Kanonier Reichmann

A question from a non grog MG person. In your opinion, what would be worse taking fire from, a 50 cal. MG (or DShK for that matter) or a German single barrell 20mm Flak gun if in reasonable cover like a properly dug foxhole or entrenched position? Which one would be more likely to kill you when in such cover? Regards Jim R.

I seem to have become carried away with my AAR for this scenario since I enjoyed it so much. I'm posting the first 14 turns that I've written to date and if people think it worthwhile for me to continue I'll finish it off in the next day or two. Look forward to any feedback but if people are getting too bored and can't be bothered reading it through then I'll certainly understand. AAR v Spanish Bombs in Emilville Exit When I first opened the file to commence the scenario as the German defender I thought you beauty! A map that should be ideal for a defence in depth type battle, continually delaying the Americans while slowly conceding ground at cost to the attackers. Then I looked at the forces available and the restrictions on their setup zones and then I thought, WHAT THE…! I’m dead meat. After recovering from my initial state of disbelief I decided to place my 2 Stugs as far east as possible within the “too far forward” setup zone while still having some sort of LOS to the main sealed road running down the middle of the map. This placed them just south of a single tile of scattered trees marking the entrance to the vast wheatfield on the northern side of the map, in a hull down position behind a small ridge. My 3 Pak40 AT guns were placed one on each flank set fairly deep within scattered woods at the rear of the map while the 3rd was placed pretty much in its default position in a thin strip of scattered woods just north of the main road and approx. 35 metres from the exit zone, with a reasonable view down the length of the main drag. Naturally, all 3 AT guns had an excellent leader within command range to assist with firing and concealment etc. while my northern flank leader was also placed within range of one of the 20 mm Flak guns that was situated in the scattered woods slightly closer to the tree line and more to the north. The other 20mm Flak was placed in scattered trees to the south but a fair distance away from my Pak 40 on that flank since I wanted it to also have LOS on that thin strip of clear ground bounded by the wall on the extreme left flank (my perspective), in case some light armour attempted a run down that flank. This meant my leader could not be in command of both guns at once but life is full of compromises and though I was tempted to place one of the two dasiy-chain mines there to close that thin corridor option down, I had other plans for those mines. My infantry force, such as it was (i.e. almost non existant) was placed with the Escort platoon attempting to cover the east/west running dirt road that fell within its far forward setup zone. I decided to split two squads and place them well out of command of the leader so they could attempt to fire on any troops as they crossed the wheatfield just east of the Bois Shallot woods. This turned out to be an extremely dumb idea as they were spread far too thin and I never had a chance to withdraw the buggers as I initially intended. The 3rd squad was placed in brush near the dirt road to guard the westernmost small victory location, flanked by its platoon leader and a panzerschreck. Two other panzerschreks were placed in brush to the north and south of the small victory flag in an attempt to have some short of shot at armour if it advanced down the main road or down that thin strip of clear ground to the south. This left 2 HMG’s to place somewhere within their zone which unfortunately did not include the town of Emilville so I placed one as close to the town as I could get with the intention to move it back into the town in an upper storey location while the 2nd HMG was entrenched in a position virtually slap bang on top of the 2nd small victory flag located on the dirt road, to discourage any infantry that may appear down the track. This left just the Coy. HQ to place so I located it on the second storey of a heavy building with a view mainly of the dirt road area to the south west with 2 x 81 mm mortars in command. The remainder of the force consisting of 3 ultra intimidating lmg’s which were located 1) in the upper storey of the church to act as a spotter, 2) in scattered woods to the north to provide some sort of very limited security to my 2 guns there and 3) as far west as I could place it in the huge wheatfield to move up a.s.a.p. to that single tile of scattered woods alongside my Stugs to be their eyes and ears for enemy infantry. The final piece to the puzzle was where to place the 2 daisy-chain mines so I decided to put them side by side just east of the forward-most small V.L. on the dirt road, in a small depression so they couldn’t be spotted until up close. Their placement across the only gap between two walls either side of the dirt road meant that no trucks or light armour could use the dirt road to head towards the exit zone without considerable risk to their safety passing over mines, as those units have no ability to move through walls. This meant that Spanish Bombs would need to make other plans for any thoughts of rushing infantry on transport along the dirt road, with considerable detours required either along the exposed main road or the narrow length of clear terrain on the southern edge of the map which was well covered by one of my 20mm AA assets. Turn 1 I spot an M20 A.C. barreling down the main highway which then peels off to set-up behind the third small stone building (to the eastern edge) along the highway. No action as my Stugs couldn’t rotate quickly enough to loose off a shot for the 80 metre length or so the Armoured Car was in sight. Meanwhile, my rear-most HMG begins its long trek back to Emilville. Turn 2 Two more “Armoured Cars?” appear doing their hell for leather rush down the central road with one taking up position behind the 2nd small stone building (i.e. closer to the eastern edge) with the other reaching a point roughly in line with the third stone building and then moving off the road to the south. Still no shots from my Stugs as these A.C.’s are simply too fast to be able to target when moving roughly perpendicular to the shooters axis. A 4th “Light Armour” sound contact appears from the vicinity of the Bois Shallot woods, apparently travelling down the dirt road. Turn 3 I decide to unhide my northern 20mm Flak gun in the scattered woods to hopefully knock out any armoured cars that attempt to charge into Emilville along the main highway. Although it would be at fairly extreme range (just under 1,000 metres) I assumed a 20mm shot would still be able to penetrate a thin skinned M20 A.C. I also unhid my centrally located Pak40 gun with a view straight down the road to discourage any further use of it. The turn unfolds with the armored car on the southern bank reversing back across the road to the northern side and copping a couple of AP salvo’s from my 20mm Flak for its trouble, to absolutely no effect due to ricochets. Meanwhile, 2 Halftracks laden with troops appear on the highway with one only going as far as the first stone building and peeling off the road while the 2nd ventured as far as the 2nd building before moving off the road on the northern side. For its boldness it received one shot from my Pak40 which only fell short by about 400 metres (literally), plus 3 shots from my 2 veteran Stugs at about 650 metres away, all of which missed. I was starting to think that this was going to be a very long game at this rate. Turn 4 Unteroffizier Kinkel in one of the Stugs finally gets it right and nails the halftrack in the opening seconds of the turn while the Tac AI for my 20 mm Flak gun decides to target the unidentified “Armoured Car” at around 900 metres. The Flak gun then proceeds to pound it with 15 HE shots at that range which have absolutely no chance of penetrating so 14 “no effects” and ricochet’s later with one wheel hit, the turn ends with the armoured car none the worse for wear judging by the fact it can still charge around in subsequent turns. Meanwhile, there is action by the dirt road where my “powerful” ambushing force notices an American squad making its way across the wheatfield in front of Bois Shalot, supported by “light armour” just south of the road while an “Armoured Car” appears right at the end of the turn just south of the squad and moving quickly down the road. I think to myself at the end of the turn, it’s now time for the American forces to pay for their reckless advance. Turn 5 The advancing American squad cops fire from two directions at about 60 to 70 metres distance and seemingly shrugs it off for no effect while running for the shelter of a nearby wall. The “Armoured Car” turns out to be a Veteran M20 A.C. which advances down the dirt road shooting its 50 cal. to great effect at my 4 man half squad while the nearby “light armour” reveals itself as an M3 halftrack to shoot at my 2nd half squad, successfully suppressing it. The end result of my brilliant ambush was one of my half squads reduced to 1 man and pinned while the 2nd half squad is also pinned (without loss at least), for no apparent effect on the American squad which is still showing 3 figures. I also notice this turn that 2 “Tanks?” have appeared by the curve on the central highway with one of them firing smoke in the general direction of my Stugs while, it seems, a full platoon of infantry rushes across open ground towards Bois Morel. As I expected, infantry was on its way to make life uncomfortable for my Stugs in the not too distant future although I did have my all powerful lmg team arrive this turn to take up position in the nearby scattered woods tile. I also decided this turn to relocate one of my Stugs further east in an attempt to get a shot off at the previously impervious “Armoured Car” that had shrugged off all the 20mm hits the prior turn. Turn 6 My brilliant ambush ends up being as lame as they come with both half squads mown down for no loss to the enemy. On the positive side, good ol’ Kinkel in his Stug manages to draw a bead on the armoured car when relocating further east and on his second shot nails the, as it turned out, M8 Greyhound. An M20 armoured car virtually alongside the now defunct Greyhound decides to venture forth down the highway at speed towards Emilville. I plan to give that particular vehicle a nasty welcome come the next turn. Turn 7 To hasten the demise of the M20 located beside the central major V.L. on the road, I targeted both 20mm Flak Guns at it firing at its flanks from about 600 metres and 500 metres respectively. Once again, my northern Flak gun refused to fire AP and managed 4 hits with HE for absolutely no effect while my southern Flak gun did fire AP rounds and on the 4th shot managed a hit and penetration, knocking it out. Meanwhile, because of the disaster with my initial ambush I felt it a good idea to re-arrange my next ambush location alongside the small V.L. on the dirt road. I thought it best to move one of my Panzerschrecks to the southern side of the road while a 2nd P’schreck the the north moved further south through brush to be able to catch any armour attempting to move down the road in a crossfire from the north and south. Thinking there was no rush since the previous ambush was a good 300 metres away to the east and nobody would be reckless enough to charge down the road without infantry support, I casually moved my Panzerschreck teams to be in position by the next turn. Unfortunately, my opponent obviously felt in a reckless mood and charged the M20 armoured car down the road so that around the 40 second mark it appeared by the victory location with my teams still moving. One burst from the 50 cal. was all that was needed to kill one of the teams while inflicting 1 casualty on my nearby entrenched Escort squad. A second burst killed 2 more men from this squad that had been lying in ambush for anything moving down the road. A 3rd and 4th burst killed two more men before they could even think of firing back so suddenly my second brilliant ambush was in tatters with one P’schreck team killed, the second spotted by this M20 from hell as it moved towards it and my formerly full strength Escort squad reduced to 2 men in the space of less than 20 seconds. The devastating return fire from my Escort squad didn’t even manage to button the M20 while its Panzerfaust shot at 15 metres range naturally missed its mark. By this time I was beginning to think that the gods of war were really out to punish me for some unknown previous indiscretion. Other things of note this turn was a veritable charge of the Light Brigade style advance down the dirt road with 4 light armour contacts detected moving fast down its length, plus a Tank? plus the previously spotted M3 halftrack joining in to see who could reach the small flag first. On the northern side of the main road I noted 2 M4 Sherman? contacts moving fast across the road in a northerly direction to reach open ground just south of the large body of woods known as Bois Morel. Turn 8 This turn sees an M3A1 halftrack move fast down the main highway to reach the major V.L. in the middle of the road but it soon falls victim to my northern 20mm Flak gun when firing HE at it. Another unexpected “present” was an M8 Greyhound appearing from behind the 2nd stone building alongside the road, giving my other Stug some target practice at around 630 metre distance, promptly nailing it with the first shot. I had also decided to pull back my previously relocated Stug to a more westerly position alongside his partner in crime, just to maximise the range between it and the Bois Morel where I knew American troops were moving through. It goes without saying that my beaten up Escort squad ended in an inglorious way, shot to bits by the M20 from hell while my 2nd P’schreck team became pinned from M20 fire as well. This left my Platoon HQ as the sole unit left to “ambush” any units that appeared by the V.L. Somehow, I didn’t like my chances. Turn 9 I was right. The M20 came back for second helpings and along with an M3 halftrack proceeded to kill my 2nd P’schreck team in short order, although I’ll give it credit, one Panzerschreck shot was fired at about 75 metres but missed, naturally enough. My HQ unit fired bravely at the unbuttoned M3 halftrack and received a casualty for its trouble while not even managing to button it. C’est la vie. I noted at least 4 light armour contacts still moving down the dirt road plus 2 Tank? contacts but I wondered what Spanish Bombs would do with all this light armour since it was effectively blocked off from further movement east with the dasiy-chain mines, unless he had Engineers to clear them or wanted to take the risk. During the turn I observed 2 more M4? Tank contacts move across the main road and onto clear ground south of Bois Morel and out of LOS of my Stugs. At the same time an M3 halftrack decided to run the gauntlet down the raised road to be fired on by my centrally located Pak40 at around 1,100 metres distance. The shot exploded harmlessly on the horizon but the position of my gun had been given away to allow a “Tank Destroyer?” contact to target it as it sat just off the road some 100 metres or so west of the bend in the road. I prayed that my AT gun would be able to hit this AFV at long range next turn as I just knew it was going to attempt to move away just out of LOS to pound me with area fire. Turn 10 Early in the turn saw the M3 halftrack on the central road hit by one of my Stugs that were both targeting it however it was an MG hit only. I was starting to tear my hair out at this stage as the halftrack had managed to reverse back behind one of the stone buildings and out of LOS. This turn I had also decided to progressively pull back my Stugs through the wheatfield all the way to scattered trees right at the eastern edge of the map, as I figured the American infantry would be getting way to close for comfort soon, when emerging from Bois Morel. On the good news side I managed to knock out my first enemy AFV when my Pak40 on its 2nd shot achieved a lower hull penetration on the Tank Destroyer? and then the final knock out blow with its 3rd shot at around 1,150 metres distance. The pitiful remains of resistance at the dirt road V.L. was soon snuffed out by the arrival of 2 American squads which promptly gunned down my brave Platoon HQ as it tried to skulk away. At this stage of the game my entire infantry force consisted of one out of command Escort squad hiding in scattered trees and cut off from friendly lines, 1 Panzerschreck team, 1 Coy. HQ, 3 Platoon HQ’s, 3 lmg’s and 2 HMG’s with virtually no loss to the enemy infantry force that I could discern. To say I wasn’t confident about stopping the hordes would be an understatement. Turn 11 I decided to relocate my central Pak40 gun now that its position had been revealed so I fired some smoke down the road using my 81 mm mortars to mask this situation and moved it north between two 2 storey buildings with a view to place it in a patch of scattered trees right at the edge of the eastern map edge with very narrow fields of fire to the east between small buildings. I continued to reverse my Stugs through the wheatfield in an overwatch manner while two enemy Shermans fired smoke in the general area where the Stugs had been 2 turns ago. Meanwhile, a solitary Sherman in scattered trees alongside Bois Morel began shelling a light 2 storey building just south of the Church in Emilville. I wasn’t fussed since my Coy. HQ was situated in the 2 storey heavy building behind the one being shelled and my lmg team was holed up on the 2nd floor of the Church for its observation usefulness. Lastly, one more M3 halftrack was terminated with prejudice as it tried to race down the narrow corridor of clear terrain on the southern flank when my 20mm Flak gun placed for just this contingency stopped it dead at about 500 metres range. Turn 12 A relatively boring turn with just my one and only remaining Panzerschreck team cut down by another one of those dreaded M20 Armoured Cars. Unfortunately it was spotted in its foxhole located in brush some 100 metres south of the dirt road by advancing American infantry so the M20 simply waltzed up and took it out with 50 cal. fire with the one return shot from the P’schreck team…you guessed it…missing its mark at around 80 metres range. Spanish Bombs continued shelling the 2 storey building in town, causing its collapse while 1 Sherman in clear terrain just south of Bois Morel continued to lob smoke shells in the vicinity of where my Stugs were 3 turns ago. The smoke was so thick you’d swear you were at a Phillip Morris boardroom meeting. I also noted American infantry beginning to advance up the central road in running bursts while a Tank Destroyer? and approx. 1 platoon of infantry began making its way over the wall just east of the newly captured dirt road V.L. Turn 13 Where the hell are my re-inforcements I was beginning to wonder. With my remaining force desperately low in infantry I was beginning to get worried. Meanwhile, a Sherman continued to smoke out the location that had been fired on the previous 3 turns whereas my Stugs were long gone and more than two thirds the way back to scattered trees near the eastern map edge. If all this smoke was in response to my solitary lmg team waiting in ambush in a patch of nearby scattered woods then I’m impressed! I observed a 4th Tank? contact move towards Bois Morel near where the 2 shermans had been lobbing smoke all these past turns and I was beginning to wonder just how many tanks he actually had. To date I had counted 9 AFV’s either as solid contacts or sound contacts. I hoped it would be no more than 10 in total against my 2 retreating Stugs and 3 Pak40 guns. In an attempt to slow down the infantry advance down the dirt road towards the 2nd minor V.L. I started dropping 81mm on board mortar shells targeted at a likely point of movement in a thin band of scattered trees running the length of the road. I noted that one single man squad became pinned under the fire and retreated a short distance so I hoped it was the platoon HQ I had managed to catch which could have detrimental effects on the rest of the platoon if correct. Turn 14 Where the hell are my re-inforcements! Two more M3 halftracks attempt to run the blockade up the central highway and end up being knocked out by my 20mm Flak guns, near the main V.L. with each one taking the credit for a kill. I knew my HMG by the 2nd minor V.L. would be copping it soon so I unhid it to shoot at targets of opportunity. They soon arrived with 3 American squads appearing in quick fashion. One is supressed in a whatfield and promptly retreats while a second hits the dirt behind a stone wall with the third closing to within about 80 metres in scattered woods. A 4th squad also appears some distance further back to the north west and would appear to be a 2nd platoon coming up that flank. Infantry I had previously spotted moving up the central highway continue their steady advance while I have just about nothing to stop them with a single squad also spotted crossing over to the northern wheatfield, no doubt to find out what lurks within. Nothing! As for the infantry I had observed moving towards the Bois Morel a number of turns ago, still no sign of them to my waiting fearless lmg team. Lastly, I now count 5 observed Shermans? In and around Bois Morel with a 6th unidentified tank also somewhere in the area. If I don’t get re-inforcements soon I’m toast.

So tell me Seanachai... do I send you some hate mail straight away or should I wait until New Years Eve before sending it? Regards Jim R.

Yes, but I think the point Leit is trying to make is that the German gun "tractors" i.e. the SdKfz 7 is in the game to enable you to move 88's and the like while there is no Soviet equivalent to allow you to move the 85mm AA gun or 76mm AA gun. In effect, the Germans are favoured over the Soviets in this admittedly reasonably minor area. Regards Jim R.

VT artillery tends to burst in the air and not leave craters on the ground. However, the VT rounds don't always burst in the air due to the random factor so they will still occasionaly leave craters if the VT fuze doesn't work correctly. As for treebursts, this has a similar effect to VT airbursts but of course, you're only going to get them when firing artillery at either tall pines, scattered trees or woods. I would suggest that the treebursts you saw when your troops were in scattered trees were in fact regular artillery rounds simply exploding in the air when hitting trees first. The beauty of VT artillery is that you get the treeburst effect without trees although the downside is that they're not as effective against buildings or tanks if you're needing to bombard something like that. The other plus for VT artillery however is that they're usually devastating against open topped AFV's like Marders and Priests etc. since the crew has nowhere to hide while large artillery is exploding above their heads! Expect widespread abandonments of these types of vehicles when VT artillery is targeted at them. Regards Jim R.

Damn. Dreaded double post. First time for everything. Regards Jim R. [ December 27, 2002, 02:28 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

Good on you Vadr. Some excellent AAR's posted by you for all 3 games. Regards Jim R.

I thought it worthwhile to highlight the disappointing number of AAR's for the scenario's associated with the ROW II second round games. Although I'm somewhat of a hypocrite by not having finished my Emilville Exit AAR (still working on it but it will be completed soon), I feel that the players owe it to the game designers to give them feedback on how their games played. So come on... pull your finger out and post your AAR's and support the overall concept of Rumblings of War. Regards Jim R.

Possibly the reason the Stug unbuttoned was because of the hunt order you gave it. The TacAI probably wanted to ensure the Stug had the maximum chance to identify any enemy units once it reached the crest, so unbuttoned. Remeber, it doesn't have any memory of enemy units once they've disappeared from sight so this is really the problem. I know it's not any help now but I guess you've now learnt to time any hunt command in future to co-incide with when your troops are likely to reach the source of any threat to your AFV's. Regards Jim R.

Just to clarify Easytarget. No anti-tank gun has VT high explosive only the Americans with their 105mm & 155mm off board artillery have VT explosive as well as the British with their 25 pounder off board artillery, however it costs more compared with standard artillery. You can't purchase VT capability for anything other than Forward Observers and only the ones listed above for the British & Americans. Regards Jim R.

O.K. You've got me stumped John. How come you know you achieved a better score in Emilville Exit when you're only two thirds the way through? Are you some sort of soothsayer who can see into the future or sumfink? :confused: Regards Jim R.

That's an interesting point Tero. It's my understanding that after the reverses at Kolkhin Gol (sp?), the Soviets were about the only fighting force the Japanese were genuinely afraid of and wanted to avoid conflict with at almost any cost. What's your take on this aspect? Regards Jim R.

Apocolypse Now Redux, especially the Air Cav scene with Wagners Ride of the Valkyries blaring in the background. Regards Jim R.

Well done with Emilville Exit. However, did you manage to knock out all your opponents armour in the process? Regards Jim R.

How did you go with The Wrong Hill C.A.? Did you win as the Canadians or as the Germans? I managed to play Michael Emrys to a draw but it wasn't easy and I was slightly on the wrong side of the ledger as the Canadians. The amount of carnage at the end of it was phenomenal! Alot of fun though. Regards Jim R.

Well John, it seems clear that Fate feels that you have lost since he's requesting you to send the results to Mike. It appears that "fate" has worked against you this time. What I'm particularly looking forward to are your typically vivid and comprehensive AAR's to follow. Regards Jim R. [ December 22, 2002, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

I'd say you'll have a very good chance to crush me H. I haven't really had the time to properly check out CMBB so it'll probably be no contest. Mind you, a good way to learn from my point of view. Regards Jim R.

AAR vs Mick Oz in North of Epron Let me say from the outset that I have a dislike of Attack style scenarios where the attacking force is marginal at best, to be able to take on the defender. In this particular battle I calculated at the end of it that the Germans had a force value of approx. 1,900 points (reducing the points a tad for the lack of salvo’s for the 2 x 120 mm FO’s) while pitted against an enemy force with an all up value of around 1,800. If one were to discount the value of the numerous trucks completely, the Allied force drops to about 1,500 however, one cannot ignore the fact that the trucks are quite valuable in being able to relocate the 25 lber’s away from their obvious initial placement site to enable a good defender to place them in advantageous cross-fire locations. This my shrewd opponent did and it paid off big time. When looking at the relative value therefore, you can see that the attacker only has a force advantage of approximately 27% at best, in a full on attack style scenario. Top it off with an Allied force that is tailor made to shred the German force with 6 x PIAT teams, 8 x 25 lber’s, 10 x Vickers MG’s, 2 mainly Green platoons of infantry with 2 Regular squads, 4 x 3 inch mortars and the coup de gras…2 x Regular Bofors auto-cannons. One final gripe, I noted that the smaller Allied infantry force did have available a Battalion HQ of 8 men while the German force of more than a Company’s worth of infantry plus various AFV’s did not even have a Company HQ available… a unit that could be invaluable in rallying broken squads and attempting to keep the momentum of attack in motion. Now, getting that out of the way, I decided that it would be best to conduct my attack with the 2 x 75mm armed halftracks bombarding the front row of 2 storey houses in the town, starting with the suspected MG nest building and working my back with the next row of houses from there. I didn’t want my opponent to see what sort of force I had and in what strength so removing these potential observation locations was of paramount importance in my mind. My plan of attack was to scout through the woods on my left flank towards the known artillery battery no. 1 with my initial platoon of Veteran or better Panzergrenadiers while the 2nd platoon was to scout forward through the scattered woods in the direction of the non mined wheatfield and specifically where the gap was through the bocage to reach the wheatfield. I knew that re-inforcements would be arriving in the form of 2 more platoons of Panzergrenadiers so I didn’t want to be too aggressive early on with my relatively meagre initial force. The overall plan was to scout out the enemy’s position for the first 10 turns or so, manouevre my 2 120 mm FO’s into position with some sort of LOS onto the 2 battery locations and hope for the best with the bombardment while following it up with my infantry force to hopefully overrun any remaining positions on or around the field guns. The problem with the plan was that I hadn’t allowed for 3 inch mortars, PIAT’s, Vickers MG’s and finally Bofors guns to regularly pop up all along the way to systematically chew my force to pieces via a death by a thousand cuts method. Couple that with relocated 25 pounder guns that were able to create a vicious cross fire into the centre of the town and my infantry force quickly became a quivering mess of dead bodies. Perhaps my plan to split up my force was unwise by sending two full platoons of veteran or better Panzergrenadiers down my left flank to concentrate on Battery 1 while the remaining 2 platoons were sent, (1) via the central road on foot into the southern outskirts of the town with the 4th platoon via the break in the bocage through the unmined wheatfield. The whole process proved extremely costly where, just when you thought there were no more enemy units in the immediate vicinity by eliminating the one observed, another Vickers MG team or PIAT team would pop up to kill off more of your men or light armour respectively. This frustration was no doubt enhanced my Mick’s skillful use of his forces, using excellent fall back methods to ensure only one layer of the onion was revealed at a time. Despite the fact that many of the Allied forces were green (or even worse), this mattered little when 25 pound shells still impact with the same force as a veteran shell, with the same going for 3 inch mortar shells. Provided the defender didn’t allow the enemy force to close in too close, this HE shower became deadly to a lightly supported, mainly infantry force that kept getting held up by yet another Vickers MG team opening up on it. As I alluded to before, the icing on the cake as far as the defender was concerned were the 2 Bofors guns that were absolutely devastating in Micks hands in first pinning and then killing off whole squads and their supporting HQ’s. The only way I was able to knock out one of the Bofors was by using my meagre 120 mm shell allocation from the 2nd FO to bombard it, a job that it was supposed to be saving for the 25 pounder guns in Battery 2. At the end of the day I barely managed to capture the area around Battery 1 using the pitiful remains of what were once 2 full platoons of veteran or better Panzergrenadier platoons, on the last turn. There was no way what remained of my central infantry force near the southern outskirts of the town could do anything apart from attempt to discourage a potential counter-attack to take the German centrally located objective it started with. This left just the right most infantry platoon that had also copped a very bloody nose and never even looked like closing on Battery No. 2 with at least a platoon of enemy infantry defending the area from an attack. My most powerful squad at the end of the game was a Crack PzGr squad of only 5 men while the equivalent of more than 3 platoons of Panzergrenadiers had been killed or wounded. To be able to scrape through with a draw at the end of the game was more by good luck rather than good management and an extremely skillful defence by Mick Oz ensured I payed the butchers bill in full to achieve the draw. End results: Axis- 103 casualties (24 KIA) 8 vehicles destroyed including 1 veteran 251/9 75mm halftrack,1 veteran Puma and assorted halftracks. Men OK- 73 Score- 48 Allies- 115 casualties (33 KIA) 1 Vickers gunner captured 3 x various 3 inch mortars destroyed 2 Regular Bofors Guns destroyed 4 x various 25 pounder guns destoyed 1 Regular 6 pounder AT gun destroyed 2 x Regular White Scout Cars & 3 x Regular Humber Scout Cars K.O.’d. Men OK- 156 :eek: Score- 52 I hope this AAR is not seen as being sour grapes or anything because the end result did not matter as it turned out but I really felt right throughout the battle that the Germans were continually pushing the proverbial uphill, mainly due to encountering a force of close to equal value that was tailor made for its destruction. Simply providing a Company HQ unit and perhaps the full quota of 120mm salvo's would go some way to redress the imbalance in my view and bring the scenario more in line with so called "acceptable" balanced standards. If the intention all along of Stix was to create an unbalanced scenario to see how the attacker would react to a very tough nut then I guess that's fair enough but an imbalance that's not in favour of an attacker is, IMO, the most unenjoyable style of unbalanced scenario. I'm not ungrateful however as without these scenario's being designed in the first place, the ROW tournaments wouldn't happen at all so I take my hat off to the designers but feel it necessary to suggest some minor changes where I perceive they're warranted. Regards Jim R. [ December 21, 2002, 01:11 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

Tell me ParaBellum. What are those badge like symbols on either side of your unit information screen? Are they CDV's moniker or sumfink? Regards Jim R.

AAR as the Germans v Combined Arms as the Poms It occured to me that the scenario I was playing against Combined Arms was somewhat ironic as I realised this was going to be one battle where my opponent would not be able to display his prowess in manipulating his forces utilising the very combined arms tactics his namesake indicated. Clearly this was going to be an infantry only battle throughout. My basic setup was to pretty much leave the wide open entrance unguarded as I felt it too difficult to properly defend in any meaningful way without utilising most of my force to do so. Once deciding on this plan of action I placed a full Sicherung platoon (the one with the Green leader but who had some decent bonuses) around the Machine Shop area with the one regular squad split and placed in the open to the north west of the Machine Shop to create some foxholes within view of the wire on that north western corner. The other Sicherung platoon was divided up with the 2 green unsplit squads placed in the light buildings either side of the Scientific HQ with the Coy. HQ in command of them within the heavy building. This left just the regular squad to guard the Military HQ building on the south eastern corner but I split it with a half squad near the top of the parapet but behind the wire to see if anything approached while the other half squad was placed outside of the HQ building (where its non bonused veteran HQ hid) to the south east to create a foxhole within sight of the wire. All that remained was to place my 3 HMG's since the sharpshooters were locked in position so I decided to put one in the upper floor of the Main Lab Complex facing the wall while a veteran MG was situated in the one heavy building on the southern perimeter roughly half way along with the third placed in rubble just east of the 2 storey building to act as my mobile reserve once I brought my Kubelwagen around from its locked position. My plan was to have the sharpshooters as pickets patrolling the top of the berm so I could determine where the enemy would attempt to breach the complex then react quickly to such an attempt without commiting everything to such an attempt in case it was an initial diversion. I decided that I could afford to lose a truck with these patrolling efforts so out it went to patrol the northern approaches as this was where I suspected the enmy would come from. The second truck was driven to the entrance of the compound to act as a trip wire by parking it hidden across the gap in the berm so if anything tried to come through there, at least I would know about it. Nothing happened for the first 9 turns until my truck, on its magical mystery tour, ran into at least 1 enemy squad roughly half way up the slope to the berm on the northern side. Suffice to say it didn't put up much resistance (one burst & it was very dead inc. the crew) however at least I had my warning and I could react to it in sufficient time. Turn 10 saw a green sharpshooter of mine wander into a hail of lead along the northern wall roughly one third the length of the wall away from the north western corner. Clearly, this told me the attack seemed to be a major breach so I rushed my Kubelwagen ensconsed HMG to a point in front of the northern section of rubble while the spare, highly credentialed 4 man veteran HQ also rushed into a light building south of where the enemy firing had come from the previous turn to destroy the hapless truck. Turn 11 proved interesting with an enemy squad, attempting to rush through wire north east of the Machine Shop, being unmercifully gunned down as it kept rushing forward to attempt to gain acces to a light building 2 spots east of the Machine Shop. My lonely 4 man HQ in a light building just north of the "Construction" rubble took on 2 full squads as they charged the wire and managed to inflict casualties on both squads as they were each reduced to 2 man figures after the 60 second turn. Unfortunately, in the process he also was severely crippled, being reduced to a paltry 1 man HQ armed with a pistol. Their survival later proved very telling as I was able to withdraw this highly bonused HQ the very next turn without it losing its one remaining man which allowed it to assist in a "last man standing" defence of the 2 storey building towards the end of the game. Turn 14 saw me pull back my 2 regular half squads at the north western corner into the Machine Shop heavy building to help the HQ's defence of it while a green squad in a light building just to the east were to attempt to hold off the horde of enemy squads that I just knew were going to come swarming through any minute. A foolish move on my part was to split the remaining Green squad guarding that corner so I could rush one part into a light building 2 spots east of the Machinery Shop. Little did I know that the British were already there in force (my Green squad in situ obviously had the observation powers of a myopic sea slug) so I basically ran it across the open into the waiting arms of 2 elite squads which promptly gunned it down. That same turn my resident Green squad suffering from night blindness attempted to take on the 2 elite squads one house away and promptly succumbed in less than a turn of firing, although I did note it managed to reduce one squad from memory to 2 figures in the process. Turns 15 to 18 saw Combined Arms troops go through my remaining forces at the Machine Shop like a knife through butter although I suspect my Green Platoon HQ & the remains of the regular squad situated in the heavy building exacted a toll of his troops, but to what extent it was hard to tell. While this was going on I had managed to rush one Green squad from the area around the Scientific HQ to the rubble just east of the 2 storey building, accompanied by the Coy. HQ a tad behind it. The HMG that was already in the upper storey was relocated to the north western corner to face the threat coming from that direction while a second HMG that I had guarding the southern wall had been picked up by my Kubelwagen and rushed to the defence of the main building. It was pretty much touch & go but the 2nd HMG arrived and moved to the north eastern corner of the building on the 2nd floor and setup just before a rush of enemy squads appeared from the north. The final piece to the defence was the previously shot-up "bonus-laden" Platoon HQ arriving from a quick sprint across the park to place both HMG's under his double morale & firepower bonuses. Turns 19 to 23 proved pretty decisive in the battle as this was when C.A. rushed all his forces from the north into the heavy building alongside the Main Lab Complex as well as the Complex itself. Because I had realised by then that this was probably the one and only force of any size to contend with I had also rushed my one remaining Green Sicherung squad from the area of the Scientific HQ building into the bottom floor of the Main Lab building just in from the southern wall, accompanied by its Veteran, bonus-less platoon HQ. All hell broke loose as squad after squad rushed across the open to reach the small heavy building to then use as a stepping stone into the Main Lab. My 2 HMG's posted on the upper level at each corner must have taken a toll as squads were reduced while running the gauntlet with the occasional one that had already taken some casualties in prior fire-fights, succumbing to the deadly crossfire. Two enemy squads managed to break into the ground floor of the complex and gunned down my north western corner HMG from below but paid the price when my Green squad located next to the southern wall plucked up enough corage to fire back and gunned down both these squads over a period of 2 turns. At least three satchel charges were thrown in the direction of my remaining HMG but only one managed to reach the top floor, causing 1 casualty, while the other two exploded harmlessly on the ground alongside the building. Eventually however, weight of numbers firing at the HMG reduced it to 1 man remaining and by the end of turn 22, it had also succumbed but not before firing most of its ammunition at extremely close range. By the end of turn 23 I counted 7 enemy dead body figures in and around the Main Lab building due to fire from the HMG's, the green squad within the building and some crossfire (when within range) from my other Green squad and the Coy. HQ unit located in the rubble to the east of the Main Lab. Furthermore, I could see that the remains of C.A.'s force could not be in tip top shape as at least two other units had been reduced to single figure squads although it was hard to tell whether the dead were HQ units, Vickers MG's or possibly even 2 inch mortars. From turns 23 through to 30 I tried to hang on to a foothold within and around the Main Lab but there were still at least 4 or 5 enemy units either within the building or nearby and my Green squad within was beginning to break due to running low on ammo and being fired on from multiple angles. I ended up losing the squad once it became broken so all I had left was its Veteran HQ reduced to 2 men trying to hold onto the heavy building lust to the south of the Main Lab. It didn't take too long before a 2 person squad arrived within the building and gunned down the HQ, but not before it also extracted its pound of flesh. By around turn 28 I figured that I could not afford to attempt to charge into the Main Lab with my remaining force of a reduced Coy. HQ, a 6 man Green squad and 2 Regular half squads guarding the 2 remaining victory locations so I deliberately conceded the V.L. to Combined Arms as whatever force he had left was by now, well entrenched wihin the building and its surroundings. At the end of the game the results were as follows: Axis 63 against Allies 37. 72 casualties versus 121 casualties 1 Truck & Kubelwagen K.O.'d (although the bloody Kubelwagen bogged then immobilised while trying to move across the railway line and then abondoned. Men O.K. 29 versus 33 for the Allies although I noted that of these 33, only 7 were combat effective as the rest were either ammoless 2 inch mortars, PIAT teams or the 15 boat crew waiting by the beach. :eek: As for the game in general being one that helped decide the 2nd round of a tournament, I'd have to concur with my fellow players that this style of scenario is subject to way too many luck factors rather than skill factors. If the Axis are lucky enough to be where the Allies attempt to break in, it would more than likely become a bloodbath for them and be most disheartening for that player. I personally don't think I was overly lucky in my game against C.A. but taking the risk of leaving the main entrance undefended allowed me to have forces in the general area that C.A. chose to breach the embankment which then allowed me to re-arrange my defences in time to face his main assault. The thing that I'm sure most dissappointed C.A. was the fact that he wasn't able to display his array of Combat Mission skills when all one is given is an infantry only force fighting in night conditions where brute force is often the only effective tactic when fighting at such close range. Not an ideal way to show ones mastery of the game IMHO. Regards Jim R. [ December 20, 2002, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]

There we go again. Enough already with the latrine humour. Regards Jim R.

Are you sure about that? Do you know this guy? Regards Jim R.

Ummmm...chit chat? Regards Jim R.

Yes, AVALON HILL was the great prime mover in wargaming; but, by the 1970s, its place as an innovator and trend setter was taken over by the rise of SPI and STRATEGY & TACTICS Magazine.</font>

So, did the crew manage to bail out? Regards Jim R.