Heinrich505

I unloaded two near the ammo dump, figuring the enemy tanks coming in from the left flank would break through. They have not seen action yet. I tried to unload one on the right flank, but I unloaded him too close to a building and the gunners are now pushing it around inside the doggone building. Had they unloaded it properly, they would have blasted the SU-76 that rushed down the street and stopped in the nearby intersection to blow up my center Jagdpanzer. Arrgghh. The Jagdpanzer on the left flank is pretty much the only unit I have left there. He is trying to slowly whittle down the mass of T-34s. An air attack just waxed one of the T-34s for him. It was beautiful. The damned SU-76s pushed through my right flank, and several are running rampant in the city streets behind everyone. They just shot up my Jagdpanzer that was holding the center down, because they had an easy flank shot on him down the street. Another Jagdpanzer got blasted by the SU-76s before they broke through on the right. That was bad luck for sure. One got him with two shots to the front and blew him up. My other Jagdpanzer now has his rear to the marauding SU-76s but that will have to remain a cliff hanger as I've got to stop for now. He might have time to turn around and fire on the SU-76 as the Russians haven't seen him yet. The scene was utter chaos on the right flank when the SU-76s rushed around the buildings like rats on a feeding frenzy. Several were knocked out by grenades and small arms fire. Two got blown up by the Shreck guy before he lost his nerve and ran across the street. The one squad didn't use the demo charge as they gunned down the crew from an SU-76. It was carnage and mayhem. Heinrich505

Macisle, FINALLY!!! The rocket is the small dot on the left front fender as you look at the T-34. The Shreck guy actually fired his handgun at some nearby T-34 tank survivors from his first victim, which alerted his second victim, who then started to reverse madly. The Shreck guy then remembered that he had this big bulky tube-like thing hanging over his shoulder that he should probably be firing at the large tracked steel box with a very big gun sticking out of it...so he calmly shouldered it and fired one shot...TREFFER!!! His second kill. The first one is off screen to the right. He also did this solo as his assistant had been gunned down a minute ago by nearby enemy infantry. Heinrich505

Macisle, I think the initial barrage was very well done. I was worried that my ATG group would be blasted into oblivion before the battle even began, but the Russians were just a little off target and my guys survived. I had one of the ammo team for a gun take a slight wound and I'd carelessly not hidden anyone. The way you engineered it felt very real, because it gave me the impression that the Russians were guessing at a possible AT gun location and guessed wrong. It worked for immersion. I really like the Jagdpanzers because we don't see their use much in scenarios. And, their loadout will be needed for the waves of enemy armor, as well as infantry. Right now I've two Jagdpanzers working in concert with one another, one firing at infantry to slow them down and the other hunting armor. While Marders might be more common historically, you are correct about their limited loadout. You'd either have to increase their numbers considerably or go with some other additional armor. I think the Jagdpanzers have a better survivability against waves of T-34s or even SU-76s than Mark IVs. I found the "runaway" MG teams in the center were very effective, pretty much shredding my infantry before I had a chance to consider moving them back. Not sure that is bad for the scenario unless you want the center German infantry to have a little more chance to give ground. Just a few more observations. Spoilers*************************** My luck with infantry AT weapons is pretty dismal so far. In a crazy series of events on the right flank, the SU-76s finally got their courage up after losing only a few guns to the PAK front. They started rushing the buildings were the FO is located. I eased up the tank hunters and suddenly there were about 4 or 5 of the little buggers just about to overrun everything. My MG teams from the very far right had been slow to pull back, and suddenly they started getting rear hits on the SU-76s, causing them to start backing away from the threat to their exposed rear crew sections. I had not intended this. At the same time, I crawled the tank hunters towards a hedge where an SU-76 was arrogantly sitting on the other side. They both fired their panzerfausts at the same SU-76 (yes, happens all the time, and there is no way to prevent this...arrrggghh) and promptly missed, but the explosions landed right around a second SU-76 that was behind the first. That one started backing up in a panic. The tank hunters - now deprived of their primary weapon of destruction - coolly went to Plan B and lobbed a grenade...right into the open exposed top of the SU-76. Blammo!!! Three crew casualties just like that. The gun is still showing green but there isn't any crew to work it. Crazy action. The tank hunters' survival is in jeopardy now, because there is another SU-76 nearby, but I am hoping they can repeat their stellar throwing ability to knock out a second one. In the meantime, I am trying to crawl the Panzerschreck team up to try and get some shots on the other SU-76s which are now scattering in all directions like roaches caught in the bathroom light at 2 AM. Center has stabilized a little. Left flank is almost completely wiped out now, as the remaining T-34s rushed forwards. I only have one Jagdpanzer over there and I am trying to maneuver them into position to try for flank shots. Pretty wicked action, and I'm having a much tougher time at it because I was slow to start moving infantry back before they were hit by the high red tide. Heinrich505

Macisle, With 1 hour and 20 minutes left now, things are a little better. Both sections of the reinforcements have arrived, I've got some mortars coming down, and with some skillful use of the jagdpanzers, I've managed to stop the rush in the center. Spoilers*************************************** The schrek boys are still not working out well. I have not figured it out yet. They are usually within command control so they should be okay morale-wise. I was reluctant to split up the jagdpanzers but I had to, because of the critical situation in the center. I eased one of them out onto the main road into the center, and he promptly made a mess of the Russian armor that had been arrogantly advancing down the road. There are burning wrecks littering the road now, and the enemy infantry are trying to infiltrate between the houses. I have the barest of infantry screens, mostly one or two men here and there acting as lookouts to spot the enemy as they sneak forward. The right flank is still barely holding on. I tried to pull back the survivors from the AT gun section, only to run them right into a Soviet artillery barrage. I think that one loader out of all the crewmen and loaders has made it to safety. The two MGs and the HQ sections on the far right held out for a very long time, and now I am pulling them back. They slowed up the enemy infantry for a good while. The left flank was pretty quiet as the Russians were holding back a bit, using armored cars to scout my positions. I shoed them away a few times and then I managed to ease one of the jagdpanzers over in the area. I found an excellent spot on the far left flank, because I needed to try and stop the Russians from sweeping around my units. The jagdpanzer commander calmly and coldly lined up on them, punching the first round through and through on the armored car. Then he proceeded to line up on four T-34s and most of them are burning or quiet wrecks. Then I rushed him up the road and he made a hard left to try and ease into the small village on the left flank. The men had been maintaining incredible fire discipline, as they are, for the most part, not just shooting at everything in sight. I am not using covered arcs on most of them, so they are holding their fire until something necessary needs to be shot. I was trying to keep the HQ section from frivolously using their one panzerfaust, but they couldn't resist when yet another AC decided to foolishly advance down the street. The AC is burning now but I'm one less panzerfaust. Several T-34s are set up on overwatch and I am trying to ease the jagdpanzer into position among the houses to try and flank them. There is no time to relax and I have not seen a lull in the overall fighting yet. Things have quieted down in the center for the time being, but only because there are so many burning Soviet T-34s there. The T-76 AT guns are now starting to push into my right flank. I have two jagdpanzers working that area but I can't seem to line up on anything because of the trees and underbrush. There are three T-34s on the other side of a glade, and I can't see them anymore. I'm trying to ease up a panzerschrek team but I'm considering pulling back and letting the T-34s come to me. I think the tension level is very high, making this one a very desperate fight. You seem to be on track so far with how you've put this together. It is back to work tomorrow so my updates might be fewer in the upcoming week. Right Flank Center Area Left Flank. The shots are included as I didn't know if that might help you see how things are developing with the AI attack. Heinrich505

Macisle, I'm a little over 36 minutes into the battle. First impressions...the map looks very nice. As noted above, not sure about the sky. I think it heightens the tension, but that is just me. As an additional observation, once things get going, EVERY turn is a crisis. Things are not going well but then again, I didn't expect them to. This battle is supposed to be desperate and so far, IT IS!!! ;D I am playing it on Elite setting. For anyone planning to playtest...Spoilers... * * * * * * The initial tank attack on the right flank has been stopped momentarily. The three AT guns didn't last long once the Soviet arty stopped. They did manage a few kills and it appears the SU-76s have stopped and are letting the infantry flood forward. I would have thought they'd last a little longer, but that is subjective. The Soviets know where the guns are once they start shooting. My center is pretty much shattered by this time. I might have fallen back sooner, but I was hoping for some tank kills to slow the assault down. If any of those buggers with the panzershreks survive this horror, they are all going back to AT school. Not a one has shown me any skill at working their "stovepipe." They have, however, killed a lot of trees, so I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that. I am trying to give them armor covered arcs out to around 100 meters but this doesn't seem to have increased their abilities any. The one shrek team in the center managed to fire off all his shots and hit nothing, so he was run back to the ammo dump and now has 6 more. I am not expecting great things from him. Another team blindly plinked away with shot after shot, failed to notice that another T-34 had crunched through the hedges about 60 meters from their left, and they were promptly blown away. To give them just a little credit - reluctantly - they did actually hit a T-34 in the flank, but I don't think it was a kill. My lads seem to be rather timid when it comes to using grenades. One squad sat there in their building, looking directly at an aggressive T-34 tank that had driven to 15 meters from their spot. They refused to use any of their grenades and several turns later they fired...their...rifles and MGs...UGH!!! Faceplant. Yes, they were gunned down in spectacular fashion shortly after that. Another group did the same thing while looking at the REAR of a T-34. Tank fright? Perhaps. I rushed another squad out of their building to attack the rear of yet another T-34, and they snap-fired their panzerfaust, did get a hit, didn't get a kill, did use all their freaking grenades, "might" have gotten an immobilization result, and did get gunned down in the street once the T-34 swung their turret around to deal with them. As noted, center is pretty much shattered right now, right flank in momentary stasis, tank-wise, and a veritable tsunami of Russian infantry is about to crash on my right and right-center front. The left flank is pretty quiet. I've got the shrek boys on 100 meter armor covered arcs as I don't want them wasting their rockets on Russian scout cars. Some armor is massing on that side as well but no push as yet. Hope this is helpful. Heinrich505

Macisle, I'll try to play with this a little. Not sure how timely I will be, because of real life - the usual problem, haha. Not sure about the black sky. Conditions said clear and warm, but it sure looks like a storm is coming. Might be a mod conflict somewhere. Attached a screen shot. Clearly a horrifying sight. Purple flares are ripping up and down the line. "Feind Panzer!!!" Heinrich505

Hapless, That was really sharp. I enjoyed the vid. I'd say you'd be right about getting the commander unless he was bending over to tie his boot. Did your tank commander get hit at the end? I saw a red cross pop up. Who would have sniped him, the enemy infantry around the Panther? Heinrich505

Gnarly, I was pretty sure the Hellcat would be toast...appears like he escaped for now. It looks like you've got some nice fields of fire for the Panther on your right flank. Sounds like the 50 cals are becoming a real headache. If you can drop some mortars on them that would be a good start. I get the feeling you have recovered from the initial loss of Klink's Panther. Heinrich505

Heirloom_Tomato, I thought the troop mix was good. It appeared to well represent a scouting mission and the AI units would be consistent with that as well.. I played it as Axis and found the use of the equipment was a good challenge. I find that the fun is in getting an unexpected mix of equipment, and using other troops and vehicles forces one to keep in mind the various strengths and weaknesses of the forces while attempting to successfully work the mission. When having the computer choose your troops for you, often you get some weird eclectic mix of equipment. I remember one battle where I had 8 Wirlbilwinds as part of my troop mix. Sort of fun to play, but not something you'd normally expect for a probe mission. Heinrich505

Heirloom_Tomato, I played out your quick battle #13. Very nicely done. The first time through I managed a minor tactical victory. The AI hung back and I had to hunt a bit for them, losing units in the process. While I took the victory location, it was not enough for a big victory. I then played it a second time, changing my approach just a little, as I wanted to see if the AI would react differently the next time through against essentially my same approach from the first game. Damn, the AI came on like gangbusters, and I managed to prevail by having gotten units into good overwatch positions sooner than the enemy, which was guesswork on my part because I had no idea where the AI would be the second time around. I lost more units than the first time, but won a total victory as I was able to pretty much wipe out the enemy forces. I'll add that the AI didn't appear to stupidly rush the objective - they moved in somewhat carefully and the units seemed to react the way one would expect them to. I was quite pleased with your efforts. Very nicely done. And that was just one of the 14 you have posted. Heinrich505

Dragonwynn, This looks amazing. I've just downloaded it but can't play it right now. I opened up the first battle just to look though. Thanks for putting this together and thanks to all who worked so hard making the mods to go with this. I was thinking I would have to buy CMBB again (my original copy no longer works with 7) just to play battles in Stalingrad. Don't have to now! Thanks so much. Heinrich505

Acht, George MC. I'm still waiting for mine, just like Fizou. Everything I've bought by Jason Mark has been superb! Heinrich505

Gnarly, Whoo boy, looks like a cage match is about to begin for the Village. "Two men enter, one man leaves..." The SNAFU with the HMGs might be a good thing. You won't be tempted to put your halftracks into harms way now, thus saving you the points of burning halftracks. I find it too tempting to try and use them as mobile MG forces and usually end up with them knocked out or burning. Good action so far. The bright side is you haven't lost any more armor. +++ Heinrich505

Heirloom_Tomato, I tried the TinyAgricultural Battle, played it through as Axis, and then played it as Allied. I played it on Elite. In the Axis battle, I aggressively moved into the farm, flanked a little to the right, and got MGs in the second story building. I think I did all this in the first 15 minutes. After that I pretty much mowed down the Allies as they rushed up the road. Total victory in around 30 minutes. My guys were untouched, not even one wounded. In the Allied battle, I again aggressively moved into the farm, thinking the AI might do the same. I was in the second story in force in 15 minutes, and no Axis in sight. Then the AI appeared and tried to get across the road, but they were not going to make it. My fire from the 2nd story and covering Brens from my entry zone area down the road cut them down like wheat. Total victory at the 30 minute mark. I had one wounded. They were fun little battles, quick, but not very challenging. I wonder if you could make the AI more aggressive. I am guessing you had only one AI plan. I didn't play each side more than once. Is this the feedback you were looking for? Heinrich505

Damn, nice one. Santos' has an ace for a gunner. That is a good long shot for CM maps. I was fighting one of Kohlenklau's desert battles and the average distance shot for my Shermans was around 1500 meters, with some reaching out to almost 2000 meters. There were a lot of misses for sure so the large shell capacity for the Shermans was well appreciated by me. Nine hundred to a thousand is plenty long in the confines of the maps in CMFB. You've got elevation on the Kitty so plunging fire probably helped with the kill, but setting him on fire with the second shot was excellent.

Oh yes!!! Video too. You are spoiling us. Good long shot and kill on the second round. Just curious - what was the distance? Heinrich505

Gnarly, Man, bad news that. The colonel (Was his name Klink? "Hogaaaaan!!!") should have waited for you to let a few landsers poke their heads over the ridge and do some spotting for him before he drove into something's LOS. Nice screenshots and early action. You didn't want your loyal readers to be bored, right? Shake it off, Herr Oberst. We are with you. Oh yes, and tell those guys to stop pulling out shrimp for the barbee...bad for morale this early in the battle. Thanks for posting this DAR. It always takes special courage to put your battles out for everyone to see the good, bad, and ugly. Don't worry about early setbacks. Battle plans always go out the window with first contact. Heinrich505

Artemis258, Great narrative and nice screen shots. Looking forward to more. Heinrich505

I'd love "history based" battles in the ruins but H2H is something I don't have much time for. If you could also make them vs AI it would be great as well. I know trying to make them with triggers and AI plans would complicate things a bit. Sorry for leaving out Nigel earlier. His work is stellar. Heinrich505

Kevinkin, Sorry, I can only give you one hand right now. Very busy with RL. I did up a short story with pictures from your scenario "May We All Be Heroes" and posted it in the screenshots threads. Don't know if you got to see it. I was hoping it would provide some more support for your Stalingrad mod. I think your work is amazing on this subject. I'll look forward to anything y'all put together on your maps. I'm also looking forward to see how Dragonwynn progresses with his campaign. If I could help out more I surely would. I'd like to think that your efforts so far might help BF when they eventually get around to some official work on Stalingrad. If you don't give me a deadline for playtesting some battles, I might be able to help out somewhat. You can PM me if you like. Again, your work on Stalingrad is stunning and truly appreciated. Thanks for all your efforts. Heinrich505

I agree. I am constantly amazed.

MOS:96B2P, They were Italian issue grenades. I was attacking the US position with an Italian infantry squad. Yes, they have red on them. Heinrich505

That really bad moment when you realize volunteering was not a good idea... No time to have your life flash before your eyes... I'd never noticed a grenade go off in mid air before. Thought it was worth capturing. War is hell. Heinrich505

"Hans, you pick it up." "Nein, you get the MG. I'm perfectly good with my pistol." "No, I can't shoot that thing...didn't read the manual..."

Heirloom_Tomato, I just tried out your Scouts Out Front Scenario. Played it at Elite and got a Total Victory with about 28 minutes left. I did a small vignette of the action at one point of the battle. I posted that in the Screenshots Thread. You can see I had some fun with it. The map is good. The premise is nice as well. Clear the town and hold if possible, but back away if things get too dicey. The scouts are supposed to be a little better than the rest of the unit, but I wonder if Crack with +2 motivation/Leadership is historically correct for all of them. At times it felt a little like watching an episode of Combat!!! as the guys were all pretty much killing machines and needed to survive for the next episode coming up in a week. This sort of came to light when I tried to rush Moore and his sniper buddy across the street, only to be fired upon by two Germans with cover behind walls. My guys handily took them out. This might also have been because of the German factors - they might be green troops, truck drivers left in a village and waiting for the rest of their unit. It just felt like Crack and +2 were sort of overkill, but maybe that is just me. The battle played out very well. I snuck up on the village pretty well, using cover and covered arcs to keep from firing until I was close. The Crack and +2 might have helped this quite a bit, as I was not discovered right away and the whole object was to be stealthy, so this was a good thing. My guys sighted several enemy positions and were not sighted themselves, so this was very consistent with your mission of scout ahead, determine the enemy strength, and then take them out. All in all, a very nice debut. I liked it, and I think I played it out as you had intended by the briefing. Tension built as I snuck up on the village, easing up behind houses and starting to identify sentries. One small confusion was that I wasn't sure I was supposed to destroy the trucks. The trucks had an odd effect on my guys, as they were reluctant to follow hunt commands. They kept responding to the enemy trucks and taking cover. This was well after I had killed the men that had been near the trucks. The troops wouldn't respond to commands to hunt if they had the trucks in sight. Finally I had the one unit with the most ammo left start destroying trucks, either with grenades, demo charges, or rifle rounds. Then I was able to clear the village properly. With one truck left, the game ended at the 28 minute mark with a Total Victory. Again, nicely done. You only have a small number of troops, you don't know how many enemy you might run up against, you have to watch your ammo, and the battle plays out pretty quickly. For a small scenario, it is very good. Heinrich505