Counterattack to Galatas

[Vaunu]

Hi all. So, I can do pretty good job at most scenarios usually I win them at second try but there's one what cause me a lot of headache and something what I really want to win mainly because I think I can learn a lot from it as there's no smokes, tanks, engineers and only 2 mortals. It's name is Counterattack to Galatas. I've tried it four times and every time major defeat. Basically my problem is that I can't capture building there's just too much of firing from AI side especially when I'm deeper in the city and AI is within 100 meter and I'm forced to take building as the time is clicking.

I could greatly appreciate any help I'm now at work I'm going to give it another shot when I'm back home.

[Vaunu]

Ah, I searched yesterday only CMAK forum but this time I searched everything and got some good shot at Scenario Talk forum.

[stoat]

I decided to take a look at the scenario since I didn't remember it off the top of my head, and found that I hadn't played it before. I played as Allied, and gave the AI a +2 experience bonus. B Company was deployed to the left of the road, 1st platoon, Ind., 3rd platoon, A Company, and all of the support weapons were deployed to the right, and the balance of A Company was deployed for a flanking movement through the low ground to the right while the other forces occupied the Germans in the town.

I took casualties from long range HMG fire on the first turn, but my movements weren't affected much. As I moved B Company units through the scattered trees along the road towards the first two story house, the Brens traded fire with German infantry. I took the house and eliminated the MG-34, but it cost me 7 men from the attacking squad. After this my attack bogged down. I pushed units forward forward on both sides of the road, but took heavy fire all the while, and also scattered small caliber mortar fire. The flanking units progressed well until they attempted to cross the stone fences near the town. MG fire and infantry that had fallen back towards the objective incurred heavy casualties.

I had been keeping the tanks on a short covered arc to prevent them from wasting their small ammo supply, but now sent them forward. They made good progress against the lightly armed paratroopers, but were soon out of ammo. The A Company units had enterred the two large buildings on the near side of the road in town, but several of my squads were entirely eliminated as the positions on the German side were reinforced.

The battle ended with me owning the near side of the road, and the Germans the far. The flag was contested, and casualty rates were close to parity, though I had a slight edge and also had captured to Krauts.

This battle is a very difficult one for the Allied player. Fire and movement works alright with Vickers and 3 inch mortars, but falls short with nothing more than Enfields at long range. I think that if I had sent more men on the flanking run, say all of A Company and the independent platoon, and just used B Company and the support weapons to tie down the Germans, I would have fared better. Reducing the AI experience bonus and better utilization of the light armor might have yielded more favorable results as well. It's a tough battle, but if you can overpower the Germans in just one area of the battlefield, you should be able to push them back in successive steps with just enough time to capture the flag.

[Vaunu]

Thanks I won by Major Victory yesterday. Excellent map. I took the historical route and followed the road just like in my previous games. This time I choose not to save ammo it did the trick for me. I was amazed how much firepower you really have. Used concentrated fire while some of my squads were assaulting the nearest scattered forest or buildings. Once the mortals hits me I gave my mens appropriate time to recover and kept going.

Couple question more.

1) Is that wall good for protection? My mens doesn't seem to stay there for long and start to sneak to nearest cover away from the wall. Not only in this scenario.

2) How significant AI experience bonus is?

[von Lucke]

Originally posted by stoat:

This battle is a very difficult one for the Allied player. Fire and movement works alright with Vickers and 3 inch mortars, but falls short with nothing more than Enfields at long range. I think that if I had sent more men on the flanking run, say all of A Company and the independent platoon, and just used B Company and the support weapons to tie down the Germans, I would have fared better. Reducing the AI experience bonus and better utilization of the light armor might have yielded more favorable results as well. It's a tough battle, but if you can overpower the Germans in just one area of the battlefield, you should be able to push them back in successive steps with just enough time to capture the flag.

This is pretty much what I did, and it netted me a Major Victory. I sent A coy. on a flanking maneuver to the east, then north --- esentially coming in through the back door: It worked rather well, as the first German casualty of the scenario was the company HQ.

I left B coy. lined up along the wooded edge of the ridge just to the east of the road, with the 2in mortars, and 2 Brens --- the other two Brens went up to Pink Hill. The MkVI's I zipped around the edges, as mobile fire support for those hard to reach areas.

Just to see if it would work, I sent the independent platoon on a long march over Pink Hill, to try and approach Galatas from the west. I let them approach the edge of town first, to draw off the AI --- which, of course, came running. Then popped up B coy. and the Brens to lay down fire on any Fallschirmjaegers who gave me LOS.

By the time A coy. had swept right (about turn 15), most of the FJ's where at the opposite end of town. After that, it was just a matter of alternating rushes from the east and west, until what was left of the AI got squeezed into the NW corner of town.

Even though the Allied player is the attacker in this scenario, it pays to take yr time and lay down as much fire as possible before moving up. I didn't even get B coy. up and moving until turn 25, or so --- and by that point, their ammo was pushing empty. When moving, always remember to leave 1/3 (at coy. level, one platoon covers, two platoons rush) of yr force static as a base of fire --- it sometimes helps to create a covered arc for a squad on an area yr sure is occupied by the enemy.

As for walls, they work fine --- as barriers to movement, not so much as cover. The minute a unit takes fire, it still crawls off to the closest concealment. I had some success using the wall at the far east of town as cover, but only because enemy fire was coming in from long distance, so my troopers mearly ducked, and didn't panic.

AI bonus can be significant. With an opponent like FJ's, which will be mostly Vet or Reg, giving them a 2+ experience bonus will bush them up to Crack --- a very difficult proposition, as they shoot better, break less, and win more often in melee.

Green: A coy.

Blue: B coy.

Pink: Ind. platoon

Yellow: Bren guns

Orange: Remaining FJ's

[ September 28, 2007, 02:21 PM: Message edited by: von Lucke ]

[Kingfish]

An alternative strategy, and one that has worked for me, is to send your entire force minus the tanks up and over pink hill to come up from behind the village.

The allied player gains two advantages from this approach:

a) you place your force between the Germans and their friendly map edge, something the AI does not like.

the buildings on the back side of the village mask those on the front, meaning you've cut the defender's firepower in half.

The tanks should be held back and in cover, with short covered arcs. As soon as the main assault begins the tanks should race up to a position where they can cover the main road and prevent the Germans from redeploying.

It takes a while to get your force into position, so once the assault begins it must be carried out aggressively. One company on overwatch / fire support while the other advances, then leapfrog forward again. The Germans will put up a spirited defense, but the combined firepower of over a hundred Lee-Enfields plus Brens will slowly grind them down.