Attempted AAR: Tactical Criticisms Welcome...

[Tux]

Hi all. I thought I'd attempt a brief AAR of one of my latest PBEM QB matches against the indomitable Steve and see if anyone had any interesting thoughts regarding my tactics/ the fight in general.

Anyway, this one spat out a Soviet assault in Finland in November 1941, and I dutifully set about purchasing my 1250pts' worth of Little Guys to halt the Communist Hordes.

After careful consideration I bought myself a regular platoon of captured T-26Ss. In retrospect, I don't know why I considered the 45mm guns they carry to be so useful - maybe 100+ HE rounds each was the attraction. I also bought 2 platoons of Jaakari '41 troops, 2 Boys ATRs, 4 Maxims and 2 OT-130 flame tanks (all regular quality). For added fire support I bought three conscript 82mm mortar spotters and 1 82mm on-map mortar. In order to try and give my few troops an added edge on whatever map I may be expected to defend, I also bought 9 trenches, 6 TRPs for the mortars, 8 AT minefields and 7 AP minefields.

In the next post I'll show the map that the game produced and my force setup.

[Tux]

Here it is:

1100m x 650m of barren moonscape.

'A' was to be my primary strongpoint, situated on high ground but centred on a deep depression in the landscape. I trenched the forward lips of the depression and occupied them with three MGs, an ATR and a Platoon HQ with a combat bonus.

A little further forward I entrenched two of the HQ's platoon squads to cover the dead ground between A and D.

At B I entrenched my other platoon in a slight depression to ambush any infantry advancing on the flag to my far left.

At C I dug a single trench and manned it with a Maxim who'd been relegated to green by the grace of God (one of the others was bumped up to veteran, so I was happy enough) and my conscript 82mm mortar team.

My three FOs were situated in foxholes at the back of the map - one in each corner and one in a rubbled building between A, B and C.

As you can see I TRPed all four significant areas of tree-based cover that the enemy may try to utilise, as well as the hilltop in the Soviet rear area, which I thought a possible location for guns or other overwatch weapons.

I flanked the far left tree patch with AT mines, and aligned the rest as far forwards as possible on the right flank. I thought he'd either try and ram a strong force along the dead ground on my left and 'roll up' my defences or he'd rumble some tanks into LOS of my forces along the right flank, in which case I hope to catch some of them out as they tried to close.

My AP mines were laid out along likely infantry advance routes. I put them 'goal side' of the sc. trees on my left to catch men as they tried to advance out of cover/ mortar fire, and in front of the woods near my centre to make it as difficult as possible for him to get into them before I decided to bring any mortar fire down. My final two fields were placed at the 'entry' to the mass of crater cover in the middle of the map.

My second ATR was laid in a crater 120m ahead of B in order to observe as much of the enemy advance as possible and button Steve's armour early.

I planned to rush my two OT-130s along with a single T-26 into the dead ground at D and attempt to keep that flank clear with a reverse slope defence at point blank range, covered by MG fire from A and C.

I put half of a green Jaakari squad onto each OT-130 to make the most of their firepower in a close-up ambush.

The rest of my T-26 platoon was hidden in the depression at A until I knew more about Steve's AT capability.

Next will be Turn 1.

[ March 19, 2008, 03:15 PM: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Tux]

On Turn 1 my advanced ambush party have successfully arrived at D and my green Jaakari are either disembarked or just about to disembark and run up to hide in some scattered trees. One thing I had forgotten was that my lone T-26 is now out of LOS to his platoon leader, and so is due at least a 45s delay for any subsequent movements until contact can be re-established.

At about 20s infantry are seen moving towards the dead ground on the left, and by the end of the minute unidentified armoured units are spotted on the far side of the peak at D. My fingers are crossed that they constitute a light armour force that can be taken care of by my ATR overwatch, some shoot 'n' scooting T-26s and two close-range Flamethrowers. I fear they would then show up as 'light armour' contacts though...?

[McIvan]

KV-Is and IIs ahoy? I hope not, but Russian early war players do seem to have an affinity for them. In fact they often seem to have nothing else......every other type of Russian tank usually seems to have urgent things to do elsewhere.

Your lead tanks are, I think you'll find, screwed without infantry support. Actually I think they're screwed even with some infantry support, but at least they'd act as a delay, and defence in depth is a good thing. By themselves they're just a speedbump.

[Tux]

We (my opponent Steve and I) abandoned 'ground rules' a while back in the interests of unpredictability. We simply have an unspoken code of honour stopping us from overloading on gamey, unbeatable tactics. For example, in a recent game I obliterated his Soviet attack with a single Sturmtiger I decided to buy. It completely caaught him by surprise and made for a very interesting fight, and he was more than happy to 'call his attack off' and get me back in the next scenario. We don't use such units very often, but I guess I've had whatever's on the far side of that crest coming for a while...

I'm hoping the lone infantry squad + two flame tanks will be enough to hit anything that gets over the crest of the hill and into LOS, but I'll have to check exactly how far my tanks can be seen from once they're in position.

That little outpost has always been intended as a temporary measure anyway; My flame tanks and token infantry hit as hard as they can (along with the HMG and ATR support) before they're taken out, and then my mortar and FOs can target anyone who makes it forwards into the trees.

[McIvan]

Oh, flame tanks...sorry, wasn't reading properly. That could be interesting. If they can hit anything in LOS then they could be a real pain in the backside for the Soviets.

Nice AAR btw, the pics are well done.

[Tux]

That's what I hoped, McIvan...

Turn 2

Two prep-fire barrages of 120mm+ are landing on my lines. One strike is hitting the centre point of the three flags in the middle of the map, which doesn't bother me at all. The second is aimed smack at the deep depression at Strongpoint A and is a problem; one shell has killed one of my T-26 commanders and another has briefly sent one of my HMG teams into a pinned state.

Elsewhere, my flame tanks have discovered that they have LOS to positions 100m away from them. Their flamethrowers have a maximum range of just 75m, so that is also going to cause me problems. Whilst they reposition to attempt to cover the reverse slope at D from two angles my green Jaakari half-squads sneak towards a small patch of trees 40m from the crest. Hopefully, by the end of Turn 3 they'll have regrouped into a single, more hardy squad.

The lone T-26 at D is counting down a long command delay before moving up the left-hand slope to engage Steve's infantry moving towards my left flank. Those units have a long way to go before they reach any cover, so even a 45mm + MG vehicle should cause them problems.

By the end of Turn 2 Soviet infantrymen have been spotted moving towards the crest at D, and have been encouraged into a run by my green Maxim at C. Normally I'd be happy for him to harass them all he can, but on this one occasion I'd rather they took their time I think; my ambush isn't quite ready!

My orders for Turn 3 are brief: I decide that my T-26 platoon leader is too precious to risk having taken out by a heavy arty shell, so I tell him to fast move to cover behind the patch of woods near the middle of my lines.

[Heinrich505]

Tux,

Keep it coming. I'm enjoying the read. As McIvan said, the accompanying pictures are real good. We can keep track of the action fairly well.

Heinrich505

[Tux]

I intend to, and thanks to you both for the encouragement. Unfortunately I won't be in a position to post any updates until next Monday or Tuesday, but when I do I'll be able to post two or three turns' worth at once, so watch this space!

[Paul AU]

Yes, enjoying it, Tux.

[stoat]

I always enjoy a CMx1 AAR, so please stick it out to the finish.

[Lanzfeld]

Hey TUX,

Does Steve come to these forums? If so...wont he see your ambush here?

[Tux]

He does visit, yes. I mentioned that I was going to be running this thread on the forums though, and obtained his honourable word that he wouldn't look at it until the fight was over.

He's an old school friend and we must have fought each other by PBEM over fifty times: he won't cheat.

Also, we've actually played the next few turns already. I'm going to be able to access them to take some screenshots on Monday evening, I hope, so expect a succession of updates then.

[John Kettler]

Tux,

I think you were wise indeed to keep your trenches away from the trees, especially the trenches containing your AT weaponry. WW II Russian field regs categorically forbade deploying antitank guns

a) at or near prominent landmarks or, near a building or trees. The former was to make it harder to locate the weapons to kill them with counterfire, while the latter was designed to prevent treebursts and their structure triggered equivalent from wiping out the guns.

Your AAR is quite clear, and not just from the screenshots, as to why you have done what you've

done, in the context of your overall battle plan.

More, please.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Tux]

Cheers JK, I appreciate it.

Turn 3

I haven't counted properly, but I think there may be two heavy FOs targetting the middle of my defence; still with zero effect. The strike hitting Strongpoint A has shaken another of my MG teams, though without causing any casualties.

Significant infantry forces have been spotted advancing towards the dead ground ahead of my left flank, and are being periodically harassed by my green Maxim at C.

At D my green Jaakari are just in position to hit the first couple of squads over the nearby crest and are given a 40m cover arc. One of the OT-130s is almost in position, but its partner and the lone T-26 are still counting down horrific command delays. I really need to get a grip on the situation at D soon, before his forces arrive en masse and catch my ambush forces with their trousers down.

[Tux]

Turn 4

The ambush arrangements are 85% complete when the Soviet point squad arrives over the crest of the hill.

Thankfully, The cover arcs on my Jaakari squad and my nearest OT-130 were well set, and both of them opened fire simultaneously at very close range, although my OT only used his MG. I didn't count any casualties caused, but the Red squad spent most of the turn in a pinned state, and didn't manage to return fire at all.

By the end of the turn tanks are again heard rumbling towards D and, given the lack of damage my forces appear to have done to the lone squad so far encountered, I'm beginning to worry about how effective this ambush is actually going to turn out to be...

My orders for Turn 5 see the two T-26s at A and the command tank (now near the middle of my lines) under Shoot 'n' Scoot instructions against whatever armoured units are first over the hill at D.

[ March 24, 2008, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Tux]

Turn 5

I get the distinct impression that Steve has timed his fire missions to overlap each other, in order to buy his men as much time as possible to advance across the open with my defences suppressed. Fortunately, none of the artillery has had any effect since Turn 2 and my MG teams are still harassing his men as they approach.

Most importantly, at D, my green troops have proven inadequate for the task required of them. At the beginning of the turn the enemy point squad was up and firing, and he readily suppressed my men. Despite covering fire (still MG only, frustratingly) from the nearby OT-130 my green squad are soon routed as first one, then two Soviet infantry units appear over the crest of the hill. The survivors run all of ten metres towards cover before they are cut down by the advancing Reds.

I take limited comfort from the fact that all three of my light armour units at D have started to hose the enemy troops with MG fire (still no flamethrower activity from the OTs!), but a second or two before the end of the minute I hear the unmistakable sound of a 76mm gun firing at one of my OTs. In the dying moments, he just has time to identify the unmistakable silhouette of a pair of T-34s as they crest the hill...

In preparation for Turn 6 I order both of my OT-130s forward and hope they can take advantage of shoddy early-war Soviet gunners to set a tank or two alight. Either way I'm now convinced that my 'ambush' forces at D are not long for this world.

[ March 24, 2008, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Wicky]

try area firing with the flame to the hill crest as the effect splashes over beyond that range.

Keep up the AAR!

[Tux]

Turn 6

Four 76mm hits in quick succession take out one of my OT-130s with a minimum of fuss. Elsewhere yet more heavy artillery is falling on my defences, and this time a direct hit on a trench at Strongpoint B causes a single casualty and pins two squads.

Also, brilliantly, my conscript 82mm mortar at the back of the map at C has decided off his own back that the tanks approaching D definitely are T-34s, and has taken it upon himself to smoke the area to buy me time.

All of my MGs are now regularly involved in fighting the advancing troops across the entire span of the map, and by the end of the Turn my mortar team's gallant efforts have done little to improve the outlook for my remaining two units at D.

With an air of resignation I 'hide' all my units at B to improve their ability to withstand near-misses, and start one of my 82mm FOs counting down for a strike on the trees at D. I start him off aiming at the crest, knowing that if I mistime it I can switch to one of the TRPs at D and have accurate fire falling at very short notice.

My general strategy has now taken a far simpler form: My single remaining flame tank will do what he can to hurt Steve's T-34s. Either way, all of the rest of my assets are now going to be dedicated to the disruption of his infantry units. This includes my remaining armour, which I hope to keep hidden from his T-34s and have gunning at his infantry in the open. He appears to have spent heavily on armour and artillery modules, so if I husband my forces and time my mortar strikes well I may be able to strip his tanks of infantry support. Then all I need is for my men to bunker down in their trenches and withstand the withering hail of HE that his 3+ T-34s will undoubtedly unleash in their direction.

[ March 24, 2008, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Tux]

Originally posted by Wicky:

try area firing with the flame to the hill crest as the effect splashes over beyond that range.

Keep up the AAR!

That did cross my mind Wicky, but I was sure my tanks would start using it of their own accord soon enough, and I didn't want to have a particularly 'brave' OT-130 crew continue to area fire at nothing if any of the T-34s came into range. I'm just about to post the results of that decision...

[Tux]

In the interests of keeping you informed I feel I should mention here that Steve's tanks have been observed to be carrying tank riders. One of them was identified as an MG unit, although possibly only a DP team.

Turn 7

Turn 7 sees less than satisfactory results at D: Within the first 20 seconds my lone T-26 has fallen foul of a 76.2mm AP round through the turret side. My sole surviving OT-130 picks up a buttoned T-34 within range, plots a red target line and does... nothing. Sod all. Nowt. For 25s+ he rotates on the spot whilst the enemy tank, now aware of his peril, misses three consecutive shots at my OT. It turns out my flame tank has seen fit to speed out of LOS, but this still doesn't explain the lack of FT fire. At 52s on the dot he finally opens fire with his flamethrower at a patch of trees, without effect, and is absolutely simultaneously brewed up by a second T-34.

It turns out I have one horribly important lesson to learn from this horrible waste of material: The OT-130's flamethrower is hull-mounted! I'd blindly assumed it was in the turret and that my carefully-arranged cover arcs would therefore allow my flame tanks to fire whilst simultaneously manoeuvring for cover. This was not the case and without knowing it I had repeatedly been giving my tanks movement orders that rendered them unable to engage the enemy with their flamethrowers. This was exceptionally frustrating to learn in such a way and I fear now I may have to play out this scenario without a single AT weapon capable of harming a T-34, beyond my squads' grenade bundles...

In other news it appears that Steve is driving a wave of men at the left hand 2/3rds of the map from my point of view, whilst the T-34s + what I assume will be a heavy weapons force take up position on the hill at D. At least I know I can mortar the bejesus out of them once they've set themselves up.

[Tux]

Turn 8

Some good news is that Steve's artillery now seems to have run dry. The sum total of the damage inflicted is a single squad member and one tank commander knocked out of the fight - a result I am more than satisfied with, considering he seems to have bought at least three modules of heavy calibres. Assuming he has no more fire plans lined up, my men will also be up and firing freely from now until he gets full spots and returns with direct small arms fire.

Steve's forces at D have halted and are, I imagine, consolidating their gains whilst being careful not to run into any further ambushes I may have laid. To this end Steve has infantry squads advancing into both areas of scattered trees at D, exactly where I placed TRPs. My ATR is ensuring that his T-34s have yet to unbutton.

His men elsewhere seem to have 'straightened out' their direction of advance, and are heading in the general direction of the mass of craters towards the middle of my lines. I have three Maxims persistently harassing them, and have heard the cries of more than one injured infatryman. My mortar team's low experience level is doing a handy job of maintaining a low, but disruptive, rate of fire at the men in the open.

My plans for Turn 9 are now fully concentrated on the elimination of his infantry advantage. I have delayed the mortar strike on the trees at D for one more turn. I want him to have as high a unit density as possible in those trees before I hit them, so any rounds fired now would do little but to warn him of his potential vulnerability. I will also allow his T-34s an un-molested minute before the strike, so that his tank commanders are nice and exposed when the first rounds hit.

I have instructed all three of the Maxims with LOS plus the conscript mortar to hit a squad who didn't make it to crater cover last turn. Over the next couple of minutes I hope to try and identify some pattern in Steve's formations so that I can pick out some Platoon HQs for 'special attention'.

I am keen to make some use of my light armour, and so I have ordered the HQ unit to creep around the side of the forest patch he is hidden behind to a point from which he can, with a short and direct movement, obtain LOS to the troops advancing through the centre. I have also ordered his two platoon-mates in the recess at A to 'Move To Contact' up towards where my entrenched Maxims are. Hopefully they will be able to obtain LOS to the advancing men (and regain contact with their HQ in the case of the one with a live tank commander) without being visible to Steve's T-34 overwatch. I am glad of the long command delays to all three of my tanks since I do not want them to engage Steve's men immediately. I fear that if they did he would hide his men for a minute or two and systematically hunt down my T-26s with his T-34s. I want to wait until I can do real harm with them before I reveal my plans.

Also, I need to think from now on about where I 'want' Steve's tanks to be. At the moment they are stationary (either by design or due to command delays) and in a nice tight group on the far right of the map. I therefore have one area of dead ground within which I can operate my armoured units, and towards which I will try and race them if his tanks remain where they are. This is the area "E" on the screenshot below:

E is divided from Steve's T-34s by the patch of woodland, and, if I time my moves (and his command delays) well, is a precious opportunity to buy my armour a little 'quality time' with his advancing troops. Were I to reveal my remaining armour, or attempt to move it into an advantageous position, too early Steve would instantly recognise it as the desparate move of a man without any means to harm his tanks. In all likelihood that would encourage him to spread his T-34s across the map (if he hasn't decided he can do that already), from which position they would dominate the rest of the game.

Any thoughts?

[John Kettler]

Tux,

I see you've run afoul of much the same thing I discovered back in my CMBO days with Crocodiles: You live or die on which orders you issue and the assumptions underlying them when it comes to flame tanks. Anyone, for example, who's watched Pacific War documentaries naturally expects the flame projector to be the main gun, but since a Croc's replaces the bow MG, would be wrong. Would bet you issued a cover arc for the main gun, and your mount's in the bow, not the turret. Thus, Target Secondary was what you needed to go with your cover arc.

If you're using EFOW, don't expect much in the way of visible enemy casualties, at least for several minutes. This is a big change from the way we used to fight in CMBO.

I like the way you've thought carefully about optimizing the effectiveness of your support weapons and hope your vital MGs are well led, for this will can make them more resilient under fire, harder to spot, etc. Letting the T-34s unbutton is a slick move and may pay off big, seeing as how

the TC's also the gunner in a crowded turret. Unless his troops are really bunched up, don't just throw lead and steel at them randomly. Mass your fires, preferably from several axes, and break one unit after another, using just enough fire thereafter to prevent rally. Would say his artillery was wasted points, luckily for you!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Tux]

Yeah, as far as casualties go I usually tell by listening for tell-tale groans and shouts from enemy troops, and by watching the squad icons for 'flinches' that might denote a hit. Obviously neither of these are particularly reliable methods.

Turn 9

This turn was characterised by constant MG and AT fire, with the odd 82mm mortar shell landing (roughly) amongst Steve's men. I have yet to take any return fire.

My concentrated MG fire succeeded in halting Steve's squad just short of the crater they were heading for, and forced them to crawl backwards towards a more distant source of shelter. I should imagine Steve is exceptionally annoyed at that. I have also begun to try and decipher Steve's formation pattern (if there is one) in order to target his HQ units.

In attempting to identify Steve's HQs, I have come across an intriguing possible clue. Observe the four generic "infantry?" markers in this screenshot:

Notice any difference? There is none, except that three of these 'squads' are depicted as carrying Mosin-Nagant rifles, whilst the fourth (the one at top left) seems to have an SVT semi-auto in his mitts. Combined with the fact that he is one of the rearmost units, I am inclined to take this as a preliminary indication that he is a command unit, and I intend to make his life hell over the next couple of minutes.

I will post an update when I have received and completed the next orders phase.

[John Kettler]

Tux,

Unless it's a red herring put in by the devs, you may well be right about the Russian HQ ID. Odd how I never noticed that before! Shall be most interested to see how things go the next turn.

Regards,

John Kettler