Gpig Posted November 12, 2001 Share Posted November 12, 2001 I've been playing this swell mini-campaign and it's been a real blast so far. SPOILERS!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This battle-pack consists of 8 battles, all revolving around the same Pzgndr company, commanded by cpt. Reimers. The battles span the time from the D-Day landings to the bitter end. Each battle starts out with a nice recap of the costs of the previous battle. Experience gained. Leadership qualities attained (or lost). Makes for a very nice "family" feel, as you go along. Made me want to take special care of each squad/team/commander through the fight. (Of course, the results may differ. If you get captain reimers killed in the first battle, he'll be back again for the next. ) Against All Odds (2) takes place in the Falaise pocket. It involves Reimers' company helping to defend a bridge across a river. The Polish armored will be attacking from two directions. The map for this battle is a bit odd. Water/marsh on high ground always "takes me out" of the experience a bit. The map could just have used a fine-toothed look over, before finishing. Minor things, really. Another interesting thing about the map, is that the attack comes from the North, and the North West. Whereas the bridge (and river) are oriented North South. So as the german commander, you have to set up for a bridge defence on both banks. Map X = river , = high ground . = low ground T = town = = bridge , , , , , , , , , , , , ,A, , , ,XX, , , ,B, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . . . . J ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . . . . . , , , ,XX , , , , , . . . C . . . . TT. . . . . . , , , ,XX, , , , , , . . . . . . . .TTT. . . , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , . . . . . . . . .TT. . . . . , ,D, , ,XX, , E , , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , , , ,====, , , , , . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , . . . . . . . . . . , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , . . . . . . . . . . , , , ,F, , ,XX, , , , , , , , , . . . . . . , , , , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , . . . , , , , , , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,XX, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,X, , , , , G , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , , , H , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Briefing on enemy intentions states arrivals from A, B, with potential attack along C. I set up my best platoon of Vets in the woods, at D. Nice reverse slope, in the Woods. With a nice and tasty LOS on probable approach routes. My 2nd platoon is set up also, in the woods south of 1st platoon. 3rd platoon is East of the bridge, at E. A small wooded knoll there provides good defence against an attack from the North. Reimers company has been tasked to reinforce existing forces at the bridge, which consist of 2 Pak 50mm AT guns, and 2 AA guns (37mm, and QUAD 20mm) all commanded by a spit and polish FJ Lt. I set up my AT guns at D, and F. Also, my FLAK battery is on the high ground South and East of F. All my halftracks are hidden in scattered trees, in the river bank. Save for two, which I plan to use as scouts to find the advancing poles. As I have no idea about where their attack will be the strongest. My mission is to hold the bridge, as in about half an hour a convoy will be arriving that has to make it across the bridge for exit points to the East. Reinforcements may come in the form of 3 PzIV's. I hide everyone except my Quad 20mm, and the two 251/1' picked for scouting duties. My scout tracks move West into the village then, having seen nothing for 3 minutes, head north to the high ground. Suddenly a fighter bomber appears and blows one of my halftrack scouts to smitherenes. No survivors. My FLAK plt scares off the Fighter bomber next turn, with intense fire under good combat leadership. (At the end of the battle, I discover that my 37mm AA gun has shot down a fighter bomber! I had no idea that had happened, and spent the rest of the battle in constant fear of the skies. If only I'd had known.) My other scout track comes across an amazing scene. He comes to a rise in the river bank at J, and sees at least 2 whole platoons of polish infantry in the ford, crossing East to West! Such a plethora of targets obviously leaves my gunner stunned, as he targets no one for the full 10 seconds remaining in the turn (despite wide open LOS). Next turn, I decide to target a mortar team crossing in mid stream. Seeing as I have no friendly artillery for this battle (not even onboard mortars), I figure the enemies mortars will have to be targetted first. Amazing sight. My gunner spraying away. Enemy squads panicking and turning back to the far shore. In real life it would have been a horrible scene. My gunner remained overwhelmed when, after finishing off a mortar team in the river, he could not decide for the life of him, which one of the juicy targets to fix on next. He didn't have to wonder long, as if from no where a tank round destroyed him. Also, with no survivors. They HAD given me valuable intel, however. I now planned to move my 3rd platoon across the river to the woods on the West side, since the Poles now seemed to be centralizing in the valley. I check all my ambush sites. Check all my LOS's. Prepare for the Polish infantry that is approaching my 1st platoon. It's going to be a nasty ambush. Across the valley, at C., a force of tanks and infantry appears. They are taken under fire by my 50mm AT gun, and my FLAK platoon. Both tanks are K0'd but I lose my 50mm AT gun, and 3 members of my QUAD 20mm crew. The one remaining crewmember of the QUAD, finds and targets the Sexton that's been shelling his position. Soon the Sexton is up in flames. Next turn, two Shermans appear West of J., and deal the final blow to my Quad 20mm. One of these shermans is KO'd by my remaining 50mm AT gun. The other retreats to a nice hulldown position on some high ground. This remaining sherman will prove to be a burr in my side for quite some time. The polish infantry attack commences with disastrous results. My 1st platoon cuts them to pieces. After two turns, 40 Poles lie dead and dying in front of their positions. I pull back my bruised platoon, to second platoons positions. Then another wave of Poles attack from slightly more to the South. They too are cut down at the tree line. I estimate the Poles lost two platoons of infantry in 3 minutes. They don't get any HE support from their Sherman, as he's hiding from my AT gun. The only support they are getting are from onboard mortars, and .50 cal armed halftracks. Now feeling confident, I bring my 3rd platoon up to the front line, replacing 1st platoon. I also bring up all my halftracks to add their MG's to the anti-infantry pushes. The enemy still seems to have about two plts of infantry left. Then, I get reinforcements at location G. Two Pz IV's and a StuH 42. PERFECT! I love those StuH 42's and eagerly approach some high ground at H. Hoping to get some direct fire HE on the Poles reorganizing West of the woods at D. Just as my StuH crests the hill, it explodes into a massive fireball. Never even saw what hit it, but I'm guessing it's the remaining Polish sherman. My two IV's play hide and seek with the sherman, and manage to take out many of the halftracks that arrived with the Poles at C. Then add their HE loads to anti-infantry shelling. The sherman remains elusive until late in the game when my "Exit" column arrives at H. This column consists of one PSW armed with 20mm. And a kublewagon, plus 5 trucks. I imagine the trucks to be filled with wounded, trying to get out of the Falaise pocket. The road between them and the bridge goes through decidedly unfriendly territory. With many infantry units, broken and battered, but still functioning. I'd be sure to lose some trucks, and I'm determined to lose none. I hide them and wait for an opportunity to dash them out. My PSW however I move forward to scout out the enemy infantry strength. The remaining Polish Sherman just can't resist targetting this PSW of mine, and almost succedes and nailing him. But those PSW's have a fast reverse gear. Just as he extracts himself from danger, he has managed to draw out the sherman into the LOS of my two Pz IV's. KLANG! No more Polish armor. The rest of the battle pretty much goes my way. A late charge of Polish infantry, supported by White scout cars goes no where. Despite the Polish company commander bravely leading the charge. I wondered about lack of enemy artillery surpport, until after the battle I noticed a dead FO amongst the first wave. Apparently he was a tad too far forward. Battle ends. Allied attacker: 234 casualties (47 KIA) 42 captured 5 mortars dstryd 11 vehicles dstryd 1 airplane shot down! Men OK 17 score 13 Axis Defender 49 casualties (14 KIA) 2 guns dstryd 4 vehicles KO'd Men OK 139 Score 87 Allied surrender Axis total victory. Good ambushes go a long way to securing a victory. Nice battle. Lot's to think about. Different ways to set up the defense. Difficult terrain to defend. Difficult mission to achieve. Fun battle. Gpig I'll post an AAR of each of these battles, if'n anyone wants to read about them. [ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: Gpig ] [ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: Gpig ] [ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: Gpig ]</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vergeltungswaffe Posted November 13, 2001 Share Posted November 13, 2001 Very nice AAR. I especially like the ASCII map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted November 13, 2001 Share Posted November 13, 2001 Good AAR! Go ahead of writing them! Any trucks damaged? Fred [ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: Fred ]</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gpig Posted November 13, 2001 Author Share Posted November 13, 2001 Nope. Managed to find a way through the brush and scattered trees, avoiding the enemy infantry. I'd scooted the kublewagon and 2 trucks off the map, when the Poles surrendered. I just finished "Against All Odds (3)" last night. This was the toughest one yet! I'll try and post an AAR soon. Gpig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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