Ivanov

In my current Valley of Death game the BMP-3's equipped with the APS intercept all the TOW-2B's launched at them. In one instance my dismounted infantry squad and a nearby Bradley started engaging the BMP-3 but thanks to APS it didn't even get a scratch. Instead it managed to kill the Bradley and the infantrymen. I just don't want know what will happen, when this will be eventually featured in the game: share image

Thanks for all the answers. Hmmm, it seems that it's in the game the BFIST's are not always that useful. I'm playing the Valley of Death scenario. There are no aviation assets and I would need to move it really close to the front line to get some decent LOS or the arty. That would be just too risky.

What is the best way the M7A3 Bradley Fire Support Vehicles should be used? So far I haven't noticed that they have any advantage over the regular units in spotting, plus they are more difficult to hide, than the small infantry teams.

When do you expect this game to be released? I'm not asking about the exact date, but are we talking 1-2 months, 6 months, a year...?

Hi everyone, It's my first post on this forum. Would anyone be interested in a PBEM match? I'm relatively new to the game and never played against a human opponent. I don't mind the side I but prefer armored/mechanized warfare, rather than urban fighting with the infantry. If you're interested, please send me a PM.

Thank you Bill for the game - it was really intense! I gambled stripping the Alsace off all the regular divisions and sending them to the Moselle front, up North. This allowed me to achieve an acceptable force ratio there, but in result the Germans led by Bill were able to chew the French Alsace bit by bit... I was hoping that the new troops rallied by Prime Minister Gambetta would save the southern front and Dijon... All in all "The Franco Prussian War" is in my oppinion one of the best and most enjoyable campaigns ever made for the SC2! I recommend it even for those who usually stick to the WW2 or WW1. Please check it out - you won't be disappointed!

Ok thanks Ghost for the game and everyone else who followed this AAR. I think that the campaign of 1942 was decisive. If the Germans managed to capture Stalingrad and Maikop, then it would be much more difficult for my Soviets to regain the initiative. Ghost was conducting a very skilfull defensive warfare in 1943 but my superiority was just too big. Make no mistake - we could carry on for much longer but the subsequent match would be very one-sided. Also it's worth noting, that we were using a pre release beta version of the Case Blue and some imortant changes have been introduced for the later patches. All in all, I have enjoyed the match immensely and I can honestly recommend this campaign to everyone interested in the WW2 Eastern Front.

On the 5th of August of 1943, finally some major action took place in the Ukraine. Our armored units attacked the city with a heavy air support and then the red paratroopers helped to secure the Ukrainian capital: Note the newly formed 2nd Belarusian operation north of Kiev, approaching Gomel and the area of the Pripyat Marshes. We have been also pressing the enemy in the area of Nikolaev, where our 3rd Ukrainian Front has commenced a major offensive forcing two fascist corps to retreat. Also our fighter bombers scored a major success and managed to destroy a Luftwaffe airbase that was a home to the attack Stuka units. All in all it was a very eventful day and it will be interesting to see, what will be the fascist reaction to our moves. Are they able to react at all at this stage of the campaign?

We are in August 1943, turn 96 of the match.

I have formed the 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts. I noticed huge gaps in the German frontline, so I decided to take an advantage of it, because Ghost is clearly focusing on the Dnepr and the Baltics. So the 2nd Belarussian Front will be pushing towards Minsk and the 3rd will be outflanking Kiev from the north. Due to the difficult terrain of the Pripet Marshes, I will be sending a lot of cavalry there Currently I'm on holidays and will play my turn at the end of the week, but stay tuned because the Soviets are ready for some powerful moves in the Ukriane

The attritional battle around Nancy seems to go well for us. Few more enemy divisions have been destroyed there and some were forced again to conducs retreats. We have also managed to recapture the southern outskirts of the city. In general our forces are in a better shape than the enemy ( better morale and readiness ), and due to that, the performance of our divisions in combat is far superior. After the recent loses, both sides field currently 41 combat units: Because we have left the Alsace practically undefended, it means that on the main front near Nancy, we have achieved a slight numerical superiority or at least we face the enemy on the equal terms. This is certainly a good news and we are yet to see if we can count on even more success in the near future...

French HQ fully appreciates the fact that the enemy units have departed from the vicinity of Nancy. It seems now that the main German effort is directed against Nancy. This fact allowed us to redirect south few divisions of the 1st Corps, led by Gen. Chanzy. While the battered and tired army of Crown Prince is attempting to conduct a frontal attack against Nancy, our 1st Corps managed to recapture Frouard, the last enemy held town on the Moselle. The Prussians suffered extremely heavy loses because even one heavy artillery units has been destroyed during the battle. It seems that so far our elastic defence allowed us to keep the enemy off balance. Taking advantage of the interior lines, we managed to anticipate and to preempt the German moves. The most important component of this strategy, is to hit hard before the Prussians fully concentrate their superior numbers at the schwerpunkt of their choosing. Once again the correct timing and force economy prove to be the most important factors of a successful strategy.

The SC3 forum is already up on Slitherine: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=242

Something strange is happening around Metz. Actually the strangest thing is, that there is nothing happening at all! Our cavalry is unable to spot any enemy units, even as far as three tiles from the fortress! This has to be either some dirty trick or the Germans are relocating their Schwerpunkt and will mass all their available forces further south. Either way, we have to be vigilant and ready to react accordingly! There is no doubt however that the next German objective will be the city of Nancy. We have spotted already three artillery units in the vicinity of the city and some enemy units are trying to outflank our positions from the south. Unfortunately our divisions are ready and their morale, readiness and supply are excellent! As soon as the Prussian invaders approached our positions, our troops opened fire from their Chassepot, decimating two German divisions and forcing some to conduct a hasty retreat: The upcoming battle for Nancy will be a tough one but we are determined to stand there and fight. When honour of France is at stake there can be no retreat!

The combat strength of the fascist Army Group South has clearly deteriorated because only a weak detachment has been left to defend Riga. The city has been liberated on 30th of July making it another important achievement of our brilliant General Konev. At the same time, a new 3rd Belorussian Front has been activated and it’s troops managed to clear Mogilev from the enemy. Still not much action in the south but our armies are almost ready to attack. STAVKA has pulled out there a significant number of units in order to create combat ready reserves, rather than attacking on a broad front with too many, low readiness units. This is the lesson we have learnt from the recent fighting. Stay tuned because very soon all the hell will break loose in the Ukraine… *** RED ARMY LIBERATES RIGA FOR THE SECOND TIME DURING THE LAST THREE YEARS

Take a look at the MPP charts: FRENCH GERMAN The Germans took higher loses but if you compare the loses/MPP spent on units ratio, it turns out that it’s nearly the same for both sides ( 2.7 : 1 ). It is 31st of August now my French are doing better than in reality ( obviously ) but there are still five, long months left until the end of this campaign, at the end of January 1871. I doubt that it will be possible to hold the German avalanche for that long, but at least I’m happy that my French are showing much more valour than it was the case historically On the front we managed to destroy two German divisions near Metz and we are also preparing our troops for the possible battle for Nancy!

There has been not much action on 29th of August. We again counterattacked enemy the spearheads north of Nancy and two German divisions have been forced to conduct a hasty retreat. It looks like Metz may soon come under the attack, so we have strengthened our forces there accordingly. A full strength Marine Division has finished it’s deployment in Le Havre. We decided not to organize the invasion of Schleswig-Holstein, as we had a feeling that the Germans were expecting our small expedition there

I'd vote for D. There shoud be less direct loses but the unit morale and readiness should be greatly affected. The effect on Germans should apply for the 1941/42 winter only. It would be nice if during the subsequent years, there was a winter attrition effect on the units with the poor supply ( both on Germans and Soviets ). For example units that have their supply value below 5, could suffer from the harsh winter conditions. Another serious issue that needs to be addressed in AOC, is the combat during the winter months. Currently it is practically impossible to conduct large offensive operations during the winter. It is frustrating gamaplay wise, because you have a lot turns when there is little or no action. It is also ahistorical, because the Soviets were conducting large winter offensives each year during the war. Just to mention the most famous ones: the 1941/42 post Moscow offensive, the 1942/43 post Stalingrad offensive and the 1945 Vistula-Oder Offensive. Currently it's simply impossible to pull something like this off in the game, due to the winter penalties on the attacking units. I am aware that this penalty was incorporated to AOC from the earlier versions of SC2, but keep in mind that in AOC the turns cover much shorter periods of time, hence there are more winter turns, when there is nothing going on. Also, the AOC system should take into the account the specific conditions of the Eastern Front - i.e that the Soviets were able to conduct large scale offensives during the winter. Maybe it could be addressed by an introduction of a DE, regarding the preparation of RED Army for the winter fighting. For example at the beginning of each November the Soviet player would be asked if he wants to spend a considerable amount of MPPs' in order to prepare his troops for the winter offensive. Saying "yes" would negate the winter penaly on the attackig Soviet units. The cost of the DE should be high, maybe 50MPP during each winter turn. The Red player would need to decide if he prefers to stay put during the winter and rebuild his forces or to go on a risky and costly offensive. Of course it's just a thought and would need to be thoroughly tested in terms of the game balance, before any potential implementation.

The drama of Moselle continues! Our counterattack near Nancy forced the enemy to withdraw and regroup – a very sound move from the tactical point of view. We decided not to pursue. Attacking solid, defensive positions, backed by the artillery could prove disastrous to our limited forces… Further north we managed to recapture the vital crossing at Pont-A-Mousson! We are aware that there is a German cavalry division already in St Mihiel but currently this unit is totally cut off and out off supply. We have also managed to destroy the cavalry division that was spearheading the army of Crown Prince near the fortress of Toul. At the end of the day it looks like the enemy had been driven back behind the Moselle. Right now there are no coherent German units on the west bank of the river ( except for the forlorn cavalry division in St Mihiel ). No doubt the French success is only temporary but each day that the German march is delayed can be seen as a great success of our armies.

A heated discussion took place in the French HQ located temporarily in Verdun. The Germans crossed Moselle and this new development needs to be addressed immediately! Our generals agreed to adopt an unorthodox approach. Rather than attacking enemy spearhead directly, our forces on both sides of the Pont-A-Mousson bulge will move against the weak German flanks. Admittedly this is a risky strategy, but we believe that continuing further march westwards, with both flanks threatened, would mean even greater risk for the evil Prussians... Accordingly a strong attack has been directed against the enemy division in Mariulles. We have also struck the enemy on the approaches to Metz, destroying one division and forcing another to retreat: Even stronger counterattack took place in the vicinity of Nancy. Four infantry and one cavalry divisions have been ordered to move forwards and at the end of the day we managed to reach the HQ of Crown Prince, which is currently under a serious threat! MEANWHILE IN METZ...

On 24th of July Dvina has been crossed all along it’s length from the Baltic coast to Polotsk. We were expecting to encounter a firmer enemy defences but it looks like the Army Group North is indeed a pariah of the Ostheer. In the south we continue to crawl forward and our troops have liberated Meltipol recently evacuated by the fascists. No attempt has been made yet to seriously cross the river Dnepr. In order to better redistribute our forces, STAVKA decided to form two new fronts, that will allow us to exert the pressure on much wider front. We also decided to reinforce and upgrade about 20% of all our infantry armies. We have reached the infantry tech 4 some time ago, but because most of our units have been constantly on the move, there has been no opportunity to upgrade them yet. OUR INFANTRY IN THE BALTICS IS SUPPORTED BY A VAST ARRAY OF ASSAULT, SELF PROPELLED GUNS:

It seems like the enemy is trying to overcome Moselle with the brute force and heavy, inconclusive fighting still takes place in the vicinity of Pont-A-Mousson. Our brave Garde Mobiles indeed withstood the German assault at Marieulles: And here’s the painting depicting the heroic stand The zeal of our Garde Mobiles represents the spirit of the new France, which we believe will come to life after this war is over…

Still no serious fighting to report ( except for one German cavalry division forced to retreat by our brave Garde Mobiles on the approaches to Nancy ). It looks like the Crown Prince Army will be striking towards Nancy and part of it will try to cross Moselle again. Let’s wait and see if this assessment will proves to be correct. Another interesting decision event and we are going to say “yes”. We need our troops to be in a good shape, however 150MPP is a lot given our limited resources.

There has been no major combat on 19th of August. Only our excellent 24th DivisioN battered an enemy unit that has approached Metz. Right now, we have to watch closely the moves of German army led by the Crown Prince. It is a large, mostly intact formation and it’s commitment may swing the course of the battle. Will Crown prince move against Metz from the south eastern direction? Or will he choose a shorter route to attack Nancy? He can also try to cross Moselle – this time with an overwhelming force. We have to be ready for each of those eventualities… *** OUR TROOPS IN METZ LOOK A LITTLE BORED. SO FAR THEY HAVEN'T HAD MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO FIRE THEIR GUNS IN ANGER