SOTW II: Panic at Gela... Spoiler Alert

[dangerousdave]

I have been playing it with the default setup for the US. The AT guns are are in very good spots. And they are behaving like 88s, as far as I can tell. Knocking out my tanks easily. The 57mm guns in Panzer Leader were never this good....

[dizee]

i "tried" to play it 3 times as axis, with default AI setup. it is almost impossible to get anywhere near the nme without being slaughtered, for me.

deadly long range AT fire killing all my armor instantly. i cant make any step over that initial ridge. movement on the street seems impossible too. rivercrossing: hell. tanks and ht´s need a eternity to climb that sloop.

worst is the endless stream of 155mm arty from crack spotters.

[dangerousdave]

I'm glad its not just me. I've tried getting arty spotters to take out the guns, but they get hammered by the 155s - anything nearby causes them to panic. I've tried using all the armor at once cresting the ridge on the right - armor wave. That just results in a bunch of burning hulks and retreating survivors. I've tried sneaking infantry up the patch of brush, they get the arty. Maybe need to adjust the play balance setting - never tried that before. Will that give the US fewer guns?

[Thin Red Line]

(See my first post above)

My H2H PBEM game ended with a total victory for me (allied side).

The ATGs finished the work started by the arty. They opened fire all together, leaving only 2 tanks to my opponent who requested a cease fire.

I even had a 57mm gun who scored 6 PIVs and survived the game, a personal record.

I didn't use the default set-up, i completely revisited it instead, placing my troops in the scattered trees, unreacheable from the tanks in the open.

2 guns were placed on the hill, others along the roads leading to the objectves. I am quite happy with that set-up, it certainly helped me to get a total victory but i still think the balance largely favors the allied side.

I used only half of my 155mm ammo, and the FOs scored 80 infantry casualties + a couple tanks and HT.

The american infantry in CMAK seems to use rifle grenade much more often than their CMBB german counterparts do with their fausts.

[Kozure]

Played as US vs AI, extreme FOW, no modifiers, AI standard setup. I figured from the scenario description that it would be more difficult from the American side.

Much of what I would comment about on this scenario has been said already.

I deviated quite a bit from the default setup, switching to a more "defence in depth" posture, with layered fields of paired AT guns firing from different sides. I removed all of the infantry from the hillside side of the road, leaving only the FO hiding in the vinyards.

I was actually expecting a more multi-pronged attack; consequently a large portion of my force was not engaged three quarters of the way into the battle and was eventually redeployed to reinforce the platoons defending the central ford.

The 155mm artillery simply decimated the armoured advance, with multiple Panzers knocked out, detracked or gun damaged before they got anywhere near engagement range. The handful of AFVs that made it as far as the first ambush zone were cut down almost as rapidly, with a single 57mm gun doing most of the work (7 Panzer kills) after its 37mm mate was knocked out early by a lucky ranged shot.

In effect, one 57mm AT gun and the FO stopped the advance of the AFVs cold, with four platoons of infantry doing the rest of the work stopping dismounts. Two platoons of infantry, 3 x 57mm guns and 3 x 37mm guns were either unengaged or barely engaged, having been deployed to cover ambush zones which were never even reached.

I think I'll try this as the Germans and attempt to get a better result than the AI, but this scenario seems very one-sided at the moment. Fun to play - I spent more time setting up my defences on this one than most others.

91% US vs 9% German... Germans surrendered on turn 29.

[rune]

Guys,

The scenario was designed to show what the cruisers did there, and how they made the difference. Kill the spotters and see how difficult a time the Americans would have had. Chris [who just turned 15] was reading Two Ocean War, and there is a big section on the Naval gunfire support, it was never really meant to be played two player. More of a challenge would to play as the Germans. See the web site I posted earlier to see how the Naval Gunfire truely saved the day. That and the General rallying his troops.

Rune