A Canadian Cat

With the main bridge traffic situation sorted out the remaining soft vehicles get their marching orders. That will leave only one platoon of assault guns left to move out. As instructed 2 Company's CO, Braunstein, gets 2 Platoon and the trailing Panther tank to divert to secure the left flank of the convoy. Meanwhile the assault guns supporting 1 Company shift around to cover the spotted Stuart tank in the town while the infantry cross to the next tree line.

The traffic problems at the bridge are no sorted out but with the reported activity on that side of the river I am growing concerned that there is more on the other side of the road bridge objective than I originally barged for. Given that no one has started crossing that bridge yet; I contact 2 Company to inform them that they need to protect their left flank on the other side of the bridge. 2 Company's Braunstein is ordered to arrange for one platoon and a Panther tank to divert to secure the left flank of the convoy. 1 Company's lead platoon dash across a field between tree lines. They immediately report they have spotted a Stuart on the out skirts of the town. It does not appear to have spotted them however. Meanwhile 5 Company gets some much needed support on their hill. If that Stuart tank makes an appearance 5 Company will be ready. 5 Company infantry deploy into the woods. Job one will be to find out where that Stuart tank is hiding.

5 Company needs more armor support so 1 Battery moves a platoon to cover 5 Company's hill. Meanwhile towards the town; 1 Company heads from one treeline to the next.

The Stugs that recently spotted and KO'ed the Staghound now report seeing a Scout car with personal inside. They engage. It takes a couple of shots but they get it – direct hit. The lead elements of 1 Company spot a Churchill tank on the edge of town from there positions in the tree line. Taking the town will likely be a challenge. Meanwhile on my side of the river 5 Company's recon half tracks come under fire. They barely manage to report back that a Stuart tank has destroyed one recon vehicle and engaged the other before contact is lost. Hochstadter reports that they were to far ahead to property be supported so no one in 5 Company really knows where the Stuart is. The best he can say is the enemy tank is on the rear slope of his company's forested hill top objective. Stuart races between the recon half tracks taking out one... and then the other...

+1 to that. Work the problem (of the Sherman Priest Duo) as it comes. If one hangs back and the other moves forward look for opportunities to take out one of them. Distraction can work for you as well. I have on several occasions ordered infantry to fire on a buttoned up tank just so the tank would spot them and engage them. Knowing that I had an AT asset that could then get a side shot. Sometimes it goes off so well I don't loose anybody. Other times - well they got the tank but it cost me.

This great to watch. I usually resist the urge to try this kind of thing - been burned a few times:) @Tiresias this seems to be working well and on top of that you got some survivors for 2 Platoon and 4 Platoon out of harms way who can fight again. Brilliant. That Priest will be an challenging issue. The good news is if you can hit it hard enough it will go BOOM. I have seen those guys make a massive crater and takeout nearby infantry just from the secondary explosions.

Oh that is disappointing. I was hoping to use the target briefly command at the end of moment orders. I would use it like this: when moving a tank into a position to get eyes on an enemy that the tank has not spotted yet. I would like to area target briefly near to where a known enemy is at the end of of its movement so that the tank starts firing something before it spots the enemy. Right now I do this and manually clear the area target order at the next command phase. Which works OK. The only trouble is that the length of time they area fire is determined by how much time is left in the turn rather than a controlled time. I was hoping to use the target briefly command to make that better.

Still really just moving to contact – it is nice to see a sign of the enemy but it is going to take a while before this gets exciting. The last members of 5 Company are added to the convoy. Plus I am able to add additional vehicles from 1 Company to the convoy going over the bridge plus get 2 Company ready near the road.

First blood goes to me! I love it when that happens. The newly repositioned Stug and two of his mates spot the Staghound and engage. And hit... Now you can see hot strong the wind is. All in all three assault guns take aim at the armoured car at least two of the connect. The traffic jam at the bridge is clearing up. Things are still going slowly but the jam is smaller now. More of 2 Battery arrive to support the infantry as they take up positions in the tree line.

More moving to contact orders. More of 5 Company joins the convoy, more fixing of congestion at the bridge. One interesting thing; I thought that one Stug from 1 Battery should have spotted that Stag hound. When I checked his position with trees turned on I could see why the crew missed the armoured card. Stug's visibility totally blocked by the low branches of the trees. I order him to back up and reposition next to the trees. 5 company under cover from members of 1 Battery make for their jump off point in the forest at the top of the hill. More work to get 1 and 2 Company and 2 Battery over the bridge.

Not a lot of action this turn. My men are still moving to contact. Some of the enemy's recon forces are spotted but that is about it. Members of 1 Company have dismounted and are taking up positions in the tree line. The sniper from 3 company has spotted a Staghound armoured car approaching the other side of the bridge. More Half tracks from 5 Company join the convoy.

That would be nice. Has anyone noticed how buddy aid interacts with amo in 2.0? In CMBN if buddy aid retrieve a weapon all you get are the bullets in the clip even if the soldier receiving the aid had lots of amo.

I am enjoying your DAR thank you for it. Gutsy move counter attacking with 3 Platoon and keeping 2 and 4 Platoon on the hill. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Normally my advice would be to create a forward line of defense that I *plan* to abandon and use it to try to pin the initial enemy contact to try to get them under artillery fire. Then shortly after contact is made they withdraw to either joint the real defensive line or just to a second forward line depending on forces and the size of the map. Your first contact went pretty well - enemy pinned and under artillery - well done. From personal experience I all to often to try to keep those forward guys in place too long. Sounds like you are doing the same:-) The remnants of 2 and 4 platoon could move back to the reverse sloop of their current hill. The idea being that once the enemy has blasted where your guys used to be and then take the hill they will want to come down the other side. When they do you have guys at the bottom to engage them as they crest meanwhile elements of 3 and 1 platoon also hit them from their positions. Is that possible? Can 3 hit targets on the back of the centre hill from their original planned positions at the junction? Can 1 platoon fire on the back slope of the centre hill from their positions? If so you can make that a nasty kill zone and win they day. I am only offering that as an alternate possibility for you to consider - some future time perhaps. You clearly have chosen a plan and I am looking forward to see how it turns out.

This experiment certainly is enlightening, @poesel71. Thank you. I think many of us knew that spotting calculations had to be happening in some kind of heart beat. Very interesting to see what this experiment shows. Knowing this will probably change some of my decisions in game. Here are two examples that either were a result of this or could have turned out differently if the spotting calcs had landed differently. It means that if you set a 10s pause on the shoot part of a set of shoot and scoot orders you are giving your tank at most two chances to spot the enemy but most of the time they will only get one chance. This happened to me just he other day I had a Sherman do a shoot and scoot with a 10s pause facing where I knew a Tiger tank was (that's why I did not go for longer than 10s). The Sherman saw nothing and backed away. Note: not saying the outcome was not possible. The Sherman had not seem the Tiger before and to get to its shooting position it had to go uphill and crest plus there were a tree or two between them. So, I never though it was a sure thing. For moving in and out of smoke this as serious ramifications because once your unit clears the smoke they can sit there blind for a long as 6s. This explains what happened to me just this morning. I had a Panther moving out of a smoke screen right next to where a Sherman Firefly was sitting. The Panther cleared the smoke and then sat there like an idiot for a long time (I did not time it) not even 10m from the Firefly. Finally the Panther spotted it and shot it. But the Firefly could have easily spotted the Panther 1s after it cleared the smoke and then it would have a 6s drop on the Panther. Yikes. It all depends on what which unit is on what schedule. Note: again not saying this could not have happened. The Panther was in the smoke buttoned up and did not spot the Firefly earlier before the smoke was dropped. So real life could have turn out just like that.

Nice - my uncle was the big concrete guy in our family but I'll tell a story on myself. I was helping my now Father in Law build a covered bench in the back yard of his house. He wanted to make sure it was nice and stable. I said you need a concrete footing - I know concrete I'll do it for you. I was still a teenager and in engineering plus I had watched my uncle - I knew everything:-) We built it and it was great. A few days later I was thinking about just how much concrete I used and I did a little math. 750Kg of concrete for a covered bench. Talk about over kill. In my defense it never moved - until the next owners put in a pool. I am sure they were impressed when they went move the bench. To this day in our family if someone is over doing something we just say "How much concrete are you using"?

Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make. Lord Farquaad But seriously: @DarkFib3r how did it play out? What plan did you pick and what happened?

I recorded follow up movies so you can see how these move orders played out. It will take me a while to produce them and put them up because I am going to play turns for a few days instead of play with video.

More of the same kind of orders – moving forward looking for the enemy along with some moving in convoy in safe areas. The bridge is still a bottle neck but the bunching up is getting better instead of worse. 5 Company's Recon elements move forward while 1 Battery protects them from the top of the hill. 5 Company itself is going to have to move through this area to get to the tree line so elements of 1 Battery will stay here to keep the enemy tanks from getting an opportunity to pick off 5 Company's half tracks. 3 Company deploys into the orchard. They will stay here and observe the village – perhaps sending in scouts while I see if any artillery fall on the objective in the next few minutes. Elements of 1 Company begin to deploy into the tree line near the town. The infantry will begin to scout forward from here towards the town. 3 Battery arriving at its staging area. I tweak their orders to better provide cover on my right flank and make sure they are in a good position should they be needed to support the assault on the town.

One of the Stugs from 1 Battery spots a Churchill tank on the other side of the valley (one of the Churchill tanks originally spotted by the Recon Half tracks and the Panther). Fires: And Hits: Mean while the Panther also fires at the same Churchill. And hits... I counted five hits on that Churchill tank's turret. No penetrations and the enemy tank moves out of view. 1 Company begins to deploy into the tree line near the town.

A few shots were fired this turn – by my side. Most of the turn was still moving into position to begin searching for first contact. On my left flank here is the lead positions of 1 Battery. 5 Company's recon Half tracks successfully extracted them selves and have been replaced by Stugs. Near by 3 Company is deploying into the Orchard.

Hey I like that sound mod:). It is "Mike's Vehicles of War Sound Mod".

While plotting the moves for this turn I took some video of the convoys in action. Here are some thoughts on convoy management: 3 Battery moving with no issues http://youtu.be/4lAM1-FINhg Traffic is clogging up near the bridge http://youtu.be/PV9iNQaeFVQ Managing the traffic flow over the bridge http://youtu.be/HUyYsRTbxVc Managing 5 Company's convoy http://youtu.be/WucSC8KLx7o

Across the bridge 2 Battery and the first elements of 1 Company arrive at the tree line that will become their jumping off point for an assault on the main town.

1 Platoon from 3 Company fans out to secure the Orchard while the rest of 3 Company arrive. Their trucks will stay in the cover of the Orchard while the company deploys into the Village. The convoy over the bridge has bunched up. I give pause orders down the line to spread the vehicles back out. By the time I was up to the corner the pause time was already at 1:15 so no new vehicles will be added to the convoy this turn. It is taking longer for each vehicle to cross the bridge than expected. I will just have to take that into account when I setup the pauses for the vehicles. North of the Village elements of 1 Battery take positions in the orchard to cover the bridge. The plan is that once the Orchard surrounding the village are secure we can move to create a bridge head over the river. Also we agreed that we would allow preplanned bombardment but only after 10 minutes. So I am in no rush to just move directly onto the objective just yet. Meanwhile to the West of the Village 5 Company is moving in convoy along the road to take the high ground North of the Village in preparation of an eventual assault on the Norther Village with the rail crossing. I add two platoons to the end of the convoy. 5 Company's recon half tracks spotted Churchills so it is time for them to get out of the line of fire and move Stugs up to take their place. Hopefully the Stugs will engage the Churchills.

First shot fired! One of my Panthers following up 1 Battery and 5 Company spots a Churchill on a hill across the valley. I forgot to look at how far it is but the shot was high and sailed right off the map. The Panthers are waiting on the tree line just south of the Village near the road bridge waiting for the assault guns to take up positions in the orchard beyond the Village. 3 Company disembark from their transports in the Orchard just south of the Village near the Road Bridge. The plan is for them to leave their trucks under cover in the Orchard and then advance into the village securing it and then being a river crossing to secure a bridge head as well. The first platoon will secure the Orchard and obverse the Village while the rest of the company arrives.