Bil Hardenberger

Yes WMM is coming with MG and the 2.10 patch. As for the AA issue that was obvious before.. I haven't noticed it in this iteration.. so perhaps something has been done about it? Maybe I have just gotten used to it, regardless that never bothered me much. Bil

So, over these two turns my Jpz has driven very deep... it is in danger however... Ken did have a PIAT over here (of course he did) and it got several rounds off... only one of which hit (top image)... this hit did no damage however. The last round (bottom image) was a near miss but caused some track damage.. and now this Jpz is limping along. Ken might be able to bag this vehicle so I need to think of something clever. At the end of the thirty-fifth minute you can see where the Jpz is in relation to Ken's PIAT.. the PIAT is moving towards this vehicle and it is moving veery slow now so I have to be very careful at this point. Luckily I do have a unit that has the moving PIAT team spotted.... On my extreme right Ken has turned his Support tank away from my waiting infantry squad... I think he might have spotted my Moebelwagen in overwatch and gotten spooked. This is good actually, as I can now pull the Moebelwagen back into its harrassment role until I see where the support tank pops out. Back in the attack on the town... I am not getting enough suppression on Ken's defenders... though I am taking very few casualties his fire is having a good suppressive effect on my dismounts and my halftracks. I have very little information on the placement of Ken's units so I need to slow down and really try to get some better suppression. Note, I do not need to capture that objective to win this game.. I only need to keep Ken from scoring those points... and that is my intent in this game.

Knowing George and the stuff he normally puts out I'm sure this scenario will suck. Looking forward to it George. Bil

Ken is pushing his support tank down the flank road toward my lone squad on the far right (my right)... is it really his plan to keep this valuable resource bottled up away from the real action in this, no pun intended, "side show"? My Jpz is moving slowly over these fields but is starting to penetrate into Ken's rear.. it is alone so I am kind of worried about it, but we'll just have to see what kind of damage it can do back there. If nothing else it will force Ken to send some units out to meet it... or run away, his troops have been pretty good at running away so far in this game so that'll probably be his answer I had planned to send some halftracks behind it to provide some support but they are losing their gunners at an alarming rate to Ken's hidden gunners so I am calling that off.

Pak40, photoshop for the still images, and Premiere Pro for the videos.

Michael, yeah that building was targeted by Ken's AA tanks earlier in the battle... and actually though I showed just one, it was hit by two volleys this turn from the Wirblewind. I am loving that vehicle.. very effective, and I am not even close to running out of ammo for it. Bil

Ken's support tank appeared on my far right... he fired some MG and main gun rounds.. I took one casualty. I have precious little over there to stop him... but all I am interested in with this tank is to keep him busy and engaged so he can't be used against my town attack force. Ken has started to deploy a PIAT towards my Jpz... this is good, exactly what I had hoped for.. Ken is starting to dislodge town defenders to deal with my feint force. Note in this image the location of the PIAT, a jeep loaded with an MG unit.. sorry I realized later there is no way it can carry both an MG and a mortar. this one is carrying an MG team. I need to close this back door to keep Ken from this continuous reinforcement. I am considering a movement as indicated to close the back door.. this is risky.. he could have a PIAT team back there.. however if you think about it I find that unlikely as I would bet he will want all of those on the line to combat my assault force on the town. My support force continues to move forward and is starting to suppress the enemy defenses. Watch the this video of the support force moving and suppressing the defenses

Rocky they should be in this older build, yes.. in fact a while ago I posted a video that highlighted an MG team firing.. nobody then figured out that none of the MG support troops were taking long range shots.. check out again to see this again. That is one change shown in action.

You guys getting bored with this AAR yet? Its taking a long time for my attack to develop, sorry about that I completely changed my focus when Ken withdrew his three tanks from the town... and its taking a long time for my forces to reorient. My left side support starts to take up position and place area fire on the objective. This group will bound forward with the assault force. On the right near the field of death, my infantry squad defending this sector spots the glint of a sniper scope through the window of one of the buildings on the other side of the field. They fire on it and it appears like the sniper takes cover. On the dunes I am performing some shoot and scoot operations with 1/9's HQ halftrack, one of the squad halftracks and the Moebelwagen... 15-20 seconds in a hull down position, spray an area of the woodline and then withdraw. This is only aimed at harassment and to let Ken know that I know he has troops there and that I am willing to defend this area. I need to keep mobile to stay away from his mortar fire.

Well I don't even have version 1 of any iteration installed anymore and I don't think I would want to do that, I have so many versions already, multiple BETA versions, all of the release versions, etc.. Really 2.01 is a must, and I don't think there will be a charge for the 2.10 upgrade (Steve correct me if I'm wrong) so that shouldn't be a problem other than having to patiently wait for it to come out. MG is not needed for these, only the 2.10 patch. I do promise that in the future I will build any new scenarios from 2.10 and not whatever the latest BETA is using... that should simplify matters in the future. So let's call 2.10 the baseline and build on that for future additions to this series. Fair enough? Bil

The only excitement this turn was watching the drama with the PIAT team play out. If you remember there was a round in flight as the last turn ended... ...well this turn that round fell well short, and Ken dislodged this guy as he made a run across the fileds. Note the bottom image and the cross fire he was running through. He was hugging the dirt not long after this screenshot was taken. The Jpz meanwhile has started shelling the rear of whatever buildings he can see, and Ken has started to fire mortars at the Jpz... I wish I could find those damned tubes... but at least if they are here.. and I have an idea where they are.. then they are not able to interdict my infantry force closing on the town.

Vark, very good anecdote and advice for all to heed. Cheers, Bil

Blog Update I have uploaded the briefing for the Armored Tactical Problem 001 - Tank Section Attack scenario. Enjoy!

Gerry, yes its totally situation dependent.. only practice and experimentation with them will give you the experience you need to know which to use. When you can download and play the little scenarios I have uploaded try them a couple times using each battle drill, then you should have some idea on how these work and when you should and should not apply them. Bil

Blog Update I have uploaded the briefing for the Infantry Tactical Problem 001 - Squad Attack scenario. Enjoy!

Gerry, if you examine the two techniques you should see some obvious differences: -- Squad Attack Drill - one element in support while the second takes up the assault element role and maneuvers through covered terrain (if possible) to assault the enemy position while the support element suppresses the enemy unit -- Fire & Movement - the two elements take turns either providing support or advancing as they bound forward until they can assault the enemy position So though both use a Support and a Maneuver element, how they advance and assault the enemy position is unique to each

Blog Update: I just added the final of the basic tactics instructions necessary to successfully play the first two scenarios. Reconnaissance by Fire Enjoy! Bil

Blog update: I just added the next explanation of basic tactics that you will need for the two introductory scenarios. Fire & Movement Please let me know what you think, and especially if this is helpful in any way. Enjoy! Bil

On my right (to the right of the dunes) Ken appears to be trying to push units back into the field of death... I think this might be the start of an infantry rush that I've been expecting for a while now... this team was turned back right as it got started by LMG fire from my squad sitting in overwatch. I spot at least one other team heading to this area from the center woodline. In the center where I have repositioned the Moebelwagen (because I only have the impotent Panther overwatching the Dunes) Ken has started a light mortar barrage.. I think this might be the prequel to an advance through the dunes with the infantry from the woodline in the center... its only a matter of time before Ken realizes the Panther can't fire and makes a push in this area. Okay, I was pretty sure I had killed the bastard with the PIAT in the field... I know better than to let an enemy sit unmolested for several turns like this.. well he got two rounds off, both went long.. but right at turn end he fired a third which was in flight as time expired. This Jpz is the one that took out the two AA tanks.. I pushed him forward to help the feint force stretch Ken's town defense. Ken has started a major shift of defenders in the town... that's okay, I like to see him pushing these troops forwards.. more targets for my support units in the upcoming assault on the town. My attack starts to form... note the two support groups that will provide long range fore support for the assault force that is organizing to the rear and will pass through the support forces when ready.

No report this turn... still moving up to jump off positions and nothing dramatic occurred this turn. Still waiting for Ken to attack. Bil

For some reason Ken continues to throw units at the Windmill... does he think I have abandoned it because I am massing on my left? Seems like such a waste of manpower at this point. Watching this I wonder how long before I can expect to see Ken's mass of infantry come out of the woods in the hopes of overwhelming my flank security? Luckily they are on foot, so I would have a couple turn warning before they became too dangerous. As you can see my left hook continues to develop... this attack is made up of three components: --1. Infantry Force - close to two platoons worth of mounted infantry and support units --2. Armor - made up of Pz Section 2 and at least one Stummel )on its way) - task is to suppress the enemy force at the break in zone --3. Feint - A week force whose intent is simply to stretch Ken's defense of the town

In a discussion with Ken he thinks this might have been a graphical anomaly (he saw the round go high).. he might be right as the next turn this happened, watch the video of the action

I hear you.. but at this point my force is severely hamstrung.. AA vehicles not firing, thus out of action (a significant part of my available combat power). If I had lost those to enemy action that would have been one thing, but a game bug is a bug (now fixed) and it taints the game. If as I suspect his AA tanks are invisible to my fire then this game is truly compromised, next turn should tell. Bil

Ah, the joys of BETA testing.. often when working with these early builds.. and this is an early build (we were unable to move this game to a more recent build)... I am experiencing more and more issues in this game, with units simply not working, etc... all issues seem to be revolving around around the AA tanks and vehicles.. I have 3 out of 4 of my AA vehicles that are having issues, refusing to fire, turret stuck in position etc... this makes them useless to me. Now this turn my Jpz on the dunes fired twice at Ken's AA tanks which stacked up behind his moving truck... the first round went high.. but as you can see in this image the second round passes through both of them without any hit text etc... at least one should be a burning wreck. I am convinced that this early build had some major issues with these AA vehicles. I am going to recommend to Ken that we play on for another turn or two.. but will suggest we abandon it after that. Too many issues. When Ken pulled his tanks out of the town I saw an opportunity and started shifting almost everything into a wide sweeping movement around the left flank of the town... Pz Section 2 is in support and starting to shell the buildings on this side of the town to make it uncomfortable for Ken's paras. I had kept my wounded Panther in position on the dunes, if I had pulled it out Ken would know that he caused some serious damage with that PIAT hit... as it is now he does not know what damage was done and will have to factor the Panther in to his plans.

I don't know how Ken kept this PIAT team hidden.. I had an infantry team not less than 100m away... good for him. I will say this about Ken's play, he is definitely keeping me guessing... his mostly infantry force is like a bunch of nearly invisible gnats that keep causing me pain.. not sure I have enough ammo to kill them all. So Ken's PIAT team got two rounds off... both hit, the first penetrates and causes some damage. Damn.. this tank is done for the scenario.. I'll be pulling it off the line now.. but it isn't like this tank could hit anything anyway.. it fired at Ken's tanks and several rounds at a truck moving very slow up and down a side road (what's that about?) all rounds missing. My Jpz spotted the PIAT team, and with two rounds takes it out. How many of those things does Ken have? I know I have killed at least three of them now.