Heinrich505

BD, Always enjoy these. Thanks for starting up yet another. Heinrich505

Ian, That was a good surprise - practically no opposition on the crossing. Heinrich505

Tiresias, Like my grandmother used to say..."Ach du lieber, mein Gott in Himmel!" You did well to keep that Marder around as long as you did. I think your plan to move it around to flank the advance would have worked well. Don't worry about the delay. We'll be here waiting for you to resume. It will be interesting to see if you can keep that Priest at bay. With what I've been hearing about über tank crewmen, see about bailing them out and using them to bolster your final defenses. Heinrich505

Your vehicles are works of art. That Tiger is my favorite, but they are all jaw-dropping amazing. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication. It is really appreciated. Heinrich505

Ian, Great news. The Churchills (even the Uber one ) have weaknesses and have been cut down a bit by the StuGs. Nice to see the assault guns shine a bit. They are often the unappreciated workhorses. With the weather hampering your attempts to smoke the bridge for the assault, your Plan B with the HE might be the only choice. At least the enemy will be keeping their collective heads down as the bridge rush takes place. [Takes deep breath and holds...] Heinrich505

These are absolutely amazing. I especially liked the ivy climbing up the walls of several of the buildings. Great work! Heinrich505

Big Dork, So the brass went medal hunting, eh? Nice little episode with the bazooka attack. These little individual actions of the pixel troops are what really gives a special flair to the struggle. I love the details. Your screen shots had us right alongside the Captain as he lined up his shot at glory....and boffed it. He'll have to scrounge up more rockets, it would seem. Really cool action. Heinrich505

Tiresias, That was a close one with the bazooka on the Marder. Perhaps you can marry up some infantry nearby the Marder to keep eyes out to avoid a repeat ambush. I'd say the Marder is an important part of your success in this battle. You've done well to keep it in action for this long. That was a heck of a grenade toss by the troops in the barn. I thought they might make it out of that spot....but now down to one and his survival is still questionable. Excellent story and action. Heinrich505

Ian, Good call on using the StuGs for smoke. It might not be as all-encompassing as what the mortars would provide, but even a little bit of smoke will be better than none. You don't want to rush the bridge with no cover at all. Your screenshots are excellent. They help us stay right in the action. Thanks. Your only real option on the Churchills would seem to be lots of side hits. They are pretty tough. Heinrich505

Ian, Good back and forth action. The momentum swings are interesting. That bridge rush might be very exciting. We are standing by. "Mad Recon Skills." Nice one, Baneman. Heinrich505

Figures. Shortly after I posted it somehow downloaded okay. I still got the "your download has been interrupted" message, but instead of hitting cancel, I hit resume. When I did that, it showed "download complete." It didn't do that last night when I hit resume, but this afternoon it did. Hopefully that might help others with the same problem. Heinrich505

Can't get it to download properly. It keeps getting interupted and I only get a partial. Any other sources? Heinrich505

Bil, You know that all through your vacation you will be wondering if your Mark IV will get a second chance or if it will be toast. For your own peace of mind - and ours too, for crying out loud - you should postpone for at least one day. Oh, The Horror....The Horror...... Enjoy your time off. We'll be waiting. Heinrich505

Arrrggghhhh, a cliff-hanger. +1 to Baneman - a really great screenshot. Heinrich505

Bil, Great action. You are building this to a great crescendo. I just rushed a SPW into a field trying to flank a mortar team and went face to face with two previously hidden Shermans in a battle I am engaged. Yes, it went badly. Probably better not to have rushed that Mark III in for the possible flank shot. It would have given its flank to the villa, and I shudder to think what would happen next. Heinrich505

Holy Crap!! After reading this I was halfway across my back yard with sidearm and a crowbar, ready to close assault the giant backhoes working construction in an adjacent field before I pulled back from my berserker rage...goaded into action once again by ck3. :-D Heinrich505

ND, Really intense action. Your screenshots are great. You are right - this is coming right down to point-blank knuckle-busting fighting in the smoke. Are you letting your tanks choose targets or are you choosing for them? You might thin the weaker enemy tanks out by shooting at them first....except for the doggone smoke. Just curious on this point. Keep up the fight. It is getting even more intense. Great AAR. Heinrich505

LLF, I'm loving it. Your screenshots are superb and you should be proud of the work. Heinrich505

Tiresias, Nice job keeping the Marder alive and engaged. It was a close one though - almost got caught by the mortar. I'll echo the above sentiments about your final placement of the last platoon. There is a strong tendancy to put everyone in the buildings on the objective. Your placement elsewhere very well might catch your opponent by surprise on this one. Good move. Another version of this would have been to staff the buildings with only scout teams, put up some desultory return fire when he got close to give the impression they were manned, and then pull your scout teams back to safety. He'd blast away at the buildings for a while and then advance cautiously, only to catch it from the full firepower of your platoon in waiting. You will likely have to pull off a historically accurate counter-attack as usual. German forces were known for the almost immediate counterattack once a position had been wrested from them. Your strategy is shaping up nicely, even though you have suffered heavy losses. Heinrich505

John, Have you seen those babies in real life? Those "big doors" at the back aren't all that big. Aberdeen Proving Grounds in MD has a good one on display. Of course my son tried to get into the back and managed to clunk his head on the overhead crossbar. And he was just a small teenager with no helmet and gear on at the time. I could easily see how disembarking over the side would be preferred, even at the risk of spraining an ankle. If hit right they would brew up pretty quickly, so I'd take my chances launching over the side rather than logjamming up at the back. Heinrich505

That truck driver needs to be dismounted and given a special scouting mission to find the enemy. Bet his driving improves 7-fold if he survives the mission. :-D Heinrich505

LLF, Superb work. I loved your screenshot "take" of the troops wading ashore. I thought it compared extremely well to the original black and white photograph. This is all quite an exciting prospect for this game system. Your screenshots and progress reports are most appreciated. Heinrich505

Bil, Things are looking a lot more promising than they were a little while ago. That truck charge was wild - the picture of the burning truck was sad though. Looks like you are getting the better of the Shermans, finally. Remember to watch out for those super-heroic T-30s that are still lurking. They could resume their nasty ways. Heinrich505

Bil, Oh yeah!!! The truck charge worked. You had me holding my breath on that one. +1 to Baneman's remark about the inset picture-in-a-picture. Very nicely done. Heinrich505

ian.leslie, The combination of screenshots and the video really captured the frenetic activity as the armored cars rushed into the midst of your column. That is some crazy stuff. A mad several minutes that was. The large scale of your battle really is hitting home on the importance of flank protection and the value of recon. It has a very real feel to it. Heinrich505