New CMBB ME @ The Proving Grounds

[Brent Pollock]

I've just posted a meeting engagement battle WBRP - Company Town @ The Proving Grounds.

Here are the briefings:

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OVERALL BRIEFING:

TITLE: WBRP - Company Town

TYPE: Meeting Engagement, SS & Guards Cavalry

DATE: October 6, 1944

LOCATION: Wegielwies, Poland

REGION: Central

TIME: Dawn

WEATHER: Fog & Rain

GROUND: Wet

TEMP.: Cool

WIND: Windy, North

TURNS: 30+

HISTORICAL: No

AUTHOR: Brent Pollock (e-mail: b3b@telusplanet.net)

MAP CREDIT: adapted from Andy "manchildstein" Thomas' "mc-meeting-bridges01.cme"

BEST PLAYED AS: Two Player

BACKGROUND: The autumn of 1944 sees the beginning of the final fall of the Third Reich, as Soviet units resume their westward course away from Russia. In south central Poland, a nascent coal mining town lies isolated in virtual wilderness. It also sits astride the boundary between "3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf" and the neighbouring Luftwaffe ground division…and has slipped through their administrative cracks. Perhaps too late, it is realised that the town is unoccupied by defending German units…and radio intercepts indicate that the Russians are coming. The closest uncommitted unit, a battalion from "SS-Kav.Rgt.17" is diverted from entraining to join its parent unit, "8.SS-Kav.Div. Florian Geyer", and sent post-haste towards Wegielwies to defend until "Totenkopf" can send its own elements. They will have to blunt the charge of the "121st Guards Cav. Regt.", point unit for the "43rd Guards Tank Div."

This scenario depicts the initial head-on clash that develops between the two cavalry battalions and their respective ad hoc AFV companies as they struggle to disturb the peace in the backwoods mining town, Wegielwies.

Design notes:

I am indebted to Andy "manchildstein" Thomas for it was one of his maps (mc-meeting-bridges01.cme) from the CMMODS database that serves as the foundation for this map. It took me a while to get a sense for what this wild little town was…then the idea of a small town based on a new mining operation seemed to fit the bill and would explain the rail yard nicely.

SPOILER

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This started out as an exercise in trying to compose a balanced, yet replayable meeting engagement. It is completely and utterly artificial. The OBs are constructed on the following premise:

1. each side gets a Cavalry battalion, which in the case of the Germans, is slightly understrength with respect to supporting OBA, recon & assault engineering elements, but has extra sharpshooters. The Russians also receive AT Teams to offset the German PSK teams. Each battalion is advancing with Coy A on point, Coy B bushwhacking (30 % probability of arrival on turn 2…the low probability represents difficulties in navigating and tougher slogging off-road) and Coy C/Btn HQ following up the road (95 % probable on Turn 4).

2. I made blatant use of the captured vehicles, HQ command values, and ammo loadouts to achieve balance in the AFV sector. Imbalance is then randomised by making their entrance only 10 % probable on turn 4.

3. I decided from the outset to make the weather crappy as I thought it would justify the initial set up zones, which represent first contact by the point units just after the Germans have crossed into town.

4. the fanaticism setting reflects the ASL No Quarter type environment that would exist with a SS unit on the eastern front.

5. The flag array represents control of vehicular crossing points.

6. The Germans start with a small toehold but will be hard-pressed to reinforce it across the stream. However, their infantry has considerably more AT capability in the form of PSKs, so they have less to fear from the Soviet AFVs.

Brent Pollock

July 01, 2004

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Axis Briefing

OPERATIONAL BRIEFING: Your battalion was supposed to be in Siebenbürgen by now, but you've wound up instead here in Poland. Confusion has arisen between the HQs of Totenkopf and 4th Luftwaffe division. The upshot is that a small sylvan town on the divisional boundary has been left completely unoccupied. Corps HQ has received permission to waylay your unit en route to the "8.SS-Kav.Div. Florian Geyer". You have been temporarily attached to "3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf" to plug the gap.

MISSION: Occupy and hold the town & vehicular fording points. You are authorised to demolish the bridge at your discretion. If sufficient armour support accrues, assist it in counterattacking eastward out of town.

INTELLIGENCE: Expect to repulse the lead elements of a Guards Cavalry Regt. Enemy armour is also reported in the area. The weather, of course, precludes air activity.

FORCES:

- on map

- Coy A (SS Cav)

- on the right flank, in a couple of minutes at the earliest, if they navigate the bush successfully

- Coy B (SS Cav)

- about five minutes down the road westward

- Coy C & Btn HQ (-) (SS Cav)

- 2 x SS tank platoons (expect delays due to wet roads)

- 1 x SS AG platoon (expect delays due to wet roads)

CONTACT: Russian voices; ~50 m east of your line of furthest advance! No vehicular noise.

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Allied Briefing

OPERATIONAL BRIEFING: We are resuming our push westward, ever closer to the Nazi heartland. The reconnaissance section reports that there is a small town slightly off our planned route of march, and, amazingly, it is unoccupied as of last night. This is likely because it is in the midst of very marshy terrain, and is not near any other towns, which is why we didn't plan on going that route. However, we have found a rough path suitable for our tanks to move across, and we plan on seizing this opportunity.

MISSION: Your battalion from the "121st Guards Cav. Regt." is to secure the town & vehicular fording points. You are not, repeat - not - authorised to demolish the bridge as it is needed to expedite the advance of our armour [you may not bring it under direct tank fire nor use DCs against it; however, you may still use OBA in its vicinity]. Once sufficient armour support from "43rd Guards Tank Div."

has accrued, assist it in progressing westward past the village.

INTELLIGENCE: A runner has just reported that a battalion of non-mechanised SS infantry is headed toward town, but will likely not arrive in time to set up a coherent defence. We are near the operational zone of "3.SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf", so expect enemy armour. The weather, of course, precludes air activity.

FORCES:

- on map

- Coy A (Guards Cav (+))

- on the left flank, in a couple of minutes at the earliest, if they navigate the bush successfully

- Coy B (Guards Cav (+))

- about five minutes down the road eastward

- Coy C & Btn HQ (+) (Guards Cav)

- 2 x Guards tank platoons (expect delays due to wet roads)

- 1 x Guards AG platoon (expect delays due to wet roads)

CONTACT: German voices; ~50 m west of your line of furthest advance! No vehicular noise.

[Brent Pollock]

July 04, 2004 version:

- modified German Yellow zone

- changed Deep to Shallow fords between bridge and road ford

- replaced scattered trees west of Main Hall with Small Building; still no LOS to ford/bridge from upper story of Main Hall

Also, I have just loaded two new versions, one for each "vs AI" match up:

vs Allied AI

vs Axis AI

[russellmz]

also posted in the main cmbb forum:

it was a fun game but i had some comments:

SPOILERS!!!

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highlight to make them show up.

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axis ai vs russkie me.

my plan was for me to sit back and let the germans come at me. i figured any points i lost for not exiting would be made up for by the germans losing a greater number trying to exit. a little gamey maybe...

i set up a defense and had my guys start walking. then the next turn more guys appeared! i was a bit miffed that i had to plot more troop movements so soon. even more troops were to arrive. arghhh...

my defense held up well, i had a lot of commanders with extra command/combat abilities. the factory was my main redoubt. the germans put up a stiff fight. the forest at the left was a blood bath. luckily, the reinforcements walked moved there just in time, so maybe the immediate reinforcement timing was a good thing...

after holding off the germans with some major ammo expenditure, i managed to get my crack arty spotters up front. i was reckless with one of them and he was killed, the other managed to drop good fire on the germans on the far bank.

at the same time tanks kept rushing towards me. my reinforcement russian tanks were moved into position between the houses and directly opposite the rightmost bridge. after some major explosions, i eventually got almost a 2:1 kill ratio in tanks, mostly due to the germans rushing the rightmost bridge.

i had fun in the scenario. i didn't get much use out of my anti-tank rifles and snipers since the viewing range was so short.

i only got a draw since i gamily didn't try to exit, assuming the germans had units that would have to exit (there was that exit sign for the germans). i think you mentioned in you briefing spoiler section about that. (i lost ~3000 points from units not exiting, the germans had ~3000 points lost from casualties)

maybe fewer reinforcements? i kept getting annoyed that i had more guys to adjust right after i did a major unit plotting. my guys managed to walk in just in time, so i don't know how much you want to fool with the timing or the map.

is it necessary to make my units exit?

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[Brent Pollock]

[Oops - I should've come here before the CMBB board, where I first saw the comments and posted this reply]

Possible SPOILERS

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I kept the ENEMY EXIT setting ON just to mess with your head for the first playing; obviously this decreases the replay value, but I'm primarily interested in making it Two Player. I made the two "vs AI" versions because I had a personal need to try them out that way. The non-AI AFVs are set to Should Exit for Points as a balancing mechanism: the more AFVs you get, the more the onus is on you to carry the fight [i checked - if they don't arrive, you don't suffer their non-Exit penalty]. In the AI versions, their AFVs don't have to Exit as it doesn't seem realistic to have the AI try to do this. Also, the AI balance mechanism is two-fold:

1. increase the probability of having their AFVs show up;

2. add another company of infantry at the road inlet.

What AFV platoons did you have show up? I'm currently in the midst of running through the "vs Axis AI" too, and have received the captured Panther platoon, but nothing else. They've accounted for 3 x SU-85, 1 x Pz V and 1 x Tank?, but have done so partially by good luck rather than good management; the SS Panther fired first and missed mine twice before I dinged it on the first shot. Another Panther has dodged a couple of PSK shots and survived one hit.

I'm considering having the German AI start with their Btn HQ company on the map, rather than showing up on turn 2.

What happened at the minor crossing over on your left?

I've found the "vs Allied AI" version to be a bit more of a challenge, mainly due to the terrain skewing.

Originally posted by russellmz:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />“Free to Place Units” rather than the “Stick to Scenario Default” that I originally planned on.

figures, the one time i switched the setting it would be wrong.

anyway, it was a fun game but i had some comments:

SPOILERS!!!

[snipped by Brent]

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[Brent Pollock]

Tooz has kindly posted a discussion of his experience playing the "vs Allied AI" version. It can be found here (beware spoilers) at the Proving Grounds.