c3k

TURN 56 ORDERS I'll start with an overview, and then break it out by platoon. Here's the big picture: I've ordered some mortar fire onto Zephyr. 6 minute delay. We'll see if it gets there in time.

LOL! I've actually turned them on for the screenies! I hate looking at them or reading the floating sripts when I play. The only reason I turned them on was to help visualize where the screenie was taken. I'll be happy to keep 'em off. My eyeballs need the rest. Ken

A Segue I offered, and was taken up on, a posting about the power of the Flakvierling. In another test battle I was playing the US vs. TacAI Germans. The battle concerns a famous battalion, a bridge, and a Medal of Honor. I'll say no more. (The map is outstanding!) Hmm, I said more. Here's a pair of pictures, a "before" and an "after": And then... One moment of slackness, one burst, one wasted unit. (The time span was even shorter than pictured. It takes a few seconds for those crosses to appear.) So, I have a healthy respect for Zephyr sitting near the windmill. (Again, to assuage the tender sensitivities: my naming conventions actually follow a convention. Today's game has mech infantry being numbered (4 digits for hq's, less for non hq), flak halftracks get animal names, other themes as needed.)

Well, I'll choose to take that as a compliment. I think, though, that I may have to make ANOTHER plan! Snarkiness aside, slysniper's post reminded me that not everyone reading this has the same comprehension level towards the game and/or history and tactics, nor, as is also apparent, is everyone a native English speaker. So, serious mien on: The PLAN: Re-read my initial post and the first turn or two. Admittedly, you may need to read between the lines a bit. The force I have has 2 main manuever units, Company B and Company C. They are augmented by 7 armored vehicles and a support company (mortars, vickers, piats). Balance is critical. I have no spare. It's not a 2 up, one back, type of attack. It is purely 2 up. Therefore, each element, or arm, needs to be able to extricate itself on its own. Usually 2 up, 1 back, provides an immediate reserve or flank force which is unengaged. I do not have that. In fact, my attack is dangerously extended. My left flank (C Company) has objectives which will drive it AWAY from B Company on my right, and vice versa. This is bad. They should be kept such that one can support the other. I recognize that, and my moves should show how that is dictating my tactics. Whereas I am vigorously pursuing an opportunity on the battlefield to gain a (perceived) advantage, I am not blindly attacking. Yet. That will come later. I can risk a Cromwell (or two) but gain an objective, kill off a platoon, and manuever into some choice terrain. That's a good risk/reward. More on my plan...later.

TURN 57:00 to 56:00 End view At the end of the turn, here's the situation: The halftracks moving towards my right are out of sight. That'd be contacts 27 and Zebra. One is a squad, the other a flak. Contact 4 3/8's is dead. The passengers survive, but they are in the middle of a wheatfield. Ha ha. Looking at the picture above, you notice that there are two new contacts. One, tank-like, near the windmill. One light-tankish over by the leftmost objective (orange box.) Let's zoom into the windmill contact first, shall we? Sweet cannons o'justice! This baby will SHRED my infantry. Err, para's. (If you guys want to see what one of these can do, let me know. I have some screenies from another test battle. ) The good news is that I have tanks with decent armor nearby. However, raining 20mm's can ruin a tank's face. Optics, radios, morale, etc. Having spotted it, it's just a matter of getting the right tools to kill it. Meantime, I'll avoid exposing too many men to it. If I can. (Maybe I can just run it out of ammo? Hmm, that could work...) Let's go to the Orange Contact: Nice. I love how icons fade as sound/fleeting sightings get older. That's what happened here, at orange. Or did it? ANOTHER halftrack. On my right, an armored infantry platoon with flak. On my left, another. In the middle, a flak tank with some infantry flitting about. I'm glad I don't have to search all over the place for targets!

Turn 57:00 to 56:00 The race, continued... They spotted the halftrack in time! A closeup of the same... The result... Sweet joy! I could ceasefire right now and walk away a happy man. First shot, first blood, first kill. ALL the important honorifics have been won by the British side. What does all this tell me? (The game moves, not my rantings.) Bil must have eyes on my backfield. He ordered a stop and disembark for no tactical purpose other than survival. Therefore, he noticed a tank or two. The Cromwells are exposed where they are. I suspect the windmill is his OP. Thinking about shifting center of masses, he is unbalanced on my right. I am merely considered rightfully unbalanced. I win. Again! I'll come back to how this force shift will affect my plan. I'm up to plan 4. (Every battle can be won by using the correct plan. If you stick with one plan the entire battle, you've hosed your odds. If you use as many plans as possible, odds are you'll hit on the right one at some point and win.) More action from this turn follows... Ken

TURN 57:00 to 56:00 Sweet gobs o'action! Bil is finally coming out of his shell. That gives my men a chance to bop him. A lot popped up. I'll focus on a few incidents at a time, then give the overview... First, Contact 4 3/8's paused in the midst of the wheatfield. My Cromwells have been racing to get in position. Here's what unfolded, a picture a time. more...

ian.leslie, Thanks for the check. However, the game treats support teams differently than sub-divided rifle teams. My organic mortar (where' the wife?) does not get the ammo screen on the right of weapon UI. It very well may have HE. I will find out. The hard way. (Of course, I am curious if I permanently drove away too many viewers based on the 10 minute gap between my posts last night regarding a restart. Hmmph. Cream rises to the top and all that...) Ken Edited add: I actually have a screenshot of the mortar team, isolated, just below. Notice how the UI doesn't show the green, available, ammo. I'd love to know whether these guys have any HE. I could test, but that's not sporting, is it?

Interesting obsvervation. I never noticed that lack of option in the QB menu. Thanks. Ken

NOTE: This is a beta. Some of the icons you see in the overhead shots are mis-located. The units with mislocated icons are closer to Screen Center Bottom. (Not all, just some, are mislocated.) Carry on... Let's talk green line. I started with one AA tank. Well, hell. One tank is just a target, isn't it? So, I've decided to toss the other AA tank there, as well. And, if two's good, three's better. So the 95mm CS tank goes also. These three tanks represent a lot of infantry shredding firepower. That's good. I think I'll need it to pry Bil out my pilots' bar. The first AA tank is kicking up a nice rooster tail. That's right Bil, I'm coming... For a big picture, we have this: The same roles are assigned, but with some sharpening. B Coy, pink, still has the cut off role. (Also, a secondary role of securing the town. Later.) C Coy, yellow, will pressure. The more they push, the less Bil will have available to go to town. The windmill is cool. I want it. (And the all the nice ground around it.) My Crommies are up the middle. Somewhere a German gunner is drooling. The green hook is the 95mm Squadron Commander and the two AA tanks. Orange is the general direction that B Coy will apply fire and/or manuever. That's the slicer. (I'm also moving the Challenger up between the two Cromwell groups. It'll be positioned to support either side, based on which Cromwell burns first.)

Plan at 57:00 The next turn will be 57:00 to 56:00, hence, this is my plan at 57. No! That's not my entire plan. Sheesh. Just some parts of it. I'll talk blue and orange first. Blue is the two cromwells I'm moving to the blue 'x'. If they can get there in time, it'll be great. Halftracks filled with troops: like sardines in a can. The danger is how exposed they are to their left, Bil's Bastion. I =know= he's got armor somewhere. No doubt holding it back. To protect the Cromwells, I'm doing a couple of things. I'm taking my leftmost Cromwell and putting it forward, near the edge of the dunes. That's the other blue track. Note that there is a crestline running parallel to the lines. The orange line and the left blue line are not visible to one another. The leftmost Cromwell (of 3 pictured) can gain the highest ground. Yeah, LOS is a two way street. The dunes are THE dominating terrain feature. I've got it. I just have to use it. (I'm thinking of a synergistic leveraging effect and it's efficacy when used in all four dimensions. But I digress...) The orange is a Piat team. They're moving up to join the sniper team. I need eyes over that ridge to protect the Cromwells' left flank. That should help. Here's a closeup of the PIAT team. (I finished their orders after this screenshot.)

...more. This is what I've got at the end of Turn 58:00 to 57:00 Bil's pushing to the town. Sigh. I will counter. Why? Because it's more fun that way! Okay, okay, some future general (or past general wannabe) reading this is getting all pissy. I'm going to get his guys, because I can cut them off. I can apply a lot of combat power into a small space and his LoC to the town will be under my guns. I hope. (My blue 'x' position is good, but exposed.) Regardless, I do have other overwatch positions. If I can catch his halftracks out in the open with some well-aimed Cromwell fire, I'll have achieved a nice coup. If not, well, I'll send in the PBI. Okay, "para's"' I'll send in the PBP. My plan, next...

Really? You REALLY thought that I'd restart? Did Custer try for a restart? Did Napoleon cry foul after Waterloo and spend years refighting a lost battle, all for want of a restart? We fight. I thanked Bil for his gentlemanly concern, all the while silently laughing. He was so transparent. He's afraid that my wife will beat him and this was his only way out! He used the three-legged dog of a map that he crafted to his own benefit as an excuse. I've robbed him of that! The battle is already won: he is morally adrift. It is a contest of wills, not forces. All that remains is to move my men about such that his men can lay down their arms with honor. Turn 58:00 to 57:00 I saw something... Yes, Bil is sneaking into MY windmill. I'm not sure if I should be angered, or grateful. Regardless, some of my forward C Coy men in the farmstead opened up on his men. I fired the first shot. Do I get points for that? No screams. Alack. Also, down in the wheatfield where I spotted Zebra and 27, I saw this: So, that looks like an armored platoon on the move. If I were Bil, I'd count the teeth on the sprockets, check the helmet webbing, and be able to tell you what the squad sergeant had for lunch last Tuesday. But I'm me. Instead, I will eat his lunch! And then date his girlfriend. Bwa-ha! I'll locate that contact on the big-screen, later. Ken

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^^^ You've a bent mind. But then, you've been told that before, haven't you? ONTO the game. First, though, a message from our sponsors. Bil has communicated with me. He has become aware of the totally unbalanced nature of this map, and wanted to know if we should continue, as is, or restart with objectives better located. I agreed. So, we'll clean this all up and start again in a week or so. Sorry.

First, some screenies: ^^^ The Challenger is BIG. Here's another comparison: Some notes on weaponry and armor. First, let me say that the British tradition of small workshops, custom fitting, and making do with what one finds on that island, is strongly apparent in these tanks. The good news: Cromwell has the 540hp Meteor engine with a Christie suspension. Fast and reliable. (Some sources state 600hp. I don't know which is right, whether it's shaft or crank, etc., based on derated output or mods.) The armor is 3" basis, front. The rest? Like it matters against any German cannon. The gun is interesting. The tank was designed for the 6 pounder. Well, then the Brits saw the US 75mm M3 in action. So, rather than redesign the whole tank, they wanted to keep the mount, but use the US ammunition. How do you do that? Easy. Bore out the, um, bore. They drilled the barrels out from 57mm to 75mm. Anyone thinking about Saami pressure specs and thin barrel walls, move to the head of the class. Next, the breech needed enlarging. That was done. The gun fired all US-style 75mm ammo (meant for the M3 gun). 2,000 fps muzzle velocity. The armor piercing ability was poor. They needed better HE ability than the 6 pounder had, and they got it. And let's face it, the medium velocity 75mm was probably just as effective as the 6 pounder when comparing armor piercing ability vs. German tanks. (Both easily pierce lightly armored tanks, and both are defeated by Panther fronts, and Tiger I and II's.) The Cromwell has a Besa up front and a coax machinegun, as well. The Challenger: Again, the workshop mentality strikes. Cut a Cromwell in half, add a section to the hull, put it all back together. That gives you the turret ring size (70") needed for the honking huge turret which holds the 17 pounder. This came out just ahead of the Sherman Firefly. Everyone recognized how much easier it was to make, and use, the Sherman. So, after about 200 Challengers were built, they stopped. The amount of skilled labor needed to make them was a burden that was too high. It just didn't make sense. Same gun as the Firefly, in a bigger box. (Faster and more nimble than the Firefly. Yeah, I just said "nimble".) The front Besa was removed for main gun ammo stowage. The turret armor was thinned out a bit. Hammer+eggshell. Ken

Final note of the night: opening moves can be confusing in an AAR. If you have a question, post it. I've tried to focus on the big picture at this point. I try to give specific labels to specific locations so that we're all on the same page. Big overhead shots give a nice sense of location and spatial awareness. The closeups are cool when the fight starts. However, there is a lot going on, even now. I'm actually splitting my sections down and giving each team different movement orders, with varied delays, etc., etc. Ask, and if I can, I'll post about it or take a different screenie. Ken

D Day: digging deep, it's late, I'm on glass number 3 (don't ask), I just finished updating my AAR, and going on memory... I remember one of the very few US motion picture cameramen had all his film ruined a few days after coming ashore with the assault troops. He'd risked his life for the pictures and only a relatively small amount survived. It was some moisture issue after he'd sent it back to be developed. I leave it to a film grog to fill in all the mistakes I may've just made. Ken

There may some amongst you who are astute. Raise your hands, please. Um, sorry, Emrys, you can lower yours. Yes, well, anyway, the rest of you may've noticed a mass of icons at the bottom of the screenshot, above, which are unused. Not really. That mass is my A company firepower and my remaining armor. I've got the Challenger, a 95mm CS Cromwell, and an AA tank left. Everyone in there is moving forwards a bit and dispersing. This grouping is my reserve. I have them in a central location able to move to whichever area I determine. I'll hold off until I know more. The mobility of the tanks is a key advantage. I will use that to rapidly position them at critical points until mortars or vickers can get into position. (Or a platoon of paras.) A reserve, at every level of command, is critical. Even just a couple of rested men, put into the right place at the right time, can tip the balance. My setup zone was totally horrible. Did I mention that Bil took Jaws' map and created this battle? No? Well, look at where the friggin' objectives are!! No matter; airborne it'll get it done. There is, seriously, a bit of balance - bipodal - going on. Definite tasks etc. My deep left flank is weak. I've got one Cromwell there as well as my fast team about to secure that zone. "Secure" may be a bit of a stretch. Eyes on is all I really want. I'm reacting to Bil's opening gambit, but I think I can steal a pawn or two. My initial plan is being modified by the situation. I'm going to call this one "Plan 3, b, ii, 1". It will be revised later. Ken

Some tactical thinking: the two contacts are leaving from the same basic area. There's a third unknown contact (light armor) in that area. I will call that "Bil's Bastion". If that is where his forces have started, then that gives me some opportunity. It doesn't knock often. His two halftracks (27 is a 251 filled with infantry) are probably a "quick grab" team. Pshaw. The rest of his forces should be near their at-start locations. I'll bombard them!!! (Kidding!) If they're a quick-grab team, they'll be out in front of the rest of his forces, and vulnerable. Now, Bil cares about points. Game points. I care about style points. Why? Go ask some women what's more important: game or style? I rest my case. Anyhow, if he's sending some men into town, well, that could interfere with my pilots' plans. This does give me the opportunity to kill them. The Germans, not the pilots. The Cromwells will isolate that part of the battlefield. The pilots will rush forward a bit faster. B Coy is nearby (C is closer to the "Ardennes".) I will push B company towards the town, pilots leading, while C and the two cromwells at the blue x isolate the battlefield. A company (-) of paratroopers and a platoon (err, "flight") of glider pilots should be able to take care of a squad of Germans. However, this is an AAR featuring new units. Therefore, in a rook's gambit of my own, I am rushing a Cromwell AA tank over there as well. Not just rushing, but leading. Yes, AA tank out front. How gamey is that? Here's the plan: B Coy, pink, pushes toward the town, especially to cut it off from the rest of Bil's forces. C Coy, the highlighted guys, need to fill out the Ardennes zone. The blue x, two Cromwells, is exposed. C Coy with some attached A Coy firepower will have to hold the line where the sand dunes meet the grass toward's Bil's Bastion. I'll probably pull the Cromwells back. Or not. It depends how quickly I can get there with how much support. B Coy will slam shut the escape and reinforcement path. Remember all I said about that area sucking for me to attack into? Throw that out the door. If I'm reading Bil's actions correctly, he doesn't have anyone there. Time to grab the dilemma by horns! I mean, "grab the offered opportunity"!

The still images do not do this map justice. The sand dunes have rises and depressions. (Seriously, the more I explore, the more I realize what a great job Jaws has done. Thank you.) I moved around and found this excellent hull-down position: This location offers a great overwatch position. I'm going to move some Cromwells there. Even if his halftrack gets away, it'll be cutoff. Lopped at the root. Without access to sustenance. They will wither on the vine. You get my drift. There is a danger pushing into that position: the left flank is dangerously exposed. Whatever. Look upstream at Zebra and 27. They look the same, no? No. Here's a closeup of Zebra: That's an AA halftrack! Well, I'll see your rook's gambit with a rook's gambit of my own! More...

I made up with my wife (NO! I will not share the details), and told her what a good job she'd done. I told her I totally trusted her. We're a team. Then I snuck up and replayed the turn. Jeezus bloody hell!!! What did she mean "nothing happened"??? LOOK! Friggin' armor contacts skirting laterally across the front! I mean, what SANE woman would ignore that? And my men did not react. Sigh. I'll correct her later, when the time is right. So, at the end of the turn, we have the situation pictured below. Now, I'm not a professional intelligence officer, but I have learned a thing or two from reading Bil's AAR's. I decided to label each enemy contact to avoid confusion and aid discussion. Here they are: "Zebra" is moving towards a clump of trees. Hungry? "27" is a gamey town grab attempt. My pilots will be happy to meet and great them. "Destiny" is a child of unknown parentage. Something lurks there... Of prime importance, though, is the evident callous disregard so far shown by Bil vis a vis the windmill. Is this a trap? Does he know something about it that I don't? I'm willing to have my men die so I can find out. Finally, and 2nd most importantly, to the left of the windmill, at the edge of the sand dunes, I have artistically crafted a blue "x". If you want to know why, you'll have to read the NEXT post! Ken

Thank you for the kind words. No, I do not include "sissy" amongst them! Unless you mean "sissi"? Grog check: if you're in the dark on that one, go back to facebook. Leave. You've asked about Brits and Stens. Here's a screenie of a platoon: Count 'em. Now count the ammo. Now take the cyclic rate, do some addition on denominator, work the numerator and tell us all how many seconds of trigger time do I get? But it will be GLORIOUS while it lasts! It was a bit of surprise to me when I saw the lack of 2" high explosive rounds. Why did the MOD think smoke was the only reason to bring these things along? Sheesh. I'll use it. Each section (why can't the Brits use normal terminology like the US?) has about a team's worth of long guns. The marksmen will help. One PIAT in a platoon is better than nothing. The Brens will provide the medium range firepower. I've got 6 platoons like that. I'm sure Bil has a spreadsheet or table or somesuch describing his forces. Bah. When my men gather around me for my pre-battle speeches, I see them as a GROUP, not as some line-item entry in a power point slide. Right, men? Some more screenies, next.

A few points of order...in no particular order: That would've been her first look at a CM battlefield...without the back of my head in her way. Stens to rifles: each squad (section) has a mix; it is biased towards Stens. Some squads have Piats, some 2" mortars. All have a Bren or two and a few rifles. When I can, I'll post a pic or two. But, yeah, these guys will be fearsome in a city fight. For a few turns. Ammo doesn't last long when everyone is spraying bullets about. The comment about hearing firing: I asked her a simple, direct question, with one or two followups. "Is that just background shooting, or is it troops in contact? Do you see my guys shooting, or has Bil's undisciplined mob opened fire too soon and revealed their positions? Is it the distant crump of an off-target 81mm mortar, or the hard crack of a German 75? If so, based on the burster charge, was it an L48 or L70 weapon? Do you hear any 7.92mm Kurz being fired?" Her answer: "Whatever. I'm going to get some more wine."