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

[Baneman]

Next turn has the dastardly enemy consolidating.

On my far right, he pushed his Stuart up aggressively and took out my LMG squad who dithered instead of running

Across the field we're firing on his men - I have a new mortar strike on his position, but it's still 2 minutes out. He may push the Stuart up more, in which case I may get LoS with a schreck team, 2 of which have erratic LoS in that direction.

Centre right, the better part of a squad, out of range of the 120mm mortar strike are exchanging fire with one defense team. The other is covering the approaches with an arc to prevent them firing on anyone behind the hedge ( I don't think they've been spotted ).

[Baneman]

Far left my scout team are still holding up his advance, this turn they eliminated a scout hunting forward, but the guys behind the hedgerow close to them are not intimidated enough to cease their harassing area fire. The Stuart hasn't moved, but doesn't have LoS to my scouts.

And the new artillery plan - if he doesn't move quickly, I should hit both locations where he has as-yet unsuppressed men as shown in the previous pics above.

[Baneman]

Another turn and nothing much worth pictures.

The schreck guy buddy-aided his mate, picked up the schreck, fired at Stuart #2 in the main road ( #1 has entered the hedged area and is presumably going to snout through the bocage and take my house under fire ).

Naturally the schreck missed and the Stuart then killed schreck guy with a laser-guided round

Far right, the Stuart is suppressing my next line - they've hunkered down, so I no longer have eyes on the concentration of American squads. The mortar fire for their position is still 1 minute out, so they may advance out of the zone - I have no way to know ( unless my schreck guys in the long grass suddenly die ).

Far left and the area fire on my scout team has actually routed them. No casualties, but I can no longer give orders so next turn they'll probably run and get shot down like dogs.

Flanks crumbling and the centre doesn't look too hot either.

The only good news is that I'm only conceding the first layer of defence and can hopefully still hurt him.

[womble]

Far left and the area fire on my scout team has actually routed them. No casualties, but I can no longer give orders so next turn they'll probably run and get shot down like dogs.

Cor. Usually it takes some casualty inflicted to actually Shake an infantry team... Are they very poor quality (and how's their C2)? Or was there just a hellacious amount of incoming?

[Erwin]

You need to get back to more training playing CM1's BB12 tourny, Baneman.

[Baneman]

Cor. Usually it takes some casualty inflicted to actually Shake an infantry team... Are they very poor quality (and how's their C2)? Or was there just a hellacious amount of incoming?

C2 ? mwuahahahah, have you seen how thin my line is ? They report directly to the Company HQ and he's nowhere near the front line.

They are Regular with a -1 morale.

The good news is that the enemy decided to stop firing and sneak down the side of the bocage where they were seen and fired on by #2 scout team. This enabled #1 to recover ( all the way from Shaken to Rattled to Nervous to OK ! ) and take their side's sneaking Americans under fire again.

top right of picture, the scouts who were last seen crawling just before the mortar strike now make a dash for the building and make it ( sry, used wrong colour ) - apparently 2 teams shooting at them isn't enough

[Baneman]

Centre right is active again, clearly my 120mm was early/premature.

Far right, the infantry aren't waiting and come boiling across the road, now firing on my centre-right team. This probably negates my mortar strike, but I'm not cancelling it because

a) he may have reinforcements coming up behind them

there's still a little overlap into the road ( see pic in post #77 ) and a couple of 81mm there could still spoil his fun. My team have been told to pop smoke and run, hopefully the mortar strike will give them just enough of a chance.

[Baneman]

And finally a pic to show my reinforcing troop movements left of centre which should allow me to cover the centre-right area. ( and have another crack at his Stuart in the road )

[Seedorf81]

Baneman,

Very nice work. Like the way you show us your emotional, and very understandable, reactions. Circles and arrows are outstanding, make excellent explanations and clarifications.

Should be mandatory for every AAR/DAR-producer.

[womble]

C2 ? mwuahahahah, have you seen how thin my line is ? They report directly to the Company HQ and he's nowhere near the front line.

They are Regular with a -1 morale.

Ah. That -1 might be why they chickened out.

The good news is that the enemy decided to stop firing and sneak down the side of the bocage where they were seen and fired on by #2 scout team. This enabled #1 to recover ( all the way from Shaken to Rattled to Nervous to OK ! ) and take their side's sneaking Americans under fire again.

That recovery sounds to me more like what I see when a unit has been pinned/Shaken by friendly suppression. I don't think there was anything whizzing round their ears apart from US bullets, though, so that's a remarkable fast recovery. Normally (IME) Shaken to Rattled takes the best part of a minute (at the very least), and Rattled to OK the best part of an hour, especially if there are no inspirational leaders involved.

[Baneman]

I can only imagine that it is the lack of casualty that enabled them to recover so quickly. I certainly didn't know that -1 Morale would have such a big effect, but until they take a casualty they seem able to shrug it off without the usual long term penalties for panicking.

In any case, this turn they panicked and huddled again.

Much much more worrying for me is the sight of this bolshie Stuart coming through the gap he blasted a while ago. Naturally no one within 100m has even a Panzerfaust, so the team that have been covering that stretch of bocage are getting the hell out of there.

These Stuarts are scary, they remind me of a couple of small women I knew - you did NOT want to make them mad !

The mortar strike on the far right may or may not have done much good - only 2 came distinctly over the bocage, so I guess it rattled more than hurt

[Baneman]

Next Turn ( Turn #22 I believe ).

On the far left, the scouts are shaken again, although they again recover by the end of the turn to Nervous. I can now see that some Americans have snuck along the bocage line up on the right. Only the ATG has eyes on them and I'm still going to hold fire in the hope that it has not been spotted.

The schreck team that fired ineffectually at the Stuart are leaving the area since their luck probably wont change and they can be more useful elsewhere. I've replaced them with a team that can see and fire at the multitudes trying to sneak forward on that flank - although they are taking fire from the Stuart as well.

Centre left, my guys got out just in time, the Stuart trundles forward laying waste to the hedgerow. More men observed running up to or into the house on the left ( still can't hit anyone ) and at least 2 teams follow the Stuart through the gap.

[Baneman]

Far right, all is quiet as the effect of the mortar strike wears off. My team in the foreground lost 1 man, but successfully got away - they did, however, perform the most extraordinary shennanigans with their "Pop Smoke" command - that's for another post.

The good news is in the centre - my recently arrived schreck team barely caught their breath before spotting and firing at the Stuart in the road.

Result !

Well, sort of. 1st and 3rd rockets hit - both penetrated ( 2nd hit was Front Lower Hull ). After the 2nd hit, the crew bailed BUT ... it's STILL NOT Knocked Out :eek:

Still has a green base so presumably the crew can come back.

What the hell ?!?!?! Concrete Stuarts ? Once is an outlier, but 3 penetrations on a little thing like that and nothing vital broken ? I feel a testing jag coming on

Oh and enemy are running around my wire, through the mines without any trouble. <sigh> naturally ! lol.

[Baneman]

And finally, for general amusement, a view of the scurryings that are taking place behind the scenes to try and compensate for all the dastardly clever things the enemy are doing.

Notably, the need to get at least a Panzerfaust near the Trundle-of-Doom Stuart.

And there's a new artillery plan. The right gets another load of 120mm in the hope that overflow on the left gets someone crossing by the mines, overflow on the right may catch the Wormsign and the Snouting Stuart in the hedge might get immobilised at least. Also, I'm pretty sure the crew from the damaged Stuart ran in there. The other 2 locations are where infantry has recently been seen. I can always cancel them if they're gone before 3 minutes passes.

[Baneman]

Far left, the fire from the Stuart is making things too hot, so I'm crawling my team away ( if they move ). It's only a matter of time before if fires something worse.

Like what happened on the far right ! EEP ! Team took 1 KIA and 1 WIA (yellow base). An earlier canister shot missed as they were all hugging the ground.

[Baneman]

Centre left, the Faustie boys arrived, but the Stuart has not trundled any further yet. I guess he was waiting for infantry support which ran up to the hedgeline by the road to his left. Both the team which ran away from the Stuart and another that has been waiting patiently all battle, took them under fire. 3 grenades later and 4 of the 5 enemy are KIA.

Centre right, the Wormsign lads packed up and moved left then exited the bocage, charging forward in a Recon-by-Death move. Naturally they both passed through the minefield - Grrr - before being gunned down. Phew. Since potential targets is diminishing, I've cancelled the 120mm mortar strike there.

[AlexUK]

This is a great AAR - much better than playing - all the fun without the stress!

[Baneman]

Centre left, we already saw 2 guys run through the minefield while the schreck was shooting the Stuart. Now we see 2 more pass through unscathed. And that's not the only thing they pass through !

On the far right, the same thing happens on a larger scale ! <grumble>

Mines ! Probably the most ineffective weapon system in CMBN <grumbles more...>

[kohlenklau]

I had a couple beers and forget, are they mixed mines or strictly AP?

A lesson learned for me on my 1st PBEM, Next time I only use AP mines on these likely infantry routes. I did a rough test and squad after squad went through with the mixed mines. But for the AP mines it was snack crackle pop. Lots of ugghs and arrggs.

[Macisle]

Excellent, excellent AAR, Baneman! I love the screens you're doing--especially the close ups that catch more unit and map () detail.

I am surprised the mines are turning out this ineffective. In testing, being mixed mines, they were hit and miss as well. However, they seemed to hit a lot more often than you're experiencing. I've seen them occasionally take out 3-5 guys at a pop (moving at quick/run) AND immobilize tanks (though usually they just cause very light track damage).

I just plonked wire in for V2, so it hasn't been tested. What's happening sure is odd, though. Perhaps it's a question of spotted movement versus real movement? If not...a bug?

Those schreck hits are very surprising, too. I've seen hits fail to take out Stuarts before in testing, but not so many in one game.

Looks like you're not getting all the bad luck so far, though. The Ami arty seems to have some of the same gremlin squatters that have taken up shop around your mines, wire and shrecks.

[Baneman]

... The Ami arty seems to have some of the same gremlin squatters that have taken up shop around your mines, wire and shrecks.

Oh how I wish you hadn't said that ! lol.

This turn sees accurate Drumfire in and around my ATG position - the sly dog knew it was there all along ( given the supernatural spotting by his buttoned Stuarts so far, I suppose I should have assumed this.) The ATG is no more and their infantry support took 2 casualties It felt bigger than 81mm, so I'm going to guess it was 105 - it'll probably turn out to have been 81mm all along, I'm poor at guesstimating arty size from 'splosion size.

Better news further along. The enemy starting shooting from the Boulay house that has seen several teams run up to or into it. #2 Scout team and my HMG positioned further back put a lot of bullets into it and silenced the enemy for now.

A close up also reveals 2 bodies in front - clearly the enemy earlier tried to advance from the house and failed. I didn't see this happen, but luckily my men were on top of the situation

This close up is also because it's hard to resist showing TanksALot's buildings in closeup.

[Baneman]

Just left of the main road, things go the other way. The Faustie Boys take fire from the next house along and this time they end up suppressed - I had given them a 30m Cover Armour arc and their return fire was desultory. The HQ next to them chose this moment to run out of 9mm ammo, so there wasn't much fire on the enemy at all.

The survivor of the earlier "Charge to the Bocage" has the effrontery to throw a grenade of his own before crawling away. It does no damage fortunately and he receives another potato masher in return. He is seen no more, but may have escaped in the smoke.

Best news is that the Trundle O' Doom retreats and heads off - either to the main road or to go further to the right flank. Either way, the enemy clearly does not realise how much its presence made me sweat and worry ! Phew.

[Baneman]

More bad news on the right flank. In the centre-right area, I pulled back the squad who had run from the field on their right. The centre squad I left in position - I suspect someone at HQ has designs on one of their wives ! Their location took a pounding from 60 or 81 mm mortars and 2 men were lost almost immediately.

On the far right, a couple of infantry started to cross the field. 1 was hit by my sniper team ( out of picture further left ) and the other went to ground.

My schreck team ran up and immediately took the problem Stuart under fire. 2 shots missed, both falling short, the 2nd not by much. The Stuart ( buttoned, of course ) took all of 12 seconds to spot, aim and fire the usual laser guided answer. Scratch one schreck guy. <grumble>

The right flank saw more reinforcements running down. I've marked the exit they must take which explains why they all move away before I can get arty on them. Should have studied the map more closely.

The right flank is clearly where the enemy feels he is making the most progress and appears to be sending the bulk of his force here. For my part, he is comfortably far from the VL's and there is still plenty I can do to slow him down before he can reach them.

The far left also seems to be receiving the rest of his attention, but as my line is somewhat convex, he still has a lot of work to do to make either flank work for him.

Despite his numbers - especially on the right - I am not too worried about the flanks (yet). I'd rather have him out there than pushing into the centre.

[kohlenklau]

baneman,

how exactly do you do time elapsed? just set camera in same position and shoot screeneis and then in paint shop set transparency and overlap on top of each other? or just a more rudimentarety cut and paste? I thought i saw some faint cut and paste lines on some screen shot...

Your one scout team is out of 9mm? And were they the same guys that pillaged the kubelwagen? Those must be some burning hot weapons....

GO BIG GREY!

[Baneman]

Yeah, it's rudimentary cut n paste in Paint - I know too little about Photoshop to try it for this. I have done my best to avoid obvious lines, but sometimes a cloud goes over and the following screenshot is a little darker or so, then it's more obvious. Also if there's smoke in one shot that's dissipated by the next, you get lines. The plethora of treetrunks, telephone poles and icons makes it fairly easy to line up the cut bit.

In the Trundle retreating screenshot (post #97), I bumped the mouse a fraction for the 3rd pic as the tank backs out the gap, so you can see the house below is slightly out of whack - and you can see the smoke-effect line too.

No, it's the HQ that's out of 9mm, they didn't pillage the Kubel - the A team of a squad usually has an MP40 and I generally load them up with an extra 100 ( or 200 when the truck is still full you can't choose less ) 9mm.

HQ's come last in the queue for ammo and as I only have 1 truck and 1 Kubel, they lost out in this scenario.