Bud Backer

Looks great, very convenient, thank you for putting it together!

I am so glad I don't have to drive through the city often like I used to. When taking Kingston road with its 2000 traffic lights to go east out of the city at rush hour is better than the 401, that's nuts! Have a good time!

Thanks for doing this, Ian. A lot of effort for what is actually a small battle. As the more experienced player in this, do you feel the scenario is winnable as the Germans against a reasonable human opponent? Not to minimize your success; I'm just putting myself in @MethodGamer's situation and feel I'd have had equal results as he did. Perhaps I'm kidding myself in thinking that as the U.S. I'd have done well.

Thanks for doing this, MG. It is a lot of work to write it all up and do the accompanying graphics, so I appreciate you making the effort. Definitely a lot of lessons for me in this demonstration so it was well worth it.

OMG - after staring at the map for so many hours when you played on it I'm amazed! - Seriously, it's sometimes really interesting how a map can look totally different than what you're familiar with when one looks at it from an unfamiliar direction. It's like its a new map! Especially one this big.

I haven't been able to find it in TSDIII either. Am I missing it or is it not ready for download on the site?

Thanks, Heinrich, I appreciate that. Yeah, the battle isn't going as I expected at all, but that's how you learn, right?

Bil, you're right, AOA 2 doesn't seem a good approach. I am shifting my forces to AOA 1. Half my force - all fresh, undamaged, will be advancing along that AOA - I'm pretty convinced that it's quite clear at this point. There may be some German forces closer to the model of the map in those woods but I've already advanced a third from the edge without a singe contact or encounter in KT 2 so I'm already within reach of the objective to the north of it. My entire reason for continuing to push on AOA 2 is to keep my enemy convinced that this is my main effort. By the time my reserve forces reach AOA 1, I'll be in the farmhouses and too close to ignore. He won't be able to shift west to deal with my advance past KT 2. "Hit him where he ain't" is another way of quoting Sun Tzu - "In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak." I didn't take your comments as directing anything, merely things to consider. What I hope you will continue to do - in addition to your general comments - is correct tactics and other things that are wrong as you see them. Fact is I'm doing this to learn, not showcase my brilliance. I'm doing tons wrong and I want to hear about it or I'll just keep doing the same thing wrong in the future! So please don't stop the comments and critique! The battle is already decided so you can't change the outcome at this point.

I'm posting this as a refresher because it's easy to get confused by what is AOA 1, KT 1, etc. RU009

You think that AOA 1 (the western route going to KT 2) is not a good idea? Ok, can you tell me why? I'm not arguing you're wrong; I'd like to hear your thoughts on why it might be a bad idea.

Minute 39-38: All right, so now the attack itself begins. I’m sure I’m doing a lot of stuff wrong. As always, comments, suggestions and critique are welcome. What seemed like a great position when I planned the move of the T34 in the gully ends up being completely blind. I wanted armour overwatch toward the German lines due north behind KT 1, and ended up with a tank moving at a crawl in trees and blind as a bat. Most times LOS works fine in the game but once in a while an LOS check doesn’t end up representing what is visible when one gets to the destination. I order it to turn around and move to the west. Both sections from 2/1 squad are showing Tiring, so I will leave them at the edge of the woods and cover the movement of 3/1 squad, and 1B/1 team. 1A/1 team fires on the still fleeing HMG crewman, but is ordered to move to the edge of the woods to be ready to cross the open to KT 1. RU070 Meanwhile I am moving two more T34s, each with riders, to reinforce 1st platoon on AOA 2. My objective is to engage my opponent here and present a substantial force (1/2 of my forces actually) that will convince him this is where I want to bull my way through his defences. RU071 The reality is that I see AOA 1 as lightly defended, and offering me two courses of action, both requiring I reinforce my presence there with the remaining three (1 JS-2, 2 T34s) tanks I have, as well as their riders. Use the upcoming fight on AOA 2 as a distraction, my options for AOA 1: i) Push forward due north and enter the objective area; ii) Flank the defenders on KT 1 from the west as they are already engaged by my forces on AOA 2. I will decide which is best once I’ve explored KT 2 further. In any event I need to move my units - and again am doing so unseen behind the ridgeline. RU072 So what can we see of the enemy at this point? My barrage must have upset a few of his men - that running HMG 42 crewman wasn’t a sudden change of heart on my opponent’s part to withdraw. But aside from the occasional contact and the initial fight in the woods which cost me 6 men and 2 armoured cars, there has been very little to go on. I think he is holding back his more serious weapons, likely with target arcs that limit range. RU073 3/1 squad makes the short run from the woods I control to the ones on the eastern periphery of KT 1. I want to establish a base of fire from there and move north and west to sweep the farmhouses clean. They immediately engage the HMG crewman. RU074 The T34s with riders begin to arrive. Here you see it all in one go: The displacing T34 from the gully on the right, moving left, the new arrivals bottom left, 3/1 squad making the dash upper centre, and the enemy beginning to shoot back on the T34 in the middle, as well as 1B/1 section. RU075 As 1B/1 section runs up to join 3/1 squad, they come under fire from an HMG42. Likely this is the one that was spotted by my armoured car from across the map. I’m getting the impression that the German defences have a lot of them scattered about here, but I’m not seeing them all. RU076 These foxholes probably contain the HMG, and we also get a glimpse of the HMG crewman that was running in the area before. He seems to lead a charmed life…. RU077 On the western front (no, not that one, that’s 1000 km the other way) the IS-2 I sent several minutes ago arrives on AOA 1. I’m sending it along the road to get better LOS on KT 1. Maybe some 122 HE shells might help the fight on the other side… While it advances, the two teams and armoured car will overwatch. I want as much chance of seeing anything threatening in the KT 2 area and the village to the north as possible. RU078 Wow, this report was supposed to cover 5 minutes (up to min 35) and only managed one, but I can’t resist giving more details and screenshots. I hope the pacing is not driving you guys mad with tedium!

Guys (and everyone reading); Thank you for your support. I was reluctant to bring up the situation - seems like asking for pity or simply TMI and neither is my intent. Its a stressful situation, terrifying actually, but prognosis is good. All I wanted to express was that my schedule is erratic and the stress can be quite fatiguing. I'm not stopping this AAR, there is no reason to. Stick with me gents, I have more learnin' to do with your help!

I don't think this is boring at all. My AAR partner in CMRT would love this sort of thing. Good idea.

Sorry for the delay, guys. My wife is having chemo and it's making my schedule (and my energy) rather malleable, to say the least. I'll try to get the next set of graphics done tonight or in the morning.

Haha you're talking just my sort of thing. A guns blazing, T34-led body slam into the enemy. I used to play that way a lot (talking other games here, but all WW2). And against the opponent I'm fighting here, it used to work really well. Then he stopped fearing it and began planning for it and I lost lots of tanks and other useful units over the years. So I realized that as glorious it is to charge like mad, and count on élan and speed to win, it ain't gonna fly. And believe me, I miss the days when a company of tanks struck my enemy with terror! I am just not convinced that even with good timing I could afford the necessary artillery to cover most of the areas where he could be lying in wait for me to run in the open. Your observation is actually very good. I think this is exactly a combination of what you say, a tank-rush and a probe. The rush will probably be in shorter bounds than an all-out one. And the probe will not be quite as well orchestrated as I think it should be. Still learning stuff, y'know?

Thank you, that's really appreciated. I'll try to win this one!

I'm afraid the last two days of the week must have been dull at work then, gnarly. It's always a pleasure to hear from people new to the game - and that what they're reading is worth their time. I hope you do make a choice, even if its only one CM game - I doubt you'll regret it and you already are meeting the people you might play right here. I know what you mean about reading an "active" AAR. I read a whole bunch of AARs here well after they were written. It's interesting to see that even a year or more later, people are commenting on those threads - clearly the Beta AARs truly left a strong impression. They certainly did on me. Bil and Pnzrldr's CMBS beta AAR were what convinced me this was a game I really could not pass up - I didn't want to go to the modern era, but reading that stuff made it irresistible.

You may be right - or maybe they just want to make me proud before they die uselessly! I'm learning a lot as well - thankfully everyone has been quite gentle with their critiques!

In my Russian game I've had some shockingly distant shots with a panzerschrek that took me by surprise. I thought I was at a safe distance and...wasn't.

Yes, the are, and that's why I said what I said.

Fantastic as always, Heinrich. One day I hope you decide to start your own thread and tell a bigger story, you're a natural teller of tales!

Very eager to see this!

You're probably right. I was not counting on smoke from the barrage, but it seems reasonable to expect it to linger a minute or two after the barrage ends. *shrug* Gotta play with the hand I'm dealt with

Except he appears, if I'm reading this right, to be displacing toward me. My estimation is this is a reaction to what is going to appear to him (correctly) as my major effort taking place southeast of KT 1. The fact I'm getting no sound contacts of vehicles worries me. It suggests they are already in position. We shall see...