BFCElvis

The pros are that from the angle he will be coming in from, I'll have depth. Until the last turn (more about that when I get the screen shots together), I thought he'd really have to slug his way through the area. Unless he had so many troops that he roll right through. The cons are that I don't have enough real firepower to put enough of a hurting on him. No real antiwar more assets either. I have a flamethrower that I hope gets to fry him a little but that is it. I always assumed I wouldn't be able to hold BLAU. And I still don't expect to. What I would like to do is have it be more work than he bargained for and take a lot of time off the clock.

39 The fire mission is linear, along the tree line. Even near misses should be helpful. I did get one more hit before having the Hetzer bugger off. It didn't show as a penetration but maybe the shrapnel hurt some of the crew. The scout that has been creeping around there for a while, doesn't quite have a line of sight. He needs to rest before I put him back to work. All the crawling around has made him exhausted.

I really want my HQ to bug out of the building he is using to call in the 120mm but I need him to stay in place just a little bit longer. The spotting rounds are coming down and it would be fantastic if one was slightly off the target area. Looking at BLAU from up on high you can see that the strength of my men there are on in the backside of the direction he is attacking from. I can safely move them out or stay and slug it out as best I can. HHmmmmmmmm....

The biggest news moving forward is that it appears that Bil is finally making his move on BLAU. A couple of his men go down pretty quickly. Then comes then T34. It immediately decides it doesn't like the team I have in the building taking potshots at his comrades and blasts a shot right at him...killing 2 men. The last man in the team gets out before he decides to level the building.

What about my heros on the left edge. The other guys that got the drop on Bil last turn? A few more shots before pulling back. Pulling back. "Ah, can't wait to get back to the rest of the platoon and see how we can help." Uh oh, Bil drops direct mortar fire right on the spot they fell back to. Well boys, you did well for me. I'll send your widows the medals that you earned.

First shot fired!!! Aw man....hit a tree on the way there. I'm holding my breath when watching this, praying to the flying spaghetti monster that I'll get a second shot off before he does. Then I see him backing up. My Hetzer gets another shot off! A hit!!!!!!!! It stops moving and then....the hatches all open! I spot no men but the infantry icon appears! He's out. I can't tell if it has been knocked out or just bailed.

My thoughts exactly. I may not get another chance where I have the upper hand. After watching the turn a couple of times (ok...maybe 20). I'm not sure if I killed that monster. I saw all the hatches open a brief glimpse of someone bailing out. Because of how the game works, I think I did knock it out. My Hetzer had it targeted. After the penetration it didn't fire another shot, despite appearing to have a clear LOF. This will normally happen after a knock out. If they had just abandoned the vehicle the Hetzer should have continued firing. I am going to pull both Hetzers out. The one that got the shot off will get a pause before moving so that maybe I can confirm the kill...or get another shot off before leaving. I feel very safe there for the few seconds I'll be paused. He got a bloody nose. The other 122 backed out of sight and I can't imagine he would bring it back to take chance that I won't hit that too. Having a turret is exactly why I brought the Panther back first too. Maybe to go after that building blowing up T34. I'll have some screen shots up in a while. By even though I lost a few men this turn (so did Bil), it feels like a big win for that turn.

Well, it is going to get a full minute. You can probably imagine how anxious I am to get this turn back........ It has the potential of being THE pivotal minute of the battle.

Told you it was a dilemma. The opportunity is too good to pass up. If I had not gotten a penetration on one and the other had no backed up, I'd be out of there. But don't worry, I'm not going to sit there and try to slug it out. One turn and done is all I'm gonna give it. But I'd be kicking myself the rest of the game if I didn't even try. My guess is that he won't want to slug it out either and that the turn will begin with him backing into the woods.

That is the exact plan right now.

I LOVE the flamethrower one!! Ya had me cracking up.

At the last moment of the turn my other Hetzers had spotted and was aiming at the one that got lucky with the tree. Now for my dilemma. What to do with my armor. Do I keep them in place and hope to get a couple/few more shots in? Do I pull them back to safety and wait for another chance to get them? The ISU-122 that was saved by the tree, had backed up out of LOS of the Panther and the Hetzer that was aiming was not able to draw a target line...so it may be just out of its sight now. I've decided to leave both Hetzers in place. The one that got the hit still has a clear LOS and I'm hoping that if it isn't dead that it is stunned enough for me to get a few shots off before it returns fire. I believe the Hetzer on my left will not fire at the retreating tank but, because it is aiming, I want to give it the chance. The Panther has thrown it into reverse and then heading to an area behind BLAU that has pretty good sightlines to the woods edge, where I am anticipating at least some of Bils attack to come from.

At last. The armor is in play. My tanks had arrived in their overwatch positions and were given a Hide order to not draw as much attention. All were unbuttoned and had a clear view of the western side of the large woods. The first to spot the enemy was the Hetzer on my right. I saw him before he got a chance to get a shot off. A penetration! I have no idea if it has been knocked out or sustained any damage. The tank commander buttoned up at once and it didn't move or do anything. The second shot the Hetzer fired hit a small patch of trees halfway to the main woods. As the turn was ending another IsU122 appeared. This time in sight of my Panther. BOOM, shot fired!! It hit a tree right in front of the damned thing. By right in front, I mean I watched it 4 times from different angles before I was sure it wasn't the tank that I hit.

I have been waiting for Bil to approach that sweet set up spot. He fired area fire near there and, I guess, felt safe enough to come forward. There were so many potato mashers in the air there will be mashed potatoes for days. The guy running away of the left got one dropped right on top of him a second or 2 after this screen shot was taken. I heard a scream or two, in addition to my confirmed kill.

If he goes over that one, I'll post a screenie of me cutting him down in midleap.

WOW. HUGE turn for me. I haven't finished it because I am still deciding about a couple of things in the plot phase. Short story is that my team I've had in the position I love on my far left got a visit from Bil and I really got a jump on him. At least one dead and probably more (for him). I'm thrilled about this because it should give him pause to wonder what other surprises I may have in store. The other big thing is the armor battle has begun. Bil may even have posted about it already. I got a frontal penetration on one ISU122 and a lucky tree blocked a shot for a hit on another. Whether to stand my ground and see if I can finish these guys off or pulling them back now is what I am mulling over. I'll put up some screen shots and tell you what I've decided soon. But right now I'm loving where I have positioned myself....If it will be good enough in the long haul is the question but for the minute I'm happy.

I really hope I get the chance to use these guys in great concealment in BLAU I mentioned that he was moving some guys to the east in the big woods. Well, it finally gave me the chance to open up one of these. rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat. Dead Russian.

As I mentioned, I've moved the 120mm arty to fall along the tree line . A lot of the movement that I have been seeing is looking like it is changing direction. I am now seeing movement to the south east of BLAU. All infantry movement before has been toward the middle of the woods. That doesn't mean those guys aren't there in the middle any more....just not making as much noise My platoon to the far east just took a hit from something fairly big. It seemed like a tank shot. I doubt it was an on map mortar or a lucky spotting round When the turn was over I couldn't get a line of sight from any of my men to a possible tank position and I haven't seen any armor on that side. Which means I'm either wrong about the source or it was area fire from a location that I can't see. Another thing that is going on in that area around the team I left behind in the awesome set up location. Did I mention how much I LOVE this spot. I had killed at least one of Bils guys there and have been waiting for him to attack from that direction. I hadn't heard a peep for a few turns but this one he is firing area fire all over the place. Nowhere near these guys or where the rest of his platoon was or is. I hope the screen shot shows all the puffs of smoke and bullets hitting trees. I was a little surprised how much ammo he was using.

I am picking up what you're puttin down. It would only do my good if my timing was dead on. If he has already given the order to move in then the intel is moot. If I do it too late then, like you said, my troops may not break off the fire order. If I do it too soon then the Intel issue comes into play. I'm loading a turn on my computer while I'm typing this on my phone......I might know more in a couple of minutes.

He retreated back to BLAU the moment he placed that fire order...because I didn't care how accurate it was. He is the one calling in the order in the recent screen shot...although I have changed that to a linear order along the tree line.

I've had a personal situation that has cut into my time for the last 24 hours. I've been able to process my turns and take a couple of screenies but nothing earth shattering has happend. I did pop another one from one of the squads near the bridge and seen some odd movement in the middle. I feels like all he'll is going to break loose at any moment. I'm pretty happy with where everyone is set up now and hope that I withstand the storm. My biggest concern is the 1 1/2 platoons in BLAU. I'm glad I didn't move them forward but don't think I'll have enough to really make a big stand. One thought I am having is that next turn or maybe the one after that...opening up area fire along the entire woodline facing BLAU. Maybe I can time it so that he runs into it........it's a thought.

Tell me about it.

Here is a pretty crummy video. I only took it and shared it because I was surprised at how many units ran across this one area of road at once. I have ARTY set to come in on that exact spot!!!! But not for 4 more turns. I adjusted the mission after this.

No looking happy at all, his riders dismount. And he fires again at my poor lone scout....and misses! He continues to move men across the bridge. This is meant to give you an idea of the line of sight that my armor will have when they arrive. (Damn, I am really hating the black sound contact icons) Things are forming up very nicely from above. I don't think I will be surprised when he finally comes at me. I just hope I'm ready.

Something bigger than the 20 mm one I chose. I heard a plane a few turns ago but nothing fired on me. It is in pretty good position to see approaches to BLAU from the west and behind BLAU to the north and east. You can see its placement in the screen shot with my armors movement orders. Yes, mines were an option and I bought some. They are in the back woods to the north and east, where I have the platoon that will either defend my rear VL or use as reserves.