lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 So I was thinking of putting up a simple little AAR here, seeing as there are quite a few here and I find them both interesting and informative. I'm am neither an outstanding player nor a graphics wizard, so don't expect a cinematic experience, but at the least I hope to increase my skills and knowledge. I will be playing Mission 4 of the excellent "Panzers Marsch!" campaign, titled Le Dezert. I will play WEGO, and would welcome as much critique as possible, but avoid spoiling anything for me. I'll get stuff on whenever possible. Hope you enjoy! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agusto Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Great. I never played the Panzer Marsch! campaign beyond the Le Desert mission. The short time available in this mission always led to lots of casualties on my side and i decided that, with so many men lost, it wouldnt be meaningful to go on with this campaign. I am interested in how you are going to handle the pressure created by beeing given only 35 minutes to accomplish your objectives. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Yeah, they don't give you much time at all. At least for me, streetfighting and hedgerow-clearing takes a while. I'm anticipating heavy casualties and little subtlety! I should have an overview and forces up tonight. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindlewolf Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Great. I never played the Panzer Marsch! campaign beyond the Le Desert mission. The short time available in this mission always led to lots of casualties on my side and i decided that, with so many men lost, it wouldnt be meaningful to go on with this campaign. I am interested in how you are going to handle the pressure created by beeing given only 35 minutes to accomplish your objectives. Agreed could have been a great campaign and though fun,the times given on some scenarios spoilt it a bit for me. Have a good one on the AAR though,look forward to seeing how you fair. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Ok, dumb question but how does one post pictures? I'll get some up as soon as I figure it out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Ok, so the mission here is to capture the village/town of Le Dezert. The town itself is situated in some classic bocage and foresty goodness, which will likely lead to a lot of death. I'll put up pictures as soon as possible. Anyway, they give you what amounts to a company-strength mechanized force, plus recce elements. Problem is, said recce elements were wiped out to a man, excepting a wounded 250 driver, in the previous battle for Bloody Gulch. One platoon has also been de-halftrack'd and reduced to 15 men from that battle. The other two platoons are in pretty good shape (one is completely unscathed). I also have my surviving (four) Mk. Vs from Bloody Gulch, and half a dozen Opel Blitz's stacked with ammo. No fire support yet, but I get some howitzers and mortars 10 minutes in. Finally, I have about half a dozen trucks, for transport and resupply purposes. More to come. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agusto Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 That is a frequently asked question. Here are 2 quotes from another thread that explain it well: My suggestion is to use images sized below 1024x768 or similar so they dont take too much space on peoples screens. If you want to attach images larger than that size, at least i personally would be more comfortable with only having the link to the image in your post instead of the full image. If you want to resize your images (change resolution and DPI), you can use the free Artweaver demo, a Photoshop clone. Google tells you where to download it. Also, dont directly attach them to your posts but use an external host like http://imageshack.us/ instead. If you directly attach them using the forums attachment manager, they will be resized automatically. You can insert those externally hosted images into your posts using [img*]http://example.com/example.jpeg[/img*] without the *. bookmark this, it is pretty much the handbook for posting. Lots of good suggestions about not just how to get the image linked, but how to clean up the image for presentation. http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=97288 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t631/henry_walsh/ScreenShot2013-06-01at60813PM_zps796168ce.jpg' alt='ScreenShot2013-06-01at60813PM_zps796168ce.jpg'> Here you can see the map. Not really suitable for armor. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childress Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Here's an alternative walk-through: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1441071&highlight=POSTIMAGE#post1441071 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Here are my forces. I don't know why the pictures are such poor quality. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 A better view of some of the terrain to fight through: http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t631/henry_walsh/ScreenShot2013-06-01at60843PM_zpsc0499bcb.png' alt='ScreenShot2013-06-01at60843PM_zpsc0499bcb.png'> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 As you can see, not the kind of terrain you want to bring armor into. I'm very cautious about losing armor; I lost two Panthers last game, which I'm sure will slow me down. I'm not eager to have my tank force further depleted or even eliminated by Mission 4. I'm working on a terrain analysis, should get that up at some point. Now, a crucial factor is the limited time. With, say, and hour and a half, I could work through this fairly methodically. With forty minutes, speed is of the essence. Unfortunately, hedgerow fighting and house-to-house combat is very slow. I've given up on the "to St. Jean de Daye" and "Alternate Route" objectives. I'm just concentrating on taking the village. I'd like to get to the Le Dezert with at least 25 minutes remaining, which gives me a scant 15 minutes to fight my way through the hedges. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 And here is the Terrain Analysis! The Danger Zones are my "Avoid or Neutralize" areas; they just felt rather deadly. An ATG, Bazooka, or tank at DZ1 could wreak havoc on units attempting to advance up the road. DZ2 is a narrow "canyon" between hedgerows terribly exposed to an ATG/Bazooka/Tank up near the crossroads. In addition, I'm expecting the sides to be crawling with Amis. DZ3 offers the best vantage point on the map, and I'd be shocked if there wasn't a sniper or MG team in or around there, and probably an FO as well. My plan is to advance along the "Infantry AoA" (Avenue of Approach) with dismounted PzG troops, avoiding the DZs. They will clear the left side of DZ2 to kill any sneaky AT assets, which will in turn allow the armor to advance up to help them secure DZ3, and then assault the village proper. The Armor AoA seems rather circuitous, but is the simplest way that avoids the DZs. There are also very few paths armor CAN take besides the roads, which I'm not going to risk. The purple lines with dotted things show fields of fire for armored units at the vertex of the "triangle" created, basically just showing where I will be covering to support my infantry. These are mostly just hedgerows which I feel are likely to be defended, along with DZ3. To save time, I'm considering just using HE and indirect fires to demolish a good deal of the town as opposed to assaulting it. http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t631/henry_walsh/ScreenShot2013-06-01at80838PM_zps34fddc73.png' alt='ScreenShot2013-06-01at80838PM_zps34fddc73.png'> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 So, here is my report for the first five turns. Here you can see "the lads" of 2nd platoon, along with one of the two Mk. Vs I'm sending out. They will follow the path shown in my previous battle-plan. Almost immediately I take fire from this little fellow across the main road and in a hedgerow. One of my Panthers lights him up: My troops move across the road, taking no fire, and forming up next to a low hedge with one of the Panthers on overwatch. Finally, here is the Panther giving the sneaky sniper some HE: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 The rest of the lads are across now, formed up behind the hedge. To the left you can see the tank cruising off, and in the background you can see some of the teams I split off heading to the first hedgerow nearest the jump-off point. No fire is taken, and it appears to be abandoned. With that hedgerow clear, the rest of the platoon dashes across. Back at the assembly area, a sniper shot killed the TC in one of my Panthers. The crew immediately popped smoke and reversed. This is worrisome, I can't afford to be shot at in the staging point. I haven't decided what to do about this yet. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Finally, my prediction about DZ1 was proven correct. My first Mk. V took a Bazooka while moving up the road, although the shot glanced off, damaging the radio only. The crew panicked. It is worth noting that all my tanks have either -1 or -2 leaders, and they are quick to panic. The skittish Panther returned fire, but failing to kill the sneaky Zooka. The turn ended with both parties frantically reloading. And finally, here's the situation by the end of Turn 5. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Here's the report for the next five turns. At this point, I'm 25% through the allotted time. Gulp. First, both the Bazooka at DZ1 and Sneaky Sniper, who made a surprise reappearance, kicked the bucket this turn. I also sent a four-man squad from one my battered platoon to reinforce, as I felt that things might get hot soon. They moved up to the 250, which will shuttle them up later. Finally, there was some kind of explosion near my troops in the road by DZ2. Looks like that prediction will prove true. Sounded like another Bazooka, or maybe a little AT gun. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 Next, I started moving my guys up to the Crossroads/DZ3 area, and look who decided to show up: These guys were lit up by several of my teams, and fled the house they were in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurrp Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Ok, I played it through. Spoiler Alert: I lose. Minor Defeat. I killed 64 Americans, wounded 23, captured 3, and knocked out three M10s, a M20 UC, and two Jeeps. I lost 15 killed, 10 wounded, a Mk. IV, and (damn) one of my Panthers. I had the Crossroads objective, but the Town Center objective was contested and I didn't reach the other two (as I had predicted). Overall, I'm rather disappointed with the campaign. As some people have remarked, the time given is really quite limited, and anything less than a Minor Victory lands you the dismal "Kesselacht!". I'll play around with it some more at some point, and get the rest of the reports up ASAP. I'd like to here your thoughts on Panzers Marsch!, and some tips once I get everything up. Thanks, and I hope to get another AAR up at some point. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JyriErik Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 While the time IS a bit short, a total victory is definately possible. The most important thing is to go for the victory zones using the path of least resistance (yes, there is one on that map). The important thing is to manage the traffic mess the constricted start area causes. Once you've got your forces moving full speed it's simply(?) a matter of the classic "overwhelming force" at one spot & you've won. Jyri 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidFields Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Is going down the right side possible, by-passing DZ1? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JyriErik Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 With enough satchel charges ANYTHING is possible . I found the left side easiest. Not a cakewalk, but done right pretty easy. Jyri 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agusto Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Is going down the right side possible, by-passing DZ1? Yeah, the right flank looks inviting. The next time i try this mission i am going to take this approach. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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