gredeker

The BAR is either a light machine gun or a heavy assault rifle, depending on the situation, the orders, and the shooter. To draw an example from everybody's favorite movie to nitpick, SPR: In the beach scene, the BAR is used as a LMG to lay down suppressing fire on the MG nest. Later, when storming the MG nest under the radar site, the BAR gunner joins the attack and uses his weapon as an assault rifle. It's kind of like asking if a StuGIII is an assault gun or a TD. The answer is "yes".

Did you do any of that in our game? Or were your other tanks too valuable as shooters to use as pushers?

The tourney just got harder, gentlemen. Color me a definite maybe - I'll know more in a month when some RL issues settle down.

Although some of it doesn't make any sense. I tried to push a Sherman once with two Ram Kangaroos (which I thought would do fine due to the higher power/weight ratio) but evidently 'roos are lumped in with HT's when it comes to pushing tanks.

I think I need to clarify what I was thinking... I'm agreed that anyone who drops bridges in this scenario fully deserves the title of "gamey bastard". I was just wondering out loud whether it was even possible, and if it is something that WBW even considered. My totally unscientific one run-through test indicates that it may be possible to drop at least one of the bridges before the American armor appears. In my test playing against the AI (which was given +50% forces) the AT gun died on turn 3, and both PB's were dead by turn 10, so that's certainly a tradeoff. It also broadcasts exactly where all your AT assets are on turn one. Whether or not this is a workable strategy (aside from the gameyness of it) is still up for debate, but, if one were playing a "no-holds-barred" game, I'm thinking that it could possibly be worth it. That's all I'm saying. P.S. I wouldn't do this in a tourney, but I would like to know if WBW considered the possibility of a creative player taking that route.

To partially answer my own question, I ran a setup scenario of Real Guts. By giving the PB's and AT gun LOS to the bridges, I was able to drop the stone bridge (targeted by a PB and the AT gun) and get the wooden bridge to ** status (targeted by the other PB) before the American armor appeared. After the armor appeared, the PB tasked with the wooden bridge kept changing targets to a tank that was shooting at it. Funny how the TacAI works that way... The wooden bridge was finally dropped in turn 8, when all tanks still alive were temporarily obscured by smoke and/or trees, once again allowing manual targeting on such a mundane object as a bridge. So in terms of "is this a viable strategy" I think the answer is leaning strongly toward yes. If this is not intended, than I think a disclaimer in the briefing admonishing German players not to drop the bridges is probably in order.

I just came from the "blowing bridges" thread and wondered... Did anyone think of blowing the bridges in Real Guts as the German player? Could it be done soon enough to have an impact on the game? I'm thinking yes for the wooden bridge, but probably not for the stone one. Thoughts? Comments? WBW, was this envisioned as a viable strategy?

Question: with the ultra-competitive Nabla scoring system in the finals, will AARs have any impact on the final score? I'm leaning towards providing brief summaries of the action, unless there's some chance that a wonderful AAR will actually change the tourney outcome. Many thanks to Holien and Wreck, with whom I exchanged a half-dozen turns apiece on Saturday before finishing the scenarios in two TCP/IP sessions for a daylong CM-athon. I can now take the wife and kids on vacation without any tourney thoughts nagging at the back of my consciousness. Special kudos to Holien, who actually phoned (from the UK to California) when the game was over so we could talk in person and compare notes. If/when I make it over there, we'll have to hook up for a pint. Note to self: Suggest TCP with opponents more often once we're 2/3 of the way through, as enough units are dead by that point that it becomes manageable.

Wreck and I completed our game last night; results have been sent off to Treeburst. I'm done! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all this extra time in my life! I hereby retreat to the sidelines from where I can taunt the finalists still playing.

As Holien said, the game is over and the results sent off to Treeburst. I'd have to agree with some of his musings as to the gameyness of this particular scenario, and the amount of arty was fearsome to behold. More discussion to follow after Wreck and Warren have finished their struggle for the hill.

Just a quick FYI and bump... Major action today with both Holien and Wreck. The game with Holien should be done within 24 hours, if not sooner.

I think I used up all my "Hammer Warren" luck when we played Sounds in the Night.

You know, I considered that, but I thought that the cover differential was a valid tradeoff. You did have that one mortar, and so would have gotten airbursts on any guys in the trees. I had also taken some casualties, and was to about a platoon of effectives. As I also explained in an earlier post, ammo was a large concern, and I was afraid that a more forward position would have my troops running out of bullets by turn 10 or 11. Oh well, it was still a fun game.

Holien, Weren't you going to sub-contract out the whining to JK or somebody? [ducks and slams the hatch shut on his closed-top tank]

Just to clarify: I also took out the bunker early in the game, but not before it had gunned down a bazooka crew. I was able to assault and occupy the VL buildings with a squad apiece, with other squads in the trees across the road and a weaponless mortar crew in the trees next to the burning building. Warren's counterattack was held off until turn 12, when he rushed and managed to get a few squads into some foxholes in the scattered trees next to the VL's (some of his initial positions). He didn't even try to take the buildings themselves, but it was enough to throw both flags into contention; his slightly better kill/loss ratio then turned the tide.

My rangers were able to take the buildings, and were able to bring some fire on the German reinforcement arrival areas, but late in the game ammo became a major concern. I thus found myself using hide and ambush commands vs. Warren's counterattack, and I stupidly left one of them in place during the final turn. When a squad didn't run over the ambush marker, a crack squad (with six effectives, four ammo points left, and under command of a leader with lots of bonuses) just kept his head down for the whole final turn. [Kicks self, cries over spilt wine, etc.]

Barring unforeseen circumstances, that turn will be headed back your way in less than two hours, if you can stay up that late.

One more question - At the risk of tipping my hat slightly concerning the outcome of my game with Warren, how will a contested flag be handled in the scoring system? Will it be the same as in the previous section of the tournament, with points split between the players?

I can almost hear the alphorns in that one. "Ri----cola"... So Treeburst, can we talk about Range Rover Challenge? Huh? Huh? Can we? And who gets points?

I'm just hoping that Holien did really well against Wreck.

Bump and update... The last turn orders in Ranger Challenge against Warren have been sent off, so the end of that game is around the corner. The other two games are both past the half-way point. Flag Rush Hill with Holien is getting ugly (I'd love to share what a certain unit did!) and the file sizes are way too large - 1.45 megs at last count. Der Berg with Mr. Dickens is progressing with fewer casualties than earlier in the game, but the pace is also somewhat slower. Who knows how it will end.

I really like this idea. As scenario designer, have the option to construct up to a half-dozen plans for the computer to pick from using these markers, perhaps making the markers specific to infantry, vehicles, and heavy SW. Heck, the various plans using the markers could be adapted from playings during the beta testing process for the scenario. As a corollary, it would be great if there could be several default setups for each side, rather than just one.

At the risk of stating the obvious... Only use one of your engineer squads to take out the pillbox. Use the other Engineer squads to guard the perimeter and watch the back of the designated attacking squad. Keep those other squads at least 50-60m away from the pillbox, so they won't throw their demo charges at the PB or the crew when it appears. It may take a bit longer to obtain the desired result, but that's the tradeoff with nearly all ammo management techniques in the game (except for that stinking Vickers MG, which can just fire and fire and fire...).

Armored car looks like a Russian BA-10. Tank is definitely a KV-2. They both look knocked out and/or abandoned.

Just thought I'd give a brief update and bump the thread... Warren and I are in turn 10 of Ranger Challenge, so it should be over by the end of the week. Der Berg is a cold, bitter mountain, with many of the fallen littering her slopes. Mr. Dickens and I are about halfway done. Flag Rush Hill is a dangerous place to be. My troops continue to display their pyro tendencies, to Holien's sorrow. Side note - the file size this last turn was 1.59 meg. :eek: