Heirloom_Tomato

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? 

I should have added it is also the reason I play WeGo only. I watched that little section of the battle, over and over and over again. As the player, when you bring the camera down to its lowest level and get right in and watch the battle playout as if you were the fourth man in this team, I am always impressed by all the little details the game models.

The following sequence is one of the reasons why I absolutely love the CM series. It is also the reason RH wanted to give the name Sexton House to this little building. I still don't know why, but I am sure he will explain it in his DAR. At the end of the last turn some smoke rounds were starting to fall, giving cover to my men from 15th platoon sent to clear out Sexton house. I ordered this three man section lead by Corporal Morrissey to move in and flush out RH's men. I assumed they would be suppressed and hopefully easy targets for my men. As the section closes in on the house, they see a smoke round falling and fail to spot the men laying in front of the house.

They do however, spot a two man team just behind a barb wire fence. The Germans greet them by throwing gifts....

The first grenade explodes harmlessly off to the side while both side trade inaccurate rifle fire.

Corporal Morrissey falls to a shot from RH's men and a second grenade goes off taking out the nameless private behind him.


The view from the German vantage point

Private Purval has had enough and breaks for the safety of the church.

As he flees, the Germans take a shot at him. Big mistake. Private Purval feels his blood boil and stops to get some revenge for his fallen comrades, readying a grenade of his own.

His throw appears to be spot on, while the German's shot goes just wide.

Seconds later the grenade goes off,

lifting the German off his feet

and dumping his broken, lifeless body back to earth. Haven gotten his revenge, Private Purval continues his run for safety in the church.

As the turn ends, the men in the church spot the other German from this team and bring him under fire as he runs away.

The vehicles in over watch between the companies come under fire from some sort of HE round. It falls short but causes both Staghounds to turn their attention in the direction of the shot.
 

It is a Schreck team and they come under a hail of fire from the Staghounds and flee for safety.

I am replaying this turn to get the screenshots and I missed this sequence on the first play through. I am glad I did not give these guys any target armour arcs or they may have been knocked out due to my neglect. It is a good thing the TAC AI knows how to look after the men, even when their commanding officer ignores them. This next picture is for you @JoMc67. While looking at this turn a second time, I found these guys. I have no idea where they came from, who took them out, or when it happened. It did not happen this turn as they are already casualties at the start of the turn. To me it is another example of how when playing with all visual clues of the enemy off, it is best to let your men have the freedom to fire at will!

 

Turn 1:52-1:51
Last turn we left this Daimler and his supporting infantry from C company firing away at a MG nest in a building. At the start of the turn the MG crew is spotted again and engaged by everyone who can see them.

Within a few seconds of heavy incoming fire, one man is spotted fleeing the building. Unfortunately for me, the guy running away is carrying an MG. Too bad they didn't nail him but at least they got him suppressed enough to flee.

At the end of last turn a section of RH's men was spotted in the Laundry, lower window of the tile roof building. I gave a two inch mortar team orders to fire smoke in front of this position, to hopefully blind these men and allow me to move my men out of their line of fire. 

There he is!

While my rifle crews can't seem to hit anything, my mortar crews appear have paid attention during training. INCOMING!!

What a shot! Right in the window!

The smoke rounds from the 2 inch mortars are all WP rounds. I know the manual says WP rounds can cause casualties and really hope it happens in this case. I would find it hard to believe a WP round going off in the confines of a small building would not cause some kind of injuries even if they are just light ones. If nothing else, those guys had better be suppressed!

In the middle, one AFV was able to spot an MG team at the end of the last turn. I gave them a target light order and they spend the turn hosing the building down. 

The rest of D company was trading a few pot shots with some of RH's men. Nothing serious happened until the last few seconds of the turn. A large HE round hit the front of the houses in support of the church. One man was hit, a guy all the way behind the house, completely out of harms way, or so I thought. I assumed a shingle fell off the roof and onto his head.

This is the situation at the end of the turn. The areas circled in red are where I know his men to be. I have started to call in some 81mm mortar fire onto his strong points and will be slowing the combat down if I can, while I wait for those rounds to come in, approximate call time of 6 minutes. I have also ordered a couple more of the AFV's to begin moving in support of C company. Hopefully the mortars and AFV's can suppress his men long enough for me to flank and then destroy 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.

Turn 1:53-1:52
C Company's sector sees a fair bit of action this turn. These men in 10th platoon have an interesting view, let's see what they see.

The man on the left is taking aim here but it is hard to tell what he is aiming at.

If we zoom in over his shoulder, a PzG can be seen sprinting for the hedges. He takes aim and fires but manages to hit the chimney. First a wheel and now a chimney. If we survive this battle, these men are going to be spending some serious retraining time with their weapons.

Over at the next window, this trooper has a house full of targets.

He takes aim, and fires.
His shot sails wide by a few feet, straight towards the window with no one visible. I mean it is the proverbial broadside of the barn door but good grief fella, your aim is off four feet on a 100 yards. He can't even put his shot through the window, nope it hits the window sill and ricochets harmlessly into the sky.

At least the Daimler in support for these guys is able to see some targets of his own. His shot with the 40mm again hits low but at least it hit the building. Maybe some dust will get into his face and give him a serious case of red eye.

The MG rounds that follow the HE are on target. After this burst the team in the house are not spotted again this turn.

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?