Monty's Mighty Moustache

Thanks @Rinaldi, it's always good when someone chimes in and I was hoping it would generate some discussion but if no-one does then that's fine too, I'm enjoying the process. I've got quite a few turns to write up so I'll try and get another update out today. I must admit I'm starting to think he doesn't have that much armour in the AO, if he did then I would expect him to have sent more than one tank down the highway. As you say I think he strongpointed the objective and it was a test to see what he could get away with moving that one tank forward, perhaps he thought he had a nice keyhole position. The fact that he immediately pulled the other two tanks back tells me that he's not confident going toe-to-toe with my armour, which I think means he hasn't got enough to "spare". Of course I could be wrong and it will all end in flames but that's the way I see it right now. I would be surprised though if he had less than a company given how much armour I've been allocated to play with, I need to do some more scouting to check. MMM

It’s flanked by the trees on the right all the way up, so there’s no way for anything at BLAU to fire on the highway. My thinking is that even if he has ATGs in the trees at those kind of ranges they might not even be able to fire, and they certainly wouldn’t be able to rotate quickly enough. It’s only the nucleus of an idea right now, I may take a more considered approach, especially as he knows I have forces over there. Should be fun either way MMM

The Sixty-Seventh Minute KT4 A quite turn after the disaster 1 Zug endured last time. The screen pulls back under overwatch from the StuG and they get away clean. A hatch opens on the T34 and we see the crew running into the trees. Only two survivors were seen but the tank appears to be knocked out. We also get a spot on the infantry retreating back into the woods. I wonder if he's trying to push Broken troops up and they are panicking at the first sign of bullets coming their way? On the right the 251/17 fires on the ATG location while it backs away to get out of range. The Landsers recover enough to get up and move but are soon fired upon from the treeline by both a MG and the ATG. No casualties are caused though. Objective ROT A reminder of the numbers and the situation at the end of last turn. The T34's driver's hatch open, we don't see any of the crew but this one appears to be knocked out too. One thing I didn't notice last time is these are not the 1943 model (different gun). The Tigers are being moved up slightly to be able to see further back into the objective and... I take one of them and park it next to the buildings so it is covered on the right and it can keep an eye on the open space to the East. On the objective 2 Zug of 1 Kompanie continue to push into the objective. We soon get a spot on the infantry in B2 and shots are exchanged. 1 Zug also get the spot and start firing. The enemy soon sees the error of their ways and decide to surrender. The HQ unit that has been camped between A1 and A2 soon gets spotted too. Unfortunately one of the Panthers also spots him and fires a 75m shell at him, hitting one of 2 Gruppe's men. Must add some cover arcs! The HQ team does not last long however. 1 Zug comes under fire from E2 as it advances from another HQ team. The overwatching troops and Tiger do their job and quickly take him out. He is definitely un-assing B sector as we see 1 HQ team and an infantry team retreating across the road. We even get a HQ team that looks like it came from sector E. Is he running away or consolidating in sectors C and D? "What about the other tanks?" I hear you say. Well first of all we get a sound contact on the third member of the platoon back in the trees, so they are moving! They are indeed, backwards! They retreat back into the fields behind the objective, they are out of range of my infantry so I don't know if they stopped in the final position shown in this image or if they kept going. The dispositions are the end of the turn. SITMAP I've updated the blood board now I've confirmed that those T34s are at least abandoned. We'll see if he recrews them. Over at KT4 I'm going to give it a few more minutes and see if anything else pokes its head out but it may be that that flank s quite open, so I'm thinking of dashing up there and grabbing Obj SCHWARZ. I'll need a bit bigger force than I have over there right now so I'll have to wait until ROT looks secure and then I can start to split my forces. On the right not much is happening but I may have found a way to advance, the scrub on the right is out of sight from the farm buildings, it may be a narrow corridor I can get up, but again until I have a better hold on ROT I won't do anything over there. MMM

When I had my kids and was up feeding them through the night these guys kept me awake and entertained. I think I watched more or less every video they both uploaded, and some of Hapless’s PBEM series are looooong I didn’t have the time or energy to play CM at the time so it scratched the itch too. Win win. MMM

I did think it a bit strange, but trying to put myself in my oppos head is half the fun. The way I see it is he could be being trying to make me think they are scattered and lure me into a well conceived ambush by a much larger force or he could not have all that many tanks and is by necessity having to scatter them a bit. I haven't seen any that haven't been accompanied by infantry so they are not operating on their own by any means, he's at least got them working as part of a combined arms team. MMM

It never spotted him, even when it was unbuttoned. The StuG was in defilade right up until he spotted it though (from a hull-down position) and then the gun started tracking immediately so perhaps that contributed. It also had the sound contact once the 251/1 was destroyed so he knew it was there. Agreed, very lucky though. MMM

The Sixty-Sixth Minute - Objective ROT A reminder of the dispositions and numbering system: The attack at KT4 seems to have emboldened my oppo as one of the contacts at the objective starts to move. The next sequence of events all happen within about a second of one another. 1) B Trupp/2 Gruppe at the SBF position firm up the contact and get a burst of MG42 fire off. It's another T34-85. 2) In the meantime the T34 fires on the 251/17 on the road and destroys it, the shell entering the engine and impacting the ground some 30m behind the vehicle and killing the two crew inside. 3) The burst from the MG42 above takes out the tank commander. 4) One of the overwatching Panthers spots the T34 about this time, rotates, and fires. He scores a hit on the turret at a range of 310m. The T34 doesn't move, doesn't brew up and nobody is seen exiting the vehicle. The turret is still pointing to its left at turn's end so he may have a cover arc set up, I need more info in order to do a proper BDA. Elsewhere on the objective 1 Kompanie get a foothold and start advancing down sector A. 1 Zug are providing cover fire along with the Tiger and take out a man in B3. Shortly thereafter what looks like a team is seen retreating from B3 towards C3. He seems to be falling back from sector B. The dispositions are turn's end. SITMAP The lone tank on the left flank is curious. Why only one T34? I am going to assume that there is a platoon over there but perhaps not as he must've known about the StuG as it was firing on the treeline not that long ago so if it were to be dealt with he'd need to send more than one tank given the disparity in optics and spotting. Hmmm. Interesting too that he waited until that attack went in before poking his head out on the objective, but he only did it with one T34 when I know he has at least 2 over there (I'm assuming has has T34s now that I've seen at least a platoon's worth). Maybe he was testing the waters, it will be interesting to see what happens next, but if he was going to commit more than one you'd think he would have done so on this turn. That's 3 confirmed spots on T34s thus far, and I know he has at least one more on the objective so he's got more than a platoon in the AO, I'm comfortable with my assumption that he has a company of them for now. I've updated the blood board to show my losses. I haven't updated his yet as I don't know if those T34s are knocked out or not. For support I'm going to send 4 Zug of 2 Kompanie from the SBF force to KT4, they are not needed at the SBF position anyway. On the objective I'm continuing to push and am keen to see what he does with that other T34. MMM

The Sixty-Sixth Minute - KT4 aka Die Vernichtung von 1 Zug "Oh c*ck!" - James May A terrible turn for 1 Zug that results in their destruction as an effective fighting force. Where to begin? The 251/3 with the four men of 2 Gruppe remaining continues to take fire from the DP gunner in the trees. That boy is some shot as he takes out one, then another and then the final two men as they all line up like lemmings to be shot behind the MG. Just like that 2 Gruppe are wiped out. Over on the right where Operation Russenjagd had just concluded the infantry push forward and immediately get a spot on two 45mm ATGs in the treeline. The 251/17 never spots either of them, but it's not long before the rightmost gun spots my Landsers. His first shot hits and wounds two of the four men. Back on the left I am moving the StuG into a hull-down position on the left to take the treeline under fire. 3 Gruppe (five men) spot the infantry in the treeline and stand up to take some shots. Then they start cursing when this appears (and they actually did say a naughty word thanks to the sound mod :)). Things went boom. The shot went straight into the engine and into the passenger compartment destroying the vehicle and everyone inside it. 3 Gruppe gone. The Zug is down to the two men still alive on the right, the scout team and a schrek team, a total of 7 troops. As for that armour contact... The StuG starts to crest the hill. It quickly gets a spot on the harbinger of such doom. It's another T34-85. The auto-MG takes the T34 under fire and forces him to button. He starts reversing away but never seems to see the StuG, which fires first and scores a penetrating hit to the turret at a range of about 300m. I am unable to perform a BDA on this hit though as the shot was taken right as the turn ended. Hopefully it's destroyed. While all this was going on the scouts get a spot on infantry advancing through the treeline again and send some bursts their way. A tough turn and this Zug are spent as a fighting force, they will be relegated to support and occupation duty from now on. They still have two functioning SPWs but not much else. Next turn I'm going to pull the screen I have out front back in case he charges more tanks down the highway and see if the Landsers on the right recover from their shaken state enough to get them out of there. The StuG| will stay where it is and fire on the treeline to cover the retreat, it's in a good hull-down position to cover the highway. MMM

I’m pretty sure Steve said engine rewrites to make use of modern architecture was on the list to do next. Hopefully engine 5 will include these improvements. MMM

Yes thanks @George MC, all recovered. It's only November though so I'm sure it will visit us again soon. Keep an eye out for the next turn update, it's a doozy! MMM

The Sixty-Fifth Minute KT4 Operation Russenjagd continues. The 251/17 takes out the AT rifleman who ran away. The infantry will advance next turn to try and get eyes past the trees and see if he has anything nasty lurking. On the left I have stopped firing for this turn to see what shakes out and am getting 3 Gruppe onboard their SPW when I spot infantry advancing through the trees again. I'm not sure if this is a new squad or one of the ones that ran away before, I'll assume the latter for now until I can get more information. There's definitely someone with a DP still alive in there as they start taking shots at my 251/3. And they connect. That's one man (out of 5) down from 2 Gruppe. I forgot to move the StuG over to where the SPWs are last turn so I'll be bringing it round next turn to put some MG fire on the trees as it has plenty of ammo and the SPWs are starting to run a bit low. Objective ROT A reminder of the numbering and the previous dispositions: The push continues, I'm bringing 4 Zug (Weapons) up a bit to provide overwatch. A man from 2 Gruppe/1 Zug is taken out by fire from E2. We soon get the spot, it's a HQ team. That's an ATG team, a MG team and a HQ team that we've spotted in this building thus far. Unlucky for them the Tiger has spotted them too and they eat some 88mm fragments, he takes at least one casualty. 2 Zug are almost on the objective and have taken no fire. Towards the end of the turn the SBF force spot another infantry team crossing the road to sector C. I'm now convinced he's splitting his squads, I haven't seen any squad sized teams crossing the road, they are all small 4 or 5 man sized elements. The armour contacts also brighten up. Are they moving? The dispositions and turn's end. SITMAP His lack of use of whatever armour he has at the objective is telling. Either he's waiting for something else to arrive or he knows he's outgunned and outnumbered and doesn't dare risk poking his head out. I suspect the latter as surely whatever he is waiting for would have arrived by now. Perhaps because he doesn't have that much armour? Hmmmm. I have only had two armour contacts at the objective too, I assume there's another over there as they tend to travel in threes. On the left Operation Russenjagd will continue with a push down the right side of the stream where the AT rifle teams were positioned and I'm bringing the StuG over to the left to put more fire onto the trees. On the right I'm going to move 2 Zug of 3 Kompanie forward slightly so they can see/hear a bit further into his rear. I'm also thinking of doing something bold, but we'll see how things shake out. MMM

No to Professional and yes to PBEM+++. We're not getting Professional, it's reserved for the work BFC are doing with the military. The clue is in the name MMM

Thanks, much better now. I'm a couple of turns ahead of this and things are getting very interesting, I'll try and get them written up in the next couple of days. I was convinced it must have been enemy fire that took him out but I watched it over and over again without finding a shooter and he went down as soon as the shell hit so I concluded that it must've been friendly fire. It is an 88mm shell to be fair so it's not that surprising, strange that it was just that one guy. He was killed outright too, not just wounded. MMM

The Sixty-First to Sixty-Fourth Minutes - Objective ROT First a bit of admin, I have numbered the buildings in each sector to make things easier to follow. I'll refer to these from now on e.g. building A3. A reminder of the dispositions at the end of the last turn: Our fire seems to be starting to cause casualties on the buildings facing the SBF force. Here a soldier is taken out in building C1. I noticed this these turns too. This is the location where the AT rifle team was spotted at the start of the attack on the objective and were seen running away under the weight of incoming fire. The contact icon disappeared so I assumed they were out of view but there are two bodies in the trees and one of them appears to have an AT rifle, so I'll assume they have been destroyed. Unless it's another AT rifle team, which is not outside the realm of possibility. I also assumed that both the ATG teams were destroyed on the western edge of the objective, but I get a tentative contact in building B1 for an ATG team, so perhaps there were survivors and they made it back to cover once they'd regained their wits. In building B3 I spot an infantry squad/team alongside the HQ unit I already knew was in there. This could be the other squad from the platoon as there is another in B2. I'm still taking small arms fire from sector B. It's starting to have an effect (not on the panzers though). We lose men in both the assault element and the SBF force to fire from sector B, I am not able to get effective fire onto those buildings because of the reverse slope so I need to do something about it. I'm moving the HQ Trupp over to the buildings to provide some extra eyes on the back of the objective and see if we can get a spot on the armour that he has back there. Meanwhile the Tiger arrives on station. To deal with sector B I'm going to advance 1 Zug supported by the Tiger and SPWs around to the right and attack sector B from an angle that will give him no keyhole shots from the other end of the objective. The main aim of this move is to get suppressing fire on sector B so 2 Zug can continue it's advance toward sector A. As the Tiger is moving forward it fires and the shell falls well short, it takes out a man in 3 Gruppe/2 Zug. I could see no incoming fire that hit this team so it must've been the shell impact. As 1 Zug advance they get fired upon by an ATG contact in E2. This must be the remainder of one of the other guns that were knocked out on the reverse slope. A 251/17 gets the spot and sends some shells his way. One man at least gets taken out. With fire superiority established 3 Gruppe and 1 Gruppe from 2 Zug advance towards sector A unmolested. SBF dispositions at turn's end. Assault element dispositions at turn's end. An updated overview of the objective. SITMAP Operation Russenjagd continues on the left, they'll try and finish off that AT team and then advance along the open ground to see what else they can find. I'm going to reposition the StuG too as it's currently a bit far behind the rest of the Zug and won't be able to provide much support from where it is. At the objective 2 Zug almost have a foothold and I'll advance 1 Zug slowly, keeping up the fire at all times, to an angle where they can fire on B3 too. His armour has not moved, or at least I haven't heard it move, for some time. I wonder if he's waiting for an opportune time, not sure what that would be. I do only have the one Tiger with 1 Kompanie so should he bum-rush it around the back of the objective with a few tanks then it might not last long. I need to get the infantry well ahead of the Tiger so they can employ their panzerfausts should such a thing occur. MMM

Didn't miss the point, my comment still stands. Provide proof and raise a bug or live with it. Simples. MMM

The Sixty-First to Sixty-Fourth Minutes - KT4 Four minutes to cover here so I'm going to break the update up into two parts. First the action on the left. Everyone has finished pulling back from the treeline and the SPWs on the left are keeping the suppressive fires up. I'll need to swap out the fire support soon as they are starting to run a bit low on ammo. The 251/17 spots the AT rifle team survivor off to the right and sends some cannon shells his way. They don't hit. I'm a bit worried about the area off to the right. It IS possible for him to cross some streams or drive through trees to get nasty weapons onto the left flank of my SBF force that is attacking the objective or into the right flank of the force I have on the left, highlighted in the image below. To that end I've loaded up the Zugführer Trupp and 1 Gruppe (down to 2 men) into the 251/17 and they are going to swing round to the right into the highlighted area and mop up the AT rifle team. Operation Russenjagd! They can also serve as an early warning trigger should my oppo decide to try and sneak up on my forces. As they wheel around the corner they get a spot on yet another AT rifle team watching everything I'm up to. I dismount the troops and attack with cannon and small arms fire. The 251/17 takes out the rifleman in the AT rifle team. The other rifleman that we've known was there all along decides to try and run away but he's gunned down by the HQ Trupp. The AT rifleman makes a run for it. He's still in range at the end of the turns and the 251/17 is chasing him all the way with fire. Nothing further happens on this flank. One of the sound contacts in the trees brightens but I don't know yet if that's because someone's moving in there or it's an old contact. MMM

If you don't like it, don't play it. There are plenty of other games on the market. If you have found a genuine bug and have evidence to back it up then raise a bug and hopefully it will get incorporated into a patch. Those are the choices, raising repetitive threads to bang on about the same point is not going to get you very far. MMM

Apologies, I am recovered now but haven't had time to get written up. I'll try and get caught up in the next day or two. MMM

You didn't even have to call for fire in CMx1, just plot the fire direct from the mortar team with the Target command. Worked just like they had LOS themselves. But yes, it does take too long IMHO. MMM

Illness hit hard over the last few days but everyone seems a bit better now. I have a few turns to write up (hopefully today) so plenty of updates coming your way! MMM

You are always welcome to comment spoiler-free Good tips. I like the way infantry riding on the engine deck have access to the radio, very useful when playing as the Soviets. MMM

This is pretty much my thinking too. MMM

To be honest I don't really know what the doctrine was, I tend to do what makes the most sense to me and if tanks are not good at spotting then it makes sense to keep the TC unbuttoned as much as possible. When there's a danger they will get taken out (in close terrain for example) then I keep them down. I apply that to everything in the game, what would I do if it was me? I've got one turn to write up so I'll try and get that done today but everyone in the house is full of cold and my youngest doesn't sleep well when he's ill so I've not had time to do much CM the last few days. MMM

This used to be so in the CMx1 games and I really miss it, if the on-board mortar were in C2 with a HQ unit they could call in direct fire from the on-map mortar as long as the HQ had LOS. In fact the tutorial for CMAK had you do that very thing: drive a HQ and mortar up to a ridge, set the mortar up behind the ridge, HQ peeks over the top and mortar fires direct to knock out an AT gun if memory serves. MMM

Good questions. I usually will dismount my SPWs in dead ground out of sight of the enemy and which terrain will depend on what they are doing, but in this scenario that type of terrain quite difficult to come by. I could have dismounted out of the max visibility but then they'd have farther to run. I am not receiving much if any fire on my foremost Hanomags so I brought them up quite far to save them running across the snow (slow and tiring, even on light snow) and then disembarked as it seemed pretty safe. Also I wanted to get them out in case whatever he has lurking back there got LOS and took out a vehicle filled with pixeltruppen! They are still well back from the tip of the spear as you can see from the screenshot. I tend to typically treat SPWs as battle taxis and they can, when grouped together, put out quite a bit of supporting fire so I do use them more than I probably should as fire support. On a clear map with long LOS I probably wouldn't be so brave. I was tempted to charge them up to the objective and then disembark but the risk of losing that much firepower was too great for me so I chickened out. As for tanks, I subscribe to the "weld the hatches open" theory and always have my TCs unbuttoned as it improves spotting immeasurably. I will only button them when they go into urban environments (in support of infantry) where they are more at risk, or when it makes sense like in this scenario where the SBF panzers were only buttoned because every time I unbuttoned them they'd take fire and button themselves up anyway. It was easier to leave them that way. Now the incoming fire has died down I've got them all up again. MMM