Anyone ever recovered from a bad start and win???

[Guest Captitalistdoginchina]

It seems to me that after playing a lot of PBEM games that the first 8 to 10 turns are critical, i always find that if i get off to a good start i always win, if i get off to a bad start i always lose.

When i get a good start everything seems to go right, my tanks hit home with their shots and my troops perform well, but when you have a bad start my tanks always seem to miss, my AT teams can't hit a barn door at 5 paces and my troops take casualties frequently and lose it more often.

Is it me? Have you managed to turn around a bad start and make it to win? If so tell me about it and make me feel better. Were you ever taking a hiding and then a hero amongst your ranks saved the day?

CDIC

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"Death solves all problems - no man no problem"

J.V.Stalin, 1918

[Schugger]

Yes, I have and I tell you that these were the most satisfaying games I've played.

It does not happen very often though and spmetimes there are games when you know that you're definatly going to end as the looser.

[Guest aaronb]

Did this against Kingfish.

In the first couple of turns, I:

- ran my mounted-infantry blitzkrieg on the left flank straight into his anti-tank ambush (lost all the tanks and a bunch of the mounted infantry)

- parked my right-flank infantry assault, in open terrain, right on top of a 150mm TRP. You can imagine the carnage that followed.

Both caused by mis-judging LOS. Followed-up with a cautious, measured advance backed by HMG's and off-board 81mm mortars - pulled a tactical out of this mess.

[russellmz]

played mixed types of shermans, a stuart, and a priest against 2 tigers, a lynx, a hetzer, and some stugs.

in the first two turns against ai:

lost a stuart(SPECTACULAR EXPLOSION brew up),

lost two of three tanks on my right flank leaving only a priest, my diamond formation of four tanks on the left had a tank get its main gun damaged. all in exchange for a stug.

the left group manueovers around a village to try and outflank the enemy.

next couple turns, a lynx gets blown away after bouncing a round off one of my sherms. a tiger destroys the gun damamged sherm and one of the other manuevering sherms, leaving two.

priest is hiding behind a distant house, unable to move out for fear of getting attacked.

my sherms get into the village. playing peek a boo, my first sherm kills a stug. the other sherm covering him from behind a building manages to nail an approaching tiger in the side. another tiger makes an appearence. my sherm backs off behind another building after his first round explodes uselessly against the turrent armor.

meanwhile my priest, whom i thought was going to be a helpless victum for the rest of this battle becomes a hidden dagger with which to strike. he moves out and engages a hetzer, which slinks away from the priest's los. this puts him in the sight of my first sherm. the hetzer backs off again, into my priest's los. nail him!

the remaining tiger unable to advance around the building else providing a perfect shot to the second sherm, moves back to engage the first sherm in long range duel. the tiger backs up and engages the sherm. it misses a lot. my sherm's shots bounce off the side and turrent. as the tiger manuevers, it slides into my priests los. boom...miss. reload, boom...'i hit it!'.

so i had 2 sherms and a priest remaining against 2 tigers, a stug, and a hetzer and beat them...

my favorite battle

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"They had their chance- they have not lead!" - GW Bush

"They had mechanical pencils- they have not...lead?" - Jon Stewart on The Daily Show

[tailz]

Yep... very first PBEM game... walked into an artillery barrage with my lead platoon. Fortunately I was playing Canucks, so although bloodied, we persevered... a little close combat with a Puma and the resolute support of a Churchill and they carried the day. Very depressing initially though.

[maxm2]

Thanks to all of you for your "lost cause" reports. They have really improved my morale about what is possible.

---Max

[Henri]

In a pbem campaign, I offered to resign near the end of the first scenario when all I had left was an immobilized tank and a few sorely battered infantry platoons, and I could still see at least four enemy tanks and a considerable amount of infantry.

My opponent convinced me to wait till the end of the scenario to see what reinforcements I would get, and I belatedly agreed to keep playing for a bit, with a bit of suspicion that my opponent was a sadist...

well, my immobilized tank managed to knock out three of the enemy tanks, and when my reinforcements arrived, they included a half-dozen tanks, which I then used to kick my opponent's ass.

Now in the last scenario of the campaign, he is hiding out in the town (presumably hoping to last until the end) while I have a half-dozen tanks with infantry trying to flush him out.

Henri

"The game ain't over till it's finished" (Yogi Berra).

[Guest *Captain Foobar*]

Henri,

That is a GREAT illustration of the psychological level of this game.... NEVER give up...NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!!!!!!

If you do, you miss out on those 1 in 10 chance rebound victories, that are the most satisfying thing in the game!

I have had games where I didnt even win in the end, but I managed to exact my pound of flesh before dying, almost registering a draw.....

You hold out as long as you can, to get your shots in...

[Lorak]

I agree Foobar.

Even in Games where I have totally screwed up I usually manage at least something to be proud of.

My men may die in this game... But damn it! they will die well.

Lorak

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"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking."--William Butler Yeats

Cesspool

[Guest Captitalistdoginchina]

ok guys so i have hope yet, but i just cannot seem to recover from bad starts......when i am losing i see my tanks target an enemy tank and i just know he is gonna miss before he fires......and that the enemy tank will stuff a shell right down my bore sight with the first shot, happens every time.

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"Death solves all problems - no man no problem"

J.V.Stalin, 1918

[Navare]

A couple games ago. I had a round of bad luck losing two of my three tanks. Near the end of the battle my last surviving tank managed to kill my opponents two surviving tanks and rout the enemy infantry on my left flank.

On the very last turn the tank and some of my surviving infantry recaptured the victory hex and managed a tactical victory.

It was a very close fought thing all the way up to the end.

Navare

[Demangel]

Maybe some of your bad luck comes from the morale of your units? I meanwhen you loose a portion of your force quickly your overal morale goes down, which I think affects how well your troops do... It might explain why your tanks are having a hard time killing other tanks... As for other tanks holing yours seemingly more often than before, I have seen this too, and do not know what the reason for this is... Sometimes just like in a game of craps the law of averages is just NOT on our side I guess...

-Demangel

[Guest Captitalistdoginchina]

Hi Demangel,

I think you hit the nail on the head - the overall moral affects the hit chance of your armour and so on, which means getting off to a good start is essential if you want to win. If you have a bad start you are doomed!!

Unless you have Uber Jeeps of course.

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"Death solves all problems - no man no problem"

J.V.Stalin, 1918

[Juardis]

Well, in my first 2 ladder games I'm off to a horrific start in both. In my 2000 PT combined arms meeting engagement I've lost most of my armor (3 tanks, 1 Puma, 2 HTs in the first 2 turns alone) while he still has at least 4 tanks and 2 Daimlers left. I'm not dead yet but the fat lady is warming her vocal chords.

In the other, a 3000 pt armored clash QB, I've lost 4 tanks to first shots (FIRST SHOTS FROM 900m AWAY FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!) in the first 4 turns. He's the Germans so any tank I lose is bad. The situation is bleak to say the least.

Since both are still going, I'll give an update after I surrender.

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Jeff Abbott

[Kingfish]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>- parked my right-flank infantry assault, in open terrain, right on top of a 150mm TRP. You can imagine the carnage that followed<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

30 seconds..."Yes, come a little closer"..."closer"...

20 seconds..."That's it, just a little closer"...

10 seconds..."Oh, right there! Yes, stop right there!...

5 seconds..."Excellent! Now everyone just bunch up. There you go, just like that"!!!...

0 seconds..."Merry X-mas!"

[Croda]

I've fallen from a great start to lose, if that makes you feel any better. 3 of the 4 VLs were in a small town, and my opponent had his inf sitting in the buildings, his armor to the rear of the town. Well, my plan (being the Allies) was that armor would rule the field here, so I set out to pin down his armor and flank it, figuring when it was gone, I could blast the hell out of those buildings. It worked like a charm! He lost pumas, panthers, you name it. I had 2 Shermans, 2 M8s, and an M10 and he was down to 1 AAA truck, when it all went downhill. A lone AT team (may even have been a panzerfaust, never got to find out) took out a Sherman and an M8 Greyhound from a couple hunded meters on his next turn. The other M8, which had maneuvered behind him, passed up a great shot and got smacked by the AAA. Maneuvering the 2nd Sherman in, got him taken out by an AT team, and the M10 was lost to infantry in the top floor of a builing a few turns later (stooopid open top tanks!). So I went from what was certain victory, to nearly being routed from the field. I've gotta think I just really played that one wrong...

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"Nuts!"

[Snake Eyes]

While playing an ASL conversion of 'Cold Crocodiles' as the Brits, I advanced my four on board tanks in line just a little too far. My opponent's hidden 88 waxed the one on the left flank and then moved down the row, brewing two more and wiping out half a platoon of mounted infantry. This all happened on turn two. All I could do was pass a personal moral check, gird up my loins, call OBA in on the 88 and plug on.

Two Crocs came in on turn 8, while the Germans got two StuG III's. A few turns later one of the Crocs took out a StuG with its 75 by firing through woods. The StuG didn't even know what hit it. The other StuG was wasted by a PIAT from 194m!!! After the other 88 was located by infantry, it was pounded by OBA. The combined arms team of infantry and remaining AFV's overwhelmed the German infantry holding the various Victory Flags.

Finding yourself in a hole and then clawing your way out is very gratifying!

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It is easy to be brave from a safe distance. -Aesop

[Guest aaronb]

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

0 seconds..."Merry X-mas!"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're laughing now, but the shattered, shaking remnants after the barrage managed to pin your guys in the town... one lucky bluff on my part.

FYI, _every_ surviving squad had the "!" after it's morale state. A bunch of grannies from Vermont could have steam-rolled them. Thank goodness for FOW.

[Kingfish]

Speaking of lucky bluffs, for the last 4 turns I managed to hold off your Panther and Mark IV with only 3 badly shaken zook teams and an M4/76 with a damaged gun.

Without doubt, one of the best PBEM games I've ever played. Edge of your seat from "Go" to finish.

[Raze]

I have (on several occasions) gotten plowed very early on. In most cases I was able to pull off a victory through the use of infantry. Its a ugly battle though. . .

[Guest MantaRay]

Sadly, I have bad start, middle, and usually pick it up at the end. Sometimes this is too late to get a victory, but even when I lose atleast the enemy has to expend lots of resources to take me out.

Ray