Doug Williams

[ Hmmmm. Another turn, and Bil still hasn't brought his armor forward. ;-)

Yutz is an old Yiddish word for "dumbass". Which is a good description of anyone who ignores history, IMO.

Yep, I should have. I doubt I could have saved the HMG team, but I certainly could have saved the mortar team. I just rolled the dice that my mortar team could bring suppressive area fire on his team before he shifted targets. :-( On the bright side, he probably used at least half the ammo of that tube. :-/ Yep, I'm counting on the Panthers. That's why I bought Panthers and not PZIVs. Unfortunately, Bil's height advantage is helping him more than I realized it would (as I found out running some tests against the AI). I actually think Bil is being a little too cautious with his armor.

@c3k & SLIM Yea, I hate losing that firebase up on the hill on my left flank, but I should have known that would happen. As for those bunched up troops, I moved both tanks forward a bit, opened up. Here's hoping they get LoS. I also have another mortar team heading for high ground on my right flank. I can only guess what Bil is planning with his Sherms and the TD. Is he going to try to time it so that they all come over the crest of the hill at the same time? If he does that and manages to knock out my Panthers, this will turn into a turkey shoot. I'll be left with nothing but shreks as an AT asset, and Bil will probably just sit the tanks on top of the hill and take pot shots. If the Panthers win the tank battle, the situation will be reversed and Bil will have a hard time taking the VLs. I'm still scratching my head about those little AT guns. Perhaps Bil thought I would buy halftracks and light tanks?

It wasn't in the U.S.A. that I grew up in. We used to embrace our history, good, bad, and ugly. Now we seem to live in a PC police state.

Well said, John. The only thing Orwell got wrong was he was about forty years off.

The saga continues. After finishing off my HMG team, Bil's mortar team made mincemeat of my left mortar team, but not before my team got off a few rounds. Whether or not they caused any casualties to Bil's team is unknown at this time. I reversed my right Panther a bit, trying to move it into a better firing position, and it took a ricochet from Bil's M10, which then moved back behind the crest of the hill. Where are Bil's Sherms? Only Bil knows (and perhaps you guys). We got a bit of infantry action going this turn. Bil moved a scout team up to the VL on my right flank, and it was promptly mowed down by a half squad that I had moved into position behind a stone wall just a few seconds prior. I have an HMG team deployed in (what I think is) a nice position on my left flank, just inside the tree line and to the rear of the VL. It seems to be doing a good job suppressing Bil's infantry. Bil has a bunch of troops massed up at the stone wall next to the road. If I can manage it, I would love to try to bring some HE love down on them next turn.

Nope. Spotting is paramount in CM2. Let's see what happens next. :-)

Thanks, already sent Bil my next file. I ordered the wounded Panther to halt. Considered sending the other Panther on a semi circular path around my right flank, but nah, I ordered it to reverse a bit to some higher ground and remain open, in the hope of tagging Bil's TD or Sherm(s). This battle isn't going to be won by being sneaky or cautious, IMO.

Received Bil's latest file late last night, and I just now had a chance to take a look. Here is a full video of the turn with the tree limbs turned off, from my side of the map. This was not a good turn for me. I should have known my HMG team was going to lose the duel with Bil's mortar team, and, yep, it happened. Lost the entire team. As I suspected he would, Bil bought an M10, and it made it's presence known this turn. It scored a partial penetration on my left Panther, and took out the TC. The Panther then reversed. Fortunately, it should still be functional. My right Panther moved forward a bit, but neither of my tanks actually spotted anything this turn. Damn. I had given my left mortar team an area target right on top of where I know Bil's troublesome mortar team is located, and they fired a few sighting in rounds this turn. I'm now tempted to have them shift fire to Bil's M10. It would be a long shot, but I would love to drop a mortar round right into that open turret. I'll have to carefully consider what I tell them to do next. My other mortar team is heading to some high ground on my right flank and has been given deploy orders. Infantry elements continue to move forward. Bil's M10 changes things considerably, and it's partial penetration of my left Panther (and loss of the TC) was a significant blow. I know Bil has at least one Sherman (or was it two?). If I were him, I would move them forward right now and try to take out both my Panthers in one devastating turn. That may not be the way he rolls, however. His M10 somehow got turned sideways at the end of the turn. That makes it a bigger target. Here's hoping my tanks can manage to spot Bil's M10 next turn, otherwise things could get nasty. Edit: Somehow, that video actually embedded properly, but you can get a bigger and more useful version of it by clicking on the title of the video.

I have four PBEMs going, got off work early today, and only Stagler sent me a file. :-( That leaves me some time to browse YouTube. :-) After a bit of searching, I found what I believe is an appropriate rendition of a good theme song for this battle!

I haven't heard from Bil in a couple of days. Hope he's ok.

Received Bil's turn about an hour ago. Here is a video of the action, with the trees removed (there are many trees): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKxADIFSDlc&feature=em-upload_owner It seems that I was a bit premature in my belief that Bil's ATG was KO'd in the last turn. That turns out not to be true! My left Panther takes a nice HE shot at some of Bil's infantry that are running along the hillside. No red crosses are visible, but I'm sure they are just hidden by the game engine. What worries me the most right now is the long range duel that seems to be developing between the HMG team on the highest terrain on my left flank and one of Bil's mortar teams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGEx_uEVgbI&feature=youtu.be The HMG team has yet to manage to fully deploy. I have my own mortar team deployed not far from the HMG team, but they don't have eyes on Bil's mortar team. Damn. Plan: I'll probably duke it out with Bil's mortar team, and try to involve my mortar team at least in some indirect fire. Going to move my right Panther up a bit further. Continue moving infantry elements forward utilizing cover as much as possible. Worries: Where is Bil's armor?

Waiting on Bil's next file. He is no doubt lurking somewhere in his lab of doom and pepsi cola doing separate LoS checks on every unit for every action square on the map. ;-)

LOL! I'll try to keep the Hollywood film clips to a minimum (even though I love them). This is, after all, supposed to be an AAR thread.

Yes, I just bought two 81mm mortars. I think the load out is only 32 rounds each. Thanks for the comments. Glad you guys are enjoying this.

@womble Good points. I don't believe Bil is actually leading with his AT guns. Here is a short video showing my left Panther hitting an HQ unit that is forward of the ATGs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBKy2X4Wi6k I doubt he is leading with HQ units either, so I conclude that there are infantry units that are not visible to my forces forward of even that HQ unit that was eliminated. I don't know how he managed that, but I'm not gonna sweat it. Sent him my next file a few minutes ago. After going over the replay again, I noticed that he is already dropping onboard mortar fire on my side of the map, in the trees behind the VL that is on my left flank. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnkLcrrJ4jw This is a good move on Bil's part, because he rightly saw that is one of the few choices I have on my left flank that make sense to move some infantry into. By peppering that area with area mortar fire, he is making me hold off on moving troops there. Nice. After further analysis, I believe that my left Panther probably eliminated one of Bil's ATGs. I took a video with the camera hovering a small distance perpendicular to the direction they are moving. You can see the tank HE round explode just short of the single visible troop. I infer from this that the round actually struck the AT Gun, and it is likely disabled and there were probably more casualties from that round than the single red cross that I can see. This is using my knowledge of the metagame to glean information that probably would not be available to my forces IRL. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMihXytQWqI

Yea, I really don't understand why he thought those would be a good choice. I'm at work now, but IIRC they are the small bore ATGs and they don't have a hope in hell of penetrating the Panther's frontal armor. Perhaps Bil was going for a more historical force pick and not just cherry picking his forces like I did. :-)

I have one in the process of deploying on the top of the hill on my left flank, along with an HMG.

So now I'm starting to feel bad for being such a gamey bastard. My hero! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkdrseOuFQ8 I've done CPR on an Iguana. I'll tell you about it later.

Bil seemed to have some difficulties this turn. Video from my side of the map (all trees gone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJ9SqQStdM&feature=youtu.be And from his side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOeE1kPtMgg&feature=youtu.be D.

Actually, no. Let me show you a video of the first few seconds of the turn with the camera hovering right behind Bil's truck. As you can see, the Panther's machine gun fire killed one of the loaded troops. If you'll notice, the red cross continues to track along the road. This leads to the inescapable conclusion that the truck is continuing down the road. There really isn't much more it can do, given the terrain, other than reverse. If I were Bil, I would unload that truck post haste. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P57rfka_TPQ This is a rather gamey thing to do, by the way. ;-)

Just sent Bil the next file. Since I started the game, Bil's PC is the one that computes the results, but I get to see the results first. Not a great deal happened this turn. My left Panther lost sight of Bil's great big juicy truck full of troops in the first few seconds of the turn, but not before killing at least one of the loaded troops with machine gun fire. I bet I never see that truck again. My troops are advancing forward toward the VLs. I have a scout team at the outskirts of the VL on my right flank. I have a sound contact on just the other side of the VL, so some lead may be flying there soon. I'm quicktiming a squad up to support the scout team. Despite Bil's truck, I believe I'm going to reach the VL's first, though I don't plan to fill them with troops, as that just makes them real nice targets for arty pounding. At this point, it's just playing it by ear.