A Morning at the Zoo -- Any suggestions?

[Ginzo]

Just played that scenarior and walked away with a minor defeat Probably because I suck but geez there was Russian inf everywhere! Two of my PzIIIs got knocked out by the T34s and my PzIVs expended all of their HE on the enemy inf scattered about. I think I need to learn how to better manage my soldiers because I had a few break on me and withdraw.

[jeffsmith]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of CM:BB

Where I have been getting beaten by the AI on a regular Basis

&

Where I have been beating (or tying)

my regular opponents who usually beat me

because they are re-learning as well

(they shall remain nameless)

[Captain Wacky]

One of the few times I got a draw. I managed to kill the T-34s by massing all my tanks against them, but by the last few turns when the enemy was reeling I was plain out of ammo.

[Cameroon]

[spoilers]

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I either got a tactial or major victory on this, can't recall which with any clarity

My strategy was to scout carefully, moving the bulk of my force up behind the scouts until contact was made. The follow on forces (which were providing overwatch) beat the crap out of anything that peaked its head up.

I also sent a force up the left wood line (facing as Germans). This force started as a platoon plus the FO (and either the Coy HQ or another platoon HQ), but later was reinforced by an un-depleted platoon. I think this force actually accounted for a large portion of my success, since it threatened the AI and caused it to try and shift forces. These forces were caught by the other aspects of my force and suppressed and pinned or routed.

At this point my vehicles came into play. My PzIIIs raced to the dirt road to support the infantry and the PzIVs were going to move around the right side of the lake. The halftracks had been providing support for the main thrust from the beginning.

The IVs exchanged a few rounds with the T-34s to no effect near the end of a turn. I pulled them back, wait for a bit and then gave them covered arcs and had them hunt carefully around the corner of those thick woods. They easily took out all the T-34s, no losses to themselves.

This continued and I had the Primate House and Aviary under my control. My FO climbed into the Primate House and called fire down along wherever I wished

My attack bogged due mostly to lack of ammo (for the infantry), but I had mauled the enemy and taken enough flags to get a decent victory. In fact, the AI had to divert so much of its force to try and stem my left flank that I don't believe it had control of its main flag.

[YECoyote]

spoiler

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Total Victory, with no tank loss.

Use your PZIVs and HMGs to help secure the advancing inf to the Aviary (the left most flag). The AI has a tendency to try to reclaim the flag once lost, so get your men into positions to repel the attack.

On the right side, attack the middle flag, by sending in 1 team at the time to identify defensive positions. Once identified, call the arty to soften them up. Use the PZIIIs for support.

As for the T34s, engage them at long distance. Remember, you have better optics than they do, and PZIVs can penetrate T34s rather easily. PZIII can sneak up into Hull down position once the defenders in front of the centre flag are forced to retreat or kill. From the soft ground, you can hit and penetrate the T34s with ease.

[BeauCoupDinkyDau]

I pulled a minor victory on my first try as the Germans vs. the AI. I too was suprised at how many defenders there were. I knew right away to avoid the road on the left (looking at the map afterward proved me correct). I was very careful with my tanks, and kept MGs in positions with good LOS on the enemy. This allowed good supression and I advanced with the infantry while using my tanks and MGs to put the hurt on the dug in Soviets. I smashed all his armor, but lost a Pz IV, Pz III and both my halftracks (lost them both to AT rifle hits to the front!) My men paid dearly for the map though with their digital lives. That is why I pulled the minor victory even though I had all flags but one; heavy losses! The last flag was disputed between a few scraps of his infantry, and my Pz IV :cool:

[Mies]

[spoilerS]

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I also sent a force up the left wood line (facing as Germans). This force started as a platoon plus the FO (and either the Coy HQ or another platoon HQ), but later was reinforced by an un-depleted platoon. I think this force actually accounted for a large portion of my success, since it threatened the AI and caused it to try and shift forces. These forces were caught by the other aspects of my force and suppressed and pinned or routed.

I used the same approach and it worked fine for me too. Only made the mistake to send the reinforcements through the trees to the far right of the map where they couldn't do any damage and were slowly picked of. I could have made better use of them in the patch of trees on the left. I now only managed to score a draw, because the troops on the left were bogged down due to lack of ammo and I couldn't carry the attack through.

Mies

[WWB]

Muhahah. It is quite evil, no?

The battle is winnable, basically, the Germans have enough force that should the concentrate anywhere they can overrun the soviets without too much trouble.

I would be interested to see some 2 player AARs, I have heard it plays quite well there.

Also, if you have comments please do not hesitate to review at the depot, see first link in my sig for details.

WWB

[jgdpzr]

This scenario was the first in which I really played around with shoot-n-scoot tactics, and they did wonders!

I had three routes of advance for my infantry, with the bulk being in the center. One platoon, supported by the HTs and then the PIIIs worked my (German) left flank up toward and into the aviary. Two platoons leapfrogged along the trees on the right map edge, and eventually advanced to the objectives in the Russian rear. The rest of the infantry pushed up the center, with primary duties being fire support for my movements along the left and right flanks. I used the PIVs to great effect, taking out all three T-34s in a span of a couple of turns. The trick was to use the gap between the woods near the German right and the wall on the far German right. This was a great keyhole and they easily dispatched the T-34s without taking much fire at all, thanks to the wonderful innovation of shoot-n-scoot.

I think I ended up with a Major Victory.

[Apache]

I must admit I think it's a briliant scenario. I've had the crap beaten out of me a few times as the Axis which shows how much has gone into the design of this one. OK I do fare better now BUT it's only because I know roughly where the Sov forces are and the best route to take. I'm tempted to give it a go with 'free to place units' selected for the AI but it was so bloody awful at placing with CMBO (at least most of the time) that I haven't as yet. Nice one.

[lassner.1]

I won this one as the Germans (Minor Tactical Victory) against an excellent human opponent.

I advanced on a fairly broad front, but had my Pzkpfw Ivs on the left. Basic plan was to fix the Russians with the central and right forces, while the infantry and armored forces on my left got into a position to enfilade any Russians in the center or on my right. I did take heavy casualties in the center for a while, due to 2 dug-in Russian platoons in the woods, but my eng. came up and removed them with flamethrowers. Meanwhile my forces on the left took the aviery and, with the aid of 81 and 120 mm art, collapsed the Russians in the center and on the right. Pzkpfw IIIs deployed behind the stone wall on my right flank and duked it out with the T-34s until the Pzkpfw IVs freed-up and took care of buisness.

It was, however, a bloody fight!

[mike_in_texas]

Spoilers!!!

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So far, this is my favorite CM:BB scenario I've played (and not just because I pulled out a major victory as the Germans ).

Basically, I advanced the bulk of my infantry up the left line (from the German perspective) of woods and middle with the halftrack and PzIVs in support. I moved one platoon along the strip of woods on the far right. My plan of attack was essentially to bear down as much firepower as possible upon any resistance when it presented itself, while hopping from one form of cover to the next (and using a lot of smoke). When the PzIIIs showed up, I used them to harass (using shoot and scoot) the T-34s from the break in the woods on the far right near the wall. Once I got my PzIVs into position on either side of the primate house behind the wall, I was able to take out the Russian armor.

I employed my Pioneers to demo-charge an enemy strongpoint in the aviary. One lesson I learned here was that it takes about 90 seconds for my guys to set those charges; it's definitely not instantaneous!

Once I secured the primate house and aviary, I assaulted the remaining flags from the road, hopping from house to house and patches of scattered trees.

The AI surrendered on turn 26, I think.

BTW, did anybody get the halftracks to fire their HC?

Fun scenario!

Mike

[Renaud]

Hardly bears repeating, but KHARKOV ZOO SPOILER!

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I posted the following on a topic of whether or not the CMBB scenarios were better/worse than CMBO. Anyway, here's my AAR of kharkov zoo:

I'm harping on the kharkov zoo scenario because I just played it last night. Man is that fun! I got tired of always playing as attacker in scenarios (usually the more challenging role) so I played soviets and increased german force by 100%. Truly a brutal struggle to the last gasp. Among the amazing events: The Aviary was finally over-run by a horde of fanatical fascists despite heavy losses. My defenders perished to the last man after brutal hand-to-hand combat...except for one surviving lieutenant, last man of a 4-man HQ, who hid (in a closet I suppose) as victorious SS streamed right past and over him. 5 minutes later he was still there when a German HQ tank pulled up 20 meters away. He threw his one remaining grenade in a graceful arc right into the hatch, single handedly destroying the tank! One grenade, one tank! It was amazing. There were several tanks parked there and they all looked the same to me but he identified the command tank. Boris, write up another posthumous 'Hero of the Soviet Union' citation...

Ren

oh yea I got a Draw (germans by a hair,52-48)

[Commander]

Possible Spoilage...

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Ren, where did you end up putting the 45 gun? How effective was it? Way to go on your battle. The Soviets start with such small ammo loadouts, it is amazing that you held off the Krauts the way you did. How did your T34's end up?

[ October 29, 2002, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: Commander ]