Webs

Skill is the art of presenting luck with the opportunity to act on your behalf. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I have a little experience with the WW2O crew, during their WarBirds days. Trust me, if the units in WW2O ar anthing like WB squadrons, you will see some damned effective cooperation. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I had the 75mm pillbox gun shoot a Sherman, miss short as the Sherman reversed behind a crest, yet have what I can only assume to be the shrapnel from the miss immobilize the tank behind the crest. I swear that had to happen. I replayed it many times. Damnedest thing I've seen. That immobile Sherman was out of LOS of every part of my force on the north side of Hill 216 for the whole scenario yet was otherwise perfectly operational. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Wish I'd known about that. Had a Sherman 105 with barrel rings for a MG bunker, a dozen infantry killed, one captured, and a Panther. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Fionn, you realize that by admitting you tried to use water to mix into an oil-based paint, you've lost every ounce of credibility you've gained since you were five years old. I'm sorry, but this is just too hilarious. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Jeepers! Don't put the spoiler IN THE SUBJECT HEADING! What if someone doesn't know there's an infantry gun? ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

You know, I barely noticed the German mortars. Probably because I used smoke so heavily. My first glimpse of a German mortar unit was a knocked out tube behind the pillbox. My arty. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Curious, the complete lack of participation by any FT teams. I guess with less arty I'd have used one FT team to root out the AT bunker. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I've seen lots of VoT stuff spread out over many threads, mostly questions. What I haven't seen is much analysis/AARs. Here's mine, playing Americans for the first time before even knowing there were FTs and engineers. I used the default set-up, mostly, although I did move a Sherman over to the north in support of the infantry there. Looking at the map, and knowing that Hill 209 had to have Big Guns on it, I kept my tanks out of sight of it. Basically, my plan was to advance very slowly up the middle, probing for enemy positions while trying to make hay on the flanks. My tanks took up positions where they'd be hidden by woods from 209 but had clear fields of fire to the flanks. I made heavy use of arty smoke to mask the pillbox on 209 from the battle and for the most part, my Shermans had free rein on the field of battle. I encountered no resistance at all on the south and made it easily, although slowly, to the crest above the road. On the north, I had a squad go down into the valley while the rest of the guys and the Sherman quickly occupied that little urban area. I had an idea where the German infantry was, in that little knot of scattered woods. I holed up in the buildings while my Sherman took advantage of the terrain to work its way to the NE of that infantry. Mortars and artillery kept the German heads down and my footsoldiers advanced on them. I also worked a second Sherman into that sinkhole valley. By turn 15, they were all gone. With a tank to the NE, another to the SW, my infantry in the woods picking them off, the artillery/mortars raining down, they were hammered into oblivion. I had three setbacks on this flank, however. 1) I decided to move the .30 MG from the artillery spotters' hill closer to the action. It was ripped to shreds by a German MG and panicked, but I was able to move it up later. 2) The Sherman I sent into the sinkhole was done in by a gap in the arty smoke on 209 and was brewed up by the pillbox gun. 3) Somehow, the PSchrek with these guys had enough guts to get a shot off at the other Sherman, and hit, causing one casualty. Tank still worked fine, although permanently buttoned. By turn 18, I had three rifle squads, a platoon HQ, and a bazooka firmly entrenched in the L shaped woods just across the road north of 209. A Sherman waited north of the woods just south of the lake. That panicked .30 was now stationed on the hill next to the dead pillbox. As far as the German fortifications go, maybe I was lucky, I spotted the wood bunkers and the two pillboxes immediately, to little effect other than revealing their positions (and scaring my .30 MG). 105mm arty took out one bunker (and the field gun I had not spotted) in the game's first barrage. Shermans at stand-off distance took out the northern bunker and pillbox. Heavy smoke kept the 209 pillbox mostly ineffective. In the middle, I was held off, but it didn't matter much. A .30 MG was trading shots with a German MG42 stationed in the town. I suffered some casualties, but inflicted some, too, and most importantly, I drew fire away from the flanks. Once I was confident of victory on the flanks, I let the wrath of 81mm of 105mm hell loose. I smacked the positions guarding the roads into Plomville, and Plomville itself mercilessly. I had my reserve infantry take up positions in the trees on the north face of hill 198 just to pin down the German units on the north side of town. I got a second Sherman into the sinkhole next to them, which I used with arty to get rid of the building with that nasty MG42 - taking the MG nest with it. Two reserve Shermans took up positions behind woods on 198, protected from the pillbox gun and able to cover my flanks. The last Sherman supressed the MG42 on 209 through a gap in the pines. I pretty much just stayed in this position for a couple of turns while my arty chewed them up. Any German unit that broke and ran was cut down quickly. The MG south of Plomville broke for that lone house, but I had my south flank platoon hiding in the trees there. They knocked off four Germans and the fifth surrendered. The next phase of the battle came as the smoke started to dissipate around 209's pillbox. I miscalculated by about 10 seconds and lost the Sherman in the pines. No loss, really, as I still had four. I turned the two 105mm spotters on the pillbox and crushed it a turn or two later. So by turn 18, I had the north flank up against hill 209 with a 105 Sherman. I had another Sherman and a .30 MG at the victory flag north of Plomville. I had a Sherman bypassing the minefield and hitting the road into Plomville for mop-up. Another Sherman was trying to hull down behind the crest of 198 to supress any activity on 209. I had my southern platoon climbing the flanks of 209 on the south, and I had my engineers occupying the crossroads SW of Plomville. Plomville was about to get surrounded and overrun. Then I made contact with some apparently fresh Germans to the NE of 209. Two, maybe three squads of infantry and a Panzer. The panzer chewed up one squad on the south side of 209 and then took shots at the Sherman on 198 and the Sherman with the .30 north of Plomville. Both tanks popped smoke and retreated unhurt. I had a bit of 105mm arty left so I let them have it. One German squad made a charge into the teeth of my squads in those L-shaped woods and ran away. The rest just cowered in the patchwork woods while my buttoned Sherman 105 introduced them to Plomville. The Panzer commander was not happy. He was subject to arty, had Shermans on three sides of him, and no room to maneuver. He chose to duke it out with the Sherman 105. He didn't score a hit. My Sherman hit the Panzer's turret front armor twice, killing it the second time. And that was it. My infantry had flooded into Plomville proper, brushing off token resistance. I still had one or two German units pinned and trying to get a flamethrower into position just to see what would happen, but Jerry surrendered. I never got a single flamethrower to fire. The engineers functioned mostly like elite infantry. I just went around minefields. (One squad suffered one minefield casualty when it triggered an unseen minefield.) Only 19 Germans escaped, and most of those were crew. I suffered 26 KIA, but probably took heavier casualties than I should have. In retrospect, I had a lot more time than I thought I did. I should have pushed even less than I did in the middle - instead of pushing to the scattered trees in the valley, I should have hung back in woods. Most of my casaulties came from that pillbox having at my infantry there and on the south side of 198. Final was a major US victory, 76-24. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

That was likely my problem, using too steep a slope. Fionn - care to reveal where you went hull-down with the Stug? I'd like to get a mind's-eye image for future reference.

With that gun mounted in the body of the beast, is it possible to achieve a hull-down firing position? I must admit this question only occurs to me after a particular horrid Chance Encounter game as Jerry. I was on several reverse slopes, set the vehicles to hunt and moved them up the slopes. When they stopped, they were quite exposed. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Anybody else curious why that Sherman is firing to the southwest? ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I thought they were called fallveryslowlyschmirjaeger.... ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Happens to me sometimes near borders - like building edges, unit edges, etc. To correct, I just alter the view by rotating a bit. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Sorry, these are the only versions of the pics I have. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I use 4 most often to plan movement, but before I commit to a path, I travel it with view 1. I use view 5 to place units in buildings. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Fionn - I don't recall the scaling offhand, but there probably is some enlargement. I didn't post it as a bug, though, just as entertainment. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

I played conservative (Yank). I put a light platoon (no MG or mortar) in the trees on the left, another in the center and a third platoon in the woods on the right. I had one MG, the .50 and a mortar behind the middle platoon and two mortars and a MG on the right. I held my tanks back behind cover until my GIs could recon ahead after advancing to the treeline. One on the left, one in the middle, three on the right. I had four tanks cover the whole town in intersecting fields of fire and I moved one up to the notch in the woods on the right. I took the close southwest objective before seeing any troops, so I moved my tanks up to the treelines even with my infantry. At the taken objective, I fanned out on either side to get a good look and lo and behold I saw the Germans moving in - infantry on my right, and three tanks/assault guns from behind the hill on the right. They weren't in town yet! I threw a couple of mortars at the advancing infantry on the right just to make them think. I ran my GIs in the middle to the wall in the middle and my left infantry got into the two houses by the wheat on the left. My tank on the left sped up to the wooded hill where I hoped to ambush the Stugs as the came around. My left tank blundered into some Germans just as they appeared on the treeline. Fortunately, they were as surprised as me and never got a shot off. That tank backed off 250m from the trees and spent the next 30 minutes pounding the crap outta Jerry. To make a long story short, The Germans concentrated in three places - infantry in the church (I stayed in the trees on the right), Stugs in the middle, and a ton of infantry in the woods. My tanks were set up so that I was able to take down three Stugs for two Shermans. Meanwhile, another tank and two mortars churned the church into rubble. Once the Stugs went, it was just a case of pounding with the tanks (my mortars had been used up) and advancing. Other than the church, the farthest the Germans got were the two houses east of the middle wheat. They tried a few SMG and did some damage before being torn up, but by the end, just about all German units were down to 1-3 men. I lost 94 casualties (28 KIA) and two Shermans. I inflicted 210 casualties (51 KIA), captured 36, and destroyed a nice Lutheran church. Eight Germans got away unscathed. I took too many casualties, primarily to one Stug that took a while to kill and SMG suicide attacks. I toe-to-toed it for a while in the two-storey near the middle wheat with the Germans in the trees - that hurt a bit too. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

It's a Mac thing.... ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Like they say in hockey - use your body. Note the hand of the cowering German just off to the side. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/ [This message has been edited by Webs (edited 11-20-99).]

Wow, that is cool! How'd you get 88s in LD and HTs in Riesberg? ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Oddest thing happened to me. My 'zook hit a Stug at 55m and scored a front upper hull penetration on a Stug, but all that happened was that the Stug buttoned up and reversed away. This happen to anybody else? You'd think a penetration would pretty much put an end to that machine. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

Gosh, Argo, are WarBirds players always so polite on UBBs? ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

<waves> Hi, Argo! ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/

190F? That was a jabo model. At best it had two cowl 13mm MG 131s, two MG 151/20 20mm cannon and two MK 108 30mm cannon. WarBirds has the 190 A4, A8, and D9 only. Best gun package is the A8, with two 13mm MGs and four MG 151/20. During a tour of duty, I'll usually go 109E, Spit Vb, Spit IXe, Spit XIVe - with occasional forays into the FWs, P-51D, 109G6R6, and a bomber or two, I love the Mossie B.IV, even though it has no guns. Best overall planes in my opinion are the P-47D, the P-51B/D, and the FWs, although most people would argue that the Spits are the best because they turn better than the above. At lower speeds, the Spit will thrash them all, but the Spit suffers from worse roll response, especially up above 400 IAS. Plus, it's a bit more fragile, has a worse 6-view, and has low ammo capacity. The Yak-3 is also a hot ride, but undergunned. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/