Advice request for Aachen Campaign

[ss11955]

Would appreciate thoughts re -utilization of US force ? Thinking of left flank attack. Thank you

[Combatintman]

Which mission?

[ss11955]

The 1st Mission called "knock em all down". Thank you .

[Myles Keogh]

I necro-bumped this thread because I didn't want to start a new thread on the Aachen campaign.

I played through the first scenario and it was fun.  Although those multi-connected buildings that are supposed to represent large industrial buildings could be very disorienting once your troops enter them.  The toughest part of the battle for me was weeding-out a German HQ unit from one of the inner buildings.

Anyway, I'm curious about the American OOB.  The briefing states that you're commanding the 3rd Battalion/26th Regiment/1st Infantry Division ("the Big Red One"); and the 3rd Battalion HQ is on the map.  Yet, the first scenario has you commanding F Co./26th Infantry.  And the second scenario has D Co. and G Co. under 3rd Battalion command.

I know it's being pedantic, but wasn't the usual company breakdown within the battalions of a U.S. Army infantry regiment the following:

1st Bn: A, B, C, D

2nd Bn: E, F, G, H

3rd Bn: I, K, L, M

So, what's the deal with this campaign where you have the 3rd Battalion HQ, but its commanding companies that are usually part of the 1st and 2nd Battalions?  Was the 26th Infantry so short of infantry that it cannibalized its battalions?  Again, I know this is being pedantic, but just curious as to the seemingly odd American OOB.

Edited October 13, 2016 by Myles Keogh

[benpark]

Myles- I am pretty certain I put this in the designer's notes (I'll have to revisit it to remember exactly the scheme I ended up with)- I have amalgamated 2nd and 3rd Btn's into one. IIRC, 3rd Btn. bore the brunt of the fighting, so I went with that as the force in question and used officer names where appropriate from whichever historical force was present.

This kept the campaign structure more cohesive, with no loss to the carryover system. The Companies named on-map are fighting in the right locale for their actions, regardless of the OOB you see in the Editor. The 26 Regiment was also indeed undermanned, thus the oddity of the D Co. appearing with the 3rd Btn.

I used a few different books for source material, but this PDF goes into some detail as far as which Co. is where, when (and outlines the under-strength status of the 26th Reg at the time):

http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/csi/docs/Gorman/06_Retired/02_Retired_1991_99/34_99_Aachen_Nov.pdf

Edited October 14, 2016 by benpark

[benpark]

And thanks for playing it. I thought it would fill a gap as far as small to medium battles, but the maps are fairly large in half the cases- so I wasn't sure if that was a chore for some people's computers.

[Myles Keogh]

Benpark:

Thanks a lot for answering question as to the OOB.  I knew it had to be something other than just an oversight because the overall quality of campaign.  

Admittedly, I didn't read the designer notes because they sometimes give a bit too much information.  I like to approach a new scenario/campaign with just the info from the briefing and not risk any "spoilers" that could be in the designer notes.  So, I don't know if the OOB info is in designer notes or not.

[benpark]

Absolutely. I'm generally the same in that regard.