AAR (Spoilers): Russian Training 112

[civdiv]

Ok, here's my attempt at an AAR for The Russian Training Scenario 112.

TURN ONE

Turn 1; A slightly non-traditional set-up. Going from left to right, I have the Infantry platoon that started set-up on the left. I’ve attached the mortar section and the arty FO to them. They will push for the left flank, and try to roll up the flag from the left. I expect to ‘stonk’ the German positions that I expect to encounter with artillery once the FO is in the woods at the limits of the shown movement. In the middle I took a away 2 of the squads from the second platoon, and then reinforced them with a MG section. This group will try and get into the building and the scattered trees, and begin to do rushes to get closer to the flag. The MG with lay suppressive fire. The other 2 squads went to the company commander at the extreme right. He also gets the last MG section. They will push up from the two buildings, towards the flag, with the MG supplying suppressing fire.

TURN THREE

Turn 3; Ok, one issue has reared it’s head, and it’s due to my not understanding all of the rules. The arty FO is not only out of command, he isn’t even tracing a command line to anyone. It sort of looks like he isn’t even in the company, so he’s going to be trouble, especially as he is a conscript. I assume it’s a scenario design thing, were he only represents the prep bombardment. I may have really screwed myself. I plotted the left side of the battlefield anticipating hitting resistance there, but I had also planned on moving the arty once enemy units started popping up. It looks like I won’t have the option of changing the arty location. I’ve only started this scenario once or twice, and I’ve never played this far, so I’m not sure where the enemy will pop up. I had hoped to ‘spring the door’ on the left with the artillery, and then shifting it near the flag.

TURN FOUR

Turn 4; Ok, I took fire and I have no idea from where. I assume it’s somewhere on the right as my mg section, straggling a bit in the middle, was pinned. I heard the firing of an MG-42, but I didn’t see any tracers, nor did I take any casualties. My arty FO continues to bemuse me. He is highlighted and he is now routing. I’m really thinking he is in the game just for the prep bombardment. So I guess I will get 5 salvos of arty in 2 turns around the house. It’s a wide pattern, so hopefully it will crack the door on the left side, and then I can roll up the flag from 2 sides. But this is not going the way I had hoped. My left most squad got slightly out of command range, so he has to advance to contact rather than advance, as I have most of the other squads doing. My mortar section is going to start dropping smoke as soon as we start taking fire from around the flag. I’m thinking there is still an MG-42 there, as there was in the two previous scenarios. He will also serve to blind the other distant MG, if it is still where it was for the last scenario. I really have no idea what sort of force I am facing. If it’s much more than an infantry platoon with 2 MG-42s, than I am in trouble. One tank, or even a halftrack, and everything would be fine. This is the first scenario I have even wished for a bren gun carrier.

TURN FIVE

Turn 5; Well, the best thing I can say is no casualties…., yet. Three enemy units have popped up. Yes, the 2 MG-42s appear to be in the same two locations they were in the last scenario. There is also what appears to be an infantry squad near where the artillery will go I next turn. All are sound contacts, so who knows where they really are. The squad on the left all have covered arcs set on the small building and the surrounding woods. They are all advancing, except for 1 squad that is like 7.4 inches out of command range. My arty FO is broken, but the artillery is still going in. My mortar is pinned, which really screws up my plan, as I would love to screen my right flank with smoke, to keep the distant MG-42 from chewing me to pieces. I have area fire set for my left-most squads on the small building, and on my right most squad and one mg section on the trench. My other MG is still trying to get to the house in the center of the picture. I’m taking a calculated risk as two of my leaders are running this turn to get closer to their squads. Hopefully in a minute or so more inviting targets for the MGs will present themselves, so my mortar can finally get into position on the left, and start spewing smoke and/or suppression on the mgs.

TURN SIX

Turn 6; Well, the first casualties. The squad to the right of center took 2 casualties last turn. That’s it so far. The arty will go in in 3 seconds, just beyond the small house on the far left. My mortar is still pinned, He’s the guy with no movement orders just above the selected units name in the info box. I could REALLY use him right now. The MG-42 that has now disappeared, but that is near the fence, next to the scattered trees, at the top right of the picture has been almost exclusively shooting at the mortar team. Hopefully this turn the arty will suppress the heck out of the enemy on the left, and allow my platoon there to get into the woods, and come in behind the flag. I’m a little worried about the artillery since I requested a ‘wide sheaf’. My lead squad on the left is still about 100 meters from the center of the impacts, so we’ll see. Oh, my second MG section, the unit with the ‘move’ command in the middle of the picture, is under control again. Hopefully next turn he can start to either suppress the MG at the flag, or start dueling the long range MG.

TURN SEVEN

Turn 7; My artillery is churning up the left, and fire has dropped to almost nothing. I have to be careful for another turn and a half as the arty will continue to hit the area. My platoon is going to creep up as close as possible. Still just the 2 casualties from a turn or so ago. My mortar remains pinned, which is really getting to be a pain. But, all together, I think things are going well. But I really haven’t seen the enemy strength yet. I figure there has got to be an infantry platoon out there, probably on my left. And I would have assumed I would have taken indirect fire by now, if they had a mortar.

TURN EIGHT

Turn 8; I took 2 more casualties in 2 different squads. The highlighted unit is my one broken unit. I have a couple pinned. The artillery continues to go in on my left, and I have 2 sounds contacts there. I still have no solid contacts yet, which is a pain. My mortar is finally pinned such that he is taking orders, so he will begin suppressing the trench near the flag, once he gets set-up. I slid one squad from the platoon on the left to the right. The platoon leader in the center will pick him up this turn (hopefully). My 2 mg section are now in business and busy suppressing the trench. Assuming my platoon on the left can clear out those woods, in conjunction with the artillery (which will continue to impact for another turn), we should be in good shape to roll up the flag from the front and the rear.

[ January 23, 2006, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: civdiv ]

[civdiv]

So which format works better; putting the image right in the msg or just posting the thumbnail link? Maybe this is a better question for the moderator's; which method would you prefer?

Again, I am assembling a Powerpoint document of this AAR if anyone is interested. And, again, I can format it so it's a self-extreacting slide show so you don't need Powerpoint to view.

And yes, I know. I've alreayd made some mistakes. Especially with the arty spotter.

[Pirx]

Thanks I love AARs like this. I got hammered the first time I played this one, then won on the second try with only 5 casualties! It's amazing how some simple adjustments to an attack plan can lead to widely disparate results.

Are you taking casualties from the MG or from your own artillery? I wouldnt be surprised if you got some friendly fire, especially if you used the 'target wide' command.

I am surprised your mortar got spotted and pinned. Are you moving him? I had better success leaving him hidden in the trees where he had a view of all three potential enemy strongposts.

Good luck!

[civdiv]

TURN NINE

Turn 9; Well, following Russian military tradition, a short round landed literally a couple of feet from one of my squads, inflicting 3 casualties and sending them into a rout. Yes, it was a wide sheaf, but it landed over 120 meters from the aim point. This is the squad at the far left edge of the map. Hopefully they won’t rout off the map, and *maybe* I can get them back under control. Now that 4 German units are positively id’d, three squads on the left plus the MG-42 in the trench, I suddenly find myself outnumbered on the left flank. The 1 squad that I shifted from the left to the middle, I am attempting to shift back to the left, to bring that platoon up to 3 squads. My mortar team should finally go into action now, and hopefully they can get some tree bursts on the German squad on the far left. One MG section will try and suppress the German squad in the small building on the far left, while the other targets the MG-42 in the trench. I also have the last 6 rounds of my arty coming in on the far left, so maybe they will do some damage to the enemy, and not anymore to me. This will be a key turn; either I will suppress the German infantry platoon on the left and continue to push forward, or my platoon there will be broken and fleeing by next turn. The middle platoon continues to push towards the trench. All-in-all things are alright. I have the one routed unit on the left, and a panic’d unit near the scattered trees in the middle on the right. My company commander is within spitting distance, so maybe they will get back in the fight.

TURN TEN

Turn 10; Well, I’m down one squad as the squad on the left that was hit by my own arty has routed off the map. Now I may be in trouble. The last arty barrage landed no where near the enemy, so it’s a toe-to-toe fight on the left. I’m taking a risk and not even targetting the German squad in the woods at 1-o’clock from the small building on the left. It looks like the German squad in the building is pretty suppressed, so I may be able to push a squad into there in a couple of turns. And the mortar continues to suppress the German squad on the far left, in the trees. The key may end up just pinning the German’s on the left, and continuing to push the right flank into the trench. I have a whole platoon, plus an MG section raking the trench, and a couple of squads are getting close. If I can break the German MG and take the trench, I should be able to pile on the German infantry platoon on the left, and take the victory.

TURN ELEVEN

Turn 11; Well, now my MG on the far right has jammed, and the 2 German mgs really tore up my squad on the right. All are pinned, shaken, and in one case, broken. They are just going to have to get calmed down, and the two leaders on that side are in close proximity, so hopefully they will get back in the fight soon. One thing I did add after this screenshot was taken, is with my mg out of action, I am going to move them up to the scattered trees. On the left we have broken the squad in the building, so I will continue to hammer the squad on the left with mortar fire, and small arms against the squad behind the building. Right now I can’t afford to spare units to fire on the broken squad. The lone squad that I have been switching back and forth between the platoons is now broken. The MG-42 in the trench took advantage of the let-up in fire from my MG section (due to it jamming), and raked them last turn.

TURN TWELVE

Turn 12; I zoomed in a bit as my units are getting a bit closer together. The move line shown in the lower righthand corner is my jammed MG section moving up. I know, they can’t clear the jam while moving, but time to move them in to be a bit more effective. The white line coming from the left side is the smoke command for my mortar section. I need to screen the German MG-42 in the trench to get some relief for my shaken and panicking platoon. And I’ve shifted the fire from my second MG section in the forefront of the picture, in the light building, to target the infantry squad in the woods. One platoon on the far left is almost to the light building. The other is still providing covering fire, and trying to get their themselves. The battle still remains balanced on a pinhead.

TURN THIRTEEN

Turn 13; Ok, things are not going well. Another squad on the left was broken from a burst from the infantry in the squad, and routed back and forth for the majority of the turn, taking casualties every time they were fired at. They would run in one direction, take a casualty, and run in another direction, and take another, etc. They ran back and forth at least 4 times. So they are down to 5 men, and probably out of the fight. My mortar section disobeyed orders, and refused to drop smoke. Someone might say that they are out of command, so what do I expect? Well, they were broken on about turn 4 by a burst of MG fire from like 1000 meters away, w/o taking a casualty. At the time they were in command. They then stayed broken for at least 5 more turns. I simply couldn’t leave a leader behind to tend to them. My mg on the far right is still jammed. I now have 2 squads in the craters near the trench at the flag. Hopefully they will start to lay down some effective fire and suppress that MG-42. It has seemed impervious to everything I could throw at it. Hopefully the 2 squads in the craters can suppress it sufficient to get my other 2 squads up close, and I can take the flag before time runs out.

TURN FOURTEEN

Turn 14; Well, my advance on the left has fallen apart. First I had the 1 squad rout off the map after a friendly artillery round landed over 120 meters from the aim point. But then Murphy says; ‘Friendly fire isn’t friendly’. And Murphy is always in your OOB. Now another routed squad has fled off the map. So I’m down to one squad with 9 men, and my leader is down to 1 man. I do have their 3rd squad back in the area, but they are shaken right now. One German squad (The one on the far left in the trees), has shrugged off a 30 round arty barrage plus all of the HE from my mortar section. They continue to riddle the remnants of my platoon. Now that my mortar section is out of HE maybe they will follow orders and dump some smoke to shield my platoon going after the flag. My second MG section is back in action and targeting the MG-42 in the trench. One squad took a burst from the distant MG-42, and they are busy running away. I think my force morale is down to around 70%. Maybe, just maybe, I can keep the MG-42s head down in the trench, and with some cover from the smoke, get into the trench and take the flag. Maybe.

TURN FIFTEEN

Turn 15; Well, this one is going down the tubes. My squad on the left is down to 6 men and panic’d. The German squad in the trees just refuses to let up, despite hundreds of pounds of HE and god knows how much small arms fire. And the smoke and small arms fire has done little to calm the fire from the 2 German MG-42s. One squad (shown by the lack line at the bottom right) is broken. They haven’t taken a casualty, but they have run like rabbits. Another squad, right next to my leader, in the middle of the screen, is likewise broken. And the 2 squads in the craters refuse to respond to the efforts of the company commander, who is only a few meters away. My MGs continue to fire, to little affect. And another German squad has popped up on the left. I know I’ve made some mistakes. But considering I have less than a 2-1 advantage in numbers, and whose troop quality is significantly better than mine, and I’m advancing over open ground against a dug-in opponent, this is a tough little battle. The arty FO and the mortar section is a major force multiplier, but it is more than negated by the German MG-42s, versus my MG sections. Well, we’ll see what happens here. 5 minutes left, and still a chance.

TURN SIXTEEN

Turn 16; Still pushing in the center. I still have a broken squad off the picture to the lower right. And it still has 12 men!! Another broken squad is in the middle of the picture. They broke right next to my leader, and then refused to rally over the last 2 turns. My mortar unit, off the picture to the left is firing their last round, and HE. One squad on the right is trying to get to one of the closer craters. Not much more to do other than let this thing play out.

AT THIS POINT I AM JUST GOING TO LET IT RUN. THER IS NOT MUCH TACTICAL SUBTLETY LEFT.

[civdiv]

TURN 20

Turn 20; WOW!!!! One squad advanced close enough to the flag to grab control on the LAST TURN to grab a minor victory. I guess the fact that I had attritted the MG-42 by 2 men, and then it was panicked, was enough for my squad to exert enough control to grab the flag. Talk about a close victory.

End of game; As you can see, I took about 3 times more casualties. But that’s the nature of the East Front. The Russians take a bunch of casualties, but gain ground. And I learned a lot. I’m pretty sure I could get at least a moderate victory with what I have learned. And if this thing had gone 25 turns, I might have been routed off the field of battle.

[civdiv]

Originally posted by Pirx:

Thanks I love AARs like this. I got hammered the first time I played this one, then won on the second try with only 5 casualties! It's amazing how some simple adjustments to an attack plan can lead to widely disparate results.

Are you taking casualties from the MG or from your own artillery? I wouldnt be surprised if you got some friendly fire, especially if you used the 'target wide' command.

I am surprised your mortar got spotted and pinned. Are you moving him? I had better success leaving him hidden in the trees where he had a view of all three potential enemy strongposts.

Good luck!

Yeah, I was moving the mortar and he got nailed from like a 1000 meters by the distant MG-42. He didn't take any casualties but that took him out of the fight for a while. I only took the 3 casualties from my own arty, but it ended up being 12 as the squad promptly ran off the map. But the wide sheaf was a mistake. If I had concentrated it on the hex I had targetted, it SHOULD have cleared out the flank.

Hmm, what did I learn?

Keeping the spotter, who is a conscript, from pre-planning fires is a real dilemna. I'd like to have more flexibility, but the guy is a real wuss. I mean, he stayed broken THE ENTIRE battle, and he took like one long range burst from the distant MG-42 on like the 4th turn of the game. Luckily I had the pre-planned fires, otherwise I wouldn't have had anything at all.

If I had to do it again, I would concentrate everything either in the middle or on the left. There is no point in going right as you end up having to deal with the distant MG-42. But rather than spreading out, I'd concentrate everything in one spot. These green troops are just too brittle. If you spread them out, you WILL end up losing a squad or two, and then you don't have enough left in the platoon to achieve sufficient suppression to move forward.

Keep the mortar team close, and in command. He broke right in the beginning and he wasn't of much use. If I had kept him near a leader, he might have been more responsive.

But all-in-all, not knowing the enemy strength, not having a sufficient advantage in numbers (not even a 2-1 ratio, when 3-1 is desired against a dug-in opponent), and facing vastly superior quality troops, I feel very satisfied at having eaked out a victory.

[JasonC]

Um, you do have over 3 to 1 odds. There are 40 men in the German force and 130 in the Russian.

You screwed up the fire mission royally. It has to be called on turn 1 - you managed that - but there is no reason to use a wide sheaf on targets and map this small. In addition, the aim point was way too close to your own positions. Remember, half the rounds will land in front of the aim point, half behind it - about.

With a wide order, 120m is nothing, many rounds will land 200m from the aim point. That is what "wide" means. If you use normal, most will land 60m short or long and 20m right or left, with about a third landing more like 100m long or short and 50m right or left.

The right aim point is the trees on the right side of that left position, so that shorts hit the house area and longs still hit woods. As for the timing, you can Q delay it to 5 minutes or so, or make it a bit earlier.

You also mis-used the 82mm. First you moved it, which is unnecessary since there is cover in the set up zone, and easy LOS from places there or from HQs within command distance farther forward. Second, you fired the HE at full squads. It is much more effective against the HMGs, particularly the one in the trench which you have little other means of harming at long range. You also left it on one target, which is a waste. It pins or panics in the first minute (maybe 2 for the HMG in a trench), after that you are wasting ammo hitting the same guy. Instead put an MG on the already pinned unit to slow or stop rally, and use the 82mm HE on a different target. If you put one minute on the HMG on the far right and 2 minutes on the HMG in the trench, you can pin both, and still have a little HE and the smoke left for contingencies.

Last, you misused the company HQ, putting him on the far right with only 2 squads, when he can command everyone in range. He belongs with the main body or in the center. That way units that fall out of command of a platoon can come under his.

Now, those 3 are your strongest and most important units - the FO has the greatest firepower, the 82mm has the greatest precision and range on the map, and the HQ can coordinate the whole attack when used properly.

You also advanced before letting the barrage land. You should be safely in cover as it comes in, everybody rallied and rested. Guys on the right can move out as the 82mm hits things. Guys on the left follow the barrage by starting their advance the minute it is ending. MGs and occasionally a squad left back in cover can provide pinning fire, one unit each, on enemies the HE weapons have already hurt, to slow rally.

This one is a cakewalk if you use the assets properly, for their intended combined arms role.

[Pirx]

Looks like you snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! Comrade Stalin will probably overlook the heavy casualties...

With a 1941 conscript spotter, you are stuck with pre-planned bombardments only. For kicks, I checked what the spotter response time would be. It was 23 minutes! Because you can't adjust the pre-planned bombardment, there is no way to "walk" the barrage ahead of your advance. If you want more flexible artillery plans, buy CMAK and play as the Americans. You can't do it with Russians.

You might want to try putting your overwatch heavy weapons (ie mortar and HMGs) in cover in places with a wide field of view and leave them there, blasting away, without moving them. Moving them prevents them from firing and also attracts enemy fire. If they can spot the enemy, they can put firepower on him, even from 100s of meters away. Only move them if the line of sight to the enemy is lost, not to get closer if the enemy is already in view.

If your mortar is in some woods or trees >200 m from the enemy, it is unlikely to be spotted if it doesnt move, even if it is firing. If the mortar doesnt attract enemy fire, it doesnt need an HQ to keep up morale and will happily fire away. Another option is to keep the mortar out of sight of the target and use an HQ unit to spot for it. MGs, however, will get spotted while firing, therefore inviting return fire, so it is nice to keep them in command to prevent them from breaking.

That's my advice. On the other hand, I did worse than you on my first try at 112, so take it with a grain of salt! My mistake was advancing a full strength platoon up the left flank with inadequate recon. I got ambushed in the open by the German platoon hiding in the woods and lost my whole platoon. I had already dropped my artillery in the center area around the flag and inflicted some friendly fire due to poor timing. Major defeat was the result. On my second attempt, I got the timing right and advanced both platoons up the middle toward the flag, then swung left and took out the German platoon. On the second try I had a major victory 94%-6%.

[civdiv]

jasonc,

I didn't notice the total numbers, I was looking at units. Yes, I guess the Russian units are bigger than the German units. When I mentioned the lack of a 2-1 ratio, I was thinking of 2 platoons versus 1 platoon, and 2 MG sections versus 2 MG sections. So yes, I had a 3-1 ratio in troops, but still inferior troops. I'd almost rather have a platoon of regulars than 2 platoons of green guys. Well maybe.

I had assumed the purpose of the spotter was for the prep fire. And I was wrong to fire an 'open sheaf'. But there is no mention of the sizes of the sheafs in the manual, so this was how I found out about it. And I am a bit more used to CMBO and CMAK. Now I know. And I hadn't read the part about not being ale to adjust pre-planned fire until after I had done it. So, yes, another learning point. Your points are well taken. My purpose was just to get the arty mission in, and then play with it as the enemy showed up. Obviously in CMBB you can't do that.

In regards to the mortar, I was just trying to keep him up with the troops. I knew I wasn't going to have anything but sound contacts for the first third of the game (or I assumed as much), and I'm not going to expend my limited HE ammo on them. So 6 of one, half dozen of another. The mortar was panic'd by the first burst from an mg over 1000 meters away. And he stayed that way for several turns. And if he can see the target, the target can see him. But in regards to expending all of my ammo on one target; guilty. I should have spread things out. But I will point out that 29 rounds of HE on one target resulted in....., nothing. Not a casualty, and not a pin. Nothing. And that's in trees where I should be able to get at least a couple of air bursts. That German squad, despite the mortar and despite taking fire, from at times, 2 almost full strength squads, modified by a +1 leader, didn't even get pinned the entire game. Just Murphy I guess.

In regards to the company commander, it's sort of a tough decision. I understand the concept of the longer command range. But it's a strange collection of leaders in this scenario. I have these two platoon leaders with great combat modifiers, almost like 7-2 leaders. Or I have this other guy, who is essentially a 7-0, but he has some reach. I know it's sort of a learning point, and that's the purpose, but shouldn't 2 platoon commanders with these great leadership modifiers be more than green? The same with the company commander.

And I never really needed the extra command range. Most of the squads that broke were within the command range of the company commander. And he was the only one of my commanders who actually broke. Shoot, one of my leaders was down to 1 man, virtually surrounded by the enemy, and he never broke. If I had to do it again I would have kept him a little closer to the middle. And he would have helped with the mortar. But, again, here's a mortar broken by one burst from an MG over 1000 meters away.

And that's another game system question. If the company commander breaks, are the negative affects of this breaking on other units increased by his extra command range? I mean, since he can affect units further away, due to his extra command range, does this mean his negative affects also go further than a leader w/o this extra command range?

And, does a leader utilize his own modifyers on his own actions? Does the leader with the morale bonus also use this modifier for his own morale checks? I just have so many questions and the manual is really missing a lot of info.

Oh, how come, if given the choice, the German MGs ALWAYS fire at MGs, FOs, and mortars, even when they are hundreds of meters away, and cannot possibly tell what type of unit it is?

But your points are well taken. And I have learned a lot. And I'm sure I would do much better if I tried it again. I appreciate you taking the time to put these together. I've learned a lot from these scenarios.

P.S. Oh, like in 110, do any more of the units need to be reoriented or anything in any of the other scenarios?

[ January 24, 2006, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: civdiv ]

[civdiv]

Originally posted by Pirx:

Looks like you snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! Comrade Stalin will probably overlook the heavy casualties...

With a 1941 conscript spotter, you are stuck with pre-planned bombardments only. For kicks, I checked what the spotter response time would be. It was 23 minutes! Because you can't adjust the pre-planned bombardment, there is no way to "walk" the barrage ahead of your advance. If you want more flexible artillery plans, buy CMAK and play as the Americans. You can't do it with Russians.

You might want to try putting your overwatch heavy weapons (ie mortar and HMGs) in cover in places with a wide field of view and leave them there, blasting away, without moving them. Moving them prevents them from firing and also attracts enemy fire. If they can spot the enemy, they can put firepower on him, even from 100s of meters away. Only move them if the line of sight to the enemy is lost, not to get closer if the enemy is already in view.

If your mortar is in some woods or trees >200 m from the enemy, it is unlikely to be spotted if it doesnt move, even if it is firing. If the mortar doesnt attract enemy fire, it doesnt need an HQ to keep up morale and will happily fire away. Another option is to keep the mortar out of sight of the target and use an HQ unit to spot for it. MGs, however, will get spotted while firing, therefore inviting return fire, so it is nice to keep them in command to prevent them from breaking.

That's my advice. On the other hand, I did worse than you on my first try at 112, so take it with a grain of salt! My mistake was advancing a full strength platoon up the left flank with inadequate recon. I got ambushed in the open by the German platoon hiding in the woods and lost my whole platoon. I had already dropped my artillery in the center area around the flag and inflicted some friendly fire due to poor timing. Major defeat was the result. On my second attempt, I got the timing right and advanced both platoons up the middle toward the flag, then swung left and took out the German platoon. On the second try I had a major victory 94%-6%.

P.S. CMBB is my recent purchase, only a couple of days old. I have had CMBO for a couple of years, and CMAK for at least a year. But before last week I hadn't played any of them for around a year. Yeah, I am used to controlling US arty, not Russian.

Now I'm a turn into 200. What a weird assortment of units.

[JasonC]

Pirx said - "If you want more flexible artillery plans, buy CMAK and play as the Americans. You can't do it with Russians."

Untrue, a myth. This fight is purely map fire and moving to conform to a fire plan is the principle lesson being taught. For that purpose, a conscript 122mm gun spotter is excellent. It costs only 77 points, and gets 30 very powerful shells for that bargain price. With map fire, response time simply is not an issue, so you can get the shells cheaply. But this is only one way the Russians use their artillery.

The other way is reactive fire from regular quality FOs of regiment level or below. The best of them is the 120mm mortar FO. It costs only 89 points as regulars, and gets 40 powerful shells. The response time is about 5 minutes. The way you use them is to call for the fire on a location you are advancing toward, before contact, not after you see targets. Get the time counting down. As targets appear, wait until the time reaches 1 minute or so, and then make a single adjusted with a green targeting line - less than 100m. The time will bump only a minute or two. Then let a minute and change worth of shells fall, before "lifting" to a new target still within 100m. The overall time spent on the mission can be 10 minutes or more, but half of that is counted down before contact, and the other half is spent walking the shells over specific targets in the general area of the aim point. You get about 3 minutes of fire with one of these.

You can also use 76mm FOs for this, similar response time. They get 4 minutes and 100 shells, but each is much smaller than the 120mm. I find them less effective, but they can mess up attacking infantry in modest cover well enough. TRPs can also help defenders hit attackers faster. Last, the 82mm mortar FOs, though underpowered, have low ~3 minute response times (being battalion level weapons). I prefer on-map 82s, but they are an option for reactive fire. They can also get you smoke and such. The 120s are still the standard reactive fire support for the Russians.

For prep, they can use conscript 122mm guns (rather than howitzers) - my personal favorite - or 152mm guns (20 rounds, spottier coverage as a result, but nasty ones if even one treebursts nearby), or 132mm rockets if the enemy is expected to be numerous and reasonably dense across a wide area.

"I'd rather have a platoon of regulars than 2 platoons of green guys."

I'll take the 2 greens and mop the floor with your 1 regular platoon, every day of the week and twice on Sundays. These Russian platoons have 47 men each, with 4 DP LMGs amd 4 semi-auto rifles, and 9 excellent PPsH SMGs. All with good ammo. Especially at short range, 75m or less, their firepower is massive. When firing as full platoons, the firepower is solid out to 250m. In contrast, the German squads in this scenario are small 8 man recon squads, each with one LMG and 1 SMG, the rest rifles. The LMG is the only thing they have going for them. It gives them decent firepower into open ground out to 250m, and reasonable FP in the 100-150m range window. But against 2 green 11 man squads? No chance if the fight is on even terms. Only their superior cover and the Russians' lack of it makes them formidable here.

"the mortar, I was just trying to keep him up"

The whole point of heavy weapons is they outrange ordinary infantry. They don't need to keep up, they can hit hard enough from safe distances.

"The mortar was panic'd by the first burst from an mg over 1000 meters away"

The map isn't big enough for that to be physically possible. Try 400m or so. Which is fine MG range. The whole map is within heavy weapons range. Also, all heavy weapons have set up times, and therefore cannot fire back if hit while moving. They don't like this very much. Units hit in the open are also quite likely to panic or "cover panic". Slow units have trouble getting to cover when hit in the open. For all these reasons, it is a Bad Idea to move a slow heavy weapon team over open ground in range and sight of the enemy. Especially when you do not need to.

Heavy weapons move up only through cover or "dead" ground, out of LOS entirely. If there aren't enemy in LOS, they move safely. If there are enemy in LOS, or likely enemy positions, then the heavy weapon has to the range to hit them from where it is already, and does not need to move. The moral is not to move just because everybody else is or because you think you can. You move only to get LOS to new areas. If the areas you already have LOS to aren't known to be clear of enemy, then you have work still to do from where you are, as a heavy weapons team. Their job is shooting, not charging in to close range.

"if he can see the target, the target can see him"

False. First of all, at sufficient range and firing from cover, you will give only a sound contact to the enemy, even if they have LOS to your location. Second, with mortars you don't need LOS to fire. An HQ can spot for you. So again, there isn't any excuse for getting your best on map shooter messed up early in this fight.

On the tough German squad, fanaticism is always possible. But mortaring a full squad is a waste anyway. The effect of modest HE on a team goes up as the unit size goes down. A single nearby hit will usually pin an HMG, and a minute will frequently panic them while hitting 1 man. Considering how much the HMGs mess you up in the open - longer range, high firepower at range, remaining sound at such ranges, much higher ammo than a squad - a mortar put on an HMG gets you vastly more bang for the buck (and reduced incoming), than a mortar put on a squad.

The company commander is not "a tough decision", it is a no-brainer. You put him in the middle and your options soar. Your platoons don't have to stay as tight, you can maintain intervals more easily thus avoiding pin results spread from the specific unit hit, your units can move with less worry about where the platoon HQ has made it to, etc. Two commanders for every unit are vastly better than one. There is nothing wrong with putting an HQ on the right with 2 squads, but it should have been a platoon HQ, with the company HQ in the middle. Try it a few times, you will quickly see how much more flexible the whole formation is. Because the tethers between units and HQs simply aren't rigid anymore, they are loose and replacable. Each squad can go where it wants much more readily.

As for enemy MG targeting, they can tell basic unit types. Slow teams spend more time in the open than fast ones, crossing the same area, and if in LOS for any length of time they change from "infantry?" to "team?" and sometimes "mortar?". Since those can't fire back if fired upon, they are clearly better targets. Your own MGs will do the same thing when you are defending.

[JasonC]

In 200, the "assortment" of units is simply an infantry company (3 line platoons) with supporting heavy weapons (2 sections, each 2 MMGs and ATR, one with 2 50mm mortars, the other with 1 82mm mortar), plus a platoon of T-34s, reactive fire support from 120mm mortars, and prep fire from 122s as before.

This is a typical company team for Russian combined arms with an infantry division parent, and the weapons are those you would find in a typical infantry division, with a few tanks attached (from an independent regiment or tank brigade).

In the next you get the "infantry" force type, using towed guns instead of T-34s, and increasing the artillery fire plan to compensate.

In the one after that you get the "mech" force type, meaning Mech parent division and armor CM force category. Those rely on T-34s to do most of the work, with tank riders and modest reactive fire support.

The 200 series is meant precisely to introduce you to the standard Russian force types and the weapons mixes they use. They rely on infantry heavy weapons, off board artillery, and tanks to different degrees. All can do the job.