Darknight (DC)

After this game, I was pretty happy with my overall plan and my handling of the infantry units but I could have done a better job of positioning my mortars (I had grouped them with their respective Company commanders expecting to have him spot for them, but that doesn't seem to work). I really failed with my handling of the armour, at least where positioning was concerned. I didn't expect my command Sherman and the Firefly to be the first units engaged (and destroyed). The loss of the two tanks early on handicapped me and allowed Mord to eventually hunt down my Sherman at the farmhouse. Once he was gone, there was no real threat and I was just getting taken apart by direct fire HE.

I know they were slightly annoying, but more like mosquitoes compared to the two invincible JagdPz that slaughtered me. I remember looking at the units after the game and seeing 85% of my casualties were caused by the 2 tank destroyers and a mortar team....ouch.

2102 hrs Lt Mobley’s No 7 Platoon HQ took a direct hit from a mortar round and was eliminated. [Observation: The mortars have been absolutely devastating…I’ve only spotted one tube the entire time and the incoming rounds have been ridiculously accurate (considering I’ve watched my 2” mortars drop all over the areas I set as targets)]. Lots of small arms fire exchanged, and though it appears that we are able to bring greater weight of firepower than the Germans, German armour still a problem. Cpl Bergeron was finally able to add some HE rounds to the fight, which was helpful. 2103 hrs A few more casualties in No 7 Platoon but nothing else to note on the right flank. Cpl Bergeron is still trying to gain position on the StuG that has hidden itself just below the central crossing and appears to be searching for a hull-down shooting lane; the Jagdpanzers are severely limiting the ability to flank. At the eastern canal crossing, ‘A’ Company has brought a weight of fire that has appeared to overwhelm the Germans to the east, whose fire has slackened considerably (except for the occasional blast from a Jadgpanzer). 2104 hrs Cpl Bergeron’s luck ran out as a Jagdpanzer crested the ridge directly south of their position and perforated the Sherman III; while bailing out, another blast from the same AFV wiped out the rest of the Hussars crew. ‘A’ Company HQ came under mortar attack, losing Major McCloud’s aide and radioman, though the general weight of fire in their sector remained positive. ‘C’ Company took more casualties from the forward German assault gun. 2105 hrs ‘A’ Company PIAT teams made a few valiant (and ultimately suicidal) attempts at subduing the Jagdpather at the eastern canal crossing. No 5 Platoon, in among the farm buildings at OBJ ‘C’, opened fire on the nearby German StuG, though this ultimately only seemed to offer another target for the AFV and a single blast eliminated the entire No 3 Section. German troops were spotted attempting to advance on the western canal crossing. 2106 hrs Taking casualties and unable to find an adequate solution to the German armour on the other side of the canal, Lt Col Lecter sent word to the Company commanders to fall back and regroup to the north, first ‘B’ Company, then ‘C’ and ‘A’. We would regroup on the defensible line that battalion engineers had created earlier. Radio message sent to Brigade HQ that advance on the crossings over Canal du Mord in this sector was unable to be accomplished at present time and with the resources at hand; we have reached the limit of what can be asked of these men and anything further would be tantamount to murder. Final Roll Call: Remaining QOR [Lt Col Lecter] (9 men) with attached 3” Mortar team (1 man; KO’d) ‘A’ Company [Major McCloud] (9 men) No 1 Plt (36 men) No 2 Plt (30 men; 2 PIAT rounds left; 2” mortar KO’d) No 3 Plt (28 men) ‘B’ Company [Major Galloway] (7 men; Coy CO killed) No 4 Plt (28 men; 2” mortar KO’d) No 5 Plt (21 men; 6 PIAT rounds left; 2” mortar KO’d) No 6 Plt (27 men; 6 PIAT rounds left; 2” mortar KO’d) ‘C’ Company [Major Pickett] (11 men) No 7 Plt (25 men; Plt CO killed) No 8 Plt (23 men) No 9 Plt (37 men) Total Casualties: ‘A’ Coy 19 ‘B’ Coy 39 ‘C’ Coy 26 Armour Support 1st Hussars No 2 Troop Sherman III Command [Lt Lefevre] KO’d Sherman III [Cpl Alarie] Sherman III [Cpl Bergeron] KO’d Sherman Firefly Vc [sgt Pickett] KO’d

Ahhh....the problem with that was the map itself....it was so bloody dark. I found it too dark to make nice screenshots....I got a few good screenshots in our second AAR, but that was CMFI and the CW hasn't shown up there yet.

2058 hrs The Germans on the left flank made a move for the eastern canal crossing, as a halftrack into view heading northwards, at which point L/Cpl McCloud opened up on the vehicle with his bren gun and made the afv back off; he paid for this with the loss of a squadmate to another tank destroyer. The ‘B’ Company mortars were engulfed in a wave of enemy mortar rounds, knocking out 1 of the two remaining tubes. Nearby, one of the tragic/heroic moments of the battle occurred when Private Anders, a member of the first mortar team knocked out of action, raced back forwards in an attempt to pull them from the carnage; according to Capt Cartman, now in charge of ‘B’ Company, “Private Anders was seen fighting his way through the carnage towards his stricken teammates, when an enemy mortar round landed directly in front of his feet…he appears to have died instantly.” The newly-repositioned enemy StuG began moving towards the middle crossing, but this seemed to be more of an attempt to get Cpl Bergeron to move his Sherman into the open, rather than a full assault. South of the western canal crossing, several enemy units were spotted manoeuvring in the foliage and another StuG made an appearance on the high ground. [Observation: I have a conundrum here…I want to engage with Cpl Alarie’s Sherman at the western crossing, but I’m not sure if he has been spotted yet, so it is possible that the StuG moves a little closer and exposes itself…tough choice] 2059 hrs The German tank destroyer near the eastern canal crossing moved wide past the road and appeared to be attempting to gain position for a rear shot on Cpl Bergeron’s Sherman. Both sides traded fire to little apparent effect. 2100 hrs Concentrated fire from No 2 Platoon appeared to have knocked out a German HMG that had been harassing ‘A’ Company. Cpl Bergeron edged forward in order to engage the opposite German StuG, but his driver got the vehicle caught up in some fencing; luckily, the German vehicle moved into a depression nearer the canal crossing and neither vehicle engaged. At the same time, several German squads advanced with the StuG into the lower ground. Also, a halftrack appeared near the high ground at the western crossing. Overall Situation 2101 hrs No 8 Platoon. ‘C’ Coy came under accurate mortar fire from at least two enemy tubes and lost one third of their effective strength in the span of 10 seconds. Cpl Bergeron continued with the repositioning of his Sherman, quickly moving closer to the nearby buildings; the StuG continued deeper into the depression near the bridge. Requiem for No 8 Platoon, ‘C’ Company

2056 hrs The Jagdpanzer directly across the canal continued to lay a devastating fire on our troops; the next blast took out 3 more soldiers from 6th Platoon, who were sheltering behind a the church cemetery wall. Another blast knocked out one of the ‘B’ Company light mortars that had been suppressing the German mortars across the canal. Meanwhile, Lt Solomon risked all and decided to relocate his No 5 Platoon HQ to the farm buildings, where most of the rest of his formation was deployed (this entailed a straight run in the open across the LoS of the German tank); Lt Solomon was lightly wounded (shrapnel in his leg) but otherwise the move was successful. Incoming enemy mortar fire was mostly ineffectual, though No 4 Platoon did receive a few light casualties in their forward observation positions. 2057 hrs Major Galloway, who was attempting to direct the fire of ‘B’ Company’s 2” mortars, disappeared following a direct hit from the German tank destroyer; all of ‘B’ Coy HQ became casualties in the blast. A German assault gun appears to have repositioned itself from the high ground that was the focus of the original tank action, to a more central spot on the edge of a farmer’s field. Cpl Minton (‘C’ Coy sniper) spotted German infantry south of the western canal crossing, moving towards the village; he confirmed at least one of the advancing troops as a kill. Cpl Minton goes to work

2054 hrs Events took a turn for the worse, as our Firefly exploded while trying to reposition into a depression (Observation: holy crap…the kill shot was through smoke, from a position that the Firefly was unable to target…being unable to target the tank destroyer after a minute of taking fire from it is very frustrating). 2055 hrs Mortar fire is exchanged, with B Company’s 2” tubes doing good work in keeping the German heads down on the far side of the canal. Bloody tank destroyer in the centre mauled No 2 Section of 5th Platoon with a direct hit on their position…lost a half dozen good men all at once. A sad day for 5th Platoon

Yeah, I noticed that they were a little small....I didn't use them as much in the 2nd AAR. Anyone got a set of unit icons in a decent size (ideally in green, khaki, grey) that they could upload to the repository for use in AAR screenshots?

2050 hrs Our platoons continued to move themselves into position. The troop of German armour on the high ground did a little back-and-forth dancing, moving into and out of LOS several times. 2051 hrs Cpl Brownsword, NCO i/c of the 3” mortar team, of his own volition, started dropping rounds on the German armour position. Enemy troop movements began to become apparent on the south side of the canal. Cpl Bergeron’s tank took some light calibre fire from across the canal. 2052 hrs The armour originally expected nearer the eastern canal crossing materialized; at least a pair of tank destroyers which appeared to be trying to get a rear shot at Cpl Bergeron’s Sherman. Our troops were mostly in position by this time and had pretty decent observation of the other side of the canal. 2053 hrs Cpl Brownsword’s mortar team took a number of blasts from the German AFVs and was put out-of-action. Despite the surrounding infantry attempting to point out the tank destroyer positions, Sgt Pickett couldn’t locate its position and, deciding that his position was too exposed to the tank destroyers, began reversing to a more secure spot; his tank took a non-penetrating shot off their upper hull superstructure but did not sustain any significant damage, except to nerves. Most of the shells from the tank destroyer struck the knocked out Sherman III, which was very fortunate for the Firefly crew. L/Cpl Grenadier’s flight to safety

Operations: 2045 hrs At this time, A, B & C Companies (D Company was held out-of-battle as a part of 7th Brigade reserve) had reached their jumping off points and been given their initial orders. The tanks of No 2 Troop, 1st Hussars arrived on time and pushed forward with the men. The actual distance to contact was unknown, though there was no indication that we would meet the enemy on this side of the Canal du Mord. 2047 hrs The advance was initially uneventful, with the men moving quickly towards their immediate objectives. The only item to note was that Cpl Bergeron’s tank charged ahead of the general advance (in true cavalry fashion) towards the farm buildings to take up station covering the right flanks of our advance. 2048 hrs Enemy troop movement spotted by Cpl Minton, A Coy sniper; two German assault guns positioned on the high ground south of the western crossing. Lt Lefevre spotted the vehicles from his position south of OBJ C and decided to open fire, landing a confirmed hit but with no apparent effect. This was not the initial area in which we expected to locate German armour, due to the terrain and narrow avenue-of-advance, but the high ground likely provided them some overview of our troop movements. The spotting of enemy armour in this location was probably also an indication that the two crossings on our right flank might be the enemy’s primary objective. Lt Lefevre initiates offensive action Troop Dispositions 2049 hrs Lt Lefevre continued to direct fire on the German armour, apparently comprising a troop of StuG Assault vehicles; the next shot was another direct hit but to no discernible effect. The German AFV meanwhile turned and let loose on the Hussar Sherman, unfortunately landing a direct hit and instantly killing Lt Lefevre; shrapnel from the explosion also severely Major Galloway’s squad NCO in B Coy HQ. Despite losing his tank commander, Gunner Woodward let loose with another accurate round on the German vehicle but again the effect was negligible and another penetration of their vehicle turret while attempting to disengage caused the crew to bail out. Sgt Pickett’s Firefly took up the fight and after ranging in, they placed a direct hit on the German, who was apparently convinced to retreat. First Casualties

Personal Reconnaissance & Operational Plan After a quick recce of our assigned area of operations, it was decided that the crossroads at OBJ C would be the focal point of our deployment. Immediately east of the crossroads, there was a bridge that could prove to be extremely important; this bridge would be able to provide a secondary avenue of advance on the west bridge (OBJ A), and if not secured, would threaten the crossroads position. On the left flank of our operations, a forest masked the approach to the eastern bridge (OBJ . A cautious approach through the forest was initially thought to be the best course of action, as this would be the most likely place to encounter German armour. Our own armour support was directed to find positions on the approach to the crossroads, with a single tank deployed to the western highway. Operational Plan Planned Troop Dispositions

I like to keep track of my PBEM battles and thought I might share this. I started writing it from a first person POV like a real AAR, but my styles got a little mixed further in. We were trying to play semi-historically, using mods to cover the forces. This was completed at the end of July, and we just finished another one using CMFI which I may post later. Normandy ME Jun 1944 AAR: Major Pinkerton, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division Dusk on D+2 The battalion had been tasked with securing crossings over a waterway that the local villagers referred to as the ‘Canal du Mord’. With the expansion of the invasion beachhead, these crossings were important to secure the area from German counter-attacks. Initial Roll Call: QOR [Lt Col Lecter] (9 men) with attached 3” Mortar team ‘A’ Company [Major McCloud] (122 men) ‘B’ Company [Major Galloway] (122 men) ‘C’ Company [Major Pickett] (122 men) Armour Support: 1st Hussars No 2 Troop Sherman III Command [Lt Lefevre] Sherman III [Cpl Alarie] Sherman III [Cpl Bergeron] Sherman Firefly Vc [sgt Pickett] There were 3 objectives for the battalion: 1) OBJ A – the western crossing over the Canal du Mord, nearest the village 2) OBJ B – the eastern crossing over the Canal du Mord 3) OBJ C – the crossroads between the two main objectives, which must be secure to make holding either crossing tenable Probable Enemy Troop Dispositions: Intel on enemy dispositions was sparse, but again, information from the local French population was helpful. The best information we could gather was that an approximately company-sized enemy formation was gathering just south of the village, while it was known that that the Germans had another company in the vicinity of the farmsteads just south of the eastern canal crossing. German armour was also a threat but we were unable to obtain concrete information on enemy armour movements in the immediate area in the time we had available. It was assumed that there might be some armoured vehicles stationed south of the eastern canal crossing, as the roadway was paved in this area, making it easier to deploy the vehicles quickly.

That is the biggest thing isn't it....the Allied officers usually only had a few bits of insignia to differentiate them from the enlisted men (and sometimes the hat or beret). In the CMBN upgrade, I'd actually be more interested to see a variation in dress for the tank crews, where some CW tankers are in the overalls and some are in battledress....some random mix of the two.

Actually, I'm relieved that the stock textures are fairly 'clean'. If they weren't, then it would be much more difficult to add markings and such, as the markings would disrupt the weathering, as opposed to being layered under it.

Its the Allies that have less variation (at least for now)

That is my hope too....but I won't find out until the upgrade to CMBN.

They are all based upon the 'base' mod that Aris included in each of his vehicle releases. When Aris released each vehicle, he usually produced several other 'decal' variants, which he included in a 'Decals' folder. There was some discussion from forum members at the time regarding having all the 'variants' included in the mod folder at once; this would lead to lots of variety among the vehicles in-game (though completely ahistorical). It is possible that I may have accidentally/purposefully not 'activated' a dirt/grime layer from the original mod (maybe there was entirely too much mud in the spot where I needed to put the Division Formation Sign). This would not have happened often. The only vehicle I used that was not modded by Aris was the Humber III, which I did myself but I never released it, as I will probably have to redo it when the v2.0 Upgrade is released in the near future.

Not exactly. The vehicles included in the mod packages are Aris-modded vehicles (details are in the readme file)....the exact same vehicles that he released....mud, grime and all....EXCEPT for the decals. The only difference is that I added the decals that correspond to the battalion/regiment that I'm representing with the package. The 'compatibility' issue would be if you used Aris' original mods with variants. Otherwise, just make sure if you use one of my mod packages you should try to place it near the end of your load order (just prefix it with 'zzz' or something and the problem would disappear).

I don't think packing them has any other effect except to organize everything and keep it tidy. Performance is affected by some mods but that is variable. The reason the there's no need for any folder structure is that the game reads the Z folder last and in alphabetical order.

Oh, and you'll have to explode the BRZ files to extract my uniform sets. The whole pack will also modify other things (vehicles, ranks, etc). The uniforms don't conflict between nationalities (unless you use the Commandos or Recce unit packs). I plan on updating/finishing the mod when v2.0 comes out in the near future (besides, summer is break time ).

The easy answer is 'whichever one looks best to you'. Next best might be something that covers a majority of the campaign. Say, a unit of the 3rd Canadian Division for your Canucks (just pick one of the first 3 parts I uploaded, there's 3 battalions in each, so if you don't like one, just swap it for another). For the Brits, a unit from the 3rd, 50th or 51st Divisions would have been longest in Normandy, so again, pick a favourite and go with it.

Lol....theoretically, I may be able to do something approaching a reasonable imitation of Aris' work, at least for the purposes of my larger mod project....but they will only be imitations....I would love to see Aris return to finish the vehicles. There is another issue....with the coming upgrade, there will be changes to the graphics, so I'm not sure I want to go mucking about with too much vehicle modding if I'm just going to have to modify it again with the upgrade. I will revisit all of this with the upgrade, when I get a chance to see and work with the new models/textures. Meanwhile, I have some additional work to do on the Humber III but I probably won't get to that until the weekend.

Hope this works....

Ok, I guess I'll try that tonight at home. I'll warn right now, it is entirely derivative of Aris' excellent mods (and seems to me as Bizarro is to Superman) but it does capture the same flavour of the texture palette he used and should allow me to reasonably continue with the 21st AG mods. I would not even have attempted this (I have so much else on my plate) if Aris weren't on extended leave.

Okay, I had a few screenshots from my work on the Humber III, but I have no idea how to put the images in this thread (the attachments menu says the file has to be 20 kb or less, and that isn't going to work). How do you guys get the decent-sized screenshots into your threads?