Mike D Posted September 11, 1999 Share Posted September 11, 1999 Steve, Somehow I doubt whoever that bomb load falls on all at once is going to be very happy, but such is war. Like Fionn, it will make me happy though, since I tend to like to play the German side as well. Guess it has something to do w/ being half German. Mike D aka Mikester [This message has been edited by Mike D (edited 09-10-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 11, 1999 Share Posted September 11, 1999 You betcha. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Beman Posted September 13, 1999 Share Posted September 13, 1999 Hey Fionn, when is the big day, anyhow? You keep talking about how it's coming, but we don't know when. We need to know when to expect a sudden dropoff in your posts so we don't start bombarding you with demands for more CM turns! DjB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 September 27th BUT I won't be dropping off the face of the earth then. 1. I'll have turns stockpiled to cover me for a little bit and 2. I'll still be around and posting. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 So, does ANYONE have any questions? It's turn 25 or so and things are about to start happening. Am I doing that well that everyone thinks my victory is a foregone conclusion ? (Not likely hehe) ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatherof4 Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 Thinking back a few turns when that Jabo was still flying around. (At least I assume it's gone now since you haven't mentioned it since turn 22.) 1. I know hindsight is 20/20 so let me just ask you what you'll do next time. Will you offload all of your halftracks and scatter the passengers as soon as an airplane shows up? Or do you think passengers are safer inside? 2. I think intrinsic AA fire from tanks is a feature that still needs to be added. Do you think it would have made any difference to the outcome of this battle? Could halftracks also realistically shoot at planes? I know Infantry could and did. While the chances of any non-AA unit hitting a plane were slim at best, they weren't negligible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 As far as I know, the halftrack 251/1 had a AAMG (MG34?) mounted on a rear mount. But firing this AAMG from a moving halftrack at a strafing plane is a difficult task (same for tank mounted AAMGs; the commander prefers to button up I suppose, if a plane strafes his tank). Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 father of 4: Well, I initially had the troops out of the HTs and the HTs hiding behind the houses housing the troops but after the second aircraft bomb strike I figured that it was out of strikes. I had forgotten about strafing runs.. (I've never been subjected to a prolonged attack by an aircraft in CM before so this was new ground for me)... Generally there is no single correct answer.. If you are attacking then I could see a rationale for speeding up and spreading out a little and just carrying on whilst in the defence I'd see a rationale for spreading out. Since I wanted those HTs to attack I think I would still order the infantry to mount them and thus advance them along the road. You can't let an attack stall simply because an airplane is around. It's a case of gritting your teeth and accepting losses in order to press an effective ground assault IMO. Having my ground units fire at the plane would have put him off his attack runs and would have saved the HTs in my opinion. I seriously doubt that the plane would have made strafing runs in the face of multiple MGs. BUT that code isn't in yet so I took my lumps./ Unfortunately the loss of three half-tracks pretty much totaled my chances of taking the town. I can still reach it but without that armoured firepower I'm going to have a tough time taking it. OR.. at least that's what I thought at the time... The next turns are very interesting.. VERY interesting indeed ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatherof4 Posted September 14, 1999 Share Posted September 14, 1999 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>OR.. at least that's what I thought at the time... The next turns are very interesting.. VERY interesting indeed <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Fionn, Thanks for the answer but the above quote proves you've been hanging around Steve too long. His sadistic streak has worn off on you. Sigh. Well if you keep those AARs coming on a regular basis, we might forgive you. fo4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted September 15, 1999 Share Posted September 15, 1999 Fionn, I guess the squad that kills the Sherman has qualified itself for the "Panzernahkampfspange" (tank close assault badge) Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 15, 1999 Share Posted September 15, 1999 Fred: And I want it in gold . Unteroffizier Poppe's men saved me from some big trouble. NOW I expect great things from Wiesenhoffer though. With only one enemy immobilised tank a little vigilance about bazooka teams and Wiesenhofer's tank could win me this battle all by itself. My infantry are too beaten up to do much more I think.. Now we get to see how well I can command tanks for real .. I'm willingly taking a tank into a village crawling with the survivors of 8 platoons of Americans . And yes, I'll be submitting myself to the doctor tomorrow to have my sanity verified ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Marks Posted September 15, 1999 Share Posted September 15, 1999 Fionn, you have shown how vulnerable armor can be without infantry support with the use of hand-held AT weapons. It is probable that their is no Allied tank in CM (forget Pershing) that a Panzerfaust or Panzerschreck cannot take out within their respective ranges. However, it will be interesting to see how effective bazookas and Piats are against Panthers and Tigers. Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Beman Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 Fionn, in retrospect it seems that it would have been better to hold the Puma and PanzerIV both, and let the Panzergrenadiers kill the Sherman alone. With all that was going on, I doubt Martin's Sherman would have seen the grenadiers even without the distraction provided by your vehicles. 20/20 hindsight and all that. Personally, I think this is going to be a draw, with possibly you being ahead by way of casualty-causing. If you can hack up Martin's southern flank and grab even one town VP to go with the bridge, I think it's at least a draw. Written as of Turn27 DjB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 Larry, Personally my rule of thumb is that ANY hand-held anti-tank weapon can kill any tank if it hits. Here's why. Even if a Piat can't kill a JagdTiger from the front it has a very high possibility of immobilisng it. Once a heavy tank is immobilised it just needs a bit of patience to crawl a piat team to its flank or rear and launch a shot which WILL kill the tank by penetrating the thin rear armour. Panther's and Tigers can be taken out by frontal zook hits. (Not sure about Piat performance though.) Doug, yes, I got greedy but remember that Sherman in the town. At the time I didn't KNOW for sure it was immobilised. If it had advanced a little more it would have had LOS to my puma sitting there and would have shot it up for no loss. My error was in choosing to use the FAST order.. FAST prevents the crew from firing so I doomed them myself. If I'd simply "moved" them they would have shot and kiled it. A basic error but one I won't make again. I agree with your assesment. IF that plane hadn't come in and lost me a HUGE number of points by taking out those two tanks (I lost about 10% of my points right there in those two single attacks) I'd be confident that doing that would give me a victory. As it is I think I'm going to ahve to really hack Martin's town defenders apart a bit more to secure a victory.. It may very well end in a draw.. However, I suggest you wait till you see up to turn 31 .. I did good. I did REAL good. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 Fionn, it looks like you've learned your lessons from the woods. Excepr for the airplane attacks, things are mostly going your way. I'm up to turn 28, I think reading the AARs (the turn you toasted his Sherman in the north) and I think you are nuts for wanting to run the tank into the town. You have time on your side so you can be patient. The PzIVJ is worth a bunch of victory points. If you lose it, your morale will seriously drop. Why you don't move it to a safe distance from the town (approx 200m) and machine gun anything that moves? You are running low on machine guns and could use a little more fire support. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 I am about to run the tank 200 metres in front of the town to take on his western bank forces. I don't have any intention of running the tank right through the town BUT I want to use it to take the blockhouse and (with its close-range fire from carefull selected positions) drive enemy infantry away. What I mean by a carefully selected position is one where no enemy bazookas can hit it. BTW I'm down to my last half-dozen AP shells and have no HE shells which is why I am closing with the enemy... Previously I had stated that my "plan" would be to simply shell the enemy into submission with tank main gun fire.. Since I lost the other Pz IV I can't do that any more :-(.. Also, long-range MG fire from one tank won't force Martin to abandon a well-entrenched defensive position. The only way to do that is to scare him by closing with him and threatening to wipe out yet another entire platoon. Sure, its a risk but given that my infantry are outnumbered two to one and my tank is about my only equaliser I need to be audacious and take some risks now to reach the blockhouse. That's my opinion anyway .. Never forget that I'm operating under a FOW you aren't so you are commenting knowing things I don't.. Maybe its suicide but to ME it doesn't look like it. It looks like the sort of audacious act which might just cause Martin to pull back into his next line of defence. Cheers, ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemac Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 Fionn You listed the remaining ammo load for your main gun. How much ammo do you have for the MG's? I looked back at the screenshots of the Panzer and there does not seem to be a listing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Galanti Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 I asked the same thing about the HTs earlier. According to Steve, CM doesn't track vehicle MG ammo. I would have thought this would be an issue over a 30-60 minute battle, and especially over a 1-2 day campaign game, but apparently MG ammo was plentiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted September 16, 1999 Share Posted September 16, 1999 Well, over a 60 minute scenario I simply couldn't see tanks running out of ammo. They carried lots and fired in short bursts. Same with HTS. they carried lots of spare ammo on board. My Pz IV has about 12 AP shells left. NO HE and only 3 smoke. I'm going to use the smoke to block enemy LOS when I make my final charge on the blockhouse and gonna try to save my AP to blast the enemy out of the blockhouse and destroy his tank. ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted September 17, 1999 Share Posted September 17, 1999 Ok, your plan makes more sense now. I've actually only been reading your AARs so I can have the sense of FOW too. I was just working under the assumption that Martin has probably as many bazookas as MG. And whatever he got as reinforcments for the town fight, there were probably bazookas in them. But 200m seems a good distance to keep the tank at. Although your choices are limited being low on ammo. Once it runs out it will be nothing more than a heavily armored halftrack. Of course, Martin doesn't have to know it ran out of shells. I think it's intimidation factor outweighs its combat effectiveness when it runs out of shells, so keeping it alive is a valuable asset. Not to mention game things like VPs and morale. Looking forward to the end game. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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