DAR - City Of Lights (BletchleyGeek)

[BletchleyGeek]

38:00 to 37:00

Something is up just in front of Garvey's M8

a second “?” marker appeared, right behind the toolshed. In less than a minute E Coy's 3rd Plt will arrive to support. Then we'll go hunting these will-o-wisps with more confidence.

The new team I moved into the forest to the east of Lumbres reports a contact marker

about 300 meters away. I'm not sure if FOW in Cmx2 distorts distances. In any case, given that visibility is no better than about 25 meters, it's a bit surprising that anything is spotted at about ten times that distance. In any case it's a beacon, signaling where Fred might be assembling his forces.

The team I sent to the little forest to the east reports...

nothing. I need to go further forward, closer to the farms.

Orders for E Coy this turn – or in other words - “E Coy in a nutshell”

Looks like the route between Weapons Platoon entry point and the center of the map is clear. In any case, 2nd Plt left wing squad will comb the area to be sure. As I said above, 3rd Plt is about to link with Garvey's Greyhounds. Once that is achieved, two 3rd Plt squads will support Garvey in his advance towards Lumbres. The third squad will be checking the right flank.

Here's the plan for the Recon team to the west of Lumbres

I move along the concealment provided by the trees and undergrowth that Fred so graciously put on the map.

[BletchleyGeek]

The plan for the team to the west – the bazooka is going to sit tight – follows similar lines

here I make them to pay equal attention – more or less – to either flank. I could well be walking amongst Fred's lines.

[BletchleyGeek]

37:00 to 36:00

E Coy's 3rd Platoon links up with Garvey, and we're ready to finally push forward towards Lumbres

This doesn't mean I'll be charging forward just like that. This turn I need to issue quite a few commands to make sure everybody moves in a coordinated manner.

The team I sent to the east of Lumbres is about halfway its patrol

without reporting any contacts. I really need to be patient with this, and sooner or later I'll be rewarded. Same with the team to the west of the town

still nothing. The team I sent to scout E Coy's 2nd Platoon destination gets to the hedgerow

and surprise!

[BletchleyGeek]

The mystery contact that was vanishing and appearing becomes an enemy with a face... and grenades

bastards!

Just one of the guys in the team survives, huddling by the side of the hedge. But he gets back to his senses just as one team of E Coy's 2nd Platoon arrives, and tells them the whereabouts of the Germans

opening up on them and killing one of the Germans. The rest of them duck for cover and vanish out of sight.

Here's an overview of the rest of E Coy situation

the left flank 2nd Platoon squad has secured the route for Weapons Platoon mortars. Time to get moving!

First things come first, I need to wipe out that German Tank Hunter team

the lone survivor of my scouts gets his slow order cancelled and fires into the general area. I'm not sure he'll comply with this, when shaken, our reigns over pixeltruppen behavior are not only ours. The assault team in the bocage will also be doing area fire for 30 secs before charging into, which should be enough for the assault team just behind to reach the hedge and provide further area fire.

[BletchleyGeek]

2nd Platoon center squad assault team will wait for 30 second before advancing past the hedge

while the support team – to its right – will wait further 15 secs before following suit. Left squad will advance along the road

with its flank anchored in the MG team.

3rd Platoon left squad will move along the road in short hops, while the Greyhound moves with them.

I've set the Greyhound to slow, with 10 secs pauses. If this is too slow, I'll be removing the pauses.

I need to deal with the two shadows in front of 3rd Platoon center squad

3rd Platoon has a BAR team attached, which will move fast forward immediately and will do area fire on the contact sitting behind the toolshed. 30 seconds later, everybody else moves forward. The Jeep crew is tasked with dealing directly with the closest marker, while Garvey will open up on the contact further away. 3rd Platoon center squad will move along the other flank, and I hope will catch Fred's forces here – if any – in a nice crossfire.

3rd Platoon right squad is tasked with a quite dangerous assignment

I really need to get an idea of what's on my right flank. I split the squad into Scout, Assault and Support teams, and I set the Scout and Assault teams to move along the flanks, with 15s pauses between each hop. In the center I will keep the Support team, which will be making 20s pauses between each hop. This should allow me to react properly to any threat that appears on either side of the squad.

[vincere]

Am reading both sides so can't comment, except to say am looking forward to read how your battle unfolds. Good luck, and thanks for sharing.

[BletchleyGeek]

Am reading both sides so can't comment, except to say am looking forward to read how your battle unfolds. Good luck, and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for reading!. If you guys want to discuss, you can do so in the thread we opened to that effect :-)

[BletchleyGeek]

36:00 to 35:00

A turn packed with action. There were indeed something dangerous behind the toolshed, a PanzerSchrek team

which is uncovered by the BAR guy as his shots started to land a few inches above the head of the Germans. A fiery firefight ensues

with one loss by each side, but the game goes to the German who had the wits to lob off the grenade, so I end with a BAR team less

better the BAR team than one of the Greyhounds. Once located and shot upon, the follow up teams have little trouble taking the PanzerSchreck operator out

Perhaps I should have sent the BAR team up so early, leaving a few seconds between them attracting the attention of the PzSchrek guys and the other guys coming on them from the sides. The situation on the road to Lumbres at the end of the replay

I just need to make sure the other contact wasn't the PzSchrek guys which I just eliminated, before pushing forward faster. Now Fred should have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing.

[BletchleyGeek]

On the other side of the road, the micro-battle with the Tank Hunter team continues. The Bazooka team survivor recovers his senses and starts shooting at the general position of the Germans

seems that Fred has issued orders to these guys to get out harm's way, as I see one of the Germans to bolt in the general direction of Lumbres, and makes good his escape... or not

five seconds later I see an explosion going up a few meters away from his position? With the Germans escaping, my plan almost backfires into my face. The E Coy 2nd Plt team moving, lingers too much and too close to the area fire setup by the support team

while there's no friendly fire for rifles and MG's, I forgot about the bazooka... I need to be more careful with this. I was lucky that the only damage done has been morale damage...

This is the overall situation at the end of the replay

three new contacts have cropped up to the north, east and west of Lumbres. A far more ominous sign is that Fred's stonk has stopped... I think I need to press forward and rush for the best positions to defend the town.

First platoon appears... precisely where I didn't want it to appear (on my left). The plan is fairly simple:

and consists in having 2nd and 3rd Plt on the flanks, while 1st Plt goes in the center to act as a reserve and bolster the defense of Lumbres itself. I don't want to commit into more details now, since I think the situation will soon become very fluid. While I'm a bit wary of the Tank hunter team survivor, I think the name of the game now is to “Rush”.

[BletchleyGeek]

Here you have an overview of the orders given...

now I'm afraid I've been overcautious with the approach march towards Lumbres.

[BletchleyGeek]

35:00 to 34:00

Plans were unfolding as expected until 34:35 where 2nd Plt springs an ambush

looks like I wasn't being overcautious... damn! My pixeltruppen suffer a major mishap because of my oversight, and 3rd Plt suffers five casualties

and it gets even worse by the end of the replay, as I count 10 casualties. This has been a huge blow, 3rd Platoon has lost one third of its strength – and everybody gets Rattled morale - in one single blow. On the right flank, yet another of 3rd Platoon falls into an ambush, suffers 7 fatalities

at the hands of an ambushing Scout team. These guys with MP-40's are really dangerous, they can put out a lot of firepower. I must admit this is an unmitigated disaster, and Fred needs to be commended by his patience and foresight. Now I know how Elvis felt in our game... I've lost something like one third of my force in one single minute, because of not being cautious. Something I've been for ten minutes... Note to self: never, ever, get overconfident.

Does this impair my possibilities of pulling out a win out of this? Yes, indeed it does. Now rather than having a whole platoon as a reserve, I will have to do with much less.

I'm less stung by the mishap of the recon team I had brought to the forest to the northeast of Lumbres

I think here I finally met Fred attacking force. Too bad I don't have anyone near with the ability to start stonking this sector and the approach into Lumbres along these forests. Something I'll make sure I can do in the next couple minutes.

And 2nd Platoon comes near to another little disaster, as I spot someone chucking out a grenade into the road 2nd Platoon left squad is moving along

looks like Fred has the German baseball team here. I sigh with relief seeing that nobody gets hurt. Time to hunt these guys and make up for the mistake I made last turn.

[BletchleyGeek]

But let's not get ourselves rattled as well. E Coy light mortars have arrived to the vicinity of the place where I wanted to establish the firebase

note that the Weapons Platoon HQ is radio-equipped, as are my Platoon HQ's. I need to take care of these HQ's, as they will be essential to call for fire support when it's needed.

This is the plan to deal with the threat in the left

Needless to say, the HQ platoon will get out ASAP. Of the three teams I have, two will provide covering fire – one from its current position, the other will rush to the low bocage hedge – while the assault element – which is also shaken, seems I missed something during the replay – will wait for 45 seconds before assaulting.

The threat next to the road is somewhat more difficult to handle, basically because after wiping out that squad, it could well go hunting for the Greyhounds I've been working so hard to protect

I try to establish a perimeter with the few troops I have here remaining, and I set them to do area fire to make dangerous for that Tank Hunter team to try anything offensive, though I think it's very likely they will try to retreat.

[BletchleyGeek]

34:00 to 33:00

The operation by the road meets success without me incurring in any further losses

taking out 2 soldiers out of the 3 forming the Scout team that was hiding here. I think I perhaps overcommitted a little into clearing out the rear of 2nd Platoon, but better safe than sorry.

Further up the road, I see the unknown enemy contact markers to do some weird juggling, and by the end of the replay it becomes apparent that one of them got closer to my troops

while the other one remained stationary. There were as well some sounds of a vehicle trampling a fence or similar. I need to proceed with caution.

The scouts that met some of Fred's troops north of Lumbres tell me that I've come across part of a German infantry squad

Since I've just spotted two guys, one likely possibility is that this was a recon team. After exchanging a few shots, the lone survivor of my scouts is eliminated. This is the overall situation northeast of Lumbres at the end of the replay

the contact I got a whiff of to the northeast of the town has been moving at a rate of about 30m per minute along the road. It could certainly be infantry, but my intuition tells me it's some kind of vehicle.

Southeast of Lumbres 3rd Platoon is pulling back together its act after last turn disaster

seems that PzSchreck team has lingered for too long on the hedge, so I think I've got it more or less boxed. On the other hand, the scout team that wiped out the other squad seems to be falling back. This is a clear sign, together with the mystery thing coming along the road that something is being set into motion.

[BletchleyGeek]

This is the overall situation

indeed it looks like that something is in motion along both of the roads on either side of Lumbres. E Coy's 1st Platoon is taking some time to get into position, perhaps a bit too long. 2nd Platoon is almost where I wanted it to be, I just need to finish securing its rear, before deploying it covering the western approach. More of a concern is the eastern approach... 3rd Platoon has lost two thirds of its strength, and it's going now to be hard to set up my defenses there.

I need to take out that PzSchreck in order to secure Lumbres eastern approach

and this is my plan. The big team on the left is the one ear marked for this important mission, while the Jeep crew and the recon team (to the right) will provide covering fire the whole time. After a little pause, the Greyhounds will come forward really fast. I think I really need to get these into the tree line along with the bazooka team really fast.

Barring any surprise on this flank, I expect that by the end of the next minute my troops will be covering the following positions

the idea is to cover the roads, and to have room to fall back to the tree line nearest to the objective on the right of the image.

[BletchleyGeek]

33:00 to 32:00

Fred delivers another important blow this turn in form of a mortar stonk, at the right time and at the right place

which basically sends my plans to the dustbin... The worst is that the stonk is falling right on top of the area I was assembling 1st Platoon, which suffers one casualty from what I can see. Nonetheless I think I got the guys in charge of this mischief

or at least a whiff. The Kübelwagen seems to have been already knocked out before my guys here started to shoot at it.

The scout team 2nd Platoon stumbled into had just two members

since the guys I sent there to clear the passageway and the Greyhound that came in afterwards, do not see anybody alive there.

After the events this turn 3rd Platoon is no longer existing... just 8 guys are still in action

this is going to be a huge thing. Fred's stonk seems to have stopped more or less at the same time my guys near the inn found the Kübelwagen. Or it's just coincidence, perhaps. In any case, I'll use two 1st Platoon squads to cover the right flank. 1 Squad, plus a MMG and a LMG team will be my reserve... a very scarce one, actually. On the other hand 2nd Platoon has more or least reached its intended position, cover the left flank.

Some of the contacts have moved, and a new contact appeared near the two houses on the left. I'm expecting Fred's attack to come in force on me really soon.

[BletchleyGeek]

31:00 to 30:00

I find the owners of the Kübelwagen perching on the top floor of the inn building

who pepper Garvey's Greyhound with light weapons fire. Time clear that building with the troops I've around the building. On the extreme left I discover that the MMG team I have there has neighbours

and really close neighbours. They manage to nail one of the guys I had here moving into position. And I'm certainly not handling well the guys who destroyed one of 3rd Platoons squad

I'm beating an already dead horse here... the heaps – literally – of dead GI's are witness to my failure – again – to solve this problem properly.

[BletchleyGeek]

30:00 to 29:00

I'm determined to eliminate that Tank Hunter team that has been giving so much trouble on my right flank

I had one of the M8's on the road rush here, and start pumping area fire on the Germans position, while the guys I had in its front fixed it – hopefully - with area fire. The first shell frags one guy I had approaching from the flank... not a good start. The M8 puts several shells into the area really quickly, which I think should have made short work of the Germans on the hedge. I'll keep hammering the area for 30 seconds, and then have the infantry in front to advance and check if there are any survivors.

The operation to clear the inn starts after I have my guys watching the building for a little while

so I make sure nobody is peeking out of the windows, etc. By the end of the replay Garvey has more or less managed to negotiate the telephone pole and offers a less exposed aspect to the Germans in the inn. The mortar team I've allocated to the right flank arrives into the scene. I think I'll have them to bunker down to avoid unfortunate coincidences, such as they stumbling on the Forward Observer team trying to slip out of the inn building.

On the extreme left, the unknown German unit frags yet another member of the HQ support team, while the Ammo Bearers, rather than shooting into their general direction, prefer to cower... 40 seconds into the replay a Greyhound arrives

something that doesn't amuse me one bit. The Germans were supposed to be suppressed by infantry fires... something that hasn't happened. Fortunately, the Fred's pixeltruppen don't seem to be using the right tool for the job

but the Greyhound crew decides not to do the area fire I had ordered. After taking a couple shots with his Luger at the nearest GI, he gets hold of his Panzerschrek

and the replay ends...

[BletchleyGeek]

First thing I do, it try to handle this quite weird situation as best as possible

although the Greyhound commander is aiming his .50 cal MG for some reason I think he won't open up on time, so I have the Greyhound to go back, while the Ammo carebear team goes forward... which should have been perhaps what I should have been doing from the start.

Here's the plan for clearing the inn

I don't think I've left any loose ends here.

[BletchleyGeek]

29:00 to 28:00

The ammo bearers I had sent to flank the PzSchreck team on the field on my left flank get to their position, only to see that lonely German back

but he can't ran faster than bullets

good shot, guys. Near the inn something bad happens to the Bazooka team I had overlooking the road

looked to me as a grenade... I wonder why I didn't spot anyone. There's a rifle team just 15 meters behind, and I haven't seen them to take much notice. More failure by the inn, the team I had issued orders to clear the building seems to have all but forget about them

staying one full minute not doing anything at all. Obviously something is moving along the road, so while the building is cleared this turn – I hope – it's time to get ready my guys to welcome any incoming German troops.

[BletchleyGeek]

28:00 to 27:00

Fred's stonks – again – my left flank, catching my troops while they were advancing

that forward observer team in the inn has become a royal pain in the ass, before being wiped out... not before wiping out a couple of the guys of the rifle team I had sent to do so. The whole business in the left flank is becoming quickly a complete disaster.

He seems to be not coming along the flanks, but rather, up front

a German Scout team has been exchanging fire with the troops I have on the north edge of the town, and quite a few unknown contacts are creeping forward. This might well be it. So it's time to get the troops I had as a reserve waiting on the south edge of the town

to meet Fred's advancing forces.

[BletchleyGeek]

27:00 to 26:00

I'm wondering how Fred has been able to spot for those barrages that ravaged my right flank. A TRP perhaps? I'm now realizing that I can't really spot much at all: I have two 81mm batteries on standby, but without a clear idea of Fred's axes of advance and so little visibility, I haven't been able to decide where to use them.

Without suffering much more – a couple more casualties from Fred's mortar barrage – a perimeter is being established on the right flank

a very thin Army Green line, this one. I don't think I'll be able to do much here other than delay Fred if he comes this way with some strength. Meanwhile, on the left flank, the MG team I had made to advance, stumbles on yet another German Tank Hunter team

for now they seem to have the upper hand in this, one of the Germans is down. But the tables are turned on me by a well-placed grenade, that takes out one of the MG crew and a Kompanie HQ team which engages the Ammo Bearers to the left

As the replay ends, we end up tied to 3 casualties here

I think I should have kept the Greyhound with these guys, rather than pulling it back to the rear...

Fred's sending a platoon right towards the northern edge of Lumbres

I say a Platoon, because if you see two squads, the third one is probably not far away in reserve. The plan is to try to hold him here as long as possible, while I develop a counterattack on Fred's right flank and I reinforce.

[BletchleyGeek]

A quite intense firefight develops here, and I lose the guy covering the house near the bottom of the picture

as one of my Greyhounds closes in. Here's the plan for the center

I'm moving forward with two squads supported by half of my vehicles... this should impress Fred's troops. If he gets into the buildings he won't be able to use his PanzerFausts, and with the firepower I'm bringing forward I might well be able to fight back his probe.

On other news, I just checked and Lt. Schacheri became KIA while defending his position.

[Erwin]

I always brighten up the image so it's almost like daylight. I dunno how folks can play when it's so dark. 25 year old eyes? Just you wait...

[BletchleyGeek]

I always brighten up the image so it's almost like daylight. I dunno how folks can play when it's so dark. 25 year old eyes? Just you wait...

More like 33 year old eyes :-) Are the screenshots too dark for you, Erwin?

[Erwin]

Well, yeah... But no worries, I get the gist.