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CAAR - CMFI Rome To Victory Beta - The Kirpan & the Rhino


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9 hours ago, user1000 said:

I hate fighting in cities and mountains. Hills, towns are ok, I can do open terrain ...... but the Alps... Going to be some rocky torture on troops and vehicles. It's going to need some heavy mountain fighting strategy on this one. Get on your google earth to see what I'm talking about if you're not familiar.

I’m not fond of city fights either. Not one bit. But as the defender, I’m hoping Ian will run out if ammo long before I run out of buildings to hide in! :lol:

 

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1 hour ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Just realised I completely misread the orientation of this image.....Somehow I'd convinced myself Ian's forces are coming from the right.  :rolleyes:

No worries. :)

I try to give enough info to orient oneself but it’s hard to gauge what seems obvious to me but is not to someone not poring over the map.  

Edited by Bud Backer
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1 hour ago, Bud Backer said:

I try to give enough info to orient oneself but it’s hard to gauge what seems obvious to me but is not to someone not poring over the map.  

Yes, and when I am playing I rotate the map, view it from various heights, view it with trees on and off and move the camera all over the place until I have a reasonably clear idea of the lay of the land. Can't do that so well just looking at a single static image.

Michael

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What a nail biting end shot, who will fire first...

Do you have many 120mm arty rounds left?

Always a difficult decision on how long to let arty fall.

I am surprised at the infantry placed in forward buildings, these are always a bullet and shell magnet... 

A reverse slope (aka second building line) is always better imo. Maybe one spotting squad at worse if you can not get a good spotting position away from obvious fire magnets...

Getting tense....

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The village is almost entirely flat, with no true reverse slope.  My casualties there are only 3 dead and 1 wounded, which is not significant. Well worth the observation I’ve had on his forces, which let me conserve my artillery ammo.

I would have to check but I think I expended about 40% of the 120mm rounds.

Good comments! :)

 

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Let’s get oriented again!

This map shows you the basics of what is about to happen in the next moment or so. Plus I’ll add my own thoughts on some things I’m seeing here.

I plotted my artillery quite a number of turns ago. Frankly, I’m not the best I’m using it, far from it. So it was not unexpected that I would have to make adjustments and cancellations of missions. Ian’s stationary forces facing the village really was ideal from my standpoint, sitting there and expending ammunition and giving me time to drop a reasonably heavy bombardment on where I think his forces are. I don’t expect the armour to take heavy losses, but I am hoping that he had infantry there to spot and protect his armour and they may have taken some heavy casualties. 

What he has succeeded at is making me lose LOS to his forces on the ridge. I can see a tank or two but no infantry except the one guy (a forward observer?) near the wrecked bunker. Spotting from the village is...um...spotty. I am moving some stuff around but the outcome of that remains to be seen.

I am pleased with the results of my non-engagement strategy in the village thus far. 20% of game time has gone by and he is still within spitting distance of where he started, and (I think) has very little info to go on as to my disposition and composition.

The Sherman on the ridge facing the flak 88 was a surprise. He didn’t have infantry that far forward and I have good LOS to that area from 3rd squad’s teams and the Luft’s HQ in the tower. Last LOS I had didn’t have Ian near there. Yet I see no infantry supporting it, just a sea of contacts still before the woods on the ridge. The 88 would already have killed it had I not set the target armour arc just slightly too close.

Since I can’t see enemy troops I am cancelling the fire mission near that tank. While I have a generous amount of organic artillery with the Luftwaffe and Gebirgs, I don’t have enough to play whack-a-mole. 

I have also rescheduled the artillery that is to land in the woods just south of the hamlet. There aren’t even contacts near there so I am not going to tear up some trees. Once again, there is an approx 6 min delay for it to land there near some of the men from 3rd Squad.

Having said that, I am using a light mortar to fire a few rounds at the “observer” near the bunker. If he wants to call down arty, or spot my defences in the town or hamlet, I want him gone.

 

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Replotted 105mm artillery:

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Edited by Bud Backer
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Finally, I am moving an HMG team and attached ammo-bearers from the far side of town where they are unlikely to be useful for some time (and I have quite a few organic HMG teams) over to the woods in the ridge. I think I may be able to engage those men in the woods approaching the village and still be covered  by the curve of the ridge from the allies forces much further east. I am very concerned about protecting the flak 88 and if at all possible would like to avoid it being spotted as long as possible so it can engage enemy tanks.

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3 hours ago, Aragorn2002 said:

I always hate the vulnerability of those 88mm's.  Great firepower, but difficult to keep alive. Curious whether it can kill that Sherman.

If it doesn’t miss, it will kill that Sherman. It’s also in a trench, which in my experience affects spotting of the unit (the trench is easily spotted) and has the not-moved concealment bonus. This should be exactly what Kurt envisioned: a first shot advantage engagement. I don’t see infantry with the Sherman (maybe Ian is getting wary of my artillery?) so he may also be losing some advantages of shared spotting info. All working in my favour...

Edited by Bud Backer
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41 minutes ago, danfrodo said:

What's the range?  Maybe sherman MG gunner will fire first and cause 88 crew to be slow.  That's what I always hope.  and the 88 usually wins.  

You had me there until I looked at my own post above. On the map it shows 309m. 

The way things look in the screenshot he sure does seem to have the advantage: facing me directly, while my 88 is slightly off from his Sherman. But, what I know of Ian is he doesn’t go for risky moves, charging forth guns blazing and all that. Which suggests to me he thought  he was quite safe moving there. An informed guess is that *if* he sees my 88 it’s as much a surprise to him as his Sherman's daring appearance in the open is to me. My assumption is that he doesn’t have a clue the 88 is there. Whereas I was able to give the 88 a target order on the Sherman.

Let’s hope Kurt deployed his little team properly and this goes right. ;)

 

Edited by Bud Backer
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7 hours ago, Bud Backer said:

The village is almost entirely flat, with no true reverse slope.  My casualties there are only 3 dead and 1 wounded, which is not significant. Well worth the observation I’ve had on his forces, which let me conserve my artillery ammo.

I would have to check but I think I expended about 40% of the 120mm rounds.

Good comments! :)

 

Hmmm I guess my reverse slope defence (aka second line of buildings) comment needs further clarification...

I mean that the majority of your infantry want to have started and set up defence in position where they could not be hit unless the enemy close into 1st line of buildings. You deny the enemy of supporting fire from distance and set your heavy fire power to hit those 1st line buildings. In effect a reverse slope defence but in towns or villages.

Yes you need a bit of observation but to do that you choose less obvious positions that are not so threatening but still offer observation of the wood line. Anyway I'm am sure the dead pixel trupppen mother's and father's will count it as not significant... 🙄

120mm is lethal and if you can get it on target it can be a game winner... Good you still have some to hit him with...

 

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As for the 88 target armour arc's can be double edge sword, I tend to set them as far as possible on map even if you have no los.

The 88 in particular can nail things at massive range which is what you want, so never set it short imo....

Looking forward to seeing it in action, nice big bang's and explosion when (if) it hits...

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