Tux

I'm afraid very little of interest is happening at the moment. Steve's just doing his bit by hurling seven shades of whotsit at my forces, lol. Unless there are any objections I might just report back here once something worthy of note happens? The posts will be mostly pointless otherwise.

Ok, folks, I've got some eye candy for you. Basically, there's still no contact with Juste's men, as of the end of Turn 4, so these are some shots of my units in position to start moving out: My Tiger hangs back, buttoned up and ready to move out on demand 100m ahead of the Tiger, to the left of the main road, a Platoon of men are in position to sweep the edge of the trees clear of enemy troops, aided and abetted by a pair of Flammpanzer IIIs I'll get you some pics of the position at B, shiny new StuGs and all, next time. I don't want you to see them now; my Flammpanzer is arsing about rotating 270deg to face the right way, and has currently got half his hull through the wall of the nearest building. I know it's my fault, but it doesn't make for a very inspiring screenshot, lol, so you're just getting this overview of the road to C instead:

Lol, funny you should say that, MeatEtr, I've just been on a little 'shopping trip' to CMMODS to see if I couldn't spruce them all up a bit. I had to modify some file 'cos I don't like having numerals on my tanks, used Pat's StuG and Pz III chassis graphics and I put some ash on the Flammpanzer/ Pz IIIM gun barrel. @ Wicky, yes it can, I'd completely forgotten to turn it back on. I've just played turn 4, so I think a screenshot or two is in order. [ April 01, 2008, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

Turn 3 of 40 Still no contact whatsoever. Taskforce B is in position, except for the Flammpanzer which is having trouble with collision detection. ALl other units are making tiny adjustment moves until I know more about Juste's ideas. The one exception is my sharpshooter scout on my left flank. He is now wandering around the map like a proper lone wolf, looking for signs of the enemy. Hopefully, as long as he's on Move to Contact I'll be able to evacuate him as soon as he finds anything. [ April 01, 2008, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

There are, yes. It can be annoying if you get an IS-2 reversing out of contact with a flank-on Pz IV because it thinks it's a Tiger! It sounds to me like your friend may have issued a Move To Contact order to a group of tanks that were too closely bunched together. on MtC all the tanks will stop dead in their tracks (no pun intended) as soon as they or a nearby unit comes under fire or spots the enemy. Against a KT that's suicidal enough in itself, but if he then had tanks, with no room to manoeuvre, ramming into each other/ trying to drive around one another to escape then the situation is very quickly going to turn into a bloodbath. I think all he can realistically do is smoke the KT asap and plot himself some properly timed and spaced movement orders for those T-34s. At least the fact that they're Crack and Elite will mean they don't take long to move once they've been given orders.

That's true, I think it might have been. Ah well, we weren't to know... Turn 13 Everyone keeps firing at each other without any major developments - you know what it's like, lol. All forces are committed and all I can do is wait for Steve to move into my mines etc. I'd post a screenshot but if you just imagine the lost contact markers from Turn 12 moved 15-20m further forwards then you've seen all there is to see.

Orders for Turn 3 consist of minor adjustments to my units to improve their LOS ranges. I need to shuffle the Pz III in a bit close to the building - he's too far away atm and can be seen from too many angles. My scouting platoon along the road to C is sneaking about in the trees on the left flank, obtaining decent LOS to the road ahead. I'm not comfortable without having made any contact yet. I don't want to give him sound contacts to my moving AFVs unnecessarily when I don't know where he is. Finally, I got paranoid and buttoned my Tiger commander as well as hiding all of my defenders at A. They can't spot anything useful from where they are and I don't want to leave my personnel at risk from prep fire HE any more than I have to.

It's Paintshop Pro 8 - I got used to using it when I used to skin aircraft models for Il2 Sturmovik. It's very good and, as you've noticed, quite useful for annotations. Turn 2 Still no contact whatsoever, which is slightly disturbing. If Juste has decided on a similar (primarily defensive) strategy to me then I could be in big trouble. I don't have the strength to assault a well-fortified position efficiently. I'd much rather take the brunt of his forces with my defensive positions and then counter attack when he's weak, but then who wouldn't? Anyway, Taskforce B is all but entirely in position. I just need to double check their LOS during the next orders phase to make sure my Pz III isn't sticking his backside out beyond the rear of the house, for example.

Turn 12 Not many developments during Turn 12 I'm afraid. Steve's accompanying email has commented that he didn't realise I had such paltry AT assets available until he checked the list yesterday - he expected me to be able to threaten the T-34s at least. He readily admits that the two KVs are revenge for the Sturmtiger though, lol. His T-34s have stopped predictably short of close assault range and wide of the AT mines. My T-26s are under KV fire because Steve wants to see what happens to one when it takes a 152mm penetration! They have, however, made contact with his troops and are firing with main guns next turn.

Lol. Monsieur 'Juste' doesn't wait around! Turn 1 Uneventful, as I suppose I expected. No contact made anywhere 'along the line'. Taskforce B almost in position The reinforced company on my left are still moving up to their forward positions in preparation for launching the advance. The Tiger hangs back; I am going to decide where to deploy him on a minute-by-minute basis.

Right, so, to begin. It's April 1943. I've been playing just about long enough to know more or less what that means in terms of potential unbalanced fights: I, as the Germans, have affordable access to 80mm+ frontal armour which the Soviets will find it hard to penetrate at any sort of range. Juste, my Communist friend, has access to SMGs en masse. Since the weather is foggy and we are fighting at dawn, visibility is restricted to a maximum of 200m in the open. The map is also very generous in terms of cover. Clearly, any fighting is going to be hard, fast and conducted at hideously close range. Juste's ready access to swarms of SMG-armed infantry has persuaded me that this will just not do; I must seek to maximise the distances over which my men engage his and bring as many guns to bear as possible when I do. My force selection therefore reads as follows: 2 x regular Jaeger Companies: To maximise the amount of SMG firepower my men wield. 1 x regular and 1 x green sharpshooter: AFV commanders are going to be especially vulnerable and worth suppressing. 1 x green 75mm FO (75 rounds): A smoke mission will allow for an advance across open ground, enabling me to avoid SMG-infested tree patches. 1 x regular platoon of StuG IIIGs (early): I need to utilise my AFV superiority to counterbalance his well armed infantry units - a platoon of keyholed StuGs should be able to hold an objective of my choice against armoured assault. 2 x regular and 1 x green Pz III Flamm: A means by which to quickly and efficiently obliterate nearby hostile SMGs 1 x regular Pz VIE Tiger (early): Should be able to do alone what the StuG platoon can do, and do it in a second area of my choosing. Right, I'll be able to elaborate on my planes in more detail once we've seen a turn or two and my forces are in position. Here's the map: Essentially, I have positioned two good Jaeger platoons plus two of their HMG 42s in the village at A, and am confident that they are well positioned to fight off unsupported infantry. They are well led and most of them are 'keyholed' in heavy buildings so that they only have LOS to areas of open ground, and not the nearby scattered tree cover. The Left Flank and Defences at A I'm sending my StuGs to B. They should be there and in position to cover the approaches by the end of the first turn. I am also sending my green Sharpshooter with a damned good Section Leader to hit any TCs who stick their heads over the shallow hill along the road towards the Red lines. I am scared of the trees on the map edge at B; they give a perfectly covered approach route to the hamlet for SMG troops, and I'm not even going to try and deny them that by wasting my own men in 25m combat in thick woods. My plan is to stop them getting out of the woods and contesting the flag in the hamlet. To this end I have a green HMG with a good Section Leader in the trees just behind my lines who can shoot along the entire length of the gap between the trees and the nearest buildings in the hamlet. I also have a single green squad moving into position in a heavy building to ambush anyone who tried to cross a larger patch of open ground (I expect it to work once, well, and then probably be destroyed). Finally, I have my trump card: I have identified a position from which a regular Pz III Flamm can cover all of the buildings on the right hand side of the hamlet and a portion of the trees beyond. He will meanwhile be himself covered from armoured attack by the StuGs, and will remain out of range of close assault. "Taskforce B" My other sharpshooter is going to sprint, alone, up the left flank to the edge of the trees to observe (and only observe) any attempted advance by Red forces down the left flank. My main 'attacking' force is going to take the unexpected route forwards; straight down the middle through the least well-covered area of the map. Three platoons head into the central patches of woods: Two into the lefthand patch supported by an HMG and a Company HQ and one into the other patch supported by a 75mm smoke FO and the second Company HQ. A single platoon is sent to sweep the inside edge of the area of woods ahead of the second arrow from left. A cautious advance along the main road towards C will watch for targets which my supporting Tiger can then move up and destroy. My main fear here is two-fold: A Tungsten round or two from a well positioned 45mm ATG could very quickly ruin my day completely, so I must be prepared to push my men as far as possible without exposing my Tiger unnecessarily. Secondly, the trees on my left could prove to be Juste's chosen axis of assault. In case it proves to be swarming with Soviet infantry covering the route along the road I have my platoon assigned to advance along the very edge of it, fighting the enemy off if necessary. These brave warriors will support, and be supported by two Pz III Flamms (the green one and one which was bumped up to vet) right next to them, which will hopefully get the drop on any troops the Jaegers encounter in the trees. The Route to C and Supporting Platoons All told, I'm confident that I can hold B against all but a full battle group. I am as confident that A will not fall to a force that is not supported by heavy HE firepower. With this in mind my advance will, initially, be towards C and C only. The approaches towards D are too open and restricted, necessitating as they do an assault across a bridge and/ or a shallow ford. Even the assault towards C, as I have hinted, will be a slow and cautious one. I will readily have my men fall back to extend the range towards any SMGs or to support the troops at A. Similarly, I won't think twice about using my Tiger to take on any Red armour that tries to advance down my left flank. Finally, I have planned a set of defensive positions covering the route from B towards A, in case B should fall, which either my advancing men or my best platoon at A can readily take up. [ March 31, 2008, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

Hi all. Sorry, it's me again with another AAR. I'm enjoying doing the 1941 jobby quite a lot, so I thought I'd have a shot at another one in parallel. If we could try not to make too many direct references from one of these AARs to the other it would be very useful, since I'm playing them against different opponents, so they are each allowed to read the thread that doesn't concern them. So here it is; a CMBB meeting engagement set at dawn on a damp, foggy April day in 1943. This time I was allowed to see the map first. The points limit was 2000, force composition was unrestricted but we could only spend a maximum of 1000pts on armour. Rarity was standard and the maximum allowed unit quality was veteran. My honourable opponent allowed me to choose sides, so I flipped a coin and went German on his ass.

I have just sent my orders for Turn 12. Since I'm basically waiting and hoping that Steve messes up somehow, they were very brief. I'm using my central mortar FO to keep hitting the trees at D, hoping he'll strip the onwards-rushing T-34s of their infantry support. My nearest FO is now free to land smoke within 2 minutes if the tanks get close enough. I've made sure all my unsupressed MGs are up and firing, hidden the forward squads at A, and assigned my ATRs to button the KV in the rocky patch halfway down the slope. That's it, I'm afraid. Now I simply pray.

Can you not always tell the difference once they open fire, though? The long 75 sounds very distinctive, especially compared to the L48. I'm sure that the way I always decide for myself is from the gun sound. A unit labelled as a 'Tiger?' but using the more subtle 'crash' of a 75L48 is clearly a Pz IV, etc.

Again, I have to agree with you Jason. As I hinted in my first post, I can no longer remember why I thought a platoon of T-26s was worth the cash. I think I probably expected Steve to do what he usually does and pick a fair, realistic force, in which case they'd have been competitive against light armour and could have harried infantry with some confidence. In previous fights, with more tree cover or with significant hills, I have had some success with AT mines along probably routes of advance. I don't think I'm likely to spend as heavily on them as I did for this game again, though. I definitely wouldn't say no to more HMGs either. I bought 82mm FOs for flexibility and ammo depth, but the lack of tree cover means they're unlikely to hurt Steve's men much. There's a very slim chance I may still find their smoke capability useful, but I would far prefer some heavy shells to hit his men with now. As for PaKs, I always find it hard to justify spending big points on them in such a small game on the off chance that my opponent buys heavy armour. I like using them, but I always feel the need to buy 2-3 to make sure I can cover multiple routes of advance, and when serious guns are expensive as they are to the Finns that takes a large chunk out of your budget.

My decision to buy trenches was for their terrific exposure-reducting qualities, even in open ground. Remember, I didn't know what the map was going to look like until after I'd selected my forces, so while there was a possibility of a totally open map I was reluctant to rely on foxholes to provide my units with sufficient protection against Steve's heavy numerical advantage. I'm very glad that I bought them because they definitely helped minimise my losses to Steve's heavy artillery. They will also be partly responsible for the late stage at which Steve has spotted my MGs - I've had almost ten full minutes firing at him undetected. More troops would be nice but, if they're easy to detect and suppress, they're not going to last long under assault. I don't usually spend so heavily on mines, but here's why I chose to spend valuable points on them this time around: I realised that two platoons of infantry, four MGs and a few mortar shells is actually a very light defence. I knew I would need to hit Steve's infantry physically and psychologically as hard as possible, and I thought a few anti-personnel mines on the way in/ out of my chosen mortar kill-spots could seriously demoralise his men. TRPs meant I could ensure accurate mortar strikes on several pre-selected locations, and the mines allowed me to make those areas as unpleasant as possible. The AT mines were a plain admission to myself that my AT defences were hideously lacking in any real penetrative power. I hoped that a few patches of trees near the forward edge of my setup zone would allow me to mine his AFVs' routes of advance, and hopefully take a few of them out before they could properly engage my forces. Obviously, this plan required a less open map to work properly, so even sticking my neck out to buy 8 of the buggers wasn't enough to avoid leaving some *very* large gaps in the field. As for my thoughts regarding tank-riders, I often ride my slowest foot units on the back of a tank in order to keep them in touch with their faster comrades, or to rush them to a body of cover from where they can continue on their own. I very rarely mount men on tanks that I expect to come under fire - I've had far too many squads leap off tanks in the middle of nowhere and crawl around until routed because their HQ didn't get shot at, stayed on his tank and is now 200m away. I find the tendency for infantry to automatically disembark when taking incoming fire particularly galling when the incoming fire is in the form of an artillery strike. If they stayed put the tank would have them out of the kill zone in seconds, but no; they'd far rather get off and start crawling and they end up having to withstand the entire barrage. Occasionally I use tanks to carry ordinary infantry through deep snow or something, to avoid knackering them on the way to the front, but I haven't often played in snow, funnily enough. [ March 29, 2008, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

I find it hard to argue with any of that. I would actually be exceptionally surprised if Steve messes up from this point. I'm still willing to give it a shot though, if only for practice dealing with such formidable forces. Unfortunately, as far as time is concerned, you'll notice that he still has over 30 minutes of play left to contest the flags. I don't imagine it'll take that long. We play with 45mins+ as standard on our 1250pt games because we didn't like the occasional instance of being forced into an unrealistic rush for the objective in 30min fights.

It has never occurred to me to use smoke to screen an assault on a particular vehicle. How bizarre... Thank you, JK, I may try and smoke his clan of T-34s if they get close enough to my forward squads at A (they need to advance another 200m or so). The tanks have very long command delays so may not make it out of the smoke in time to escape. The only thing is my squads only have one grenade bundle each. Do you think two squads will be able to take out four closely-packed T-34s safely, given a healthy smoke screen? Unfortunately, my platoon at B is commanded by an HQ with double Stealth and Morale bonuses - perfect for close assault through a smoke screen. The only platoon HQ at A just has a single command and combat bonus, so even if I were to send him out with the squads he'd be of limited use... Also, yes I'm hoping that Steve gets overconfident with his KVs. The weather is overcast, warm, windy and - wait for it - damp. If he hasn't spotted the rocky patches he could well find his KVs immobile in dead ground. [ March 28, 2008, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

Turn 11 Turn 11 sees things finally start to hot up at my end. Steve has done well enough to gain spots on my MGs at A, and has opened up at them with the T-34s' MGs and a batch of overwatch MGs sited on the hill at his end of the map. The HMGs have already caused a single casualty amongst my Maxim crews. His T-34s are rushing forwards, *just* ahead of my mortar barrage and *just* wide of my AT minefield, I think. His KVs have both started to crawl down the hill towards my lines. This I find encouraging. I would have expected them to have sat back with the HMGs as overwatch and pounded me with HE until the end of the game. I don't see any need for him to bring them forwards, seeing as his T-34s can work me over from close range. As it is he is a) at risk of immobilising one in the rocky terrain between his hill and my lines (which I would love by the way), and potentially subjecting them to the possibility of close assault by my men. Anyway, my plan during the next orders phase hasn't changed. If I'm going to stand any chance whatsoever of attacking his armour or getting a result I need to remove his infantry as an effective force. The mortar strike on D is therefore going to continue, I think. One of my other FOs might start counting down a strike on the crater mess in my centre, and I might, with my third FO, drop a few smoke rounds near the TRP on the distant hill top to blind an MG or two.

I'm going to give it a good shot anyway, I think. Who knows; if I manage to obliterate his infantry then I may even jam a draw... I would just like to say, in Steve's defence, that this is the first time either of us has ever selected such a 'gamey' and invincible force. Sod's Law that it happen to be the one I decide to publicise on here!

Come to think of it, I may consider having a slight go at Steve for this force selection. In 1941 the Finns are clearly going to be entirely unable to harm T-34s or KVs with any conventional weapons. Buying one or two would be fair enough, unusual and payback for the Sturmtiger I bought a few games back. Buying a platoon of each and (as far as I know) no lighter types is a bit much, lol!

Turn10 Fairly uneventful. My MGs chatter away again at thos infantry who show their face, etc. Two things happen that are worthy of note: 1) Steve's T-34s and infantry move positively into the trees at D (unfortunately aiming to narrowly miss most of my mines ), and so in 42 seconds' time they can expect an 82mm barrage to arrive with lethal accuracy. 2) The sharper-eyed of you may have spotted this in the first screenshot; on about 52s an eneormous shell landed within twnty metres or so of one of my entrenched MGs at A. I came from the general direction of two 'tank?' contacts on the hilltop behind Steve's lines. By the end of the minute one of them has been more positively identified... What do you think? Is it worth smoking that hill at the expense of HE mortar rounds, or shall I just carry on with the plan of hitting Steve's men and hope to withstand the heavy fire from his armour? Actually, I've already decided on the latter course of action, considering that the KVs can simply move through smoke... Bugger.

Appreciate the comments, folks, thanks. Lanzfeld, I also am hoping upon hope that my string of minefileds will catch a tank or two if he tries to push them forwards. Annoyingly, during setup I had to make the agonising decision to either create a double layer of minefields, thus making a hit on any tank that tried to cross the layer almost certain, or spreading the fields out to cover a wider 'front'. I chose the latter becaause of the open nature of that point on the map. Also, I'm still hoping that Steve decides to flank the scattered trees in front of his T-34s, rather than drive through them. If he comes through them I fear he'll miss my mines. JK, it is annoying, yes. In retrospect I don't know why I assumed the FT was in the OT-130's turret - even the Russians' big old OT-34s carry it in the hull... Costard, thanks for the idea - I may well try that out next time I play a complex attack/ assault. I should be able to watch Turn 10 later this afternoon, so expect an update presently.

All but two of Steve's infantry units have become lost contact markers in the orders phase. One of the two I can still target directly is the one I concentrated on last turn and who is crawling towards his own lines. I have left my single green Maxim 'on' him to make sure he doesn't get it together to turn 'round again. I've put the other two MGs with LOS + my mortar on the other visible squad, who is up and advancing towards a nearby crater. Hopefully I can persuade him to turn back before he gets there as well... Apart from that I've simply called off my two ATRs. Steve seems to have manually buttoned all of his T-34s this turn, so I want to see what his intentions are if I leave them alone for a while. Sorry for the lack of screenshots this time, but there's honestly nothing to show!

One thing I've often thought would be useful in CM is some sort of option that you could toggle on and off, and that would overlay a translucent 'plan of action' screen over the map. Just occasionally, when a turn takes a week of more to get back to me, I forget all the careful plans I made before I sent it off. It would be extremely useful to be able to plot some generic coloured arrows for axes of attack/ highlight positions on the map with good LOS/ etc. and so forth. Anyway, that's just my two penneth. I mention it because I'd like to be able to annotate the craters which I believe may be sheltering Steve's HQs since they dived in and defaulted to anonymous lost contact markers.