Penry

Orders: Unable to trace a direct line of sight to BDs R35, I decided that another course of action was needed. After much thinking I arrived at the following: Self propelled gun - Fire smoke as close to the edge of the forest as possible. Hopefully this will enable me to maneuver out of my current location and get a shot off at BDs R35 as the smoke clears. Let's see how good this SPG smoke is..... Lone bazooka man in copse - I'm not sure if he can fire the bazooka once or if it needs two men to operate it at all times. We'll see when he hunts out the copse and takes aim at BDs R35, or not! I had a lot of success with my mortar team stationed half way up the northern hill, shame I ran out of rounds and don't seem to be able to find any more. Time for them to head back down the hill for some rest, while the rested mortar team in the buildings takes their place. They only have eight rounds left themselves, but that's eight more chances of dealing BD some hurt in the farmyard. Lastly, I split the rifle squads in half up on the northern hill. If I'm going to move out then I want to leapfrog wherever I go now. Linear artillery strike should be a minute away now, area strike three minutes away, tanks seven minutes away....

Turn 23 A quiet turn, with each side waiting for the next big event! The artillery round incoming at the end of last turn slammed into the ploughed field, within a stones throw of the burning halftrack wreck. Soon after another round, from a diiferent direction, impacted just in front of the southern forest, near BDs R35. A third hit home close to the edge of the farmyard. Other than that I watched as BDs R35 inched forward through the forest. If he's not careful he'll come all the way through! If only he can come forward enough to expose himself to something lethal. BD was certainly brave enough to keep his commander out of his hatch for the entire turn. What I wouldn't give for a well placed sharp-shooter! My two rifle teams made it half way up the northern hill, and most found cover too. Some ended the turn still running across the field and visible to BDs southern R35. Unfortunately my self propelled gun was unable to spot BDs R35. Time for another plan.....

Orders: My self propelled gun can trace a partial line of sight into the southern forest nearby BDs R35. I order them to focus that way in the hope that BD will drive into their sights! BDs southern R35 had eyes on my 3rd Platoon last turn, while they were repositioning, but didn't manage to get a shot off - perils of having to nip in and out of the tank to spot/fire. Still, it was enough of a warning to get me to spread out further. My two rifle squads are heading up to the abandoned self propelled gun, while other teams look for better hiding spots.

Turn 22 Three more mortar rounds landed on the riverside foxholes, then my mortar team shifted their focus to the farmhouse for their last four rounds. Two exploded in the nearby air, but two landed on the roof - one on the near side and one on the far. In the twenty seconds that followed I neither saw, nor heard anything from the HMGer inside..... Two more 'spotting' rounds landed in the ploughed field too (white circles). They seem to be getting closer to the farm, so I'm hoping that they are my spotting rounds, and not BDs..... Right at the end of the round a round came from a completely different direction (yellow circle), looking like it is going to land near my resting ploughed field crawlers. I wonder what BD is planning now. I also spotted a new scout team in the southern forest (orange circle). Looks like BD really wants some eyes on the valley from this location. Lastly, BDs southern R35 edged forward through the forest before being lost from sight. I wonder how brave BD is, and how far forward he'll bring it?

Orders: I switched targets for my mortar team, from the front foxhole to the one just to the north of the nearest farmhouse. I ordered my just targetted half track to reverse more, to make sure he is out of LOS from BDs new R35. The rest was some minor reshuffling of units in and around my buildings. I also got some more reinforcements - 3rd Platoon. I have decided to leave them in place at the moment, first wishing to see how things play out with BDs R35s and my shelling of the farmyard. I'm still really nervous about the fragility of these half tracks!

Turn 20 What a mixed bag that turn was. Gutted, elated, relief - all part and parcel of the average CM turn! Gutted - my rear self propelled gun crept forward and was just about to start turning towards the farmyard when some incoming fire came from that direction. The second burst shredded the side armour killing three of the crew, and all before I could even turn to face the farm! Not impressed! Elated - before my self propelled gun even started advancing, the first of my mortars were hitting home on the front farmyard foxhole. In all nine rounds hit home - six in and around the foxholes, three in the air above them. I'm pretty sure that that will have dealt with any occupants, or so I hope. Relief - throughout the turn I watched BDs unknown sound contact in the southern forest advance and then enter the forest itself. Would it be the STuG? No. Midway through the turn I got a fix on it, it was another R35. In a way that was relief enough in itself, but when it fired a main round at one of my half tracks I was equally relived to see that it wasn't lethal, only being sufficient to send the half track into reverse and out of danger. The only other item of note this turn was that I counted four separate units, and probably ten or more men, running up the rear forest track towards the northern forest. I'm presuming that these are reinforcements for BD, and I'm thankful to see that they are Italian and not German! Still, he is investing heavily in the northern forest. I wonder what he is up to?

Orders: With the immediate threat of BDs northern R35 gone, I decided to inch my rear self propelled gun forward a bit, then order it to open fire on the farmhouse contianing the known HMGer. Hopefully he'll open fire and wipe him out! I'm hoping my halftrack on the forest track will open fire this turn too. A good hosing down with main rounds and MG fire should render the building uninhabitable! With the southern smoke strike over I set up a new mission, ordered in by the self propelled gun HQ (who dismounted last turn). It will be an area fire mission, centred on the southern farmhouse and reaching out about 90m from the centre. This should take in all the known foxholes around the farmyard, as well as most of the known contacts behind the farm. With luck I'll get some sort of hit on that new armour contact, if it is still there in 8 minutes..... My ideal scenario would be my linear strike landing in five minutes or so, shaking BD from a few positions and forcing them to retreat to behind the farmyard area, just in time for my area strike to catch them in the open. One can dream CM dreams..... All other orders as previous turn.

Turn 19 Hmmmm, not as much action as I expected! The smoke cleared from the northern forest, but BDs northern R35 was nowhere to be seen. Not surprising really, he obviously knows that they are now outclassed, and he can no longer enjoy domination over the valley. I'll have to keep them in mind though, because they are small and it looks like they might be able to thread through the trees..... My mortar team (red circle) spent longer than anticipated setting up their mortar, but they did manage to get off two rounds before the turn ended. They were midflight as the turn ended, so that will be a nice surprise for BD next turn! My halftrack (blue circle) turned, faced the farmhouse and the gunner readied his gun, but then he spent half a turn doing sweet FA. Any ideas why he wouldn't open fire on the farmhouse, or does he have to see a living target first? I've shelled buildings with main rounds before, but I can't recall if I have done so with a vehicle mounted MG. Is this possible? Am I doing something wrong? A MG stationed in the same farmhouse opened fire on my 2nd Platoon HQ, killing one man (green circles and arrow). At least I got a positive ID, it's a Breda M37 Heavy Machinegun, and an interesting read up I had about it. That will explain all the grief I've been having on this side of the river. If there is one stationed in the other farmhouse too then they will both need to be neutralised before asaulting the farm. My smoke attack on this side of the river didn't go quite to plan and it seems to be over now. Just three rounds landed around the intended location (yellow circle), so I don't expect much cover from these. Not that BDs R35 is present anymore, both the known armour contacts in the southern forest are keeping their distance by the looks of things! Two new contacts did show up though. The most threatening was a new armour contact at the rear of the farmyard (white circle). With luck I'll have a little welcome present for him in a few turns! The other contact was an infantry unit running up the forest track towards the northern forest, at the very back of the battlefield (black circle)

Orders: I switched things up a bit, deciding to shift some focus to BDs northern R35, rather than concentrate solely on the farmyard. Both self propelled guns will focus on the last known position of BDs northern R35. I don't want to be caught focusing on the farmyard when the smoke clears. Once I've delt with his R35 I can turn to the valley and the southern forest. My mortar team will finish deploying, then start some direct mortar fire on the front left foxholes. That should shake BDs defenders up a bit! Meanwhile my halftrack on the forest track can just spot the nearest farmhouse. Time to hose it down with some MG fire. No more parties for you guys! Best news of all is that I managed to get my 1st Platoon HQ into a position to spot either side of the farmyard. I have called a linear mortar strike in from the leftmost foxhole to the rightmost foxhole, the one sheltering BDs AT gun! In six minutes things are going to get real nasty in that farmyard!

Turn 18 Well, not quite as good as I expected, but I'm still in a great position, both physically and psychologically! The next turn or two should be very telling! My two rear half tracks both got a bit stuck under a tree on their journey up the hill, which meant they didn't quite get as far as I would have liked them to. No matter, as it turns out, because in retrospect I think I had better deal with the main threats before I start firing at VLs. Here's the view from my around my half track posse, with my self propelled gun (black circle in overview) in the foreground. My other self propelled gun (white circle in overview) got bogged down trying to get away from the river bank, but eventually freed himself in time to almost get to it's destination. With luck all my half tracks should be in position for when the smoke clears. Here's how things look around my buildings. Not much else happened really. Another (last?) spotting round landed over in the southern forest, closer still to the target. I also note that BDs wounded R35 and his mystery armour contact (yellow circles) have both kept their sweet distance from any possible firing line. Good! I must have put the frighteners on BD, and that will do nicely thank you! If I can deal with BDs northern R35, then I can focus on the farmyard and BDs southern assets. Lastly, some Italian infantrymen (red circle) were spotted running away across the rear bridge. I wonder if they left the foxholes that are at the near side of the bridge. I hope so! Time will tell if they head up to the northern forest, or whether they dig in on the far side of the bridge.

Orders: Time to roll the dice! Rear self propelled gun - race up the hill then shell the northern farmhouse. Time to flush out some Italians! Rear half track - race up the hill then overwatch northern forest. (white fire arc) Mortar squad in building - race across the hill, then setup ready to attack farmyard. (pink line and circle) Half track - advance up the hill then overwatch northern forest (mid grey fire arc) Forward self propelled gun - drive over to forest road and get ready for smoke to clear (blue line) Half track by building - take up same position as SPG, then overwatch northern forest (dark grey fire arc) HQ on southern side of river - run then crawl into a position to be able to spot into farmyard (yellow and purple line, then pink line and circle) Two half tracks - overwatch southern forest (black fire arcs) Don't forget smoke coming in at green circle in 2 mins.....

Thanks Lethaface! What a roller coaster of a ride CM is! Deflated, paranoid and fearful one minute; on cloud nine and rocking the next! What a game!

Half a bottle of celebratory red wine have put the turn on hold. I'll complete it in 18 hours or so..... (the turn that is, not the bottle!)

While this was going on, and I was 'Woop, wooping with delight in my chair, the smoke started to fall on BDs other R35. I think I did a pretty good job of calling in that strike, my first ever smoek strike I think, and BDs R35 isn't going to be causing me any problems for a while at least, unless he presses forward and through the smoke into the unknown...... Elsewhere, another spotting smoke round landed over in the southern forest, right by an infantry unit that popped up moments before (can a smoke round kill nearby men? I'm sure hoping so!). Also to be noted is that BDs sound armour contact (I'm dying to know what it is exactly) has reached the forest track again. Will he bring it down to help his R35? Will he keep it in reserve until my latest breakthrough has been played out? I'm sure glad there is only track out of the southern forest, at least BDs options are somewhat limited! Game on!

Turn 17 HELL YEAH!!!! What a difference a turn makes! Second turn of the evening and I'm chomping at the bit for some more! No prizes for guessing how things went for me this turn! The first turn this game that I feel that I've got BD on the back foot. Long may it continue. Onwards men!!!! First the 'highlight'. My men acquired BDs R35 even before it knew that I was in town I think. Unfortunately the first round pinged off its front armour and went wizzing off into the sky. BDs R35 immediately started to reverse - it must have known it was hopelessly outmatched. My second round hit the mark though, penetrating, but not knocking it out. BDs R35 was still reversing out of danger when I achieved another penetrating hit, but still not knocking it out. Still it reversed and unfortunately I was unable to get a third shot off at it before it disappeared into the woods. I'm really hoping that I killed the commander. Surely two penetrating hits is enough to kill one man, and I can only presume that the driver is still alive; either that or the tank is stuck in reverse! On the other flank my M3 reversed to the back of the battlefield, and didn't even need to turn and break down the fence to get into a firing position on BDs rear R35. BD obviously had plans for it because it started reversing as the turn began, either that or it was scared of the MG fire it had received last turn. Whatever, one round was all that was needed to knock it out! Shame the southern R35 didn't fall so easily!

Orders: Here's the highlight of turn 17, hopefully...... 274m! I want to see fireworks! Get the bubbly on ice, this could be the turning point of the scenario (or so it goes in my head! ) Three halftracks keeping overwatch on the southern forest (white and two grey firing arcs) Halftrack and MMG keeping overwatch on the northern forest (or bit of (black firing arc)) Other M3 will reverse, veer left, take up a position alongside the HQ halftrack, then hunt for BDs rear northern R35. I know it is as good as useless, but I'm looking for psychological points over BD now. If I can bust two R35s in a single turn then that has got to give BD something to think about. With the smoke about to fall on his third R35, I might be able to get into positions to finish it off by the time the smoke clears. I'm looking forward to these coming turns..... Got another platoon of men due in four minutes too!

I had better luck, of sorts, over in the southern forest. I'm guessing that the smoke round that landed last turn must have rung alarm bells for BD, because from the beginning of the turn it looked like he was reversing out of his current position (position at the beginning and end of the turn shown). He was chased by 60mm mortar fire from my team by the building, and near the end of the turn another smoke round landed into the mix too. I'm counting this as a victory, even if I did no damage whatsoever, as it appears that I have managed to drive him away for the time being at least! Other than that it was a pretty quiet turn. My second M3 didn't react at all to the first one taking incoming fire. Another smoke round landed over towards the northern forest, and right at the end of the turn another two rounds were incoming. Where will they land?

Turn 16 Hmmmmmm, it went so much better in my head, so much better! My two self propelled guns hunted forward, with instructions to look over towards where BDs northern R35 is. Well, they got 50% of their orders correct - they hunted forward, shame they didn't do the other 50%...... For some reason BDs R35 could see my M3s, but they couldn't see him. First round on target for BD. Lucky that it didn't penetrate! Then BDs R35 started to send a load of MG fire down towards my front M3, the second load killed my gunner, while my M3 was in full reverse. It then reversed all the way to the back edge of the battlefield, where it recovered and set off forwards again. Quite a way in front of it's intended destination it took another main round from BDs R35, then veered sharply right and headed for the riverbank. Right at the end of the turn it spotted BDs southern R35, so it will be rel interesting to see what happens at the beginning of the next round! I'd say, by the looks of things, BDs southern R35 hasn't spotted my M3 yet.....

Nice resource, thanks John! I'll add it to my reading list. Need more free time!

'Eggshells with hammers' - awesome! I like the sound of the hammer part, not so much the eggshell. I presume the 75mm gun will be adequate against BDs STuG, if/when I come up against it.

Best news of the turn though was the arrival of some more reinforcements, and some meaty ones at that! Now, I've never seen these things before, but I'm guessing they are the WWII version of a tin can with a BFG glued on top! I'm sure going to wrap them in cotton wool and treat them as if my mission depends on them, which I guess it does. If I can neutralise BDs R35s, then life is going to become at lot easier for me. I might even be able to exert some pressure on the farmyard! But let's not get ahead of ourselves eh! Orders: My two new tank destroyers will hunt forward, while focusing on BDs northern R35. Keep your fingers crossed please readers! Two hafltracks (white and yellow arcs) will open area fire on the suspected hidden armour location. MMG (black arc) will open area fire on the suspected hidden armour location. Mortar team can actually trace a line of sight (red line and cross) to just besides the location fo the hidden armour contact. Go on, have a chew!

Turn 15 Hmmmmmmm, interesting! All of a sudden the sun has come out from behind the clouds. Let's hope there are no sunshowers forecast..... Another fairly quiet turn, with once again the single casualty on my part. At least BD is consistent! What I thought was a stray arty round from BD is now looking like a spotting smoke round for me, either that or I am totally confused! I have indicated the direction and length of the drift (red arrow), so if I can get some on target then I should have some good cover, as it is pretty thick! A second round landed nearby (red star) near the end of the round. It will be interesting to see how long the smoke hangs around for and whether it will form a curtain across that area of the battlefield. What seems like a bit of clarity to the north of the river was thrown into murkiness by the arrival of a similar round in the southern forest (black star). Surely that can't be a spotting round that far of target? On the other hand maybe BD is calling in a welcome comittee for my kneckered rifle squad? What is certain is that that sound armour contact isn't a figment of someone's imagination! Near the end of the turn one of the halftracks amongst my buildings started to receive some incoming small arms fire. Tracing the direction of fire back (white line) leads directly to the sound contact. I guess that BD can see me, but I can't see him yet. I also noticed what looked like a light mortar round impacting in the trees in that location too, but I'm unsure whether it is an incoming round, or indeed BDs sound contact armour tried to fire its main gun, but hit a tree instead? As for my casualty of the turn. The very last man to reach the 'safety' of the southern forest didn't quite make it, falling victim to the flurry of small arms fire that was tracking the squad for the last thirty or so metres. My burning halftrack did an awesome job of getting in the way of a number of rounds, so I'm glad that it wasn't a total waste of a good bit of hardware. I like to think that it saved the life of at least one more man! My men are now totally knackered, so they will now enjoy a well earned rest, I hope.

Orders: Not much again. My crawling rifle squad are approx 15m from the forest edge. Hang in there boys! Bazooka team survivor - join the halftrack by the rivers edge in an effort to man the MG. That is all! Hopefully I'll get those reinforcements soon.....

Turn 14 It's oh so quiet. It's oh so still...... Really not much happened this turn, which is a blessed relief after the BS of last turn. Nice to be able to come home from a reasonable day at work and get to review a turn without the blood pressure soaring. I did, of course, lose the obligatory man, one of the two survivors from the runaway halftrack fiasco. Both survivors converged on the bloke who got a direct R35 hit while he was lying by the side of road. This of course wasn't the most intelligent thing for them to do, it's not as if there would be much left of their fallen comrade, and BDs R35 was only too happy to pop off another round and another direct hit (red line and circle)! On the other side of the valley my crawling rifle squad are very nearly at the edge of the forest. They have started to draw the attention of a few of BDs farmyard defenders, but so far so good, and all the rounds have wizzed over the top of them harmlessly. (yellow arrows) The only other items of note are another screeching round landing in the middle of nowhere (blue star). I'm not too sure what BD is up to here, my only guess is that he's trying to zero in on my building area. Rather worryingly, BDs armour in the southern forest is inching its way through the forest with slow, but sure, progress......

womble, thanks once again for your invaluable advice! I really should have started posting over here at BFC when I first picked up CM2, I'd be streets ahead of where I am now if I had! c3k, LOL, indeed, I'll take as much comfort as I can, false or otherwise! So much of this game is played out in the commander's mind, so if I can trick it, even the slightest bit, then it can only reap rewards - I hope! I feel a bit of a prat now, taking the Michael out of BDs R35s. As puny as they look, they are still the strongest thing on the battlefield at the moment, unless BDs STuG is hidden somewhere, ready to deliver the coup de grace. Once again noted about the slow moving. It's too late to prevent exhaustion, and I'll feel a lot safer and better under cover of those trees just ahead.....