Joques Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Well I just finished the Any Port after a Storm scenario set. For those of you unfamiliar with it (does that apply to anybody here...?) it is a set of six linked and themed single battles, depicting the 79th's fight to advance up the Cotentin Peninsula and take Cherbourg. Anyway, the scens have all more or less kicked my butt all over the place. I've been a real failure as a commander and had to restart several times, saved in-game etc, and it was frustrating to me because the second time I played it, I knew what he had and where it was, and it kinda felt like cheating because my historical counterpart didn't have that luxury. (I can just see Winnie Churchill now: "WHAT happened at Dieppe did you say?! Oh well, hit "load" and try again...") So, I'd had my butt handed to me several times over, but now was the time for the final battle: The actual battle to clear the Germans away from the docks in Cherbourg so that the Engineer Corps can start repairing the docks and the Allied war effort can finally be resupplied from across the Channel. I decided this time around I would play the entire game through, all 40 Turns of it. No Personal Moral failure. No restarts. No in-game saves and loads. Just suck it up when someting bad happened, adapt and overcome and get the job done. Ok, here come the spoilers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The battlefield is divided by a channel, so you need to cross bridges to get to your final objective. You get a rifle company that's augmented with 50-cals and MMG's out the yin-yang. 4 50-cals and I think 9 1919 MMG's. You also get a Engineer platoon, 2 Shermies, 2 Stuarts and a Greyhound. Anyway, I set off. Engineers on the left, a platoon and most of the MG's in the centre, overlooking a large square. I planned to suppress any Krauts with the MG's and sprint across with the platoon. Two more platoons on the right flank. And off we go. Right off the bat it went from bad to worse on the left flank. My engineers ran into more trouble than they'd bargained for. Not much cover, and the whole platoon were pinned down in scattered trees, with immediate casualties. They had a single Stuart for support, which was knocked out by...something. Probably one of the 50mm AT guns. Progress was made in the centre and on the right. The Shermans took out some Hotchkiss tanks and...I'm actually not sure. A StUG? A PzIV? Houses were slowly and methodically cleared. By approx Turn 15 I was ready to throw in the towel. All my tanks were taken out my a pair of 50mm AT guns, one Sherman in particular I stupidly charged into LOS of a "Light Gun?" I figured it was a 20mm AA, but no. Hey, a 50mm should be a "medium gun"!! Anyway. All armour was lost, the situation on the left flank was grim indeed (the Engineers had made zero progress. Zip. Nada. It was all they could do not to retreat, and ammo was getting scarce) and I still had a river to cross. I was in possession of the central houses overrlooking the canal, and I had a fairly impressive array of MG's there, pointing across. But he had a Marder, pounding away at my boys, and he also had an impressive array of MG's pointed right back at me. Crossing the canal was out of the question. And my left flank was a shambles. I was tempted to give up (amazing what a few tank losses will do to your personal morale...), but I knew that a couple more Shermans were due to arrive. The only question was when. SO I decided to hunker down, keep firing my MG's (all my units were loaded with max ammo for this mission), try to cause casualties and hope the Shermies showed up in time. The Shermans showed up around Turn 25 I think, and not a minute too soon. Amazingly, my Engineers on the left flank had gotten their sh*t together and captured the VL by the church. I dunno why, but the Germans withdrew. I must have caused more casualties on him than I realized (All I could see was "infantry?"). Or he was out of ammo. Anyway, when the Shermans arrived, it was a whole new ball game. I snuck up on the buttoned Marder and knocked him out. "That's a fine Gun you have there, mr Marder, too bad your armour isn't in the same league", hehe... Then they started shelling the cr*p out of the buildings on the other side of the canal. One caught fire, two other collapsed on top of some infantry. Ouch. I got two fairly undamaged platoons across the canal on the rightmost double-bridge. I had decided to be content with grabbing just that one VL, but resistance seemed weak so I pushed on for the one by the docks themselves. In the process I witnessed a hilarious moment. There appeared a flak truck which my bazooka gunner (who was inside a building) knocked out. And the backblast set his building on FIRE! I almost fell out of my chair, I was laughing so hard! (Oh, I almost forgot: You get two 81mm mortars too, but they came into play so late, they never made an impact) Anyway, I made it to the dockside VL with a full platoon, with two Turns to go. I had grabbed all VL's except the one on the far left side of the canal, and was content. But then, with one Turn to go, the German side surrendered! Gave me the last VL for free, for an Allied Major Victory. Whoooo baby, who's your daddy now!! So there you have it. My first real AAR, it's probably a bit unstructured and hard to read, but then it is my first. I guess the most important thing I learned was never to give up just because "he killed all my tanks! Bwaaa!" or you infantry is hurting and low on ammo. Because you know what? So is his! Once again: Excellent scenario set! Great maps, cool and varied situations. You never get the "same ol' same ol'" feeling. Great historical background and briefings, without being too cutsey. For anyone who hasn't tried them I heartily recommend them. You find them at Tom's HQ. [ed: caught a few typos] Happy gaming! [ October 23, 2002, 04:45 AM: Message edited by: Joques ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 Great first AAR. I enjoyed living a little piece of your experience. That was a great series of scenarios. I forget the title but there is also a German set that covers a completely different battle and timeframe. Its always great to hear that a new convert to the world's greatest game(s) is having a wonderful time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agua Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 There's another set of scenarios put together as a mini-campaign available at the depot by the same designer named "No rest for the weary". I recommend that set as training to anyone new to CMBO due to the varied units & terrain, the small engagement sizes, the excellent briefings and storyline. The designer, Patrick Ware, produced those two gems and no more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joques Posted October 23, 2002 Author Share Posted October 23, 2002 Originally posted by Agua: There's another set of scenarios put together as a mini-campaign available at the depot by the same designer named "No rest for the weary". I recommend that set as training to anyone new to CMBO due to the varied units & terrain, the small engagement sizes, the excellent briefings and storyline. The designer, Patrick Ware, produced those two gems and no more.Yeah, I have that one too, and it's way up on my list. There is also a similar set from the German perspective called Against All Odds. I'm getting to them all. But first I'm playing Canadian Armageddon. (Getting some actual work done and making some money this month would also be nice...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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