Heavy Drop Posted October 2, 2002 Share Posted October 2, 2002 OK. We now have the go ahead from TB155 to discuss this scenario. - - - - WARNING! Spoiler information follows -------------- - - - - - - - - Another Day AAR Heavy Drop (Axis) vs. Rat (Allied) As the Axis my mission was to delay the Allied advance. To this end I had an under strength infantry company consisting of a mixed bag of Volksgrenadiers and regulars, two HMG42’s, an 81mm spotter, two wooden MG bunkers, and the hope of Tiger tank support. Map: The map was simplistic in its design. It is a simple rural setting with all the subtle terrain features that make for good tactical ground. When I first analyzed it I felt like Buford – this is good ground for what must be done. But unlike Buford, I had no real idea of what was coming up the road. Setup: When I finished studying the terrain and went to setup my scant forces I got my first shocker. They wouldn’t move – what the heck am I doing wrong – why can’t I move any of the units. Bright light. Realization – scenario design. Pissy mood. I can, with some difficulty, accept predetermined deployment in a human vs. human game, but I do expect it to meet my exacting standards. Honestly, I don’t think any of the troops should be placed out of command, and the forward MG bunker had insufficient grazing fire and was exposed. Either provide it with a masked long-range sector of fire or put it far enough back in the trees that it cannot be engaged with long-range direct fires. Courses of Action: Since the initial setup could not be changed the only thing to do was to devise a plan based on the defacto deployment. The Plan: Because I wasn’t sure when, or from where, the half promised Tigers would arrive I decided to delay forward as much as possible. The intent was to defend in sector, make the enemy deploy, and then bound my platoons rearward. All of this was to be done under the cover of constant smoke form my 81mm spotter. I wanted to hold the forward positions long enough to get the Tigers established in a defensive line behind the ridge near the southern (Axis rear) victory location. I believed the ridgeline would be either a D.I.P. (die in place) or winning position. After (hopefully) stopping the Allied advance in front of the ridgeline, I planned to counter attack and retake the northern victory location. The Battle: I seemed to take forever but eventually little stars starting appearing all across the front. It appeared the enemy was advancing with at least two companies abreast. Although I could see that his movement was definitely out flank my left, and maybe my right I decided to hold positions with the exception of relocation the left flank HMG42. His cautious advance and maneuvering served him well as he was ultimately able to close with my squads in good order and with mass. It cost me dearly, but he had unknowingly, as I later appreciated, helped me buy time for the Tigers to arrive. My entire line was on the verge of collapse and the Tigers still had not shown up. Plus, he now had Shermans providing close-in support for his infantry, and his artillery was taken a great toll. Of course the first man routed/broken in the barrage was my 81mm spotter. No smoke to cover my withdrawal. I was literally one cycle from sounding the general retreat when ‘Reinforcements have arrived’ appeared. Joy. I’m not sure why, but up until that moment I expect the Tigers to approach from the south and have a clear route of march to the ridgeline. I was both surprised and a bit perplexed, to see the two of them sitting on the road on my right flank only a few hundred meters from the fighting. Decision time. Commit to the fight or stick to the plan. I decided to stick to the plan and sped them both towards the ridgeline. The pinned, routed, broken, circling like headless chickens, infantry seemed to amuse the attacker and he was engrossed in the sport of wiping them out long enough for the Tigers to make the ridge line unmolested. As each infantry squad shuck off the effects of the beating they had been taking I directed them towards the ridgeline too. The Tigers moved into hull down positions on the ridge and immediately made their presence felt. It really was invigorating to see those babies belching fire and destruction on everything that moved. Actually, not a lot of damage was done initially, one gun hit on a Sherman 76W I think, but it definitely changed the battle from there on out. The enemy appeared to fall back a short distance, regroup and move to flank my ridgeline position both left and right. He also maintained a center position near the forward victory location and continued to bring pain and suffering on my fleeing troops. It was during this period I got my second surprise, another ‘Reinforcements have arrived.’ All right! Where are they? There, two of the most beautiful Tiger tanks ever seen, sitting on the southern road. It’s Whittman! (j/k) And look Ma, a fresh company of tested and bloodied infantry. WOOHOO! I decided the situation called for immediate action so I broke doctrine, split the tank section, and sent one racing to each flank. Both had to take some fairly circuitous routes but arrived their final locations just in time to hunker down and wait for the best moment to strike. The infantry were sent sneaking through the woods to establish platoon size ambushes in the trees along what I believe was to be the most likely attack routes of the enemy infantry. One platoon was sent left (near rear bunker), and the other two to the right. Using the shoot and scoot, the center Tigers kept continuous pressure on the enemy’s advance, torching a couple more Shermans and depleting infantry squads in between tank duels. Meanwhile, the remnants of the lead company had managed to establish a hasty defense in a small wooded area to the southeast of the village and was preventing the enemy from advancing up the middle. When I saw that the enemy was making his move on both flanks I committed the flank Tigers to the fight. It was beautiful. Five more Shermans rolled to a dead stop to quickly to follow with the naked eye. I exaggerate, but it was all over with in just a couple of minutes. Although all his armor now set quietly still, he continued to advance his infantry. I had to make some adjustments to my right most platoons’ positioning but other wise he came as predicted. His infantry dropped like flies on my left and center. His attack on my right made more progress but was soon stopped cold by the platoon I had just repositioned on that flank. It was also on my right that he had a hunter killer team chasing the Tiger. It was kind of humorous. The team must have had extremely low morale because it continued to fire rocket after rocket with no hits. I had already issued orders for the two flank Tigers to rejoin and move into position with the other two in preparation for my counterattack. There was still some sporadic fighting going on between the infantry and then the game ended early. I never got to execute the counter attack. Design Comments: 1. Very good tactical map. 2. Fixed units are ok – but . . . 3. A shorter duration might make the Allied side push harder. It would be a very effective (and easy) method of changing the scenario parameters – if desired by the designer. IMHO 4. This scenario should be advertised as a very good TCP/IP map. My opponent in this game was Jens (aka Rat) who lives in Belgium. We had difficulty in making sufficient headway – only getting to turn 12 – so we planned to finish it at 0730 hours on a Sunday morning using TCP/IP. I had the sun in my eyes. :cool: It was a blast. [ October 03, 2002, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: Heavy Drop ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Another Day - Allied AAR Location: Northern France Date: Noon, 25th November 1944 Weather: Overcast, Dry Type: Allied Attack Turns: 30 Axis: Juha Ahoniemi Allies: Jon "JonS" Sowden Ground: It appears that not much time or effort went into this map. It is deep and narrow. There are two small ridges, spanning the width of the map, about 1/3 in from each end of the map. Each ridge is covered with scattered woods, while the low ground at each end and in the centre is fairly open. The long axis of the map is E-W, and there is a dirt road running down the centre of the map. In the valley in the centre another dirt track runs N-S. On each ridge is a small victory location. Forces: I start off with a full company of infantry, with the promise of two platoons of Shermans and another platoon of infantry within the first 10 minutes. Since this scenario was initially called "Tiger Woods", I must expect that the enemy will have some Tigers. Given the amount of armour I have, I anticipate that there will be a pair of them, and probably around a company of German infantry. Plan: I intend to take the first ridge, but not the second one. The valley is too open to be able to push infantry across, and if Juha drives his Tigers well, it will be a killing zone for my Shermans. I need to kill enough of his forces to win a points victory - the points from the victory locations will be incidental I feel. Setup: Not really much to this - I'm limited to a fairly narrow setup strip at the end of the map, and since I will be moving out straight away I don't fret over it too much. I set up one platoon on either side of the road to lead the advance, and hide the third as a reserve. On the left I set up a fire-support base with all the support weapons under the Coy HQ. Turns 1-3: The two lead platoons move out. The left pn is split into half squads to spread out as they are crossing more open ground. This will also, hopefully, give the impression of more units and the main effort. In truth, I don't have a main effort at this stage. Both flanks are fairly evenly balanced, as I intend to respond to Juhas dispositions and destroy his forces, rather than seizing specific bits of ground. On turn 2 an HMG opens up on the left pn, panicking the Pn HQ, and sending it scurrying back to the start line. Since I can't afford to leave these guys without a leader, I rush the Coy HQ forward to take over. I suspect the HMG fire came from some patches of woods on the left, so I call down some 60mm mortar fire on likely spots. On the right of the ridge I see an HMG repositioning. Reasoning that this is likely to be with other forces, I order up some 105mm fire and this is scheduled to fall on turn 5. Turn 4: Some German 81mm mortar fire starts falling on the left pn, It doesn't cause any casualties, but this must be down to luck as they are right in the beaten zone. The right pn hasn't encountered any opposition yet, and so is making good time towards the first ridge. Turn 5: Right on schedule, the first pn of tanks arrive - 3 vanilla M4s and an M4A1(76)W. I send two left through the beaten zone, one right, and the other stays back on over watch. Turn 6: A fairly quiet turn as the 81mm fire halts. Both forward pns are fairly well established on the near side of the first ridge now. I have split the left pn into two sub-elements. The Coy HQ has two squads, and the Pn HQ has the third squad plus the 'zook. With the forward elements nearing the first objective, the reserve pn and fire-support base starts moving up. Turn 7: Finally some contact! I've 'found' a section of regular Volks Grenadier sub-machine gunners in the woods on the ridge just to the left of the road. At the moment I'm taking the worst of it, but I will use the Coy HQ sub-element to flank him. Turn 8-9: I continue to trade man-for-man with the spotted enemy squad. Of more concern are the two Tiger VIEs spotted behind the first ridge - at least I know where they are now. Juha's 81mm starts falling again, and again is ineffective. The reinforcing pn of infantry arrives and starts out towards the ridge. Turn 10: I loose a Pn HQ when the Pn on the right stumbles into another enemy position just off the road. Two enemy sections are spotted, and the rest of the pn starts engaging. The M4A1(76)W is on the road just back from the crest of the ridge, and starts engaging one of the Tigers in the valley beyond. The second pn of Shermans arrive - same makeup as the first. Turn 11: I manage to bounce a round off the front of the tiger, but cause no damage. The three spotted enemy sections are pulling back. The pn on the left reforms as the Coy HQ runs off to take over command of the pn that just lost its leader. Turn 12: The (76)W dies a fiery death. As a minor consolation, I found and quickly despatched a wooden bunker on the reverse slope of the ridge, away to the left. Turns 13-16: I lose an M4, and then the other M4A1(76)W while trying to tackle the Tigers. The loss of the (76) is critical, as I now have a very low chance of killing any of the Tigers. What makes the loss of this tank even more frustrating is that it was on over watch down the road to prevent the two Tigers from moving left to right. However, over the second ridge came another pair of Tigers, which promptly engaged it, without the Sherman getting a single round away. So much for over watch. This leaves me with 5 x M4 against 4 x Tiger VIE. This is also known as "not a hope in hell". I have cleared the first ridge, eliminating two pns and two wooden bunkers in doing so. Now I will just hunker down and defend what I have. With luck - and bad play from Juha - I can make him pay dearly if he tries to retake this ridge. At the moment, a third enemy platoon is advancing across the valley on the left. I'm confident that with MMGs and artillery I can stop this cold. After that, this battle will probably settle down to a stalemate. Turns 16-21: We both spend this time basically manoeuvring for position. I send two Shermans out to each flank and leave the fifth in the centre. One pn is on the right flank, one is in the trees just to the right of the road. The third is near the flag securing that location, however, due to the threat posed by the Tigers, they are not pushed too far forward. To their left-rear are the MG Pn (2 x M1919, 1 x 50 cal), covering the open ground and the tree line beside the bunker and flag. The fourth rifle pn is in reserve just to the left of the road. By the end of turn 21 I'm ready to try and kill some Tigers. In the meantime, Juha is pushing against my left with two pns (+), and his Tigers are mostly clustered in the centre of the valley. Turn 22: Using the pair of Shermans on each flank I move forward to get the Tigers in a crossfire, and so get some flank shots which are my only hope of knocking any out. At the same time I will rush the pn on the far right across the valley. This rush has several tasks; it will confuse the issue for Juha, presenting him with numerous targets. Also, it will get a 'zook across the valley and into the rear of the Tigers, and finally, the infantry will make an end run for the rear flag. I don't really think they will take it - Juha would be a fool if he hasn't guarded it, and so far his play hasn't been that of a fool - but my pn isn't really doing much where it is, and it will force him to at least think about moving his forces around or pulling back. Every unit of his I can keep out of the fight on the ridge will help me win the battle there. Of course, it doesn't work. Two of the M4s go up in flames, and the Tigers laugh at the single ricochet I get in return. The only bright spot is that the infantry mostly made it across the valley. Turn 23: With just three M4s against his four Tigers I'm really in the poo now. My artillery is falling on his infantry, and I should be able to inflict heavy losses on them, but I can't handle the Tigers. One of the enemy wounded comments to me "I wouldn't worry about that [losing the Shermans]. I think it is obvious that this is an unbalanced scenario. Those Shermans didn't have a chance." While his words are somewhat consoling, I'm not so sure. I never used my armour en-masse, and losing the two (76)s early certainly didn't help. Still, I do think the odds are a bit sucky. Using the 5:1 rule of thumb, either I should have gotten 20 Shermans, or Juha only the two Tigers I first saw. It was really those two reinforcements that he got that have done me in. Turns 24-26: I’ve been using my artillery quite successfully to keep back the Germans trying to get back to the flag, but by the end of turn 26 I only have 8 rounds left. The last few turns are going to be interesting. Also, Juha charges across some open ground with a couple of squads and gets into the tree line adjacent to the bunker, so we are now contesting the flag. I had the pn just right of the road set up on ambush to prevent just such a move, but their fire was ineffective. This wouldn’t be so bad except that sometime around turn 16 one of his 81mm rounds started a fire in the woods between me and the flag. Until now it didn’t bother me since I controlled the flag from ‘my’ side of the fire. In fact, it was somewhat of an advantage as it screened me from the direct fire of his Tigers. But now with his forces there it means that I will have to move out into the open to grapple with them. With the Tigers in close proximity, and already pounding me with direct HE and MG fire, it is going to be dicey. Turn 27: w00t! Patience pays off as I finally knock out one of his Tigers with a side shot from the left flank. The reserve pn starts moving forward, preparing for their moment of glory trying to take the flag. Turn 28: He now has six squads in the tree line next to the bunker. The other Tiger on the left flank got spooked and has withdrawn a ways, effectively taking it out of the battle. The other two keep up a punishing fire on my pn near the flag though. The pn that dashed across the valley are about halfway to the rear flag, while the ‘zook is just getting into position. Unfortunately he’s been spotted and a Tiger is targeting him. Turns 29-30: I use a Sherman to lay some smoke to cover the move of the reserve pn up to the flag. I manage to get 9 men around the fire, but their morale is rather shaky. Against the 21 Germans there, they don’t have the capacity to create enough violence to wrest control of the flag, so it ends the game disputed. The pn doing the end run charges into the waiting arms of another German pn back there, however, the ambush is triggered too early, and my men only suffer one casualty. Conclusion: I lost, and fairly badly at that. I managed to more-or-less stick to my initial plan (seize and hold the first ridge), but my inability to deal with the Tigers meant that my forces were little more than targets for much of the game. In contrast, Juha drove his tanks very well, and deserves the win. I feel I won the infantry battle, but the game was in the armour battle. Allied Attacker . . . . . . . Axis Defender 127 casualties (41 KIA) . 119 casualties (39 KIA) 5 Vehicles knocked out. . 1 Vehicle knocked out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Pillboxes knocked out Men OK: 122. . . . . . . . . Men OK: 79 Score: 36 . . . . . . . . . . . Score: 59 Global Morale: 43%. . . . .Global Morale: 37% Incidentally, It turned out that I was completely wrong about the source of the fire that panicked the Pn HQ on turn 2. I had thought that it came from my left, when in fact it was arriving from the ridge to the right of the road. Strike another victory for FOW! Notes: I didn't much like this scenario. Losing didn't help, but it had the feel of a quickly slapped together QB. The map was plain, the briefings a joke, and the forces didn't appear to have been given much thought - they were very evenly balanced in terms of numbers and points, and everyone was regular quality. Of the five scenarios in this tourney, this would be the one I liked least. [ October 02, 2002, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: JonS ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Hi, I will post my AAR later today. When "Sgt Lucky Bstrd" wakes up I expect him to be in here cawing. He tanned my behind and this is the one game I lost the tourney on if I ever stood a chance. Anyway as said before this is the weakest looking map / feel of the whole tourney. It IMO favours the German defender and the Tigers. If there was one set-up game this was it. Or was I just crap? Anyway while the map was not hot the game play was good and myself and the Cpl had fun. We replayed it with similar results as me Germans and him Allied. If you use the Tigers well there is little chance of the Allies getting accross the second swathe of open land between the first flag and the second flag. Because of the flags being small ones this really favours the defender as if you lose too much in taking the flags you have gained nothing. So the Germans sole aim should be to extract maximum deaths and hold the second flag. Tghe ideal spot for the 1st two Tigers is near where they appear back up against the woods and on the slight rise. From there they have a good cover of the whole map and present there front armour to any attacker. Unless the 1st 76mm gets lucky this position locks down play. The 2nd pair of Tigers can take up a great position on the ridge near the second flag where the road passes by it. Again front armour, no flank shots and a tough game for the attacker. As always with these games if the German player uses the Tigers poorly and pushes them forward the German player is dust as the Shermans can mop up the German Infantry easily. Looking at the scores for the game there have been some good successes with the Allied players and I want to see how these were achieved. Please post soon... H P.s. Come on Cpl start your teasing.... (wake up) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavy Drop Posted October 3, 2002 Author Share Posted October 3, 2002 Good AAR JonS To restate the obvious - winning or losing definitely helps shape ones overall opinion. Let me ask you, as I ask my opponent, did you have artillery smoke available? If so, do you think it would have helped? I ask because I was being pounded by Rat with large caliber arty and while watching him form up to attack across the open area I kept expecting smoke to screen my fires. It never happened and my Tigers had a minor feeding frenzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Hi Heavy D, If that was posed at me? Here is the response. If not please ignore... Smoke was used by me to try and mask the movement of my Shermans. At times this failed and I got popped. I managed to get my men to the 2nd flag and contest it. I managed to flank the Tigers. I even had a Sherman behind them at one stage. I did not manage to get a kill and Cpl played well and saw me off. My view on the all the games is always thought through no matter if I win or lose. I look at the angles and what each side got and try and come up with a fair - balanced view on it. E.G. I hammered Tero in Head for the Hills. My assement is that the game is balanced in favour of the Allies. I played as the Germans. As always with any game people see things differently and that makes it fun. All I offer is my view which is just that and something for debate and discussion. Your question about arty is relevant in that the Americans only get a 105 spotter. To use smoke with this guy goes against the grain. I used the Shermans smoke. Perhaps I should have used 105? Also I used the 60mm smoke. Hmmm not much good that. Anyway it will be good to see how the Americans won it and what the German players did in those situations. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombinedArms Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I managed to achieve a minor victory as the Allies in this and for me the key to that victory was the decision, made very early on, to simply ignore the second (Axis controlled) flag. It was just worth 100 points so as soon as I took the first flag I went on the defensive with the goal to kill as many Axis tanks and infantry as possible. We probed each other's positions (he tried an attack on my left flank) and we each nailed some enemy armor but it was in no sense a pitched battle. We ended up with 1 flag each, 3 dead Shermans vs. 2 dead (& 2 immoblized) Tigers, and some dead infantry. I killed more infantry than my opponent by a fairly significant margin, hence, I think, the minor victory. The keys to the infantry killing were: 1. Being able to hit the initial Axis positions with superior force. 2. Having 105mm arty rather than 81mm. I think my arty did a lot of damage to the infantry (and also immoblized one Tiger) while the 81mm caused few if any casualites, mostly landing on empty ground. 3. The attack on my left flank was fairly costly. I think that the key for the Allies here may be to respect the Tiger's capabilities and not try to achieve too much. I see, though, that Scheer got a 79 pt. win as Allies and I'm wondering how he accomplished that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Firstly, my apologies for what is probably a very confusing AAR but I found this very difficult to write without any significant named landmarks. In the end your head will probably be swimming with all the references to compass positions but all I can say is, I did my best! AAR on “Another Day” A rather interesting challenge is presented with this scenario. It was clear to me from the outset that the map was designed for tank manouevre, utilising whatever terrain was around to each side’s best advantage. This suspicion of mine was further reinforced by the lack of any meaningful objective flags so clearly, there was not to be any great emphasis on capturing terrain as such. The battle started out with my reduced Volksgrenadier Company lying in ambush within 3 main woods areas. The V.G. Rifle platoon (2 squads) were all located in the smallish area of woods south of the east/west road and set a bit back from the two main areas of woods to its south and north. My second platoon (consisting of only 2 SMG squads) were placed in the central woods area to the left and right of the east/west road with vague lines of sight to the open area in front of them to the west. Much to my disgust there was no ability to relocate the 2 HMG teams further back on the map where they could use their ranged fire to best effect since they were padlocked. The final V.G. SMG platoon (once again, only 2 squads) was located in the largish area of woods to the right of the map (from the German perspective). As soon as turn 1 commenced I immediately moved one of my HMG teams further back on the map towards a single tile of woods on my far left flank in order to be able to spot any enemy units that may try and sneak down my southern flank. Then it became a waiting game to see what would be thrown at my meagre initial force. It didn’t take long (turn 4) for first contact to be made when a crappy 4 man H.Q. squad carried out their scouting role to perfection by wandering into the central body of woods (just to the left of the east/west road) into the arms of my waiting SMG squad. It took just under a turn to gun them down but in the process, they provided useful information to Warhammer and they still managed to take down one of my guys in the squad as well. Shortly thereafter the flood arrived with Bazooka teams, running Yankee half squads, medium mg teams and the like all surging forward into the centrally located woods and woods located to the north of the map. My waiting SMG squads were able to inflict some pain on the right most attack as a half squad and 50 cal. MG was caught in the open attempting to cross from one patch of woods to another and was promptly gunned down. While this was going on I was furiously bombarding with 81mm mortar fire, the central woods area to the right of the east/west road as I had previously seen some generic infantry markers appear just before entering the initial woods tree line. I felt it best to simply continue the fire in that general area until out of shells from the FO as it was uncomfortably close to the enemy in order to get some sort of line of sight to the general vicinity of the tree line. Meanwhile, the 2 centrally located SMG squads were not faring all that well as one squad was suddenly confronted by 3 infantry? contacts all at once. The squad was able to fire and hopefully inflict some casualties but I couldn’t be sure due to lack of intelligence. In the meantime my guys lost 3 men from the 8 man squad. While this little firefight was going on a reduced squad had charged around to the right and behind my engaged squad, across an open area and into woods behind their position, basically smack bang into my repositioning platoon HQ. After a few bursts from the HQ, this must have panicked the enemy squad as it then charged out of the forest and onto the east/west road. From this position it was promptly gunned down by the remains of my HQ (down to 2 men) and the 2nd SMG squad that had worked its way through the woods to the south of the main road, back to support their fellow platoon comrades. At roughly the same time my left flank was also engaged in a firefight with 2 American squads which had tried to work their way down my left flank through the wooded area there. My 2 Rifle squads & HQ were able to virtually wipe out 1 squad as it was caught in the open trying to cross to the next patch of woods, however the 2nd one did manage to reach its destination and get to woods roughly south east of my position and behind it. At the same time a Sherman appeared roughly half way through the turn and some 80 metres away with a direct line of sight to my HQ and Rifle squad. It managed to reduce my previously untouched Rifle squad to 4 men plus they became pinned in the process. How I wished at this stage of the battle that the scenario designer had provided my force with at least a couple of Panzerschreck teams to start with but it was not gonna happen! By roughly turns 8 to 10 my 2 Rifle platoons on my left flank and the 2 SMG platoons in the central woods were being overwhelmed by weight of numbers and Shermans appearing from all directions. My entire V.G. Rifle platoon was obliterated by around turn 12 from multiple fires from at least 3 to 4 squads plus 2 Shermans lending assistance while my centrally located SMG squads were also overwhelmed by squads appearing mainly from the west and north of their positions. The one bright spot was that my 2 remaining SMG squads and HQ were doing a sterling job of gunning down enemy squads that appeared in their sights as they attempted to flank their position through the northern edge of the right most forest. Full squads were being reduced to half squads while my 2 SMG platoons had only taken 1 casualty each although the HQ was looking a bit fragile with only 2 men left. While all this was going on I had been moving my 2 Tiger I reinforcements along the north/south road and then roughly west to sit behind a band of woods to the east of the main body of forest located on my right flank where my 2 SMG squads were inflicting pain on the enemy. I had already identified by now at least 6 enemy tanks either directly or via sound contacts so I had no intention of placing my only 2 AFV assets in areas where there were multiple lines of sight to their position. I decided it best to relocate my Tigers when heavy artillery started falling around their position so I reversed both units into positions roughly behind the next band of woods east of their initial position. By now my 2nd lot of reinforcements had arrived consisting of a full V.G. company which I promptly deployed roughly two thirds to the south of the east/west road and one third (SMG platoon) to the north of the road. The southern force were to run towards the main body of woods located east of the north/south road and set up ambush locations using an SMG platoon augmented by 1 Rifle squad commanded by the Company HQ. This left the depleted Rifle platoon to take up positions in a patch of woods just north of the rear most MG bunker. This bunker had long since been destroyed by a Sherman from approx. 800 metres away which had immediately spotted it on first gaining LOS to the area despite the bunker allegedly hiding. Same went for my forward most MG bunker but at least it had managed to loose of a few shots first before dying ingloriously. The remaining SMG platoon were to set up ambush positions in the main body of woods north of the east/west road and roughly in line with the rear most MG bunker, for the expected rush by the American infantry to capture the remaining objective flag. Turns 14 to 17 were relatively uneventful apart from the fleeing remnants of my initial force being gunned down as they attempted to retreat from their forward positions. On turn 14 (from memory) my 2nd batch of 2 Tiger I’s appeared whereupon I decided to split them up. One was to move fast to the north west to reach the gap between the map edge and the main forest body north of the east/west road, then achieve a hull down position facing west. The other was to move fast to the south west to reach a point roughly alongside my rear most knocked out bunker, and achieve hull down status facing roughly north west. Meanwhile, my forward most Tigers were decidedly too far forward for my liking so I had been continually reversing them to positions roughly in line with the north/south road and over towards my right flank to face the oncoming hordes of Shermans. On turn 18 I got a bit lucky with one of my forward Tigers which had worked its way around the south eastern corner of the woods on my far right flank right alongside the north/south road. It was able to draw a bead on a Sherman 75 that was going for a charge down the northern edge of the same forest and killed it with the first shot from around 75 metres away. That very same turn, my later arriving reinforcing Tiger hunting up the ridge alongside the rear most bunker managed to obtain a line of sight to another Sherman 75 roughly south of my forward KO'd bunker and behind a band of woods. First shot missed, second shot was a gun hit and the third shot found its mark as the target furiously tried to reverse away and lay down smoke, but all too late. Turn 20 was to become the turning point in the game. It began with one of my forward Tigers on the extreme right flank located just north of the previously mentioned woods nearest the north/south road and roughly 15 metres west of the road. I knew there was a 76mm armed Sherman roughly south west of his position out of LOS on the other side of the woods but only about 50 metres away. I knew this because we had traded shots at each other the previous turn with two of my shots missing at that approximate distance while the 2nd 76mm shot hit the front of the Tiger's turret but luckily ricocheted away. A second 75mm armed Sherman was also just west of my position close to its 76mm armed partner but with no line of sight due to intervening woods. I knew that Warhammer’s plan would be to simultaneously charge down both flanks of my Tiger either side of the east/west running body of woods. One thing I was hoping he didn't know about was my late arriving hull down reinforcement Tiger located further east that I had rushed to the gap east of the north/south road on my right flank. My other more centrally located forward Tiger also had a bead on the 76mm Sherman as it was working its way down the southern side of the east/west woods but it was awfully exposed in its position in a small dip in open ground just east of the north/south road. The turn did not start well when my more central forward Tiger with a bead already on the 76mm Sherman missed from about 100 metres away while the return fire soon after hit its mark first shot and I was minus one Tiger. At the same time I had hunted my 2nd forward Tiger on the extreme right flank in a southerly direction, straight towards the intervening woods in order to achieve a rear shot on that offending Sherman 76 through the foliage at around 50 metres distance. I was praying that my covering Tiger to the east would protect it from the 75mm Sherman that was bound to charge east past the rear of my hunting Tiger as it attempted to take out its immediate protagonist. Sure enough, my hunting Tiger managed to line up the 76mm Sherman that had just destroyed his comrade in arms, for a first shot kill through the woods hitting the rear of the tank. Meanwhile, right on cue the 75mm Sherman began its charge to outflank me to the north but it didn’t count on my hull-down Tiger further back which managed a hit at around 200 metres for a non lethal gun kill. The Sherman continued its eastern bound charge as it was now out of sight of its protagonist due to 2 clumps of intervening woods tiles but then came into view of my recently victorious Tiger at around 30 metres! It could do nothing of course because of the gun kill while the turret on my Tiger slowly wheeled around to hit the Sherman in the rear as it sped past from spitting distance range. To further improve my day on this particular turn, a 2nd 76mm armed Sherman had appeared a little south of its now defunct comrade and heading fast in a easterly direction, crossing the north/south roadway. Luckily for me my remaining Tiger located alongside the rear bunker had hunted forward along the plateau it was sited on and was able to achieve line of sight to this 2nd potential Tiger killer Sherman. First shot from about 400 metres away found its mark and the two main threats to my remaining Tigers had just been removed in the one turn. From there on in I felt a bit sorry for Warhammer because I was pretty certain he only had 75mm armed Shermans for his remaining 3 tanks which would make it very difficult for him to make much headway against my equal number of Tigers, provided I was careful with not getting too close to his Bazooka teams for flank shots. I knew that he had already lost 2 Zook teams so I was counting on him only having a third to worry about. From this point on I simply progressively hunted my Tigers slowly westwards while my late arriving Volksgrenadier Company worked its way forward as well, but ahead of the rear most 2 Tigers to the east. My forward located Tiger was able to move up with some confidence towards the northern loctaed large body of woods situated on the large ridge closest to the American jump off point. The reason for this confidence was that I still had the remnants of an SMG squad (3 men left) hiding in the middle of the woods along with its single man HQ. Warhammer had been in a rush to keep his men moving ever eastwards during turns 14 to 20 or so and had not managed to clear this area completely. Therefore, this pitiful remnant was able to spot for any potential Bazooka teams as my Tiger moved forward. This Tiger was able to reach a point just east of this large wooded area and facing south to trap the 3 remaining Shermans that were trying to avoid my 2 steadily advancing eastern located Tigers. These "Ronsons" were hiding behind the large body of scattered trees and assorted buildings near the junction of the 2 roads. Inevitably, the over matched Shermans were picked off by my 3 Tigers with each able to claim one kill although one was probably a bit lucky on the part of my most enfilading Tiger. The last Sherman was charging flat strap in an easterly direction along the road to escape the tightening net when my southern facing Tiger was able to just squeeze the one shot off in time as it crossed its path from around 300 metres away before disappearing into the heavily wooded pass. It reached the pass but unfortunately for my opponent, somewhat worse for wear. By turn 28 my forces were mopping up the remains of Warhammer's, with his last shot at knocking off one of my Tigers snuffed out by my heroic 3 man SMG squad that had managed to survive the whole game. Right at the end this motley remnant was able to kill his last remaining Bazooka team in hand to hand combat at very close range with no ammo remaining. After that tussle, the game auto-surrendered with an Axis Major Victory and the score at 80 to 20. Overall, I would have to agree with Holien on the observation that the scenario clearly favours the Germans, provided one is careful with the precious Tigers. I was a tad lucky to get away with the victory I did because I almost left my initial 2 Tigers high and dry, too far forward and exposed but managed to extricate one of them through a bit of good fortune. From my point of view it was a tense and enjoyable game but I can appreciate that Warhammer may not agree due to the overmatching of the Tigers against 75mm armed Shermans on a fairly narrow map. Regards Jim R. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Damn you CA... And God Bless Australians.... CA you hit the nail on the head and it was what i should have done in hindsight. I knew this at the time as you will see in the AAR. However I was chancing my arm in trying to claw back my lost points. In the end I just lost more and more points. My gamble failed and I paid the price. It will be intersting to see if it has cost me the chance of some great wine... H P.s. KR I hope plenty of other German players spanked the Allies as it will help minimise my defeat. That or people fail to write AAR's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombinedArms Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I had the advantage in this scenario of knowing that I'd won a couple of big victories elsewhere so here, with an eye partly on the wine, I was just trying not to blow it. I chose a low risk strategy and in this case it worked OK. I realized there was some risk that the Axis might not take the bait and attempt to attack, but I figured he would almost have to because of points 1 & 2 above: 1. My being able to hit the initial Axis positions with superior force. 2. My having 105mm arty rather than 81mm and therefore a greater chance to inflict casualties by indirect fire. So if we had both gone on the defensive after I took the initial VL, my opponent would be conceding me a minor victory (which was, in fact my target anyway). And most players aren't willing to do that--they naturally want to try for a decisive win. [ October 03, 2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juha Ahoniemi Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Ok, I played against JonS and he posted his AAR. Here is mine to see things from my point of view. DISCLAIMER: Poor grammar due too many yers since English lessons... ROWII:The Boots & Tracks Brawl Tournament 1, section 4 Another day - AAR by Juha Ahoniemi JonS (allied) vs. Juha Ahoniemi (Axis) Briefing is clear - hold this critical sector. The info about reinforcements is very sufficient, I can build my battleplan according to it. The setup phase is quite frustrating - almost everything is locked, but the wooden mg - bunkers are allowed to place freely. I place one in woods very near of the Western flag , ready to halt any troops coming via the road. Another one I place about 120m to North from the first one, in woods agin, to control that open ground and first bunker's right flank. The placing of my forces Sucks IMO, but that is beyond my reach. Major part of my troops are out of the command range. So I start by slowly moving my guys within command range of my leaders. My arty spotter also starts to order fire to possible point of enemy entry, to adjust it until enemy is spotted - then the rain of iron may begin.. I also order my southern MG42 to move within the command range, but while moving it spots the enemy and opens fire, giving away its position. Not a promising start... Enemy is closing in the middle, to area my arty is about to start shelling. He is also harassing some squirrels in woods far right, about 100m to West of my troops - some mortar fire is dropping there. My arty starts to shell presumed enemy position (there are certainly some troops that I have spotted) and enemy arty starts to shell my self - revealing MG42. What comes around, goes around. Enemy is closing in my left flank, and my troops spots the first sherman M4. The enemy is also firing some smoke to hide the open ground which my Northern bunker is covering (hiding at this time, as all my troops except the arty spotter). My first reinforcements arrives - two tigers - and they start to move towards the enemy using woods as cover to conceal themselves. My plan is to keep the first tigers as a tandem, covering each others flanks. First contact is made in the front woods, my SMG squad vs. enemy squad. My arty keeps dropping. The tigers are waiting for prey... Enemy is active in the left flank, starting to pin down my MG. His arty is closing on my positions and his sherman pops a smoke and reverses. Tigers are a beasts to fear... Enemy soon starts to roll. My men are taking punishment in the leaft and in the middle. More and more shermans keeps appearing, I count six already. My Northern bunker is knocked out and my men in general are in trouble. One of the shermans takes on my tiger - and perishes. Turns out it was a 76mm, which may have had a chance to kill my beast. But one thing is sure when I command my Krupp steel - I don't play fair. It was my dynamic duo that killed that lone 76mm shermie... In this point my infantry reinforcements arrive. They are needed badly but are sooooo far away. I leave platoon HQ which have no combat bonuses to defend the Eastern flag with two regular SMG teams. I don't want to lose that flag in any circumstance and put my men in woods hiding and waiting if someone is foolish enough to try take the flag - there is large open groud, a shooting gallery if enemy tries to approach that VL. My other reinforcements starts to run towards the front, using woods when possible as concealment. The second shermie bites the dust. That one came from middle - left. Unfortunately (for him) this was anticipated by me. My tiger is facing to that direction and another have woods to cover that left flank, it it facing to middle - right, waiting to welcome some guests. This is s situation where I must be cool - not to rush after retreating enemy, but keep the optimal position. And adjust that position as a tandem, countering enemy flanking attempts. Sacrifices must be made, as my troops in front beg some armored support by this time. Their familes will receive my condolences and iron crosses for the perished. My tigers are too valuable to waste in foolish attemps. Patience, the help is on the way! But another sherman has sneaked into position to knock out my remaining bunker. It will be avenged. The last reinforcements arrive. Two tigers behind a ridge in the east. I order them to drive at full speed via the road and to hunt at near of the top of that ridge. Result: another KO'ed sherman 76mm. It was stalking behind Western ridge on the road, but this time the hunter became the hunted. My infantry reinforcements (weary at this point) are closing the front, too. Payback is at hand... But my men are still dying in the middle. Now I can give some HE support from my tigers, But it may come too late. A sherman is trying to flank me in right. I react. A little reverse, and hunting to HD postition facing the new threat. Woods are covering the left flank. The flanker pops a smoke and retreats. The tandem works again. Enemy has taken control of Western VL. My troops that were there are either killed or routed. Time to use that tiger HE. And that gamey bastard tiger ignites the woods into fire just a little West from that VL! What a stroke of luck! Now the enemy will have a very hard time to keep that VL. I keep firing, routing the enemy from that flag. My other tigers have reached the crossroads in the middle, and have some infantry to keep them safe from nasty surprises. My infantry reinforcements are in place, but I must give them time to catch their breath. But the enemy have other plans. Arty starts to drop near my tired men. The closest tiger to front starts to move closer. But alas, tank commander is killed and they are in shock! But my HE rounds, in my perspective, have achieved theig goal: VL is neutral. Now all my tanks are firing and they keep shermans at bay - another flanking attempt, this time from the left by two shermans, ends to popping of smoke. My troops begin to advance. Now the enemy is flanking fromt the right again, and I must reposition my tiger - tandem, of which the shocked one comes to and continues to follow orders. They are ready to deal with those flankers. Enemy arty causes some casualties, but the first "wave" is managed to get to the woods. My tandem gets to offensive mode and drives forward. Right flankers are reversing away as I, just in case, ordered area fire near their position (they were not visible in the end of last turn). The second member of tandem takes on a sherman ahead, shaking off its shell - ricochet. Just when it is about to return fire, it happens again - irritating, LOS closing smoke launcher. Grrrr. The fever of hunt and smell of a prey conquers my mind. I'm closing the flanker on the right with infantry and their fausts, and with my tiger, which withstands a ricocheted shell. Shermans harass my infantry badly (how the hell did they see so deep into the woods?) but then my tiger executes one of the flankers. Another backs off and starts to seek my infantry again. Enemy is flanking in the left again, this time with infantry and a sherman. Only four seconds after previous execution, my left - guarding tiger executes another sherman! I choose to ignore the flanking infantry for now, just give them some HE. I am pretty sure that they won't make it to my rear flag in time. And if they do, they'll in for very nasty surprise! Enemy is very careful now with his tanks. My tanks are trying to kill a zook team that seems to have a some kind of "god - mode" on - no matter how much I fire HE and small arms fire to it, it doesn't die(that zook team survived the whole game)! Rest of the battle is as raw as ever. My men take heavy casualties trying to close the flag, anf taking continuous shelling from enemy arty. In one point I give in to a feeling that commander shouldn't : pity. I try to get better line of sight to enemy MG with my tiger and it get knocked out by sherman from right flank (I found it out later, I never saw the shot nor knew what killed my tiger. That sherman was hiding smartly behind woods, even my infantry did not spot it. Kudos to my opponent). Enemy infantry flanking from the right runs forward, only one bazooka team changes it's direction and steal attention of my tiger, approaching it from "back door". Luckily that "god - mode" zook doesn't have divine warheads, so my tiger's side turret hit doesn't cause damage, or penetration. I manage to kill that "backdoor"- zook with two of my tigers. I seem to have the control now. In the end the enemy makes his moves - infantry rushes to the Western VL, but it remains disputed. I have guessed that his "tiger - killer" may try a move too (my tiger near it has its turret pointing another direction) and manage to reverse my tiger to safety. That sherman indeed comes out smelling blood! Not this time, my friend. And like I anticipated, that flanking infantry never got to the Eastern VL. They do exhange some fire with my guard there, but remain faaaaaaaar away! I keep that flag! The result: Allied Attacker: 127 casualties (41KIA) 5 vehicles knocked out Men OK 122 Score:36 Axis Defender: 119 casualties (39KIA) 2 pillboxes knocked out 1 vehicle knocked out Men OK 79 Score 59 Axis minor victory. End of AAR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juha Ahoniemi Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Goddamned double post... [ October 03, 2002, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: Juha Ahoniemi ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I have a longer AAR somewhere, but the basics are simple. Within the narrow frame that my brain capacity allowed me this summer (my opponent White4 rightly pointed out all the things I missed in a post-battle mail), I tried to act agressivly against the Tigers, remembering other battles where I had the Tigers and lost them for their lameness. I traded the first two Tigers for somewhat too many Shermans, with the help of Bazookas. This would have been acceptable, but White4 improved the handling of other two Tigers, he kept them out of Bazooka country and mostly on the road, negating the worst weakness, their slow turn rate, so that they toasted Shermans just fine. Let me hunt for my AARs. They may be too embarassing to post, though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Hang on! Either my memory is going or I'd bet my left one that both those bunkers were locked down tight with no ability to re-position them apart from their facing. Am I imagining things here? Regards Jim R. [ October 03, 2002, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: Kanonier Reichmann ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frunze Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 This one turned out to be almost like two separate battles going on at the same time: Tigers vs. Shermans and zooks, and infantry vs. infantry. One tiger and two Shermans were left at the end, and I had less total infantry than my opponent, as I took a lot of casualties wiping out the first line of infantry. (My tanks were little help with that, since I was concentrating on the Tigers with them.) I used a lot of smoke to let me take on the Tigers one or two at a time. First arty smoke on one Tiger at the crossroads, letting me come at the second from several directions. Then moved up close on the one at the crossroad, with an assist from a squad and a 'zook. Two more Tigers moving up by then, but the smoke kept 'em out of the action. Then tank smoke covering the gaps between the trees, letting me move Shermans and infantry up the sides while the Tigers stayed in the middle, near the second flag. I even moved one Sherman around behind the woods there, which was a mistake, it got killed. But Tero had to move one of the Tigers back to do it, so I was able to get the other by itself again, coming at it from different sides. Ended up a draw with a slight advantage to Tero. I held the first flag, the second was neutral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juha Ahoniemi Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Originally posted by Kanonier Reichmann: Hang on! Either my memory is going or I'd bet my left one that both those bunkers were locked down tight with no ability to re-position them apart from their facing. Am I imagining things here? Regards Jim R.Pass the pipe Jim! The Eastern bunker was locked, but the one in "rear" was not. You could move it ti the setup area. -Juha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Interesing point in the AAR of Frunze... If the 1st 2 Tigers had been moved to a central position at the X roads, as mentioned by Frunze they are toast to a good Allied player. If they stay with there backs up against the trees and on the slight rise / hill on the German right behind the left to right road they have great LOS and can stop an attack dead. The only way they will lose there is if the Allied player gets lucky with a 76mm long shot (not good odds vs the 88 long range) or smoke is used to get them closer. Even then a Sherman rush has to be preformed well, very well.... H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CombinedArms Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Originally posted by Holien: If [the Tigers] stay with there backs up against the trees and on the slight rise / hill on the German right behind the left to right road they have great LOS and can stop an attack dead. The only way they will lose there is if the Allied player gets lucky with a 76mm long shot (not good odds vs the 88 long range) or smoke is used to get them closer. Even then a Sherman rush has to be preformed well, very well.... HPerformed very, very well...or not at all. As I have been suggesting, one approach is for the Allied player to sit on his initial advantage in casualties from pushing back the first Axis force and the similarly small but tangible advantage he gets from pounding the Axis position with 105mm--and force the Axis to attack HIM if the Axis player wants to avoid a minor loss. It's hard to resist trying to win it all, but against 4 Tigers on that board an all-out attack by the Allies is a crapshoot at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabpub Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Another Day Or The Ebb and Flow of Fortune This seemed one of the more straightforward scenarios. As the American, I was tasked with advancing to control two physical points that were the dominant terrain around a village (more like a wide spot in the road; but hey, I don’t live there). My infantry company would start the advance and be reinforced later with 2 4 tank platoons of Shermans and an additional platoon of grunts. No real plan here, merely advance to contact, evaluate, and improvise. The company started out toward the wood line that lay 400m to the front. The platoons jumped of in a staggered V formation so that the trail platoon could support either lead. The heavy weapons of the company remained in the woodline jumpoff points. The men fully expected to be shot at, but amazingly, their was no resistance to the advance. A brief glimpse of fleeing infantry was noted. As the squads reached the woods, the HW units picked up and set off. Some were able to hitch rides on the arriving Shermans that now proceeded down the road. Entering the woods was the end of peace for the day. The right and trail platoons sent out fire teams to scout ahead as they ghosted thru the woods. The left platoon fanned left to cover a clearing area there. Just as the teams approached the end of the woods and could see the rooftops of the village, Hell erupted. The Jerries, cagey as ever, had dug in on the back side of the forest. I learned the reason why they had not opposed the advance across the open. They were probably fearful of the support that we usually have for DF HE and MG’s. In addition, these men were equipped mainly with grease guns. Even in the hands of children these are KILLERS at the close ranges we had here. One team died almost instantaneously, the other ran. In addition, a mg bunker was observed on the left and tank movement was noted by the village. The Shermans fanned out; one to the left to deal with the bunker, one right to support the troops there, and the last two to clear the road. The one on the left ko’d the bunker, but the one on the right was spotted by a Tiger dashing across the open between trees and blew up. The tank CO’s on the road sat below a small ridge and had a quick huddle. One of the sherms was a 76, and the plan came to be this. The 75 sherm would crest the ridge, reverse after showing itself and fire smoke dischargers. The 76 would be 10 sec behind and do the same. Hopefully, the Tiger crew would target the first tank and shoot at it; where the 76 could get a unhindered shot before retiring also. About 2 minutes have elapsed since the right Sherman blew, so the Tigers are now shooting any infantry that they can see. This helps the plan come to fruition. The shermans follow the plan and it works! The 76 got a one shot kill on the Tiger on the right of the village and retired into the smoke. Immediately, they do the maneuver again on the other cat and succeed identically! By now, the center and right platoons have gone to earth, but the left gets to the clearing along with the support Sherman and lay effective fire into the German lines across the clearing. Also, the reinforcing platoon has reached the wood line and will replace the right platoon, which is almost combat ineffective. And the reinforcing Shermans have arrived and race down the road to the point behind the ridge. The 105 spotter calls for some artillery on the open area behind the right German position. We are now going to make them pay for their deployment choice. The shermans, not having seen any other tanks, come out “en masse” down the road, shelling and machine gunning the woods to either side. This, plus the resumed advance of the infantry is too much for the defenders and they either die or break. But, they have to attempt to cross too much open ground and are gunned down mercilessly. The tanks and infantry now advance towards the town with ½ of the tanks firing blindly into the buildings, while the others overwatch. An artillery spotter that had been harassing us with mortars is found and killed in some woods near the village; but nothing else is seen. As we approach the village, the leftmost Sherman sees another bunker and another Tiger on the wooded ridge on the right center. After retreating from the Tigers view he kills that bunker. The tanks and infantry are now at the town and The Tiger plan is implemented again. One 75 Sherman dashes for some woods, crossing the Tigers line of sight. Both Sherman 76’s are to advance after it and engage. The plan works, but at a price. The Tiger is killed (by the same 76 that got the other 2; he is getting rather big headed now), but the 75 Sherman is KO’d in the flank. But, the tankers have taken 3 cats for only 2 of their number and are quite satisfied. Now for the advance to the other ridge. Once again, crossing the open is uneventful. Entering the woods near the “objective” though, we run in to the same defense. Except this time there are 2 full platoons here and my 2 platoons had casualties going in. After getting knocked around, they retreat back to our woods edge and hold. Artillery is vectored, but it will be blind fire. In addition, a vague report of yet another Tiger in some woods 3-400m beyond the ridge is reported. The brave Shermans will execute the plan one more time. Success here, and they can deal with the infantry in the woods and allow the advance to continue. This time, things go awry (wrong). First, the 76’s don’t crest at the same time. Second, the timing of the maneuver made it so that the 76’s crested right at the end of the impulse. So, the German commander, being wise to the ID’s of the tanks and the technique, targets the 76 that crested first. He is killed by the second shot of the Tiger. The other 76 (the one with 3 Tigers today already) is swinging on line. I am chanting in the command post “Get him! Shoot!” He fires, HIT! Lower hull penetration! But, no kill…. The Tiger makes the slight adjustment it needed and wham! Deadeye Dick’s war is over… The rest is anti-climatic. The lower hull hit immobilized the Tiger; but he is able to get the Sherman 75 before it can escape. My infantry retire to our side of the ridge under the cover of the remaining Shermans. No one does anything for the last 2 minutes or so and the time allotted for the mission elapses. Score- Allies 51 Axis 49. I went to the well once to often and was overconfident. My error with the last maneuver cost me a decent victory here. I had been fortunate early on, but I should have known that the dice have to roll craps once in a while; and the time to quit is while you are winning. 3 Tigers and 2 bunkers for 2 Shermans is a great return and since the infantry losses appeared even, splitting the flags would have been a decent victory for me. Greed is one of the 7 sins and I had it here. My butt was sore from the kicking I gave myself after this one was over. Rob Davidson “Tabpub” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Carrot Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Well, I'm awake but I will not be teasing* you Holien. Cpl Carrot (Thats to say I'm running late for work and don't have time to write any smart remarks ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpl Carrot Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 Another Day After Action Report Played between Holien and Cpl. Carrot Situation: I took over this battle just as things were getting interesting (around turn 12). My forces were a little depleted (23 WIA) with one squad wiped out and 2 down to half strength. My two bunkers are still OK, along with two Tigers, which I hope will do sterling work. From the initial setup zones, my troops have fallen back to be just in front of the N-S road that splits the map. Turn 12: My regular pillbox is knocked out by a long-range bazooka shot. On the left flank an ambush is sprung, inflicting heavy loss of life before two Sherman's arrived to spoil the party. More Sherman's are sighted on both flanks. My Tigers pull back to try to get some flank protection from the patches of woods. Turn 13: Reinforcements arrive in the form of a SMG company. This makes this interesting. My Tigers and a Sherman 76 exchange fire - all misses. Turn 14: The minute the earth stood still and watched with baited breath. My Tigers pull back - using reverse and hunt commands to zigzag their way round the patches of woods. While doing so, two Sherman 75's appear on the left; a 76 in the middle and one of each appear on the right flank. Things are grim. At the end of the round one Sherman is dead on the left and on Tiger has bounced a 76 of the front hull. Front line infantry pull back to new positions. The new company is split in three - one platoon going left, centre and right. Turn 15: Things get better. My Tigers knock out the 76 on the right and retreat to more secure locations. Spring a small ambush in the centre/right - eight less Ami for no loss. On the left flank things go bad and my retreating infantry is chewed up and panicked. Turn 16: Two more Tigers arrive. They will help out on the left flank. Few more casualties on either side Turn 17: Another 76 bounces off after a long duel with misses on my side. An ambush on the right flank goes wrong and I will lose that squad. The troops in the centre/right are overrun. Turn 18: Duel on right flank continues with some 75's bouncing and my Tigers miss their chances. Holien's troops keep advancing and I try to keep retreating. Turn 19: Same as before. His troops have reached the N-S road. Turn 20: Lone Sherman makes a dash along the N-S road and then up the E-W road, in a rash gambit to outflank the Tigers. Holien meets the first of my reinforcements. Turn 21: Sherman gets taken out before it reaches safety. Big artillery rains down on the left flank as I charge forward to mop up survivors before they recover. Turn 22: Lose the second pillbox to a Sherman 75. Neither has accomplished much in this battle. The final Sherman on the left flank makes the same move up the road. On the right flank the Shermans begin to smoke my tanks. I can expect infantry charges I think. Turn 23: The Sherman makes it safely and begins to circle the big woods with the flag. Could get interesting. On the left I lose 8 men to Holien's artillery as I try to charge forward. They won't be taking any more part of this battle. I spot infantry with AT teams making a mad dash for my Tigers on the right. I wonder if a rifle grenade will penetrate the side of a Tiger? Turn 24: Move a Volksgrandier to deal with Holien's 'lost' Sherman. Hopefully it can get a Panzerfaust into it before it causes problems. A third Sherman tries to repeat the manoeuvre of its fellow but fails with explosive results. On the right one Tiger is hit by bazooka rockets but suffers no damage. Turn 25: On the right the tigers take some more hits but suffer no damage, and one puts a 88 through the front hull of a Sherman but the crew holds on. The Volksgrandier does the business and takes out the Sherman with Faust 60, then deals with the crew. Isolated battles erupt in the big woods as Holien's men engage by finial line of defense. On the left the two tigers shoot anything that moves. Turn 26: The Tigers on the right finish off the last two Sherman's and then deal with any stragglers. Should now be able to counter attack on the right flank if I can spare the men. Two squads head for the final flag from the right to help out the SMG platoon, as more artillery falls on them, routing 2 and scaring the third. Turns 27-30: All four Tigers are shooting anything that moves. Try to consolidate on the last flag but is still contested by battle end. On the final turn the Tigers ignite the two Shermans for lack of anything better to shoot at. Final Score: Axis 70 Allied 26 Axis Major Victory As an aside, Holien and I played the battle again, swapping sides, as I did not believe Holien when he said the battle was nigh on impossible to win from the Allies point of view. Needless to say Holien is right. Perhaps they should attack another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 Cpl Carrot, Yes, a rifle grenade can pierce the side of a Tiger I. I did it in the CMBO Beta Demo. I believe the battle was Last Defense, but I could be wrong. Suffice it to say that my opponent was shocked and horrified when that M-9 AT grenade burned a neat little hole into the turret side of his about to triumph mighty cat, stopping the dread feline dead in its tracks. Regards, John Kettler [ October 04, 2002, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 Many fascinating AARs here. Truly amazing, isn't it, how many ways a given battle can unfold and turn out? Mine for this battle is in the RoW II AAR thread. I found American armor had way too many hidey holes and covered approach routes for my Tigers, but Holien apparently loved the ground. Regards, John Kettler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holien Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 Hi JK if I had been a German TC I would have loved the ground, as it was I did not. My AAR Set-up Not much of a map two Flags one of which is quite a distance back. There is a slight rise up and a splattering of woods either side. The first flag is in a large section of woods which runs left to right. I have a basic Infantry company and a 105mm Arty spotter. I choose to use the right third of the map to launch a two up one back assault. The three mortars will be assigned to one HQ for close support while the MMG and 50 Cal with the Company HQ will anchor the left flank. The unassigned HQ (poor bonuses) will be used to scout on that flank. If any game is going to be a set up this is it. It has the hallmarks of being too bland to be real. Anyway lets see what I can do with what I have. A simple plan which I will change as and when new things turn up. I split a couple of squads on the two up platoons to do the first recon work. These sprint off to the first set of trees. These will be supported by their comrades and then replaced in a turn. I target the far woods with my 105mm man and get the MG’s ready. The first turn I spot a couple of Infantry markers making for the other side of the woods on my right side. One turns out to be a HMG crew. This means that he either did not have access to set up there or he has goofed. Either way the next turn all caution to the wind and full speed ahead. Next turn I now find that he did get a set up near the first flag. Must be a platoon there. Some of my rounds from the 105mm fell the turn before and he bugs his men out of the area after only one turn of firing. This is a bad move on his behalf and he IMO should have held is fire longer and got a better effect. I think my approach on the right has upset his plans and he is bugging out to a better defence line. Hmm cancel that view I send the lone HQ running upto the edge of the woods and he does not bug out but sends a Company HQ and two half squads to finish me off. He is out of his foxholes and further forward than he should be. That has cost me 4 men but might cost him more as I have some 105mm falling in that area the next turn. On the far right he is bugging out with several squads and runs back to the next tree line. Hmmm what is up with this chap. It could be a lure, or is he just a bit disorganised with what he is trying to do. Near the first flag some squads have moved back and are now deeper into the woods. I have the last platoon of mine a tad exposed as they run forward I hope they dodge the SMG fire. So far he seems to only have SMG squads which are going to hurt at close range so I must try and fight them at 50m plus. My three platoons are a bit disorganised by their quick run forward this next turn will see me co-ordinate them on the identified defenders. I will attempt to bag that Company HQ and his two squads in return for my 4 man HQ unit. Hussah I get four Shermans and one a 76mm. I can expect German armour and they are all in sight of his ill fated (I hope) Company HQ. All four target the HQ and three peel off and fast move behind my three platoons. The last one remains near the road to help provide cross fire if he can stay out of trouble. I order the mortars to target the HQ for 30 seconds and then up sticks and advance forward, I am going to need there fire power further forward and this needs to be done ASAP. I split a squad to scout out some more woods for AT guns and concentrate two platoons nearer the first flag. This game is not going to be won on flags; I have a feeling it is going to get a lot bigger than just “another day”. Well the Company HQ loses one man. The other two units escape the noose and I see more retreating Germans. I would guess this is a meeting engagement where the Germans start with less then get beefed up really quickly with reinforcements. If that is the case I need to press on quickly and try and force my early advantage. This would explain why he is not standing and fighting and constantly moving back. Also if he has just SMG troops then he will be trying to get me to engage at 40 meters or less. I must try and avoid that. The three tanks move up on the right flank and I move everyone forward. The 105mm spotter has done little so I cancel his fire until I can get into a good spot to call down on his fixed forces. His Company HQ has been pinned and I send over a 12-man squad to try and finish him off. I am waiting for his tanks to show. Well I was suckered big time and paid the price. 81mm Airbursts in the woods and some tanks (not ID but sound) reduced me by 20 men for 6 of his. His Co HQ still lives and while I still have all my tanks I think the designer might be setting me up. I can not get an angle on the men in his section of the woods and will have to think hard about how to rescue this. To top it all England are out of the world cup. The next turn I manage to extract a platoon out of the woods and the main area of artillery impact. One of these squads runs to an apparently empty foxhole. A short firefight later I lose two men to 6 of his and he has one man left in the hole. He will be buried in it next turn. As this is going on the Germans near the first small flag are pulled back and my platoon in the wood left with no one to fight. On the far right flank the promised firefight fails to happen and I see two full squads and maybe a HQ run out of the woods and head across the open fields. If I can get my squads into a good LOS his men are a tad exposed with a lot of ground to cover before the next patch of trees. Of course by my men moving to the edge of the woods I put myself in LOS of his tanks. That could be his plan but I will spread my force out and take it on the chin. On my far-left flank I see some infantry running towards me. I am not sure what he is up to but I have enough at the moment to deal with him. My tanks have no clear targets and I order them into flanking positions on his tanks. Two are sent to the far left and one over to the right. The 76mm tank is left in a central position. I still do not have a good handle on what I am up against but it is at least two platoons and a couple of tanks. I just hope there is not more. The right flank is peppered with smoke from the two German tanks on the left. This covers the retreat of the German squads and I only manage to reduce one down to three men. The others seem to get off Scot-free. In the middle the Germans are pulling back and I spy the Co HQ with two men in the open, my men miss their opportunity and he escapes into the woods. On the far left I spot a German spotter and several units start pulling back from my advance. The Next turn I order some split squads to chase down the retreating Germans on my far right. I order a mortar team to lay down smoke and get the Shermans into a supporting position. I time the rest of the squads to follow just at the start of the next turn. A good job as one ½ squad turns back under intense fire from the German tanks and the mortar ignores my request for smoke. The other squad nearly makes it across but loses all 6 men before making cover. I am going to have to ensure that I get some smoke down and those damn mortars better play ball next time. In the middle the Germans continue pulling back beyond the flag. On the far right I see more infantry and a damn MG bunker appears. I can see some of his troops making a stand and I will have to spend time working out a good line of approach. I receive a platoon of Infantry followed by four more Shermans with the lead being a 76mm. With this in mind I can expect a heavy tank from the German side. So far his two tanks are maybe a Panther and a Tiger, but that is just a guess from my men and I need more information on that. The current assessment of the game is that it is likely to be a meeting engagement. The two flags are small and the second flag is a considerable distance back. So far I have lost more in taking this one flag than I have done to him. If this is the true basis of the game I need to pick off some more of his men and tanks while losing fewer of mine. I will now be looking at the map to see how I can gain leverage on him. The next turn sees my squads on the left flank come under 81mm Mortar fire. That damn spotter is still causing trouble and I will have to nail him soon. Mind you he might only have another turn of fire left. The rounds do little but do force my men to ground. The wooden MG bunker does little and next turn I hope my Shermans will take it out. His tanks still have not been ID and they could be anything. From the way he is using them I guess they actually might be Tigers. My right flank is gearing up for a rush once I get smoke down and my middle is just nearing the edge of the trees to try and spot what is across the way to the next band of trees. I have a good spread of Shermans and hope I can get some side shots at those tanks if they prove to be Tigers or Panthers. The plan is to get my reduced platoon across on the far right and see what I can exploit there. In the middle I shall hold and use the mortars to harry him. On the far left I have the best of my forces and will attempt to gain control of the swath of woods I am now in and then push forward once I have control. This will force his tanks to either pull back or present flank shots to me. I hope for the latter. The rush on the right flank is a bit of a farce. The smoke does not do a great job and he had re-deployed his reduced platoon into the area I was running into. My Sherman manages to get some of his heads down but I do not have much left to take him on next turn. I at least know where he is now and the two Shermans covering the advance should be able to pan his defenders and I might just win through. On the left flank the MG bunker falls prey to a lucky long-range zooka shot, not much else happens. I do however ID the two German tanks as Tigers and this will now help with my 76mm Shermans in using the right ammo. I have to exploit his (or apparent) lack of Tanks. He does not appear to have much but he is doing a good job of slowly reducing my infantry and scoring points. I need to wipe those two Tigers to boost my points and I have enough Shermans to be able to do that once I get a handle of what he might have hidden behind those beasts. The platoon on the right make a run covered by smoke across to the trees. He has guessed right and has his infantry waiting for me. I lose a lot of men and one squad breaks and runs back. My Shermans do little and seem reluctant to use their HE on the newly acquired Germans. On the left flank I see more German units pulling back and I send my Infantry out into the woods to clear any AT weapons before my tanks can advance. I manage to drop some 105 rounds near the Tigers but it does little and only causes the T/C’s to button. My mortar team manages to upset a German HMG team and another team is seen pulling back. I decide that next turn I need to help my platoon out on the left as it will be wiped out unless I can get my tanks over there. With more smoke I send the two Shermans on the right flank at fast speed over to the woods. I hope the Tigers do not get lucky and that speed and smoke will win through. On the Left I move the Shermans into better position for side shots on the Tigers who are in a central position on the map. What I really want to do is send my tanks forward all along the front but just one hidden AT gun will ruin my day and I need to move my infantry up first. Well the next two turns are bad and the Germans consolidate their hold on victory. I lose a tank on the right flank as it rushes forward to an excellent shot from one of the Tigers. The other tank makes it through and his remaining Germans get up and leave. As they are doing this I wipe out one of his squads and the other breaks and takes cover in trees nearby. I presume his HQ squad is the one that does make it back to the tree line he was heading for. If this is the case his broken squad is now in trouble and my remaining men on that flank should have a chance to finish him off with the remaining Sherman. On the Left my 76mm Sherman bounces a shot and has a 96% chance of a hit next shot. Well he misses the next shot and is taken out by a return shot from the Tiger. Luckily the other Sherman manages to escape the wrath of the two Tigers by driving forward into cover. He hits a Tiger and the round bounces. The Infantry probes forward and find nothing in the woods to the left of the MMG Bunker. I send two split squads running forward to the next woods. Again I get ambushed and one squad breaks and the other loses 5 men. I am doing badly and the only way to get a draw at this rate is to dent those two Tigers. I move my Co HQ over to the right flank. My 105 spotter is in the central woods and should be able to target the newly acquired Germans who have put down my two split squads. His Tigers are pulling back and the country ahead is better tank country for him. I have a feeling that this is all he has and I should gamble with some bold armour moves. I now only have one Sherman able to dent him front on. I need to be more careful and come up with a solid plan to defeat him. Easier said than done. The next turn I see another tank in the distance. I guess a newly arrived Tiger and perhaps some Infantry as well. He pulls his Tigers further back and this is exactly what he should be doing as I have no chance of getting side shots at the moment. On my right flank my HQ unit gets into the woods with the broken (presumed) SMG squad. This squad makes a break towards its HQ unit, which has turned to fight. My Sherman engages briefly and it is on this flank that I spot the new “Tiger”. My Co HQ is not too far off and this platoon is down to maybe 8 men in total. My Zooka Team in the middle nearly makes it across the open field. However an 88 HE round lands nearby he breaks and does the chicken run back the way he came right in front of the Tiger Dohhhh. My Mortar team engages a HMG which was being pulled back. That unit retreats back into the woods and I would guess they are not happy. On the left flank my remaining man puts up a brave fight but soon dies and the SMG squad takes a lot of fire from my support units. At the end of the turn two full squads and their HQ unit arrive and take 3 casualties in the process. This should be enough to wipe out the presumed HQ unit and reduced SMG squad. On the far left nothing is seen but I know there must be a couple of SMG squads over there. I know the 81mm Spotter is there and I hope he has run out of ammo. My Shermans on the far left edge forward while the one near the bunker uses its MG’s on the SMG squad in front of them. On the right my 76mm Sherman attempts to get LOS through the woods while his buddy is sent over to the far right to join the lone Sherman there. In that mad drive he gets targeted by the Tigers and manages to avoid the AP of death. Hmm with the new Tiger and perhaps more infantry I am going to be in trouble. I think I am due some more tanks and I hope these will have a 76mm amongst them. If not I will need to do some fancy driving to make any headway. The next few paragraphs (well maybe pages) cover the events of the weekend of the 3rd August as we really crank out the turns. The left flank I uncover the two SMG squads and lose several men in the process. My Shermans on the far left help out and these two squads are soon over come as is the Co HQ that I had previously whittled down to one man. His two Tigers on this side move further back and do a good job of covering the road. My two squads and HQ manage to over run the lone SMG squad previously mentioned and a HQ unit also gets gunned down before it can flee. The arty spotter is seen legging it back towards the Tigers and avoids all shots at it. The HMG is then the next to be over run and is brought down to one man and then hands up routine. Meanwhile on the right flank my reduced platoon and Co HQ are sent to wipe out the reduced platoon of Germans on the far right. During this process his squad rallies and turns on my reduced pursuers and I spot the fourth Tiger of the Zug. Bugger I have an uphill struggle. While engaging this presumed last German platoon my reduced platoon gets bush whacked by a newly arrived German SMG platoon. These guys rip into my CO HQ and Zooka team. I am dead meat and I call down an arty barrage. This dents his troops but does not stop them charging over to my MMG and getting wiping out my HQ and MMG unit. My last squad breaks and will die soon as does the 5 men from the mortar team in the same woods. While this action is happening I send one of the Shermans on a mad rush down the road and into the rear of the German lines. It nearly makes it but the smoke cover I have laid and the good German shooting puts paid to this attempt. I am now down three tanks. On the left flank my men advance fast and hard to get close to the Tigers. This forces them back and I send the Sherman which is a tad too close to the newly discovered SMG squads down the road of death to follow his colleague. I perhaps should have stayed to try and bat off the SMG platoon but I need to kill Tigers and time is running out. Anyway this Sherman does make it down to the small flag by the road at the back of the German positions. He buttons as some infantry near the flag open up on him. This is useful intelligence as I had hoped that he was out of infantry. I also discover a Crack HMG bunker (wooden) which helps keeps my men heads down. This gets taken by one of the Shermans on the far left as they move up to harry the left Tigers. I had told the Sherman to use smoke but as per usual the T/C goes for live targets rather than obeying me. My 76 mm tank on the right flank does sod all and is now down to just 10 rounds and is the only defence I have for the SMG platoon that has just wiped out my right flank. He has a 3-man squad and 4-man squad with a full HQ unit. I just hope my Sherman can keep him at bay and harry the two right Tigers. One of these Tigers is being pulled back to deal with my Sherman in his rear. On the Left as I push forward to harry his two Tigers my Zooka team manages to hit one of the Tigers to no effect. I am now down to two rounds for that team and smoke is blocking the Tigers and allowing me to get closer. I send two of the Shermans forward to keep him under pressure. I send the third down the road of death to make another rear run. Bang a Tiger on the right flank takes him out as he passing between two buildings. Bugger my luck is crap and I need two dead Tigers at least to stand any chance of a draw. As the weekend draws to an end I have a Sherman behind his lines and heading for rear shots on the two left Tigers. He is pulling these back through a small opening in the woods. He is reversing and I might get some side shots on them through the trees. He has pulled one of the Tigers back on the right flank and has a reduced platoon two or three turns away from my small flag. I will use my lone 76mm Sherman to fend them off and hope for a lucky shot on the right flank. In the middle I have a reduced platoon two turns away from the flag at his rear. He appears to have a lone squad in that area and I hope that it is there as a final rear guard. If it is a full platoon I will not be able to take the flag and maybe only contest it. On the right in front of the two Tigers I have two Shermans and a platoon of infantry with some rifle grenades. Should be able to keep his T/C’s heads down and with the Zooka team be able to pop those tanks. He is running out of places to go. My hope and aim is to get a draw by popping the two Tigers and taking the last flag. However, if I get some bad luck and miss-time my Sherman rush I will go from a 60% (G) vs 40% result to a major loss or total. I am not going to back off I have 6 turns left and will see what the god of war brings my way. Famous last words…. I am going to run away…. The turn I have just seen crushes me. He has more infantry and someone puts a rocket through my Sherman in his rear. That is not before the T/C takes a bullet in the head. With this tank gone all hope goes. One of the Shermans moving to the front of the two tigers takes a round to its gun and it is now out of operation. Next turn it will be dead The remaining Sherman will be lucky to get out alive. His newly discovered infantry mows down my Infantry and I will lose another platoon. My Zooka team hit a second time and again fails to do any damage to the Tiger. Ohhh what luck. The Zooka team is then wiped out by HE before it can fire it’s last round. On the right his two Tigers swing over to engage my two platoons moving up to the last flag. I spot more infantry in that region and I am up against another platoon. I will be lucky to walk away with any infantry at this rate and could well have an auto surrender situation on my hands. I have seriously under estimated the imbalance in this scenario and can only hope others have as well. My lone 76mm Sherman at the rear will have to be lucky to get a side hit on his two Tigers to restore any chance of reducing his point’s margin. The game is a set up and I should have gone with my original thoughts. I had tricked myself into believing that I could get a draw and that was on the basis of him not having too much more. The wrong assessment and hence the serious poo I am in. Four turns left and I need to try and minimise the loss. Mind you there is not much I can minimise now as I have lost most of my units. Bugger Bugger Bugger. Next turn offers some small comfort as my 105mm rounds land in the woods near the rear flag. His platoon there is reduced quite badly and looks like it has just broken. My platoon there is a bit shaky but should have enough to carry the flag. With three turns left and some trees to hide in they might even hold it? (Yeah in my dreams….) On the left flank I lose the remaining two Shermans. My luck continues to fail and the delay on pulling back and the accuracy of the Tiger at short range haunt me. The platoon on that side is down to about 6 men and running back under fire. My platoon in the middle try to run to the woods with the rear flag. There is too much open ground and the Tigers on the right are now in line to stop that attempt. My men break and flee back. The platoon on the far right (well the 5 men left) is still broken but at least his platoon has not yet pushed forward and wiped me out. The remaining Sherman 76 at the rear wastes another round of AP and is now down to 9 shots. I just hope there is too much distance for him to cover to regain the first flag and that the other flag will stay mine if I manage to defeat his remaining infantry running over to it. The woods should hide my men from his tanks and the Tigers are not known for their turn of speed on grass. This is of course if Auto Surrender does not cut in. Well the final few turns do not see me collapse although the damage is already done. I manage to contest the flag and do some damage to his platoon in that area. His Tigers continue to pound me and my platoon on the far left is wiped out. Not A Good Day. Result a Major victory to the Germans. Allied vs Germans 183 (52).................98 (27) 2 Mortars.................1 Captured 7 Vehicles................2 Pillboxes Men OK 66....................... 99 Score 26....................... 70 The game was a set-up. The terrain was poor for the Allied attacker and I played into it. I could have won if I had been smarter but I would have needed luck and been braver at the beginning and less rash at the end. My opponents (I had two during the game) played well and used the long-range effectiveness of the Tigers well. I lost too many points in taking the first flag and continued gambling in the hope that I would re-coup my losses. My gambles failed and this was a big loss, which could well knock me out of the tourney. Not a game or map that I am fond of and the worse scenario of the pack. I am sure others enjoyed it but I am afraid this is one for me to forget. I will however try and learn some lessons from it. Now off to work... H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Lucke Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 From looking at the final scores for this scenario, I'm rather surprised so many German players did so badly --- 'course, I'm one of them! I have a really bad tendency to treat Tigers like they're invulnerable when facing off against vanilla Shermans --- and Sapport showed me (again --- this isn't the first time I've lost Tigers this way) that a low-velocity 75mm gun can still poke a hole in 80mm of armor at 200m, or less. With his 105mm arty chewing up my reinforcing infantry, I was forced to move my Tigers farther forward then was wise in order to support what was left of my troops in the woods near the first flag, and lost them all. All but one, I might add, to 1st shot kills --- even one through the turret front!. I took all but two Shermans with me --- but they, along with his (now) advantage in infantry, gave him the win. As the German, the only thing I didn't like about this scenario was the locked-down set-up positions for my starting forces --- they weren't where I'd have liked to put them. IIRC, there were even a couple of squads outside command control: Not good when yr on the D, and expect to stay in yr foxholes for the initial part of the scenario. And where were the panzershreck teams? Even one would have given me a draw in the end... [ October 05, 2002, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: von Lucke ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frunze Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Originally posted by Holien: Interesing point in the AAR of Frunze... If the 1st 2 Tigers had been moved to a central position at the X roads, as mentioned by Frunze they are toast to a good Allied player. If they stay with there backs up against the trees and on the slight rise / hill on the German right behind the left to right road they have great LOS and can stop an attack dead. The only way they will lose there is if the Allied player gets lucky with a 76mm long shot (not good odds vs the 88 long range) or smoke is used to get them closer. Even then a Sherman rush has to be preformed well, very well.... HYeah, I was hoping that Tero wouldn't pull 'em back. As it was, I lost more Shermans than I should have taking out the first two Tigers. Sometimes they'd come into LOS accidentally while maneuvering into position, and sometimes I had trouble coordinating widely separated tanks to come into LOS at the same moment. I think if they'd pulled back to the ridge, my only chance of getting 'em woulda been to use smoke to move up the sides of the map. Which is what I did against the last two, and got one of them, but it woulda been harder against 4 tigers spaced along the ridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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