Macisle's Map - Axis AAR - *** Here be SPOILERS ***

[c3k]

What's so interesting to me (aside from your entire AAR ) is how similarly your Allied oppo is developing his attack to the way mine unfolded. So far.

Ken

[Baneman]

What's so interesting to me (aside from your entire AAR ) is how similarly your Allied oppo is developing his attack to the way mine unfolded. So far.

Ken

Really ? But ... but there haven't been any Human Wave attacks !!

I guess I can read yours now, I doubt there's any knowledge squirreled away that can help me. Maybe I'll wait another 2 turns or so, I'm planning to pull back to the next lower line, abandoning the village and ask ( plead ? ) for a Ceasefire.

Ammunition is the greatest problem actually - in several cases I have 4 or 5 man teams containing 2 ( and even 3 ) MP40's for which there is no ammo. Four men with 2 rifles doesn't add much to the defense.

[Macisle]

The current repository version, 2.5, gives 70 minutes, but I'm planning on going 60 (or maybe even less) for v.3.

[Baneman]

For the time being, I shall ignore the far right as nothing is happening there. I have pulled most of my own men off the line and the enemy have done the same. Of course, it turns out that they had far more to pull off than I did ( or thought they did ).

These men appear at the junction of the main road and immediately threaten my forward defence. The brittle team I sent to interdict their move arrived at their location, took fire and immediately broke. Can't blame them really, they're another team with 2 rifles and 2 ammoless MP40's. Not exactly massive - to use a CM1 phase - Firepower.

Since I know this flank is crumbling, practically already lost, I'm pulling the HMG out now. They'll move down and cover the hedges to the north. Their left flank should be secure with the truck reinforcement team now with eyes on the enemy side of the hedge ( see 3rd pic ).

On the far left, the enemy artillery continues to fall, but somehow, the Company commander runs through the shellbursts like a bounding hare, escaping with his life. This is good news for the remaining defence since there will still be a C2 of sorts.

Out of shot in the centre, the truck and the MG34 guy arrive almost at the same time. Maddeningly, the turn ends with his foot still not quite in the truck, so the whole of the next turn he's doing nothing but sitting in the truck. I guess he has to suddenly load all those belts 1 bullet at a time !

[Baneman]

The next turn sees the demise of 2 teams in their entirety. Firstly, the long awaited 60mm mortar strike comes in ... and the first round lands smack on the team behind the hedge and kills all 4 ! Just as well I was bringing up the sniper team to reinforce their position.

The guy in the church pulls out as well as the lone gunman shooting at the enemy hordes. He just took too much return fire and failed to hit anyone to reduce it. The hordes also push down into 2 of the 3 houses and eliminate the team I had up there - they had moved down to the ground floor, but failed to get away. Both these teams that died were 2 rifle and 2 MP40 teams, so were already effectively useless.

In the centre the HMG pulled back successfully as did the shellshocked team I had covering the hedge. You can also see the position of the 2nd HMG that was brought across. Also in shot, my man in the truck, twiddling his thumbs ... at least, I hope it's his thumbs ... er ... moving swiftly on...

On the far left, you can see the remains of the enemy arty strike as well as my own last 4 rounds of 120mm ( the other 2 rounds landed on the far side of the hedge exactly as planned. ) I know that there were 2 or 3 guys at least in the area, I hope it did some damage. The "cunning plan" guys hit the dirt early as the enemy arty continued to fall, but they will get out of there next turn. The cunning plan is to move them all the way around the left ( which I'm pretty sure is now empty of enemy ) and buddy-aid an MG42

[Baneman]

However, after that turn, I discussed matters with my opponent. I felt that realistically we ( the Germans ) would pull back to a new line, abandoning the top 3 VL's [ Down to the words "Rest of Enemy Strike" on the left and to where the truck is on the right. ]

With the HMG's still in the line and all the surviving teams with MG42's we could still mount a credible defence. It seems to me ( and to him ) that the Allies would consolidate their gains and push again another time - for now I can't see them realistically pushing on.

Anyway, he agreed and so all the units still above the line described above are pulling back to the hedgeline by the 2nd HMG and Company Commander. When in position ( ie. out of "his" VL's, we'll CF.

It's been a mad desperate fight and I think both sides did pretty much what would irl be asked of them.

It's an excellent map and scenario, and my opponent will add his opinion here as soon as we finish. It's been massive fun, I have to say

Overall I think I made quite a few mistakes, showing a distinctly Hitler-esque "die-in-place"-itis far too often - I should have been much quicker to pull men out of bad situations. Also I was loathe to cancel artillery when it should have been clear that it wasn't going to be as effective as it should.

But the 9mm running out was the worst thing that happened, at a stroke pretty much halving my combat power just as the enemy were launching a new push.

[Baneman]

There were a couple of turns of my guys pulling back to below the line of the 3rd-from-top VL ( red line in pic ). Fighting wound down with some desultory and sporadic firing - which actually seemed amazingly realistic.

And then the CeaseFire took effect.

Credit to my opponent for giving me a serious pounding - I don't think I did quite as well as the scoreline suggests.

[Baneman]

Here's the score breakdown for those that are interested.

[Baneman]

This is the bit where you see the map with the enemy shown and discover that you were facing the Hordes of Mordor !

I do feel that a CF is a realistic thing to happen at about this time. The defenders have nowhere to go so will buckle down ( not quite reflected in the game of course - with Broken morale most teams will wither from some area fire ) and the Allies have lost all their armour support and taken 50% casualties.

Great scenario though.

I'm sure my opponent will be posting here soon once he's caught up with it all.

[Erwin]

What was interesting was that your AAR seemed to give the sense that you thought you were being overrun and losing... And yet you got a very decent victory according to the game system.

Based on your own assessment, and trying to project your game to a RL situation, how accurate do you think the game victory assessment was?

[Baneman]

What was interesting was that your AAR seemed to give the sense that you thought you were being overrun and losing... And yet you got a very decent victory according to the game system.

Based on your own assessment, and trying to project your game to a RL situation, how accurate do you think the game victory assessment was?

Heh, well according to the casualty numbers, I was being overrun and losing

The running-out-of-9mm problem got a lot of men killed - at least 3 -4 half squads were completely massacred as a result with attendant knock-on effects on my global morale.

Irl ... it depends. Of course by Hitler's mad Not-one-step-back doctrine, it was a total loss

Realistically, outnumbered by more than 2:1 and with no armour, I think we put up a credible defence and made the enemy bleed for his gains.

I think if there were casualty points the game-score would have been somewhat different. Also, the fact that the VL values were reversed inflated my score - if the Allies got top scores for the 3 VL's they took, it would have been more like a Draw.

Leaving the VL scores unreversed may also push people to be more accepting of a CeaseFire at this sort of realistic time - the highest value VL's being in my rear for the Allies may encourage attackers to go for the "Kill Everyone" result which isn't necessarily true to life.

After all, my opponent certainly has the manpower to have pushed on ( I thought/hoped his morale was worse ), but although it's possible in game, he also has a fine sense of what's more likely in real life.

Unfortunately, the one thing that's (still ! grrr, c'mon BFC ! ) not shown is the artillery casualties - which I'd dearly love to know. I'm pretty sure I failed to use it as effectively as I should/could, but I must wait to hear from my opponent how good/bad it was to him.

Overall I think a Tactical Victory is generous to me - a Minor or Draw seems more apt.

But it's easy to forget that this was a playtest for MacIsle's map and scenario so he can hardly be blamed for not having the Victory Points allocations perfectly tuned.

Edit: I realise that c3k is probably horrified that the Allies didn't push on all the way to Berlin He wont be buying those guys drinks anytime soon !

[Blackcat]

Many thanks, Baneman, for a fascinating and superbly well written AAR. The post-cease fire Hordes of Mordor screen shot appears to show that your opponent still had a lot to give, but it will be fascinating to see what the morale/ammo state of all those units was at the time he threw his hand in.

Anyway thanks again for some great entertainment.

[undercovergeek]

Well it seems my overall strategy of getting shot in the face until the 9mm ran out seems to have paid off. I impress myself with my genius sometimes!

The sheer pleasure of playing this game has been amazing. Thats testament to two fine people, my opponent Baneman and the glorious map skills of Macisle. The immersion the map creates, particularly being so well modeled on a real place is awesome. All the little real world details and the scenery - my hat is well and truly doffed to Macisle.

And then Baneman - what an excellent AAR this is! Wonderfully put together and illustrated, touched with humour and nicknames for my forces! One of the best.

At some point ill have to post the picture of Kirk screaming Baaaaaaaaaaneman - Khan style, that baneman made for me - he made me feel like that sometimes. Im dismayed to see the size of the force i was facing for a guy that appeared to be here, there and everywhere.

My remaining forces were fine, balanced between rested and shaken - those that had been soundly beaten were kept at the back, the front line troops were ok and maybe could have advanced a little further but im in full agreement with Baneman - i think after the Germans were seen pulling back and all the tanks were knocked out i think the US Company CO would have consolidated his forces at the line we're at and called for more armour and forces - but thats another game and another scenario.

This is also a tale of two artillery spotters - mine, well, i dont know what to say, i think because he couldnt actually spot where the spotting rounds landed behind the bocage he took a best guess and this worked 2 times out of 7. The 2 succesful ones were where he could see fully the line of artillery, the rest were wildly off, although i see this random drops puzzled Baneman to good effect occassionally. Consequently of the 6 batteries i had, only 1 is empty and the other 5 are still full - i just lost faith in the ability to hit anything. As for Baneman, i have learnt from the past that to stay put for maybe four minutes will lead to a rain of doom from above, so even if i was in my required position i shifted around and spread out to minimize any damage - a tally i have is 12 deaths to arty, 2 of which was my own arty! Baneman is a brilliant user of artillery for forces advancing in the open, his ability to guess your arrival at a spot and coincide a rain of doom with it is uncanny and has reduced me to tears before now but this staggered, unseen approach may have caused a few guestimate challenges as i never really suffered too badly. Picture a line of men looking up nervously after 4 minutes and then saying 'hey, i think were going to be ok'

In short, a brilliant game, an awesome opponent and gaming buddy and a spectacular map - wargaming at its finest.

Ill answer any questions if there is any and then flex my muscles as i challenge baneman to a rematch - tactical victory my arse!

[AlexUK]

What a fantastic AAR Baneman, and well done for the victory. I was checking in every day to get my fix. I have definitely learnt a few things from it, I think I'm far too static when defending, for example.

What do you think about the rematch? I hope you're up for it and can have a go at another AAR, but in any case, thanks for all the effort you put into this - it was much appreciated.

[c3k]

Edit: I realise that c3k is probably horrified that the Allies didn't push on all the way to Berlin He wont be buying those guys drinks anytime soon !

How true! Where are my deerskin gloves? Somebody needs to be slapped!

I'd love to see the arty get some killstats for what it does.

Ken

[Macisle]

Congratulations to Baneman on his victory and thanks to you both for your very kind words on the map and scenario. Though I'm very satisfied with how the map itself turned out, getting the scenario to where it needs to be is definitely an extended learning process. Thank you very much for playing it and giving me your feedback. And, yet another THANK YOU! to Baneman for doing such a fantastic AAR. You sir, are very much an asset to the CM community.

Man, --lots to talk about! Where to begin? Well, basically, I guess topics fall into three areas:

1. Tactical analysis of your battle itself.

2. General analysis of the scenario and how to improve play balance and enhance the fun factor.

3. Addressing the question that sparked the thing in the first place—how well does CMBN do bocage fighting?

For this post, I’ll mainly stick to discussing your battle. First off, I think Baneman can accept his Tactical Victory without guilt. Given the US casualties and loss of all armor, a ceasefire seems very realistic. And, given that, the Germans have denied the US the main crossroads to south and have still maintained control of the southern E-W road. What realistically happens after this is beyond the scope of the game. However, as this battle ends and is frozen in time, the Germans have earned their tactical victory.

This AAR turns out to illustrate very well the logic behind the victory points. When JonS was mentoring me for the scenario design, two of the techniques he recommended (which I took and ran with) were breaking up large objectives into multiple smaller ones and reversing points for defender and attacker. The first technique allows for points to tell a story (as well as letting the losing player go home with some chips in his pocket). The second, while initially counterintuitive, represents the fact that the defender’s command will be happier the further away he keeps the enemy, and it combines with the first, many objectives technique, to hopefully create a more dynamic battlefield. Both sides can choose what they want to defend and there is more than one way to victory.

For example, an attacker might just flank and head deep south to take the big ticket items there. But, if he does not take the German’s big ticket items, then the battle may end up a draw. In reality, this would represent that neither side can use the roads and would thus be exactly that—a draw! At this stage in his AAR, C3K’s battle could theoretically end up like this.

(I do need to add casualty points, but I haven’t been able to come up with a way that satisfies me yet. We can discuss that later.)

Shifting to and staying on Baneman and undercovergeek’s battle, we see what happens with an across the board push south. The defender loses the big points, but the attacker only gains small points at first. The point balance won’t shift to favor the attacker until he gets further south through the hamlet than undercovergeek did.

Looking at tactics used by the players, the first thing that pops out to me is Baneman’s decision to leave the area north of the northern E-W road largely unoccupied, save for wire and mines. Both he and I put more faith in the mixed mines than they deserved. I must have had the best luck ever with them in hotseat testing! I switched them out for standard mines in v2.5. Had they been standard, undercovergeek would probably have had several more teams lose men to them. That would likely have had a negative psychological impact on him as the attacker.

Interestingly, of the games that I’ve been able to see, German commanders are tending to leave the Laval Farm and Bodin House unoccupied. That is surprising, given that the upper floor of the Laval Farm house can interdict the field to its east very well and is protected from the north by bocage, requiring the attacker to either get right up to the bocage or have something flank to the east or west gaps.

Bodin House can cover part of the approach to the northern bocage protecting the Laval Farm, covers the N-S center road, and must be held to maintain the “block” defensive line north-center (area of Boulay and Prevot House). If the attacker takes Bodin House, he can put flanking fire W on any units in the block, making it a critical position. It also has no windows on its N face and no bocage gaps in the bocage there, making it hard to attack by infantry without DCs.

So, while Baneman’s tactical decision might have worked better with standard mines, it did trade the possibility of making the attacker pay dearly for taking Bodin and Laval for letting him in freely in order to hopefully hit him on the head with artillery once he was there.

On the AT gun: German players are tending to put it in places where a shreck would be fine. I’d say it’s better placed in one of the tree clusters SW of the Collet Farm. That way, it is hard to spot and can beat up anything trying to flank the White Manor in the SW corner of the map (exactly as C3K is doing in his game).

In general, I think Baneman did a great job dealing with events as they unfolded. He was hit with some very unfortunate deploy issues that certainly hamstrung his defense at times. Had those not occurred, he may have inflicted heavier losses on the attacker. This scenario is a tough one for the Germans, so he should take pride in having achieved a victory.

On defending arty use, was harassing fire used at all? I think that setting works quite well on this map—particularly linear harassing (C3K says it is a purist no-no. Man, linear harassing is my favorite setting!)

On ammo…

Yeah, running out of SMG ammo is one of the hardest things for the German player. The US has a huge advantage with its Garands if the Germans can’t call on any SMGs. Since this battle depicts a defending force that has had time to prepare, perhaps I can add some immobilized ammo trucks or something to serve as an ammo dump (perhaps as reinforcements). I do wish the editor gave more ability to the designer to tailor ammo types in trucks, etc.

Looking at undercovergeek’s side, it looks like he did a good job of keeping his arty casualties down, given the German arty situation. Since we don’t have an AAR, it is difficult to analyze specifics. He definitely did a good job of finding places where his Stuarts could snipe at the defenders!

One tactical question that could be asked is why he did not try to mass his armor for a main strike anywhere. Though C3K has flanked W in his game, I always thought the likely easiest road for the attacker would be to put pressure center and west, while putting the main effort into flanking deep E.

On attacking arty: Wow—I didn’t realize so little was used! IIRC, the US has one green module, with the rest being regular. Alas, the green must have been the lucky pick, thus the “drunken spotter” (not his fault—it was the crew!).

There is of course, a lot more to discuss, but I’ll end this post here. Looking forward to the coming discussions!

[Baneman]

No, I didn't use Harassing artillery fire, but perhaps I should have.

I believe that sticking a truck or two inside a house works as an ammo supply ... and immobilises the truck by default. But I've never tried it myself.

Of course in this battle, I wasted some 9mm by giving it to the scouts who failed to burn through even half their supply ( wimps ! ). But another truckload would be very welcome - I certainly think I could have hurt the last American push with more of it, instead of just losing those teams.

I can't believe my opponent had so much unused artillery. Wow. That drunken spotter really saved my bacon.

[womble]

Immobilised vehicles don't always work as ammo dumps; sometimes the units that are supposed to be getting aboard to loot the pinata just don't get on, or mount but immediately dismount (what's the point of getting on a broken truck, right?)