Tiresias

Turn 22 BD has some really bad luck this turn (at least it looks that way), and my Germans reap the benefit, inflicting some serious damage on the Canadians. That Sherman which has been on the fringes of the battle for the last few minutes starts the turn by manoeuvring into what looks like a solid hull-down position to take on my Tiger. It gets two shots off, but from what I can see both end up hitting the foliage directly in front of the tank. Finally, the explosions alert the Tiger's own crew to act; levelling the main gun they open fire and the first shot is a direct hit which forces the Sherman's crew to bail. I've captured so that you can take a look. Meanwhile, more attempts to storm the village directly over the ridge meet with the same sticky end as various teams hidden in houses along the main street open fire, taking merciless advantage of the natural reverse slope defence. I'm not sure what the point of these assaults are, to be honest with you. They seem to be carried out by small groups of men who are easily picked off by my MGs. Perhaps the Canadians are trying to work out where to target heavier weapons in the forthcoming assault. Meanwhile, in the centre of the map, there are the first signs of a fresh push, as a Canadian squad bolts for some buildings on the edge of the village. Unfortunately, they stray into the path of an MG42 team I've got concealed on the right flank in some trees. Freed from the pressure of having to reveal his position with that Sherman threatening to open up on his foxholes, the team's commander takes full advantage of the situation. By the end of the turn, at least three of the Canadians in the assault team are down and the others are audibly in a state of panic as they cower beside a house close to the end of the village's main street. Finally, on the right, my Me-109 makes a welcome return to the fray, swooping in and strafing an area to which we saw enemy infantry racing last turn. It's impossible to tell how many casualties he causes because there's a high wall blocking the view of my PHQ team on the ridge, but it looks pretty nasty. The only frustrating thing is that as I start planning my next moves, I notice that the fighter has gone again and is making his way back to the airfield. Although he is low on ammo he hasn't used it up, so my guess is that the target area was too close to the FO team for their own comfort, and they overrode my orders because of the potential threat to their own lives. To be honest, it doesn't make a huge amount of difference - the very fact that I managed to get in a small second airstrike is remarkable enough. If the pilot has done any serious damage in this game, he probably did it in the first few turns. Overall, we look to have dealt with a fair few enemy troops this turn, and maybe evened those odds a bit. I'm expecting BD to hit back fiercely next round!

Turn 21 Tick, tick, tick... I'm now frantically watching the clock in the hope that plane will re-emerge. There's no sign of it this turn and according to my FO team it's still "preparing". But we definitely heard it pass overhead last turn so, unless the Canadians have called in some air support, it should be arriving any time now. If it is, there's just a chance that it could have a devastating effect. This turn sees the enemy building up in both the central map and on the right flank. My PHQ unit, still concealed in tall grass on the ridge, spot perhaps a couple of platoons of enemy troops moving down by a farmhouse on the right flank, and heading straight for the aircraft's intended kill-zone. Meanwhile, there's some scrappy skirmishing around the ridge. On the left, my relocated MG42 team peppers an enemy unit with shots every time they poke their heads up over some nearby cover. They don't score a hit and I suspect that some mortar fire may soon be called in against them, which may force further relocation. There's no sign of an enemy build-up in this area, though, and I think my left flank isn't going to bear the brunt of the forthcoming assault - maybe a bit of diversionary manoeuvring at worst. Meanwhile OGefr. Jobst and his friends continue to blast away at the surviving soldier from the two scout teams who got too close to the village for their liking a couple of turns back. The unlucky Canadian cowers by the wall for a bit, then starts trying to crawl back to safety. He doesn't get very far. Overall this turn feels like the calm before the storm. Roll on the Luftwaffe turning up again - if they turn up!

Outstanding. Don't worry about CMBO; I recruited my Dad recently (this probably doesn't count as an achievement on the same level) and his computer's so knackered that's the only CM game he can run.

Great, thanks. Yes, the tank has LOS to the road junction just beyond the Sherman and my FO team. As soon as the Canadians reach that area, it should be able to hit them. Also, by fractionally adjusting its position, I can have it target the point where I think the advance on my right flank is going to come across the river and link up with the central force. At the moment I can see three Shermans on the map. They are reassuringly spread out and I am hopeful that on this basis the Tiger should pick them off. More worryingly, there is also an M10 lurking somewhere to the rear; haven't seen that since the plane was doing its rounds early in the battle.

Yep, Tiger is buttoned, but with my FO team in the house and the spotters on the ridge I have a reasonable sense of what's coming. I don't really want the Tiger commander getting hit by a lucky shot from a Bren or something given that the tank is, in all likelihood, going to be pretty crucial to the outcome of this game. As ever, I am not a very experienced player of the game (I'm particularly poor with armour) so if people think this is the wrong strategy, I'm all ears. Those Canadians who got hit last time looked to be scout teams to me. There are some signs that they're assembling a more significant force near to the centrally-positioned Sherman. If I can call in another airstrike it would make a hell of a difference. I can see one squad very nicely lined up by a wall overlooking the road junction, bang in the Me109's intended kill zone!

Turn 20 Following the appearance of the Bren gunner and his mate last turn, skirmishing now breaks out on the fringes of the village, as the enemy make a couple of ill-advised probes over its protective ridge. First, what looks like a scout team sprints for the vineyards at the village-edge, apparently trying to catch Jobst's team which opened up on the Bren last turn. Both are minced by other MG teams in nearby buildings before they can get close. Moments later, Jobst's own team take out the gunner who was targeting the retreating MG42 squad. Over on the weplayciv site I've made some video of this incident, just for the sake of an experiment. You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/DxRx5cWAnlE. Apologies if there's an obvious solution to the problem of embedding here on the BF forum - but I couldn't find it if so! There's more good news on the right flank, as my mortars use up the rest of their HE rounds to good effect, forcing part of the advancing infantry force to run for cover. Hopefully this has taken some momentum out of the Canadian push on this part of the map, which seems to involve formidable numbers of men. Best of all, the sound of my aircraft's engine is heard returning to the battlefield as the turn closes. It's earlier than scheduled, so I think it may be a few minutes before he can actually make a strafing run against the enemy's advancing forces - can my FO team hold out?

Turn 19 The Tiger takes up position without coming under fire, which is a huge relief, obviously. Here it is peering threateningly over the road, towards the Sherman that I was fretting about last turn. Over by the village, something of a bizarre war triangle emerges as the team we spotted last time crawling into one of my cover arcs come under fire. The turn has barely begun when a detachment from one of the squads under the command of one OGefr. Jobst opens up on the Canadians, sending bullets whizzing across their front at an oblique angle. The enemy Bren gunner, however, undeterred, spends most of the turn pointing in the other direction, at a retreating MG team on my right flank, which has just managed to escape from its foxhole having come under tank fire about two turns back. The latter are now crouching behind a wall. No casualties result from this strange little encounter, Jobst's machine-gunner blasting away at the Canadians to no apparent avail, and the Bren gunner aiming resolutely in a completely different direction. Meanwhile, my PHQ team on the ridge have done a great job of walking the mortar fire so that it's followed the Canadians' advance against my right flank. I spot three casualties over there this turn (not a lot, but all grist to the mill). I wouldn't want to be where these guys are as the clock stops, either:

Turn 18 No further casualties, but I think that the action is finally about to get serious after the preliminary skirmishing and general manoeuvring that has defined the first few minutes of the battle. The Canadians are moving forward with what looks to be decreasing caution; this turn a Sherman pulls up just a matter of yards away from my concealed forward observer team, who are still hoping that they can sneak in another airstrike before they kick the bucket (I somehow doubt it, chaps. Sorry). More pressingly, this tank is disturbingly close to having oversight of a critical area of the battlefield, which runs from the right-hand edge of the village down to the river crossing. After extensive calculations (I spent about 20 minutes working this move out), I've decided to bring my Tiger into play. It's not actually going to have LOS as far as the tank that's just appeared by my FO team, but if I don't move it now, it will have to move at a stage when there's a good chance some Sherman somewhere will already have overwatch of its position. So, time to act. This next image shows the area in question, with the red line indicating what I (roughly) estimate to be the limit of the Tiger's LOS if it gets to its assigned position without incident. The placement I've assigned the Tiger gives it a hull-down target pretty much everywhere relevant on the battlefield. My only minor concern is that it's difficult to (a) ascertain its height relative to what can be seen at ground level from different positions - making it possible that it and the Sherman will have LOS to each other from the word go; and ( that there is another Sherman lurking at the rear of the battlefield which might be able to get a shot off in its general direction. I think its course of movement should be pretty safe, however. Meanwhile, the central group of Canadians are edging forward in small groups, probably spread out quite a bit following the combined airstrikes and artillery barrages of earlier in the battle. These men are coming over the ridge and end the turn within spitting distance of the cover arc of a team I've got positioned in a house on the village's main street. I'm looking forward to them saying hello next turn! The mortar fire continues on the right flank, possibly catching a few Canadians in the process. They've started to divert course towards the river in response, and the fire adjustment is slow to follow. I doubt that it's causing masses of casualties; probably just one or two. The recent barrages against my MG teams appear to have stopped for now, although I expect that it's only a matter of time before they resume. That's good news, as they've been pretty damaging.

Turn 17 It's not a good minute to be in an MG42 team this time round, as the Canadians finally start to inflict some casualties from a distance. On the right flank, my MG team which was being targeted by the Sherman at the end of last turn is hit by an HE round before it can move to a safer position. The gunner is killed, and his gun is destroyed. Meanwhile on the left, the mortars fail to cause casualties, but do successfully knock out another gun, which is left pointing uselessly into the sky. That's two guns gone in one move. Fortunately due to the Germans' rather heavy-weapon intensive OOB at this point in the war, one thing I'm not short of is machine-guns. There are plenty to train on enemy infantry as it gets close, and the bigger worry remains the armour. Here is how the map looks at the close of play: There's lots of movement on the right flank, but my PHQ team on the ridge over there look to be doing a great job of guiding some mortar fire towards that area, helping to harass the Canadian push. Meanwhile, the already scarred central grouping of Allied troops appears to be sneaking forward towards the village. I saw at least one Bren gunner sallying forward this turn, before disappearing behind the map's central ridge. It looks overall as though the enemy are planning to use the remaining central force to secure the right entrance to the village, thereby pinning down some of my defenders while the company on the right flank come across the river. Hopefully the combined effects of mortar and my (yet to be revealed) Tiger will hamper the efforts of the latter, which means that the central force will not be relieved as soon as BD probably expects. The game-changing role of armour in this battle is evident; if I lose my Tiger early on, there probably won't be much I can do to stop the Canadians in the end.

Yes, that's roughly the plan. The armour is already spotted - the FO teams and that PHQ on the ridge have done a good job. The problem with hitting his tanks from a serious distance is that the terrain offers mixed lines of sight. For example, that Sherman which just took a shot at my MG team on the right flank can see their position, but once I move the MG team back about 30 metres and 10 metres over to the left, they should be obscured. My strategy is to get him to probe forward with his infantry (he clearly has masses of it) and use the Tiger against them first if the armour is lingering at the back. That should force him to commit tanks - probably the M10 in particular - to a fight in places which my Tiger already has sight of. By switching to a cover armour arc once I see the armour coming up I should be able to do him some damage. The Tiger can also jockey into a couple of different places, or withdraw to a point covering the village once that becomes the inevitable focus of attention. If it doesn't get knocked out first, that is!

It's a classic! Thanks for the comment - the plane has had a mixed effect; I think it's hit the infantry in the centre map pretty hard and it combined well with the off-map artillery to harass BD's men for the first part of the battle. In terms of taking out enemy armour, however, it's been a total waste of time! Every bomb missed its target and I'm going to have to be very careful in terms of how I use the Tiger. I think he's got at least 4 Shermans and an M10. Armour is usually my weak point when it comes to this game, although I've been reading up on tactics in an effort to do better this time. If he keeps his armoured assets spread out, I might have a chance of picking them off. Glad you're enjoying the write-up.

Turn 16 My first seriously worrying turn of the game sees the Canadians pull off a couple of surprises. First, that mortar fire that was targeting my MG on the left flank ceases, but more rounds start to fall - very precisely - in the vicinity of the other MG team I have covering that area. I wasn't aware that these guys had even been spotted, indeed, they've been quietly scanning the left flank for the best part of 10 minutes now and we haven't seen a soul since the plane was doing its strafing runs. My guess is that the Canadians are in that house where my forward observation team was knocked out early on. They've done a great job of creeping up on us quietly. The MG42 team are quickly pinned down and two suffer minor wounds. I've got little choice but to order them to hide for the time being - a dash across the open to their fallback position would be too risky, but there's a real risk that I may lose them to a well-placed round. Therefore, I've ordered the second MG42 team to relocate to their alternate position, which they crept round to a few turns back. That may prove little more than sabre-rattling, but at least it will give me protection against any intended push on the left flank. Meanwhile, on the right, a Sherman in a covering position at the rear of the map has either spotted one of my MG teams covering this area, or, more likely, the cluster of foxholes in which they've been hiding. A ranging shot crashes into the trees behind them. I'm taking no chances here and having these guys move to behind a wall a few yards back. That will put them out of range of the tank. There's more than safety at stake, however - it's critical that I draw the Canadians forward so that I can concentrate some firepower on them. That tank is going to be able to fire all day from where it is, so I have to make sure that he's obliged to move forward instead. I'm really tempted to manoeuvre my Tiger into its hull-down position covering the road junction right of the village this turn, with Canadian armour slowly moving up the map's centre in increments. But it's too far away yet, and I can't see the merit in him revealing his position until he's more likely to have something to shoot at. Finally, though, the enemy's infantry are advancing on my right again. They are still some way off (this has been an epic circling move for them), but hopefully they are heading straight for the area being targeted by my mortars. We'll probably find out in the next couple of minutes. By the way, not that I have anything resembling high hopes, but it's now six minutes until that plane's due to come back!

Turn 15 It's a simple enough turn, with the Canadians still moving very cautiously. I've only seen evidence of small clusters of men heading through the centre of the battlefield so far and the right flank has gone quiet again. This is a point of nagging frustration; my mortars have just landed a spotting round short of where I think the enemy are on the right, but for now they've gone to ground. On the left flank the bombardment begins in earnest - the red circle in the pic below shows Canadian rounds being wasted on the foxholes which, a few minutes ago, were inhabited by my MG42 team. They're now to the left, and safe and sound, ready to move into some more foxholes once it goes quiet. It's nice to be right about something in this game for a change!

Turn 14 Doubtless after a couple of turns spent establishing that the plane really has gone, the Canadians are on the move again, bringing up their reserves in the map's central area, and tending to the wounded following my combined airstrike and mortar bombardment. I have eyes on three Shermans at the moment; two on the right flank and one in the centre (pictured below). BD seems to be spreading them quite thin, using them to cover the infantry's advance. From what I can see he's not actually covering areas where I have many Germans concentrated, although he's not going to realise that yet. But it's tempting to see him pushing one tank in particular along the right flank and into a relatively exposed position, while most of his infantry seems to be lingering further behind. I hope he keeps on doing that once they're inside my Tiger's anticipated kill-zone! The push forward is slow, even on the right, where there have been no Canadian casualties. This has taken me by surprise to the extent that my PHQ on the ridge have had to order my on-map mortars to adjust fire. It's nothing more than a delay at this stage - the good news here is that the PHQ team seem to have moved into position without being spotted. The other advantage of the Canadians' slow progress is that every minute the clock ticks down gives my Me-109 a fighting chance of returning to the fray. I basically need my FO team to stay intact for another eight minutes. This is still unlikely, but they've managed four minutes so far! On the left flank, all has gone very quiet. Another spotting round explodes much closer to where my MG team was until a couple of turns ago. This confirms my presumption that they are targeting the foxholes round there. I'm going to keep that MG team hidden before they move into their secondary position, just to see if I can get them to waste a few more HE rounds by shooting at ghosts! Other than that, we're still in the build-up. I've had to adjust the cover arc of a couple of my MG teams on the right, just so that they don't loose off a few rounds at the tanks popping up on the right flank and reveal their position. I think much of this battle is going to hinge on whether I can use the Tiger effectively, now. The airstrike earlier has definitely weakened the infantry push, but there's a lot of Allied armour driving around this battlefield!

Thanks, both (and for the tip, Ian - hadn't realised I could do that). Sorry that progress is a little slow, but we've both had work commitments get in the way. Plus BD has a new young 'un to look after!