New file at the Repository: H2H - Muddy Waters (2012-05-02)

[Battlefront Repository]

It is now midday of 5 August 1944. The U.S. 6th Armored Division's Combat Command A is rapidly advancing across Brittany. So far the advance has been very quick, with only limited pockets of German resistance. CCA has been moving along small roads parallel to CCB's movement along the larger roads to the north. Lead elements of CCA are pushing toward the town of Heulgoat. An ad-hoc German Kampfgruppe has been directed to slow the advance of the American forces pushing rapidly toward the port city of Brest in order to give the recently-arrived 2 Fallschirmjager Division time to better prepare the city's defenses.The general circumstances are historical, though the forces engaged are hypothetical. The map is fictional but offers a reasonably characteristic representation of the terrain in the area.

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[Bimmer]

If anyone's played this one, some feedback would be great. I'm working on some stuff for CMFI, and it would be nice to see how prior efforts have played out. Thanks.

[Rambler]

I'm almost done with this one in PBEM, and I'll post some feedback when it's finished.

[Bimmer]

Great - thanks.

[Rambler]

SPOILERS BELOW

Wrapped up this PBEM a few weeks ago. It was a fun but very challenging scenario as the Germans, the side I played.

Map - 5/5

The map looks outstanding and is well crafted. Everything looks like it belongs. Playing as defense, there are some good natural defensive lines to fall back to.

Gameplay - 4/5

Let me preface this by saying that you achieved what your briefing pretty much stated; a depiction of a small ragtag German defense trying to stop an Allied attack that is much stronger than you. There is little room for error on the defense, and if you make a mistake you're toast. However, I think there are a few things you might consider that lets the Germans have more of a fighting chance.

First, the number of troops you start off with can barely cover the three river crossings your opponent might choose to attack from. Put too many in one location, he can just go right by you at another crossing point. As such, it's really kind of pointless to try and keep the allies from taking the bridge simply because you'll lose too many of your meager forces trying to. I didn't even bother, and instead set up my defensive lines among the bocage on my side of the river where I had a better chance. Defending the railroad was a much more doable objective than the bridge. If you really want to make the bridge the focal point of the battle, there are probably two things you could consider doing. Option one is moving some of the troops you get as reinforcements to the deploying forces at the start of the battle. Option two would be to eliminate one of the river crossings so that there are only two you have to cover, or maybe it's a mixture of both.

Second is troop fitness. I understand why you set them low, but in practice it became somewhat frustrating. It's really due to the fact that you have so few troops spread across the map that when you determine where your opponent is committing the bulk of his forces, you have to move guys across the map to shore up the defense. They're borderline exhausted by the time they arrive and that reduces their combat effectiveness immensely. Same goes for the reinforcements. They start out at the corner of the map with negative fitness levels, and you have to get them as quick as possible across the map to plug the holes in your defense so you don't get steamrolled. I think keeping them at a neutral level would be just fine. They'll still be tiring by the time they arrive, but it will give the German player a little more wriggle room considering how often he has to move his troops around.

Third is the artillery available to you. I would much rather have another mortar or two instead of Nebelwerfers. The Nebs have a 15 minute lead time. Considering what you're up against, that's an eternity. The only way you can use them is to target your rear areas, because that's where your opponent will most likely be by that point .

My opponent stated he felt the scenario was weighted a little too much in his favor.

You met your design intentions (5), but I think the Germans were handicapped more than necessary to meet those intentions (3) for a total of 4/5 in the gameplay category.

Conclusion - 4.5/5

This was a vicious fight that was challenging but also fun. My main goal became to make my opponent bleed as much as possible. I think with a few tweaks the Germans can have a better chance at meeting the objectives set forth in the briefing.

Overall, good job!