CM Cold War - Beta AAR - Soviet Thread - Glorious Soviet Victory at Small German Town 1980

[The_Capt]

1 hour ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

@TheCaptain

How on earth did you get away with so few casualties? I think you are now very muchly back in the game.

Well I like to think "knowing my opponent" and audacity had a lot to do with it but lets not discount simple dumb luck.

[c3k]

Excellent update, comrade! 

 

[Badger73]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:15 AM, chuckdyke said:

Yom Kippur War 1972. Who are these men carrying suitcases in the desert? The world soon knew and tank design went back to the drawing board. 

It was October of 1973 and, as you say, completely revised armor doctrines afterwards.

[The_Capt]

March to Glorious Victory Post #8 - Riddles in the Dark (Turn 18)

Well only a single turn to report, again apologies but we are kinda busy.  I am new to the whole game development thing but I believe it is call "the crunch", so named I believe for the sound our bones make when Steve swings his bat if we fail to meet deadlines.  Regardless, the war continues:

So my push up the center continues, I am just getting my infantry forward to sweep those woods, particularly on the right because I am starting to see movement.  I  couple M113s and at least one M150 are shuffling around up there, I expect Bil has caught on to the fact that the bulk of my combat power is at his midriff.    I am also going to push those recon assets on my far right forward to start seeing if I can't bag a few of his scout teams.  I am worried about armor on that ridge, as I still see a couple ? icons but if I know Bil he will hold them back.  My bet is that Bil is going to try and bottle my forces up coming out of that treeline.  In other news, my fire mission is finally starting to fall on that treeline which may provide some cover.  I have to admit that I have not used arty well in this game.  Part of the problem is I agreed to EW for the Blue side...never do this, as it means really long spotter-wait times. 

On the upside I still have good Eyes, so I know Bil can't get too aggressive up there.  Things were moving apace when suddenly:

Well looky here!  That frisky old mule looks like he has decided to try to change the shape of the battle.  So that is the lead tank of an M60 platoon that Bil [aside:  I have known the guy for almost 20 years and I still have no idea why he uses only one "l" in his first name...the human heart is truly a mystery] is pushing on my far left.  Bold move.  If he can get armor up into that far treeline on my left he could theoretically make life difficult for the center push...but he has to get there first:

Here the Eyes on my right are kicking in.  Both T64s and that lone BMP (the one who has killed at least one M150) have got clear eyes on Bil's route:

Ouch, that was the BMP btw:

So here you can see the situation better.  At the end of the turn there is a 125mm sabot round coming at that second M60, the other T64 and BMP are reloading.  In the town I am moving 2 x T62s around the village to get them covering that approach, the third is covering the village on the other side.  I am going to keep pushing the center but now have a BMP and a T-62 taking positions to reinforce the cover on that far right flank.  I am also continuing to push dismounted infantry into the objective, going to spread them out and cover any approaches from the wood line.  Next 120 seconds are going to be very interesting, stay tuned.

[Holien]

Woot...

[riptides]

The capitalist always try to be different and non-conforming - ref. "l".

Comrade...keep up the good work!

The M60, a round from what fell short?

[The_Capt]

Just now, riptides said:

The capitalist always try to be different and non-conforming - ref. "l".

Comrade...keep up the good work!

The M60, a round from what fell short?

That would be the T64 sabot.  Another is on the way and it looks good...but a "puff of wind", and all that.

[Holien]

Are the M60 tank commanders open hatched? Not sure if they have their heads out scanning for threats, you can imagine the OF moment when you see that streaking towards your crew. 

BTW Nice shot of the missiles inbound. 

[The_MonkeyKing]

3 minutes ago, Holien said:

Are the M60 tank commanders open hatched? Not sure if they have their heads out scanning for threats, you can imagine the OF moment when you see that streaking towards your crew. 

BTW Nice shot of the missiles inbound. 

They seem to be.

[Holien]

I thought so but not much showing i guess the difference with the commanders cupola being so big.

[The_MonkeyKing]

2 minutes ago, Holien said:

I thought so but not much showing i guess the difference with the commanders cupola being so big.

Or the tank being designed to be operated TCs head out. Contrast this to soviet designs.

[MikeyD]

A big old honkin' searchlight on the mantlet means its a baseline M60A1 with no bells-&-whistles. Not even any RISE service life upgrades. A smaller searchlight would mean either RISE or RISE+. Small searchlight and smoke dischargers is RISE+ (Passive). No searchlight at all means M60A3 or A3 TTS.

[The_Capt]

Glorious March to Victory Post # 9 - "7th Outing Stretching" (19-20)

Ok, when I last left you, we had taken out one M60 and had a bead on the second...and of course it missed:

Well it wouldn't be a CM game if the gods of war were not against me.

Anyway  Not much really happens more this turn as we continue to position:

A shot on my left flank where I thought Bil was going to keep pushing (more on this later):

My heavy mortars are finally landing along that ridge, just as my teeth are starting push up the ridge, I hope they are causing someone pain.

So by end turn it all looks good, I am solidifying the position in the town.  Forces are advancing up the ridge unmolested  and I am pretty confident of my cover on Bil's axis of advance....and then I noticed this:

So that is a TOW missile streaking towards one of my few remaining T64s....

Turn 20.

  Well it would not be a CM game if the gods of war were not with me:

The basic TOW (the M901s are firing ITOW) did not penetrate my T64 but did immobilize it.  The good news is that in its current position it can still cover the ridgeline...so lemonade!  (Oh, check out the interface, it is really starting to shape up)

Ok, so turn 20 and mid-game...and Bil is getting weird:

It looks like he is hooking that tank platoon towards the town...which kinda left me scratching my head a bit.  For the rest of the turn we traded a lot of steel across the valley (you can see that little BMP-that-could's last AT 3 streaking at those M60s...and of course it missed).  Besides me bagging a hapless M113 on the ridge, most of the rest of the turn is positioning:

You can see here that my teeth are up out of that tree line and are ready to start fanning out, I am about as good a position as I can get in the town as that second dismounted infl platoon has managed to get into the objective zone pretty much unmolested.  So time for a mid-game assessment:

So basically, I was worried that Bil was going to push a tank platoon, or more into A0.  This would have been very bad for me, as from that position they can  1) pound the town unmolested and 2) make life for my Teeth miserable as I would have to watch their back and front.  Instead Bil looks like he is taking A1 route, which is really kind of strange but I am sure there is a clever ploy here somewhere.  A1 is semi-covered.  My screen S1 cannot see it until it is right in the town, but S2 will get some clean shots.  I also repositioned both infantry and 2 x T62s to cover this approach.  So basically, I am not sure what Bil is hoping to do with 3 x M60s in closing terrain here.  My next biggest concern is him making a hard push on A2 with that second tank platoon.  I also have infantry and a single T62 in the town on this route but S1 can cover it very well.  A2 has more cover if he uses the wood line but again we are talking almost entirely tanks trying to take a built up area.  

If you look on the bottom left there is that worried looking blue guy, that is scouts and APCs that appear to be lining up for some sort of woods push but between my Teeth and that little det of recon, I am pretty sure I can keep them busy.  Again keeping in mind there is probably another troop of armor up on that ridge somewhere. 

So here at mid-game, I expect Bil to use whatever is left of his arty (which still has DPICM) to pound the town in a hope all my infantry die so he can drive in with tanks and few scouts.  I have laid down two arty lines perpendicular to A2 approach but they are around 15mins out.  I have spread my infantry out on ground floors, mostly hiding to weather the arty and will keep my screens S1 and S2 up to make life difficult in the approach.  

My Teeth are going to push towards those scouts and APCs, but I always have the option to swing them towards A2 if Bil makes a push.  Bils dilemma right now is that he cannot seem to get enough combat power into the town and cover my Teeth at the same time...let's see how long we can keep it up.

Edited March 21, 2021 by The_Capt

[c3k]

Outstanding update, comrade.

[The_MonkeyKing]

@The_Capt What are you trying to gain by taking that forest?

- You have the objective (those points secured, at least so far)
- Bill's main force seems to be on your left (these are the remaining points for taking, kill-points)

Edited March 23, 2021 by The_MonkeyKing

[BrotherSurplice]

A delectable morsel, just the thing to get my mouth watering for the full game!

[The_Capt]

3 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

@The_Capt What are you trying to gain by taking that forest?

- You have the objective (those points secured, at least so far)
- Bill's main force seems to be on your left (these are the remaining points for taking, kill-points)

Well basically I do not like the idea of letting Bil come to me, he is a crafty old bear who can do damage with the initiative.  So long as I am pushing in the center he has to react.  That, and I am going to swing them on top of that ridge once they sweep.  It also keeps Bil's combat power pinned as he has to cover the ridge now, which means less that he can throw at the objective.

I think I have the left covered...if Bil can take a town with a few scouts and tanks against the better part of an infantry coy and that screen, I will be impressed. 

[Holien]

Once again thanks for the updates, really good to see the game in action...

[The_Capt]

Hey Folks,

  Sorry for the delay, I am planning to get a couple updates up this weekend.  Bil and I have been progressing at speed, we are actually down to the last 10 mins and this has become an epic slugfest.

[riptides]

Epic!

 

A toast to you Comrade!

[Holien]

No worries, Bil has been entertaining us with his side of the game, we await eagerly your perspective. 

[The_Capt]

8 hours ago, Holien said:

No worries, Bil has been entertaining us with his side of the game, we await eagerly your perspective. 

Quick Summary....oh crap....oh yay...oh crap...holy crap!...[should I surrender?]….nope, Yay!....sweet mother of...what just happened?!

[Holien]

3 minutes ago, The_Capt said:

Quick Summary....oh crap....oh yay...oh crap...holy crap!...[should I surrender?]….nope, Yay!....sweet mother of...what just happened?!

It ain't over til the fat lady sings, and my god the music you two have made is epic and truly enjoyable. 

We feel your pain and joy...

[herr_oberst]

We know!!! (We get to cheat and read Bil(-l)'s thread...

But what'cha gonna do about it???

[The_Capt]

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24)

  So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here.  Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right.  Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them.  I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you.

   So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

That brave little BMP that is responsible for probably half the damage I have done to Bil thus far did not make it out.  It was completely out of AT3s by this point but I wanted that little crew to make it...sadly...

So at this point I am still pushing up that ridge in pursuit of Bil's forces.  My aim here is to keep the old man on his back feet in order to make sure he does not collect enough combat power to re-take the objective...and to kill as much as possible with a pretty potent force.  But then badness started to happen:

Ok, despite being on the wrong end of things, this shot is really cool.  That is a newly modeled Dragon missile about to take out a T62...oh, yes that's right, Bil has Dragons.

And they work.   Then down in the village:

Bil's creeping tank platoon sees one of my T62s first and well...ok, I can live with this.  Going to have to break a few tanks to make a tank omelet.   But as we move into Turn 22 it is time to admit that I have a long standing problem:

Yep, I am an over-extender always have been.  I do not know why the siren song of the offence always pull me in but it does.  And here it is in action.  My armor is taking off on my infantry in the best blitz tradition...and it is not a good thing.  But all is not bad news:

Down in the town, my second T62 takes out another M60.  So all in all, I tell myself, it is not that bad....oh foolish past The_Capt....so foolish.  Turn 23...sigh:

Right about here it dawns on me that maybe charging forward was a bad idea.  That is a second Dragon kill.  So I am thinking about holding up and letting my infantry catch up, right about here.  It is not all bad news though:

As the Soviet player, that is a very happy screen shot.  My MANPADs are doing their job.  But then I notice this:

Ya, so all those other icons up on the hill I have been tracking...but that is a new one and it is very bad news.  So I swing a couple T62s and a BMP over because maybe Bill is scratching around the backdoor.

Turn 24: as with most of these things...just a little too late.  An extra 30 seconds maybe but Bil's last tank platoon looks to have finally showed up.  Of course I suspected there was another one up here and of course it shows up in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time.  And from here it just get uglier:

This is an interesting shot actually, first that is a second T62 (so 4 lost on that hill in about 3 mins) dying, but that is also a 73mm BMP 1 round actually hitting and penetrating an M60 (I think it was HEAT)...but not enough by a long shot:

So here the gods of war clearly are punishing me.  That BMP died for trying but those two explosions are AT3s that both miss (seriously?!)

Ok, so 'new plan' cause the old one clearly was not working.  I am going to have to swing what is left of my Teeth (now with quite a few knocked out....see that last BMP dying on the far right) and consolidate on the hilltop.  I will fend off this tank platoon, while at the same time really dig in on the objective.  The sad part is that right about here, I am out of offensive options.  I will need to play defense from here on out and am basically fighting to hold the objective.  

By this point I have a couple M60 kills, Bils M150s are pretty depleted, a couple M113s and a some scouts...oh and a Cobra.  That is not enough for 5 x T62s (half my force) and 2 x BMPs.  At least my screens and infantry are intact.  A side-note, Bil is really obsessed with the outskirts of the objective (that hashed blue line) and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.  Seriously, we are quite a few turns ahead as of writing this and he spends the next ten minute pounding the same  peice of real-estate, that basically has a single squad and MG team trapped in it.

Anyway, live, learn and love and all that.  I will post up the next series tomorrow...things do get better.