Designers Notes: ROW IV - Squeezing the Melon

[jwxspoon]

SPOILERS CONTAINED THROUGHOUT THIS THREAD. IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY THIS BLIND, DO NOT READ FURTHER.

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I designed this scenario with a specific tactical situation in mind. What I wanted was a German prepared defense upon one side of the river, and a conventional allied attack in difficult terrain on the other side of the river. I also wanted to exhibit two other variables, first the type of stupid orders the German high command gave throughout the defense of occupied Europe (ie - Hold the bridge to the last man, do not destroy the bridge, etc.) and the type of non-linear thinking that defines the very best (and all too often discarded) out of the box ideas that the allies thought up during the war. Of course, we all know that the allies certainly had no monopoly on successful subterfuge, but for my design purposes it fits for the scenario.

I decided that an airborne attack would fit the bill nicely and designed the scenario around a surprise flanking attack. My perceived flow of the battle was such:

1. Allies begin frontal attack on the town. Germans hit the recon/forward elements of the Allied forces and bloody their noses a bit. While the battle rages, early on in favor of the Germans (from a psychological point at the very least) the paratroopers sneak up to the German rear.

2. Allied paratroopers hit the bridge rear areas hard. Confusion is rampant among the Germans, even panic. Germans are now caught between a pincer with their retreat blocked and superior forces attacking. The Allies should get the upper hand and slowly take the village.

3. German reinforcements arrive. A smart German player will have noticed the keyhole LOS I set up and will deploy his Panther in the rear to cover the bend in the road of the allied attack. Long range fire from a virtually unkillable Panther will help win the day. The other German tanks and the infantry should advance to retake the German side of the bridge. The opposing sides should meet in the middle and fight it out, with the victor holding the bridge and winning the scenario. Thus the 'pendulum' of the battle should swing first to the Germans, then to the Americans, then to the middle for the endgame.

Testing: We tested this scenario repeatedly, with somewhat strange results. I found that the Americans were so psychologically damaged by early losses, the fear of the unknown (there must be german at's around every tree) that in several cases there was an American surrender early in the game. Originally I had two sandbagged AA positions on the bridge and they were fearsome in their ability to destroy the lighter American vehicles.

After initial testing I reduced the Germans forces by about 20%. Still, this scenario is very dependent upon the skill of the attacker. I have found that a skillful attacker in this scenario will almost always win with the force balance as it stands in the tournament version. An attacker that does not have a long ranged, proactive plan, or is uncoordinated, or lets a few early losses get in the way of a virtually overwhelming allied frontal assault will get bogged down. Hence a couple of the surprising total victories by the axis in this one.

I expected that the allies would win roughly 70% of the battles.

PLANNED CHANGES: For balance purposes I plan to make the following changes in the scenario.

1. I will beef up the German forces slightly. I will add back the second AA gun, and add a 75mm infantry gun. I will expand the setup zones slightly to allow the German player to setup some of his allied-side-of-the-bridge forces on the other side of the bridge if he so chooses. I will keep the low quality rear area troops padlocked as they are. I will probably add a pair of MG42's to be placed where the defender desires.

2. I will fix the briefing to eliminate the incorrect cardinal direction refernces. Don't know what I was thinking on that one, possibly a freudian slip on my part.

3. I will adjust the briefings to add exact oob of reinforcements and their time of arrival.

I hope you all enjoyed the scenario and found it worthy of play. I did not design this scenario to be balanced; I wanted a desperate defense on the part of the Germans. I knew that it would take a very skillful deender to even eke out a draw on a good attacking opponent.

Thank you all for your excellent AAR's.

Best regards,

Jeff

[Kanonier Reichmann]

G'day Jeff, great scenario which I thought fitted the ROW style superbly. Unfortunately my experience was somewhat tarnished by not being able to complete the last 15 turns before the deadline but it was very enjoyable up to that point.

I just thought I'd point out that your Allied briefing already mentioned (from memory) that there were two Flak guns defending the bridge so I was perplexed when I couldn't locate the 2nd Flak gun after much furtive hunting around.

Overall the scenario was based on a great premise with lots of flexibility required in handling ones forces to achieve a victory.

Regards

Jim R.

[Melnibone]

Jeff

Thanks for that extra info - great battle - would like to play again now - but I guess it does not work too well second time.

I've just completed another one of yours - ROWIII The Christmas Battle - PBEM as Axis - what a blast that was - highly recommended - a real brawl in the snow!

Anyway thanks for the great work.

[Richie]

3. I will adjust the briefings to add exact oob of reinforcements and their time of arrival.

Best regards,

Jeff [/QB]

I always like a little mystery in the briefing. It adds to the rollercoaster ride!

[Brent Pollock]

I can second The Christmas Battle: I played as the Allies and had a wild time :cool:

Originally posted by Melnibone:

Jeff

Thanks for that extra info - great battle - would like to play again now - but I guess it does not work too well second time.

I've just completed another one of yours - ROWIII The Christmas Battle - PBEM as Axis - what a blast that was - highly recommended - a real brawl in the snow!

Anyway thanks for the great work.

[jwxspoon]

Don't know if any of you ever played my ROW2 scenario "Fire on the Mountain". I am in the process of converting it to CMAK and revising it as my next project, followed by a huge Caen battle.

jw

[John Kettler]

Jeff,

For the sake of future Allied players in Squeezing the Melon, let's hope their opponents aren't of Ace Pilot's caliber. With the extra German weapons in the revised version, I can virtually guarantee I would've lost. As it was, it was an uphill fight all the way, with the terrain and LOS acting to both channelize and blunt much of my combat power, while maximizing the Germans'. Luckily for me, I found a solution to the keyholed Panther--barely in time to execute it. Details are in my AAR.

It took every trick I could come up with, and lots of AFV and softskin losses, to finally get past Dead Man's Curve. Given what I went through, I can well understand the Allied morale failures you describe. Came close myself.

The map was beautiful, but I hated the cliff face foxholes. Talk about expensive real estate to capture! Infantry losses were terrible, and I lost several AFVs, too, while trying to bring firepower to bear on the steep face of the slope.

As for Fire on the Mountain, it still gives me chills, let alone rereading my AAR. It was the distilled essence of the Up Front cartoon in which Wille asks Joe while peering down into the valley through which they came, "You mean we was there and they was here?" I don't remember my score offhand, but I remember feeling totally wrung out by the time it was over.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Mad Russian]

Jeff, excellent scenario. This was my hands down favorite in the tournament. My opponent also was very good. I ambushed his armor on the bridge with my paratroopers. I killed the Panther with a paratrooper and a bazooka.

Talk about surprised!! :eek:

He was surprised!!

I too would be very careful of adding too many more Germans to this mix. I kept my paratroopers back until the German reinforcements arrived and then killed German tanks with them.

I lost heavily to the German infantry though in an ill advised charge against the houses once I opened up. Should have just poured fire into the houses... :mad:

The scenario hinged on Dead Man's Curve and I too lost a lot of light AFV's getting past it.

Great effort.

Panther Commander