Vadr

Congrats to the winners! Well played all! See you in RoW III! VAdr

Bottom of page 2? I think not. Punt! I'd also like B&T to answer my question if such is not considered inappropriate; I'd like to know under what conditions I should run my practice QB's... Vadr

Will the tourney scenarios be using EFOW, FFOW, or a mix? Vadr

If you roll back to the earlier drivers (30.82?) you won't have that problem. Vadr [ December 05, 2002, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: Vadr ]

punt for page 1

Well Carrot, if you win you can forward the goods to me, and I'll trade you something cool for the Wine... Vadr, lush vadr

Hmmm...that looks a lot like Jon_L's scorecard in RoW II, or Kanonier R...hmmm...imposters in our midst? Vadr [ December 04, 2002, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: Vadr ]

Oh sure! Announce this on the day my daughter is born so it takes me 3 days to find the damned thread. Nice! E-mail inbound Treeburst, don't you dare leave me out of this one! Vadr

Fear in the Fog on an Geforce 3 Ti 200 vadr

I think TB had a hidden agenda when he asked the original question...

Well, I think I can certainly guess one of the two in question, but how can any of the scenarios be a waste of time with this scoring system? I turned in AARs for all 3 games, and did not hold my fire in the "Conlusions" section... Unleash the hounds James!

Finished all my finals games. Not sure who else is still playing in Tourney III. Most enjoyable. I (salute) all of my opponents for the interesting and challenging games. Big thanks go out to Treeburst and the Boots & Tracks team. Great job all. Just go ahead and put my name in for RoW III. Can't wait... Vadr [ November 12, 2002, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Vadr ]

Bah! FoW Sucks! We Hates it! We Hates it forever...

LOL Webs!

TB 155 writ: I was knocked out of the first round of the newbie tournament because I did exactly that. With a commanding points lead and a solid defensive position early in the game, I came out of my holes and hull-down to make for a more interesting fight. My opponent handed my head to me. Tournament play (IMO) is (or should be) different from 'casual' play among friends, at least if winning or advancing is important to you. This not to say I advocate gamey tactics such as last-turn flag rushes or using crews as scouts, but in RL, a commander would not risk the lives of his troops to make the battle 'more interesting' once his objectives had been met, or while he felt he had a good chance of meeting them. Ah. Now see, I missed that point completely, and the fact that I did explains why I was *so* disappointed with the outcome of the scenario. I killed all 4 Tigers, held both flags at the end and still had substantial forces remaining, but got only a draw. Had I understood that, I could have killed two Tigers and sat down on the first flag. I would have done no worse, and quite possibly could have done better, with fewer casualties. I just learned something, thanks. Very much so, and they can be used to simulate 'higher command' directives. U8led wrote: I've got no objection to night-fighting in the finals (or anywhere else), but I did have a real problem with one of the finals scenarios in this tournament, which happened to occur at night. I put details in the conclusion of my AAR for it, and I'll say no more about it here until TB clears us to discuss it. I'm sure we have the same scenario in mind. V

Yes Yes, very much so. With this cool and innovative scoring system, it really doesn't matter that the scenarios are unbalanced, and it certainly adds a lot of spice to the matchups. I haven't had to withdraw off of the map in a tourney game yet, but I sure have thought about it once or twice. This mirrors Real Life a whole lot better than the "fight to the last man" outcome. This is my first RoW, but I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the scenarios except one(which I sent you an AAR about). That's true no matter what the force balance was/is.

Ste. Mere Eglise AAR - Chuck "vadr" Grimes (German) Setup - Looks like a straightforward combined-arms assault on the town. Accordingly, I've devised a relatively straightforward attack plan; I'm going to hit the town with a hard left. The majority of my Infantry and armor begin between the main North-South road and the east edge of the map. The Two StuH 42s begin in scattered trees (hidden) with good fields of fire into the town. All other armor is hidden behind woods. I left that one platoon mounted on the StG IIIs and put the PL and an MG42 in one halftrack with them. The advance will be down the east side of the map with the StuH42s lending fire support. 2 StG III's will cover the N-S road in an attempt to seal off the west side of town from the east. I have some MG's and the 105 FO set to go into position on the moderate high ground in the center of my setup area. The TPs are set mostly on the east side of the town, again with an eye to interdicting any attempt to by my opponent from reinforcing the east side of his defense from the west. I've stationed my weakest Infantry platoon and two empty Half-tracks on the west side of the map. Their job will be to make an obvious and noisy advance to contact, again with an eye to making the enemy hold some of his western forces in position. If all goes according to plan, I'll break in on the east side of town and get to shoot the Allies up piecemeal as they counterattack. I hope to be able to drive from east to west late in the game to capture a 3rd Victory Flag. It's possible my right-flank ruse could be converted into an attempt to snatch a flag if he leaves his rear unguarded in response to my attack on his right I'm worried about bogging in the wet ground, and I expect the Airborne to have AT guns and possibly even some armor in support. Turns 1-15 Things go pretty much as expected; I advanced 3 platoons to draw his fire and then started pounding the buildings with the Stuh 42s and STG IIIs. I'm reasonably pleased with the rate of progress, it isn't easy to pry American airborne troops out of a town. The big question is; how much force does he have? My opponent has pulled back skillfully thus far but he *is* giving ground and he *is* suffering casualties. I'm hoping I can crack the perimeter and grab some flags, but if he's defending in depth or won't let me pin him down and kill him this could be a real race by the last turn. In an interesting development he's run some Infantry out into the center of the map. Looks like he wants to harass my advance on the right. I'm hoping that means he took the bait over there. I'd much rather fight him in the open than in heavy buildings. Turn 20 - I have thrown him out of the apartment buildings on my left but the fighting is vicious and at close quarters in the woods immediately behind. I've had more success in the center, the troops are driving along the road. It has taken FAR longer than I anticipated to get my armor to the roads. Now I must gamble a little and drive my assault guns deep into his rear to try and get the situation more fluid. I'm not going to win going hand to hand with american paratroopers. I should be able to run 2 assault guns down the center road to the far rear VL, and I'm going to swing 2 more and a halftrack along the left, trying to get him turned 90 degress from his former position. His bazooka team placement should prove interesting, I've already knocked out two AT guns... Turn 22 - Well my plan to drive 2 Assault Guns up the middle has fallen apart. He uncovered a third AT gun to kill one and the other bogged. I still have several pieces of armor available and all of it is on the roads now, so I'm still hoping to drive into his rear and disorganize his resistance. I think he may finally be running out of Infantry and I still have one fresh Sturmgruppe Platoon to commit. I may have found a hole in the center. I'm going to attempt to rush a squad and a leader into it, might get a cheap flag. Turn 23 - Did I say I had all my armor on roads? Nooooo, I had one last Stg III that was about 10 feet from a road but of course bogged (dammit). We'll see if he gets unstuck. I'm not sure it matters however. My arty was devastating this turn (thank goodness for TRPs), knocking out that 3rd AT gun and killing a bunch of Infantry besides. He's still got some die-hard holdouts in a heavy building along the main road (a squad and a half or so) but resistance on my left has pretty much collapsed. He's started pulling his Infantry off the line on his left to reinforce his right, exactly as planned. He had the decoy force stopped cold over there. Things are looking pretty good for me, I'd say I'm a lock on 3 flags at this point. Turn 28 - Well, the plan has thus far worked out as drawn-up. My attack is now moving east to west, and the front line has bent 90 degrees from at start. I own one flag, I have armor around a second and I should own it after this turn, and I'm massing troops for a charge on the 3rd one. he has begun pulling troops from his left to reinforce his center (now his right) but I have the halftracks in interdicton positions now to put a stop to that. It's been bloody, but looks pretty good at this point. Conclusion - I'm writing this last paragraph late, but I got a moderate victory and scored more points as the Germans than anyone else in tourney III, according to the 9/17 results. I owned two victory flags at the end, with one in contested status. I thought it was a good scenario, but the German attacker must be fairly experienced/competent. A novice on the attack will get pretty handily shot up (as proven in the tournament scores). An excellent combined-arms exercise from the German standpoint. I had fun playing this one.

Polish Push AAR - Chuck "vadr" Grimes (Polish) Setup - I'm surprised at how small this scneario is, and how short. There doesn't seem to be time for anything fancy, and I certainly don't want to take the Cromwells cross-country. So, another straightforward left hook. I'll pound the town with my arty, advance the Infantry and see what happens. All my forces are on the left side of the map near the road. Turns 1-7 - So far, a brutal house-to-house affair exactly as expected. My first probes into the village took heavy casualties, and progress was made only after the Cromwells were put into action. A lucky break on Turn 7: the shell from a Cromwell set the Church on fire. At this point in the match, I'm confident of taking one flag and may get two, but I'm concerned about the heavy infantry casualties I've taken. Turn 17 - Guess I've missed a few updates on this one. It has been a very difficult fight and my casualties have been tremendous. I've killed 2 enemy AFVs but have lost two Cromwells in exchange. I virtually demolished the left side of the village with artillery and tank fire and now hold that victory flag. My troops are fortifying the rubble. I don't think the enemy has the strength for a last-turn counterattack but you never know. I guess I'll settle for a draw on this one (if I can even get that with my heavy casualties). The only way to get the other flag now would be with some sort of gamey last-turn rush and I'll not try that. Result - Draw (50-50) Conclusions - I guess the result speaks to how well-balanced this scenario was. Looking at the map he really had nothing left to stop me from taking the other flag, but I have no time. Key events were me setting the Church on fire with that lucky shot on turn 7, and the fact that I was able to kill both of his AFVs before they could do a *lot* of damage. Had I not gotten lucky in both instances, I might not have even been able to get the Draw. Not much to say about this one really. I think it's extremely well-balanced and will be very popular for PBEM and TCP/IP. Perfect for a short TCP/IP game and an easy but interesting PBEM. Might have to try playing this one using the Ironman Rules...8)

Head for the Hills AAR - Chuck "vadr" Grimes (German) Setup - Wow, what a terrific defensive position. Despite the ammunition shortage for the 88s, I consider it impregnable against armor. Every 'channel' is covered by daisy-chain mines protected by barbed wire and all minefields are covered by multiple AT weapons. If he exposes his armor I will kill it. Period. What the Americans will need to take this position is a lot of Infantry and artillery. Of course, the Americans rarely experience a shortage of either. Oh well, at least they don't have air support... 2 platoons of Volksturm on my left, with 1 of the SS Rifle platoons in immediate reserve. 1 platoon of Volksturm and the other SS rifle platoon on my right. 1 platoon of Volksturm in the village. the mortars are in battery in the rear of the town with a Company Commander as observer for them. The Pioneers will form my tactical reserve. I'm more concerned about my right flank than my left (better covered approaches over there) so I've placed my TRP over on that side in my blind spot. This is a questionable TRP placement. It will either help save that flank or for all intents and purposes will have been removed from play. A small gamble. Turns - 1-7 My opponent advances against both flanks. Looks like two companies of Infantry against my left flank and one or perhaps two against my right. Contact was made about turn 6. The first of my 88s has opened up, killing a halftrack and a Sherman, but my Conscript Pschreck couldn't get the job done against a Sherman on the far left. I've pretty much wiped out an Allied Infantry platoon on the left flank, and will now begin falling back towards the top of hill 178, hopefully inflicting casualties as I go. I'm fairly pleased with things so far. I will begin falling back toward the hill crest and the VL there, hopefully getting a chance to ambush him once again en-route. Pressure is terrific though, especially on the left. Turn 21 - Well, I must say that the fight so far has pretty much gone exactly according to plan. The Hill 178 VL is in dispute and he may take that one, but he paid cash for it. 8) The most interesting turn of events occured over on the left where his last two pieces of armor stopped just short of the little 88mm ambush I had set for them. I actually had a shot at the M10 for 2 turns but didn't take it because I was hoping he'd expose the Sherman. Instead, he has pulled both AFVs back around the hill towards the town. He's now hitting the village with heavy arty, and I see a new Infantry formation (Engineers?) moving toward it. My read on the situation is that he's committing his reinforcements/reserves, backed up by his remaining Armor, to an assault on the town. I'm feeling pretty confident about it. The Volksturm in town haven't suffered at all yet and I still have multiple hidden 88s to contest the advance. On the right, the troops are falling back in tolerable order after inflicting a bloody nose on his advance with the help of the first two 88s. I will probably withdraw further this next turn so as to entice him into the TRP area. I have moved my reinforcements to a central position where I can get them either to the right flank or the town in a hurry. I have not exposed them yet. Hill 178 is lost to me I think, and I'll not get my reserves shot up trying to get them over there. Turn 23 - So far, so good. That Allied armor turned out to be a pair of Shermans. Both are burning merrily now. The Volksturm are taking a pounding from American 155mm artillery in the village. Turn 26 - Crunch time. The Americans have taken Hill 178, and are sending a platoon of Engineers against the town. The Volksturm have taken a pounding from American 155s and there aren't many of them left. My Marder is in position to cover the town, and my last two 88s have good fields of fire, but there are 10 turns left. I fear I'll be attrited and lose the town. Hopefully, I can mount a counterattack with my reinforcements and take it back. I have my arty targeted on the Engineers line of advance, 29 seconds out. It will be close. A real nail-biter at this point... Turn 30 - Right down to the wire. The Americans have taken Hill 178 and now pressuring the town from two directions. I'm running very short of infantry and am relying on firepower to hold them off while I rush my reinforcements to the town. Sitution on my right is stable, the Americans have just begun re-applying pressure on that side. Everyone is out of artillery now. WE'll be settling this one with the bayonet I think. Turn 33 - Did I say out of arty? I was wrong. I was out of arty, he was just holding his fire. One 88 remains but has no field of fire. I managed to get my reinforcements into town before he rushed it but the Marder's gun was damaged by artillery. My troops on the right have fought to the last man (and almost the enemies last man) but I fear he will take that flag with his last few troops and there isn't a thing I can do about it. In the village, it will be bayonets and hand grenades in the streets to decide the game. Result - Draw Conclusions - This was a BLAST to play. I don't think it's very well balanced, and I understand it may not be intended that it be balanced. My opponent chose to launch attacks on both flanks. If that is dictated by the design setup areas it's brilliant. Had he concentrated all his force on one flank or the other, while positioning some force to interdict my attempts to reinforce the threatened flank, he would have rolled over me. As it was, I destroyed his armor and decimated his infantry, and still only managed a draw by throwing in every available man and gun. The scenario outcome was determined by a close quarters street fight on the last turn of the game after I conducted what I flatter myself to say was the finest fighting withdrawal of my CM career. I do not see how I could have done any better against a competent opponent. This fight really has been one of my all-time favs. My compliments to the designer.

Fire on the Mountain AAR - Chuck "vadr" Grimes (German) Setup - As an old Infantryman, looking at this map made my knees hurt. Great map though. The briefing was excellent. I assume there is some faulty and/or missing intelligence in it, but I have still pretty much built my attack plan around it. The big question is: when will the convoy arrive? Turn 1? I am not certain. I am not certain it will arrive at all. Nevertheless, I have made disposition to score as many points as possible on it if it does. I have moved an Inf gun and two 105mm RR well forward into the "convoy ambush" setup area. I've placed these heavy weapons where they can also cover Schalburg if and when the French begin moving from there (see below). These weapons are also in position to interdict any attempt to reinforce Hill 249 from Schalburg. I left the Nebelwefer FO pretty much in his at-start position, moved the 2 81mm morars units and their platoon leader observer to a central position behind San Giovanni to support the attack on Hill 249 and again, interdict Schalburg. I moved one of the 81mm FO's to the cliff overlooking the road where the convoy is supposed to arrive. he has a good FOV to the Convoy Road, Schalburg, and Hill 249. I made minor adjustments to the forces facing Lucio, moving the Infantry Company up to the edge of the woods in a 2-forward/1-back formation, and moving the Inf Gun to a central position where it can cover Lucio, Schalburg and the backside of Hill 249. I left the at-start platoon in San Giovanni and will advance 1 platoon against Hill 249 along the ridge holding 2 more in overwatch (one on the ridge, the other in town). If the Convoy arrives turn 1 I expect a free-for-all to break out. I will conceal my forward-deployed heavy weapons as long as possible, hoping to kill some armor moving out of Schalburg. If the convoy does not arrive on turn one, I will launch a vigorous attack against Lucio from the southeast, covered by smoke to the south while the town is subject to direct and indirect fire from the Southwest. At the same time, I may wait a turn or two to begin my attack on Hill 249. My hope is that the French will deploy their armor from Schalburg to help the defenders of Lucio/Hill 249, and I can pick them off as they move to do that. I expect to hold both Lucio and Hill 249 at game end. Turn 1 - The forward gun placement worked out pretty well. 2 Shermans and a halftrack were killed in Schalburg. 3 more halftracks will probably be killed in turn 2. I lost a 75mm Inf gun in exchange. I have begun the assualt on Hill 249. Waiting on the arty to arrive at Lucio. Turn 6 - 1 Half-track remains alive near Schalburg. I hope to kill it this turn. As I feared, the enemy artillery has been accurate and I've lost both of my 105mm RRs and an Inf gun; the price I pay for exposing them so early. Hill 249 seems lightly defended, but the enemy is in Lucio in force. To complicate matters, enemy mortars have been very tough on my 120mm FO. He's still in the game, but the artillery on Lucio has been delayed and that is retarding my assault some. I've shifted the Nebelwerfers onto that target but it's a blind shot and will take time to deliver. I'll also likely take some friendly fire casualties as well. C'est la Guerre. Turn 7 - Arrrgghh. AS I feared, the Convoy arrived this turn in all it's glorious juicyness, but I don't have a single heavy weapon left to bring to bear on it. Oh well, it's up to the Gebirgsjaeger platoon I put down there and the HMGs in their support. Things are going better in Lucio, I expect to take Hill 249 on turn 8. Turn 10 - Well, the slaughter of the Convoy has been fearful, even without the heavy weapons. My opponent had kept a Sherman 76 hidden all this time and ran it out to try and rescue the convoy. A very lucky Panzerfaust shot disposed of it. In Lucio, the house-to-house work progresses, it looks like I'll take the village. Hill 249 was *skillfully* defended and I've lost an entire assault platoon trying to take it. I've reconcentrated the artillery and pushed up the other 2 platoons. I think I'll get it, but at what cost? Enemy aircraft just overflew the battlefield, that's ominous... Turn 15 - Hill 249 is now in my hands, but the price has been fearful. The French retain a toehold in Lucio but that will not last long. The SS Arrived this turn. Enemy aircraft continue to circle the battlefield strafing the odd target but it's tough for them in this terrain. I expect now to finish taking Lucio and then I'll take a look at trying for Schalburg. Don't know if I'll try it yet, we'll see how the next few turns go. Turn 23 - Well I've called off the bid for Schalburg. My opponent has just exposed what appears to be at least of a Platoon of Infantry in the town and has deftly moved his remaining halftracks into a position to interdict my advance. I don't have time to manuever for the town so I believe I'll just hold up and be satisfied with taking the objectives specified in my brief (except for pounding Schalburg with arty. Why annoy the local girls when I'll soon have the town anyway?). My 20mm AAA covers the main road through the valley. Result - Axis Minor victory Conclusion - This battle was decided in the first two turns when the majority of the Allied armor was killed. Without having to deal with those tanks and HTs, it was fairly easy to secure the objectives. My opponent fought skillfully, especially around Hill 249 and it would have been tough going if he'd had a little more force. Not knowing when the convoy would arrive was a nice touch. I liked the map, the force balance; everything about this scenario. it was fun to play. I don't know if the allied setup was padlocked or not. If it was, that needs to be looked at because it exposes to many Allied assets to a forward German setup. If not, then I've no other comments or complaints.

I'd very much like to help playtest this for you MrSpkr! chaz@cgidesign.net Thanks! Vadr

I *hated* this scenario. My opponent and I fought to an exact 50-50 score for a Draw. WTF is up with that? It was bloody, close, truly painful to watch each and every turn. I kept feeding in troops and watching them get massacred as fast as I fed them in... Oh God, The Horror... Vadr PS - This would make a great TCP/IP matchup. Short and small, but VERY intense.

Rock ON! Thanks MrSpkr! Vadr

OK, I just installed CMBB and was stunned to find that Sowchos 79 (11th Panzer in action near Nizhna Kalinovski, 19 Dec '42) is not among the scenarios or operations. Someone do this scenario please! I'll help you playtest if you need!