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jwxspoon

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    Designers Notes: ROW IV - Squeezing the Melon

    in Combat Mission - Scenario Talk

    Posted

    SPOILERS CONTAINED THROUGHOUT THIS THREAD. IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY THIS BLIND, DO NOT READ FURTHER.

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    I designed this scenario with a specific tactical situation in mind. What I wanted was a German prepared defense upon one side of the river, and a conventional allied attack in difficult terrain on the other side of the river. I also wanted to exhibit two other variables, first the type of stupid orders the German high command gave throughout the defense of occupied Europe (ie - Hold the bridge to the last man, do not destroy the bridge, etc.) and the type of non-linear thinking that defines the very best (and all too often discarded) out of the box ideas that the allies thought up during the war. Of course, we all know that the allies certainly had no monopoly on successful subterfuge, but for my design purposes it fits for the scenario.

    I decided that an airborne attack would fit the bill nicely and designed the scenario around a surprise flanking attack. My perceived flow of the battle was such:

    1. Allies begin frontal attack on the town. Germans hit the recon/forward elements of the Allied forces and bloody their noses a bit. While the battle rages, early on in favor of the Germans (from a psychological point at the very least) the paratroopers sneak up to the German rear.

    2. Allied paratroopers hit the bridge rear areas hard. Confusion is rampant among the Germans, even panic. Germans are now caught between a pincer with their retreat blocked and superior forces attacking. The Allies should get the upper hand and slowly take the village.

    3. German reinforcements arrive. A smart German player will have noticed the keyhole LOS I set up and will deploy his Panther in the rear to cover the bend in the road of the allied attack. Long range fire from a virtually unkillable Panther will help win the day. The other German tanks and the infantry should advance to retake the German side of the bridge. The opposing sides should meet in the middle and fight it out, with the victor holding the bridge and winning the scenario. Thus the 'pendulum' of the battle should swing first to the Germans, then to the Americans, then to the middle for the endgame.

    Testing: We tested this scenario repeatedly, with somewhat strange results. I found that the Americans were so psychologically damaged by early losses, the fear of the unknown (there must be german at's around every tree) that in several cases there was an American surrender early in the game. Originally I had two sandbagged AA positions on the bridge and they were fearsome in their ability to destroy the lighter American vehicles.

    After initial testing I reduced the Germans forces by about 20%. Still, this scenario is very dependent upon the skill of the attacker. I have found that a skillful attacker in this scenario will almost always win with the force balance as it stands in the tournament version. An attacker that does not have a long ranged, proactive plan, or is uncoordinated, or lets a few early losses get in the way of a virtually overwhelming allied frontal assault will get bogged down. Hence a couple of the surprising total victories by the axis in this one.

    I expected that the allies would win roughly 70% of the battles.

    PLANNED CHANGES: For balance purposes I plan to make the following changes in the scenario.

    1. I will beef up the German forces slightly. I will add back the second AA gun, and add a 75mm infantry gun. I will expand the setup zones slightly to allow the German player to setup some of his allied-side-of-the-bridge forces on the other side of the bridge if he so chooses. I will keep the low quality rear area troops padlocked as they are. I will probably add a pair of MG42's to be placed where the defender desires.

    2. I will fix the briefing to eliminate the incorrect cardinal direction refernces. Don't know what I was thinking on that one, possibly a freudian slip on my part.

    3. I will adjust the briefings to add exact oob of reinforcements and their time of arrival.

    I hope you all enjoyed the scenario and found it worthy of play. I did not design this scenario to be balanced; I wanted a desperate defense on the part of the Germans. I knew that it would take a very skillful deender to even eke out a draw on a good attacking opponent.

    Thank you all for your excellent AAR's.

    Best regards,

    Jeff

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    ROW IV

    in Combat Mission - Scenario Talk

    Posted

    Melnibone:

    In Squeezing the Melon, I was rather surprised that Allied units at the bend in the road could see and engage German reinforcement units coming from their set up zone. Not complaining, just kind of amazed - was this an intentional design feature or just a happy accident? It was a very unexpected situation, the other terrain is so dense I had no expectations for long range encounters.
    This was intentional. There are several 'keyhole' firing positions on the map that benefit whichever side uses them. In particular on the hill overlooking the town, an AT gun placed to fire back into the town area can have protected los that covers everything from the initial bend in the road al the way to the other side of the river, and everything in between.

    jw

    [ June 17, 2004, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: jwxspoon ]

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