c3k

I have an image of Vinnart, wearing a t-shirt with "I support C3K" on it, running from bush to bush away from everyone in his neighborhood. Thanks.

The bold: I honestly don't remember. Yeah, Bil's tank shot: he's great at finding LOS locations that aren't easily seen. Plus vegetation makes it harder to assess. My guys were moving and buttoned up. He had German optics. Etc. It was a high risk, high payoff move. I lost. But I will prevail!

Yes. Especially if I had unimpeded LOS to the rear aspect of the vehicles. Having said that, I don't think my men would be alive to take that shot. Each situation has specific characteristics. Look at Jaggie 241. My one team is "tired". They can't get behind the Jaggie. I tried. Bil moved it. I had to stop them and shoot. (WeGo: I can't react instantly, I have to predict.) They're now in the open, in FRONT of the jagdpanzer. That's usually not a good place to be. My Plucky Piat guys: they got the side shot, and hit. It was closer than their later shots. Church Piat: max range right now. Do you think Bil will move his tanks closer without infantry sweeping through every bit of cover first? Or pelting them with 20mm autocannon fire instead? I'd love to get his tanks inside the village. Look at the box formation I've used for both flanks' piats prior to contact. I was hoping he'd plunge in. He's a bit too canny for that. Or wussy. You can pick. But, yes, all things equal, I'd prefer to have tight cover arcs, say 60m or so, and get flank/rear shots from that range. Ken

Since the default "fast forward" is in 5 second increments, the blinking lasts 6 or 7 seconds. That ensures that you will not miss a unit taking casualties when you fast forward.

That's my take on it... I'm sure there's an opening there. I don't examine every LOS prior to moving. Does it show? I put those screenies up so you could see how it looked from my perspective. Another technique would be to place a waypoint there and then drag a target line over to various highpoints and see what's what. Ken

Turn 22:00 to 21:00 More stuff. And that's where we'll leave it. In sum, next turn I'm trying to extricate my Jaggie 241 hunters from under its gun. Then I'll use them to destroy it in close combat. If they survive. If not, onto plan 317b. My town defense is okay for now. More juicy targets would be good. My Piat team by the burning halftrack, far right (Church Piat) now has a 250m range to the Panther, flank shot. They still have a Target to the Panther. We'll see what they do. I'm moving a few units an action spot here or there. Just some fine tune jiggering to enable more units to put Bil in a crossfire. I like how he's moving his Jaggie away. That's a victory for me; my left side attacks/maneuvering has caused him to react and pull combat power away from the town. Left side: I'll keep my fingers crossed for the Piat hunting the Panther. I'd like to get a platoon forward, near the windmill. If I can threaten the road crossings (3 objective areas) that would be a bonus. It may take about 5 minutes to create the opportunities and develop the combat strength to do so. I attack on the left, in the middle, and on the right! Carry on.

Turn 22:00 to 21:00 The Town The pix say it. More...

22:00 to 21:00, cont. The Left Side My orders: So, not bad, but not good. A bit of a push would be good. I'd like to kill the men around the windmill. They must be holding on by their fingernails. I've got 3 (ish) platoons. One or two should be able to muster enough strength to take them. Already Bil is reacting to my left. He's forced (chosen?) to pull a jaggie away from the town. The town is the focus. Anytime the enemy reacts to me, I'm winning.

Turn 22:00 to 21:00 Hunting Jaggie 241 As long as we're looking at Piats, let's look at the guys hunting Lucky Panther, over by Dune: Overall, not successful. Yet. If you don't succeed, throw more men at them. That's what I always say... More.

Please don't mistake me. I don't have a gripe. I just don't yet see the LOS. If you look at the second picture, above, there is just the possibility that the elevation in the background may be enough to get a slight shot on the Crommie. I'll look at it later. The camera angle is low; if you imagine it raised, just a bit, there may be a slender shot from the left. Shrug. I'll post better pictures of my tanks' graves later. Onto last turn!!!

A post mortem...of one tank's death Not what you think! Oh, bait and switch? Here are some pix of my forward-most Cromwell. The dead one. No, the OTHER dead one. What? Sorry, not that dead one either, the other one. I advanced this one early on to a protected position. Or so I thought. I -think- he was killed by a Panther to his left. If not, it was the Jaggie beyond the hedgerow, towards Bil's side of the windmill. Check the visuals. Reckless? Not to me. It was a beautiful position, covered towards the enemy's likely location. It seemed very well protected, both to the left, and the front. I don't know which of Bil's weapons killed it. If the Panther to the left or the Jaggie on the road, I still don't see the LOS/LOF. Shrug. It may've been something else. The position is still pretty good. Ken

I have regained dropbox access and see that Bil has posted a turn...late last night. I'll be able to see it later tonight. I'll update you on Bil's losses as I see them. Ken out.

Bah! How could the outcome be BETTER than Victory??? If I hadn't (cough, cough) allowed Bil to destroy my tanks, I wouldn't have been able to suck him into the trap which is my Town Center defense. Like Montgomery, I have pulled the German armor onto myself. Carry on.

Well, I take no umbrage from the latest observation regarding my loss of armor. If you look back, at the time, prior to moving, I did state that it was a risk, especially from my left flank, however I thought it worthwhile to establish a possible crushing superiority at the beginning of the game. Additionally, there is a hillock near the two trees past the dunes (where my first crommie died) which I thought would protect that flank. When the tanks were hit, it all happened in one turn. A roll of the dice...nothing ventured, nothing gained. The two AA tanks: THAT was interesting. One turn they're good...the stupid truck was WAY slower than I'd anticipated. The tanks were faster on a dirt road. Look at the at-start positions before they met: if the truck hadn't blocked the road, both AA tanks would still be in play. Overall, two "mistakes", neither of which I could intervene with, due to the timescale. I took risks, and lost. Re-read the appropriate passages WITHOUT hindsight knowledge, or knowing Bil's deployment. (Remember, I hadn't yet seen his forces.) I'm satisfied with what I did. As a side-benefit, I now have men with Webleys roaming the field! That's worth it. Ken

Okay...Bil took Jaws' map, cut it, changed it, placed forces on it, and designed the battle upon it! (As mentioned waaaaay upstream, this beautiful map is Jaws' creation. It replicated the Eerde battleground very well, especially the full size map. This is a cut-down version.) Ken

^^^ LOL! Thanks. I think...

Of course, the map designer was....BIL!!! However, any more time would only allow me to kill more of his men. That could be to my benefit.

I vote that the FIRST fake posting about getting MG should instead get a non-working code installed rather than the real game code! Anyone else? Ken

No loss, in men or materiel, is too great for me to accept in the quest for Victory! She shares her pleasures with those who earn it. My men would be grateful for whatever their role, no matter how short or grisly, that they can provide to gain her pleasure for me. I await Bil's latest. No doubt he is in his Study, a complete recreation of Churchill's war rooms, wearing a plaid smoking jacket, pipe in hand with whisps of smoke curling upwards, whilst studying a blow up image of our battlefield pinned against the far wall. His laser pointer flicks from one spot to another as he barks out commands to his flunkies who try to outvie one another in their alacrity to write down his utterances, saving them for the programmer in the far room to input for the next turn. All while teletypes whir and jiggle, hammer and zip, spitting out exact recreations of wartime messages, culled from secret libraries and archives. Aye, that's the type of man I'm fighting...

LOL, yeah, I thought about that. It's been smoldering for some time now. If I can get a piat hit on that panther, it'll be worth it... Oh, wait: those are piats I'm talking about. Well, if the panther's paint gets a bad gouge in it, maybe the crew will be too embarrassed by its appearance to stay in the fight. Ken

Turn 23:00 to 22:00 Plans for 22:00 to 21:00 If those piats bear fruit, so much the better. If not, well, there's always my demo charges. Bil is down to 22 minutes. I think the town fight will be close. I've got to make sure my left flank is brought into the fight. Using the cover of the bocage behind the town as a ratline would help. Jaggie 241 is potentially blocking it. My left: if I can kill the Panther, the rest should be able to be picked off. If I can collapse his forces on that side, I can swing my company out of the Ardennes and up into his rear. Tick, tock... Ken.

Turn 23:00 to 22:00, cont. The Town Not much action. Well, not really. Bullets fly, shells explode, I see Bil's infantry. Not much to add. So...MORE...

Turn 23:00 to 22:00 My tank plans... Okay, it's advancing BACKWARDS. I don't want that CS tank to fall too easily. That Panther will destroy it with no more than a negligent flip of its wrist. I'll reverse to keep the frontal armor towards Bil (for whatever that's worth). However, once it goes down the dirt road, I've given it a covered arc to the rear. The sneakers should be out of LOS for next turn. The turn after...that's when I should be able to catch them. My threats on my left: the Panther, the 37mm flak. The quad 20 would be next. If my Piat team can kill the Panther, the left side should belong to me. Windmill update: More....

Turn 23:00 to 22:00 My Tank, Bil's Tank, and a brace of halftracks Over on my left, there was some action. I moved the support tank (CS=Close Support) FORWARD. Yes, always advance! It's a gamble: thin British side armor against a German 37mm antitank cannon... Nice. I don't know if Bil didn't expect that, or if he thought he'd get the drop on me. I can't imagine that he doesn't know about my CS tank. I'm sure he's got a fiendish plan to add it to the scrap heap that is my armored force. But first, there's more... Nice. I've made an impact. Small, but there, nonetheless. More...

23:00 to 22:00 Medics in the woods... Trying to gain more piat ammo. The result: Over by a Jaggie 241 The hunt continues!