Caucasus Operation

[Mad Russian]

I have just posted my very first CMBB Operation to the Scenario Depot. It is about the German 111th Infantry Division's river assault over the Terek River to capture the village of Predmostny, Russia.

The text and accompanying battle were very detailed and the artillery support for this battle sets it apart from all others that I have ever played. The only thing that kept this from being a historical operation instead of just a semi-historical operation was that I didn't have a topo map of the area and a more detailed map of the village.

If you like operations or are interested in battles in the Caucasus, or both, this may be for you.

As is normal for my battles there are little surprises along the way.

I would like to thank both Corey Runyan for his help with this operation and TPG playtesters for helping to make this operation all it can be.

Enjoy!!

[Generaloberst Guderian]

Thanks alot! Your stuff is always top notch.

[Mad Russian]

Originally posted by Generaloberst Guderian:

Thanks alot! Your stuff is always top notch.

Thanks. I appreciate the kind words. All the designers at HSG work hard at "getting it right"! We don't always succeed but we try hard.

Our scenarios get playtested throughly and we try to pick areas or equipment that gives the gamer a bit of an unusual experience or tactical situation.

I look forward to hearing what you think of my operation. :cool:

[Generaloberst Guderian]

Don't know how long this thread'll be active, but after I play through it I'll definately post a review at the Depo.

I played your "The Panthers Roll" scenario about a month ago and really enjoyed it. I have a feeling that if the Germans had had more available that they would have really been a decisive force. Here were the results I got: (German/Soviet)

he Panthers Roll: TOTAL victory

163/165 OK

62/253 Casualties

16/69 KIA

1 Panther lost to shot trap, 2 Jgdpz IV lost

51 Soviet Tanks destroyed

I felt bad about losing the Jagdpanzer IVs as they are certainly very valuable assets in and of themselves. They performed quite well though, accounting for 13 Soviet AFVs between them, but ultimately I couldn't prevent a flank shot -- just too many targets.

Most of my casualties came from the infantry on the left hand side of the map, which got more or less overrun by the Soviet column there. Luckily they helped scatter the soviet tanks, getting them to face every which way, and when the reinforcements came, they inflicted fairly catastrophic losses in just 2-3 turns.

As I noted, I lost a lone Panther to a side turret hit from a 76.2mm (IIRC). I hadn't seen the shot trap really come into play before, but the message read partial penetration, and the graphic resembled an HE round exploding. All I'd consider it a victory, but I really do hate losing good armor, and its a shame to see such a powerful tank tanken out by so simple a flaw.

In the end, the main strength of the scenario was the excellent map, which enables the smaller German force to neutralize the massive Soviet one through a combination of maneuver and teamwork.

As the Germans would say:

Eine ganz hervorragende Leistung!

[Mad Russian]

Did you give the computer an experience bonus? It sounds like you got off way too easily.

I've played Panthers Roll before where I lost EVERY Panther! Not just one...

But I normally play the scenario at a +2 CEB.

Thanks for the AAR. Good luck with the operation. I think you will find it challenging as well.

[btb35]

Panther Commander

What is the best way to play your operation in solo ?

In the briefing it's preferably played as Allies vs Axis but in the "summary before download scenario depot " it's the opposite , I would really like to know before playing against the Ai . THX Mate

second edition sorry for my poor english but talking about "Caucasus Operation "

[ May 19, 2005, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: btb35 ]

[Generaloberst Guderian]

No experience bonus, no force bonus, just the scenario defaults, with "full" Fog of War. Although it is a useful tool to make things more challenging, I don't really think that the experience modifier reflects how combat actually works, and would be more inclined to give the computer a larger force first.

That being said, maybe my experience isn't representative of the intended result. Or maybe I should try it at a different difficulty.

Still, I'd be intersted to hear how you lost all of the Panthers.

I really saw the scenario as a question of carefully monitoring how many tanks you have engaged. Even after the initial ambush, the Soviet force was numerically far superior to the reinforcements. The hardest part was sneaking the Panthers into action. After one tank got engaged and began killing enemy tanks, I was able to establish a series of "corridors" which were covered by Panthers with overlapping sight arcs. I broke up the force into three sections, one being at the railroad tracks, one on the right side of the road, and another preventing enemy armor from advancing down the road. In essence, I was trying to cause the greatest harm to the enemy while suffering as little to myself as possible, with the emphasis being on the latter sentiment. By destroying lead vehicles in tentative and loss free engagements, I was able to set it up so that the bulk of the Soviet force was being confronted by many different Panthers from many different angles.

Another key might have been the losses I was able to inflict early with the Jagdpanzer IVs. The 14 tanks that they destroyed gave me more liberty with the reinforcements, and made the Panther intervention all the more effective. I had them set up to the extreme right, with one covering the Soviets that eventually arrive on the 2nd or 3rd turn from a hull down position, and the other covering the road and the extreme left flank, although it was only meters away from the first TD.

Or maybe it was just dumb luck. I don't know, I've honestly only been playing since March, and if you follow our conversations, its safe to say that I still have a ton to learn about CMBB.

[Mad Russian]

GoG...When you increase the computer experience bonus the Tactical AI gets more aggressive. I personally play all of my battles against the AI at a CEB of +2.

I know that the resulting experience level adjustment isn't realistic. BUT the AI at lower levels plays too tenative. By adding CEB to the scenario the computer will get much more aggressive.

That is how I lost all my Panthers!

Try the scenario one time using a CEB of +2 and see what a difference it makes. I'll be surprised if you come anywhere near that Total Victory you got the first time.

I recommend to players a CEB scale of +1 to +3 depending on their experience levels. I recommend that scale because I think it makes the scenario as good as it can be and when playing the AI it needs all the help it can get.

[Mad Russian]

Originally posted by btb35:

Panther Commander

What is the best way to play your operation in solo ?

In the briefing it's preferably played as Allies vs Axis but in the "summary before download scenario depot " it's the opposite , I would really like to know before playing against the Ai . THX Mate

second edition sorry for my poor english but talking about "Caucasus Operation "

Oh, that may be a mistake that got through The operation is definately designed to be played as Axis vs the AI. Don't worry about the English it was good enough to get your point across.

My recommendation is that you need to be very aggressive in battle one and grab as much land as you can in the village. Secure the brick works...if you can... and move inland. The farther you get in battle one the better off you are by a long ways when the Soviet forces realize that you have crossed the Terek.

I look forward to the results of your battle.

[Generaloberst Guderian]

I began playing the Operation yesterday and took care of the first battle without much problem. I enjoyed the stealth aspect of the river crossing, and was able to use a combination of maneuver and dumb luck to really catch the Russians in a bad position.

Now that I've gone on to the second turn, I've run into a pretty serious snag. For whatever reason, when the computer moved the Russian troops between phases, they ended up behind me. Indeed, I found my entire crossing force, which had secured the first part of the village road and had captured the Brick Works completely surrounded by Russians, so much so that one of my squads which had been watching the courtyard (no Russians there last time) is now 6m away from 3 Russian rifle squads.

I know that the Russians were reknowed for their strategic deception, but I've found myself in an impossible position, as my bridgehead finds itself being destroyed in hand to hand combat before it has a chance to react.

I have a feeling that this is some type of fluke in the CMBB code, and no fault of yours, indeed the briefing says that there is a 240m "No Man's Land".

Lol took a few tries to get the pic to work. After I hit surrender to exit I looked at the map, turns out that the Battalion HQ and a 37mm AA gun managed to sneak their way behind me as well. Note my troops in the factory on the left, which they had secured at the end of the last battle.

[ May 22, 2005, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: Generaloberst Guderian ]

[Mad Russian]

What happened was that you didn't secure enough of the map to move the front line forward. Just moving into the village without taking alot of the terrain along the river will just isolate your front units.

I've had that very same thing happen to me during playtests. You have to secure either the village or your bridgehead. Allowing them to defend themselves as the Russians counterattack your forces.

It's not the game. It was the rate of your advance and where you went that the computer didn't give you credit for.

This is not an easy operation to win. I hope you try it again and if you do advance as deep into the village and on your left flank on the hill as you can. See what that does for you.

[Generaloberst Guderian]

Lol, I figured it was my fault

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep trying until I figure something out. I might have been trying to be too stealthy, and in my efforts to keep quiet, didn't take enough ground.

The map is great btw, there seem to be plenty of possibilities both for the attackers and the defenders.

[Mad Russian]

Originally posted by Generaloberst Guderian:

Lol, I figured it was my fault

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep trying until I figure something out. I might have been trying to be too stealthy, and in my efforts to keep quiet, didn't take enough ground.

The map is great btw, there seem to be plenty of possibilities both for the attackers and the defenders.

The map is taken from an actual battle map. So I can't take any of the credit for it. It does make for a good fight though.