Bil Hardenberger Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 Bil, ... So GaJ's ATG didn't appear to spot your scout team when it set its eyes on the gun? They never saw my team, at least not until they started to fire on them... then they hit the dirt. They did lose one crew member to the infantry fire and were hugging the ground at turn end. The gun never started to rotate. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Nice job! Of course, we need MOAR! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 You want MOAR? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 FYI, I will be putting together a current SITMAP this evening when I get home from work, in case anybody is interested. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 29, 2013 Author Share Posted May 29, 2013 Here is the SITMAP updated to this last turn: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerMiller Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I haven't been reading GaJ's side of the story, so I only know what you show me. I think GaJ is hosed, but I suppose he may have a few little surprises waiting for you in the villages. Another question: Looking at your 44th minute post from yesterday -- the second image of the support teams assisting with your assault...could you please summarize the C2 chain that facilitates your mortar team's activity? Are they in direct communication with an FO team, or...? Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 All mortars are firing direct now. I am starting to move faster and faster and don't have time to wait for an indirect mission. The 120mm mortar section firing on the Spur rear slope was called in by a support platoon HQ on Hill 130. As for the villages, yep I have always expected that GaJ had something significant defending Tame and S Maria Infante. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerMiller Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Got it...thanks Bil. I'm one of the many readers that learn so much from studying your great AARs! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 30, 2013 Author Share Posted May 30, 2013 The Forty Sixth Minute Tame It took about 10 seconds to knock out the gun and set the crew to flight. It took a little longer for my infantry to sweep through and finish the crew. 2nd Platoon arrives in Tame while my lead teams advance through the village.. no enemy noted in any of the buildings yet. The mortar on the hill was fired on and I think if not taken out was hurting badly. The SPAA was noticed all packed up and fleeing from Tame. It is still in the area but I think must be pulling back perhaps to S. Maria Infante.. but maybe he just plans on keyholing it somewhere and waiting for me to drive into its field of fire. 1st Platoon in the center 1st Platoon's HQ comes into contact with two enemy teams this turn.. a bazooka and an enemy HQ team (probably the Ranger Platoon HQ). A few seconds after this top image my Platoon leader and one of his soldiers lie mortally wounded on the field. Only the radio operator survived this contact. Several seconds later GaJ loses both the bazooka and his HQ team (bottom image). A good trade I think. I will miss ole Hausseman though, Weil takes over command of 1st Platoon. Hill 153 On the slope leading up to Hill 153 my scout from the kubelwagen has yet to spot any enemy units. This little scouting mission will tell me how high up the hill I can drive before I am forced to dismount. It took two turns for the kubelwagen to make the travel from the Assembly Area (AA) to the base of Hill 153.. it looks like it is going to take at least three for the halftracks to make that same drive. My Brummbar and Jpz IV spotted this M10 moving back towards the Spur area.. this is the partner of the M10 that was destroyed on the Ridge road a few turns back. I actually expected this to show up near S. Maria Infante to defend against my approach with 2nd Platoon (Tame) but I believe he has spotted my halftrack movement and probably thinks I am going to be taking a left and attacking the Spur rear slope area directly.. instead I am travelling all the way to Hill 153 (and perhaps beyond) with my attackers. The final contact location was near this building (bottom image). From here he can clearly cover the approach to the Spur rear area. If I was actually coming that way it would be a good position. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Damn, no turn this morning and now I have to go to work. So no turn report I'm afraid. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerMiller Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Damn, no turn this morning and now I have to go to work. So no turn report I'm afraid. GAAAHHHH!!! Just sat down at my desk with my morning joe (yes, I can sneak in a brief CM Forum session at work) and have now been brutally disappointed...! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 I feel your pain. I really look forward to the morning turn and writing the turn report before going to work. Not sure what takes GaJ so long to return these files. I can download the turn, watch it, create the snapshots, edit them in PS, upload them and write the turn report, then do my next turn orders all in about an hour. Unless there is a major decision point or major event, then that takes longer of course. Regardless I always try to not leave my opponent hanging for too long. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vark Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I think he's overslept, what with taking the whiskey bottle to bed and crying himself to sleep. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Too funny Vark. A lost battle is a battle one thinks one has lost. Jean-Paul Sartre Well I did re-watch the last turn this morning (I had to watch something before I came in to work ) and I thought my scouts going around the edge of Hill 128 had taken out the last survivor of the ATG crew.. but in fact that guy ran around the base of the hill and disappeared.. what they took out was an HQ guy running back towards the Hill 126 back slope area.. why would GaJ do that? That area is in the process of being swept clean (to cover my rear as I advance through Tame and on to S. Maria Infante) and anything pushing back into that area is doomed to get caught in the bag. Also.. remember the bunker on the outskirts of S. Maria Infante that was spotted very early in the game? Well I just noticed I got another spot on a different bunker.. on the same side of the town as the first, but further back.. oriented towards the Ridge Road. I really need to change that bunker icon to something more visible. One last note.. when I gave my orders last turn I ordered my lead Pioneer squad in their halftrack to bypass Hill 153 and proceed on around to the back of Hill 172.. this will give me something at the very back door of S. Maria Infante (if they make it) and also something with which to spot that other ATG (the one that killed my two halftracks)... until that is taken out I won't feel comfortable swinging 1st Platoon and their supporting tank section over the Ridge Road to engage the M10 and whatever else he has in the valley between The Spur, Hill 153, and the slopes leading to the town. This squad should also be able to approach the bunkers from the rear and destroy them. I am thinking that GaJ might have some significant combat power in S. Maria Infante and I mean to find out. By the way, 3rd Platoon has moved all the way through the Spur objective which is clear of enemy troops. They will push over the top and onto the rear slope as soon as the Pioneer Platoon is in position. GaJ only holds two of the eight objectives outright: Hill 153 and S. Maria Infante... Tame and the Ridge Road are contested, I securely hold the following objectives: Left Tit, Right Tit, S-Ridge (Hills 109 and 126), and the Spur. I hope that will hold you until I can get you a real turn report. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropey Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Bil, have you seen the small unit engagement analysis on SMI that can be found here?: http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/smallunit/smallunit-smi.htm I have a few pics of the area if you are interested as I covered it for The Battles for Monte Cassino: Then and Now On the vegetation: The ridges in the hill triangle are extensively cultivated by use of terraces. At the time of the attack, vegetation was sparse and what there was stood less than ankle-high. Some of the hills, notably the forward slope of The Spur, are almost bare. Even where there are scattered trees, by 11 May most of them had been sheared off at half length by artillery fire. Sunken roads that are little more than farm trails wind their way across the ridges; the most important was the sunken road which branches off from the Santa Maria highway, then winds across the forward slope of The Spur and northeast to Pulcherini. Perry 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Perry, yes of course I have seen that, excellent description of the action. Not enough detail on the German OB though sadly. If you would like to share those photos with me then I would of course be interested. I do plan on completing this map and the scenario (or scenarios) after this AAR. Do you have Dropbox? interesting notes on the vegetation.. perhaps I will use you as a resource as I edit the map for the actual battle. Interested? Please PM me and we'll set something up. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 I do plan on completing this map and the scenario (or scenarios) after this AAR. interesting notes on the vegetation.. perhaps I will use you as a resource as I edit the map for the actual battle. Interested? Please PM me and we'll set something up. I do hope this happens. It sounds like a very good idea. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Bil, Be sure to note the enormous numbers of mines mentioned in the account of the battle. There were so many that it became easier to describe where they weren't. Perry, Our first vegetation grog and consultant? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropey Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I should clarify that the quote is from the account of the battle. I don't think I would be giving much away to say that that GaJ found that the cost of semi-fixed defences (mines, wire, emplacements) meant he couldn't buy many. Given that these were prevalent on any battlefield in Italy should the QB costs be lowered? A scenario will have as many as required, but their absence in these QBs (other than meeting engagements which were rare in Italy) leaves an aspect of the fighting under-represented. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 ...mines, wire, emplacements...Given that these were prevalent on any battlefield in Italy should the QB costs be lowered? Heh. BFC have said many times that they will not be drawn into jiggering with QB points costs. Not even in the most glaring inconsistencies. ...other than meeting engagements which were rare in Italy... And, indeed, most other theatres of operation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropey Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Heh. BFC have said many times that they will not be drawn into jiggering with QB points costs. Not even in the most glaring inconsistencies. Funny that. Model a tank down to the direction a TC sits but refuse to move on one of the features of the fighting that defined the campaign! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Funny that. Model a tank down to the direction a TC sits but refuse to move on one of the features of the fighting that defined the campaign! Not really. Steve's just not prepared to even tinker a bit round the edges with points values of anything at all largely because of previous experience of our (the playerbase's) reactions. I can see his point of view, even as I disagree with its absolutism. Letting "perfect" be the enemy of "good" is to be regretted, but letting that particular cat out of the bag would be regretted more, by those who're making the feline release decisions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vark Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Probably because a) Attacking a prepared defence would be a series of slow slogs, as in real life, most players would balk at that. The attacker because it would be just a slog, the defender because they'd be little more to do than shoot, and move a few reserves. Assault engineering, or pioneer operations are not modelled in much detail, especially obstacle and mine removal. c) I used to construct maps with detailed Russian style defences, trench systems, backed up by belts of mines and wire all TRP'd. They were not fun or enjoyable games. I do wonder how the EF will be handled, especially Kursk, given the nature of the fighting in the Northern front. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Two days now without a file from GaJ. I also haven't seen him posting on the forum. I hope he's alright. Re: the obstacles, or the lack of them. I'm not sure I would have bought many either on this large map. Maybe a couple strings of AT mines scattered in the most likely avenues of approach etc. but not much more than that other than a buttload of TRPs and artillery to break up concentrations. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hister Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Well Bil, if you would buy all that there would be no more points left for armour and foot soldiers would it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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