Dead of the Night --a Guide

[DavidFields]

Spoiler alert, of course, but this post is actually to make the scenario more interesting for those, for example, who are frustrated, confused, or enjoy seeing some analysis about a scenario before playing it, or who want to compare analyses.

This is a Gamer's analysis, not a military or tactical analysis.

German/attacker.

Situation:

In this elegant, and low unit density scenario, the Germans have a couple of squads to probe a lightly held Soviet position. In a time-honored scenario technique, it is night-time and raining, thus dropping the visibility down to about 120 meters. This will induce board-wide forest like knife-fight situation, without the forests.

Not only will the attacker not be able to have long-range fire assets, a blundering attacker is often likely to be seen first and suffer the first casualties in any encounter. It also complicates indirect fire (see note below).

The briefing is interesting and accurate (not deceptive).

I think the scenario is most interesting once you know the victory conditions. The German ones are given to you. You can get the Soviet ones by either playing through the scenario the first time--mazel tov to you if you win it right off. Or, you can get the Soviet victory conditions by cease firing immediately after set up, but not looking at the "Review Map", so that you don't see the AI positions.

There are two particularly notable victory conditions.

First, the Soviets get 200 points for holding Granger's Hut (and 100 for the High Ground). Since the Germans must exit by the end of the scenario, and the AI, if there are units left, falls back onto Granger's Hut, that means the Soviets likely have a base of 200 victory points. Given that all the touch objectives together give the Germans only 200 points, that is a substantial Soviet likely minimum.

Second, the Germans receive 100 points for < 25% casualties. I count 22 German soldiers, so that means 5 or fewer casualties. Wow. Tough. But entirely consistent with the briefing.

Possible paths to German Victory:

1. Kill them all! This scenario is not set as a search and destroy mission, but technically, if one destroyed all the Soviet units, they could not receive points for holding any terrain. I think this would be a tough path, and likely only something one would do by default, particularly if the Germans exceeded the <25% casualty threshold. An option would then exist to through everything at, say, the Ganger's Hut, hope the AI reinforces it piecemeal, and grind up the entire force. My first attempt at the scenario somewhat, inadvertently, went like this, but was significantly unsuccessful.

2. Touch all the objectives other than Ganger's Hut. That would be 90 points, and combined with low casualties would give a total of 190 points. The balance would then have to be made up with casualties inflicted compared to casualties received. Do you feel lucky? Or are things going your way? This is a possibility. One problem, though, is that other than the likelihood that there are units a Ganger's Hut, you are blind to where the enemy units are, or if there are enough of them to inflict sufficient casualties. But, in the right circumstances, I can see this as a possible path. Also, you would have to push any Soviet units off of the High Ground, and hope they do not return. The Soviets having 300 objective points would be too much to overcome.

3. Avoid most contact, hit Ganger's Hut hard and get the touch points, and then withdraw. This, I think is most consistent with the briefing. Hit hard enough, the AI may be lured to bring units from elsewhere, like the High Ground, to assist the Ganger Hut units. Also, if the Ganger's Hut has the HQ unit, as the briefing suggests, eliminating that would make the remaining Soviet units more vulnerable. As long as one stayed below 5 casualties, one could risk being more assertive to pick up more points.

The challenge would be to sustain only 5 casualties. A huge challenge, and interesting, challenge, I think.

As a practical matter, I think this would mean either swinging far left and then back to the hut(most likely), or straight a bit, and then swinging right before hitting the hut from the right side. I don't know all the possible AI dispositions, so the choice is a bit random. An advantage to this approach is that one would likely pick up another 20 touch points, going either right or left.

Note: the Germans have a mortar, with 10 shells. If not given orders on turn one, a HQ will have to be within 120 meters to call it in indirectly. Since the Germans are generally not looking for a protracted fire fight, that means it would be used on the Ganger's Hut (or, less likely, the High Ground). In that case, just order it on the appropriate target turn 1--you can put a delay, if you want to be clever. (I did not understand this point on my first run through).

Again, this post can be available for anyone searching on this scenario in the future, and, hopefully, will be helpful or invite discussion. I want to minimize players having unnecessary frustrations with the game, and maximize the appreciation for the thought gone into designing the scenarios.

[spawncaptain]

On my first (and only) try as the Germans I went with number 3. Preplanned shelling of the hut and a careful advance through the left field. My truppen had managed to kill most of the soviets in the hut when the rest of the Soviet force attacked from the hill on the right. I hastily retreated with relatively few casualties (thanks to the poor visibility) and got a tactical defeat. Casualty ratio was in favor of the Germans, though.

Very immersive scenario. I like scenarios with friendly exit zones. It prevents the usual fight to the bitter end.

[BLSTK]

Dead of the Night had enough twists to keep me guessing until the end. Without the benefit of having read approach #3 (above) before playing, I did manage a DRAW (although "yours truly" did technically win on points).

As important as holding the higher ground in any battle may be, I found claiming the middle of the map to be vital. The craters among torn railway ties provide just enough cover from which to branch out along the ridges on either side. The first of many shots were fired from these ridges. Nailing the enemy sniper overwatching the high ground turns out to be one of the keys to success in this battle. He is well placed to wreak havoc on friendly forces.

In calling in off-map artillery, I delayed my mortar strike until the enemy HQ was within range of my spotter. When it arrived not only were the shells well off the mark but they nearly took out my left flank. No doubt the conditions (rain in total darkness) played a role here, so one should not rely too heavily on these "assets".

As our OP has pointed out, this scenario is winnable - with certain caveats. My mistake was getting into a protracted firefight at The Granger's Hut, losing both men and minutes before time elapsed. In what amounted to a virtual bloodbath, only one of four surviving friendly units was able to exit the map, one of several Victory Conditions.

We shake our fist, we move on.

[DavidFields]

On my first (and only) try as the Germans I went with number 3. Preplanned shelling of the hut and a careful advance through the left field. My truppen had managed to kill most of the soviets in the hut when the rest of the Soviet force attacked from the hill on the right. I hastily retreated with relatively few casualties (thanks to the poor visibility) and got a tactical defeat. Casualty ratio was in favor of the Germans, though.

Very immersive scenario. I like scenarios with friendly exit zones. It prevents the usual fight to the bitter end.

Were you able to get the < 25% casualty 100 VP? That seems to me crucial--though if your did get it, and still lost, I would think about the importance or getting VP elsewhere.

[spawncaptain]

Were you able to get the < 25% casualty 100 VP? That seems to me crucial--though if your did get it, and still lost, I would think about the importance or getting VP elsewhere.

I don't remember – it was one of the first scenarios I played in RT.

[DavidFields]

This has probably been my favorite CM2 scenario.

1. The AI plans seem excellent. The low visibility allows the enemy units to move more easily, and the conditions give the AI builder a strong idea of where the Germans will be at any point in the scenario.

2. "Dead Cow Paddocks": that is the spirit of fun!

3. The "High Grounds" to receive points appear to be different locations from the Germans versus the Soviets. This is the kind of thing that drives new players crazy. But once one understands that the "other" high point is the enemies objective things become easier.

4. So. Second try: Minor defeat 249/399.

5. Third try. Secure a "location" on the left flank. Spend 10 turns or so softening up Ganger's Hut (that is a significant difference with CM1--double or triple the time to execute an objective)

6. I very much like both the artillery and the MG models--the artillery is less accurate, and the MGs have a better spread.

7. Result: 405/200 tactical German victory. Hard to do better with the likely 200 points the Soviets get from holding Granger's Hut. ----No----German casualties.