c3k

Turn 9... a few seconds after the above screenshot. Good job! They successfully spotted the enemy, and it only took a few seconds of being fired upon. That's a good German position; I semi-expected someone to be there... While that is going on, I'm moving in with the rest of B3 and some tanks... This is the plan: the demo-man opened the hole and the tanks are moving in. They'll follow the dashed orange line, but only cross the road after the infantry clears any bad men from the bocage. I've got a "?" in the box on the left flank. I'll put some men on line over there. Maybe use a tank in the gap to area fire. The blue-box tank will area fire on the spotted enemy by the dip.

Same turn, 8 at 1:12:01, close view of the lead team from B3 at the end of the plowed field... You can see some of the incoming fire hitting the foliage, circled in yellow. Their suppression meter has ticked up... I'm ticked OFF! My men will hunt down sfhand's huns who are hurling their hollow points upon my humans! Over on the left, this is the situation: You can see that I've found some Germans. Excellent. Now I can find out which of my men has learned their marksmanship lessons! The poor shots will close to within grenade range. C1 has spotted the enemy. C2 is in a great position to flank the enemy. C2 will send a team or two up by the leftmost orange arrow. If C1 is suppressing the enemy, C2 will have a field day picking them off. Over on the right, the rest of C2 will invest that building cluster. That cluster MAY have overwatch over the wheat field. If so, my men will have some excellent opportunities to prove themselves! The plan is to get a scout up to the cluster, then fill in a base of fire, then send a volunteer or two into the cluster and look inside. I think it's an excellent plan. I'm sure whoever I pick to go in there first will agree with me. C1 will hold up while C2 secures. C2 is getting spread. A single platoon should have single job. I've given it two, in different directions. I've beefed them up with an MMG, but they still shouldn't be going in two different directions. After the C2 flanker is done, then I'll reconsolidate.

Turn 8. 1:13:00 down to 1:12:00. Overview at the end of the turn... Some details which I'll expand on in the next post. I've moved an engineer team next to the plowed field to blast a gap for the tanks to use. I've pushed elements of B3 towards the end of the plowed field. They are my eyes. I need to sweep the fields across the road and get them safe for the tanks and follow-on forces. In the Field o'Death, another spotting round has landed. Soon it'll be time to stack my assault element from C3 to gain the corner position dominating that bocage. I'd dearly love to trap all of sfhand's central screening force inside that block. Almost a pre-packaged POW cage...or a DEATH CAGE! Yeah, baby... With that in mind, I'm pushing the MMG team, ammo carriers, and a rifle team from C3 up the center road. C2, on the left of the center road, is getting eyes on their building cluster. Once they take that, the C3 MMG-led center push will have overwatch from their left flank.

Gah! While English Professors sharpen their sense of irony, REAL MEN sharpen their blades of iron! Grr... Turn 7. 1:14:00 down to 1:13:00, not much happened. My men went where I so ordered them to go. At the end of the plowed field, the road has a dip. Some would label it something like "Named Area of Interest 146h" or somesuch. I have decided to call it..."dip". THAT is leadership! The dip is important: it is a blindzone and it provides transit from the gate at the end of the plowed field to a section of hedge in the midst of the bocage lining the field across the road. Tanks and men can travel across the "dip" and enter the next field. Onto the "dip"!!

What some will do (not I), is use the TAB function and lock the camera down to their units. Use the -/= keys to cycle from one unit to another. Keep the camera at the lowest level. Full foliage...always. Only zoom if the unit has a binocular or other magnified optic. You seem masochistic...in a good way. Enjoy, Ken

Well, if it takes 63 minutes to fire 30 shells, that'd be about 2 minutes per shell. So, it seems to be modeled that the firing rate of 240mm Howitzer is 1 shell per 2 minute per gun, gradually slowing to 1 shell per 4 minute? I have no idea if that is correct. I will note that 240mm is about 9 1/2". That's larger then most naval weaponry. This is being fired from a mobile field mount with hand loaded ammunition. (Naval weaponry has all the bells and whistles associated with a fixed mounting location: hydraulics, hoists, elevators, ready ammo, HUGE teams of men to service the weapon, vertically stacked ammo feed mechanisms, etc.) An artillery grog (or a search) may turn up expected rates of fire. How heavy are those shells? How many men serve the weapon? What does the manual say? Ken

End of 6, 14:01, my backfield: B2 is coiled up like a cobra, ready to strike with sharpened claws! I must restrain them... bloodlust runs rich in their veins...

sfhand is referring to a classic drubbing I recieved at his hands. His landser used their LATW's to great effect. I had a richness of tanks and got lazy. He punished me for that. I don't know if any of his schrecks or fausts missed in that game. Tank charges in bocage are NOT a good idea! Ken

One more view at 14:01, the end of Turn 6: B3 is advancing. Next obstacle: the road. I'm sure that what I've faced is just a screen. The road would make a nice demarcation for the HKL or MLR or, what I prefer to call "The Line of Death!" (Just to add: notice that B3 is out of command w/Company B? They've just moved and radio comms take a little bit to establish. As well, with the unit HQ double-clicked, all unit icons are highlighted. Any friendly which is unknown is given a FOW spotting symbol.)

(Edited because I got ahead of myself) On the right... Turn 6, early: Turn 6, a few seconds later... And then, well-timed... The end of Turn 6, 14:05. I've loaded one engineer team and sent them to the left. I'll use them to assist C2 near the building cluster. (My chief of staff failed to alert me to the lack of access! He's been properly chastised.) I'll use that mis-allocation of resources to help sell the left push. I've got the jeep FASTing across a dirt road. Hopefully sfhand will see the rooster tail of dust and think I'm sending resources from my right to my left. (Well, I am, kind of...) Also, now that the tall grass field by B3 is secure, I've introducing my first tank, circled in blue. He'll move up to the plowed field. The remaining engineer team will have to breach the bocage. I'll do an angular BLAST near the gap so only one charge will be needed to make a vehicle-sized hole.

Some of both. The platoon HQ used 60mikemike with about 6 or 7 minutes on call. The FO has one of each with 4 or 5 minutes. They should hit around the 1:10 point or so. Shrug. If my men are not in position, they will attack from wherever they are.

Turn 6, beginning, time 15:00 The picture shows the plan for C2. That little cluster of buildings in the corner of the field will help the MMG team get (and a rifle team) get into position. More to the left, C1... They've taken over from C2 in that field.

Turn 6, Time 15:00 This is the overview. The left is where the movement is occurring. C1, far left, is consolidating. I've got one of the squads relieving some scouts from C's 2nd platoon. Those scouts were too far to C2's left: they're way out of command. I'm moving them back to the right. My MMG in the middle road is starting to advance. Once the arty hits the corner (big red box), that MMG team will move in and use some .30 caliber goodness to clear the bocage covering the field o'death. I'd like to bag all those guys in there. I'm sure sfhand thinks they'll pull back and defend the village. I think they'll die! Here's what the MMG team sees, at 15:01... Not much. I wonder what's over the top of that road? I think I'll send some men up there to satisfy my curiosity.

More Turn 4, Time 16:01 This provides a better view of what's going on in my B3 right hand corner. This is a slightly different perspective than what I showed in the Turn 4 Overview, above. The orange box guys are area targeting the bocage junction. I've got to assume that sfhand has someone there: it's a prime location. More of B3 has moved up to the bocage and are helping to shoot the remnant of German 1 Squad/B Team. My scout (yellow circle) is buddy aiding his WIA comrade. Over by the green circle is another team. They're getting that far corner to put eyes on the next bocage line. Once their intel comes back, I'll deal with any Germans, or continue to reinforce the right. The guys outlined in blue are my base of fire. The LOS is pretty crappy, but someone there should have each part of the far line covered.

The pie wedge arc focuses them in the direction I want. A circular arc could allow them to fire elsewhere... If the schreck team manages to cross the field and gain that little wedge of safety, then they woud've earned the martial right to kill my men. As you noted, I cut the arc short of the far bocage so I wouldn't get sucked into a firefight at any Germans up there. These guys are there to suppress the Germans covering the tall grass. I've lost two guys there already; if I push the entire platoon across (in teams, staggered), the unsuppressed Germans will only get more kills. The far bocage is not a threat right now. I don't know what else sfhand has in that plowed field, or who he may rush in to reinforce it. I've got the "dead" angle covered from their position; B3 elements moving forward will be free to fire. The two man team has to stay tight on their immediate assignment. Ken

Turn 4, from 17:00-16:01. This is what my two men have wrought!!! Yeah, a pair of Garands with some MOTIVATED troopers can reap a deadly harvest. Now do you see why it is so important to give the troops a motivational speech before each battle? Not only had sfhand placed a 'schreck team there, but he also had a 4 man rifle team! (The dead 'schreckers are circled in red.) Now, I don't want you to think that my two men were supermen. They got a little bit of help. They suppressed the Germans whilst this manuever unfolded: More of B3 came up on line to help the 2 men. That's the orange circle/arrows. If you look carefully, by the left-most orange arrow you can see some tracers. I'm area firing at the junction line of the bocages. I don't know if sfhand has anyone there, in addition to the 6 men I've spotted. Yes, I now control this plowed field. I'll have to check the far bocage and flank the near line, as well, before I enter it. You can see how I'm developing the center and the left. The notes explain my thoughts... In a perfect world, B3 would hold up while C gains more contact. Pshaw. My men's fury to attack cannot be contained. They will press, always forward!

This is a view from behind the two guys from B3 on my extreme right. It's taken from just off the edge and shows the terrain undulations. You can see the survivor of my two man scout team, over on the left, as well as the "?" marker from the fiendish huns who caused the casualties within the last half minute. Macisle has created some superb gaming opportunities with this map. Even an open field has a lot of nooks and crannies.

Oh, blood? You wanted to SEE the blood? Very well... In the midst of the turn, at 17:35, my scouts were done pausing. (Remember the image with them with 10 seconds left on their pause, up several postings ago?) They got up and ran, like men, with the rest of B3 watching through the bocage. Then it happened! Hidden Huns firing from hidden positions! Cowards. Well, that didn't stop the NEXT team from following their orders! (Remember, WeGo: this was plotted out at the end of the last turn. Control? I don't think so...) These three men would get it done! Cross the field, GO, GO, GO! Fleet of foot, these three brave men are proof against any German trick! And that's how I ended up with two men at the bocage. True, I'd planned on 5, but 2 of my men are the EQUAL of 5 of sfhand's men! So, all in all, I got as many up there as I needed. Like pre-game jitters, the first blood settles the team down. Now we can get on with it. Well done, you two.

Just to the left of this breakthrough zone, are the doughty boys of C3... I've selected their platoon HQ so you can see them all. They don't all see one another, but that's okay: they can see their targets. I've got all/most of them either TARGETING or LIGHT TARGETING the enemy "?" locations. The platoon HQ has a covered arc so it won't give away its location. (After all, I don't want valuable men to die. The others can. And they'll be grateful.) I've got an arty mission being called in. That corner is the key to that entire bocage defense. I'd like to get some teams into the farm buildings (circled in green), and then up to the corner. The arty will suppress sfhand's corner defenders... C3 is the main sell. Their push should keep B's right flank from being reinforced from the center.

Blood is spilled!!!! Here is the situation on my right at the end of the third minute: As you can see, I've got eyes on a 'schreck! (That thing has a grosse boom! (Thanks, womble, for showing me the "leichte". )) Oh, a needed aside: you may find a bit of hyperbole in my postings. If you're a newb, I do not suggest that do as I say. Unless you're a bloodthirsty savage! Back to the game! My B3 (B company, 3rd platoon) scouts which were pictured upstream, did their job. Sfhand's Huns (sounds cool; "hand's huns"), opened up on them. That revealed their location. Now my team at the far right sees them and has ID'ed them. (Remember, this is pre-GL FOW, so you get a bit too much intel.) That team has a simple job: kill the enemy! These are the orders I gave them: The covered arc is to keep 'em focused on the job at hand. If sfhand has anyone at the far end of the field, I'll deal with them later. This field is needed to get my Stuarts through the front. I'll demo a gap in it later. You can see the gates and gaps beyond on which lead to an almost unfettered romping opportunity. So, if there are Germans at the far end, they are immaterial for the next few turns...

That was very well said. +1.

Hmm, 150mm vs. .30 cal.? And that's what it'll get you... Great screenies!

As ian.leslie pointed out, welcome, and recognize that BFC does listen. They may not agree, but they do listen. They, usually, do not give any indication of a fix. However, their goal is to have great, realistic, games. If something is clearly wrong, and it is fixable in the game, they'll do what they can to get it in a patch.

The FG42 was a bit of a difficult weapon to track down. Sources? Ammo levels, etc., all seem like easily replicated issues. Have you tried to pick up SMG's? Ken

Sounds like fun. In fact, I'm pretty sure most of my men are begging me to send them to join their brethren in the great hall! I'm doing my best... If he hears the engineers, then he's close enough to...DIE!!! The engineers will not assault: they're clearing unexpected passages for the tanks. So, the PBI will be leading. Any of sfhand's huns should be suppressed or engaged by the infantry. That infantry should have captured the important terrain before the engineers do their work. I will, however, stay on the lookout for him to be moving reinforcements or reserves. C Company: good observations. Since both B and C company are advancing without tanks in the initial phase, I've kept all the tanks behind B. True, he could stop C, but I don't care about that. In fact, the more forces he uses to stop C, the better. Remember, B will advance on the blood that C spills. Single tanks are dead tanks. If I toss 2 tanks over to C's side, then I've kind of taken the schwer out of the punkt. (Kleinepunkt?) So, no, C will have to get the job done on grit, determination, and bravery. No matter how many casualties it takes. At least, that's my at-start plan. ... said the master to the acolyte.