Heirloom_Tomato

Over at Sexton's house I sneak an assault section in for a better look. They see some men still present and open fire. Other than a few rounds fired harmlessly over the German's heads, nothing happens.

C Company was given orders to spread out and seek higher ground in an attempt to welcome RH's men to this side of town. Here are their positions at the start of the turn

And again at the end. The Daimler seen in this last screen shot was within line of sight and of the men who had made contact last turn. He heard their shouts of "Enemy Spotted" and their rifle fire so raced over to offer support. C Company Commander has now been made aware of RH's men in the town and begins to direct some other AFV assets under his control to help support his men.

This turn ends with little other action occurring. 

It is now time to take this DAR into dangerous waters, unbuttoned halftrack gunners and their totally useless shields. I should be able to be dropping these guys like flies, am I right? D Company's 14th Platoon has been spotting behind a house near the church. It appears they have spotted something. One man is peeking around the corner of the house and is taking aim.

A closer look down his rifle sights reveals his target, an unbuttoned halftrack gunner blazing away. Ah fresh meat.


He steadies his rifle against the side of the house, takes careful aim, exhales slightly and gently squeezes the trigger.

His shot is away and somehow he manages to miss.

A Bren gunner from 15th Platoon, high in the houses to the left of the church also has a spot on the gunner. He blazes away and only manages to hit the gun shield. The ricochets fly off harmlessly into the sky.
 
So what gives?? What did I do wrong?? I thought these guys were bullet magnets. I thought they died within seconds of being exposed. I thought they didn't stand a chance. I thought those gun shields were useless. Maybe it is only when they are under my command that they die like flies but when the enemy uses them they are safe? 

Over by Sexton's house, my 2 inch mortars have started to have some effect. The tree has lost all its leaves, the wall turned to rubble and RH's men start to flee. I will adjust the aim of the mortar and hope to catch a few of his men in the open next turn.

I have two Staghounds in this area and with 10 seconds left in the turn, they get a spot.

Can it be? Please oh please be who I think it is...

HAHA! It is the 20mm AC halftrack. He is reversing again and with no time left on the clock, the Staghound fires!

A solid hit again, but this time it appears to have done some more serious damage. Say, where did the driver go....hehehehe....

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.

@Agusto: That map is my creation.  There was absolutely no reference to swastikas implied.  In fact it is actually a push to infer it IS a swastika.  But that is my own opinion.  Do know that I am personally offended by your post.
 

Challenge battle #6 is not like the other battles in this series. It features a city battle with lots of support. Tanks, arty, and CAS all show up in this battle. It also features holding onto a key piece of terrain at all costs instead of focusing on limiting casualties. Be prepared for a serious and vicious counterattack, keeping casualties low is going to be near impossible. There is only one AI plan, but it gives a hell of a fight. In my play through it took all the tools given to score the victory. The last play test took until the last turn to secure the objective completely. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Please play this battle all the way to the end of the battle clock for the full experience. Good Luck!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k5v42gds4y7e2so/AADyXv9MCabs64EVeJJFv0jua?dl=0

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 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. 

His lose was not in vain! The Staghound was watching them flee for safety and somehow managed to spot where the enemy rounds came from. Can you spot RH's men?

Here, I will give you the full zoom view. Does this help?

Lets try that again, but this time with the trees turned off.

There he is! A marksman with a scope. Is he a dedicated sniper, or just the marksman in a PzG squad? Who know and who cares, my Staghound send him some 37mm HE love. After this round hits, the marksman disappears from view. I can only hope it took him out, but the shot appears to have hit a little low. Does the little 37mm HE round pack enough punch to penetrate the wall and cause casualties? Sure would have been better to see the round sail through the window and straight into the sniper.

 

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.

I would agree with this, in game we push too hard to fast. I would however say 2x the clock is not enough but rather 3x or even better 4x.
I would suggest then a 3.5 to 4 hour scenario. 
 
I would suggest including @RockinHarry invisible enemy icons mod for use with this battle. Use all of them so the human player has zero clue where the enemy is beyond what can be seen on screen. 
As for points, set up the parameters to match the battle as close as possible. If the US lost 30 men out of a half battalion, it would be roughly 10% of their force. Have the briefing state this is the goal as clearly as possible and set the points so if the player exceeds this limit, the best they can do is a draw. Set most of the US artillery as reinforcements to prevent the player from flatting everything in a turn 1 preordered  mass arty drop.
Build some "safe" houses for the German side. No windows or doors on the bottom floors facing the US side, but the upper floors with great LOS to the US side. This should protect them from all but the heaviest artillery direct hits. Use snipers/scouts/breach teams on the bottom floor set to ambush at 75 meters. Give them terrain triggers to rise to the upper floors, creating ambush zones. 
Use plenty of wire, hedgehogs, TRP's and spread enough mines around so everytime the player encounters an obstacle, they will assume it has mines, and need to find a new path or deal with them.

I would agree with this, in game we push too hard to fast. I would however say 2x the clock is not enough but rather 3x or even better 4x.
I would suggest then a 3.5 to 4 hour scenario. 
 
I would suggest including @RockinHarry invisible enemy icons mod for use with this battle. Use all of them so the human player has zero clue where the enemy is beyond what can be seen on screen. 
As for points, set up the parameters to match the battle as close as possible. If the US lost 30 men out of a half battalion, it would be roughly 10% of their force. Have the briefing state this is the goal as clearly as possible and set the points so if the player exceeds this limit, the best they can do is a draw. Set most of the US artillery as reinforcements to prevent the player from flatting everything in a turn 1 preordered  mass arty drop.
Build some "safe" houses for the German side. No windows or doors on the bottom floors facing the US side, but the upper floors with great LOS to the US side. This should protect them from all but the heaviest artillery direct hits. Use snipers/scouts/breach teams on the bottom floor set to ambush at 75 meters. Give them terrain triggers to rise to the upper floors, creating ambush zones. 
Use plenty of wire, hedgehogs, TRP's and spread enough mines around so everytime the player encounters an obstacle, they will assume it has mines, and need to find a new path or deal with them.

Minute 1:54-1:53
This 20mm Ac halftrack.... WOW! With his drivers dying screams still echoing in his ears, he turns the gun and fires off another amazingly accurate burst of fire.

Once again striking another Staghound with incredible ferocity. I lose the driver and the radio operator. Shortly after this picture is taken, the remaining crew bail and run for cover.

Finally RH's gunner can stand it no more. Grabbing the picture of his girlfriend from near his gun, he takes one last look at his driver before bailing and seeking shelter.

I can only hope all his halftracks are not as difficult to knock out as this one was.

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?

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.

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!

His lose was not in vain! The Staghound was watching them flee for safety and somehow managed to spot where the enemy rounds came from. Can you spot RH's men?

Here, I will give you the full zoom view. Does this help?

Lets try that again, but this time with the trees turned off.

There he is! A marksman with a scope. Is he a dedicated sniper, or just the marksman in a PzG squad? Who know and who cares, my Staghound send him some 37mm HE love. After this round hits, the marksman disappears from view. I can only hope it took him out, but the shot appears to have hit a little low. Does the little 37mm HE round pack enough punch to penetrate the wall and cause casualties? Sure would have been better to see the round sail through the window and straight into the sniper.

 

Over by Sexton's house, my 2 inch mortars have started to have some effect. The tree has lost all its leaves, the wall turned to rubble and RH's men start to flee. I will adjust the aim of the mortar and hope to catch a few of his men in the open next turn.

I have two Staghounds in this area and with 10 seconds left in the turn, they get a spot.

Can it be? Please oh please be who I think it is...

HAHA! It is the 20mm AC halftrack. He is reversing again and with no time left on the clock, the Staghound fires!

A solid hit again, but this time it appears to have done some more serious damage. Say, where did the driver go....hehehehe....

It is now time to take this DAR into dangerous waters, unbuttoned halftrack gunners and their totally useless shields. I should be able to be dropping these guys like flies, am I right? D Company's 14th Platoon has been spotting behind a house near the church. It appears they have spotted something. One man is peeking around the corner of the house and is taking aim.

A closer look down his rifle sights reveals his target, an unbuttoned halftrack gunner blazing away. Ah fresh meat.


He steadies his rifle against the side of the house, takes careful aim, exhales slightly and gently squeezes the trigger.

His shot is away and somehow he manages to miss.

A Bren gunner from 15th Platoon, high in the houses to the left of the church also has a spot on the gunner. He blazes away and only manages to hit the gun shield. The ricochets fly off harmlessly into the sky.
 
So what gives?? What did I do wrong?? I thought these guys were bullet magnets. I thought they died within seconds of being exposed. I thought they didn't stand a chance. I thought those gun shields were useless. Maybe it is only when they are under my command that they die like flies but when the enemy uses them they are safe? 

Minute 1:54-1:53
This 20mm Ac halftrack.... WOW! With his drivers dying screams still echoing in his ears, he turns the gun and fires off another amazingly accurate burst of fire.

Once again striking another Staghound with incredible ferocity. I lose the driver and the radio operator. Shortly after this picture is taken, the remaining crew bail and run for cover.

Finally RH's gunner can stand it no more. Grabbing the picture of his girlfriend from near his gun, he takes one last look at his driver before bailing and seeking shelter.

I can only hope all his halftracks are not as difficult to knock out as this one was.

Over at Sexton's house I sneak an assault section in for a better look. They see some men still present and open fire. Other than a few rounds fired harmlessly over the German's heads, nothing happens.

C Company was given orders to spread out and seek higher ground in an attempt to welcome RH's men to this side of town. Here are their positions at the start of the turn

And again at the end. The Daimler seen in this last screen shot was within line of sight and of the men who had made contact last turn. He heard their shouts of "Enemy Spotted" and their rifle fire so raced over to offer support. C Company Commander has now been made aware of RH's men in the town and begins to direct some other AFV assets under his control to help support his men.

This turn ends with little other action occurring. 

I had to post this.

I have never seen 1 tank take out 4 targets with 1 shell. SU-85 vs 3 x Puma and 1 x 250/9