Baneman

With the demise of the Company HQ ( to the canister ), the mortar mission is scrubbed ( one spotting round was fired ). Thus, I am now moving both up into Direct Fire positions. The one on the left will try to get into position to see into the cemetery which the Americans appear to be continuing to reinforce - its route should leave its left flank covered by a rise in the ground. The one on the right will move up the road to the Batt HQ's vehicle where the mortar will disembark and set up in the lee of the house - they should have LoS to the Nameless Wood which should help matters there.

To give a better overview, here's a shot from the backfield. The 251/17 took a hit last turn which damaged the gun. it backed away up the hill, through the hedge and found the large muddy area next to the road where it bogged.

Yep, that's right

This composite shot shows how the houses on the end of the row are being hosed down by what must be another quad-50 Halftrack. In the centre, next to the cemetery, 2 M8's boldly push forward. The one on the left KO's Sumbrunn's Halftrack, but with the luck of the drunk, he is not scratched ( at the end of the turn, this M8 receives fire from the 234/1 Platoon HQ and is KO'd ). The other however ...

Up in the Nameless Woods, more infantry are seen running away from my area fire ( all vehicles shown are firing to some extent on that hedgeline ). White arrow shows the path of the Bazooka-wielding runner from last turn. I expect Ken may try to get some more men up the road on the right ( green arrow ). Accordingly, that corner, along with the position of Danger Man ( as far as we know, the only Americans actually across the hedge ) will receive extra fire next turn.

On the far right, more troublesome enemy are seen. These are quickly despatched.

Ok, here goes. As seen at the end of the last turn, the M8 on the hill was hit by both the Drilling and the "New Lynx" in the Nameless Woods. Despite this, it gets off another shot Naturally in these cases where a perfectly good "kill" turns out not to be ( it took full and partial penetrations from the Drilling and a good penetration from the Lynx fire ), it KO's the Drilling. It then takes a casualty and another penetration from the Lynx and ... backs away out of sight ! Maddening. Plus, we haven't seen the last of him Midway through the turn, whilst area firing on the cemetery, Lt Gruber is hit ... from the trees where the Zombie M8 continues to lurk. Fortunately, everyone gets out. Lt Gruber is, however, dishevelled

Fear not, due to events shortly to be shown, the mortars are moving up to do just that

Nope - there's still "The One in the Town"

PrtScrn hasn't worked since Windows 7 ( I skipped Vista so can't say for that ). I certainly remember using it to paste into Paint when I used XP. Fraps is the default free workaround ( I use Irfanview to convert the bmp's to jpg/png as the free fraps only gives you bmp's ) Text overlay like Paused can be removed for screenshots by Shift-Esc

Just to let you know that I'm running a bit behind - no new pics or report until tonight ( now + 8 hours ). Sorry, but it can take a while which sometimes you just can't find. Thanks for the feedback, it was just a moment of doubt seeing 2 pages with only about 2 posts that weren't mine. I am, though, hoping that Ken's men are beginning to similarly doubt his leadership... Teaser : as has been the case so far in this battle, the next turn sees the pendulum swing viciously back Ken's way "Gruber's hit ! Gruber's hit !"

Is it any good ? I played (and loved) the original ( and the underwater one ), but I didn't know they were doing a new version, so I missed all the hype. My overriding memory of the original is that unbelievably creepy music - you were ready to **** yourself all the freakin' time ! That was brilliant.

Wait, why was Bismarck evil ? I mean, compared with other Nationalists of that period.

Cheers for that guys - there seemed to be very little feedback, I was just wondering if everyone was off playing Xcom2 and/or arguing on the CMBS board...

Gah ! I just realised I left out everything that happened up in the Nameless Wood. In summary - all the men who could, plus the transport halftracks just outside the wood, plus the Lynx and the 251/17 laid down as much area-fire as possible ( not forgetting Obersoldat Sumbrunn's contribution ) While it all had to be aimed at the hedge on this side of the road, the hedges are not bocage and a lot of the automatic fire passed through and across the road. It must have had some effect as at least a couple of Americans were seen running back away from the hedge. One had a bazooka too. Bazooka-Man must have been my enemy's plan, as he took two pops at the Lynx - one shot was ludicrously high, detonating in the treetops ( must have jerked the barrel from a nearby incoming round ) and the other (fortunately) hit a tree. Unfortunately, despite massive numbers of bullets flying around them, both Bazooka-Man and a friend got away. More of the same for this corner of the battle. The sole survivor of the Recon team that took the canister has aided the MG42 off his buddy and is asked to run up to the hedge to gain a look down the road ( the suppressing fire should enable him to get there ) - anyone hiding behind the hedge should be exposed. PS: Uh... is anyone still reading this ?

A look at the tracer insanity that is flying around

On the hill next to Gruber's little tank, some recon infantry putting suppressing fire on the cemetery can only watch in awe at the fire the Drilling throws out.

Meanwhile, on the far right, my 250/9 has been putting harassing fire on the cemetery. The 2 other armoured cars have held fire in the hope that the enemy does not know how far forward they are. Forlorn hope - we see Trouble coming through the trees.

Astonishingly, it was by obeying orders that Sumbrunn was hit. Told to put fire up the hill to aid 2 Platoon, his gun shield was facing away from the incoming fire.

Well, how about that - seems that having a Drilling shooting at something makes it SO much easier to spot ...

A closer look reveals ...

And then, a strange thing happens. As the turn ends and the now panicked Drilling backs away, it continues to pound the M8 that hit it. However, right at the end of the turn, there's a slight change to the hit text.

Job done.

... while Lt Gruber, seeing that no one has bailed out of the the first M8 hit by the Drilling... makes sure.

Almost immediately, the Drilling takes a hit from another M8, slightly behind the first. The commander is killed, but the guns still work...