BFCElvis

Doesn't it look cool? I haven't had a situation where they came into play but other testers have and have said that they work.

Perhaps now is a good time to step back and show what the current situation is. The only things that can't be seen in this screenshot is the SPW 251/21 and some of 6th Company. The blue circles are known German AFVs (also the yellow circle...I somehow screwed that up ) The blue circle that doesn't have sound contacts is where I believe there are 2 TDs that did all the killing on the Street of Death. The red circles are my tanks. The yellow arrow is pointing to where I have an OT-34 that is barely in the shot. At first blush the armor count seems pretty close to even. However, I have not mentioned this because I keep hoping to dig it out, I have an OT-34 in the screenshot near Jagermeister. I was moving this between buildings very early in the battle and it got stuck. I feel like I've tried everything to move it out and if anyone has any secrets for moving stuck tanks I'd love to hear it. Where it is stuck it still has LOS to some areas that will be helpful if he moves into them but I'm not able to move it. The purple circle shows where the 6th Company is. I have not committed them. The SMG Company is finally starting to get thin. I am considering moving the 6th's SMG Platoon to support them. Some of the infantry that was having the attrition battle have either routed or I've pulled them back to provide some protection for the tanks near Berliner Weisse. Another thing that I just realized isn't in the screenshot are the on map 82mm mortars. The only thing that I have used them for so far is smoke. Part of me thinks that I should move them somewhere that they could be used for direct fire. Part of me thinks I should call in some indirect fire. I just don't see a good place to do either of those things yet....so they sit and wait. This is after 45 minutes of battle. Exactly halfway through. I still feel confident that I have hurt him in places and that I'm not in terrible shape. That said, I no longer feel that I am in good shape either.

I had LOS to the SPW 251/21 for a pretty long time. But I was never able to establish a LOF and target the thing. I've turned the trees off for these screenshots. This is the first time the entire battle that I have felt like I'm in trouble. It really gave me a bad case of the sadz. A real morale killer. I felt like I had set the tank up in a good place. So, I'm not second guessing that. It's also the first time all game where I feel like I'm behind in the armor part of this battle. Even the carnage on the Street of Death didn't make me think that.

HHmmm.......You shouldn't see it at all. Weird. PF100s began production in November 1944. The base game cuts off in September. It's also not in the base game's manual. Some Rome to Victory content trickled into the 4.0 patch (even though it couldn't be accessed). That may be what's going on. I can't check it right now as my installed version has the Fire and Rubble content.

I wish that I could say that things were going as well back down near the SMG Company. It looks like the BA-64B has fallen victim to something new with Fire and Rubble. A Panzerfaust 100. I'll have to wait until the battle is over for confirmation of that but the only thing that I can think of that would have been able to do that are those units that I brought the thing forward to shoot at. Also, I haven't figured out yet if it is a bug or a map issue but the guys I was bringing in to help ran to the door of the building that I wanted them to enter and then ran away and took a different path into the line of fire of the bad guys that they were being tasked with taking out. Not cool. Totally not cool. All doors in all Combat Mission titles are unusable if the ground outside the door is higher than the bottom of the door. I see this often done intentionally. This door doesn't appear to be that kind of set up but when we're done I'll take a look at the map in the editor or see if @benpark did it on purpose. I a wrecked environment it definitely makes sense to have doors blocked by debris. Being careful, particularly in critical moments, is good advise that I should follow myself.

Up at Berliner Weisse I have finally knocked out the 75mm Recoilless Gun. These guys hung in there for a long time. The Sappers have started blowing through walls and I now can see what has been firing that HE to the corner building of that complex.

It is something that an AT Rifle could take out.

You know I was looking forward to the day that a picture of one of these was posted, right?

There has been no addition of hit decals on buildings (at least none that anybody told me about ). Plus, that location has had anything firing that large of rounds in that directions that would have caused it.

Moments before the BA64B got into position the nearby AT rifle teams took a direct hit from the Mark IV up the street. All dead. I've been trying to target the SPW 251/21 but I can't draw a line of fire......I can see it, I just can't target it. As it moves around I hope the TacAI keeps an eye on it and gets a shot off before it does.

To help the SMG guys get some firepower on that building I've run my BA-64B over to get some fire on them too.

Oh! What is this that is rolling down the road!?( @Aragorn2002) My T34-85 just spotted this guy going down the road that ends where he took out the Panther earlier. This should be easy enough to take of.

I've got 2 nagging thorns in my side. One is that something keeps firing HE at end building by my OT-34 and whittling down the infantry that I'd moved there in support of the Sappers. The other are the only real survivors of the fury from my SMG Company. 1...2...or 3...units are holed up in a large building and only an SMG Team has am LOS to them. I've had enough of them so I'm going to get some more SMG fire on them.

It looks like it's just under $83 on Amazon US.

That is why I am feeling like I'll probably send the 6th up to Berliner Weisse. I'll wait a couple more turns to make sure there aren't any big surprises before I do.

Meanwhile, back down at the other end he runs another unit across the road. This one is an HQ unit. As we're getting near the halfway point I have to start seriously thinking about deploying 6th Company. They have not moved. As I see it there are 2 choices: 1) Make Jagermeister an unbeatable stronghold. (or hope that I have). Right now I feel like I have enough to fend off whatever he'd throw at me in my home base. I have 8 Maxims with their support units and HQs. I've got most of the SMG Company. I've got most of the Sappers. A couple of small AT guns. A T34-85 and an OT-34. I can pull a tank or 2 back from Berliner Weisse if needed. I even have 3 82mm mortars that I can use for direct or indirect fire. I feel like that is a lot and I may not need 6th Company. 2) Send 6th Company to help take out Berliner Weisse. Most of what I have up there now is pretty roughed up. My gut is telling me that he may be roughed up there too. But my gut is not actual intel. If I can punch a hole in what he has perhaps a fresh rifle company will be able to move right in. And if he is as banged up as my gut is telling me, use it as a launching point for Objective Vodka. All that said, I believe, at this point, that this battle is won or lost at Berliner Weisse. That he will never take Jagermeister and I will never take Vodka.

But.....as has been happening this entire battle.....the body exchange continues. When he opened fire on my it exposed his squad to the OT-34. I heard LOTS of screams while I was torching the building. When Ithikial and I PM we almost never mention anything that has happened in the game. But after this he told me it took out a whole squad. You guys know better than me...And I know of at least one guy that still lives. I'm so glad that I bought the OT-34s. Playing with fire is fun.

WRONG!!!! He could see plenty. (this is still with smoke turned off...it didn't clear that quickly)

Once the OT-34 was in place I saw that I could pull forward a little and see the buildings that the other spotted units were in. Shooting all those flames brought in a lot of smoke so I'm moving a squad and and the Sappers into the building under cover of smoke. Here is what it looks like with smoke and with smoke turned off. He'll never even see me making the move through such thick smoke.

Back down with the SMG Company he is using a 75mm Armored Car to area fire some buildings. I guess I know where he is planning to bring it. I also moved my BA-64B behind the buildings that the SMG Company are in in case he tries to run the units that he has already moved into those buildings out the back doors.

I might as well make things hot while I'm there.

In an effort to give my Sappers a little support as they prepare to blow their way through walls to get to the Panther, I looked at the corner of that building I had talked about earlier. The one that I said I couldn't get tanks to go around. It occured to me that I may be able to bring one up to area fire on the building that I is closest to the corner. So, I brought an OT-34 up. Sure enough. I got a LOF at the building.

I didn't. There are portions that I have considered showing as video rather than screenshots but I haven't acted on it.

This is an absolutely brutal battle. I'm really looking forward to seeing if my perception of what's going on matches his.

And what the heck is this sneaking around down by my SMG Company? He really does have men everywhere. I think that I'm in a good position to take on a threat from where he's moving them to.