A Canadian Cat

Wow that looks really good. I can hardly wait to try it out.

I have sent info to @sburke and have been asked for more. Thanks for looking. @womble, I noticed at the end of the next turn the PzIV is now showing as destroyed. I failed to check during the turn so I do not know when that happened. It is possible that this is exactly what is going on. Certainly the visibility in the woods is very short.

Yes, I archive all turns in an active game so I have them - and am happy to share. Shall I PM you with dl link and pw? It might take until tomorrow morning until I can get some time on the correct computer.

That is what I am afraid of - and why I posted. The first two incidents are explainable - bad stuff happens. And when it does Murphy says it will be "to" you. But the last one multiple close range hits is just a big scary. Good, will I feel better watching your misery - probably not. But thanks for the thought anyway

Interesting. I do not think that is modeled. If I am wrong this could explain it.

Elements of F company - are having a really bad day in a recent QB I am fighting. I had three Shermans from F company: the CO in a 76 sherman his XO in a 75 and the 105 assault gun. The 76 Sherman got the jump on a Panther and a PzIV at the same time. He managed to hit and KO the Panther with a side hit, reload and get another hit on the side of the PzIV before the enemy reacted. Both hits were penetrating. The PzIV unphased returned fire, one hit one KO'ed Sherman. Oh well I thought bad luck boys but at least that Panther was out of the battle and the PzIV appeared to be immobilized - a fact that was established later give the tank did not move for many many turns. The 105 Sherman after some maneuvering got an in cover LOS to the same PzIV. First shot nailed him in the side at an angle. Again no effect return fire from the PzIV - one shot one more KO'ed Sherman. Damn talk about a bad day. OK, so far no big deal - stuff happens all is good - sucks but good. And this might not actually have any bearing on what happened next but it setups up my sad tail. I gave up trying to KO that enemy tank and the battle has progressed. I have a Sherman left the enemy has another, fully operational, PzIV left. Final minutes of the battle this pesky PzIV trys to flank my Sherman but I manage to get a smoke screen up and get away - into the woods. My opponent in a fit of crazy drives through my shattered infantry lines, through my smoke screen and chases my tank into the woods. OMG talk about scary. I manage to maneuver and make the right choices so that in the woods (where you can only see about 30m distance) my Sherman is able to spot the PzIV first and I get the drop on him and fire, scoring a penetrating hit in the final seconds of a turn. Yay, I think, I have finally come out ahead. The next turn comes and the PzIV looks totally fine. It starts turning its turret. Oh no I think here we go again. But the Sherman crew scramble and get another round out before disaster strikes. Another penetrating hit. Again nothing. A few moments later the PzIV crew bails - thank you. The PzIV is still showing green. My infantry and the Sherman take care of the crew - all of them. Then the Sherman crew proceed to put round after round after round into the PzIV at 30m range and the damn thing is still showing as operational and no flames. My Sherman has hit this thing a total of 6 - 8 times (I messed up my count but still 6 times???). Most of those hits were full penetrations and a few were partial. I do not see how this is possible. The PzIV is showing as green and OK when I select it. These two tanks are close, really close and the Sherman is hitting the PzIV in the front but at a nearly 45 degree angle. I get that that angle is not ideal but 6 or more penetrating hits at 30m. I don't think that should be survivable. I have given my Sherman a cover arc away from this uber tank because I need the crew to pay attention to the German infantry that just showed up and immobilized the Sherman. I have a saved game turn if anyone on the test team wants to investigate.

Yeah that was confusing. The M10 that got nailed was not the one that had a side view of the JpzIV and Brummbar. While it too was hunting a JpzIV it was not the one that we were all hoping would score a kill. Different M10, different Brummbar. The one that had that cliff hanger opportunity was stymied because Bill pulled the JpzIV back and fired into the general area of the M10 with the Brummbar. The net effect was that the M10 did not get a chance to spot the JpzIV and the area fire caused smoke and debris that prevented the M10 from being able to spot the Brummbar - and it seems it also prevented the Brummbar from spotting the M10 too.

I vote for this thread as the winner of "Title of the year"

LOL good one. Are you saying that if enemy HMG crews are near an American mortar the mortar team can use the amo? Or did you some how get both teams to be on the same side?

This last turn had two rather serious problems. Please note that Dungeon Tiger and I are playing this game with version 1.1 so these may be issues that are already addressed but one of them is a new variation for me. First one of the squads from 5 Company had a wondering guy while they were loading the HT. You can see one guy circled on the left he is 200m ish away from the HT and running the wrong way. Crap! Last time this happened the guy ran until he found the enemy was killed – problem solved. I would really rather that not happen this time. I have a variation of the wondering gun crew except this time it is the guy with the gun who is wondering. At the beginning of the turn they were getting into a final position in the trees (where the rest of the crew are, circled. This is going to suck.

The artillery has moved to the edge of town which means my men are free to start moving into more of the town’s buildings. I will move my flank protection force out of the woods into the edge of town. Another platoon will leap frog the lead platoon into buildings that were just under fire. They are moving along an avenue away from the Stuart, Churchill and Achilles that are infiltrating the town. Some infantry teams will reposition to get into Faust range on the Churchill. This is risky but I need to get those tanks somehow. There are two Shrek teams and the Stug in front of them so if they venture further into town they will regret it. The Stug (just visible in the upper right) will try to get out of the key hole they are in and hide behind a building to force the Churchill tank to come further into town to get him. I only hope they can get out of the way fast enough. More advancing on their way to town for the Panthers. I am assuming there could be an ambush waiting for them so they are moving with caution.

The Stug in a key whole saw a Stuart drive by but was unable to get their gun on it. Then a Churchill tank appeared. This time they were ready. They scored a hit but had no effect. The Churchill returned fire and missed hitting the building behind. Yikes.

Another slow turn but there were a few exciting moments. The first elements of 5 company being their journey. While moving along the tree line this Shrek team spots a Churchill tank and takes a shot. But miss. The Panther’s move along the road being and next to their infantry screen. In the town a stray 150mm shell just about ruins the day of my crippled Panther (no main gun and no weapons controls. And the just about were goners. They are about 70m outside of the artillery target circle. The blast did shake up some infantry in a nearby building and they ended the turn out of commission hiding. I will take the luck that no one was actually killed.

But more is better though Our first time through was a nearly pure armour 12 000 point battle. I was fielding totally Royal Tigers so with 20 000 of Stugs and Panthers plus a battalion plus of infantry I actually started off with more AFVs and loads of soldiers. DT has stayed pure armour so god knows how many of those blasted Churchills he started with but 20 000 points has been loads of fun. I am not sure we would do a write up for a battle that large again. We are both finding it taking a lot of time to write up. When I think about it it is like having three or four battles going at once. For a while I had action at the Orchard, Farm, Town and outside of town. Now that I am trying to concentrate on the town itself the action has dropped back. But I still have to keep track of the other areas and write up a bit about them. Anyway this is loads of fun and I am sure we will keep doing big battles. I am looking at the big urban map that was recently released for GL and thinking about a big battle there next. But first we better finish this one

Yes, I think that is a good idea too. In real life soldiers would be very reluctant to just leave their buddies unattended but in this game it is just easy to press on.

Yeah, sorry guys. Both of us have been busy in RL (me new job, DT new project, old job). It is hard when you only have a little time to play and you have to choose between playing one turn of this or three or four smaller games. Things are a little better now. I have one more turn to write up and it is my turn to play. Since I got caught up on just about all my turns this morning there is a good chance I can get a couple of turns in before the end of the week. There should be more action coming up now that I can move into the rest of the town.

Just refinements to the orders from previous turns: the panthers continue their journey to the town. The infantry at the farm consolidate their hold on the farm buildings being careful not to anger the Churchill tanks. And 5 Company start to move out.

This was a fairly uneventful minute. At the farm my Stug spotted and exchanged fire with a Churchill tank. The Stug missed and the Churchill’s round hit a tree. By the orchard members of 5 Company began loading up in their half tracks. And the artillery kept falling on the town.

Oh wow, awesome turn. We are rooting for your M10 and bunker MG. Nice bouncing rounds off the hatch there:) Did the commander at least button up after that. I think the view through the trees looks pretty good I am hopeful the M10 will see those tanks and be able to engage. Nice thing is they would have to turn their hulls to engage you. Come on M10 crew - fire fast guys!

Easy there you are mixing your metaphors, a sure sign you are about to do something rash. Remember slow down and do things right.

Just out of curiosity what kind of arty are you calling in (60 or 81 mortars) and what kind of call time is your FO able to get?

LOL OK then good attitude Fair enough. My plan to use the target command would not guarantee they would not shoot across the field. Still not totally sold on the pie shaped arc vs a circle but I appreciate the explanation.

Indeed and I usually do. My son has this on a T shirt to help me remember:

Well that worked out extremely well! Nice.

While pretty aggressive, as expected, your plan looks pretty solid so far. Given that sending scouts out with the rest of the platoon covering them is the right thing to do there is no need for me to sound my refrain to slow down and do things properly. On a more serious note, I do want to ask you about the covered arc though. I would hesitate to use an arc like that - what if the shrek team moves along the bocage to their right and out of the arc? I would have given them no orders - if they see the Shrek team the will attack it. Or perhaps I would have considered giving them a Target Briefly command just to be sure they spent some time shooting at the Shrek team but leaving them to defend them selves from any other threats should something new appear. Or in keeping with your desire to prevent them from firing at the opposite bocage line you could have given them a circular arch that reached almost to the other bocage line. That way the Shrek team cannot step out of the arch without fully withdrawing and if some enemy broke free from the opposite bocage line and charged your position they would come under fire as they crossed the field. my 2cents from the peanut gallery