kverdon Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 ****SPOILER BELOW***************** I just finished SON as the US. OUCH! Are the US troops even suposed to have a hope in H*LL of winning this one? Played it 3 times finally winning the last time. Two of the Stug's never got into the fight. You have 4 Stugs, at least two armored cars, and about 5 half tracks to deal with. This with 3 bazooka and 2 57mm. I abandoned the farm outpost and deployed most of the troops behind the wall on the far shore of the river. I placed the AT's on the near shoulder of the small intact bridge. Even then it was touch and go. If those last two Stugs had attacked I don't know if I could have pulled it off. As I side note, I saw a zook team wax one of the STUGs, no one else could see it but they are listed at the end with no kills? Anyone else have a viable US Strat for this scenario? thanks, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted July 18, 2000 Share Posted July 18, 2000 I played this one (both US and German sides) while in beta testing, and had great fun with it. It is imperative that you protect your AT teams at all costs. I would recommend positioning them so that they have some sort of terrain masking their front, (main avenue of approach, so that by the time enemy tanks come upon the kill zones it such a short shot that they can't miss.) An example of this masking may be to place the bazookas from the forward most platoon in the rear houses or in the back of houses so tanks coming from the German end of the map can not place suppresive fire on them until it's too late. Also cover your AT teams with infantry. It is a very tight nail biter. Judicious use of your mortars is importnat too. Make sure that no German armored vehilces is ever allowed to remain unbuttoned. Put some fire on their half tracks and get the infantry to dismount, then follow with a quick turn of mortar fire to suppress them. This helps delay them as much as possible and nromally gets eth AI to commit forces peicemeal, which makes them easier to deal with. Finally as in all scenarios an effective reserve is absolutely vital since the germans will eventually get in a position to assault the bridge. Hope that helps... Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kverdon Posted July 18, 2000 Author Share Posted July 18, 2000 Thanks, That is pretty much what I did. The limmited Visibility of the scenario (dark) can help here. With the AT guns on my side of the river, I could engage the Enemy vehicles about the time they came withing Vis Range AND keep the guns out of most small arms fire. The Zook teams were able to hide in the area between the two bridges. The problems crop up when you are suddenly presented with multiple targets or if you miss or even if you tie an exchange with the german armor. The 105 Stugs can be deadly as can the German Mortars. What is does boil down to is quite a bit of luck. If your AT teams take out the german armor, you will probably win. If the germans get lucky and knock out a AT gun early you are toast. I went back and replayed this one about 5 times from the same save game. I got 5 different results. Won about half the time so it looks like a pretty balanced scenario, a real knuckle biter!. The fact that I could replay it five times with quite different results is a testiment to the system. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 I didn't have that much trouble with this one. I stayed in the farm outpost, but kept everyone hidden until I had armor within range of my AT posts. At that point, I popped up and started laying in with mortars. I was able to scatter the infantry push and take out 1 Stug and 2 Halftracks before the position was overrun. I literally had 0 survivors from that position, but was able to hold up the germans for 10 minutes. While that was going on, I moved up the rearguard to the bridges, just out of sight as a mobile reserve. I put the two .50s and the towed AT guns at the river edge as fire support and kept the bazookas hidden. Because of the confusion at the farm, the germans hit in clumps and were generally taken out piecemeal while being peppered with artillery. I spent the last 3-4 turns moving the reserve platoon back across the river to mop up the remains of the german attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Bill Wilder Posted July 20, 2000 Share Posted July 20, 2000 I understand your feelings Kverdon! I designed this scenario with that in mind. Not all are easy. As you say, there is some of the fortunes of war in this one that can drastically affect the battle. If your AT guns are not right on target, you have problems. Los, as he always does, analyzed it beautifully. The Germans have to come to that bridge. That is where you continue to bushwhack them. If you can, hold your AT fire till you see "the dirt on their treads." Even with all the careful planning you can muster, you can still lose this one. I enjoyed doing (and playing) this one because there is plenty of action and some heart pounding moments for either side. It is no real picnic from the German side either Good hunting, my friend. ------------------ Wild Bill Lead Tester/Designer Combat Mission-Beyond Overlord billw@matrixgames.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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