BigDork

Well if that's the case I vote they both surrender right now.

TURN 3 Another quiet minute passes as my men continue to move forward. I did find the first tense moment of the battle for me happen as my sniper team sprinted around the hedges and out into the open. Thankfully they were not fired upon and hopefully were not spotted. My sniper team running towards their new position TURN 4 CONTACT! Almost as soon as my sniper got set up in the second floor of the building they spot some German infantry sneaking between buildings on the other side of the village. Despite having a short covered arc my sniper takes aim and starts firing. As bullets start whizzing past his head and impacting near his feet the German soldier hits the turf. As he started low crawling his way back towards cover he became the first casualty of the battle. I was unhappy with where my M4A3 Sherman in the center had been positioned. While it had a good view of my side of the village he didn't have any visibility of the Germans approaching. I ordered him forward to take up a hull down position and take a look. I gave him a 10 second pause before retreating. I just wanted them to pop their head up to see what was going on and back off. If Tiresias had somehow gotten a 'shreck crew into the village quickly the Sherman would be vulnerable. The risk was worth it. My Sherman spotted a Panzer IV in position down the road, near the back of the battlefield. Even as the driver threw the tank into reverse my Sherman took aim and fired. As the minute ended, the first shot was heading down range. In the red circle, the bigger white dot is the muzzle flash from the Sherman and the smaller white dot is the incoming shell.

TURN 2 Another quiet minute passes. As my men continue to rush forward through the muddy fields I start rethinking and refining how I want them to deploy. RED LINE I order the forward sniper onto the second floor of one of the houses. I'm hoping from there he'll have better LOS of the approaching Germans than if he was hunkered down in the trees. Also I'm sure he'll appreciate a few minutes out of the rain. I am a bit nervous of the move because they will have to run around a high hedgerow and into the open for a moment. If the Germans are far enough forward they'll see my sniper moving in. ORANGE LINE I order the left MMG to move into the tree line that follows the road and set up. This'll give them an overview of the majority of the village. It's an exposed position and I know they will be in danger so I don't intend for them to hold it for long. I just want to slow up Tiresias getting settled in. On the right flank I order the other MMG to move forward with the intention of setting up in one of the buildings. They are still at least 2 minutes from arriving there and that could change based on where the Germans are found to be coming from. BLUE LINE My initial plan for the infantry is to put 1st platoon right into the thick of it. 2nd platoon will be right behind them to provide some extra fire support and fill in for them as the 1st platoon takes casualties. 3rd platoon is moving right and I am thinking of trying to have them flank around. The problem with that is there is a lot of open ground and they won't have much support from heavy weapons. The flanking move is also determinate on the Germans and what they do.

TURN 1 The battle begins quietly. I had feared an early artillery barrage right in front of where my men were advancing. Thankfully that did not come to be. On the left flank my tank moved forward and took up its hull down position but did not see any movement. The most eventful occurrence of the first moment was one of my sniper teams catching a ride forward in a jeep and setting off to the village. I hope they'll be able to give me an early picture of what Tiresias is bringing to bear.

SETUP Part 2 On the extreme left flank I have a M4A1 Sherman that I have given orders to take up a hull down position with over watch of the village. I am hoping that they will be able to slow down the German advance and give my men time to take up position. On the extreme right, positioned behind a hill and some trees I have ordered 3 units of 60mm mortar to set up. With them I have a command team with radio. Their job is to sit tight and wait for a call for mortar support to come in. The men are deployed and orders have been given. The battle is set to begin.

Yep, no problem. I can post t here too. Should have just thought of that. SETUP The battle is about to commence. My small force of Americans is moving forward towards a small French farming village. Intel reports that a similar size force of Germans is approaching the village as well. Over the next hour our two sides will engage for control of this village as a cold June rain falls from the skies. The parameters of battle I will be approaching from the fields (red arrow) and the Germans will be coming at the village from a more built up approach (blue arrow). I predict that Tiresias will take up position inside the orange circle at first and I will try to initially move into the purple circle. I need to be careful though because some artillery could really ruin my day. I'm worried about this battle for two reasons. The first is the flatness of the ground. There are few covered approaches to the village so I will be forced to group my men up some in order to move them forward. The other big problem I am going to face is that once we are in close fighting, the firepower of the MP40s and MG42s that the Germans have will give my American squads a serious amount of grief. The village Here is the initial deployment and move orders of the bulk of my forces. Under my command I have a company of infantry to include two medium machine guns, a sniper, and a M4A3(76)W Sherman tank. The Sherman has orders to hunt up the road some and take position looking for any German armor that may be approaching the village. One of the MMGs is going to take up position on the right flank and watch for any Germans who may be trying to make a flanking move of their own. The unit in the pink circle is my reserves. It is a depleted infantry platoon. I'll hold them back initially and have them move forward if/when things get hot for one of the other platoons. Force deployment

Oh yeah, about that... the site is safe. There was a big thread about it by the site admin. There as some malicious links that were posted by a bot a while back in a thread and Google flagged the site. However the site is clean.

Back in the days of CMx1 I used to love making AARs/DARs of my PBEM games with my opponents. As I begin my first PBEM game in CMx2 I have decided to start up a new AAR so that everyone can follow along. I kindly ask that Tiresias hold off on checking this out until after the battle. Note... Google flagged the site for malicious content a while back. The admins state the site is clean but the warnings remain. I have no problems with the site and trust the admins but browsee enter at own risk. Sorry for any inconvenience. Here is the link to the AAR. I hope you all enjoy.

There's a person I haven't thought about in years. Yep, POS loved to pull off the gamey tank stack almost as much as he loved going on and on about it.

Awesome! I'll send you a setup when I get off work in 12 hours. Is anyone else interested? I feel I can do 2 - 3 PBEMs at a time with my current schedule the way it is.

I'm just getting back into BN after a long absence and have never done a PBEM in the new engine. Would anyone be interested in kicking my arse around a battlefield some? Hit me up with an e-mail at bigdork1001@gmail.com. I'm flexible since it's my first go. Scenario or QB... Americans or Germans... big or small... whatever you want.

That's one of those moments where you just stare at your monitor in disbelief before throwing your mouse across the room.

Hey all. I just played through the 2nd battle (again) and did a small AAR as I went along. You can check it out here. Paper Tiger... great job. I don't think I've had so much fun while swearing so much in a long time. Can't wait to keep going.

I've got a mandatory 0800 briefing I need to be at but I'm thinking after that I'll need to come back to the apartment to get my broken door replaced.

Playing Shogun 2 and Civ V, spending 2ish hours a day at the gym, reading, sleeping, lurking every day waiting for more tidbits.

As an American living overseas but still getting paid in dollars let me say I'm not quite as grateful.

Damn... wish I saw this a few days earlier. I'm from the Binghamton area, stationed in Greece currently. I know my parent's would be thrilled with a visit and I'd get to see the game. Lemme see what I can work with the boss and all that and I may still be able to swing it.

I haven't played this mission yet but thanks to your wonderful AAR I intend on it now. Thanks!

That's great news! Thanks for the quick response RW.

Question: Do you need the CMBB/AK disks to play the game with the 1.04 patch? I am currently stationed in Turkey. I have the CM games installed on my computer but the disks themselves are with my wife in New York. Do I need to have her send me my disks to play CM again or will I be good to go? Thanks! -BigD

F'in Rangers.

I think that BFC may shoot themselves in the foot if they answer that question right now. A lot of people would probably hold off on buying Brits and just hold out for the double-pack. Now I could imagine a time down the road a year or more from now where maybe they release CMSF Ultimate or something like that but at this time I don't think it would make the most sense from a business aspect.

Uh... go Rangers! >_< Seriously though as much as I love my Rangers I see the Bruins going the distance.

I'm in the US Air Force currently stationed in Ankara Turkey. Next year I definitely want to make the trip up north to Gallipoli if possible. Being in the military I feel it is important to honor all those who have fallen. Special occasions like this need to be commemorated by our current generations and all those to come.

Well if you hadn't before you sure are inviting it with that comment.