Bil Hardenberger

I will be bringing some M36s with their 90mm guns to the party... they can penetrate Tigers and Panthers from the front. The JagdTiger and SturmTiger I am not so sure about frontally, they are vulnerable from the sides and rear even to Shermans. Also they do not have turrets. Speed will be my main weapon. I'll be explaining my plan of action for this battle in a future post (as soon as I start making my purchases.. which should start any day now ). So stay tuned!!

Yeah I have a few ideas, none of which include ATGs.

Kohl, not particularly happy with WM mode in this release so far (it's a BETA so it can still change)... I find that with the already saturated hues, it is really too much and makes it look like black and white film in many cases. I do however prefer the shadow modeling.. I am still on the fence on which to use in this AAR. So far all images have been with the standard lighting. Here is a comparison:

OCOKA TERRAIN ANALYSIS - PART 2 KEY TERRAIN - the Key Terrain identified for this battle are the areas that will have either longish lines of sight or good lateral visibility. I will examine each in turn, but this map shows the Key Terrain for this fight: Note I only identified the Key Terrain up to the Recogne line, if I get pushed back farther than this then I will have some serious problems that will require some additional analysis. Many of these positions will be turned into Battle Positions. KEY TERRAIN 1: this small hill very close to where the German force will be entering the battle space has terrific lateral visibility and I expect it to be one of the first objectives for my opponent to attempt to capture. KEY TERRAIN 2: central location with good lateral visibility. KEY TERRAIN 3: from the edge of Cobru there is a spot with good visibility over the center of the map. KEY TERRAIN 4: another central location with good visibility over the center of the AO. KEY TERRAIN 5: a large ridge providing some of the best long range lines of sight in the AO. KEY TERRAIN 6: another high ridge providing good visibility over the center. KEY TERRAIN 7: the entry into Recogne provides good lateral visibility, though the LOS to the front is limited. KEY TERRAIN 8: this ridge is on my far right and provides very good visibility of the center and to the left flank.

OCOKA TERRAIN ANALYSIS - PART 1 OBSERVATION & FIELDS of FIRE - lines of sight on this map are going to be extremely short... especially for a map that appears as flat as it does. Ben has done an incredible job implementing micro terrain in this map. The average LOS is around 500m with occasional ranges out to 700-750m. LOS out past 1 km is very rare on this map. I will have to recheck once I get into the real game to ensure this is still the case, COVER & CONCEALMENT - cover is limited on this map, the urban areas of Recogne and Cobru stand out as do the many wooded areas. Note, most of the wooded areas restrict vehicular movement so that will factor into mobility for both sides. The short ranges and the micro terrain will allow some good concealed positions. OBSTACLES - the main obstacles on the map are the restricted wooded terrain (to vehicles), the close terrain of the urban areas, and the snow which will effect movement and mobility. This is why the road network is so important in this scenario. The following screenshots of the terrain were taken in the scenario editor while I wait for Baneman to complete his purchases: Looking towards the German start zone: Looking into the US defensive zone:

It might help if someone went into Baneman's thread and hurried him up a bit.. he must really be second guessing himself with his unit purchase, make a decision already!! .. sigh ...

All I know is that I chose the Heavy Snow option when I set up the QB.

kohl, it's a QB so this information is pretty generic: date is January, weather is heavy snow and it's cold as hell. I will not be purchasing air support I doubt the weather would let them arrive.

Mike I've been debating using the Chaffee but I am leaning towards something with a bit better gun. I'll be breaking down my thoughts on force composition and battle plans after I do my OCOKA analysis.

Miquel, to be honest I'm not sure how closely the in-game map terrain matches the real world elevations. I will be doing a full analysis and pinning down the lay of the land as I will have to deal with it. I don't remember seeing the ridges you mention, but we will see. Game ststus: still waiting for Baneman to finish his purchases so I can make mine.

Bud, the writing so far is terrific, that combined with your beautiful imagery makes this your best work yet. Keep up the quality!!

METT-T Analysis - Part 1 MISSION: Word from higher HQ is to delay and attrit, the enemy if he chooses to attack through my AO, applying stiffer and stiffer resistance as he penetrates the zone. There can be no withdrawal out of this zone, we will hold to the last man or tank. ENEMY: This component of METT-T will evolve throughout the battle. As of now I know almost nothing, but I do expect to see something like the following: Pz Grenadier or Motorized Infantry Battalion (-) - I expect any infantry to be mounted either on trucks or halftracks. Tank Company (-) Expect to see mainly Panther tanks (perhaps two platoons)Expect to see at least one JagdTiger or SturmTiger (Intel says at least one of these is in the area)Light to medium artillery of at least one battery, could be as many as threeAerial photo of a JagdTiger near some trees along a road leading into the AO (it is unknown whether this monster will make an appearance, but intel seems to think it likely (game Note: this is a mockup, I have NOT seen this in game yet): TERRAIN: I will be doing an in-depth terrain analysis in a future post, but for now I wanted to show the type of terrain we are dealing with. The AO is 1.8 km in width and 3.6 km deep. From a high level the terrain appears very flat (looking towards German lines)... ...but as you move lower it becomes apparent that this ground is dominated by small rises and dips in the ground... ...though there are some long sight lines, there will be plenty of opportunity to mask movement and positions from enemy observation and fire. AAR Map-01.btt

Well, you'll get your wish with a couple of those

Sitting here waiting for my lunch at the Hard Rock I in DC. My son wanted to come to DC for his birthday, and we just visited with the Spy Museum. Sorry guys my son comes before the game Like I did for my CMRT BETA AAR I would like for you guys to suggest a force mix for me. I already have an idea on what I would like to bring to the fight but you guys tell me. What would you like to see? I reserve rights to the final decision however. I will discuss my ideas for this battle in an upcoming post.

Well I have yet to see a U.S. Tank get immobilized but the JagdTigers and SturmTigers sure do. I can't speak for the regular German tanks. Guess I'll have to do some experiments. BTW I am on a family trip this weekend so my next post might be delayed.

Groan I expect better from you Ken.

This is the Allied battle thread for the CM Final Blitzkrieg game!! I hope to show as many new features as possible, but it will not be possible to show everything, so there should be plenty for you to discover when you get your hands on the game. I hope you enjoy it and join in the discussion!! My opponent will be Baneman. I have not played him before so this should be interesting. I know he is experienced, so I expect a tough fight. Like MG Wood in the above quote, though I will be on the defensive I am not going to approach this particular game with a defensive mindset. I plan on being highly mobile, highly aggressive, and performing an active defense in depth. I have a plan of action already outlined, and will be sharing it with you during the analysis phase. The map follows: The area in question. It is relatively flat, which will become apparent when you see the in-game screenshots, however the ground is rolling and provides plenty of opportunity for masked movement and hopefully will keep the engagement ranges short and nullify the main advantage the big German tanks will have. The Germans will be coming from the North (top of the map). The weather is heavy snow, so it will be deep, will affect mobility (in my tests the big German tanks had a tendency to bog and immobilize when moving cross country), (DO NOT TELL BANEMAN!!) while the US tanks seem to be rather good cross country. The objectives are set in a phase line like configuration and are centered on the main road intersections... for example Objective 1 is a series of four points and are farthest north. We will want to feature some of the new equipment in the game. Some of the new equipment includes: Chaffee light tank, M36 Jackson TD, Sherman Jumbo, VT Fuzes for artillery, etc.. I expect another BETA tester may be by in a later post to fill out the available equipment and formations. The Germans will probably be bringing at least one JagdTiger and/or SturmTiger to the party, maybe Volksgrenadiers, and I don't know, maybe another surprise or two... The map is 1824m wide and 3584m tall, plenty of maneuver room. We are playing a Large Probe Quick battle, which gives me 3620 points to spend. Baneman will have 5380. With my next post I will start to get into my pre-battle analysis, force picks, expected enemy force, etc. Here are a few teaser images to whet your appetite!! Note,I have not made my purchases yet, these are simply to show you the terrain and the unit interaction with it. Enjoy!!

Hope you don't mind Slim: blog post on your video series

Yes that is a marked improvement. Excellent work.

I've heard it all now, Kohl is in the hospital with a broken heart. TOUGHEN UP MAN!! ;) Seriously Phil, get well and I hope your recovery is easy and complete. We will delay the Bulge game BETA AAR until you are back in action. :P

Slim, I am very happy to see you taking on a project like this.. good start!! Might help if you speed up the action a bit, seems to drag a bit in places... also, just a tip, its best to introduce the effect prior to illustrating it; the normal training process: Tell them what you are going to teach them, Teach them, Tell them what you just taught them. Keep it up!!

Womble, agree to a point.. I have found that you can get yourself into trouble using covered arcs for infantry, so I use them sparingly. Usually only for setting ambushes, locking an AT team to an armor only target, managing engagement ranges, etc. However for armor I use them a lot to control the focus of the tank and the turret orientation, especially during movement and when in a keyhole position... I have had good luck with using them with armor. Now that I think about it Covered Arcs would be a good subject for a future blog post.

It should be even more exciting than that. I will be on the defense in the upcoming AAR game.

Grunt GI, I go into methods of recon in the Approach March and Platoon Scouts post.. hopefully those will help. A quick answer is to use listening halts as much as possible.. ensure you have one or two scout teams sitting still for every one you have moving... and yes I use Hunt a lot for my scouts, rarely do I use covered arcs (for scouts at least), unless there is an area I really want to concentrate on.

New post on METT-T Analysis on the blog. I hope you find it useful.