Ice

***SPOILER*** I played this last night and found it to be a great, tense, defensive mission. Won a Major victory with only 10 fatalities and (I think) a 79 prob-of-victory (or is it morale?) after all 15 turns. I wish I could remember all the numbers but my fatalities, soldiers unharmed (OK) and -- to a lesser extent -- injuries were a satisfyingly small fraction of the opposition's even after a really tough fight. The highlights of the mission were: - Seeing my guys on the forward left flank holding off the surge for almost fourteen turns until finally broken. Admittedly, the minefield helps but they were also flanked from the center. The Hide command is a big deal for the survivability of your troops here. - Keeping all my units under positive C & C. - Utilizing my bazooka teams sufficiently to take out all the German vehicles within three turns even as the enemy infantry over-ran my right forward position and advanced onto the hill in the center. - Getting my Arty spotter to call in accurate enough fire that this enemy advance down the center was virtually stopped in its tracks by turn 6/7. - Getting 2 infantry platoons into the houses to the far right just in time to see 2 Veteran German units conducting a flanking maneuver that would have been disastrous if I had not spotted it and had a tightly co-ordinated unit in place to hold it off until the reinforcements arrived. - Keeping my M8 alive - The timing of the reinforcements was brilliant mission balance and design - Ditto the appearance of a phantom German tank (sound contact) that lured me into getting my infantry and MG teams all riled up for nothing... - Only then to have to deal with a real tank which finally made it through the minefield to the left. I rolled my M8 fast across my own front lines, turret rotated forward, and took him out just in time. When I replayed the turn I came out the worst, a tribute to this game's amazing dynamic AI. This and the final rout of the German vets on the close right flank sealed the deal. Care to share your highlights?

Yes, that's a great idea. Have you ever played ROGUE SPEAR? The replay files for that are great trophies/learning tools. Here's the only thing I can think of: Tonight I won a major victory in the Bruyeres scenario and saved every turn, labelling them Bruyeres T1 to T15. If you save just after you have completed your planning stage in each case you should see the battle play out the way you fought it... But maybe not; in a tank vs tank confrontation which I won when I first fought it, I lost in the replay! Just another tribute to the dynamiic nature of CM's AI...

'Scuse my ignorance, but what is a PIAT? I told you I was a newbie...

This is a truly great game. In case it is of any value to fellow newbies (and hoping that some vets might feel inclined to comment) here's how I routed the Germans in 14 turns in the Tutorial mission, leaving only 4 enemy soldiers not captured or eliminated. I'm not boasting; I got hammered the first time and this victory took me three hours and much thought... After playing the mission per the manual I suffered a tactical defeat with 36 probability of victory points left. Second attempt, here's what I learned: Transfer one Company (is that the correct classification?) from the r/h setup box to the l/h one so that each Company can cover/overview for the other from opposite sides of the east-west road. There is a lot of cover on both sides of the road, *particularly* on the north side; that northern company conducting the maneuver along the Germans' right flank can get quite close to the objective flag without too much exposure. Expose only one tank at a time and only after your Infantry has flushed an enemy tank or two out of cover. Use the Pause command to delay the forward/hunt movement of the tank you choose to counter with so that it can emerge and target the enemy vehicle(s)within 20 seconds of the end of the turn, minimizing its own exposure. Then reverse it back down the ridge out of harm's way. Use your other tank next time with a distinctly different line of fire. Don't forget to button up! Use your Infantry to supply withering covering/area fire against MGs and enemy Infantry but do not move them out of their advanced cover positions until you have eliminated at least one enemy tank. Position your bazooka guys to back up your tank vs tank fire. Have the small spotter/HQ/LMG squad follow the advancing tank(s) down the road or along the ridge beside it when you begin the co-ordinated Infantry advance on the objective. Use the two companies to cover each other's advance rather than advancing simultaneously. This way, your southern Company can take the little hill behind the flag in spite of being somewhat outnumbered and this is when things begin to turn in your favor. Your northern Company should be raining fire on the Germans from a patch of brush at 8 o'clock from the flag. When this happens, the northern Company can then 'leapfrog' the southern Company (which should have been ordered to hide in the scattered trees on the hill just taken, or it is pinned down there, but it should NOT be advancing) by moving forward, concentrating its fire against rearguard elements in the woods to the east of the just-captured hill. You have a pincer effect here and this is really the only place the Germans can hide; they are being outflanked. Your surviving tank(s) can bang away at these elements, keeping their heads down as the northern infantry crosses the road and takes cover on the western fringe of the woods ahead of the other Company and in the process relieving these probably shaken heroes of the hill. By now there should be an allied objective flag flying. Keep both Companies under positive command. As the manual says, this really helps. Do not send one forward without arranging for the other to provide co-ordinated covering fire. Spare a couple of MG teams to pin down enemy MG teams on the far flanks, probably from long range. These can otherwise wreak havoc and it's better to get them pinned down even without killing them than allow them free rein. You do not seem to need your MG teams at the forefront of your own advance. You should be able to mop up the remaining resistance without too much trouble. Questions for vets: Does this strategy make sense or did I get lucky? I had my 81mm spotter target an enemy troop concentration -- I got an orange targeting line, no LOS obstructions -- and left him there, in the brush, for the rest of the engagement, with the same target selected. I do not think the mortars arrived. And if they had, how would I have known? How can I prevent my bazooka guys from running out of rockets too early in the mission? Hope this might help a few of the newbies who have posted their frustration when starting out. It's worth the effort!