Conrath's Counterattack

[slysniper]

I sat down today and finally pushed my german units to the final scenario and map, I am at the beach.

After all that, this is what I get. Thanks but no thanks.

You might as well start bombing me with navel fire and air support.

I have come onto the map in what I feel is pretty good shape considering all the missions one must run.

But the task on this map is not logical, I am playing it now, trying to do what I can without getting slaughtered. So will give a updated report when I finish.

But I had 17 tanks , my MG and pioneer units were in good shape. My infantry , what is left of it , is pretty shot up..

On my armor, 5 units have badly damaged tracks , and one with gun damage.

So the final battle comes down to a real bore after all that great fighting to get to the beach.

I will likely bleed my units past any logical point and adcheive little since the enemy is dug in and spread out on the map. Or just cease fire once the enemy turns the balence their direction.

Or maybe I am just seeing something wrong, but it appears the Americans have a strong enough force that no matter what I came on with, this batle wast just going to be very costly and a drag no matter what.

[General Lee Irked]

I hate losing too .

[slysniper]

I hate losing too .

Yes and no

With all the other victories to get to this map, I am sure it will likely show a win of some type for me. I dont even mind losing the battle.

What I mind is a map that for all intents and purposes, is going to be boring no matter what.

It is not like I am going to be able to be the attacker with the limited force and lack of terrain to move into. It is not like I am going to be the defender. Since the Americans are not set up to counterattack much and I am shoved in a corner with nothing to defend except a hill and patch of woods in front of me.

So a big Bore, I done a little shoot and scoot. Sent infantry forword to secure a perimeter and spot enemy units and sat there trying to arty some of the AT gun placements that I have exposed.

Oh I am trying to take the left flank and see if I can turn some tanks loose on some of that infantry out there. But not likely since the enemy can have units 2000 meters away and I am not spotting them or have the arty to make the whole map a waste land.

I just am complaining in that its a anti climax ending, and I see that how it is going to play out no matter what your condition is as you come onto the map.

Not sure how to fix it, but having something set up as supply depot at the beach head that could be destroyed and worth Tons of points make sence to me. Then who cares what the odds are. You finish up by trying to destroy landed supplies and the enemy on the beach. If you cut them from supplies, the battle is won.

[ridethe415]

I would have to agree. All that work just to end up at Custer's Last Stand. There is no way one can even begin to assault towards the beach. I know historically that is accurate, but it isn't much fun to play.

[slysniper]

Well, I do not beleive in listening to history.

I have pushed down about half way on the left flank. Not sure what it is going to do for me. But I am starting to get some good match ups.

I had 19 tanks coming into the battle, not 17 like I mentioned before. I am already down to 12, . And for my efforts, I might have taken out 4 or 5 AT guns and maybe a tank or two. And maybe a few halftrack mounted guns.

[slysniper]

With about 20 minutes left, I have control of the left flank all the way to the beach. i have a platoon of tanks at the beach and one at the mid way point where the enemy was located.

I let my one platoon of engineers and handful of infatry engage the first long row of foxholes from the flank and work down its line from there.. They have made it about half way.

All my arty assets are now gone.

I beleive there is only one sherman left and 2 AT guns that I know of.

My operating tank count is now 9.

So the defense was not as strong as I thought it would be. But time is spent and I hardly have anything to work with other than my armor.

The enemy arty attacks are deadly but I have managed to miss getting caught with many troops in the impact area, but it still is a concern.

taking the flank has allowed me to engage the enemy from side hill locations where I have been able to get a firepower advantage.

So I made it a little more interesting, but still a bugger of a mission with no direct goals other than to destroy the enemy.

[slysniper]

Ok, the battle is ended.

I will take back the statement as to the final map as to be boring, but I was not suprised with the results it gave since it was determined to make the last map impossible.

I finished the map with 5 tanks left, I made the beach on the left flank and worked down it to destroy AT guns along it, which I did by firing smoke on them and then overrunning them with my armor. thus a reason the map was not a bore.

The campaign total results were

Americans 466 men killed, I lost 170

Americans 220 wounded, I had 118

Tanks 9, I lost 18 (14 of which were on this last map)

And lets not count all them nasty AT guns that I had destroyed, (they should get a stat)

The Americans had 1 Sherman and I AT gun left on this map, I had 5 tanks.

I had no major functing infantry left. My last two engineer units now looked like all the rest of my infantry. And the Americans had at least 5 more dug in platoons of infantry scattered out on the map still.

I was rewarded a minor defeat for the campaign (whatever) I played it and managed to cut a path down along the beach. maybe not a victory , but surely not a defeat. I still think that last mission needs a little tweeking to give a better chance for some type of german victory.

Other than that, somewhat a easy campaign with plenty of chances to control the battles and use your advantages. I never play campaigns more than once and I just go through them with whatever results I am getting.

So if anyone plays that way and has managed a campaign win I give you a hand. Because I still like to know what the odds are of doing that with the present scoring. Even coming on board with all possible armor and more intact infantry. I just think the last map is biased to a fault.

[Bolldar]

This campaign is designed to give you a defeat in the end in my opinion, I don't think its winnable especially with the LOS problems with the deadly 57mm AT Guns.

You did very well to get to the beach IMO. I've got to the beach myself in with relatively intact infantry and 17 tanks and found that the scenario was impossible. I got a draw for the final battle and total victories for all the lead up fights and got a draw for the campaign.

That you get a single recon and pioneer infantry unit with no replacements to fight succeeding fresh US units with each succeeding battle is probably a clue that you are not meant to succeed. What ever happened to the Panzergrenadiers and Tigers that they actually did counterattack with?

[ASL Veteran]

This campaign is designed to give you a defeat in the end in my opinion, I don't think its winnable especially with the LOS problems with the deadly 57mm AT Guns.

You did very well to get to the beach IMO. I've got to the beach myself in with relatively intact infantry and 17 tanks and found that the scenario was impossible. I got a draw for the final battle and total victories for all the lead up fights and got a draw for the campaign.

That you get a single recon and pioneer infantry unit with no replacements to fight succeeding fresh US units with each succeeding battle is probably a clue that you are not meant to succeed. What ever happened to the Panzergrenadiers and Tigers that they actually did counterattack with?

The HG Pz Division was split into two groups for the attack. The Right Group had the Pz Regiment and the Pioniers and Recon troops. That's what you command in the campaign - exactly what the right group had. The Left Group had the Panzergrenadier Regiment (less the armored battalion) and the Tigers from the Army heavy tank company. That's what you get in the scenarios Biazza Ridge and Hot Mustard. There was a third group from the HG Pz Div that was attached to Group Schmaltz and fought against the British. IIRC that was the Armored Pz Gren battalion and the assault gun battalion. The German campaign forces are historically accurate. I would guess that the designer doesn't give you any reinforcements because the battle depicted happened on only two days (maybe three I haven't read his briefing).