Bil Hardenberger

What? Are you implying that Ken is using videos as well? If so that's too funny as we never really discussed using them. If not, what thread are you talking about? Bil

Range was short: Challenger was 530m, the last Cromwell might have been slightly longer but the other two were at around 300m. I think the main difference in those engagements was that I had concealment while he did not. I don't think his tanks ever spotted mine. Bil

Rumbled? You think? It is still moving forward. If nothing else that will give Ken something to think about and perhaps force him to stretch out his force. Bil

Ken's force that was blocking 1/9 and started to break last turn ran for the gap in the hedgerow this turn... my Stummels pulled on line and joined the rest of 3/9 in interdicting this retreat. Ken must have had an entire platoon forward as that is what looks like was withdrawing.. call it what you will, but this was a rout with Ken's units running for their lives. Here is a video of Ken's units running away. I jest, but this video shows almost the entire action, Ken's units trying to extricate themselves, my units firing and moving forward to the hedegrow, etc. A lot of fun. At the windmill, Ken's forward team was wiped out by my HMG team in the building. The second team that advanced with this dead team was not seen this turn.

Sorry, its actually the Scale feature

Hey Ian, happy to hear you are enjoying them. I have been doing video editing for years and I use Adobe Premiere Pro to create these clips... I save out videos from several different viewpoints from the game using FRAPS and then I arrange them as desired to create a "story" and I then zoom into the portion of the video that I am interested in showing, thus cropping out all extraneous detail, like the UI.

Albe Pavo, thank you. Are you enjoying the inclusion of the video vignettes? Do they help with your understanding of the narration? They are time consuming to create so I am trying to only use them for dramatic moments or to show off a cool feature. Bil

The firefight at the hedgerow, Ken's teams break and run for safety. I believe the first team was a planned withdrawal, but this team broke one member at a time under the fire. I was hoping for suppression. Here is a video of this action Ken has pushed two teams right up to the windmill.. that place is a death trap, as he is learning. He really wants this thing as he keeps pushing. Along with the two teams making a push for the windmill, Ken has mortar fire falling in the woods where the Wirblewind is located. His mortars right now are the one thing keeping me from moving forward in this location. They are brutal, but thankfully casualties have been light from their fire... so far.

Phil, Johnsy, the other side of this AAR, has had some work travel issues get in the way... he will start his side in the next day or two, hopefully. He will have to catch up, but with his style of AAR I think he will be able to do that relatively quickly.

Looking good so far! I'm really interested in seeing how Johnsy plans on crossing that bridge. Bil

Ken is moving his units around that are opposite 1/9... this unit pulled off the hedgerow at the beginning of the turn and repositioned later in the turn further up the hedgerow. He kept one on the line providing cover for this move. But now I have portions of 3/9 in position and ready to place some enfilade fire onto Ken's teams on the hedgerow. They have to casue some damage.. no?

Thanks Maarten and GJR144... Möbelwagen it is from now on

Ken has pushed some infantry teams very close to my lead elements from 1/9... they are very close and dropped 3 out of 4 in the lead team, and also took out the Panther commander. If anything my scouting has been woeful this game... time to step that up some.. I should not get surprised like this. Excellent job on Ken's side, he is not making this easy. 3/9's lead elements are just over the ridge from Ken's teams that hit 1/9... they can enfilade Ken's units and hopefully hurt them.

Thought you guys might like to see this video of the Möbilwagen converting to the ready to fire position. Enjoy! Bil

Well of course not.. Ken still has a large force and I've barely touched his infantry, and I do not underestimate the three tanks he has in the town. There is a long way to go yet on this one. Not so far... I am pressing forward with my attempt to flank his Windmill Force.. though what shape that takes is not yet decided. Bil

Okay so I had the wrong designation of these little babies.. they are Crusader AA tanks.. this one is firing at the church bell tower, luckily I had escaped that death trap at the end of last turn... ...did I say luckily? heh.. seems I did the job for him as the platoon leader falls to a friendly mortar round and the last survivor was cut down seconds later by something.. shrapnel or? Oh well. Back in the Dunes area of the map.. for some reason Ken is pushing this jeep containing what.. a mortar team, an HMG team? into the death zone. Must be an HMG.. I can't imagine a mortar would give him much help in extricating his forces.. or is he going to continue the push towards the windmill? Seems odd at this point to push more troops into that area. Bottom image, note that this team (possibly a sniper) is actually facing away from my 1st platoon/9th Company that is assembling and scouting on this approach... a few rounds from my lead team forced them to ground. Okay mortar rounds falling on the windmill area... I should have expected this. One falls right on top of B Team 3/1/10 wiping it out. So now its time to pull back from this line with the other teams and take cover while this is going on.

I have sent in a request to stick this thread too. Looking forward to reading this one! Bil

Hey Buzz, yeah I will eventually start a thread for that project. After MG is released I hope to have all of the basic posts up and ready. There will be two starter scenarios, and you will need either MG or CMBN 2.10 to play them. As I said more on this later. Bil

Thanks Miguel! I'm glad you are enjoying it.

The round fired at the end of last turn impacted and knocked out the last remaining Cromwelll... the Wirblewind joined in at the end .. watch it all in this video showing the death of the last Cromwell Ken attempted to push a PIAT team to a position where it could engage my tanks.. it was turned back with at least one loss from my Windmill area infantry before being able to take a shot. My Panther was on the move this turn anyway... looks like the Panther was this teams target. In the town Ken pummeled the A Team building to rubble taking out the last two members of that team. He is pushing a lot of troops into the town... I think I'll let him have it for now

I saw no further advance of any of Windmill Force this turn.. in fact the last remaining Cromwell reversed out of the area, it was watched part of the way by my Jpz which got off one round which was deflected by the trees... it fired again right as time expired, which leaves the round frozen in flight and we'll have to wait until next turn to see what happens with it. Regardless it appears that Ken's advance in this area has stalled... I just hope he isn't planning on trying to pull the entire force out before I can assemble and attack it. Back in the town.. I have ony a few units in place here.. 2nd Squad and the platoon HQ. The HQ unit is startig to climb the church's bell tower. It also has plotted my two mortars on the town center objective which will come in a few turns from now. 2nd Squad's teams have been slowing down his infantry as they advance on the town, so Ken fired with I think two of his Centaur AA tanks... click this link to see video of Ken's Centaur AA tank firing on A Team

Ken's Challenger took three rounds before it fell to the gun of the Jpz IV/70. I think Ken might have missed that it was fired on last turn as he did not try to move it out of position... it did start to reverse after the first penetration.. stopped all movement with the second, and the survivors bailed after the third knocked it out. if this is the only Challenger Ken had then I can breath a little easier as that is one scary gun. So what we have are two distinct formations.. the first, I'll call this Windmill Force looks to be about a Company sized force... this might have been Ken's main effort as it had the strongest armor support from what I have seen so far. There is at least one Platoon coming out of the Farm towards the Windmill.. so the other infantry in this area has to be from one or two other platoons.. that is how I determined this to be a Company sized formation. It now has one Cromwell left in support.. any other support assets are unknown. The other formation I am calling Town Force (creative no?)... I named these formations obviously for what their main objectives appear to be. It looks like at least two infantry platoons heading for the town center behind the three tanks... and perhaps one more on flank security. Well... if I have at least two companies together in these two forces, I can probably expect at least one more (the Town Force flank security?)... chances are that Ken does not have a force in depth and probably has his entire force on line... if that is indeed the case then I have an opportunity that my mobility can take advantage of. My initial goal is to keep Ken's Town Force at arms length.. he is obviously after the town.. once he has that chances are he won't go much further with it. My objective is to neutralize the Windmill force... • the two halves of 1/10 will continue holding back to their best ability the enemy formations to their front • 2/9 will advance forward towards the Dunes... goal is to get and keep the enemy's attention. • 1/9 will advance on the Dunes from the flank, again their goal is to get the enemy formation's attention • 3/9 will move fast around the rear and attempt to take Ken's Windmill force in the rear. My support assets I will divide up depending on need and depending on what the lead elements bump into.. at a minimum each platoon will have at least one AA asset... and my two Stummels will move with 3/9. The rest I will hold in reserve until the situation develops. I will be moving these forces to jump off positions over the next few turns and will get into more detailed planning once they are in position.

Check out the following video vignettes... (trying some creative editing ) ... Panther kills Cromwell - watch carefully, you might notice the Cromwell featured in the next clip arriving in position. ... Jpz-IV/70 kills Cromwell - you can also see the Wirblewind doing its area firing in this clip.

Back at the town Ken pushes his armor into the town.. two of these tanks push right into the town while the third, an AA tank, provides overwatch. Interesting that he is advancing these without infantry support. Unfortunately I don't have anything in position to really punish him for that. Situation Top image below show 2/9 moving into a blocking position... Ken is attempting to push infantry over the Dunes. Note that in the bottom image from what I have seen so far Ken seems to have two separate attacks going on.. what does this mean to me? It means that he has two distinct forces, one in the Dunes/windmill area and another at the town. I am seeing options galore at this point.

A ton of actin this turn.. and I have a feeling that Ken is not going to be very happy. Center Most action occurs in the center of the map where Ken has his tank platoon and a lot of infantry activity... Remember last turn my 2 Section Panther had taken a shot at a Cromwell and missed high.. well this turn he fires twice at it, and hits, penetrating both times. The second penetration brewed up the tank. Ken had tried to back it out of position, but it was caught before it could get away. Another Cromwell topped a ridge and started to fire on an infantry team I had in the buildings behind the windmill. Unfortunately for him my Jpz IV/70 that pulled into position this turn spotted him, fired and killed him with one shot. At the end of the turn the Jpz spots this monster... that my friends is the original Challenger... using the Cromwell chassis in that huge turret sits the same gun that the Firefly carries. From what I have read it is as fast as the Cromwell tank, but lacks in armor protection. The Jpz-IV/70 did fire at this tank, missing high.. hopefully early next turn we'll be able to test that armor protection. In the top image below the Wirblewind area fires at some enemy infantry contacts I spotted last turn. Bottom image: it is very nice to see Ken using bounding overwatch.. he is attempting to push a para squad forward towards the windmill. By the way, the HMG team is back in position on the top floor of the windmill.. with Ken's armor scrambling for their lives I think they might have a longer stay this time.