Bulletpoint Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 Playing the KG Peiper campaign, I decided to rush as much as possible, which means my attack on Stoumont happens on the 18th of December in the afternoon. According to Wikipedia, the historical attack took place a bit later, at dawn on 19th of Dec. On the Wiki, it says a US tank battalion arrived during the day on Dec. 19th. However, in my game, I'm already finding the village defended by a lot of tanks. I was hoping that by rushing I would arrive before the enemy armour. Did the designer decide to place the tanks there to provide more challenge, or did I get the chronology wrong? I'm no military history buff, but Combat Mission is an interesting way to learn more about WW2... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Liederkranz Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 (edited) According to the US Army's official history, even the infantry--the 3/119th--didn't arrive until after dark on the 18th, and tank support from the 743rd Tank Battalion not until the morning of the 19th: https://history.army.mil/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_15.HTM But would they have moved faster if KG Peiper did? Edited June 26, 2018 by General Liederkranz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 I expect that part of the problem is you can read historical information and in hindsight make the better decision if the forces are arrayed exactly as they were then. In essence that is like replaying a scenario once you know the enemy dispositions. By changing that historical reality you make decisions in the same way as the commander in the field at the time - with crappy intel. So are you a conservative player or a risk taker? I do not know if there is variability in the design to allow for different set ups or variance in when units appear or if it just sucks to rush in expecting you can almost walk in to Stoumont. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletpoint Posted June 27, 2018 Author Share Posted June 27, 2018 (edited) 12 hours ago, sburke said: I expect that part of the problem is you can read historical information and in hindsight make the better decision if the forces are arrayed exactly as they were then. In essence that is like replaying a scenario once you know the enemy dispositions. By changing that historical reality you make decisions in the same way as the commander in the field at the time - with crappy intel. So are you a conservative player or a risk taker? I do not know if there is variability in the design to allow for different set ups or variance in when units appear or if it just sucks to rush in expecting you can almost walk in to Stoumont. Actually I knew next to nothing about KG Peiper before starting to play this campaign, so it wasn't that I expected to take advantage of historical hindsight. It was more a case of "hit them as hard and fast as possible", since I did know the historical outcome was very dependent on keeping up the speed and taking advantage of surprise. But then after playing the scenario, I decided to read up a bit on what happened in reality, and I was surprised to see that the tanks I just fought in the game actually only arrived later. Of course, just walking into Stoumont wouldn't have been much fun gameplay either. And neither would a mission to defend Stoumont from US counterattack be, since the CM engine doesn't do defence well against the computer as the attacker. Edited June 27, 2018 by Bulletpoint 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barkhorn1x Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, Bulletpoint said: ...I did know the historical outcome was very dependent on keeping up the speed and taking advantage of surprise. Very true and Peiper was following his orders and counting on the preparatory barrage and the attack of a FJ regiment to clear the US thinly held front line forces away so he could commit his KG as the exploitation force. Unfortunately for the Germans, a well positioned I/R platoon coupled with an unimaginative frontal attack by the FJ troops gummed up the works and put Peiper's forces behind schedule by a day. So...you may not have had much historical information but you did indeed have the salient points in mind; speed & surprise. Peiper knew this as well but stuck to his orders on day 1 and the rest is history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Peiper#Initial_advance_stalled Edited June 27, 2018 by Barkhorn1x 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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