comes in two flavors: near zero spread and seldom where I need it or widely spread and way off target. Thus it levels one building on the right near that VL while leaving most things nearby unscathed. Happily, though, it smashes a 57mm AT gun. Even the slightest shift of fire while still on the TRP makes for hellishly long delays in receiving fire, but it becomes clear that my only hope of winning is to try to disrupt and damage the ferocious defense along the corridor to the main VL. Trying to learn from my overconcentration problem earlier, I go to target wide on the center TRP, counting on the short rounds to severely embarrass the defenders, already under strong pressure from my Sturmgruppe. A few rounds land encouragingly close, but the main volley all lands long and left, finishing any hope of breaking through. While this is going on, I send a 251 with crack company HQ and my StuH 42 via a carefully planned route in an effort to turn the AT gun’s position. This is also frustrated by blocked LOS, leading to an evacuation decision. I pull off every unit I can, but the game ends before the StuH 42, an HMG-42 team and the 15cm FO can be evacuated. I get a company HQ, the mortar FO, some AFV crews, Panzerschreck teams and the like off, though. Aftermath My forces are spent and in tatters; my armor is mostly killed or immobilized. My village idiot artillery FO still has 30 rounds left because it takes him so long to shift fire for any shoot not on a TRP. I hold no VLs and figure I’m toast, that all my remaining men will be POWs. I’m relieved to find that it’s only an Allied Tactical Victory. I have taken 313 casualties (73 KIA), as against 182 (60 KIA) for Spanish Bombs. Things would’ve been much worse for me had I not destroyed a bunch of his high morale platoon HQs, specialist teams and a crack company HQ. His forces are badly hurt, but they retain enormous close-in firepower in grenades and gammon bombs, more than enough to finish my men if they are foolish enough to try a rush. __________________________________________________________________ Scenario Feedback Terrain Awful. It channelized me at every turn, blocked LOS all over the place, and practically gutted my armor. Almost none of it was good going for the latter, and I lost two vital vehicles outright via immobilization and bogged the remaining StuH 42 briefly. The trees time and again denied me shots at the defenders until I was at point blank range and being eaten alive. The wall, in conjunction with the myriad strong buildings overlooking it and the MG and AT gun enfilading it, made for a most formidable defense, one made even nastier by my erroneous belief that armor couldn’t move through a wall. The city itself was like Stalingrad in miniature, and practically impenetrable without armor given the sea of heavy buildings, the superb defender quality, and the unending crossfires. All that armor I lost might’ve made a considerable difference had it a) survived longer, and been able to advance into town. Observation Mine was, except for a few good keyholes of great initial value, terrible. His was superb, allowing him to look and shoot down my throat at will. And did I pay for that! Fire Support Abysmally inadequate to the task set it. I was thrilled to see an FO with so much heavy ammo, but I soon learned how incredibly limited and ineffective he really was. A green FO supporting mostly regular and veteran troops! What really did me in was the unresponsive fire support, and that was on top of a critical lack of decent observation and an ammo deficient mortar FO. I couldn’t believe how long it took to shift fires to even an observed target, let alone an unobserved one. I nearly cried when I wound up with 30 rounds left at game’s end. Maybe the fire support I got was what the Germans really had. If so, I pity them. A couple of 120mm mortar FOs would’ve been much better, or at least a competent FO for the 15cm. Troops My men were pretty good on the whole, but were generally not equal to attacking crack and elite paratroopers and glider troops in heavy buildings while advancing in the open or fighting from building to building while under fire from many directions at once. The mortar ammo shortage deprived me of several smokescreens with which I might otherwise at least have partially protected them. I did what I could with StuG smoke to partially offset this problem. Armor Quite good, but getting it into battle was a nightmare. My Big Mistake Because of my fundamental overestimation of my artillery FO, I mistakenly disposed the TRPs to support several offensive options. Had I understood what a zero I really had, I would’ve put most or all of the TRPs straight down the main road and simply smashed my way to the main VL, supporting the main attack by the Sturmgruppe from both sides with infantry and armor while seeking to prevent the movement of reserves. Conclusion This scenario tried me to the uttermost, but part of the nerve shredding was of my own doing. Luck was definitely not on my side, but a better plan would’ve helped. The terrain is a bear for an attacker. Regards, John Kettler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Polish Push John Kettler vs. Ugbash From : Capt. Januscz Kettleriwicz To : OC, 1st Inf. Battn., 1st Polish Armored Div. Subj : After Action Report, St. Martin-Bocage Summary In a vicious eighteen minute action fought in the rain, this command and attachments, subsequently reinforced, succeeded in overcoming unexpected, powerful enemy resistance, including veteran and regular motorized troops, mines, an AT gun and armor, and completely clearing the town of all hostile presence. The surviving enemy troops were seen fleeing toward their own lines. 77 casualties (24 KIA, 53 WIA). One Cromwell total loss; two require REME attention, being immobilized. Present Status 108 effectives remain, with casualties as high as 90% in some sections, others largely intact. Urgently need ammo of all types and desperately need more infantry to ward off the inevitable counterattack. Have a depleted platoon well beyond Objective A and other elements including multiple PIAT teams holding the crossroads. Objective B is held by what’s left of C platoon and the engineers, including one flamethrower. All functioning armor (two tanks) is presently vicinity of Objective B. This armor needs 75mm and 95mm HE ammo. Initial Dispositions Though this command arrived in combat line, formation adjustments were made to facilitate the hasty attack, and TRPs were shifted to support the plan of maneuver. When the execute order was given, B platoon (Lt. Klimek) was on the left, straddling the N-42, intermingled with the platoon mortar, the Vickers MG and the FO (Lt. Grzybowski) in support positions next to the N-42 overlooking the town, followed by Lt. Barzowski’s engineers near a major gap in the bocage, and C platoon (Lt. Wisniewski) by the next gap over. The plan was to probe carefully for resistance, then use mortar fire and tank fire, in conjunction with infantry fires, to suppress and destroy it. The engineers were to lag a bit, enabling them to get into cover, undetected if possible. Turn 1 Tanks and mortars paste west end of town. Church receives particular attention since it commands primary approach via N-42 Troops jump off as scheduled. Turn 2 Mortar fire shifted to eastern TRP begins to fall. B platoon advances, and the lead section takes 70% casualties from Germans in the church, in an adjacent house, and many in the buildings behind the church. The CS Cromwell delivers punishing fire into the church, causing the Germans there to depart in haste. Two sections make it to cover, the brutalized one to an occupied house and the other to the church, having found an AP minefield by running through it. Other units advance as ordered, encountering no resistance. Turn 3 B platoon attempts to destroy enemy squad with fire while flanking to left with one section. Cromwell IV and Cromwell CS support advance by demolishing or obscuring identified points of resistance. Mortar fire now directed slightly to the right of initial TRP in an attempt to disrupt defense without endangering own troops. Good pattern. Badly hurt section down to one man, but German veteran motorized squad takes three casualties and retreats. C platoon emerges from last row of W-E bocage and comes under enfilade MG fire from right front. Turn 4 Objective A’s mine! Damaged German squad is driven from its refuge by tank fire. Mortars are ordered to add range and continue, but can’t be fired promptly. Tanks pound identified infantry firing positions. Engineer platoon minus also emerges from last row of bocage and moves into houses on outskirts, with flamethrower teams in deep trail, still behind the bocage. What looked good before turns out to be bad indeed, though, for no less than three different German positions pop up on the approaches to Objective B, one in a stout multistory stone building overlooking the outskirts. The engineer HQ takes a casualty. Turn 5 Resistance stiffens, and my troops pay. My left Cromwell is engaging infantry in buildings, is hit by something, and explodes. The CS Cromwell finishes off a damaged large wooden building. A priority fire request leads to a lateral shift of my engineers away from the eastern TRP and into another house mere seconds before desperately needed suppressive fires come crashing in. A spirited engagement rages between the enfilading MG on my right and C platoon, with no apparent casualties to either. One section is advanced into the corner of town, and the platoon mortar begins firing on the MG. Not only is the shooting not inspired, but it is brought to a shattering halt by a hail of lead from the road east of town, followed by a big explosion which destroys the mortar. Gun front! C platoon is now under fire from two perpendicular axes. Turn 6 Action left front. Armor! Two StuGs, I think. Worse, they’re accompanied by infantry. CS Cromwell fires one hasty round (near miss) at trail StuG and scoots forward behind cover. StuGs abuse my infantry in the church, inflicting two casualties, receiving small arms in reply. Mortar fire is now targeted between two strongpoints and falls there and deeper. This seems to calm things a bit in the center, but my right is being blasted and shot to pieces. Platoon HQ takes a casualty, but the rightmost section loses five men in seconds, thanks to the deadly perpendicular problem just described. The lead section advances into town in fine order, then is shot to pieces by something, losing four men and breaking, then fleeing the town, pursued by MG fire, which takes out another man. C platoon is in real trouble. The Germans smoke the one intact section and pound everything else. Am attempting to get the Vickers into action. Have also ordered another mortar section to move to reinforce C platoon and kill the gun and MG. The PIAT tries to kill the gun. No joy. Intact section takes three casualties from shellbursts. Turn 7 A furious turn, with firefights raging everywhere and armor hammering infantry in buildings. The Germans own the board, but I make them pay. I take a few losses on the left, but more than make up for it in the center, where mortar fire drives the Germans out of a small wooden house, which promptly explodes, then into a wooden building, which a mortar shell sets ablaze. The resultant mad dash into the road brings the section into tank and infantry sights, costing five it men and its combat effectiveness. Sadly, there is yet more bad news. A runner informs me that the engineer HQ is simply gone. No word as to cause. One of the two sections is hit and falling apart. C platoon is all but wiped out. Platoon HQ is one man, the former lead section is in rout and also one man, and the most functional section is blasted down to two thirds strength and panics. Well, at least the Vickers is in action. Turn 8 Shall I rejoice or weep? Both! I shall rejoice because reinforcements arrive, the trailing infantry platoon and two more Cromwells. I shall weep because C platoon has a grand total of four infantrymen left. Four! The HQ survivor also has a Vickers and a newly arrived 2” mortar team, plus a badly hurt PIAT team down to its last two shots. PIAT continues to engage gun. No joy. The MG in its foxhole is likewise impervious to the new mortar. Maybe it’s because the HQ spotting for the mortar team is pinned? I shall rejoice because my left flank attack struck home, and weep because the StuGs screened most of the base of fire. I hurt the Germans with the storming, but the section loses half its strength and pins. I shall rejoice because the CS Cromwell is wreaking havoc on the Germans in the stone building, and I shall weep and rejoice because my smokescreen arrives, blocking LOS to my target, but enabling my engineers to advance. I shall weep because a Panzerschreck team appears in the street near the burning build and rejoice because it comes under fire, is put facedown, and loses a man! Turn 9 Too wild for me! My four regular guys in the house rally and fight three veteran Germans, supported by deadly StuG MG fire. Luckily, the smoke clears, allowing my base of fire to assist a bit. My four become one, his three become zero. I win! The Panzerschreck team, which is in killing range of two of my tanks, comes under so much MG and infantry fire that it bolts and is gunned down. Even more exciting is that I now have LOS from the other new tank to the dread gun which has shattered C platoon. My tank tries to kill the gun as the gun traverses. Three agonizing rounds later--dead gun! C platoon is now up to six effectives, the routed section remnant having been collared and rallied, happily with more men than first thought. And still the MG rips my flank! Covered by the damaged engineer section in cover, my intact one advances to the stone building, right after the Germans abandon it, presumably in fear of the CS Cromwell. Turn 10 My sole assault survivor duels with a German section near the StuGs, which torment my men in the church. Losses reach 50%, and the remnant pins, but is rallied by Lt. Klimek. Meanwhile, my leftmost tank plays hunt and reverse, shelling a building next to the StuGs, with the objectives of preventing reoccupation by German infantry and maybe buttoning the near StuG. This seems fairly assured when the building disintegrates. My engineer section occupies the upper level of the stone building, chases the former occupants back another row of houses, then comes under fire from the adjacent one. The laggard flamethrower team catches up with the base of fire engineer section, enters a stone house and hides. The now identified HMG-42 on my right flank takes a final casualty and dies. Platoon strength will be up to a full section shortly, for a broken half section is now up to panicked. Turn 11 Havoc on the left flank! The StuGs systematically shatter my forward infantry, putting my Horatius into ultimately fatal flight, and driving another sole survivor from his building. Screened by smoke from one tank, its sibling advances as E platoon moves into assault formation on my extreme left. Things are better in the center as one Cromwell destroys a presumed infantry position and the CS Cromwell blasts the building (and its former stone building occupants) one short of the flag. The engineer section in that captured building cuts four men out of a German half section, losing one man in the process. The remaining engineer section and flamethrower team advance to that building. C platoon is up to eleven infantrymen. Turn 12 In a wild turn I still don’t entirely understand, there is a deadly clash of armor. Originally, I think I kill a StuG at a cost of two immobilized Cromwells. In reality, my wing tank firing smoke hits an AT mine, while the other one gets into a wild duel with two StuGs, kills one, and is immobilized. The other StuG apparently reverses out of LOS just as a third Cromwell works into cover to the right of the remaining StuG. Nearby German infantry gets tired of explosions and lead and splits. The CS Cromwell levels its target building, frightening my advancing second engineer section into the stone building, and then harries the survivors in their new refuge, the building closest to the flag. C platoon shifts direction and resumes its attack on the village proper, covered by the resited Vickers. Turn 13 More confusion! The green tank crew sees the other StuG die, and having laid an ambush, naturally, wrongly, assumes it did the deed. Actually, the killer of the first StuG breaks off bombarding a brick building near German infantry and targets one round on the StuG when it comes into LOS. That’s all it takes. Lumps are taken elsewhere, though. My damaged engineer section gets caught in a crossfire and loses two men, then pins, plus I lose a man from the flamethrower team. C platoon advances into town, losing two more men for its pains. Turn 14 Bad turn for both of us! I destroy two crews with mortar and infantry fires on the left and drive a third into the woods, but I lose five men from the cut-up engineer section, which then panics, via enfilade fire before the CS Cromwell in turn evicts the infantry causing such havoc. The infantry hiding in the building by Objective B decides the area’s unhealthy, but the street’s worse. That remnant winds up in a heavy building. C platoon takes a morale hit in one of its section remnants, but the Vickers is now pouring streams of .303 into the building holding one of the last German resistance centers, aided by the nearly intact engineer section firing at right angles to the left. Turn 15 The Germans may be yielding ground, but do they have sharp fangs! E platoon’s lead section gets into serious trouble after being shaken earlier and losing two men. This turn, it loses two more from three German units and being out of command, panics. Offsetting this is that the German infantry which does this, pulls back to the woods, doubtless encouraged by the building blown up next to them. Armor converges on the roads to and near Objective B, and German infantry retreats from the building in the Vickers and engineer crossfire, allowing that building to be taken. Turn 16 Exploitation phase begins as E platoon begins to pass beyond Objective A. Infantry and tank fires are poured into retreating German infantry. Objective B finally falls. Armor reducing one of the strongpoints reports fleeing Germans and takes many under fire. Strongpoint is blown to bits. C platoon, what’s left of it, is on the verge of carrying the building next to the objective. Most of an engineer section and a flamethrower team are also on line and ready for the last push. Turn 17 Objective B carried and occupied by engineer section and flamethrower team, with C platoon in echelon right. Engineer section remnant now functional, but the C platoon section remnant remains panicked. Armor pours unrelenting HE and MG fire into retreating Germans. Some sort of German squad a mere 40 meters from the wing Cromwell near Objective B continues to receive fire from ammo depleted half section atop church. Turn 18 E platoon begins general advance and pursuit. Crossroads covered by B platoon remnants and PIAT teams. German section put to flight by platoon HQ observed mortar volleys and small arms. Armor advances past Objective B and chases Germans from the field. C platoon moves adjacent to Objective B building and places section minus in one house and the Vickers in the one able to see both up the road and across the front of Objective B. Remaining elements are in row of houses immediately behind these. Outcome Allied Major Victory, 76 to 24 my favor. The big surprise is that broken German troops near my infantry and armor didn’t surrender, further fattening the win, my first in this tournament. Of a company plus committed on my end, little more than two platoons remain. Of a complete troop of Cromwells, two tanks remain operational, with two immobilized and one a total loss. Comments I nearly soiled myself when I encountered veteran motorized infantry, for much of my force was green, though fortunately with good HQs. I came close to getting my clock cleaned and my head handed to me, but I was lucky for once and also planned and played well (if we ignore C platoon’s near annihilation by PAK 40 and HMG-42s and getting the engineers almost destroyed). Repositioning the TRPs probably won me the game, for they enabled me to make rapid target shifts to respond to battle developments. 4.2” mortar fire helped create openings I systematically exploited to the hilt, as seen in several sections reduced to single men, but in command and fighting throughout. Armor was vital, both in reducing one position after another and in destroying those deadly StuGs. One Cromwell IV got both StuGs, the second kill after being immobilized. The CS Cromwell did yeoman work, winding up with nearly empty ammo racks. The 2” mortar continues to suffer from inadequate smoke loads. All in all, combined arms worked quite well in this engagement. For once! END -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another Day AAR Soddball vs. John Kettler Initial Impression Okay, I’ve read the briefing several times, and now that I see the map, I’m confused and frightened. I’m confused because it isn’t even clear to me from which direction the attack is coming. To me, it looks as though I may be the meat in an American sandwich. Thus, it looks as though the contested flag lies to my front, while the one I control is in my solidly held rear. Accordingly, I turn around the pillbox by the controlled flag to cover the approaches in the direction of the contested flag. Lest the designers break out in giggles, Soddball found his briefing equally confusing and ambiguous. I’m frightened because the forecast calls for lots of everything Allied and the heaviest DF weapons I have on the board are HMG-42s and an 81mm mortar FO. I have Panzerfausts, but what I really need are several Panzerschreck teams, the former being problematic in the face of hordes of American infantry and infantry eating Shermans. The fighting positions seem to be a tragic joke, too, there being no foxholes, many squads out of command, and my men and relatively feeble static defenses are padlocked. How am I supposed to hang on long enough for the panzers to save me, let alone the promised infantry? I put almost every unit on hide, cross my fingers, and hope for the best. Turn 1 Movie Allied infantry markers appear to the left and right of the road from Flavigay, with the greatest apparent progress being close to my positions to the left of the road, but with relatively more infantry lagging back to the immediate right of the road and barely on the board. Attack axis now identified. Am feeling stupid about backward facing pillbox. At least I got foxhles. Turn 2 Nothing really to see yet, but the D platoon HQ orders an ambush to cover the approaches against infantry, and company HQ tells the FO by field phone to call in mortar fire in front of the positions and centered on the road. The FO complies, but says it may take a few minutes (try four, for regular FO, new target, out of LOS). Turn 2 movie D platoon is hit by a platoon minus of American infantry, with the missing squad apparently in the trees in front of the HMG on my left. The position is suddenly swarming with American infantry, which penetrates past the forward squad but conveniently winds up under the guns of the second. The forward squad breaks ambush discipline to enfilade a passing squad at close range, but becomes so target fixated that it largely ignores an enemy squad crossing the ambush point. The HMG-42 and D platoon HQ harry the exposed flanks with fire, while the forward squad is practically fighting its own war, being under fire from two squads and a platoon HQ. It gives the enfiladed American squad a burst of fire and a Panzerfaust enema, then turns to its other tormentors, some of whom are being backshot by the other squad in my depleted platoon. The forward squad looses a man, stalls momentarily, then recovers, while the Americans take a HQ loss and one in the enfiladed squad. The forward squad is effectively surrounded. Meanwhile, an ambush is placed on the road by the next unit over. Turn 3 movie The missing American squad pops up, unleashes a hail of grenades and bullets, causing several casualties and shaking the HMG-42 crew, but the man running it knows his stuff, breaks off shooting the American platoon HQ (got one) and puts enough fire on the American squad that it breaks and runs back to the main body. Meanwhile, the private war goes badly for all, but worse for my men. The sandwiched American squad loses three men, but my forward squad can't stand the grenade storm and having lost no other men, breaks and runs, just as the platoon HQ moves to the holes of the second squad to shore up the obviously crumbling defense. Turn 4 orders Am anxiously awaiting the molasses-slow fire support while bending every effort to hold my left together. More American infantry continues to arrive, and I expect a drive on my right flank shortly. Turn 4 movie The shaken HMG-42 crew hides from a storm of American bullets, while a vicious fight rages between two American squads and my platoon HQ and VG squad. A mix of grenades and bullets, it forces one American squad, now down to five men, to flee the area and seems to put the other American squad facedown. The mortar fire should arrive sometime next turn. Turn 5 orders HMG-42 to surface and fight. Previously engaged SMG squad engages American MG from right flank. Platoon HQ and VG squad continue effort to win firefight. Platoon HQ begins to reassert control over squad broken by grenade deluge, said squad now being in command radius. Turn 5 movie Action now general! The Americans are determined to have this wood and hurl a revitalized almost fresh squad into the fray, apparently over the broken and cowering bodies of a badly chopped up one (four men left). Lt. Vogt and the squad he's with pour fire into this latest American drive and stop it. The HMG-42 fares less well, panicking under 60mm mortar treebursts and lots of bullets. Vogt manages to get the now pinned squad that was broken earlier functioning, and it drives the first American squad that was broken out of the woods altogether with some well placed grenades. The SMG squad blazes away at a less than optimal 70 meters. My fire support arrives at about the same time what looks like a platoon of American armor shows up. Not only does this happen, but the expected attack on my right, estimated platoon strength, comes crashing in, met by an SMG squad and its redeployed platoon HQ. Blood falls on both sides. My SMG squad loses a man, but no word on American losses. My guys are enfiladed by a squad in the woods to my center, but my guys there are blocked by trees. Turn 6 Reinforcements at last! A brace of big cats. Tigers are ordered to hotfoot it to covered positions to the right of the crossroads. Mortar fire is continued. Firefights to continue, with objective of winning same. The American platoon attacking my left is in sad shape: platoon HQ at 50%, one squad with one man, another hurt and at unknown strength, and a third out of the fight with only five men left. My platoon minus is in command and has taken two losses total. Turn 6 movie Curse the Americans and their endless armor! Just as I'm on the verge of finishing off the badly hurt American platoon, up pops one of their tank destroyers, which catches my freshly regrouped squad in the woods and knocks out two people in a wave of HMG and HE fire. The main body also loses another man from the VG squad. Platoon HQ remains unhit. Fire support hammers the woods to the right of the road, but I don't know whether some of it's his. Happily, my guys aren't hit. To my far right, an American squad is eliminated, but the enfilade from center claims yet another SMG man. Turn 7 orders Button up the TD. Finish off the American platoon. Deal with the enfilading squad as best you can. Move now regrouped HMG-42 to new firing position via covered route. Turn 7 movie. It's official. I've won the firepower sweepstakes by refusing to give up the woods where I've savaged that platoon. Though my men succeed in buttoning the TD and its new pal the Sherman, that is the only DF good news. The TD and the Sherman blast the daylights out of that poor squad, reducing it by three to a single man and shaken. Would've been worse, but Lt. Vogt knows how to handle men. The grenade duel continues, revealing the desperate state of the American platoon, for the previously unknown strength squad is down to three effectives. Clearly his platoon HQ must be very good. That turns into an academic discussion, though, when the American 105s come crashing in--with the MPI (mean point of impact) squarely on the center of the American platoon. I don't know what it does there, but though it puts the wind up me, I suffer no losses, despite being in a good part of the impact area with my troops. My SMG squad on the far right takes several more casualties and breaks from a multiaxis combination of mortar, small arms and yet another Sherman's HE. This leaves only the foxholed platoon HQ (pinned and at 50% strength) and a backward facing pillbox to hold the woods there. Turn 8 orders Try to finish off the nearly destroyed American platoon on the left, while limiting punishment from American armor. Bring HMG-42 into new firing position. Try to survive multiaxis attack on far right while bringing down observed mortar fire on treeline in center behind which Americans are ensconced. Road is now ambushed by one Tiger. Turn 8 movie The systematic demolition of my left continues, starting with the unfortunate detection and putting to rout of my HMG-42 by the TD. The HMG team is apparently spotted through a narrow gap in the trees while moving from cover to cover. The enfilading SMG squad can't stand having its own private Sherman tormentor and routs also. Both my platoon HQ and SMG squad break and run back to the vicinity of the reversed pillbox. The only good news is that my FO actually puts timely fire in the right place, pasting that treeline and surrounds in an 81mm hailstorm, to the accompaniment of treebursts and lots of screams. Turn 9 orders Shift mortar fire slightly right and continue. Finish off American platoon. Contain infantry and armor to fullest possible extent. Turn 9 movie The great firefight rages on, with my VG squad losing another man, and the isolated squad taking a fearsome shelling from what is now identified as a Sherman, not a TD. The 105 fire resumes, apparently after a frantically radioed set of new grid coordinates is supplied. My platoon HQ loses a man, but the real excitement is among the straddled American armor, which is so closely brushed by death that it reverses out of the presumed zone at full speed and nearly into a short round. The deathless sole survivor of his American squad dies. My mortar fire continues to gall and catches one American squad on the hop, with unknown results. In the center, my forward SMG squad guarding the road finds itself unexpectedly in battle with a squad to its left front and an American company HQ, from which it exacts a casualty and takes one from one of the two units. The Americans have yet another tank, too, judging from the sounds. Turn 10 orders Try to finish off American platoon. This is not easy, for a Sherman now has LOS to the foxhole occupied by the VG squad and platoon HQ. My kingdom for a Panzerschreck team! Shift mortar fire to block developing attempt to clear the road. Turn 10 movie I hate Shermans! Platoon HQ takes two casualties, the VG squad several more, and the regrouped squad, now down to one man, breaks again. The drive to clear the road brings at least a platoon to bear against my dug-in SMG squad, and though selling itself dearly (nearly wipes out the American company HQ), succumbs to a veritable cloud of grenades. Revenge arrives in the form of a mortar barrage under direct observation. What nicer target for mortars than bunched up men under trees? Great pattern! Turn 11 orders Finish off that half squad remnant which won't die. Continue to keep road closed by all available means. Regroup on far right and set up ambush on approaches to pillbox rear. Turn 11 movie Mixed bag. My fearsome defenders are on their knees, with the VG squad reduced to one man and the platoon HQ not only in that state, but pinned and driven from its hole by HE. An American TD lobs HE at a building on the crossroads, noticing too late my Tiger tank to the right of said building. A duel ensues, and the Tiger gets a spectacular second shot K-kill through the left side of the presumed TD, just as the defensive smoke hides all. The center platoon HQ engages forward American elements in the center, losing a two men in the process. The pillbox, though on Hide, is somehow detected by a Sherman and a shot's smashed through the door. It wrecks the pillbox, kills one and puts the rest to flight. Turn 12 orders Fight on! Reposition one of the Tigers to address emerging right flank armor threat. Praying for infantry, as I have almost none left. Still hold forward flag. Turn 12 movie Last stand time! Lt. Vogt goes down fighting while under fire from an MG and the evidently unkillable three man squad remnant. Simultaneously, the VG squad survivor comes under yet more Sherman HE, but goaded by a terrible rage, fights on. There is no one left, for the other broken remnant was killed by the last 105mm volley. Retribution is swift, for the forward edge of the all but fallen woods is under Tiger observation, bringing streams of MG-34 fire plus two beautifully placed rounds of HE. In the center, it turns out that my platoon HQ is dueling with an American counterpart. The American loses most of the HQ and turns tail. On the right, Lt. Penzel's depleted HQ and the two man team from the SMG squad also die fighting. I am now officially in big trouble, having not even a platoon of infantry, mostly low ammo, and fire support spent turns before. The 81mm mortar FO attempts to leave the area, unfortunately just as a Sherman advances, opening up a new LOS. The resulting lead storm sends the FO back to the woods. Turn 13 orders Reinforcements, and infantry at that! Deploy same one third to left of road and two thirds to right. Tiger to continue to harry previously engaged mortar and MG teams. Turn 13 movie Good news and bad news. Okay, really bad news. The good news is that I now control both flags. The bad news is that my previously successful Tiger suddenly sees a Sherman to the left of the road by my lone stalwart, spins to engage it, then sees a long-barreled Sherman on the road, breaks off and retargets on that. My Tiger and the nasty Sherman trade shots, but his second one finds my front and to my horror, kills the tank. Meanwhile my center platoon HQ is now the object of affection by a depleted American platoon and its won't die company HQ, and my right has been overwhelmed by infantry and a bunch of Shermans. Turn 14 orders Continue general infantry advance toward Flavigay while holding with remnants in forward positions. Forward flag now in dispute. Turn 14 movie My left definitively collapses. The HMG-42 team, having sorted itself out for the second time, is headed back toward its foxhole when it encounters American infantry at 18 meters. The team fights fiercely, but succumbs to fire and maneuver by several squads, losing three men and with the last going to the cage. That same turn sees my stalwart defender of the woods go down under the guns and grenades of the down to two men squad remnant and the regrouped half squad minus previously chased off. Lt. Harisch by the road went out shooting at Americans all over the place, and my surviving Tiger and a highly puckered Sherman had a miniature meeting engagement which the Sherman somehow survived, being missed, popping smoke and backing behind trees. Turn 15 orders More armor, and perfectly timed to help me stop the American torrent, which now owns everything except the forward flag and the road controlled by the last of my infantry. New arrivals to hunt up to below crest on either side of ridge following fast, concealed advance. Turn 15 movie The new armor advances, supported by my new infantry from earlier. The last of the original tanks, concerned about its flanks, backs itself from cover to cover, meanwhile engaging various hostile infantry elements with MG-34 fire. The half squad almost ready to fight again is found by the dread Sherman and put to flight. I await the inevitable final push for the flag, already heralded by Sherman and lots of infantry fire on the lone HMG-42 covering the road. Turn 16 orders Forward Tiger to continue reversing. HMG-42 (down three men) and company HQ by now reclaimed flag to defend in place. Infantry reinforcements to deploy into line formation on the ridge. Turn 16 movie The reversing Tiger encounters a Sherman to its left front and begins shooting as both backpedal. No hits. The reinforcing Tiger to the right of the road on the ridge with the second flag sees multiple targets pop up as it hunts forward, only to see them disappear in an ever growing cloud of smoke blanketing my right front and part of left center. This keeps several Shermans alive which should die, but ultimately leads to a two round K-kill on the one which first escaped. Turn 17 orders Keep that road closed at all costs. Kill as much infantry trying to open that road by seizing the flag as possible, or at least temporarily disable it. My display shows it's already American. Turn 17 movie The Americans now mount a direct assault on the flag--and pay for it to the tune of nearly a whole squad, with half a squad all but eating it from the company HQ's fire and enfilade fire from my last intact forward squad, and following that bloody reduction, the butchering of nearly another half rushing the SMG squad but suddenly finding that the suppressive fire has died out while the assault element is 12 meters away from the objective. Oops! A Tiger on the ridge gets off a burst, but basically there's so much smoke my guys in the rear can't see. My lone forward Tiger is much heartened to reverse into the company of an advancing friendly SMG platoon, which is moving up behind the American screen. SMG squad takes two casualties overall, and the FO team takes one. Turn 18 orders Flag now back in dispute. Guess that last turn's havoc made the AI reconsider. Tiger, screened by F platoon, to cautiously advance. Firefight to continue. Turn 18 movie Remember how I hate Shermans? Imagine how I feel when under fire from two at once. This turn is supposed to bring the annihilation or rout of the few surviving Americans near the forward flag, and things start off well, only to be painfully derailed by the infantry eaters. Again. A previously uncounted half squad takes several casualties and bolts, allowing efforts to focus on the remaining man from the other squad. About that point first one and then a second Sherman proceed to pulverize the SMG squad, aided by a rallied fireteam. The SMG squad loses two men and becomes pinned. FO team dies. Grr. Can't see anything from the ridge. Turn 19 orders Continue firefight. Continue cautious Tiger and infantry advance. Enemy is apparently moving up infantry and armor behind a big smokescreen. Turn 19 movie The SMG squad loses another man and stays pinned; the company HQ comes under infantry and tank fire, fortunately with no loss. Tiger and F platoon advance. Turn 20 orders Flag still disputed, primarily because of the Sherman at spitting range. Combined advance continues. Left platoon to rear begins to move to woods to screen remaining pillbox. Still can't see. Turn 20 movie The terrible point blank cannonade continues, costing me yet another MP-40 man. The right side of the smokscreen thins to reveal exposed American infantry, which Tiger and friends take under fire. Just before the turn end the Tiger spots a Sherman emerging from behind woods to the right front. The Sherman beats feet before I can smite it and pops smoke as well. Turn 21 orders Infantry to deply to cover. Tiger advances over covered route while watching flank against previously engaged Sherman. Turn 21 movie F platoon deploys, harried by infantry fire from the front and galling Sherman fire from the right flank. Damage to morale is distressing, with a few casualties taken as well. Tiger hunts forward and engages infantry. Left rear Tiger hunts up the ridge and sees the Sherman attacking the company CP (down a man). A single shot knocks out the Sherman from some 600 meters. Take that! Turn 22 orders The Tiger and part of F platoon engage infantry to the front, while some scurry to cover under Sherman enfilade fire. Tigers to the rear play hunt and reverse games. Flag's mine again. Turn 22 movie Company CP now sole target of cannonade and infantry fires. Worse, some are now from behind. Tiger and infantry pound apparent squad, putting it to flight, only to see rightmost Sherman emerge from cover. Tiger fires and misses. Shortly thereafter, a long-barreled Sherman pops out of the woods and advances on the extreme left. Tiger sees threat and begins to turn, having lost LOS to the first Sherman. Tiger is fired on by left side Sherman, which misses. Tiger dies later, apparently from ill defined tank to front. Turn 23 orders Right rear Tiger deploy to block Sherman raid via concealed right flank approach. Advance F platoon to cover. Shake out balance of infantry into line on right, then move in column to trap advancing Sherman, which has no infantry accompanying it. Continue to deploy screening force to cover other pillbox. Turn 23 movie Tiger turns and moves downhill at speed just as more smoke arrives to block LOS from its former position. Infantry executes various movement commands. Crew of first destroyed Tiger makes it back to main defensive line, but the pillbox crew is forced to abort its next move back to safety and winds up shaken. Company HQ defending forward flag loses another man; company HQ moves back to rear flag approaches and hides. Turn 24 orders Still hold forward flag, but the situation there's bleak. Prospect of relief is zero, what with all the infantry in front of F platoon and a tank, not to mention the real danger of the platoon's being backshot by what appears to be a platoon of infantry on my left, supported by a long-barreled Sherman. What's left of the company HQ is already taking fire from that group. Turn 24 movie Bad turn! American firepower is being strongly felt all over the battlefield. The cannonade and machine gunning of my forward company CP continues unabated, but amazingly only pins without inflicting further casualties. The same cannot be said for my right squad in F platoon, the object of concentrated infantry and tank fires, which takes three casualties and pins. Worse, the Sherman raiding my rear reverses course and pulls up on high ground behind my recently unhorsed Tiger crew and the immediately adjacent rear SMG squad, the latter firing, probably fruitlessly, at long range into the flank of a deploying squad. These two units are mercilessly smashed by HE and MG fire. The tankers take one casualty, break and run after several more 75mm HE bursts; the SMG squad suffers the same fate, losing three men in the process. Now I know how sausage feels! The ridge front and valley floor disappear in another smoke barrage, doubtless a prelude to a general advance. Turn 25 orders All forward units to continue fighting as best they can in the face of enormous American firepower and brutal crossfires. Withdrawal would be guaranteed slaughter. Continue move to trap Sherman on right. Tiger to continue move and shift to hunt as it proceeds upslope toward opening in woods through which Sherman must come. Other Tiger deploy to left to block advancing armor and infantry. MG pillbox to area fire on apparent infantry position in front of remnants of F platoon (a few men and an intact platoon HQ). Turn 25 movie F platoon is practically wiped out. The right squad takes further morale damage, but the left squad is virtually wiped out by mortar fire, losing seven men in one turn and panics. The forward company HQ by the flag loses another man to cannon fire and panics, in time for an infantry assault. Tiger on left carefully works up over rise and engages deploying American infantry with lashing MG-34 fire. Pillbox fires, to no apparent effect. Turn 26 orders Left Tiger to work into good defensive position and play hunt, then reverse. Left platoon forward squad to engage advancing infantry near long-barreled Sherman. Pillbox to continue firing. Crew from destroyed pillbox is back on the ridge, as is half of F platoon's shattered rear squad, neither functional. Forward flag is shown captured by Americans. Hauptmann Ferner did all he could, but one panicked man cannot hold off the best part of several squads. Turn 26 movie Several rounds of smoke are delivered in front of what used to be F platoon. The pillbox continues to fire to block an advance through the area it can see. The left Tiger has a red-hot time, coming under fire from multiple infantry units, but being unable to reply because of glacial turret traverse rate, then being shot at and missed by a Sherman while flank exposed and moving into a depression. The platoon near the Tiger comes on line. The Sherman on the right moves into the approach, and the pursuing infantry moves to block the exit. The plan is to get that Sherman with either the infantry or ambush it with the Tiger. Turn 27 orders Tiger on left to continue hunt and reverse drill. Pillbox to continue firing. Forward remnants to hold. Infantry on ridge to get behind tank, either nailing it or stampeding it into the Tiger's ambush. Turn 27 movie The left Tiger nearly dies. Twice. It survives a near miss from a bazooka team in the woods to left front, then a second shot which sails over the startled TC's head. This shifts focus from all the infantry to the front and provokes outrage from an SMG squad to the Tiger's immediate right. The swarm of lead bees puts the bazooka team first facedown and then to flight. Whew! Efforts then turn to dealing with infantry scurrying about in front. Hull and co-ax MG-34s rip into exposed infantry. Meanwhile, smoke protects the F platoon effectives, consisting of the HQ and one MP-40 man. Best of all, the marauding Sherman gets eaten by a Tiger! Two crewmen eat it too. The second dead Tiger's crew makes it back to the ridge. The first's is on its way to the rear of the board. The two prisoners (sole survivors of HMG-42 crew and an SMG squad) are all I intend to see go to the cages. Definitely am not letting a Tiger crew get captured. Turn 28 orders Left Tiger to continue hunt and reverse, with specific objectives of preventing infantry rush against ridge, thus allowing contesting rear flag, while staying out of LOS of long-barreled Shermans in several locations. E platoon next to it to engage and pin down advancing infantry, also platoon HQ to set ambush to prevent infantry rush. G platoon (tank hunters) to reverse direction and move to block drive on rear flag, notably from Sherman seen moving into Ceintrey. Right Tiger to hose Sherman crew in attempt to force surrender. Turn 28 movie Left Tiger has another busy turn, this time without the bazooka and tank fires. E platoon is shooting in several directions, including at the Sherman advancing from Ceintrey, shortly joined by another one from the right, which while moving, manages to smash my remaining pillbox on the second or third shot. My infantry on the ridge (G platoon) moves back toward the road. My right Tiger fires on the Sherman crew, forcing it out of sight. Somewhere in the period after being dehorsed that crew takes another loss. Turn 29 orders Left Tiger to pull back and intercept Shermans advancing up center and threatening to attack its rear while screened by smoke. E platoon defend in place. G platoon to continue movement to defend approaches to rear flag. Right Tiger to break off and proceed at full speed to defend rear flag, hunting into final position. Turn 29 movie Left Tiger finally gets its act together and fast moves, then hunts toward pair of Shermans. Infantry executes various orders and continues firefights already in progress. Right Tiger breaks off as ordered and goes racing toward the flag. Turn 30 orders Left Tiger to hunt forward, hoping to meet apparent 75mm gun Shermans head-on. G platoon to deploy in line covering rear flag approaches. E platoon defends in place. Right Tiger to complete fast approach and hunt into position. Turn 30 movie Left Tiger, in a wild pointblank fight, encounters first one, then two Shermans. Plays peekaboo through the trees, has lead Sherman dead to rights at 80 meters, but is distracted and buttoned by shot after shot whanging off the armor, allowing the lead Sherman to frantically reverse, while the trail Sherman joins the duel, then unaccountably advances upslope and turns its rear to the Tiger while driving away in plain sight, turret blazing away over the engine deck, only to receive an 88mm shell in the rear at 94 meters, turning the tank into a torch and getting the crew whipped with MG-34 fire. Meanwhile, the long-barreled Sherman moves out smartly, firing at the left squad of E platoon, inflicting one casualty and obviously trying to take my Tiger from behind. One last effort is made to crush F platoon, by now up to four men outside of the platoon HQ, the right squad remnant having rallied. A bazooka team is forced to ground, and the just unpinned right squad is assailed from the right flank but weathers it, being in solid command. The Reckoning Draw: 46 Soddball 54 John Kettler The real details are found in the map and the accompanying tally sheet, but what really matters is residual combat power. Though I ostensibly have two essentially intact platoons and two Tigers, plus a half squad from F platoon, plus its platoon HQ and four effectives, in reality F platoon in contact is toast. An American squad is behind it, it's under attack from several directions, there's more American infantry available, and there's that tank. The immediate situation's better on my left and center. E platoon is in strong position, but my Tiger's in trouble, being forked with a Sherman on either end, plus having to worry about that other long-barrreled Sherman. I might be able to get out of this mess, especially with assistance from my Tiger's sibling on the ridge near the flag. I have a full platoon in the woods to protect the rear flag, plus the company HQ and the half squad from doomed F platoon. I believe that I can hold off the remaining American forces, but I have to be both careful and shrewd with my remaining forces. Comments Terrible Tiger terrain! Great Sherman terrain! Tiger's not very effective in this ground, and between AI target logic problems and abysmal turret traverse rates I lost two valuable tanks--to frontal shots no less! That was quite a shock and made me gunshy. Panthers would've been better. Faster turrets and much better penetration resistance, at least frontally. SMG units are fierce up close, but I suffered severely because most of my squads had no reach and because I had no HMG-42s with my reinforcing company. A TRP or two for my rather slow FO would've helped timeliness and improved lethality. I desperately needed Panzerschrecks, being repeatedly savaged by Shermans outside of Panzerfaust range but well within Panzerschreck range. The incredible to-the-death defense put up by the forward company from scattered, often out of command positions doubtless won me the game, for it gutted most of Soddball's infantry and wrecked his advance rate. My drive on the right perhaps should've never been launched. It cost me great losses, but it did tie up considerable American combat power well away from my main defensive positions. The pillboxes were a complete waste, accomplishing nothing of real value that I could see. Siting was poor, and I made it worse by reversing the forward pillbox. Wire and mines would've been huge help, even without the pillboxes. END 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 VAB - Very true borg spotting was a problem area. I did find it was much less of a problem if you played on very large maps with decent amounts of terrain features. Thsi also had the effect of making high ground worth fighting for : ) I have suggested to BF that perhaps they look at the possibility of tightening up the spotting algorithm perhaps as a optional setting so that the spread of time goes from minutes to a range of seconds. I am not suggesting that cover etc is not given more value but in equal situations such as : If you think I am being daft in one testing range a Sherman was fired at five times by a MkIV at AFAIR 1800 metres with three shells bouncing of the front glacis. Not only the TC fail to see the enemy tank but he also failed to duck down to button up. Now in some of the tests spotting was virtually instantaneous. This difference is huge and in a scenario with a few tanks one side could be on the losing side of all the spotting. Way too random for a tournament where players only play say 5 games and all against different opponents. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Ausf B Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 This difference is huge and in a scenario with a few tanks one side could be on the losing side of all the spotting. As it could happen in real life. Spotting in CMx2 produces some strange results from time to time, but outside of those uncommon events I am not convinced the game is unrealistically too random. If anything I would say it is in general much more predictable than real combat. Certainly there is no shortage of people playing CMx2 PBEM right now, and I don't know why any of them would have an issue playing in a tournament. I think if some one wants to play a game that is all skill and no chance they should just play Chess. "Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces." -- Julius Caesar 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Vanir Ausf B and dieseltaylor, One of the things most apparent to me, after going through the above AARs, is how different the scale is of CMBO compared to CMBN. A look at the formations I commanded in ROW and gasp. I know there are highly gifted/insane people who play battalion level CMBN, but just thinking about the per turn workload practically gives me hives--which I've never had! There is no doubt CMBN does many things way better than CMBO ever could, but CMBO beats CMBN all hollow when it comes to actually being able to start a game and get it played sometime in this incarnation. Yes, the artillery was practically laser guided and more responsive than many nations can achieve even now, and MGs were so impotent it was possible to charge through several firing simultaneously and storm the position, but oh, the games we played, the battles we fought! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 WTF wall of text John? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Ausf B Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Yeah, my finger is still sore from scrolling past that massive cut'n'paste job. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Redwolf, I did put in dividers, but I do admit I got a bit carried away. Went into research mode! I think my underlying concern was that I might never find certain things again, so best to recover them while I could. Would dearly love to locate my Sounds in the Night AAR. Vanir Ausf B, Sorry about that! Did you read them? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Ausf B Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Did you read them? No. I struggle to find time for the CMx2 AARs, never mind AARs with no maps or screenshots from a game I haven't played in a decade. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Vanir Ausf B, I got into illustrated AARs with screenshots only very late in the game. My AAR for that nightmare of armored cars escorting a truck convoy, at night, through tire eating rocks, while under fire, was one such. I think the debacle at Metemma was another one. South of Vevi was, I believe, also provided with screenshots. Have no idea where any of these are. Believe I lost mine in some cyber meltdown. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 As it could happen in real life. Spotting in CMx2 produces some strange results from time to time, but outside of those uncommon events I am not convinced the game is unrealistically too random. I agree, in every CMx2 battle i have participated in, or watched, i can always identify the reasons the results went one way or another, and in no instance have i seen anything untoward that could of effected the outcome other than the mistakes my opponent or i made, therefore i will carry on playing the game competitively as long as i continue to see player errors determine results. Also, if there was an error that was noticeable in competitive games, there would be a sustained campaign on the forums to get it fixed, which there is not, proving that whatever outliers there may be for tank on tank action, the majority of the community don't see their manifestation as a problem that needs fixing, myself included, even after observing what looked like an advantage the M4 had over the PzIV in spotting after i did 100 tests on a IV v M4, i realised that 100 tests is really not adequate to make any firm conclusions, and the process of testing is so boring that to get an adequate sample would be a full time job for at least a week, which i couldn't do, therefore a better test is to see if enough of a forum consensus develops to make BF look again at spotting, which as i said i'm not seeing. Diesel, could you tell me the type and amount of tests you are running? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 noob and Vanir Ausf B, My CMBN game sample size is presently too far to make any viable statistical assessment, but I'm wondering how, given the huge differential in workload between CMBO and CMBN, there's any rational hope that scenarios of the size in ROW are playable, in any reasonable per turn time, in a tournament format? I believe I had six games going at once while in the Invitational Tourney and ROW I. I think keeping one game going in CMBN, at the prior turn per game per day, would be a challenge these days. There's so much more to do to move forces, control forces and fight the battle from moment to to moment. Then, there's watching the playback from a slew of angles, plotting the LOS, and that's not even the complete list. Am I missing something here? Or am I simply ridiculously far behind the power curve compared to most of the people in the potential competitor pool? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 @JK- I agree that the workload has significantly increased with CMx2, so if i were to create a tourney using a large map, i would make it a team on team game on one map, with participants that can promise a high weekly turn rate, but then if you can get those types of players you might as well run an operation, so for traditional tourney structures the smaller the maps the better from a time and labour POV. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I ... i realised that 100 tests is really not adequate to make any firm conclusions, and the process of testing is so boring that to get an adequate sample would be a full time job for at least a week, which i couldn't do, therefore a better test is to see if enough of a forum consensus develops to make BF look again at spotting, which as i said i'm not seeing... I think what you mention here is a good example of why a forum consensus is unlikely to develop - spotting oddities aren't common. Eg. in a battle where the two players have maybe 5-12 tanks between them, the chances of a tank/infantry failing to spot something it should - ie. tank in the open - is maybe 1 occurrence. Then the player has to actually notice it happen in the replay and remember to report it, also bearing in mind that there are many many players who never come to these forums. To my mind, though, if a tank can come around a corner and trundle down a road without being spotted by another tank ( unmoving and unbuttoned ) specifically placed to watch that road, then the spotting algorithm is failing ( yes, only occasionally, true ) at the most basic level ( never mind cover/movement/buttoned status/suppression status ). One only has to look at Darknight-Canuck's current AAR on the FI forum for a good example of multiple strange-spotting-events. I'm sure DC has already spent a fair bit of time screaming at his pixeltroops and players don't want to be doing that. Players want good tactics to be rewarded, but if ( for example ) you patiently flank an enemy and then don't see it until it turns 90 degrees and kills you, it engenders a "why do I even bother?" attitude. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I think what you mention here is a good example of why a forum consensus is unlikely to develop - spotting oddities aren't common. If there was something fundamentally wrong with the spotting it would be common, the problem is, when i ran tests, that some of the outlier results can be quite drastic when they occur, but they hardly ever do, so as in RL, there is the potential for strange things to happen in a CM battle, but it's rare in my experience, otherwise i wouldn't play it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slysniper Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Players want good tactics to be rewarded, but if ( for example ) you patiently flank an enemy and then don't see it until it turns 90 degrees and kills you, it engenders a "why do I even bother?" attitude. This is not good tactics unless you still have a threat from the front also. Then both attack and the same time, then at least if the flanking unit is spotted before it spots the enemy, sure he might get wasted, but in the process, the enemy is now revealing its flank to the other unit. Plus just because you flank a unit, it should not gareentee you get the jump on spotting him first, In R.L. there is many things that might give that unit away and not get the advantage of the move. In the game, we the commander have so much knowledge, we take advantage of it. its easy to make the perfect flanking move in the old system and know you will catch the enemy unprepared. Now it comes down to your unit spotting the enemy once they made the move, on their own. You still direct them to the perfect spot to do it. Compared to R.L. where that unit might get disoriented or misjudge the enemy location. I still think it reflects uncertainty better, even though I hate it as much as anyone else at times. The uncertain spotting adds to the aspects of not having god like control over your units which is how it should be. Yes, I agree spotting could be toned down some to make things a little less unrealistic as to being blind to certain areas. but spotting has added a aspect of uncertainty that adds to the game in a way not found in other tactical games. It has created the uncertainties of battle to show in a game that reflects just a tiny portion as to what happens in R.L. Where uncertainty and lack of control and information is all way too common. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDog944 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Why not? If your name is not on this list below, you can forget getting through the revolving door, unless ...... Bigdogg944 I'm back in the CM fold with my recent purchase of CMBN and CMFI! I'd definitely be looking to participate in any future RoW tourney. Some of the funnest most rewarding gaming of my life! Cheers! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 noob, How would we implement a multiplayer team game? I didn't know the CMx2 system even supported such a thing. Of course, it may be there without my knowing it, what with operating both blindfolded and while still on training wheels! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 noob, How would we implement a multiplayer team game? I didn't know the CMx2 system even supported such a thing. Of course, it may be there without my knowing it, what with operating both blindfolded and while still on training wheels! Regards, John Kettler Allied Player 1 loads the CM battle up to do his orders, he is in charge of one of two Allied companies, he plots the orders for Company A, then saves the file, this file is sent to Allied Player 2, who then loads it up, plots the orders for Company B, then clicks the red button to create the .ema file, which is then sent to Axis Player 1, etc, etc. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 noob, Learn something new everyday! Is this capability something new and only in CMx2, or has it been with us from CMx1, but I somehow missed it? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDog944 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I would think that you can multiplay a side in any game that allows mid-turn saves to be taken before the "End Turn" button is pressed. You just need to play with people you trust, since the last person with the save could re-write all the rules for all the other players to royally screw a game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 noob - currently running no tests as I have hopes/hoped that v2.01 or V2.00 would make all previous testing potentially invalid. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 noob - currently running no tests as I have hopes/hoped that v2.01 or V2.00 would make all previous testing potentially invalid. Ok........ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WineCape Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Time seems to run me by, for anything other business. Nabla has looked at the scoring (a re-assessment actually) and seems to have run up against a brick wall. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 WineCape, So happy to see you here! I loved playing under the Nabla system, to the point where other approaches of yore seem rather pathetic. What I particularly liked is that it opened whole worlds of military possibilities--and finally got us out of the seldom seen equal force model. What are you doing these days? My understanding was that you did the FIFA Referee thing for a bit, didn't like it and, when last seen, were coaching soccer. Is that right? Since you specifically mention business, does that mean you've embarked on a new venture? ROW or no, it's great to have you back! I have fond memories of the South African treasures you so kindly sent, and it's a good thing, too. Why? These days I'm on meds which utterly prohibit enjoying the fruits of the vine, or any other fermented libation. Sigh. Still, excellent memories, reinforced by reading whopping chunks of old ROW threads! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WineCape Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Chuck the meds John; drink wine/beer instead. You'll live longer. And happier. :-) I have resigned a few months ago from all football referee activities after a career spanning 23 years, the last 12 years which was in our highest Pro league here, the PSL. I'm still keeping fit, with twice a week social footie being played, ends usually with a nice cold beer/draught afterwards at the local tavern/pub. Well, I have been doing the social footie thing for close to 20 years anyway, if my referee assignments did not take me out of the province. Can't see myself, or allow myself, to seed sideways in girth. Ever. But yeah, too many air miles flown over the years while officiating, and the mandatory ref retirement age was creeping up, so I resigned while still in charge of my faculties and having a (relative) unblemished officiating career. Busy being a silent partner in a few businesses, while being less "silent" in others. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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