rogue male Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 Possible Spoiler > > > > > > > > > > >Am on my 3rd go round of Small Gain in as many days and continue to get pounded by a superior German force. Tonight my strategy was to withdraw all of the squads to the farm buildings, block the stone bridge with a vehicle and not lose my M8 so quickly. I think Meatloaf said "2 outta 3 ain't bad". I am on turn 5 and have again lost my M8 to the Lynx, but have managed to block the stone bridge by sacrificing one of my 'tracks. All of my Eng squads have managed to fall back to the buildings, but one squad reached panic status before getting there. Now there is a ton of infantry on my side of the bridge trying to assault the farm building complex and I am barely hanging on. Wondering if anyone has any comments on playing this scenario as the allies. It seems pretty tough given the numerical superiority of the Germans. My limited tactical knowledge probably helps out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogue male Posted February 9, 2001 Author Share Posted February 9, 2001 I played out the balance of my turns and managed an Allied tactical victory. The fallback to the building complex seemed to work somewhat. My abandoned 1/2 track was eventually pushed out the way on the stone bridge. It would have been cool if it would actually went over the edge into the stream. The Lynx never moved across the bridge and each time the Germans rolled a 1/2 track up to the buildings, the engineers were able to take them out. Any other ways to "succesfully" hold the bridge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkmek Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 You are doing much better than I. I have also played it twice as the Americans and both times I was massacred. I kinda gave up after that. Maybe I'll fire it up again and try your 'Alamo' tactics. Then again maybe I will try playing as the Germans. It should be fun with all that armor. ----------------------------- If War is Hell, CM is Heaven! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriendlyFire Posted February 10, 2001 Share Posted February 10, 2001 SPOILER ALERT! I got a total victory as the Allies - I lost 11 men and the jeep, vs 47 men and 8 Axis vehicles knocked out. I pulled back all my men to the cover of the buildings, leaving the sharpshooters to button up oncoming vehicles. Note that even though the position of some of your troops and vehicles is locked, their direction isn't, so you can save precious seconds by rotating them to the direction you want them to move on the first turn. I fast-moved the jeep MG over the bridge and behind the trees to the right to act as a flanking force and delay the Axis advance, leaving room for the TacAI to reverse it behind cover when it was outgunned. The half-tracks lay in wait behind cover of the buildings, and the truck hid. This left two .50-cal HMGs (one on the M3A1) in town as my half-track killers until the Greyhound arrived. I was helped by the AI trying to send its halftracks in single-file through the scattered trees on the left, where they got pinned down in a depression. Things got a bit dicey when I was hit by a flanking infantry attack through the wheatfield, but I beat it back despite low ammo for the win. Oh, and don't leave the bazooka team in the light building - in my game the damn idiots set it on fire, which really pissed off the HMG team on the top floor! Better to hide them somewhere where they can take a shot and then run like hell for cover. Hmmmm, maybe I should play the scenario again and see if it was just luck the first time around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogue male Posted February 10, 2001 Author Share Posted February 10, 2001 FF, your plan sounds alot like mine, but better executed. I like how the Jeep was used, I am a newbie to CM and not sure how to use this kind of vehicle effectively. Saving 1/2 tracks was smart too. Especially the one with the .50 cal on it. The one I managed to hold on to (until it was finally eliminated on turn 12 I think) did alot a damage to the oncoming German vehicles. I didn't know you could rotate units in the set up phase. This is good to know since, especially in this scenario, time is key. Can you recommend other good training scenarios (whether labeled training or not)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriendlyFire Posted February 10, 2001 Share Posted February 10, 2001 Jeeps are fast but fragile, so you want them to appear where the enemy doesn't expect them, hit hard, and then disappear behind cover. I just played Small Gain again, and after the jeep had taken a few potshots at halftracks from the flank I sent it all the way around the woods to the right, coming back down the central road. Initially it was looking for infantry, but it got back just in time to join in the slaughter of the halftracks, caught from behind by the jeep, from in front by my .50-cal team in the forward heavy building (which they had been fixated on), and from the flank by the Greyhound, which I'd sent up the left road to kill the Lynx and Pumas - another total victory. As for training scenarios, I learned by starting on those with the smallest maps and working up from there You want to have just a few units to concentrate on. Also, while learning against the AI don't be afraid to replay turns in order to experiment with different tactics - save your turn just before you hit Go, try one approach, then reload the turn and try something different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogue male Posted February 10, 2001 Author Share Posted February 10, 2001 FF, thanks for the posts. In this scenario the AI seemed to definitely fixate on the .50 cal in the Heavy building. In my earlier post when I said, "The one I managed to hold on to (until it was finally eliminated on turn 12 I think) did alot a damage to the oncoming German vehicles." I was referring to this .50 cal. Until it was eliminated it seemed like it was taking fire from almost every German unit on the map. But like a tank, I guess a well placed .50 would be a high priority target. I am moving on the play the Graf scenario as the Germans a few times. Thanks for the training tips. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted February 18, 2001 Share Posted February 18, 2001 I played this for an Allied win on the first turn while doing every thing wrong. I didn't gather in the engineer squads to the buildings or use the halftracks effectively. I managed the win by (1) putting the .50 cal. up high and hiding it, (2) putting the jeep hull down behind the stone wall, where the AI showed remarkable discrimination on when to shoot and when to fight and (3) parking the M8 hull-down behind the same wall, where it demolished the German armor. I almost got swamped by a German infantry assault from the wheatfield, but the hidden MG (and infantry) turned the walled-in area into a killing zone as soon as the bad guys hopped over the wall. By the time the Germans were assaulting from the woods, the M8 was queen of the battlefield and was able to hold them off. I agree that the key seems to be keeping the M8 alive while killing the German AFVs. The hull-down position was instrumental in this. If the M8 had been knocked out, I would have been toast. ------------------ Also los, Augen zu, und hinein! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOS was 71331 Posted February 19, 2001 Share Posted February 19, 2001 I've had a lot of fun with this scenario, always playing the Americans. The big attraction for me is the combat engineers, my comrades-in-arms twenty years before my service in the branch. I've had a lot of different results with the various troops and weapons. In my first game, the .50 in the building knocked out five vehicles while the greyhound died when it arrived. In my second go-round, the greyhound was the major killer and the upper floor .50 inflicted only one casualty. The sharpshooters, too, have varied greatly in their performance. I've lost the right sniper on the first turn with the left sniper persuading the Krauts that the bridge he covers is a death trap. In the next play, I pulled the right sniper back immediately and got a clean 22-yard shot on turn two into a vehicle commander -- "Ich bin verwundet!" As I recall, he lasted the whole game but was effectively out of the game when the Krauts drove right by him. From what I've read, my tactics have been pretty conventional. I keep the jeep behind the back wall and the half tracks behind the front wall. I hunt the greyhound alongside the building next to the road. If I can destroy all the Kraut armor, I send the greyhound infantry hunting north of the river -- and then lose it when I forget Kraut infantry can carry panzerfausts. I really enjoy this game! ------------------ Airborne Combat Engineer Troop Leader (1966-1968) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsunit Posted February 22, 2001 Share Posted February 22, 2001 Originally posted by MOS was 71331: I've had a lot of fun with this scenario, always playing the Americans. The big attraction for me is the combat engineers, my comrades-in-arms twenty years before my service in the branch. I've had a lot of different results with the various troops and weapons. In my first game, the .50 in the building knocked out five vehicles while the greyhound died when it arrived. In my second go-round, the greyhound was the major killer and the upper floor .50 inflicted only one casualty. The sharpshooters, too, have varied greatly in their performance. I've lost the right sniper on the first turn with the left sniper persuading the Krauts that the bridge he covers is a death trap. In the next play, I pulled the right sniper back immediately and got a clean 22-yard shot on turn two into a vehicle commander -- "Ich bin verwundet!" As I recall, he lasted the whole game but was effectively out of the game when the Krauts drove right by him. From what I've read, my tactics have been pretty conventional. I keep the jeep behind the back wall and the half tracks behind the front wall. I hunt the greyhound alongside the building next to the road. If I can destroy all the Kraut armor, I send the greyhound infantry hunting north of the river -- and then lose it when I forget Kraut infantry can carry panzerfausts. I really enjoy this game! Hey MOS,so was mine (12alpha)and I love this game(small gain).I guess my approach was the most unconventional of you guys.I tried your approach at first(pulling back vehicles and men).and paid the price(I take great umbrage a losing any men and vehicles;so it better be worth it).I achieved a total victory in 10 turns only losing 3men(only 1 kia).I did this by playing agressive with my engineers(as we were in my day).Remember...your job is to hold the bridge...not fall behind it a let the enemy cross!! I left my snipers where they were,moved the left enrg.sqd.to the small pine at the curve of the road and brought the jeep and the farmhouse H/T to the left as well and stuck them in the tree gaps overlooking the bridge and it's approaches and escapes;just to the left of the engr.sqd. The MG in the farmhouse stays but moves to the 2nd flr front window.The rest of the guys are lined up on the road at setup to give them ahead start to the ambush positions I've selected.The Zook heads for the small pine tree on the right side of road on the curve with 1 sqd. of engr's to his right and just foward alittle in the next best pine tree.the other H/T I rotate to di di bop outta there and to firring lane thru the trees to the right of the 2nd enrg.sqd.The 3rd engr.sqd. goes left of the curve in the road foward the other units on the right in a small patch of gold trees that sees the approach from the fields just foward and some of the road on the right.HQ runs to the foxhole vacated by the engr.sqd at the setup(good communications).The snipers buttoned them up early(setup ambush sites then hide).The zook took out the lynx and 3 other H/T's(it looked like a junk yard)and the engr.'s took care of everything else that tried to get thru.In fact on turn 8 the 2 sqd.'s of engr.'s had his last H/T cornered on either side behind a tree(appx.10-15m).I ordered them to run and target the H/T's(they still had satchel charges left).After 2 turns of close combat and appx.30 grenades they H/T started crawling in reverse towards the edge of map at his start point with my engr.'s running after it.they finally must have got tired and in the last 20 sec.'s they tossed the satchel charges into the H/T and the explosion knocked me off my seat and I began to howl in laughter(although,upon reflection the H/T should have been blown to bits). On the left side all vehichles were taken out near the bridge approach with the exception of one H/T that tried to sneak thru the gully but that zook turned on his heals and took that out as well.his troops that managed to infiltrate the gully were destroyed in detail by the left forces and the arrival of the greyhound.I thought the game over when I spied a german HMG walking out of the woods behind the farmhouse and my secure positions(what's up with that).I had to wheel my MG aroung in the farmhouse and call on the greyhound and H/T from the left to come mop things up nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piedtendre Posted June 28, 2002 Share Posted June 28, 2002 Hello, folks I've just got the full game and I'm trying the CD scenarios, starting with the training ones ... Any one out there doing the same? I've played and replayed the demo scenarios over and over and over and it paid ... big. First time I played this one to the end, I got an Allied major victory. Second time, total victory, with two casualties (no KIAs) and three vehicles lost (the 1/2 track across the bridge, the jeep and the truck). FWIW Piedtendre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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