Avanti! BigDork vs Penry - Italian Domination

[BigDork]

Ciao! Benvenuto!

Having been driven from the valley by the Americans in our last battle, it is now up to me to drive the invaders out and do my part to thwart their plans.

So I've got a company of infantry supported by the finest armor the Italians are fielding. Seems doable. So here's the plan...

At Barn North (BN) two squads are going to take up a defensive position in case the Americans come investigate while the third squad is going to take an overwatch position on Bridge Z02.

At Barn South (BS) one squad is going to provide overwatch on Bridge Z02 while the other squad holds off any Yanks coming from the barn.

With my center group, I'm going to push one squad up the river to get close to the bridge while on the other side of the road, my remaining squad will take up a position behind a low stone wall. I'm ordering one Brixia up into the woods near BN to hopefully have an excellent firing position on any Americans holding the bridge.

Overall my initial plan is to scout out where the Americans are at and wait for my armor to arrive.

Barn North

Center

Barn South

[BigDork]

45:00 - 44:00

Almost instantly my men hear mortar noises coming near Barn South. We don't make any visual contact but as the minute passes it becomes clear that it's moving closer and closer.

Planning

I order one rifle group to stop and try to ambush whatever American vehicle is coming our way. I have two hopes. One, they don't know we're here. Two, it's not a Sherman or something big. My men have zero ways to stop enemy armor.

[BigDork]

44:00 - 43:00

Not off to a good start. Before my men have a chance to turn around and prepare for the enemy, the "thump thump thump" of a .50 cal calls out and my men start dying.

A few seconds later my men spot the culprit. An American halftrack is making it's way through the trees straight at me... guns a'blazing. My men's first reaction is to hit the dirt due to the incoming fire. But then several raise up and shoot back at their attacker. Unfortunately, while the armor may be thin on the halftrack it's enough to protect it from my men.

It wasn't all bad luck this minute. One of my men up in the woods near BN spots a bazooka laying in ambush near Bridge Z02. No doubt he's hoping to remain hidden until my R35s arrive. It's such a shame I spoiled his surprise.

Planning

Here's an overview of the map a couple minutes in. Not only are we facing the one halftrack near BS but Penry has driven a second halftrack, full of infantry, up from the Farm. My plan is as before, hope to defend the woods with one squad while the other covers the bridge. I'm going to have my men in BN fire on the bazooka team and see if I can't get lucky with some long range fire.

[BigDork]

Turn 43:00 - 41:00

Well it doesn't take much to convince the American bazooka team that their cover is blown. While dodging fire from both sides of the valley this team makes a cowardly retreat all the way back to the Farm. To my disappointment we don't manage to spill any American blood.

Even more disappointment is in store for me. I spot a third American halftrack. This one is hanging out near the Farm. As I'm learning painfully at BS, there's little I can do to harm these halftracks at the moment. I will have to just dig in and wait for reinforcements. Thankfully my R35s and Semoventes should make scrap metal of Penry's vehicles.

Finally I draw first blood. Up near BN my men spot an American just sitting around along the edge of the road. A few bursts from our rifles later and that American is now laying along the edge of the road. I am quite happy to see that it was a leader of some sort that we took out. Hopefully it's the bloody commander of this force.

While I'm not ready to take the bridge yet, for fear of what's on the other side, I am moving my men forward to take up position. As one infantry group moves forward they're greeted by a single mortar shell. I hope this isn't the beginnings of a barrage and only a random shot. My men are somewhat crowded there and don't have a lot of places to run to if it is indeed an incoming barrage.

Oh, and the slaughter continues near BN. Penry's halftrack is driving around at will gunning down my men. To their credit, my men bravely fire back in hopes of stopping their tormenter but so far it's been futile.

Planning

Pray that my armor arrives soon.

[BigDork]

41:00 - 39:00

The clock ticks by and more of my men fall near BS. The only thing that keeps me positive is knowing that each second that passes we're closer to reinforcements arriving to help us clear the field of these accursed halftracks.

Finally a little luck. After many grenades being thrown at the halftrack one finally finds its mark. It's not enough to stop the American vehicle but at least it will remind them that they aren't invulnerable.

As the minute draws to a close my men holding the defensive line near BN spot an American scout slowly making his way through the woods. We've got a surprise for him.

Planning

With things going poorly at BS it's important to me that I maintain my foothold on the woods near BN. If I'm going to safely making it over the bridge and into the Farm it's imperative I hold some high ground.

Here's a look at the south portion of the battlefield 5 minutes in. As you can see my men have been pushed back and there's a large force of Americans looking for them. There's not a lot I can do but engage them when they pop up and keep hoping for some lucky grenades on the halftrack. I'd kill for a panzerfaust right about now.

[BigDork]

It's a minute of ups and downs for me...

39:00 - 38:00

Things go from worse to worser when the second halftrack makes an appearance in the woods. My men instantly start firing upon it. That driver doesn't seem to be as brave as his counterpart and starts backing away almost instantly. I'm taking it as a small victory in itself.

Things do start looking up as in the span of about 10 seconds we manage to take out two Americans in the halftrack. There's now only the driver left so the vehicle is vulnerable and my men no longer have to fear the MGs.

As I'm busy worrying about the remnants of my force at BS I almost fail to notice a halftrack filled with infantry driving up towards BN. Just great. I need to hold that hill and this will make it that much more difficult.

Planning

At BS, I've ordered what remains of the closest infantry group to assault the hobbled halftrack. I'm going to get some slight revenge. Very slight. Up to this point, I've lost 16 men to this devil.

I'm having my Brixia area fire towards BS. There's a bunch of American sound contacts moving in on my men and I'm hoping to cause some issues. I am skeptical to how effective this will be but it should at least give Penry a little pause.

I've also already relocated a second Brixia and an infantry group up from the center to bolster my forces in BN. The more I think about it, I think I'm going to pull in the remainder of that squad next turn to counter Penry's movement of men. I have to hold BN.

[A Canadian Cat]

That half track - ouch!

Planning

Pray that my armor arrives soon.

Oh, it is never good when your plan involves prayer. Remember the old saying the lord helps those who help themselves

[BigDork]

38:00 - 37:00

Che bellezza! The halftrack is no more. I did not expect it to explode and go up in flames. A nice bonus to be sure. The only disappointing thing is I watched the driver hop out just before the explosion. Now I just need to track him down and put an end to his miserable existence.

I managed to not lose a single man at BS this minute. Can't say the same for BN unfortunately. My Brixia gave away it's position when it started area firing across the battlefield. An American mortar team must have spotted us and sent some love our way. The first shot exploded in the trees above my team, taking out two men.

Two more mortars make their way towards BN and each one causes more casualties. As you can see, my men are very bunched up at the moment which is bad, bad, bad news.

Planning

SCATTER! I order my men in BN to run this way and that. I need them to spread out to minimize the damage that American mortar team is doing. I'm also hoping to spot them so I can send some Brixia rounds back at them.

I've also ordered the remainder of the one infantry squad to make their way up to BN. I've got more sound contacts than before and the battle is definitely shifting focus over here.

[BigDork]

That half track - ouch!

Oh, it is never good when your plan involves prayer. Remember the old saying the lord helps those who help themselves

I'm helping myself to some prayer. And if I pray long enough, the tanks will arrive. Now whether their arrival was through divine intervention or not can be debated.

[BigDork]

Proud not carried away, frustrated not drooling; living in good times must be done carefully, otherwise easily Queer. Life is proud it is easy to carried away, one carried away do not know what his last name, so the evil thoughts and evil deeds will Chenxi infiltration. Adversity must be extremely patient, or easy early mortality. Easily frustrated when life gaffe, a gaffe not know their future, so negative and Diablo 3 Gold despair will Chenxi infiltration. Mo gains and losses to be carried away by the moment, he must be prepared to refrain grown arrogant, complacent. Intoxicated with victory means stop and pause, lose vigilance. Life on the road to never let up, victory is just a small signpost. In order to achieve the final victory, if they work hard, try, try again.

So not only am I fighting the Americans but Penry is bringing the Chenxi as well? All is lost! Retreat my brave Italians, retreat!

[BigDork]

37:00 - 36:00

The action quiets down some in the next minute. There's no action at BS. At BN, my men dodge a few 60mm mortars, nothing more.

36:00 - 35:00

Ordering my men to scatter and spread out worked out pretty well for me. One of my Brixia teams manages to spot the offending American mortar team down at the Farm. Their days are numbered.

If I can see them, they can see me. Sensing their danger the American mortar team starts firing on my Brixia crews. Thankfully the 60mm mortars don't pack too big of a punch and despite the close impact my men are unscathed.

Near the end of the minute I spot a bazooka team hitching a ride in a jeep towards BS. That's a rather peculiar place to send them. I don't have any armor up there at this time and I doubt that my reinforcement armor will be coming that way. Perhaps Penry plans on sweeping my remaining men aside and then firing bazooka shells down on the Farm or Bridge Z02. I'll have to be on the look out for these guys in the future.

My prayers have been answered... sort of. I get some reinforcements in but it's not the R35s and Semoventes I'd been promised. Instead I get the company HQ showing up in the center. Far more useful and interesting is the arrival of 1st Platoon in the rear of BN. Boy is Penry in for a surprise next turn when he finds I've got the barn surrounded.

Planning

I'm planning on having my newly arrived infantry take up position to start putting pressure on BN. I'm also going to start moving in from the front with the squad I moved up from the center. Halftracks are still a threat so I'm not going to decisively engage but I hope to start being a nuisance until my armor arrives.

I've ordered my three Brixia teams to fire on the Farm. Besides the mortar team I've identified two other fox hole positions. Each one is about to start getting pummeled with rapid fire 45mm mortar goodness.

[BigDork]

In the first screenshot above, is that a slight bug? My infantry man is running like he's carrying his rifle but it's obviously slung on his back.

[BigDork]

35:00 - 34:00

Well this was certainly a busy minute of battle. Unfortunately it started off with one of my Brixia teams being taken out by a well placed American mortar round.

I am able to repay the favor, at least somewhat as the turn goes on. One of my other Brixia teams fires on the location of the American mortars. Our 45mm shells burst in the trees above the foxholes hopefully adding to the deadliness.

I'm faced with more problems as well. Early in the turn the unmistakable scream of incoming artillery is followed by a spotting round falling uncomfortably close to my men in the woods near Barn North. Later in the turn it's followed by another spotting round that, while not right on target, lets me know that I better get my guys out of the area quickly.

To add to the bit of good/bit of bad this turn has to offer, one of my infantry teams spots a 57mm ATG parked at the Farm. That's gotta go! That will make short work of any armor I bring onto the battlefield and it also puts my infantry at risk. Taking this out is now my number one priority.

Planning

I've shifted the area fire of one of my Brixia teams to focus on the ATG. The mortar team doesn't have a visual on the gun yet, but it should. An area fire command should do well. My team also has 91 mortars it can use to try to knock out the gun so I'm pretty positive of my chances.

[BigDork]

35:00 - 34:00 Part 2

I knew Penry was going to be in for a surprise when some of my infantry popped up behind BN. I didn't expect for it to go as well as it did. My men were able to catch a squad of Yanks out for a stroll.

I'm sure the outcome had Penry less than pleased. I still have a lot of payback to give for the halftrack at BS but this is a good start.

Planning

Here's an overview of the battlefield. The red X shows the Brixia that's been knocked out and down to one man (more on him in a moment). The orange stars are the incoming spotting rounds. The blue circle is the American mortar team and the pink circle is the ATG.

As started in my last post, I'm going to focus on knocking out the ATG with my Brixia teams.

Another big priority for next turn is getting my men out of the way of that incoming barrage. I'm running into some issues with that. There's a halftrack on the road near BN that allows shifting my men across the road difficult. I don't want to blindly run forward because I don't know what units Penry has laying in ambush. My only real option is to run backwards, back towards the center start but if that mortar team isn't knocked out my men are in danger there. Basically, I'm sort of trapped. I've opted to take my chances with the 60mm mortars. Seems safer than taking my chances with the incoming 81mm.

I have one of the newly arrived infantry groups firing on the rear of the halftrack. I'm hoping they'll at least spook the driver and cause him to drive into the barrage. That would be a thing to see. Also closer to the barn I'm moving my men in a bit to take advantage of the confusion I caused with the ambush this turn.

My lone remaining Brixia team member is being ordered to rush over to one of the teams. The team is down to 30 rounds of HE. My survivor is carrying 91 rounds on him. I'm hoping he can go resupply the active Brixia to keep up the pressure on the Farm. Even if he can't carry it all and needs to make multiple trips, it's worth it if I can keep my mortars firing.

[A Canadian Cat]

Actually he is carrying 12 rounds. See the line "45mm HE 12" to the left of centre. That is the list of what the selected team is actually carrying. The Ammo line on the right is the amount of ammo that the team has access to and includes any ammo on his fallen comrades and any other mortar teams from his platoon near by.

When me moves he will take the 12 rounds he has on him with him. Any rounds that might be on the ground are only accessible when a mortar team from the platoon is near the fallen men.

[BigDork]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Well if nothing else I'll relocate my Brixia once they run out. They can buddy care and scavenge.

[A Canadian Cat]

Yep that will work.

[poesel]

You actually don't need to buddy aid the bombs. If you are in the proximity of the KIA team they will still share their ammo. Well, maybe 'share' is the wrong word...

[BigDork]

34:00 - 31:00

I'm not going to go into it too much. Penry called down some really accurate artillery near BN. My men didn't clear the area. It was bad.

To make matters worse, there's a .50 caliber HMG at the Farm. One more thing I'll have to deal with there before I can advance on the main objective. Also I need to be careful because I have a bad suspicion that the .50 cal bullets can turn my light tanks and my SPGs into Swiss cheese.

Thankfully at 31:10 the ATG was removed from the battle. This is by far the best moment of the battle up to this point. With that gun silenced I should be able to more freely move my armor around whenever they decide to show up. It doesn't make up for losing a whole platoon but it does help.

And boy was I surprised to see that at some point my men had eliminated the crew of the half track near Barn North. I didn't notice it at the time. It was only later on, when issuing orders that I saw the dead bodies on the ground. One less danger to my men near BN.

[BigDork]

31:00 - 27:00

While I managed to get rid of the ATG at the Farm, that damned mortar crew is still there. I should not have stopped focusing on their position. Now my Brixia crew is paying for my mistake. Hopefully I can return fire and knock them out.

Yeah right, like I'd get that lucky. A minute later and I'm down another Brixia. I'm now down to one operational Brixia. However, it is only manned by two crewmen. I cannot afford to lose that last mortar.

THANK THE LORD! It took them 15 long minutes but my R35s have arrived! If Perny was shocked when some infantry showed up at BN, he's going to be blown away by the arrival of my armor.

I waste little time. At 30:00, as soon as they arrive on the battlefield my R35s open up with their machine guns, targeting all around the barn. Their job is to suppress any Americans waiting for the assault. One of my infantry teams makes the charge into the building only to find it empty. Penry has apparently pulled back some from BN.

I spend the next couple minutes starting to fan out, hunting through the woods around BN trying to find the Americans. I cannot imagine Penry has gone too far. I also begin buddy care on the fallen. I hope to save as many as I can from that murderous artillery strike. For the most part though there is a lull in the fighting as I begin to move my armor into position.

BS is a disaster. The HMG at the Farm forced me to pull back the squad I had watching Bridge Z02. Penry also is pushing forward with infantry, causing several casualties along the way. My men are still shaken and depleted from the earlier half track attack and cannot put up much of a fight. But there's a small hope.

As I'm watching my armor start to move out from BN to a more central location I hear the scream of more artillery being called in. Dear Lord, the Americans have a ton of the stuff. Then I see the first impact from the spotting round. It's right in the area of Penry's men near BS (red circle). A second round (star) comes in near the end of 28:00 - 27:00. Maybe, just maybe his spotters mucked this one up and he's about to blast his own men. I can only pray at this point.

Planning

I'm moving two of my R35s down the road away from BN and towards Bridge Z02. I'm trying to be somewhat cautious because I don't know if he has another ATG or not. I'm really, really hoping it's not because with only the one Brixia, it could be difficult to counter. I'm also continuing to spread out and secure the woods around BN. If I can get a couple good positions on the hill to fire on the bridge and the Farm I should be in a much better position. Time's 1/3 gone but I'm starting to feel slightly better now that I've got some tanks to help out.

I know I owe an overhead shot. I'll put one up in the next update for sure.

[womble]

Your R35s are mostly proof against .50cal (if the commander's got any sense...). Any Semovente is going to suffer "spalling" hits with regularity and may suffer penetrations. If you've got the open-top 47mm type, of course, that's another vulnerable axis.

But those R35s are going to be royal terrors from up on that hill if you keep them out of Zook range and out of the way of any proper ATGs.

[BigDork]

Good to know about the .50 cal. I learned in my last battle to keep the commander safely wrapped in steel.

I'm gonna take myself a bit out of the battle for a moment and use some gamer logic. For this to be a balanced battle Penry either has another 57mm ATG hidden somewhere or else he'll be getting some sort of reinforcements that have a gun on it. R35 vs Sherman wouldn't be equal and I don't see it being Semovente vs Sherman either. Even the 75/18 would probably have issues. Maybe... if he only gets one Sherman. I'm expecting to either see Stuarts or else a bunch of M3 GMCs.

[womble]

Yeah, that short 75 is pretty poor against M4s. The 90mm one, though, if you get any of those as reinforcements, that will core a Sherman out 1st shot, most of the time.

[BigDork]

27:00 - 25:00

My infantry's efforts to clear the woods around BN are hampered by sporadic gunfire from the .50 cal HMG down at the Farm. It's slightly annoying and slowing down progress but thankfully it has so far not resulted in any casualties.

The American HMG team soon realizes that their position has been compromised and starts to pack up. Penry has spotted my newly arrived armor and knows that the .50 cal is one of my primary targets to eradicate.

They are a bit slow though and the first 37mm HE round slams into the building they've taken up position in. Unfortunate for me, the 37mm shell doesn't pack much of a punch and the American's cover is more than stout enough to keep them safe. Causing some pain on the Americans would have been preferred but I'll settle for forcing the machine gun team to relocate into a less optimal position.

Speaking of less optimal positions... I spot a GI making his was down the road away from BN. Could it be that Penry has left the woods and is repositioning? I can only hope so but I'll still need to be careful and sweep the trees just in case. I'd hate to think it clear only to lose a tank to an unspotted American team.

[BigDork]

25:00 - 24:00

I breathe a sigh of relief as the artillery starts to really rain down near Barn South. After the beating I took from an American barrage at BN, I took the spotting rounds seriously and pulled my men out of the danger area. I sit back and enjoy watching Penry's artillery be wasted on empty trees.

I also do my best to send a mortar barrage of my own his way. Unfortunately that barrage consists of a lone Brixia team. Needless to say I don't do a whole lot of damage. My men are aiming for one of Penry's half tracks but coming up short. If only they could get one of their rounds inside the thing.

Planning

The plan is to start using the armor to change the momentum of this battle and make it so I can move my men forward. One of my R35s is tasked with firing on the position of the American 60mm mortar team. With the threat of the .50 cal lessened for now, the mortar team is one of the bigger problems I face (that I know of). Getting rid of the m is my new priority.

Another R35 is ordered to open up with its MG on the American foxholes across Bridge Z02. I want to start suppressing the infantry there so I can rush over the bridge and seize the other side without taking too many casualties.