Vanir Ausf B

Two companies of infantry would be enough, as I recommended. Elvis has 2500 points to spend, so 3 Panthers is about 44%. Bil has 3500, which is actually only a 1:4 to 1 advantage, less than the standard CMx2 QB attack ratio of 1.65 to 1 (IIRC). I was quite surprised to see that Bil was able to get basically a battalion of infantry, 5 tanks and all the rest of the stuff he listed. Soviet units must be cheap as dirt.

I'm pretty sure that game and the one Regiment0 is referring to is the same game, but the developer has changed names. I won't post a link to it, but it is still for sale after all these years, but apparently he doesn't own the trademark for the name anymore.

And Bil just posted his initial plans. Looks like his usual recon pull. Elvis hasn't posted his OOB yet, but from his plans and comments I fear he is going to only bring a single company of infantry. That is going to leave him very thin covering 1000 meters of frontage in close terrain. Or he will have gaping holes. It looks like he may be intending to cover the eastern forest with only mines, and may not defend the open western approach as much as Bil is expecting (or as much as I would have expected).

My plan would be pretty simple. Deploy my 6 platoons (I would have taken 2 companies if you'll recall) roughly as shown on the map below. Bleed Bil a drop at a time in the woods as discussed, then later in the town as necessary via large numbers of small ambushes, keeping the engagement ranges short to where his armor can't offer much support, moving platoons laterally across the northern edge of town to reinforce threatened areas. Death by a thousand cuts. Beyond that, just ascertain where he is going so as to be sure to be there "first with the most". I don't know where I would put my Hetzers. That would require more detailed LOS information than can be gleaned from screenshots. Probably keyholed along the western end of town to cover the more open approaches on that side.

Or put a picture of Charles on one side and of Steve on the other. Ok, maybe not.

I think we see the situation very similarly. Although my methods might be a little different I agree that Bil will almost certainly attempt to clear the woods in the center of the map directly to the South of the town, and this will provide an excellent opportunity for Elvis to bleed him. Unfortunately it appears that Elvis intends to offer only token resistance there.

Even the HE rounds did serious damage, including cracking weld seems. It will be interesting to see how that works in-game.

Now that Elvis has revealed his plan, my first impression is that it is generally solid but I think he is perhaps making a mistake by assuming Bil will make a point of capturing the northeastern woods. He has had a much better look at the map than me, but I don't see the necessity of that unless Bil is going to try to take all 3 objectives. If I were Bil I would do something like this:

I like this as a fallback plan after Bil takes the objective in the town. But I'm not so sure I would rely on it as my Plan A. By placing your main line of resistance on the north edge of town you are conceding a lot of territory, including the objective in the town. At least that is what it seems to me from your description. That would mean that you are going to have to stop him cold at the northern edge of town to prevent him from taking the Western objective. I would think Elvis realistically could only afford two Panthers. Your entire defense hinges on their long range support. They would have a qualitative edge, but they are not invulnerable frontally and they would be outnumbered. If they go down your defense collapses. In short, I think your plan could work but would have little margin for error.

You can edit thread titles the same way you edit posts. Unfortunately by the time you read this tomorrow the 2-hour window to do so will have closed, as will have your opportunity to upload Bil's map into your placeholder spot

... And that too. It's really not something I'm concerned with.

You can usually narrow it down to a small area, a few action spots in size. With decals you would only be able to determine direction, not distance.

I would call that "medium" Besides, there is a difference between being physically large and playing large. I agree with lurrp that the contest will be determined along a fairly small strip of territory. Yeah, I've wondered about that too. The only reason I'm saying any of this stuff here is because Bil hasn't said anything about his plans so it's still speculation.

Seems a bit pointless to worry about when you can already locate the position of anything that shoots just by moving the camera around to triangulating the sound.

And of course I'm doing this terrain analysis based on a few 2D screenshots, so I could be totally wrong

The Germans will need to stay back from the southern edges of the village and forest for sure, but there is enough depth there to defend the interior. The problem facing the Germans is that, as I noted earlier, there is little cover to the north of the village outside of the large forest along the eastern edge (which looks to me like it only has LOS to the northernmost objective) so once the Soviets break though towards the 2nd objective there are limited options for defending it. * I do wonder if the 3 objective are all worth equal victory points. If they are then the northernmost one will probably be irrelevant except in influencing degree of victory/defeat. * Unless Elvis buys some fortifications.

Yep, there's a mod on the Repository that was made for CMSF but works for any CMx2 game. I use it and recommend it, but IIRC it only changes text in the editor and briefings, not the in-game UI.

I already acknowledged that winning isn't necessarily the goal. But if you just want to show off new stuff you don't need recommendations for that, IMO. The infantry I recommenced -- Fusiliers -- are not particularly "heavy". They just tend to have more SMGs per squad than vanilla grenadiers. I haven't seen the map dimensions listed, but it does not look like what I would consider to be a large map. The terrain and positioning of the objectives is going to mandate a forward-deployed defense. Those open fields to the north of the village are of marginal significance, IMO. Of course, we haven't been told where the setup zones are, and that could change everything.

I would prefer schrecks over towed guns or Panthers. 88s will be spotted quickly at the ranges afforded by the map. They would need to be 50mm to remain concealed until they fired, IMO. Or maybe 75mm Pak40 if they are in trenches, which provide a concealment bonus. But frankly, if the Soviets penetrate into the open field north of the village the outcome at that point will no longer be in doubt. Defense in-depth is hampered by the fact that there isn't much cover to the north. A TRP at the crossroads would be good, if you have some mortars to go with it but TRPs aren't cheap either.

I think people want to see a Hetzer so I'm down with that. Otherwise I'd be temped to place some towed AT guns along the west-facing edge of the northeastern chunk of forest. From the screenshots Bil posted it looks like they'd have good LOS across the open fields north of the village. Panthers are just too expensive for what I think will be a fight decided in the forest south of the village and the village itself.

I can't agree with most of the recommendations I'm seeing, at least if you're trying to win (which I understand is not necessarily the goal). Looking at that map... the more infantry the better, preferably a type with short range firepower. Panthers and Stukas are extravagances you can't afford. Anti-tank mines only have to disable one tank to earn back your investment and the psychological effect alone is almost worth it.

This is what I miss about random maps. It's not the maps themselves -- the pre-made ones are better -- it's not knowing exactly what you're getting into.

I agree that previous BFC product names appear to have been chosen by George Lucas. I like Red Thunder.

2 Fusilier companies 1 flamethrower 1 motorized flak unit of your choice 2 Hetzers 10 anti-tank mines With any points left over, trucks for ammo and/or a few panzerschrecks

They only have to touch or occupy one square.