PBEM NZ'ers challenge

[Seanachai]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KiwiJoe:

Well if you read the subject thread this was started so I could play NZ people both to see if I'am indeed the best player in the country, and because I want to play people in the same time-zone. You frenchys' can go play each other, and have fun, but please don't post in this thread if you arnt from NZ. Thanks <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here, would you look at that, Pawbroon? We were sent off the field on the first page of this thread, and the Kiwis have been stumbling around drunk, playing against each other and slapping themselves on the back ever since.

And what have they accomplished? They've proven themselves to be fully capable of losing to each other.

Bugger, who would've imagined?

Damn good thing we were ordered off early on, or it would have completely upset their clever plan of self-domination!

Guess we should count ourselves lucky in the Thread of threads that we had the Australians show up who wanted to do more than annoy everyone by playing with themselves, as it were.

Mind, the Aussies are still a nation of criminals. But they're our sort of criminals.

A year later and the Kiwis have managed a handful of posts. Bless 'em, you have to admire their willingness to do their best.

[ 09-21-2001: Message edited by: Seanachai ]

[KiwiJoe]

The game with tecumseh was canceled by him, he had to leave for England the next day, family tradegy that I wont go into here.

Still fighting Titian, turn 27 of 33. Ive killed another stug IV, rifle 44 platoon and plenty of other scattered infantry with my 4x 4.2inch spotters and 4x 3inch mortars (luv that brit artillery Howeva Ive lost a Cromwell VI, 3inch mortar and most of a platoon of airbourne infantry. Titian has also taken over a flag but is recieving a battering foor his troubles. Currently 59-41 to me. Titian still has a chance to pull off a late charge but im pretty happy with the current situation.

[AJSL]

Hi KiwiJoe,

OK, I'm up for a game. I'm from the Waikato (Huntly) but I'm now living in Scotland, so I qualify

e-mail me and we'll sort something out.

Cheers,

Alex.

[Treeburst155]

Considering this thread and the highly competitive nature of you NZers it appears you guys might enjoy a strictly NZ tournament. I could use the best custom maps I have from the Invitational Tourney. I'd say six people would be a nice size so it doesn't take too long. The prize? How about $25 US to the winner? Are you guys interested?

Treeburst155 out.

[zahl]

Titan - aren't you just dying to tell us how you routed KiwiJoe in the endgame?

[Titan]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by zahl:

Titan - aren't you just dying to tell us how you routed KiwiJoe in the endgame?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Zahl my old foe!!!! I will give credit where credit is due,I will say KJ is fighting a very intelligent battle,he has bought alot of Art for the size of the battle we are playing,and i was totally unprepared for it.My army was bought on the basis of a fire and manouvre.I have found that my infantry skills have been nulified my his enormous amount of Artillery.Eveery time i try and build up for an attack or try and do something his art wrecks the party for me.He has 8 FO's in a 2,000 point battle.Intially things started out ok,i took both VL's,but was thrown back by a Artillery attacks which just slaughtered my troops,and where then mopped up with his small infantry force.I have since regrouped and counterattacked and retaken one VL,whilst inched forward to make the second VL neutral.

I have been bombarded with accurate artillery fire during the whole game juyst about every turn,so i dont need to tell u what kinda loses ive been taking.Even if i captured the second VL i doubt whether i could win due to the loses i have taken alone.

A few turns left,i will keep trying but dont hold much hope,the best i can hope for is trying to give him a marginal victroy.

His Artillery has been the deciding and dominating factor in this game,he has just so much of it,my infantry has been totally negated

[KiwiJoe]

4 FO's, 4 mortars. Wish I could have 8 FOs

Id say by looking at it you bought 9-10 platoons of infantry. I think I bought a perfect force to counter that, artillery and cromwells.

[Titan]

Yea u did KJ.You had the perfect force.

Once when i took the ground around the VL's i couldnt stay there i just got pummeled by ur Art,then my men would panic or break and then get cut down by ur Inf.Its all been to easy for you.Quite Simply KJ,i never expect it and i was caught completely off guard.

[zahl]

The British 3in on-map mortar is an awesome weapon. Bang for the buck, it is equal to a 3in spotter, but is faster and more accurate. And you get some smoke for free. Each mortar has about 55 rounds of HE for a total blast value of about 1430. Solid arty tactics can negate solid infantry tactics and this is the tool for it.

I'd really like to see your movies.

[WineCape]

KiwiJoe,

Send me your postal address details so that I can despatch your 6-bottle wine prize you so deservedly won in the WineCape Tourney!

Congratulations again.

Regards,

Charl Theron

------------

Anyone who tries to make you believe that he knows all about wines is obviously a fake.

-- Leon Adams, "The Common sense Book of Wine", 1962.

[KiwiJoe]

Game with Titian has ended. 67-33 to me. The King keeps his crown

It was a really good battle, Titan is a very skilled player and caused me problems at various stages of the game. His overwelming amount of infantry allowed him to hold 1 of the major VLs at the end dispite the massive firepower I unleased on them. Howeva the mighty Brits held fast and won the day just in time for a hot cuppa

[Kanonier Reichmann]

How about best of three against Titan to prove you are N.Z.'s Combat Mission kingpin. It appears to me that the force K.J. purchased had way too much artillery for the overall force size compared with real life and was simply lucky it came up against an infantry heavy force. What probably won the day was fortunate force selection as opposed to skill at playing the game from what I could glean from the reports of the game.

The true test of a good player would be to try out ones skills using one of Wild Bill Wilder's recently developed balanced scenario's that are currently being fought over in the Treeburst tournament using 'realistic' force selections.

Regards

Jim R.

[Binkie]

Indeed.

Fionn once told me that the computer buys some terrible force mixes sometimes. That being said, and I certainly agree, I think the ONLY true test of a commander is what he can do with what is given to him. This is what happens in real life, and the best can almost always adapt effective tactics given the tools at hand.

So let me say this...force purchasing is gamey!!!

You heard me. So stop hiding behind your hand-picked rain of mortar fire, Joe, and replay Titan (and whoever else gave you a hard time) with a double-blind scenario or a computer-picked QB. I would be happy to be the intermediary for the latter, so the setup can be established without threat of cheating. Just email me.

[KiwiJoe]

I think your being quite unfair there boys. 1st up force selection is a big part of the game as far as I'm concerned. We played with 2 sets of strict rules (short-75 and CAL) to limit gamey purchasing. I dont think I purchased "too much" artillery. I was playing Brits and with their weak infantry you really have no other choice but to supliment them with extra mortars and such. 2ndly, I played bloodly well if I do say so myself My artillery wasnt the only winning factor. I had well placed AT guns with excellent leaders which destroyed most of Titian's armour, limiting his infantry support. I used my own amrour from secured postions to knock down buildings and rout infantry around the flags. It was a well constructed army with a set plan that worked out sweetly. I personally think Titian made a mistake selecting a force consisting of over 1/2 his points in infantry. But Im sure he would argue otherwise

I dont play computer selected force games full stop. I think it allows for too much luck. I like to win through skill and smarts, not becuase I got Panthers and strum-companies and my enemy got 1/2 tracks rifle squads.

Lastly Titian and I are playing another game with the exact same settings from opposite sides next. And Im sure if he wins this 1 we will play a 3rd "decider" at some stage.

KJ.

[Titan]

To give Joe credit im cetainly no newbie at this game,with my record of achieving the Number one player on the RCDM ladder on three occassions and with a win rate of 75%.

I feel His Art was the Deciding Factor in this game,But on the same token it and his forces still had to be handled with skill and i will admit KJ is a fine player and used his other forces in a well co-ordinated fashion with his ART.

It was an enjoyable and hard battle,and i will certainly be looking forward to our next encounter.

[Titan]

Well we played the other battle to our mirror,and im proud to state the Kiwijoe was Defeated.

There was abit of jostling and parrying to begin with,with Kiwijoes german stuggs fraustrating me early on.However with my Artillery counterattacking his positions and a daring raid into his rear,he realised the hopeless situation he was in and capitulated,giving me a bag of 300 odd prisoners which promptly got marched off past one of Kiwijoes Burning Stuggs

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Sounds like he may have thrown in the towel a bit too early to prevent you from enjoying a total rout of his forces, or am I being too harsh on the self professed NZ champion of Combat Mission?

Actually, a bit more detail on how the game played out with a brief run-down on force selection would be great to read (just to see how the 'mighty' fall).

Regards

Jim R.

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]</p>

[WineCape]

KiwiJoe,

South Africa's postal service has been resumed to far off NZ (due to WTC scare and subsequent developments).

Your wines will be re-posted this week after the PO here in Stellenbosch informed me (I have posted the goodies almost a month ago) that "Hey, we've got this box here that seems full of liquid when shaken. Should we re-post it?"

A subsequent trip to our PO have confirmed that your winning nectar is still all OK and in good order when I opened the box -- they have cool storage btw.

Sorry mate, but hopefully you will receive your winnings of the WINECAPE TOURNEY before Xmas (transit time +/- 10 to 12 weeks)

Sincerely,

Charl Theron

----------------------------

The only serious thing about wine is if there isn't any in your glass.

-- shamelessly quoting myself

[Titan]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Kanonier Reichmann:

Sounds like he may have thrown in the towel a bit too early to prevent you from enjoying a total rout of his forces, or am I being too harsh on the self professed NZ champion of Combat Mission?

Actually, a bit more detail on how the game played out with a brief run-down on force selection would be great to read (just to see how the 'mighty' fall).

I got a suprise when he capitulated,but his position wasnt an envious one.

Yes i would've taken great delight in watching his demise abit more slowly,but its was his choice,and aleast he did so in an honourable fashion

Regards

Jim R.

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ]<hr></blockquote>

[Tim Homewood]

Nice thread boys. You make an expat proud.

I'd love to hear about the third game.

[D'arcy Montague]

Hey Joe,

Where's your gracious congratulation to Titan on his victory. There's a good chap.

[Kanonier Reichmann]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by D'arcy Montague:

Hey Joe,

Where's your gracious congratulation to Titan on his victory. There's a good chap.<hr></blockquote>

Based on past experience it wont happen. He only loses due to suffering from incredibly bad luck, or his opponent having similar fantastically good luck or some combination of both. At least that would seem to be how he rationalises such a situation to himself.

Suffice to say, skill of the opponent never enters into the equation in his mind.

Regards

Jim R.

[Titan]

Ok,i no longer have the file but i'll do my best to recall the battle that bought Kiwijoe to his knees,and quashed his thoughts of being NZ'eds greatest player.

After being defeated by him with him choosing the Britsh and a large amount of art. I thought the last thing i wanted to do and also what he may expect me to do was to mimick him.So i decided to play my own game as if our previous encounter never happened.Bearing in mind we had the 75 short rule in effect.2,000 ME

I decided to go with the Americans instead of brits and stick to my preference of a infantry dominated force.

My OB was Approx

x8 inf platoons,

x3 Baz teams

x1 MG team

x1 105 VT FO

x2 Sherman 75

x1 M7 priest

x2 Motor carrige 75mm

x1 m20 A/Car

x1 57mm AT gun

x1 scoutcar

Kiwijoes OB Approx

x6 Motorised Inf platoons

x3 Stugg 111

x1 Stugg 42

x4 onboard 81mm mortars

x1 75mm AT

x1 75mm Onboard howitzer?

x4 trucks

x? MG teams

x? Art Fo's

cannot say the above is 100% accurate but close all the same.

the map had a valley that run between our setup lines with the two VL's being in good view of his intial setup position but out of LOS and LOF of mine.So i found myself in a very similar situation as our last game.I decided i was not going to make the same mistake and that was to advance a large inf force and capture VLs while he sat back in his setup positions hammering away.I knew i could not move any heavy stuff towards VL's without the risk of being hit from Hidden AT guns etc.

I decided to move forward and capture center VL that positioned amoung a village on a platuea that was exposed to his setup postions.I thought i would move forward with 2 platoons to draw his fire,while the second VL which was lower down in the valley i would ignor as it was to dangerous for me to worry about until i had him expose more of his forces.

On his side of the map he had two large ridges with woods on top with large areas he could hide plenty of goodies in with good LOS and LOF to my objectives.

I plotted my 105VT in those area,s in anticipation i would catch something.Anyway as my two inf Platoons captured the VL in Village,his howitzer and stuggs opened up,systematicially destroying the occupied buildings,and bombarding all areas of wood or cover that my inf could hide in.It was fruastrating for awhile as i was taking loses and could not hit back.I eventually got my FO on target to his Howitzer that was nailing my troops and took it out,unbeknowen to me a stray round that landed abit off course took out 3 of his Onboard Mortars that were behind that hill.

Despit that his stuggs were still hammering away,so i decided i had to risk one of my shermans,the only way i could get at them was to expose my tank to whatever lurked on his right side of map.The sherman suddenly came under fire from a hidden 75mm AT gun.Fortunatley it never got hit,and i withdrew it back.Which still left me with the delemma of his stuggs pounding away at my infantry force trying to hold onto the center VL.Those two platoons had now been whittled away to half stength now.I detected two german infantry platoons moving towards their potions so i rushed another two fresh platoons there to bolster that postion.At this stage his stuggs were really beginning to be fraustating,they where attritioning my Infantry around therte every turn.But i had a plan,i knew i had the numbers as far as Inf went,soi had to keep the status quo for abit longer.I eventually took out his 75mm AT gun with my 105VT and also bombed a few more of his locations.

I loaded a BAZ team onto the M20 A/car and took one 75mm motor carriage and took off in the direction from where his 75mm AT gun was.from that postion i could then comprimise the position of his Stugg,s that where hammering away at my Infantry.With those stuggs gone i could use the rest of my Armour to dominate the battlefield,as i knew the location of his other two stuggs and if they showed there face my 57AT gun would make short work of them.

Timing could not have been better,as my 75 Motor carride and M20 made there way around his flank,he begun his infantry assault upon the center VL,his two stuggs which where hammering away at village soon realised there danger and started to move out of the postion behind the ridge. BINGO direct hit on his stugg that was retreating down the hill,nothing more enjoyable than seeing that pain in the Arse burst into a ball of flame.My M20 off loaded its BAZ team into a nearby wood ready to cut open the second stugg,and the motor carridge took shelter behind a two storey building. While that was happening he started pushing forward with his infantry towards to VL he had been hammering away at with his stuggs.But now without the support of his stuggs his infantry attack started to collapse with heavy loses,i even started to reforce the area by bring up more inf,and moving the M7 and shermansd up to take on his other two stuggs if they decided to show there face.

It never Happened i recieved the enemy surrender,despite having a reasonble force left his postion was one being hit from all angles and suffering a hail of shells and bombs like i did in the early stages had he continued.So to save his men,and the pain of staring at certain defeat everyday for another week he capitulated.

Score 95% Titan

Score 5% Kiwijoe.

[ 10-27-2001: Message edited by: Titan ]</p>

[Kanonier Reichmann]

Thanks for the update Titan. Funny how KJ has gone mysteriously quiet since you whipped him. Mind you, it sounded like you only won through sheer good luck & gamey play in contrast to KJ's insightful & sheer tactical genius in the context of a very unfavourable map to his side.

Regards

Jim R.

[KiwiJoe]

Well played to Titian, Ive already congratulated him by email you vultures

1 all.

Im still the best, 1 loss is just that... 1 loss I dont beleive there is a player out there that is undefeated in all their games. My record stands at 6 losses, 100+ (?) wins with a winning streak of over 50 games till CATNIP scrated my eyes out a couple of times

Ive been quiet because, as Ive explained to Titian, Im taking a break from CM (after almost 2yrs of play) to let my juices stir up for CM2 which I hope will be out around xmas time. Id still like to play a game agianst the winner of the winecape tourney II sometime howeva.

Signing off for a month or so..

KJ - NZ's best CM player.