BFCElvis

It's not very mobile and I've regretted my purchase since turn 1. John, Anything you see like that is a placeholder. The placeholder I am most looking forward to going away are the sound contact ones. It gives me the sadz when I make screen shots with them.

Now an update on my armor. I continue to plan on using them like a pack of rabid dogs. This shot should give you an idea of how far back they still are. This is where they ended up after having used QUICK movement from their original set up position. There is line of sight to close to nothing from there. I have decided to move them forward but not far as I had originally considered. I am ordering them to HUNT to position where they can see the western most edge of the woods and much of the open area to the west of that. The target line I have draw is only to show what they can see from the point that their movement stops. I have not targeted anything.

And guess what I see? An ISU-122 with a load of passengers coming out of those sound contacts and creeping through the woods . My scout can't help himself and pops off a round. *PLINCK* And look at that! He bagged one!

Things are beginning to heat up. Not much in the way of firing at each other but I am getting more hard contacts. There is a small bridge to the east of BLAU that I have seen 2 single men from 2 different units pass by. They appear to be heading north, not toward BLAU. But that is unconfirmed, I'm basing it solely on the direction they were moving. Here is the area that I spotted them at. I have also spotted a guy in the middle of the map approaching BLAU. He happens to be walking through the area where I have retargeted my harassing fire. Hopefully it will be coming down by the time his friends arrive. To the west I am beginning to get more sound contacts on the western side of the large woods.

It is prettier and more fearsome looking buttoned. I'm not sure you guys realize how far out of the "action" that my armor is. I would feel comfortable having the crew dismount, dance a fairy dance around the Hetzers and remount. But then again......maybe Bil has infiltrated deeper than I know. Good thing I'm buttoned up. The tank commander is always the first to go.

New turn and Bil has moved back to the area where I kilt a man...just to watch him die... But I have pulled back a little since then and only one squad can see him. The squad holds it fire...and I am happy about that because I want him to come closer. Here is where I have pulled back to. I LOVE this teams set up position. I think they are about 15m away and have no line of sight to the guy I've spotted. GREAT concealment. When he moves forward I should be able to get the jump on him.....They'll probably die by the time the smoke clears but I think they have a chance to take a lot more down with them.

Here is a picture of my Panther...just because I can.....

I'm still getting lucky with my spotting rounds landing just where I want them. I am looking forward to reading what Bil makes of this My faithful out to the west has earned his pay again. He caught this guy hunting along the woods edge. That may be enough to deter me from running my armor that way. This will give you an idea of where he is on the map.

He completed the aid on both guys pretty quickly. After the kill shot was fired Bil backed up being a low ridge. I tried to get a good screen shot but nothing came out interesting/informative enough to post. But since it is now out of LOS, it makes me think that maybe now is the time to move my armor up and try to get a shot or two off. My biggest hesitation is that any shot I take will be at his front.

That dude just harshed my mellow.

Finally a spotting round lands in a nice place. I think there was a sound contact right where it hit. Check Bils thread and see if it hit anyone.

Well, success comes in small forms. Consolidating the platoon to the east has given me the first known kill. Popped one. Not only that but they have turned away a man from a different unit (you can see the dead guy going down in the background) I am even able take a long range shot at a man going up the middle. I think things are about to really heat up. Even though I have kilt a guy and chased another away, that platoon won't last long there. I will probably pull them back after a couple of turns. I mean look at this....that kind of grouping in dart is great but in the woods against Bil is something else

When I split a straggler squad to form an assault team, all of the MP40s are all put into that team. The Hetzer gets rolling

Uh oh. Not so lucky with the second shot. Time to get moving. I'm going to move my armor up so that I can more quickly move them into battle. The scout unit can only provide comfort to it's downed friends

My armor is set up very far in the backfield. If they come under fire when they move out then he has snuck past me in ways I'll never understand. Just got a file.....I'll post again in a few minutes.

The only other thing of note for now is that my harassing fire spotting rounds keep falling in the same spot. I don't expect them to do any damage. My intent is to give Bil something else to think about. But of all the places for these stray rounds to fall, they are falling in the most useless one. You can see the target area and the circled exploding round. I'm not sure when I last posted a shot sowing where everyone is. Here it is. The only thing missing is the scout on my right that was just fired on. The black squares in BLAU are my flamethrowers

Here is what it looks like when a 122mm shell sails over your scouts heads and explodes a safe distance behind them. I haven't used one of those monsters yet but it must be frustrating waiting for the next shot to be fired. A full 30 seconds went by without another round fired. Now to give you an idea of what I've been talking about looks like. I did not spot him until the round was in the air. Because of that, I believe it was moving and stopped to fire because I have a good line of sight to him. Heck, I have a good line of sight to the whole area. The light blue arrows indicate what I can see....and have been able to see for a few turns. The purple arrow shows the basic patch that the team that I pulled back took and the blue line next to it is where I am thinking about sending him back. He didn't even encounter a sound contact. It really does look like that area is safe....for now. Which makes me seriously consider quickly moving my armor near the scout and seeing if I can get a shot or two off. The distance to travel is about 850m and will probably throw up some sound contacts to him. I'd hate to miss the opportunity to get a clean shot at the thing but don't want to lose my precious armor doing it. If I had to travel 100-200m it would be a no brainer. Regardless of what I do about his tank, it's probably time to fire up the Hetzers and move to a spot where they can be brought into play more quickly.

Please don't got back to lurking mode. Responding to a post like yours helps me to evaluate/reevaluate my thoughts. And also helps me make some of the things I'm doing more clear, in case I haven't communicated them well before.

Because I am defending it may seem like I am doing more advancing than I am, when I talk about teams being forward and scouts etc.... The fact is that in the center woods, early in the game I sent two squads to both scout and give Bil the impression that I had something going on there. Other than that the only advancing I have done is with two scout units on the other edges of the map. Both have now provided me with great intel. My understanding of Bils style of play is that he methodically recons and pinpoints enemy positions and wipes them out handily. That is what staying in place means to me with this game. Keeping him wondering where I am or moving from where he thinks I am, is critical to me having a chance. Also, trying to keep him off balance is going to be something I need to do. The gathering of the platoon on my left will hopefully provide me the ability to flank him when he attacks where he looks to be gearing up for attack. Or it should give him something new he has to think about, possibly causing him to change his plan or delay it to deal with a new threat. I will not be moving them as far forward as I had planned with all the sound contacts I've gotten on my left in the last couple of turns. I am going to set the platoon up with the best cover and longest line of sight I can get. The further I can keep him away when the shots get fired, the better chance I will have against his machine guns. Hoping you've found the best place to set up and duke it out toe to toe does not feel like the best strategy in this battle. I think a static defense with him is just a quick death. I could be wrong, but I do have a method to my madness. Now, moving the armor forward is much more of a bold move. If I do that, I will be bringing my armor very far forward, with no support. What makes it so tempting is that I have seen no signs of danger on that side of the woods, and I have been looking for it. It could be an opportunity to catch one of his big tanks in a position that I can take it out and get back. I haven't committed to doing it yet and having to travel as far as I will have to travel I may lose that advantage of an clear run. I will start to bring them to the forward part of my set up and decided as I go if the risk is worth it in a few turns.

I'm unable to post screen shots right now because I'm not in front of my computer but I thought I'd share something that happened in the last turn. My scout on my car right, who has been keeping an eye on the open ground on the west was fired upon by an ISU122. The shot came 29 seconds into the turn and because of its painfully slow reload time it didn't fire again that turn. The shot sailed over the heads of the scouts. The tank was behind the large woods. These scouts have nice LOS to the whole open area and the western side of the woods. I also have brought one of my teams back through the woods on that side without meeting anyone. The only T34s I have seen was on the opposite side of the woods. This has all made me consider going hunting with my armor. It might take 2 or 3 turns to get them into a position to attack. They will almost surely be able to fire at the front of his tank. But having multiple tanks against a slow moving and slow reloading giant may give me a chance. This is what I'm thinking while waiting for my next turn.

I was really talking about in game. I've already posted where they've set up.

My Hetzers and Panther are going to stay hidden until the time is right. We're not even close to that yet. When I do move them, my plan is to have them move like a pack. Hopefully not taking on more than one Russian tank at a time...and then running to safety until the next opportunity arrives.

sburke, these woods are pretty dense. I can't draw an LOS line very far. Once the platoon meets up again I need to check something I've been meaning to check the whole game but keep forgetting. I've never used these units before and they are almost 50/50 rifles and SMGs. I'm hoping if I split off an assault team that it will be mostly SMGs. If that's the case I'm going to try and have the rifles cover the SMG teams, as they move forward. I'm not sure what the negative waves are about this move. I have seen only one (scout?)team in those woods. No sound contacts at all. Every other unit of his I've seen moving, not to mention all the sound contacts, has been toward the big woods in the middle. Of course you guys have more Intel than me.....so who knows....maybe I'm walking into a trap.

I hear ya, brother. I've got a bad feeling about every plan against Bil. To remain in place is suicide against Bil. To pull back accomplishes nothing but delaying what happens by staying in place a few turn. All the signs that I've gotten tell me his main thrust will be on the eastern side of the main woods. Moving forward on the extreme east, seems relatively safe. I want to back solid contact and then pull back. The woods will provide better terrain for that.

I've tried to incorporate some long shots that also include elements of the close up. Like including the smoke and eastern scout in the wide shots.