Heirloom_Tomato

In the centre the men of 13th platoon all flee their over watch positions clearly in full view of a Stummel for better cover. Can they all make it safely? Everyone makes it to safety but one man. The most important man of this section, the Bren gunner. If it isn't the leader, it is always the @#$%@ lmg gunner!

There was some discussion about target orders and what we are doing for this battle. I have not given any of my men target arcs and beyond giving the 2 inch mortars target orders, all my men have been fire to fire at will. The following screens show why this is so important for a battle such as this one with no visual clues about the enemy beyond what I can see. Minute 1:55-1:54 The men in C Company have been continuing to work their way into the town, ever closer to the objective. With most of this turn passing with no action once again in their sector, suddenly 8th platoon opens fire. But what are they shooting at? Look closely to the left of the Bakery! Some dismounted infantry are trying to get into position. My men fire, revealing their positions, but see no enemy fall. This is the only action in C Company's sector this turn. The men will be given orders to spread out and seek more contacts. Hopefully we can do some serious damage to RH over here before he has a chance to get setup.

Your amazing crew in the 20 mm AC halftrack is plenty of advantage, if you ask me!

Here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k5v42gds4y7e2so/AADyXv9MCabs64EVeJJFv0jua?dl=0 Why don't you send me a pm with some more details about the tournament scenario?

We are playing with no enemy icons at all visible. No spotting contacts, no sound contacts, no spotted contacts. The only enemy units I know about, are the ones currently being spotted and those where I remember spotting them in a previous turn. Any area fire happening is either completely blind or onto a location I have seen enemy troops in. As for giving my men target commands, to this point in the battle the only target orders I have given are to the 2 inch mortars. Every other unit has been engaging on its own. I have also not given any target arcs to any of my men. In a normal battle this might seem like a bad idea, in this battle I need my men to start shooting so I know they can actually see something. The next turn has a clear example of this. I am working on the screenshots now.

@Ted If you load up the Challenge Battle I posted for this weekend, Challenge Battle #5, check out how I assigned points to each side. It might help with what you are planning to do. I would be more than willing to help out if you would like.

The turn ends with even more good news for the men of D Company. As if three Stummels isn't bad enough, another 20mm AC halftrack is spotted at turns end. My gunners have yet to take out one of his halftracks and now there are two of the most lethal ones seen yet in this battle. Just great news. In discussion via PM with RH, we have decided to call this little house by the church, where I managed to score one lucky shot earlier in the battle, Sexton's House. Again at the end of the turn, these men pop into view. Note the marksman in house in the background. He appears to be taking aim at someone, but who?

D Company catches no luck this turn. While sitting in over watch of two Staghounds, 3 section of 13 Platoon come under heavy HE fire. Two shots later they have lost 4 of the 7 men in the section. Where did that come from?? The only clue is this cloud of dust. As the men flee cover, the cloud of dust is revealed to be yet another Stummel. But how did he manage to see my men in the house from so far away and through such thick cover? Here is an un-zoomed in view from the Stummel's position. See anything? Me neither. But on max zoom, ah there they are. RH's men have eagle eyes! The second shot makes it mark and leaves me with yet another letter to write home.

Over at the church there is a battle between a Staghound and the 20mm auto cannon halftrack. First, the halftrack shot in the wheels last turn takes some incoming rifle fire and reverses to safety. The sniper in the tower draws a bead, exposing his location to RH's men. It doesn't end well. A Staghound supporting D Company soon spots a 20 mm AC halftrack. The Staghound crew opens fire with their MG's while the main gun takes careful aim. The 20mm AC is reversing out of trouble, hopefully he will be unaware of the danger he is in. Uh oh, looks like that cannon is starting to draw a bead on the Staghound. He is reversing at full speed so any shots should be hasty and off target right? The Staghound takes careful aim and fires! A clean hit! It misses everything important and the 20mm AC is able to return fire. Not just return fire, but fire accurately, while reversing, just after taking solid hit to halftrack. Can the battle luck be any worse?? If you look closely there are two holes in the Staghound, one of which killed the driver. Not only does the 20mm AC halftrack take a hit and kill my Staghound driver while reversing, somehow while all that is going on, he manages to spot the sniper in the church tower as well takes him and the spotter out with a perfectly aimed shot.

RH has been asking lots of questions about how this DAR is going and I have been bugging him about starting up one from his side of the map. He has indicated he is going to be starting one soon so I had better maintain my lead on him! I left things with a question about what is happening and my next plans. I decided to stick with the plan and here is how things turned out. This turn will focus once again D Company as all the action seems to be happening in their sector. Turn 1:56-1:55 Well, it looks like I missed some signs but RH has at least one more Stummel. This Stummel begins to fire on my men supporting the action at the church. Soon it has caused enough damage to knock down a wall and send my men fleeing for safer cover.

I will be doing this for the screenshots I have yet to take. But in the meantime....

Just loaded it up for you to enjoy.

Sorry for the delay in getting this battle up. Had some family commitments I needed to get done first. Weekend Challenge Battle #5 features and American Engineer platoon clearing out a small village. It is for CMBN and features some units included in the Market Garden module. It is playable from the Allied side against three AI plans. Good luck. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k5v42gds4y7e2so/AADyXv9MCabs64EVeJJFv0jua?dl=0

For those keeping score at home, at this point in the battle I have lost a complete flamethrower team, a Bren carrier, three infantry and one driver. To my eyes, I have taken out three of his men and one wheel. I will need to see if I can make a blood board to keep track of the losses and will start to post it up with each turn.

Busy week Joe, but I can post one up tonight! Minute 1:57-1:56 We will start on the left with C Company as it has been a while since their positions have been updated. The platoons have been moving in leap frog, one moving, the other two in over watch. They are almost to the edge of the objective, near the middle of town. A few more bounds and they should be on the objective. They have some contacts on the right side of the map, but still nothing ahead of them. They will continue this same movement until they secure the first line of buildings in the objective or make contact with RH's men. Back to the church. The scouts I gave a face order to last turn decided they would sprint out of the tower, into the main part of the church and go all the way to the far end of the building. Before they even make it to the end, incoming fire first drops one man and less than three seconds later another That did not go as planned. Who is to blame for their deaths? Some PanzerGrenadiers! Note the snipers in the bell tower come under some sort of HE fire this turn, somehow RH has seen them moving up the tower. In the background, some men from D Company are rounding the corner of a house and making their way to the church. The men from D company get close but those PzG nail another one of my men He must have been the best friend to every man in the squad as a few seconds later, his squad mates turn tail and run away. Their fellow platoon mates and the remaining scout, pour fire onto the heads of the PzG, and while I see no one drop, one man appears to be starting to run away. Have I broken their will to fight?? Near the end of the minute, one of my Daimlers gets a bead on a fully loaded halftrack! HA HA revenge is ours Except instead of hitting anything important or the passenger compartment, my gunner decided a road wheel needed a hole... I hope he gets a chance to fire again. This image also shows what appears to be a 20mm cannon halftrack. Could this be the one who killed the Preacher? Whoever he is, he draws a bead on a passing Daimler, takes aim and hits, killing the driver. The crew bail and run away. Here is an overview of the positions of my men at the end of the turn. I have taken a close up view of where I have seen RH's men so far. The buildings circled in red have had some infantry spotted running into them. My analysis at this point of the battle leads me to believe I have found the one of RH's companies as well as some of his support vehicles. I have counted at least 6 halftracks including two support versions. While I have some solid contacts, like the fully loaded halftracks, others have been only a single man spotted here or there. I feel confident still with my plan laid out at the start of the battle, but I have more questions than answers. Where are the rest of his men? Are they with this company and I have not yet seen them? Could they be just out of sight and next turn come rolling into view decimating my men? Or did RH split his forces into two battle groups and his other half is just infantry working their way in on the other flank of the map? Should I push in hard with my AFV's and another platoon of men from C company and attempt to crush his men by the church right away? If I do, will I leave my flanks exposed and potentially walk straight in to a trap? The answers to these questions and more in the next post.

I came across this collection of colour photos from WW2 in another forum and thought some here would find them interesting. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4423218/The-Second-World-War-colour.html

Absolutely. I have done so a few times in the past when patches or engine upgrades have been released.

This decision tree was why I put the requirement to not hit the houses into the briefing. I wanted the player to have to think for a moment about the consequences of having an asset with the power to alter the course of the battle, yet need to balance the lives of his men against potential civilian lives. The planes could knock those house flat and any potential enemy in them leaving the way into town clear. Yet the real threat was not in the houses but the woods. If the mortars had smoke rounds, it would be easy to blind the houses and attack the woods with the planes. It would have been very frustrating to see the houses get flattened, confidence build that the approach was clear, only to see your men cut to shreds by the enemy in the woods. It would have been the worst of results. Fortunately, Lady Luck was on your side and all turned out perfectly. The variable timing for reinforcements is something I like to use as it adds randomness to a battle. In my playthroughs, sometimes the Allied tanks didnt show up until well after the enemy reinforcements arrive. Your infantry have some weapons available to tackle the tanks but if they have to battle them in the open terrain it is going to be a tough fight. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts on the battle.

Werth is great. I read his book on the seige of Leningrad and it was fantastic. I really like his writing style, seems very similar to reading the newspaper. If memory serves, there are 10 in the WW2 series by Zuehlke. There is plenty of great scenario material in his books.

Thanks for the feedback, it sure makes doing these a lot more enjoyable. I am glad you enjoyed the battles. This weekends battle will be one for CMBN. I will update the seed scoring later tonight, so there still is time to post your results.

I am going to change the numbering here for the turns, this would be turn 3 but minute 1:58-1:57. On the left, nothing to report. Troops still moving into positions and advancing into the town. On the right, the action continues to heat up. The scouts in the church see some men running into the small house just past the church. They open fire and one man drops. Let's hope it was the squad leader, but if your games play out like mine, the scouts hit the least important man in the team. The snipers from the burning carrier sprint into the church while the scouts continue to blast away at the incoming German infantry. Another man goes down and other turn tail and flee for cover. As the snipers start to climb the tower, more Germans spring into view. Looks like RH has sent at least one mounted platoon, with support, to attack the church. A closer up look at the halftracks in the rear. One is firing away at my men. Note the puff of smoke yet lack of tracer fire. As the turn ends a new threat rumbles into view. Stummel! Orders for this turn include continuing to move C Company into town in small bounds, always trying to keep a few men stationary in overwatch positions. While cycling through the C company platoons, it turns out they can spot the halftracks in the objective zone. One two inch mortar is given orders to open fire. The AFV's up the center are starting to spread out, two Staghounds are using the buildings for cover and slowly moving forward to try and spot the enemy halftracks. One of the scout teams is given a face command to view the enemy side of the church. One D company platoon is spreading out into the buildings to the right of the church, hoping to gain some spots on the enemy. A second D company platoon is advancing to the houses on the flank of the church.

CW NEDForce at Les Grand Bonfaits is a pretty good one. Lots of opportunity for an active defence.

Remember the 4.0 problems affect both players the same so there is no point holding out on starting a game while waiting for the patch. If you want to reduce the occurrences of seeing the issue happen, play a quick battle and agree to take no off map artillery assets, only on map mortars allowed. You could also limit your vehicles to those with main guns of 50mm or less, again reducing the amount of large calibre HE flying around the map.

I recently finished We Die Alone by David Howarth. It is about a failed Norwegian Commando raid in March of 1943. Currently reading Russia at War by Alexander Werth while I wait for Dileas by Kim Beattie to arrive. It is the regimental history of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. I am hoping for some good scenario ideas out of that one.

The Flyers? Really? Hometown team not good enough for you? Last spring must have driven you nuts.