para Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I wish I could say it was intentional and skullduggery, but it was sheer dumb blind luck. Its one of those things you discover by accident. There are a lot of things you just "find out" along the way. I think it also helps if you have what they call in the NFL " A cornerback mentality" You often get burned no matter how good you you cover a wide receiver, but you have to have a short memory and forget about it and move on. I just lost a very close game-one of many I've lost and I just pretty much wiped it out of my memory-although I'll remember some of the salient points I learned along the way. As for our game-me thinks you're a bit short on infantry (paras) than you'd like , but what's left is still dangerous. As for my pixeltroops they are now going about their new found sport of "tank plinking" Ha ha I am giving nothing away good buddy 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 The Third Minute My 1 Zug reserve squad (3rd squad) is moving into position this turn, A and B teams will be moving into the covered lane (discussed in my last post) to help shore up the defense of both that potential route and to cover two fields that need more support. C team will be kept back as the platoon reserve. Once again my opponent attempts to bully his way through the hedgerows... and pays for it. 1st Squad's A and C teams push this attempt back through the hedgerow. Here is the video of the action. Finally here is an image showing the current situation... note that there was almost no movement on my left but a lot was noticed on the right. I cannot make any determinations about what this might mean at this point, I need to see a few more turns of action to see if there are any patterns that I can take advantage of. I definitely do not have enough enemy contacts to account for more than a company's worth of troops.. and he has up to a full battalion so I am still gathering information. Also notice that in the backfield I have placed two trucks, the intent was to use these to resupply my forward units as they fall back. Always think in depth when defending... and consider that your forward elements might burn through their ammo quite quickly before being forced out of position so plan for resupply if possible. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew H. Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Send a two or three man scout team forward to ascertain enemy strength, but not before having a base of fire that can pour fire into an obstacle like the hedgerows on this map if the recon team comes under fire. The US Squads in particular will have an advantage over the German teams in short range combat, especially if the US player is able to mass more than one squad against a hedgerow at a time. I sometimes find attacking in hedgerows easier than I think it should be because it's easy for the attacker to set up a large base of fire behind a hedgerow without being spotted, and then just overwhelm the opposition when they fire on the team you send across the open. Unless they get a few mortar shots off at your base of fire, of course... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerMiller Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Looks like this has withered on the vine a bit...what happened? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HistoryLover Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Bil Hardenberger, what gridded grass mod is that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 PanzerMiller, yeah sorry. I am getting pulled off on something that is higher priority so this will have to wait. I'll try to update it as I get a chance. HL, the gridded terrain is my mod and is available on the repository. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 PanzerMiller, yeah sorry. I am getting pulled off on something that is higher priority so this will have to wait. I'll try to update it as I get a chance. HL, the gridded terrain is my mod and is available on the repository. I think Ken would be quite happy to run your turns for you. You were planning to charge right? Fix Bayonets! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerMiller Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Well, well...now we know just what that "...something that is higher priority..." might have been, eh? Am reading your new CMRT AAR with great interest...yes, I guess this one will have to wait...thanks!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted March 13, 2014 Author Share Posted March 13, 2014 Sorry for the delay on this (been kind of busy).. I continue where I left off... The Fourth Minute I had an enemy HMG team spotted last turn, I dropped a bunch of mortar fire on it this turn.. no idea what the effect was, but it must have hurt. 1 Zug on my right is taking a lot of fire.. no casualties yet, but B Team/1st Squad, the HQ unit (mortar) I sent to the hedgerow to help, and A Team/2nd Squad are all pinned. A/2/1 Zug in particular is not a good development.. this could allow my opponent to come up the treelined road and I have little to stop that move. I really expect the hedgerow that holds the HQ and B/1/1 Zug to be assaulted very soon... with those two teams pinned I cannot pull them out. I am going to try to get my mortar supporting this platoon to drop some smoke in front of them to see if I can save them.. otherwise they will be lost. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizou Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Sorry for the delay on this (been kind of busy).. I continue where I left off... Awesome Bil! Have been looking forward to see how this plays out, and learn a thing or two 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutPL Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Was this a Base/Module scenario or a custom one? The small frontage for all that combat power is a commanders wet dream! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 It is a MG module scenario and a great one for HTH. This will be real interesting to me to see how it plays out. Last time I saw it was testing it a looong time ago. I won't spoil this with how my experience went. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Half-Track Goner Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Just wondering, will be any further updates to this AAR? With the release of CMRT imminent, I won't hold my breath, but it is a wonderful write-up (and a great tutorial for newer players, such as myself). Great job, as always, sir. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletpoint Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I have been reading along with interest, and there are several things you do, Bill, that puzzle me. That usually means I can learn something First of all, why do you prefer to engage the Americans at long range? I always thought of the Germans as being stronger in close fighting, since they have more SMGs (or appear to have? I always play as the Allies, so this is just what I see in the singleplayer scenarios). But you try to keep the amis as far as possible. Is that because all German squads have a better LMG than the Americans? Even if so, your LMG will still work well when they get closer, no? Secondly, how did you manage to fire the mortar at the spotted machinegun so fast? In one turn you spot it, in the next the shells are already bang on target? Is it direct firing? If so, how is it spotting through all that bocage and foliage? Third: it seems like you're fighting against someone who is not very experienced, and who is playing this as one would do against the AI - where it's not common to be engaged right off the bat. How come you don't find a more shrewd opponent? I fear this is going to be a bit of a rollover.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baneman Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Bulletpoint - roughly - most German squads are built around the LMG - either an MG34 or MG42. The leader usually has 1 MP40. The rest are riflemen. American squads have got a lot of quickfiring Garand rifles, so at closeish ranges, they are capable of putting a lot more bullets downrange much faster than the German squad ( and from more guys ). If the LMG/SMG guy bites the dust ( or even starts to cower regularly ), it's going to go south for the Germans rapidly. At longer ranges, the German MG has the Rate of Fire edge. In Bil's screenshot, he has a red targeting line, so the mortar must have had LoS and is direct firing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletpoint Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Bulletpoint - roughly - most German squads are built around the LMG - either an MG34 or MG42. The leader usually has 1 MP40. The rest are riflemen. American squads have got a lot of quickfiring Garand rifles, so at closeish ranges, they are capable of putting a lot more bullets downrange much faster than the German squad ( and from more guys ). If the LMG/SMG guy bites the dust ( or even starts to cower regularly ), it's going to go south for the Germans rapidly. At longer ranges, the German MG has the Rate of Fire edge. In Bil's screenshot, he has a red targeting line, so the mortar must have had LoS and is direct firing. Thanks for clearing that up About the mortar, I assume it's due to elevation that it can draw a bead. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bil Hardenberger Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 I have been reading along with interest, and there are several things you do, Bill, that puzzle me. That usually means I can learn something This one has been hard for me to find the time for... I hope to get back into the AAR and finish it in the near future. First of all, why do you prefer to engage the Americans at long range? I always thought of the Germans as being stronger in close fighting, since they have more SMGs (or appear to have? I always play as the Allies, so this is just what I see in the singleplayer scenarios). But you try to keep the amis as far as possible. Is that because all German squads have a better LMG than the Americans? Even if so, your LMG will still work well when they get closer, no? Baneman answered this one... but yes the Germans with their LMGs and rifles do have better performance if you keep the large US squads at arms length... in fact against any type of opponent, keeping the Germans at arms length is a good rule of thumb when you can, conversely, seek to close with them if you are the US, Brit, or Russian player. Secondly, how did you manage to fire the mortar at the spotted machinegun so fast? In one turn you spot it, in the next the shells are already bang on target? Is it direct firing? If so, how is it spotting through all that bocage and foliage? Yes, this mortar fire was direct lay. I actually prefer my mortars to be on-map and used directly rather than indirectly in most instances. They have much faster reaction times and can be devastating because the enemy does not have the spotting round warning you get with indirect fire. There are a few spots on this map from which the mortars have great visibility into the enemy's rear area. Don't forget that mortars can actually see a little deeper than other units, this is to allow them to direct lay some local indirect fire... so though the mortar might be able to spot this unit, another unit probably would not be able to. Third: it seems like you're fighting against someone who is not very experienced, and who is playing this as one would do against the AI - where it's not common to be engaged right off the bat. How come you don't find a more shrewd opponent? I fear this is going to be a bit of a rollover.. Actually the person I played in this battle is one of my better opponents.. he had a bad day in this game, but in most of the games I play against him he plays me very close indeed. I think the initial turns in this game unsettled him and he had trouble recovering.. he would be the first to admit that his battle drill was not up to his normal standards. Thanks for reading the AARs and I'm glad you are getting something out of them. Bil 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletpoint Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Thanks for reading the AARs and I'm glad you are getting something out of them. Thanks for providing them. I'm also enjoying your "tactical problems", even though I'm no beginner any more, I find them useful. Will be watching for new ones. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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