Bil Hardenberger

noob, I can understand the benefits of having an umpire.. but ideally enabling two people to play it out amongst themselves would give the concept a better chance of actually getting used by more people. Many will probably want to play a campaign like this with a buddy or three and umpires might not grow on trees,, in fact I know that will be a tough position to fill for many campaigns.. it was in the few I participated in. I'll keep an eye out for the FOW issues you mention. Don't get me wrong I applaud your efforts in this, it is a step forward for sure.

Keep it up Fizou.. quite frankly I am finding your presentation superior to what's going on in the CMBN forum. Are the two of you just playing the PzC side against one another without a third party (like is happening in noob's AARs)? Honestly, I am finding that aspect less than satisfactory and it seems to be getting in the way, though I understand the necessity in that case. An umpire is not an ideal solution if it can be avoided. Still, you are doing a fine job and thought I should chime in. Bil

By "interesting combined arms tactics" I suppose you were making fun of them? They looked rather comical bunched up against the rear of that tank as it advanced.

The Fifty First Minute - Part 2 Another Firefly, right at the end of the turn destroys one of my precious Panthers. So at the end of this turn here is the current situation... note the two platoons Warren has in firing positions behind his flanking force. Also note the Sideshow on the back of the map.. this is my infantry company and their accompanying armor. Some armor reinforcements had come in back there in the last few turns and they are on the move. More on that as things develop. Blood Board I am starting to pull even...

The Fifty First Minute - Part 1 A few turns later and this is the situation... there are now two platoons moving across the map with the hopes of hitting me in the flank. I am in the midst of repositioning with the Tigers and Panthers across the left side of the enemy force, and the Pz-IV platoon from Gaumesnil blocking the right. The Pz-IV Reserve (6 tanks) is moving up fast but it could be a few turns before they enter the fray.. I do not think Warren knows this formation exists. My forward most Panther starts the killing when it puts a shell through a Sherman III which becomes a smoking wreck. Next a Pz-IV from the Gaumesnil area spots the lead Sherman III from the trio (in the top image) it fires and leaves another smoking tank on the field. So far so good! However, all did not go my way this turn as one of Warren's Fireflies spots a Pz-IV by Gaumesnil and takes it out. These Fireflies are simply murder. Wittmann gets in on the action as well taking out a third Sherman III.

The Forty Ninth Minute I wanted to finish the saga on the left side before the battle moves into its next phase, so here goes... After three penetrations from the Jpz the Firefly is finally knocked out. Warren just sat him in that spot and tried to defend against all comers.. however it caused no further damage to my forces. The Right Side On the right side I have started to really push my infantry and their accompanying panzers forward, the main reason is that I do not want Warren to be able to throw all of his tanks against my left side force... I am making a lot of noise in the hopes that the armor directly across from me will stay in place. With the death of the last Firefly on the left (as far as I know), I feel very confident that I have control of the left side of the map. Here is the current blood Board: Counter-attack!! I have been afraid of this happening since very early in the game... Warren is starting to push armor across the map to counter-attack in an attempt to hit my force in the flank. Right now it looks like a single platoon is on the move, but I doubt for one second that it will only be one.. I expect perhaps a full Company of armor to come barreling across the map. I doubt one platoon of Shermans would do much damage, an entire Company however... I intend to react as indicated in the following image.. my Tigers and Panthers will pivot to engage the counter-attacking force from the North, the Pz-IVs I have in the first objective will take up blocking positions outside the walls, and finally my reserve Pz-IV unit (6 tanks) will advance at top speed and attack the enemy force in the flank. Should be exciting, no?

The Forty Seventh Minute High Noon - The Finish Continuing on from last turn, Pz-IV c, again firing on the move, hits and knocks out Sherman III a that killed two of my Pz-IVs last turn. In an illustration of what makes this scenario so frustrating... Warren's remaining Firefly, perhaps the last tank on the left side of the map, reverses and takes out Pz-IV c. So all five of the tanks, three Pz-IVs and the two Sherman IIIs were lost in that shootout. Damned Firefly. In a bastardization of a famous quote: "they sacrificed themselves like samurai these Panzer IVs." However, the Firefly has to be getting really worried... it sits seemingly alone with Tigers, Panthers, and a Jpz quickly closing in. Eventually I'm going to have a turn where I get more kills than he does.. right?

The Forty Sixth Minute This scenario is full of these little vignettes, and is the main reason I wanted to share this battle with you. High Noon This gunfight starts with three Pz-IVs facing off against two in place Sherman IIIs... Pz-IVs a and b are advancing to the bocage line while Pz-IV c will be coming in on a wide flank. Warren has his Shermans well placed and makes me pay with the loss of Pz-IV a at the beginning of the fight. Pz-IV c fires on the move and impressively knocks out Sherman III b. At this point we were even... Pz-IV b and Sherman III a trade several shots while this was going on, at the end of the turn the Sherman wins the face off as it dials in the range first, destroying the Pz-IV.

The Forty Fifth Minute Well after three turns of hits and penetrations the Panther finally was destroyed by the Firefly across the map. I did manage to reman the tank in an attempt to save it, but they bailed several seconds later after a couple more penetrations and the loss of two crew. It wasn't until this turn that I discovered the Firefly that was hit by Iriohn several turns ago was actually knocked out. In front of the Jpz sit the last Firefly and a Sherman III... going to get hectic very soon. Here is the situation on the left. Note the Pz-IV platoon moving in on the flank of the Sherman III and Wittmann moving up on the Firefly's flank. The situation on the right.

Why mine of course http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=1148 Next turn report I'll do that. As George says yeah, the Pz-IVs are at a real disadvantage at this time frame... I was not as careful with them as I could have been and am using them to identify the enemy locations so I can react with my heavies. So the severe Pz-IV losses are mainly my fault I'm afraid.

Never give up hope! If anybody is wondering what Baneman is referring to... early in the game I lost two Tigers, I then asked how many of the remaining five Tigers people thought I would lose... here are the active guesses: Nope, gun not KOed.. as for remanning.. time will tell.

The Forty Second Minute I made a mistake and decided to duke it out with a Sherman III across the map with one of my Panthers. While every round from the Sherman III that hit bounced, my Panther missed every shot. However, there was obviously a hidden Firefly over there as well as my Panther is penetrated forcing the crew to bail right at the end of the turn, the tank is not destroyed, only abandoned. Not a good start for the Panthers. I have two Pz-IV sections attempting to flank the Fireflies on the next line as the Tigers begin to cross the field. The lead Pz-IV from section 1 his hit and destroyed by an unidentified shooter. My spotting was not very good this turn.. I need more infantry up front.. unfortunately they are still busy clearing out the enemy crews on the first objective. The current Blood Board:

This map was not included in the release.

Ha! Funny. No thanks.

Well John, the map of course should not be compared to the real ground that was fought over in the historic action. As a quick battle map it worked very well, and both sides had the potential to use it effectively. There were little to no reverse slope positions to make the Tits assault costly, or Hill 109 for example. If GaJ had brought a more mobile force he could have made it very uncomfortable for me... fortunately for me he did not. Your last sentence is correct.. his major mistake was the piece meal approach that he used when committing his armor as I stated previously. Bil

You have control over the stacking limits? I would keep the battles to rarely larger than company plus rather than battalion plus... that is going to get overwhelming I would think.

I suppose it doesn't matter then who would be on the attack of any potential future AAR game eh?

I thought so, this fire panicked the entire 1st platoon GaJ.. if you had continued that area fire with the quad 50 it would have blown my center advance and possible cost me an entire platoon as casualties with that much fore were inevitable. Of course without eyes on that area how could you know? Bil

Well I had one counted in the kill stats of one Pz-IV and two mortars each got credit for two others (one each of course). The first that was ganged up on by the Brummbar and Jpz, and killed by the Jpz is the only one unaccounted for in the kill stats. So I think your information might be dated.

Kill Stats As requested by Ken. Elefant : 11 enemy casualties : 1 M10 Jpz IV : 12 enemy casualties : 1 M10 note: this Jpz also killed the first ATG, but did not get credit for it (nobody did actually) Brummbarr (right) : 5 enemy casualties Brummbarr (left) : 5 enemy casualties : 1 M10 Pz-IV HQ : 15 enemy casualties Pz-IV 1 : 9 enemy casualties Pz-IV 3 : 13 enemy casualties : 1 M10 : 1 76mm ATG Pz_IV 4 (knocked out) : 5 enemy casualties : 1 M16 AA Halftrack I won't get into the infantry other than, I had an HMG get credit for one of the bunkers, one ammo bearer team got credit for another (close assault) Looking at this I would say the Brummbarr's under-performed, the Pz-IVs and the Jpz did the majority of the killing. The Elefant did well but not amazingly well.

How much? Seriously, if they allow me to do another AAR then I would be proud to face off against c3k.

A quick note on my plan of action for this battle. I did not come in to this battle with a set battle plan, I rarely do.. I let events and opportunities guide me as they unfold. Yet I wanted to stretch the defense across the entire map.. this would keep GaJ from being able to concentrate effectively against any one part of my force. This is why I did not concentrate on one side or the other, instead I sent my mobile units over the road frequently to support one action then back over later to support another.. the Elefant and the Brummbars saw action on both sides of the road... the Pz-IVs did not as they were primarily used for securing the S-Ridge and Tame. I did know that I had to capture the Tits first, after that though I just attacked as I felt best.. I didn't know whether I wanted to seize the S-Ridge or the Spur objective first.. I ended up going for the S-Ridge, but primarily because it seemed like it had fewer defenders on it than the Spur did. I might have been wrong about that, but that was my impression. The Spur defenders put up a much better fight anyway. Bil

A note on my purchases for this battle... this was meant as a showpiece for a few items of kit and whoever was the German player was directed to purchase at least one of the following: --Elefant --Sturmpanzer (Brummbar) --PzG unit (to show the new halftrack model) The US player was only directed to purchase an AA gun of some sort. The US were to defend and the Germans were to attack, I gave the decision on which role to take to GaJ and he chose to defend, which meant he got the allied force. I agreed to not take more than one Elefant and to bring a force that was balanced, and not predominantly armor. In return I told him he had no restrictions on unit purchases. Bil

Man, this thread just died didn't it? Right about the time I was saying this game should have ended, interesting.

I was out of ammo for my armor, had no artillery left, and my infantry was too weak. Probably could have taken it but it would have cost me too many lives. Besides I hate MOUT.