New file at the Repository: CMRT Gates of Warsaw (2014-07-01)

[Battlefront Repository]

The Soviets have advanced rapidly in the past days and are now at the Gates of Warsaw, but may have overstretched themselves. Field Marshall Model feels the time has come for a counter offensive. Reinforcements for this counter stroke are brought into the area as fast as possible. Even though not yet complete, he orders the German 19th Panzer Division to counterattack right away near Radzymin on 30 July 1944. Play as Axis vs AI or H2H. Map size: 1504 x 2320. Force size: Company (+).

More...

[PanzerMike]

This is version 1.1.

A few very minor issues have been solved (no issues that require a restart of 1.0 should you be playing that, just a little tidy up).

Enjoy!

[Erwin]

Thanks for taking the trouble to update this.

[PanzerMike]

Thank you c2yeung for your comments in the repository. What was the end result of your game?

I know you like big maps. How does this battle compare to the 1st mission of Blunting the Spear (which also uses this map, only without my alterations of course) in your opinion?

[PanzerMike]

Peter Frank (only 2 posts on the forums, wow), thank you for sharing your thoughts on this scenario in the comment section of the repository.

You state that this scenario was fairly easy to win for you (perhaps due to luck, but still). Anybody else who played Gates of Warsaw care to comment? Is this battle fairly easy to win?

I did not design this scenario to be very hard (as opposed to CMRT Vorposten! for example). But it should not be a walk in the park either. What do you think?

Mind you, all feedback will result in better scenarios in the future. So think of it as an investment

[Frankster65]

I did download this but have not yet played it. I will comment on it when I do. Currently I'm actually playing your "CMRT Vorposten" scenario and you are correct, it is tough! Very much enjoying it by the way.

[PanzerMike]

Looking forward to your feedback, Frankster65. And good luck with Vorposten. That one will probably require several attempts before you succeed, he he he. But it can be done!

And to all you lurkers out there who play my scenarios (and other peoples stuff of course), come forward and post your stories! Be a trooper! More and better scenarios will be your reward for posting your comments.

And of course a big thank you for those who do so already! Cheers!

[rocketman]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN REPLY TO THIS POST ******

PanzerMike - first of all, thanks for all your scenarios.

I've started this one, but find myself rather puzzled. I like your design philosophy with a large map to find room to maneuver, and the successive introduction of units to avoid a large setup phase. However, I've played 45 min of the 2 hours and have encountered precious few enemies, to the extent that I wonder if the scenario is flawed technically. So far having reached three phase lines, just two AT-guns, two scout cars and perhaps three scout units or so. Since I have a lot of tanks I suspected heated opposition. But maybe that is to come. In that case I will proceed, and if not, there might be something wrong with the file?

[PanzerMike]

I think you must proceed some more. It ain't over till it's over...

This scenario is somewhat different from my other scenarios. Usually I design it in a way that the action starts almost right away. Not so much in this one. So, the start may be perceived as somewhat 'slow'. This may not be to the liking of all players. But I figured I give this a try for players who like a 'slower' game. Let me know how it worked out in the end for you.

[rocketman]

OK, bracing myself...

[PanzerMike]

Good luck rocketman!

[mirekm61]

30 min attack passed, Germany hold on tight, and inflicted great losses the enemy infantry 152 killed and wounded and 4 were destroyed enemy tanks. Our loss is 35 men

AI attacked in earnest in one place, it was hard but the position maintained (I like it).

One note on the street is a lot of rubble so that the movement of the tank is difficult, not everywhere you to drive.

Scenario very good.

[PanzerMike]

Eeeh, mirekm61, are you sure you are not playing CMRT Fester Platz Polozk No rubbled streets in CMRT Gates of Warsaw...

Glad you are enjoying it so far!

[Big Boss]

SPOLIER ALERT

Hi!

Finally me and my friend are finished playing this H2H turn based. First off; a large beautiful map with lots of terrain details and avenues for advance. I like the details a lot and I think they give the scenario more immersion as well as player options in-game. I was the Red defender and had orders to hold the dominating village in the centre of the map as well as an exit area at my map edge. As Rocketman points out the start is slow but that's to my liking. It reinforce the feeling of eeriness as you don't really now what the enemy is up to.

The first half an hour or so small recon clashes occurred over the map but mostly on my right flank. Then our reinforcements began to arrive (it felt as it was at the same time. If that's so maybe the attacking side should have theirs a few turns earlier). I sent my tanks (T34/85) forward but stopped mostly in hull down positions along the railway. My attacking friend began by sending a powerful panzer attack (about 8 Panthers and soft vehicles) to my left flank, bypassing the village in the centre and tried to get in my rear by crossing the railway. My T34/85 moved there quickly and together with a AT and infantry from the village managed to stop him dead in his track. I also managed to drive two T34 into his flank and rear by rushing them trough the wood to the left of the village.

While I was occupied on my left the German main assault came on my right. They had managed to advance pretty far by using the woods as cover. He began to shot out my positioned tanks then advanced down to the first farm on the right. I even lost my two AT before they barely got their first shot away. Then Luck began to smile on me. As I arranged my tank to meet the oncoming assault I suddenly noticed how I always seemed to get the first shot away before the Germans and when I hit it usually destroyed them. When the German tank managed to hit it often deflected or was unable to penetrate. By this time odds that at the beginning seemed like 50/50 or worse for me had changed dramatically. My friend said after the battle that the bad behavior of his tanks had something to do with the fact that by mistake he had sent command tanks in the front and lost them early on. With his panthers badly shot up his infantry was parlayed. Even when he got some Panzer IV reinforcements later on it was little he could do. The battle ended as a major victory for me.

A very fun scenario Panzermike.

[PanzerMike]

Thanks for the feedback Kim. Your suggestion to let the German tanks arrive a little earlier is probably a good one. The slow start was deliberate, but I realize not everyone will appreciate that. You did :-)

The aim of this scenario was to have a pretty large map (using the raw Master Map 1 and adapting it, thanks Pete!) with relatively modest forces (considering the size of the map). So a lot of room to maneuver. That seems to have worked pretty good going by your account.

So the Panther got the shortest straw he. Luck also plays a role, sure, but I like to think that good tactics have something to do with it too, he he he.

For your information, historically, the attack failed. A few days later, the Germans had amassed a lot more forces in this area, and achieved more success.

Good to hear this scenario was good fun (in H2H).

[rocketman]

SPOILERS**************************

I've played through this German vs. AI and achieved a total victory at warrior-level. As mentioned in an earlier post I like the design philosophy in the scenario. However, the start is a bit slow for my taste. But it sure picked up the pace towards the end. A strange thing made things easier for me than perhaps intended (due to AI plans?) - on the left flank, near the railroad tracks, some 5-7 tanks bunched up in two action squares facing in all kind of directions. This made it too easy to pick them off, even though I had just three Panzer IV on the job when I spotted them. Maybe this can be corrected? On the right flank I managed to get flanking shots on all the approaching tanks and took them all out with just loosing a few tanks myself. Overall, I like the scenario and with a few tweaks it might be even better. Thanks for making it

[PanzerMike]

Hmmm, 5-7 tanks in some kind of hedgehog formation? Never seen that before. Units are supposed to point in the direction of the next waypoint. Don't know what happened there.

I am willing to making CMRT Gates of Warsaw Redux if there is interest in it. If I make it, I will make it harder for the German player.

[MOS:96B2P]

I downloaded Gates of Warsaw yesterday and got about ten minutes into the battle. The briefing narrative and briefing maps were understandable and encouraged my interest in the scenario. In fact I had originally intended to just download the scenario yesterday and not actually get into it until later today. The briefing was interesting enough that I decided to take a peek at the set up area and possible avenues of approach. Then I ended up playing 10 turns into it before RL pulled me back out.

I really like the use of phase lines. Phase lines combined with the traditional occupy objectives gives the scenario more realism. I was in the US Army in the mid-1980s and we used phase lines in planning all the time. I hope more scenario designers start to use them. Instead of 1, 2, 3, most units had naming rules for phase lines – Example: Aluminum, Bronze, Copper ….. or in this case whatever a WWII German officer might have named phase lines. It would add to the immersion. (But of course maybe they just used 1, 2, 3?)

I also liked how the scenario started with a small number of friendly troops to deploy. It looks like reinforcements will arrive over time which is how I prefer it. The small delay in more units arriving allows the player to develop the situation. If, when I decided to take a peek at the set up area, I had found several platoons, associated HQ units and all their vehicles needing orders I probably would have waited to start the scenario instead of jumping in.

I will give you more feedback on the scenario as I work my way to the objectives. I am also in a PBEM game and of course there is always the RL stuff but I will post here when I find something interesting. So far I am enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time to make the scenario.

[PanzerMike]

Thanks for your comments MOS.

I am currently making CMRT Gates of Warsaw Redux. AI plans are being redesigned, arrival times tweaked, OOB tinkering etc.

Gates Redux will basically make it harder for the Germans (both vs AI and H2H), as some players found it a tad easy. Gates was designed to be not too hard on purpose, but hey, if some want a even tougher fight, I am more than willing to provide them with one .

So there is more to come!

[MOS:96B2P]

I am enjoying the scenario and have reached Phase Line #3. I noticed the scenario has multiple occupy victory locations (two) that are a reasonable size. I understand from reading other threads that having multiple occupy victory locations, that are not too big, discourage gamey behavior. Also, as you can see below, I lost my first Panther. Now I have to locate what I think was probably an anti-tank gun. (Not even a sound contact on whatever it was that hit the Panther)

[MOS:96B2P]

I finished Gates of Warsaw a few weeks ago but RL was to busy to post. It was a great scenario. I know there is a newer and better version of this scenario (Gates of Warsaw Redux) so I will not go into to much detail on this older version. I look forward to the winter when things slow down some and maybe I can try the Redux version. Below are a few screen shots and comments:

SPOILER ALERT

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I used economy of force to concentrate the main effort on the right flank. The Panzer IV Platoon secured the left flank from approximately phase line #2. In the center the pioneers, one platoon of grenadiers and one platoon of Panthers secured the town of Zwierzynic. I used an isolation smoke screen and attacked on the right flank. The first screen shot is of the action on the right flank to include the smoke screen. The approaches to Radymin were secured.

The Soviets counter attacked with T-34/85s. However they moved their tanks out of cover and basically charged across an open area. I think they were moving in the direction of the town of Zwierzynic. The Panthers fired from stationary and partially concealed, hull down positions, where possible. I lost some Panthers but the two attacking groups of T-34/85s were destroyed. If this had been a PBEM battle my PBEM opponent would have had the T-34/85s in hull down positions and made me pay a higher price in men, equipment and time. Below is a screen shot of the Soviet T-34/85 group I designated as Tango Group #1.

I reached the approaches Wolomin but ran out of time before I could clear it.

Very nice job PanzerMike. I'm sure the Redux version is even better.

[PanzerMike]

Glad you liked it. I have not yet published the REDUX version of this scenario. Playtesting has just finished. Will upload some time this week if I find the time.

Thanks for your comment!