tiborhead

My most frustrating moment? I was playing a hotseat game with an old chum of mine. The scenario was made by a third party friend. I had 1 veteran PzGrenadier company, a backup detachment of MG42s, a 105 spotter with extra rounds, some panzerschrecks, plus some light SP guns. The map was plagued with hedgerows, much to my benefit. There were two dirt roads running parallel n/s down the map. One on my left, and one right down the center. The hedgerows made a perfect bottle-neck for any enemy tanks. One large VL rested in a small hamlet on the southern edge of the map, just outside the hedgerows. Anywho, I gathered from the small scenario briefing that I was facing an over-strength, inexperienced American rifle company with various armored support. Since the roads through the hedgerows were the only way for the tanks to approach, I decided to fortify the two roads, and set up machine gun positions on my right flank just in case. The game starts out slow. I observe a rather large force heading for the main center road. A little later, I notice smaller detachments breaking off to the western road, and east through some wheat fields towards my exposed right flank. Perhaps a platoon each is my assumption. I briefly consider pulling one of my platoons guarding the center area to reinforce the MG crews, but decide against it. The combined arms column creeps down the center road. I lose track of the two detachments on my flanks. The column in the center seems to consist of vanilla shermans and a butt load of infantry. I order my spotter, residing in a tall building overlooking the center road, to let loose about 100 meters or so in front of my positions. A more perfectly executed barrage I could never hope to plan. It fell right on top of them. Meanwhile, on my flanks, the small detachments ran into my trap. On the left, my Pz Grenadier platoon cut down the enemy detachment, while my StuH took out a couple of stewarts. Nice. On the right, my MGs managed to disrupt the enemy platoon long enough to render them almost useless for the assault on the town. So far, things are going quite well. I even begin to ponder a full out counter attack as his forces in the center begin to pull back in rapid fashion after losing a few shermans to shreck teams. "Poor Bastards", thought I as I began to plot the orders for the counter attack. I move out towards the retreating enemy, mopping up the stray 'zook team and routed mortar crew along the way. Victory seemed at hand. Until... The sound of a 14" naval barrage was quite unnerving to say the least. The spotting round landed right on top of one of my squads. result: Wiped out squad. I never experienced a 14" barrage before, so I wasn't quite sure how to proceed. I figured the barrage would be rather inaccurate, so I ordered my remaining squads to crawl forward. Bad idea. The full effect of the barrage was devastating. My two center platoons were obliterated. I now had nothing noteworthy protecting the town. The enemy regrouped, and made a drive towards the town. I tried rushing my remaining platoon to the defense of the town, but it was not enough. I ended up losing the battle.

DarthMaul, why are you so :mad: all the time?

Hey, you could put an eye out with those things! And they can leave nasty welts! :eek: In short, if it hurts, even a little, it's ammo in my book.

I would guess that the 1st time that the AI spotted you was when your PSW shot at it. Did the AI then head in the direction of your PSW, eventually bringing it to near the secondary VL? The AI tends to head towards the 1st enemy units that it spots.</font>

On the same note, will Germans be able to use captured lend-lease vehicles? Short answer; I don't think so.

I must say your reasoning behind this projected date is quite fascinating. I read it in another thread somewhere, and despite my better judgment, I think you may be on to something. Let's hope you're right. </font>

I must say your reasoning behind this projected date is quite fascinating. I read it in another thread somewhere, and despite my better judgment, I think you may be on to something. Let's hope you're right.

I recently had a similar experience with the AI. Well, not me specifically, but my girlfriend. Allow me to explain. She enjoys playing Combat Mission with me ONLY if we play a generic type of co-op game. I decided that 1 company each plus some light armor and some FOs for each of us would be good. We decided to play as the Germans vs random opposition. We purchased our troops (myself: 1 company PzGrenadier coy, 1 StuH late, 1 PSW and 1 Wespe. Girlfriend: 1 PzGrenadier coy, 1 StuH late, 1 PSW and 1 Hetzer. Plus 1 81mm mortar FO for each of us, and an extra 75mm FO for her.) and looked at the QB map. It featured a small village, with small VL flag, in the center of the map, surrounded by medium to dense mixed woods. The southeastern part of the village was void of any tree cover, but was dominated by a high hill, which by the way, contained the large victory flag. The second smaller flag was located on the far right side of the map, perhaps about 600 meters from the main flag. It was situated on a small, tree covered hill. The rest of the map contained a high amount of trees, slight hills, and a dirt road on the far left side. We decided that I should take the main VL, assuming I have more experience. She would secure the secondary VL, and provide additional support for the taking and holding of the main VL. We both rushed our companies into place, opting to take the VLs first, then attempt to hold off the enemy. We reached the VLs without incident; the only action so far took place between my PSW and an unidentified infantry unit. I experienced slight problems on the barren hilltop, as my exposed infantry platoon immediately drew enemy artillery fire. Fortunately, I suffered relatively few casualties. For this reason, I decided to postpone any attempt to rush the village, opting to wait for my gf's reserve platoons. On my gf's side of the map (right) she left one platoon plus her PSW in defense of the secondary VL, while her remaining infantry platoons and armor, using the cover of the heavy trees, crept towards the center. The idea was for the 2 platoons to provide base of fire for my forthcoming assault on the village. A number of boring turns passed with little to no action. Around turn 12 we noticed a large force approaching from the north-center area of the map. The units remained unidentified as heavy trees concealed the enemy's movements. To our surprise, they seemed to be headed for the small VL on the right side, the one held by my GF's platoon. She began to panic. I assured her that the main assault would be directed toward the center village and hilltop (since the area contained 2 VLs). My platoons on and around the hill opened fire on the large enemy force as it cleared the trees and entered a wide, open expanse. My gf, whom I shall now refer to as Cel, felt she should shift one of her spare platoons to the right to reinforce her vulnerable platoon holding the VL. By this time, however, enemy armor appeared and drove a slight wedge between her reserve platoons, and the VL platoon. She decided to commit her StuH and Hetzer to the battle in an attempt to dislodge the enemy armor between her platoons. To compliment this, I sent my StuH to the top of the hill in a decent, hull-down position to try for some flanking shots, while my Wespe would creep along the base of the hill in an attempt to offer some support. Probably not the wisest decision, but it actually paid off in the long run. The result of our combined efforts proved to be quite satisfying. Although Cel's Hetzer was quickly knocked out, it managed to take out a Stewart, and immobilize a HT. Her StuH became bogged and took some time before it reached the action. On my end, my StuH managed to take out a number of light tanks and armored cars before a renewed heavy barrage forced it back. While we managed to take out the bulk of the enemy armor, seemingly infinite enemy infantry units poured in to the woods around the right VL. Cel insisted on withdrawing her platoon, but I advised against this as she was in perfect ambush position. After some consideration, she decided to let the platoon stay. A decision she would come to regret later. Although I remained confident in Cel's ambush, I realized the danger they faced. Lacking LOS, I orded my 81mm FO to target the woods just to the left of Cel's platoon. I advised her to do the same with her 75mm. About 20 seconds into the turn, an enemy platoon wandered into her ambush. The result was sheer chaos. Within 30 seconds, the enemy platoon was wiped out! with the survivors fleeing back to the north. Her PSW, positioned to the right of the woods, opened up and killed a few more before they reached the safety of the woods. During the chaotic firefight, Cel's platoon lost only 2 men. But the enemy kept pumping in infantry. over the next few turns, her lone platoon, assisted by her PSW managed to take out at least another platoon, plus 2 squads of another before running out of ammo. All seemed lost until the 81mm began falling on the follow-up platoons in the woods. Moments later, the 75mm began to come in. By this time, however, the platoon was in dire shape. Out of ammo, and recently losing the additional firepower of the PSW, some of the squads began to break. Cel was devastated. She wanted to send in her other platoons but the enemy armor was still blocking her, and her StuH just recently became mobile again. The platoon was eventually overran. Everyone in the platoon was killed. We went on to crush the enemy infantry huddled in the woods near the VL. The enemy surrendered. Checking the info/kills for her platoon amazed us both. Not one of the squads had a tally lower than 15. The highest was 24 I believe. It struck me as being odd that the AI would send all it's forces to a secondary VL. Cel was still upset that she lost her platoon, and was unmoved when I explained to her that her brave platoon almost single-handedly won the battle. Oh well, I guess she's a compassionate leader if anything. Edited 'cus memory is fuzzy. [ June 20, 2002, 06:10 PM: Message edited by: tiborhead ]

--From my understanding, the Russians and the Americans did meet up on the River Elbe but they pretty much stayed on their side of things. There wasn't anything you could call mixed operations. The Western Allies had the chance to take Berlin but it was decided for both military and political reasons not to do so. The Russians were very worried that the Western allies would take advantage of the fact that most of the German Army was located East and simply waltz into Berlin against light to little German resistance since many Germans would prefer British/American occupation to Soviet occupation. Part of the reason why the Russians lost so many men in the final operations in Germany was because Stalin feared the Western Allies would steal his prize away from him. He constantly pressured his commanders to go faster and faster to ensure that the Western Allies did not "cheat" Russia out of her just reward. After the horrors the Russians had faced during Barbarossa and the entire East Front campaign, the Russians were not going to be denied the prize of entering Berlin and maybe capturing Hitler and parading him naked in a cage like a monkey in Red Square. The Western allies did not want to "offend" their Russian allies so they agreed Russia would get the honor of storming Berlin. The other reason was Eisenhower knew full well that although the German Army was pretty much smashed and the result inevitable, taking Berlin was not going to be any cakewalk. The Germans would resist fiercely, even fanatically. Causalities were expected to be very high. If the Russians wanted to take the losses to capture Berlin for the Allied side, so be it. It's pretty clear Patton had no love for the Russians. "War with the Bolsheviks was inevitable, so why not fight them now?," was more or less his thinking. I believe he was even suggesting rearming German troops and having them join the Americans to fight against the Russians. Although I certainly relish the chance to play US forces against Soviet forces in "what if" scenarios like a full scale Fulda Gap attack a la 1946-50's style, BTS won't be able to let us do so for now. Hopefully in a future CM they'll have the time.</font>

This is awesome! I checked out the German Infantry Tactics from the USAF library (I think) one a while ago, but didn't really get a chance to read it. Damn you, that's more money I'm FORCED to spend. :cool:

I plan on playing a rather large co-op battle with the missus tonight. We will each have our own company to command, and will take turns in the orders phase. I suggested a regular hot-seat match, but she doesn't like the competition. I designed the scenario a while ago, simulating the fighting a few kilos in from the beaches. The good thing is, I don't remember much about the force composition I used, so it shouldn't be too unbalanced. Anyway, it's not a matter of a good, challenging game*, it's about spending "quality time" with the GF, and a rather simple way of observing this important day together. * It should be known that I suck at CM. So even if I did know the enemy's forces, I'd still have a hard time.

Yeah, or units equipped with captured soviet machine guns and rifles.

I thought you were talking about hockey's, Paul Coffey.

Tell me about it. I was recently playing Fear in the Fog against the AI. My only piece of armor, a sherman I think, gets bogged and throws it's track first turn. :mad:

ditto here...and it's been a fun and bumpy ride.</font>

That's yer problem, and believe me, I suffer from that same damn problem as well. It seems to me that you're timing is habitually off. Once again, mine is too. The only advice I can give you keep at it. I've been playing CM for... hmm, I quess about two years now I still suck. But the important thing is I still play. It doesn't matter what kind of battle I play (QB vs AI/Hotseat, Attack, ME) I still often loose. Like yourself, I don't do too bad defending, but you can't play defensive battles all the time. Just keep at it bro', and rest assured that there are others (well, me at least) like you out there.

I too have had numerous armor flaking hits. To my memory, none of them have caused casualties. It's a little odd that with so many flaking hits I've never experienced a casualty, much the same as many of you. I'm not one to complain though.

I would pay CASH MONEY if my wife took an interest in my CM'ing!!! :eek: </font>

I believe mine was taken out from the side. Not that that matters with the Marder.

I have, sir, in an ill-fated quick battle against my girlfriend. Actulally, mine died in just about the same fashion. I was trying to get a flank shot on one of her shermans that was wreaking havoc on my grenadiers in a building overlooking the main VL. From a group of tall pines, a volly of small arms KOs the poor Marder. Alas, she went on to win that battle, and I am to forever live that day in shame.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we (US) run in to logistical problems in late '44 during the Huertgen campaign? I seem to remember from a book I read about the battle (The Bloody Forrest) that supplies began to dwindel as supply lines lengthend over such a short period of time.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Armdchair: Something I cut and pasted from an old thread: after placing the reinforcement marker on the map, hit CTRL-W or CTRL-V or CTRL-C and the units will enter in a Wedge, an inVerted wedge or Column (passengers embarked) formation respectively. try it. I don't remember who it was, otherwise I'd give them credit for it. Hope this helps.<hr></blockquote> Thanks Armdchair, I'll give it a shot.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Clubfoot: Yes, you can. It escapes me at the moment exactly how, although I know it's a [CTRL] something combo. [CTRL]-C to have units mounted in a column I believe. Check the FAQ thread, I believe the answer is in there.<hr></blockquote> Thanks Clubfoot. I thought that was it, but I wasn't sure. I'll check the FAQ to confirm.

Hi there. I seem to have forgotten how to set reinforcement unit formations while designing a mission. Can anyone clue me in?