mjkerner

Boy, this is all looking really great! Phil, I sent you a PM. Can you send me your FJ mods, and also let me know what you would like me to work on, if anything. Looks like you have most of it covered, lol!

OK, before football begins. Don't get started on any more FJ uniform mods until I get a chance, lol.

Phil, you've been warned about photos like that several times now. Behave!

Can I call tomorrow late morning? Definitely interested! My kind of scenario, as you know.

Thanks Doc and Baneman. B, I think I should be able to recover the jagd, but it may not be ready in time for the next battle. It's up to Phil's die rolls. I forgot the Scorecards: Dahm Kraemer Wiinholt (I spelled his name wrong throughout the battle. Hope the war correspondents get it right!) Detmers Poppe

Phil, I will look in my files. I tried that a while ago, but I think it was putting FJ helmets and uniforms on Brit Paras or something---had to do with the defunct Malta enterprise. I'll get back to you.

Lol, I very quickly glanced at the titles of my unread CMFB threads, and didn't see the author's name on this one before I clicked on it, but I thought to myself: I bet this is one of Phil's. I hated that song then, and still hate it. Thanks, Bro!

Mark Ezra, you are just plain awesome!

Well, at least the obstacles were cleared.

Sympathetic explosion of undetected mines, perhaps?

Ahhhh, thanks for the clarification. That same ATG, which I thought Dahm would spot and nail once he got around the east edge of Deelshurk, got an LOS/LOF way across the Dommel and immobilized Winiiholt in the last minute of play! So as a wrap up, It was a Draw. Dahm shot up a few more carriers and infantry teams. Winniholt was immobilized, and turns out Chappy had four unharmed Shermans left in the way across the Dommel Southwoods. I thought he only had 2. I lost 1 Jagd destroyed and 1 immobilized, 2 flakwagons, and 64 (IRRC) KIA with 66 WIA. I destroyed 7 Shermans (2 Fireflies) and 16 other armored vehicles, mostly carriers, and a couple of trucks. He lost about 100 men, 60+ KIA and the rest WIA. He holds Deelshurk, I hold Dommelen. Because it was a draw, I think that's how it will stand operationally. Overall I am pleased that I was able to grab Dommelen just to deny that hex to him, and to have destroyed a lot of vehicles. But he probably will be able to replace them easily, at least historically he would be able to. I told myself I could live with losing 1 Jagd if I got my objectives, but of course I didn't get Deelshurk, and now another Jagd is immobilized as well. And Dommelen was a little too expensive in that I lost in essence a complete company of infantry, which includes one platoon of FJs. Still, having done that well on the attack, I can't wait to use them and my FJ (and Waffen SS, I believe) schreck teams on defense, in the city no less. Heinrich, SLIM, thanks for your comments and encouragement. Everyone else, if there was anybody, that is, hope you enjoyed the show!

So, this will catch us up. At 5 minutes to go, Dahm is roaming to the left of Deelshurk, getting a bead on the vehicles, guns and infantry inside and to the rear of Deelshurk. Winiiholt and Kraemer are across the river, trying to stalk the Shermans left in the Southwoods. Here's Dahm (I goofed on the title...Dahm is on the west side of Deelshurk; Valkenswaard is to his right (north)....

Could it be "Armor Arc confusion"? Depending on circumstances and crew quality, my armor crews will hesitate and sometimes never shoot the whole turn when there is more than one AFV in the arc, like you have here (another vehicle moves into the Arc from the left).

SLIM, I think Chappy made a desperate move to try to get a flank shot on my Jagds. He commented to me last week that something had "not happened" in this battle that was apparently supposed to, which led him to that desperation move. The more I think about that, I think he was referring to air support. Kohlenklau had mentioned in a pre-battle post something about needing the flakwagon unit i had. And I had been waiting for an air strike to hit throughout the early stages of this battle, but it never appeared. I guess the airbases in England and those across the Channel are socked in! More action from approximately Minutes 15 - 5 Since Kraemer took out the two Shermans near the Destroyed Bridge, I got cocky and sent the flakwagon ahead (south) to engage more infantry and vehicles in positions on the west side of Deelshurk, hopefully exposing and eliminating his verdammt mortars in the bargain. Bad decision... If you recall, I moved Detmers, who lost his main gun to that puny armored car earlier, to the bank of the road leading from the Destroyed Bridge to Valkenswaard. I wanted him to use his machine gun on the 3 mortar teams lining the stone wall running west of Deelshurk to the river, on the opposite side of the field where Detmers is positioned. You can see them in their smug insolence, calmly dropping more rounds on my poor pixeltruppen! How many frickin' mortar rounds does Chappy have, anyway????? (Sorry, an even more hurriedly-video than usual) Detmers Jagd actually was only immobilized by these shots. Although he was killed, 3 crewmen survived and beat a hasty retreat. I thought that we might be able to salvage this beast after the battle, but Chappy sent a team (anti-tank or maybe engineers) forward to successfully finish it off several turns later.

As these actions were taking place, I spotted another AT gun moving into position almost straight south up the tree-lined road from where the Firefly was located and in a bit of sweet justice, mortared it to death! My spotters lost sight of it and the carrier almost as soon as the turn started. If you look quickly as the title fades, you can see the gun. Suffice it to say that the area where the gun was located was pounded, and it was destroyed along with the carrier. (For reference of its location, you can see its dead carrier's smoke plume in the overview picture above.)

Here's an overview shot of the action in front of Valkenswaard: ...and two very satisfying pictures:

As he got in amongst the infantry, his Firefly took out one of my flakwagons. Frustratingly, the flak had an Armor Arc covering the Firefly, but it simply wouldn't fire. I think the crew was too busy cleaning their underwear: No fear, steely-eyed schreck gunner, Jaeger Poppe, knows how to handle armor: Scratch two British tanks!

I want to finally get us caught up, even as this battle winds down (as of today, Chappy and I have 4 minutes left). Because there simply wasn't any infantry combat to speak of, the pics and video show more tank on tank (well, there is one series of infantry on tank) action to report. Minutes 17 - 11 The general situation is that as of around Minute 15, as Kraemer and Winiiholt are messing around west of the Dommel, Chappy's Firefly and the other Sherman at first pulled back behind the house after my flakwagon hit the Firefly. But they almost immediately returned to the fray, and in a big way. He fired a ton of smoke all across my left flank (white lines show the eventual drift), in order to create a screen for those two tanks to move toward Valkenswaard and as I eventually deduced, to get flank shots on my Jagds. (I at first thought he was heading for the town in an effort to shoot up my FJ infantry which was moving out to support the 10th company platoon headed for Deelshurk.) In the picture below, you can see his smoke screen, and the movement of his tanks on my left. I thought he would turn west earlier than he did (the dotted blue line), but instead, he got right in among my infantry. Luckily, I had 4 schreck teams that moved to counter this unsupported advance.

Chill out, people!

No problem, SLIM. I keep changing the Frap settings around. I hardly ever like the way they turn out no matter what I do. During this time, my barrage hits Deelshurk. Although I saw some damage to his troops and vehicles, his mortars, lined up along the stone wall running west to the Destroyed Bridge, remained largely intact, as well as some other important units I was not aware of at this time. Did manage to put a mortar round into a bren carrier: [ Dommelen is finally invested. Man, what a slog and the cost was too high for the gain. But operationally, I guess it was worth it.

Minute 17 cont. As Kraemer backed and turned to engage the Shermans in the Southwoods, the flakwagon turned left (south) at the ford and moved forward behind him to search for targets along the other side of the river, protecting Kraemer's flank.

Minutes 20 -17/1140 - 1143 Meanwhile, Kraemer continued to move forward west of the Dommel, heading toward the Destroyed Bridge. He spots a Sherman in the lower riverbank. Immediately after dispatching that Sherman, he backs up and turns west to engage Shermans both in the Southwoods; there are two each on the north and south edges: Kraemer missed every shot. But he takes a licking and keeps on ticking! He has bounced 11 or 12 rounds to this point in the game. While Kraemer is busy shrugging off 75mm rounds, Winiiholt and flakwagon have crossed to the west bank of the Dommel at the ford. Winnie engages the Shermans on the north edge of Southwoods: Continued...

Pardon the delay, folks. I'm about 15 minutes behind the actual battle, but here's the situationfrom my side of the ball. Minutes 23 - 20, 1137 - 1140 After trying to get my Jagds a LOS on the Firefly and 75 Sherman hiding behind the house south of Valkenswaard by moving generally southwest toward Deelshurk, they come out of hiding on their own! One of my flakwagons in Valkenswaard was in a position to fire on them, hitting the Firefly but causing no apparent damage. Although they pop smoke and pull back, they come charging out a turn or two later, moving straight toward Valkenswaard and sparring with the flakwagon. Winiiholt's Jagd had moved up the road toward Deelshurk when the Firefly and the other Sherman emerged from hiding, when almost simultaneously he takes a mortar round right on top of the turret (although he was opened up, he wasn't injured) and a 76mm round to the front hull. No damage! More to come later today....promise!

Hey all, my apologies but RL has intruded this past week or so, and I am once again way behind in my reporting. I chatted with Chappy last week Wednesday, and he told me his AAR was about 4 minutes behind the actual action, but that he would be catching up it. Mine is 10+ turns behind, so those of you that read both reports no doubt know what's happening, at least from his perspective. (Hint: I have destroyed quite a few more Shermans, but continue to bleed infantry, although at a much slower pace.) I have the pictures and the videos ready, but have been unable top find the time to put them together. I will be getting back to it today/tonight, though. Thanks for your patience.

Hey Harry, send it my way. I'd love to playtest it. I have fiddled with the same concept in the past, but never finalized any of the scenarios. I did mess with various fortifications based on several good books on the subject, including the US Army Center of Military History series.