BFCElvis

It is the opposite. Gravestones provide cover. Steve miswrote earlier and Then corrected himself.

I forget exactly how close the points need to be a draw but as in CMx1 and CMSF it could end up as a draw. And yes, in theory we could each accomplish our objectives and have it be a draw. Draws in any Combat Mission game I've played though are pretty much always neither side completing all objectives.

My man!! Farts? We have another snow day in NE Pa and probably while you were typing your message I was telling my wife why I wasn't interested in braising cabbage for dinner. I told her that the onlt thing cabbage is good for, beside cole slaw, is for making me fart. Victory status is not something you get in game updates on. In this scenario I am able to see what each of my victory locations are worth. There are 4 areas of the Villa that are worth 75 points, Hill 154 and Hill 144 are each worth 75 points and the 2 exit locations in the rear are each worth 75 points. There was no mention in the briefing about targets I should be taking out or friendly force preservation but it is usually assumed that some points are awarded and deducted for casualties. The thing about CMx2 battles though is that I have no idea what his objectives are. He may have a completely different agenda. The scenario could be designed that the Villa gives him 600 points and must be held at all costs or the Villa may be of little point value and the rear exit VLs are where the money is at for him. That part I won't know until after the battle is over. For now, as in real life, all I need to worry about is my mission. Trying to guess if his mission is the same or different will only distract me.

I have been debating where and how to mention this since Jons instant message to me woke me up at 3:30am today and decided here is probably the best place. Jon Sowden is a mensch. Along with Peng, Greg Lineham has been one of my closest friends for the past 36 years. With Peng he was my best man when I first got married and I was his (actually I was Peng too). His daughter has juvenile diabetes and he began the 9 Great Walks in New Zealand to raise awareness for JD. He is doing this on a shoestring budget because he doesn't want to spend more money doing this than he will raise and has been staying hostels since arriving in NZ at the end of the year. (here's Gregs blog if your curious. It has been pretty funny at times. Especially the Larry David moment with the one legged man from Yorkshire. http://gregskiwiadventures.blogspot.com/) Yesterday (or is it tomorrow...I get this time thing screwed up every time) Jon took Greg into his home. It is humbling that someone I know so well and someone else I only know from playing war games online with have connected halfway around he world. Jon has taken in my friend without a second thought. A true random act of kindness and generosity. Jon Sowden is a mensch.

Many weapons in the game will cause friendly fire casualties.

When the trees are that heavy you have to turn them off pretty frequently. I'm really looking for to spending time with the newly introduced half tree effect.

That is pretty normal for me too. But with this I have been rewatching each turn so many times looking for any sign of German units that I blame myself for this. It will be a little while until we see what the result of that oversight means for me. Having notifications pop up sounds like a good idea on the surface but I'm not sure that would have helped me. If I remember correctly Close Combat and Theatre of War both have them and after the first few times of playing each game I ended up ignoring the messages because they became more clutter than helpful. Probably because it wasn't very often I got a notification for something I hadn't already seen. Of course, to each their own. Some people really dig that kind of feedback. Me? There are other things I'd rather have........

Yes and no. The as Moon points out facing improves spotting. As does unit morale. And if the unit has binoculars. Those types of things can increase and impede your ability to spot something. But memorizing each factor that comes into play is probably not necessary because all of these factors are things you would expect. Of course you can see better in the direction your looking, of course you can see better with binoculars, of course you can't see as well when you are panicked or broken or crawled up in ball on the ground. It all feels very natural.

That really does look great.

Yes. And they knock them down. For whatever reason the fence was my "stop" point when I moved to that spot. Not because it afforded cover or anything other than I didn't want to pass that point for fear of getting knocked out again.

Well, with PBEM it is only WeGo. I just flat out missed it somehow. I debated mentioning that I missed it until the point in the game when I realized it but when taking screen shots for this post I saw it for the first time and decided it would be fun to point it out sooner rather than later. Anyone who reads Stephen King may find it to be a familiar literary device.

Two platoons would be generous. No, there isn't close to anything like that. There are 2 or 3 units that are to the left that didn't fit in that screen shot. But even with those there are no HQs. What I have there are a few seriously damaged squads from the initial two platoons...at most 3 or 4 men left per squad...., depleted tank crews and probably some ammo carriers. If I get a chance I'll go back and take proper inventory but the bottom line is that that area has only the weakest of assets.

I can’t help myself and my obsession with the AT gun, it is the one remaining thing that is preventing me from overrunning the Villa. I have to test the waters. I promise myself I will be mindful of potential danger in the woods. I still can’t an LOS to the foxholes and gun because of the wheat field. Full size Covering the advance on Hill 144 I am able to get more help from the wall of death area. They’ve got a nice look at the buildings where I sighted the MGs. Which, I have forgotten to mention, have not made much noise since my initial pounding of the buildings they had set up in. Full size I finally get a brief glimpse of the MG that has been harassing my advance toward the barn. The foxhole containing the MG42 can be seen in the front middle edge of the hill in the background. No one in this group is able to get a decent shot at it as they are either cowering of have moved out of LOS of the foxholes. This picture is a good one because it shows most of the victory locations that are in the Villa. There are a total of 4. Each worth 75 points. Full size This is a period of struggle. I moving forward in feet and inches rather than years. The going is slow. At 1517hrs I took this shot to show what I am dealing with on Hill 154. You can see the infantry I have along the edge and the gun has just reappeared in someone’s LOS. It’s a nice picture because it gives you a great view of how thick the woods are on Hill 154. Deadly. I have decided to not try to take the woods. I will do my best to hang onto the ground I have but I will commit nothing to trying to take Hill 154. Full size This screen shot is perhaps the most important one of the game for me. As you read my next few AAR postings you will need to keep in mind that when I played this turn of the game I did not see what is in this screen shot. Decisions were made with no knowledge that this had happened. When I finally found this moment I saw that it occurred in the last second of the turn. Had I seen this when it happened my choices would have been very different. Full size The last major AT asset is knocked out and I have no idea………………..

1512 hrs With the loss of my Sherman on Hill 154 I have lost one of the most important elements of my advance up the hill. Having a Sherman on that hill gives me a big advantage. Together with the Sherman on Hill 144 most of the village can be covered with 75mm HE. If I stay away from the woods edge I feel confident that it is safe to keep a tank up there. With that in mind I commit one of my 3 reserve Shermans to get up on the hill as fast as possible. The rag tag infantry along the treeline of 154 can provide security for the portion of the hill it will be traveling past. As expected, I safely and quickly have an M4 back on Hill 154. Full size On Hill 144 I am being subject to constant hit and run missions by German infantry. They appear, fire off some shots and either disappear or die. It is like death by a thousand paper cuts. Never a major blow but enough to send men to ground and make my organization of troops on the hill difficult. Full size Men continue to arrive at the foot of Hill 144. This is shaping up to be the core of my attack on the Villa. Full size In the center area of operations advancing is very slow. Most of the units I am advancing with are the remnants of 3rd Plt/F Co. They are in pretty bad shape and have been harassed by machine gun fire causing them to constantly go to ground. I haven’t been able to get a read of exactly where the MG fire is coming from. Full size Back on Hill 154 more hit and run actions. The men are in such bad shape they throw their arms up rather than fight it out. Full Size

I never even considered that. What a great idea.

The TacAI will fire at multiple targets. I didn't target anything while trying to escape because I was still holding out hope that even in withdraw I might get an LOS on the foxholes with the gun and hopefully get a shot off. If I had targeted the woods (which hindsight tells me would have been a better move) the TacAI would have changed the target to the gun if it had become exposed but breaking off my target command would have delayed that some and opened my up to possibly getting blowed up by the gun. I guess we see how well that train of thought worked out.

A provides very good cover and concealment. Especially when hiding behind a wall and the spotter is at the same level. A fence will provide very little concealment (if any) and gives a little bit of cover against light arms fire. You can see the bullets bounce off of it sometimes.

I have been trying to move anything with a gun up the middle toward the Villa but they have been subjected to seeming phantom shots that continuously keep them going to ground. This has been making progress very slow. Finally I am able to see their position of the far hill behind the Villa. I need to get some sort of heavy fire on that if I am going to make any real push up the middle. Full size On Hill 154 I get me AT gun into a foxhole and begin unlimbering it. The hope is that it will provide some extra defensive fire for my men clinging to Hill 154. But sure enough, an uninvited guest shows up. Full size An exchange of fire leaves the German dead. But not before he can throw another of those nasty potato mashers knocking out my gun. Full size For now there is nothing else to do on Hill 154 but continue to set my troops up to provide some mutual protection and hold onto the very tenuous ground that so many have lost their lives to gain. Thank goodness Tube Guy is still on the scene. Full size

1508 hrs I dodged a HUGE bullet against the panzerschrek on Hill 154. One thing it let me know is that I HAVE to get out of those woods right away. The Germans are like ninjas in there. I never see them until it’s too late. I have to find a different way to knock out that AT gun. With the number of Shermans I have lost knocking it out may be what makes or breaks this battle. While these thoughts are going through my mind I am hit with a hand grenade. Again I’m amazed that at such close range I haven’t seen another unit approaching. And then BAM! As I am backing out of the woods a panzerfaust hits me. My luck has run out with this Sherman. Full size On Hill 144, the Sherman I have moved into position there is starting to rearrange the architecture of the Villa. I have seen Germans moving into the building in the rear and have decided to try to level it. I took this screen shot because it shows a few things about both the battlefield we are fighting on and the game engine. I’m going to take a detour here for a second to talk about something that I love with the way CMx2 models rounds. A very early battle I played with CMBN I had a bazooka team on a hill with an LOS to a Panzer Mark IV and a few trees in between. The first shot the bazooka took sailed over the Mark IV. The second hit a tree that was between the two. It was a WOW moment for me. I had seen this kind of thing in CMSF plenty of times but there was something about that bazooka shot that gave me goose bumps. I had the same feeling here. You can see in the screen shot where I have targeted and you can tell from the smoke in the area that other shots have already hit the building. But you can also see a round exploding in the tree that blocked a shot. When you see things like that happen it really brings you deep into the game and the battle. The immersion can be intense at times. Full size Thanks for indulging me with the detour. Back to fighting for my life (or dignity) ….. In the Villa I now see a lot of movement. It is difficult to tell if this is because of the fire they have been receiving or he is simply moving his men out of harms way. Either way I’m happy for the intel it is providing. Full size The Panzerschrek that was seen in the previous report has not improved his position. The good news for him is that he won’t have to worry about it anymore. Full size The MG team that I had moved up next to the surviving Sherman on Hill 154 no longer has the main gun. I advance them forward with a flanking view of the Villa. Full size

It may have been a half turn or maybe a full minute. It was not like the moment the tank reached its position they all came into view. The MG on the left part of the screen shot is the most forward part of the Villa to my advance. The MG in there had been harassing my guys trying to come across the center field for a while. The buildings that the closer shot shows the MG teams firing from have been in somebody's LOS nearly the entire game. When I targeted the artlillery on the Villa those buildings are what I used to target. I didn't spot anyone in there but I had LOS to those locations for most of the game so when something starts happening in there it will be noticed. And as I mentioned a couple of posts the Panzershreck team was in a location I did not have any LOS to until after arriving in the elevated position with the Sherman. When reaching the position what came into view instantly for me was the Villa. I knew I had LOS to most buildings and that was HUGE for me. After that is when the targets also came into view. There are several reasons the MG targets could have been spotted by the Sherman. I suspect it was a combination of things. The Sherman is in full C2 and as has been discussed that helps with spotting, when the guns fired on my position that helped with spotting, my Sherman (at the time) was unbuttoned that helped with spotting. I believe Jon has posted up to this point in the game so t may be interesting to hear if he targeted my Sherman or if the AI did. Either way the Sherman was spotted by the Germans.

As you would expect it isn't easy. Men will go to ground easily and its usually because someone has been killed.

One other thing to add about the Sherman sighting...The only enemy unit that was not in a place that someone had an LOS to most of the game was the Schreck team. C2 helps with sighting (and the Sherman is still in C2). The schreck team set up in the open behind a wall and I am above it. It did not appear to be "hiding" behind the wall. Easy sighting is not something I have experienced with CMBN and certainly not this battle. If anything there have been times that I wondered why I didn't see something earlier. When we're done I'll read what Jon has done and maybe even rewatch some turns from his side to get a better idea of what has been going on. One thing is for sure, thick foliage will provide excellent concealment.

I'm not sure what you guys mean by" spotted so fast". They are spotted whenh tey are seen. Until then they aren't spotted and because of that I have no way of knowing how long they were in my LOS before being spotted so I'm not sure how you do. I'm not trying to be a wise ass but how do you know? The building they are in has been in somebodys LOS for most of the game.

Wiggum, the Sherman is pretty close to the Villa. Its about 250 yrds away. Jon would be able to tell you if it was the AI that opened fire or if he ordered it. There are other units moving in the area the Sherman is set up in. For instance the 30cal is right next to it. If Jon didn't order a hide command I would epect the guns to fire at that range. I also don’t know their condition. A lot of arty came down in that area. They might in such bad condition that they would fire at their a Mothers.

The screen shot is the "global view" and it may not have been entirely the Sherman, although that is the way I remember it. They were making no effort to hide at that point. The 2 nearest the Sherman were firing. The schreck team behind the wall was not hiding and I was above it helping with sighting it. The MG team in the building closest to my center front may not have been in the Shermans LOS but was in the LOS of other units, like the one firing the bazooka at the building.