Allies - CMBN Buying The Farm - Crowd-sourced DAR

[womble]

Aye, that was kinda what I meant: if the results of your blast order had been as you intended, i.e. perpendicular to how they actually went, we wouldn't have discovered this new info

 

A trick I use to save my Engineers rushing in where angels fear to tread is to get them in position and have them ready to Blast "up to" or "through" an obstacle at the orders phase, give them a 45s pause and their Blast order. It takes them 15s to prep their demo pack, it goes off as the turn ends and you can redirect their movement in the next orders phase. Not much help here, I know, because you're in a hurry, and, understandably, probably didn't want to waste the time between them arriving at the end of their Fast/Quick movement leg and the end of the turn.

[A Canadian Cat]

Sounds like a good technique.  No I was not doing that because I was rushing I do that all the time.  I either blast along the obstacle (with a fast move after even further along) so my engineers never go into harms way or I blast up to the obstacle and then run sideways.  In lines like this the blast up to technique is bit tight so I used the along technique like I pretty much always do.  This time it had a surprising result of taking out the hedge hogs.

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 19-18:
Well that was a great turn for me. My men managed to get to the corner bocage before the German reinforcements did and they were able to break their resolve and send them running. First the tank fire ended just as the assault teams started moving into the open.

 

Figure 137 Keep their heads down

Other teams kept the fire up.

 

Figure 138 Covering fire

As the assault teams ran past.

 

Figure 139 Advance

The assault teams got to the next field in good order and immediately spotted the enemy moving in the next field.

 

Figure 140 Already firing into the next field

Where my men dealt out punishment in the form of bullets…

 

Figure 141 The results

…and grenades.

 

Figure 142 Grenades

I could not have asked for a better outcome. I caused at least two casualties and at team or two to run away. My men took no casualties and next to no fire even. I am slightly nervous that next turn might not be as good because there could have been suppressed Germans right in front of them that they have not spotted yet that can cause all kinds of trouble next turn.

Minute 18: Orders
Next set of orders can be summarized by – get a move on. Time to commit 3rd platoon to the road approach. These orders get them around the mines and up the road. Plus you can see some of the woods teams are moving for the road bocage as well. Only the part that has its LOS blocked from the trenches.

 

Figure 143 3rd platoon on the move

Also I’ll get the tanks to move up as well. They can help deal with any new resistance my infantry meet.
 

 

Figure 144 Tanks move up
 

 

[Bud Backer]

Mark mines does not remove any, it just shows you what action squares you need to avoid?

[A Canadian Cat]

Well if you set them off you get a marker telling you that there are mines there. Mark mines allow your men to travel through the mines with much less chance of setting them off. I am still avoiding the mines as much as possible by with a Move order if some of my men stray a bit they will most likely not cause a mess.

Not a guarantee but without marking them you can have a guarantee that your guy will hit them if they try to cross.

[Bud Backer]

Thank, Ian. I wasn't sure about how it worked but this clears it up for me.

[delliejonut]

Going back to the hedgehog thing, I can confirm them being destructible. I once blasted into a building wall adjacent to a hedgehog square and the blast took out both the wall and the hedgehogs. You can't place the blast order on the hedgehogs if nothing else is around, but they will go away if they're near enough to a big enough blast.

 

You got lucky Ianl, my opponent was so miffed at the "bug" I exploited that he made me replay the turn

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 18-17:
Another excellent turn for the attack along the road. More rifles line up along the bocage overlooking the final field before the farm.

 

Figure 145 Fire power overlooking field

And again they cause more havoc for the Germans.

 

Figure 146 Results of that firepower

Meanwhile I sent a squad from the woods up to the bocage at the bend in the road. If they make it there they will have a view down the final segment of the road. I did this for two reason. The Germans in the trench works were under fire and I thought there was a gap in the bocage near the road. But they ran off around the end of the bocage which lead them into this:
 

 

Figure 147 Woods squad hit a snag

Thankfully only one of their members was taken down by the mine, one more was hit on the way to cover but they made it in good order. So, despite the unexpected path they took they did OK. In part because they had a tank covering them.

 

Figure 148 Covering fire



Minute 17: Orders
The orders are to continue the advance along the road. More rifle men will move further along the road backed up by tanks. The rest of the reserve platoon also continues their orders to pass the mined entrance to the road and join the fight.

 

Figure 149 Moving tanks up

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 17-16:
At the corner more resistance is found. After a brief grenade duel the Germans end up on the short end. The first team to the corner is a member of the Engineer platoon. The don’t bother with grenades.

 

Figure 150 You call that a grenade?

They just blow the Germans to Valhalla with a demo charge.

 

Figure 151 This, this is a grenade

Further away the US fire clears some fox holes near the farm.

 

Figure 152 Fleeing from in front of the farm

Meanwhile the tank fire forces some Germans in the South trench works to flee as well.

 

Figure 153 Fleeing

However some effective mortar fire causes some problems for the tank firing on the South trench works and its nearby infantry which loose a man and run away in disarray.

 

Figure 154 Tank under mortar fire.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 16: Orders
The basic just of the orders is to continue to press the attack. Here are some details. First of all this the gap I thought my men from the woods would have taken.

 

Figure 155 Is this a gap?

Looking at it again I am not 100% sure it is even a gap. Given the discussion recently about pathing I am not certain given the orders I gave to the squad if it is or not. Here is my technique for making sure: it goes like this give some team an order to move to the other side of the gap but also give them a long pause so if it is not a gap they will not get far along the wrong path. In this case the platoon HQ has a 45s pause with a short way point to just to their right with 5s more and then a move order through the gap to cover. If that is not a gap they will only have 10 to go the wrong way and that will not be long enough for them to clear the bocage and end up in the open. That gives me the chance to cancel all that and keep them safe. After this I will be 100% certain if that is a gap or not.


Figure 156 Mind the gap

The MG moves forward to setup in some German fox holes with their ammo team right behind.
 

 

Figure 157 MG moves up

The tank will pull back from the mortar shelling. The reverse orders will still let them see into the field a little bit. The infantry that was with the tank are already fleeing and not in good shape.

 

Figure 158 Pull tank back

3rd Platoon is still moving up the road to join the fight with the remaining engineers behind them.

 

Figure 159 More moving up the road

This turn the bend in the road is secure so the lead tank will move forward and peak around it. I have a lengthy pause there so this will happen late in the turn and give my men along the bocage time to spot and deal with any stragglers that might be too close to the tank.

 

Figure 160 Tank will peak around the corner

 

[DasMorbo]

Engineers with Stachelcharges are fun in close combat, I discovered this for the first time just recently and couldn't stop giggeling for about five minutes.

 

About the Gap-question: identifying passable gaps in medium hight hedgrows is difficult.

Thos that can be passed look quite similar to those 'cosmetic' ones which are not.

 

Someone in the mentioned discussion had a very good tip how to identify those that can be used - just zoom the camera out!

At a certain distance the detail level goes down and you can only make out the passable gaps.

 

 

Regards,

Olf

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 16-15:
My men are still taking fire form the units in the field or on the other side of the field.

 

Figure 161 Taking fire

Those that are not taking fire are dishing it out.

 

Figure 162 Return fire

The field is not a good place to be.

 

Figure 163 The field

One of the tanks in the road fired on a target of opportunity with more canister rounds.

 

Figure 164 More canister

This is the carnage from the enemy mortar fire. The tank has taken some damage but so far has been lucky. The same cannot be said for that tree or the six GIs under it.

 

Figure 165 Mortar carnage

At the end of the turn the lead tank spots someone running across the road but before they can fire on him he slips away.

 

Figure 166 Spotted but go away

Minute 15: Orders
The orders are nothing fancy continue to press up the road and around the bend.
 

 

Figure 167 Lead platoon moves forward

With more troops behind the lead platoon moving up the road as well.

 

Figure 168 Following platoon catches up

Meanwhile on the right flank one tank avoids the mortar rounds while the other one moves back forward.

 

Figure 169 Pull back from mortar fire

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Oh I forgot to add that my little plan to figure out if what looked like a gap really was a gap did not work because the pauses I added were to long.  I re did the orders but with less pausing...

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 15-14:
This turn was all canister rounds. Sure the infantry fired too but the tanks fired more pellets of lead I am sure. In the Southern field the Germans seem to be pulling back to the trench works.

 

Figure 170 Canister against fleeing Germans
 

 

Figure 171 Canister against entrenched Germans
 

 

Figure 172 Canister against fleeing entrenched Germans

But there also seems to be some movement towards the farm.

 

Figure 173 Got away


Minute 14: Orders
2nd Platoon moves closer to the Farm. The trailing squads move up to the corner and the lead squads hunt forward towards the gate into the two fields. I will get 2nd Platoon setup along the bocage in that corner of the objective and covering into the trench works to the South.

 

Figure 174 2nd platoon moving up
The tanks will continue to offer suppressive fire. I there are known targets they will target them if there are not they will fire at likely strong points.

 

Figure 175 Tanks supporting

 

Figure 176 Tanks supporting

Now that the mortars are done the tank in the Southern woods moves up again.

 

Figure 177 Tank moves back

The MG in the Southern woods prepares to fire on the farm house.

 

Figure 178 Suppressive fire on farm

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 14-13:
This was a pretty quiet turn. The MG team in the Southern woods takes a casualty and retreats in disarray.

 

Figure 179 MG team retreats

The mortars continue to fire into the trench works.

 

Figure 180 Mortars firing

The tanks fire at likely strong points.

 

Figure 181 Tanks firing

Minute 13: Orders
2nd platoon is aggressively moving forward towards the farm area.

 

Figure 182 2nd platoon moving forward

The Engineering platoon move up behind the infantry along the road.

 

Figure 183 Engineers move up the road

The MG that was covering the Northern field has no one to fire on any more and so they will move up behind the engineers.

 

Figure 184 The MG move up

The other MG from the Southern woods will take the place of the first in the foxholes. This time their Lt will get in place behind them.
 

 

Figure 185 MG repositions

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 13-12:
The thrust up the road progresses unopposed at this point. Are there any Germans left at the farm?

 

Figure 186 Firing on targets of opportunity

The leads squad from 2nd platoon moves cautiously to their destination.

 

Figure 187 Carefully

The trailing engineers run up the road.

 

Figure 188 Quickly

Minute 12: Orders
The lead elements of 2nd platoon begin to take up positions on the corner of the farm and watching over the Southern trench works.

 

Figure 189 Nearly there

3rd platoon now moves forward behind 2nd Platoon. They will likely be the ones that begin the assault as 2nd platoon covers them from the bocage.

 

Figure 190 3rd platoon moving forward

The engineers will take the place of 3rd platoon watching over that field just south of the farm.

 

Figure 191 Engineers move forward

Meanwhile 1st platoon, the company mortars and MGs and their tanks fire on the trench works to keep those Germans out of the fight as best they can.
 

Figure 192 Suppressive fire

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Minute 12-11:
This was not a very eventful turn. 2nd and 3rd Platoon on the road worked on getting into position to assault the farm while the fire from the Southern woods kept any enemy in the trenches busy.
The results of all that suppressive fire on the trenches.

 

Figure 193 Smoke on the trenches
 

 

Figure 194 MG fire on the farm house
 

 

Figure 195 Members of 2 Platoon positioning along the road
 

 

Figure 196 Members of 2 Platoon positioning in the field

Game Over!
The game is over. In the game my opponent surrendered but in reality he would have just withdrawn a couple of minutes ago with perhaps a few soldiers left to keep up appearances. So a total US victory with 28 casualties to 68 casualties for the Germans.
 

 

Figure 197 End screen

If the game had gone one my plan was the continue to fire on the trench works while one squad of 2nd Platoon covered that side of the road bocage and the other two squads were positioned along the bocage in the corner of the farm stead. Then engineers would have breached and 3rd Platoon would have assaulted the farm stead. After that the buildings would have been cleared one or two at a time with lots of suppressive fire.
 

 

Figure 198 Final locations

Some of the most effective units:

 

Figure 199 They were on point most of the battle

 

 

Figure 200 Mortars are awesome (the other mortar teams caused no casualties)
 

 

Figure 201 Top tank

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

I want to thank my friend @MethodGamer for doing this.  It was his idea and I think he did a fine job defending.  With the odds stacked so heavily in m favour his only hope was to run out the clock.  I hope everyone reading this now and in the future can learn something from it, I know I did. 

[A Canadian Cat]

To expand on my farm assault plans.  Here is the plan in more detail:

If the game had gone on my plan was to continue to fire on the trench works (yellow arrows) while one squad of 2^nd Platoon covered that side of the road bocage and the other two squads were positioned along the bocage in the corner of the farm stead (small ** squad icons around farm).  An engineering team would have breached (red arrow) while the bulk of the engineering platoon would have stayed along the road bocage and fired into the farm (more yellow arrows).  3^rd Platoon would have assaulted the farm stead (blue arrow).  After that the buildings would have been cleared one or two at a time with lots of suppressive fire.

 

 

[Bud Backer]

Thanks for doing this, Ian. A lot of effort for what is actually a small battle. As the more experienced player in this, do you feel the scenario is winnable as the Germans against a reasonable human opponent? Not to minimize your success; I'm just putting myself in @MethodGamer's situation and feel I'd have had equal results as he did. Perhaps I'm kidding myself in thinking that as the U.S. I'd have done well.

[A Canadian Cat]

I think this would be very difficult as the Germans.  The one saving grace is the US troops are pretty green.  My 1st platoon was not combat effective at all by the end so if the Germans had managed to cause some casualties in the other platoons they can do better.  The thing is though they don't really have enough resources to do that - not against four platoons anyway.  If the US goes hell bent across the open fields then sure but that is really not something an experience player would do.

 

Note: I am not saying an experience player would not cross the fields I am saying they would not just rush across without knowing what they faced and having a plan to deal with it.

[MethodGamer]

Wow, I didn't know you could get that level of breakdown (kills/casualties by unit) after a battle. Learned one more thing with this experiment!

 

I'll review the results again later tonight, add to the Axis thread.

[A Canadian Cat]

Oh, yeah that is one of the fun part of the end.  I like trying to see who racked up the most casualties.  Equally interesting are the dozens and dozens of units that cause no casualties at all.  Unfortunately the any kills by off board artillery or air support are not accounted for

[Bud Backer]

I think this would be very difficult as the Germans.  The one saving grace is the US troops are pretty green.  My 1st platoon was not combat effective at all by the end so if the Germans had managed to cause some casualties in the other platoons they can do better.  The thing is though they don't really have enough resources to do that - not against four platoons anyway.  If the US goes hell bent across the open fields then sure but that is really not something an experience player would do.

 

Note: I am not saying an experience player would not cross the fields I am saying they would not just rush across without knowing what they faced and having a plan to deal with it.

Ok, so my impression isn't totally off. It's a very difficult scenario for the Germans.

I've never used green troops so for the U.S. Player there must be some interesting cohesion challenges.

[womble]

It's worth pointing out that the Germans are Green too. And have no High Motivation elements either. They have better sergeants (+1 Leadership), but that helps a lot less in a defensive situation than Motivation does.

 

Personally, I feel this is a "Best played as Germans vs AI" scenario, or a bit of a coinflip: if the Americans set themselves up to drive down the side with heavy mining, the consternation and embuggerance of a minefield and/or reorienting the attack down the unmined flank might use up enough time that the actual attack can't roll the defender out of the farm in time. As ever, the attacker has the initiative, and if they are in a position to use that, the defender is suffering from an even greater numerical disadvantage at the "Schwerpunkt". Interestingly, the mines that MG could actually deploy had little or no effect on the progress of the attack; the field where they were deployed was never entered, and only the one Stuart crossed into the other place where mines could have been deployed. Having the ATG on the road pretty much meant that MG couldn't put mines there without them being almost as likely to cause friendly casualties as enemy. But there isn't a much better place for it. The restrictive setup zones really hurt the Germans.