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[Bad Monkey!]

Bad Monkey's AAR for "A Bridge Too Close"

Get the whole story, with pictures, here!

Scenario : A Bridge Too Close (by SuperTed)

Combatants : Bad Monkey (me) as the Germans, Thewood as the Polish

Geography : Two small towns, Jetigny and Plen, seperated by the river Maas flowing north-south, which is crossed by a bridge of about 100 meters.

Enviromental factors: It is night, and raining. The ground is muddy. Visibility is about 95 meters.

Availible forces: One Rifle '44 company with a mix of Reg and Green units, two MG42's (one Reg and one Green), two Reg Sharpshooters, one Vet 81mm mortar FO, and two Reg PzIVJ's. One infantry company in reinforcement is expected. My forces control the town of Plen, on the east side of the river.

Stated Orders: Attack across the bridge and hold until reinforcements arrive. Enemy numbers are expected to be light, but reinforcements are immenent.

Commentary: Although superficially the exact opppsite of the preivious scanario, "Medium Rare", practically speaking "A Bridge Too Close" is the exact twin. They are both meeting engagements, with both sides controlling two VL's at the start, with orders to capture the opposing sides VL's, yet seperated by terrain that is quite conducive to bloodshed. It "Medium Rare's" case, it was a wide, paved boulevard, in this case it is a long bridge.

Going from previous experience, it is apparent that while SuperTed's stated goal is to have the player to capture and occupy his opponent's VL's, his true intention is to cause maximum carnage by having both sides fight over and on the bridge in between.

All of my forces are deployed into setup zones that leave little to no room for adjustement during setup, as well as my weapons teams and tanks (which are far to the rear) being being locked into position. My infantry are too far from the bridge to be able to quickly cross it, and the muddy ground conditions would ensure that they would likely be exhausted by the time they did. The limited visibility means that any units attempting to cross the bridge would have absolutely no fire support from the friendly bank, and would have zero cover while on the bridge from fire by opposing forces.

Again, going from previous experience, and judging by the layout and orders for this scenario, I have to assume that my opponent is equally equipped and situated as me, with similar orders. This radically increases the odds that any of my units attempting to cross the bridge will meet the enemy either on the bridge or dug into the far side, resulting in wholesale slaughter.

It is my intention, then, to ignore my stated orders, and instead setup a firm defense on my side of the bridge, to ambush and severely punish any opposing units that attempt the crossing, gaining victory by holding onto my two VL's and inflicting more casulties on my opponent than he does on me.

(setup picture)

[(setup picture)]

No changes were made to the default setup.

Turn one:

(turn one picture)

[(turn one picture)]

Orders phase: Here, you can see the orders I've plotted to move all of my units into defensive positions around my bridgehead. Lt. Kanther's platoon on the left (camera right), Lt. Dehnel on the right, and Lt. Lehman as a reserve in the center. Both tanks are being brought up into positions behind convienient buildings near the bridge, and both MG's like wise. The arty FO is being brought up to the house nearest the bridge, in order to have LOS as far across the bridge as possible. The sharpshooters are being left in their setup positions in the two large buildings closest to the bridge.

There was no indication of enemy activity as my troops ran to their positions.

Turn two:

Nothing untowards happened during turn two.

Turn three:

Orders phase: All my units have assumed their defensive positions except for the MG42's and the tanks. No sign of the enemy. I have ordered the 81mm FO to call in a mortar strike at the center of the bridge on speculation that the enemy may soon be crossing it. During the action phase, smoke rounds began falling around my bridgehead, obviously called in blind.

Turn four:

(turn four picture)

[(turn four picture)]

Orders phase: I've shifted the FO back to the large building to his south east, as I fear he may be overrun in the smoke when the enemy crosses the bridge Other than some minor position adjustments, there were no other changes.

Action phase: What appears to be one infantry platoon crossed the bridge. One squad entered the building immediately to the south of the bridge head, and was destroyed by Unt Hartig's squad without casualty. The rest of the platoon has occupied the building recently vacated by the FO, and is under fire by at least 7 squads, a Panzer, and a HMG. There is another unit crossing the bridge, which may be the lead elements of another platoon. My forces have recieved only 2 casulties, the sharpshooter in Lt. Kanther's bulding, who died without firing a shot, and a member of Unt Freitag's squad, also in Lt. Kanther's building.

Turn five:

(turn five picture)

[(turn five picture)]

Orders phase: Reinforcements have arrived, in the form of one infantry company, with a mix of green and regular troops, and two HMG 42's mounted in trucks. They will be deployed to the rear of the company already in position, as I have to assume that my opponent has also recieved his reinforcements, and will double his efforts to cross the bridge, and I might have to fall back. My fear is that he may try to cross his tanks under the cover of smoke, and may get the drop on my Panzers, so I have one Panzer set an ambush marker at the intersection at the end of the bridge, while the other shells the enemy units that have gained the cover of the small building between the roads. Although no friendly mortar fire has yet fallen due to the spotting delays, it should fall this turn, and hopefully catch some enemy units out in the open.

Action phase: It appears that my opponent has possibly sent the balance of his initial infantry company across the bridge. They have been largely supressed and decimated, although the remenents of two squads have managed to find cover away from my forces, one in a building to the north not far from the VL, and one in a patch of brush to the south near the river. In addition to the enemy squad destroyed the previous turn, there are now three additional enemy markers carrying the "eleminated" designation. In the central small building that originaly housed the FO, there now reside one enemy squad of seven men, and the remaining two men of a platoon HQ. There are two more ememy units motionless at the bridgehead, being supressed by Unt Werner's northern most Panzer.

Friendly casulties have been insignificant, with one exception: Unt Heuwerth led his squad from their cover behind a wall at the center of the line in a futile and suicidal charge on the enemy's position, resulting in the entire squad's elimination. Other than that, there were only two casulties, another to Unt Freitag's squad, and one to the mortar FO team, although all of the units in Lt. Kanther's building are being heavily supressed, possibly due to friendly fire from Lt. Kanther's detail itself. So far, the number of enemy dead and wounded is estimated to be at least 20, and probably more than 30, versus 13 friendly casulties.

Turn six:

(turn six picture)

[(turn six picture)]

Orders phase: No significant changes were made, aside from redesignating targets and repositioning Unt Schuster's and Lt. Lehman's units to more protected cover in a building north of the stone wall in the center. The reserve units are still moving up into position.

Action phase: It's times like these I wish I had a dog I could kick. Both of my Panzers were destroyed by a single (buttoned) Cromwell VII that had crossed the bridge at high speed. They never saw it coming, the stupid bastards. On the plus side, all of my enemy's infantry on my side of the river are either dead or routed, with minimal losses on my side apart from the PzIV's. Now I have only the problem of two Churchills and no real way to destroy them. I would kill my non-existant dog for a couple of Panzerschrecks, and would much rather have two of those than a bunch of fausts with unreliable infantry to fire them.

Turn seven:

(turn seven picture)

[(turn seven picture)]

Orders phase: Here you can see both Cromwells and both of my dead PzIV's. At the top, you can see the truck depositing the first of the HMG's. I need to kill those tanks, and I figure the only way to do that is to smoke the hell out of my side and swarm the tanks with infantry. Crap. Probably gonna loose a lot of guys too. Hopefully I can get it done before Thewood decides to send his reinforcements across. Some minor shifting going on to try and shield units from the tanks, both of which are targeting the green HMG 42. Wonder how long he'll last [rolleyes]. Also sending two squads from the north flank to root out a couple of depleted Polish squads.

Action phase: Another turn, another platoon of Polish Infantry crosses the bridge. Destroyed one sqaud outright, mopped up the remnants of several others, and effectively scattering the rest. Now have the remnants of two Polish sqauds on the bank of the river south of the bridge, and one on the north. The smoke I called in preparation for rushing the tanks has started to fall... I hope it will be thick enough. The ground at the intersection is thick with the dead of my enemy. Surprisingly, the green HMG managed to get out without a single casualty even after taking two direct 75mm hits. They weren't even supressed.

Turn eight:

(turn eight picture)

[(turn eight picture)]

Orders phase: Two of Kanther's squads have broken and retreated to the large building behind their initial postion, his other squad, under fire from the southern Cromwell retreated across the road back to Kanther's building. Am bringing the reinforcements up, both to guard the flanks and prevent enemy stragglers from taking up camp in outlying buildings, and the central platoon of the reinforcements will be assaulting the Cromwells, most likely on the next turn

Freindly casualties: 34 dead or wounded, one eliminated squad, one eliminated sharpshooter, two knocked out tanks with one crew presumed KIA. Morale 81%

Enemy casualties: confirmed 44 dead or wounded, 10 eliminated units.

Action phase: No major disasters. A lot of fire was traded, but no major damage seems to have been done, except the Polish squad remnant on the bank north of the bridge appears to have been throroughly routed and is headed for the map edge. The southern Cromwell moved south east towards my southern VL, and out of my smoke, but fortunately this took it very near my reinforcements coming up to guard that flank. One of the squads took a shot with a faust and missed, but I think my opponent may not yet know those units are there. At any rate, that tank is going to get it from both sides on the next turn. The nothernmost tank is buried in smoke. It also appears a fresh squad was brought across the bridge on this turn, no telling if he was a straggler, or is leading yet another platoon.

Turn nine:

(turn nine picture)

[(turn nine picture)]

Orders phase: Moving the southern flank up to surround the southernmost Cromwell, and shifted the smoke fire to that section.

Action phase: Very nearly disaster. Instead of smoke, the silly FO has called down the remainder of his allotment as HE! He was shelling our own postion! No damage seems to be done, though, aside from not having any more smoke. The squad that was to assault the southern Cromwell instead ran right past it and into the small building to the south of the intersection along with another friendly squad. A Polish Company HQ and infantry squad (the one that just crossed the bridge) decided to crash the party, and are being shot to pieces for their rudeness. The southern Cromwell set the large building SE of Kanther's postion alight with HE fire, but fortunately, all those inside seem to have gotten out without casualty. The other Cromwell has disappeared...

Turn ten:

(no image)

Orders phase: Halfway through, and while things could be going better, they could also be a hell of a lot worse. While I have lost my two Panzers, on balance my infantry casualties have been light, I have inflicted enourmous losses on my opponent. I estimate that he has lost apporximately 4 platoons. I'm wondering if he has withdrawn his southern tank back across the bridge, in fear that he no longer has the infantry recources to protect if from my fausts. If that's true, I hope at least to be able to kill the other, and recoup some of the points lost in my Panzers. No image this turn, but I'm adjusting my southern screen to bring fire on the two units hiding in the brush south of the bridge to prevent them from distracting the squad assaulting the remaining Cromwell. Also moving a unit from the north flank to a building across the street to try and spot the missing Cromwell.

Action phase: Wowee! It looks like Thewood has committed at least one more platoon, and possibly two into the fight. If that's true, that should probably be pretty much it for his infantry. The southern Cromwell bogged down inbetween two buildings occupied by my troops, hopefully I can bag it next turn. The other tank showed back up with the fresh infantry and began shelling shelling the building holding the northern HMG and most of Lt. Dehnel's platoon. My infantry seems to be doing a pretty decent job of shooting up and supressing the fresh Polish infantry.

Turn eleven:

(turn eleven picture)

[(turn eleven picture)]

Orders Phase: I'm evacuating both Kanther's and Dehnel's buildings, as they appear to be close to collapse. Looks like I may need to have the line fall back completely to the next row of buildings, to gain seperation from all that fresh infantry and those tanks, especially on the north flank. The south seems to be relatively free from Polish infantry, and I'm going have two of the squads from the southern screen try and assault the bogged Cromwell.

Action phase: Lots of action. Lt. Bertram, leader of the southern screening force, moved into the position held by Unt Dressler's squad who had just moved out to assault the tank. Dressler's unit didn't accomplish much, quickly moving on to next building to the north to assist the other squad from that platoon, who were just barely holding off an attack from a fresh Polish squad. Meanwhile, Lt. Bertram began chucking grenades at the Cromwell, which began backing up towards the river, apparently to get away from all the infantry. With the third grenade thrown, Bertram managed to strike a track and immobilize the tank, which had now become fixated on the third of his squads, which was down on the river bank mopping up Polish runners.

In the center, we suffered the loss of Unt Shute and Shuster's platoons, who, depleted to three men each already, were able to finish off a Polish half squad that attempted to take cover in their building, yet succumbed to the assault of a fresh polish squad, but taking 7 enemy casulties with them. Lt. Lehman of the center reserve platoon, seeing his comrades in trouble, ran to their aid against orders to the contrary, and has taken 2 casulties to his HQ section. Of the six fresh Polish squads that came across, it appears two have been largely depleted in close combat, one has been supressed in place, one is trying to outflank my units to the north, and the remainder, along with some units that crossed previously (one appears to be a fully manned squad!) have retreated to the bridge and are taking cover there.

Turn twelve:

(turn twelve picture)

[(turn twelve picture)]

Orders phase: With the south flank more or less cleared of infantry and the Cromwell disabled, I'm bringing up the entire line in that section, to try and overwhelm the tank and finish it off, and bring fire on the enemy units north of the bridge head and try to cut off their escape. If my opponent has indeed commited all of his infantry, I may be able to force a surrender. Failing that, I still have a more or less completely untouched platoon in reserve, and it might be feasible to attack across the bridge with those units after taking care of business on this side.

Action phase: The immobilized Cromwell has succeded in destroying the five man squad remnant that was down near the river, but while it was distracted I was able to bring an additional two squads up behind it. If I'm not able to kill it by the next turn, I may just leave it be, as it is well out of the way and I can work around it. My troops finished off another two Polish squads, the remnant that was fighting Lt. Lehman in the center managed to eliminate his HQ section, but the squad that was to come to his rescue avenged him, and then began to pour fire on another Polish squad that ran up and took cover in the rubble that used to be the building next door. The other two platoons, mostly remnants, along with the green HMG that had started in the foward line are being delayed in their move foward because of their reluctance to occupy the heavily damaged large building that used to be Lt. Kanther's CP.

Thewood seems to be gathering his remaining infantry around the healthy Cromwell just north of the bridge, probably to try and protect it while the tank shells my troops from a distance.

Turn thirtheen:

(turn thirteen picture)

[(turn thirteen picture)]

Orders phase: Not much to say here. The picture says it all. Still trying to kill that damn tank...

Action phase: I swear, the first thing I'm gonna do when my troops rotate back is make them train with the ****ing Panzerfaust. So far, three of those things have been fired at that damn Cromwell at ranges at or under 20 meters and all of them have missed. I'm losing too many troops trying to kill that tank; it's now shooting up and about to finish off a half squad I sent down to assault it. I guess you just can't rely on anything less than Vets to close assault a tank.

Having trouble shifting some units from Kanther's old CP into the next large building to the north, a fresh Polish squad has taken up station in the rubble of the smashed building and is suppressing the units trying to cross the gap. I can see two whole Polish squads, one in the rubble, and one in the small building north of the disabled Cromwell, my guess is that this represents the last of my opponents useful infantry.

There are few units dissappearing down next to the river about 100 meters north of the bridge; I think most of them are panicked/broken, but I better send a few squads down there to flush them out and keep them from popping up behind my lines later.

Turn fourteen:

(turn fourteen picture)

[(turn fourteen picture)]

Orders phase: I'm giving up on killing that Cromwell. There is one squad in the building to it's southeast that still has a faust, I'm gonna let it take that last shot, then move everbody back out of range. Still trying shift units to bring fire on the Polish squad in the rubble and those with the good tank without coming under fire from the tank itself. The tank hasn't moved in a couple turns, my guess is my opponent feels that it is in a safe spot, and doesn't want to risk mixing it up with my infantry. Moving a couple of fresh squads down to the river bank where the unit markers are, hopefully they can flush those guys out.

Action phase: Figures. As soon as I speculate that he won't move that Cromwell, he goes and does it. It moved up the south fork of the bridge intersection, possibly to get a better shot at one of my occupied buildings, and possibly also to hook up with the disabled tank and the two fresh squads on that side. My guys doing the hook pattern on the north have flushed up at least one enemy unit.

Turn fifteen:

(turn fifteen picture)

[(turn fifteen picture)]

Orders phase: He's seems to be consolidating his forces to the south; fine with me, I'll displace to the east and move my fresh platoon in behind him. It's becoming tempting to contemplate running my fresh platoon across the bridge then and into one of his VL's, but the danger is I don't know where his HMG's are. He seems to have brought the kitchen sink as far as the rest of his troops are concerened, as I've seen several "knocked out", "mortar?" and "anti-tank team" markers. Also, I need to beware of a late turn flag rush by my opponent. I don't think his infantry would stand a chance, but that tank could sure muck things up.

Action phase: Everything went more or less as planned. The hook manuever scared up four units: A squad that ran for the map edge, a mortar team that was eliminated, and two more squads that were hiding in the brush 30 meters north of the bridge, the fighting is hand to hand there, but I think my guys will come out on top.. The disabled Cromwell shelled an empty small building to no avail, and the other shelled a squad across the commons from Kanther's old CP, but everyone got out of the building OK. Lost a squad remnant thas was taking cover in the building north of the rubbled small building. The healthy tank began turning back towards the bridge; don't know it's because he spotted my units down by the river, or if he's preparing to retreat back across the bridge.

Turn sixteen:

(turn sixteen picture)

[(turn sixteen picture)]

Orders phase: Minor stuff. Sending a squad from the sweeper team along the north bank to mop up the runners in bushes to the north, and doing some shifting along my back line for better placement.

Action phase: Nothing major to report. The squad I sent north along the river bank flushed out the Polish runners again, and sent them packing for the map edge. Even if they don't leave the map, they're no longer a threat. The disabled Crom managed to level that empty building, and the squad I sent down to eliminate those two units in the bushes was itself routed after it did it's job by the healthy Cromwell. It fled back to the saftey of one of the large buildings within my line.

Turn seventeen:

(turn seventeen picture)

[(turn seventeen picture)]

Orders phase: After tallying up all the enemy corpses on my side of the river, and adding that to the units still kicking, I'm pretty confident my opponent has left his side of the river completely un-garrisoned. So I'm taking the chance and sending my sweepers across the river to occupy one of his VL's, and hopefully picking off a routed squad along the way. Set some of the units guarding the southern VL to "ambush", in case Thewood tries to run some infantry or that tank back there.

Action phase: Looks like the bad guys are making a concerted push for my northern VL. The healthy Crom and four infantry units are all moving in, but looks like my infanty is taking it's toll on his troops. He also sent a squad up after my southern VL, but I got a squad, a Company HQ, and a MG42 that says otherwise.

Turn eighteen:

(turn eighteen picture)

[(turn eighteen picture)]

Orders phase: Well, so much for going across the river. I'm moving my sweepers up to try and catch some of his attacking infantry in a cross fire. I think I can wipe them out easy enough, and hopefully that will force a surrender. Who knows, maybe they'll kill that stupid tank while they're at it. Also collapsing my line to the south of the enemy's advance, to close the snare.

Action phase: Much carnage, and there is now nary a Polish soldier to be seen. Alive, at any rate. The tank broke and killed a squad that was already down to one man anyways, no big deal there.

Turn nineteen:

(turn nineteen picture)

[(turn nineteen picture)]

Orders phase: So much for his infantry, now there's only the small matter of that Cromwell on the loose. Think the picture speaks for itself. DIE-DIE-DIE, YOU ****ING TANK!!!

Action phase: Dammit! The crazy bastard drove right past, through, and away from my infantry like they weren't even there! No significant casulties, but it looks like he's setting up shop on my VL, and I don't have anybody in that building! That was completely unexpected. Oh yeah, the squad in the building at the bottom of the picture took a shot at the Crom with it's faust, and actually managed to hit it. Didn't do any damage, though. Figures.

Turn twenty:

(turn twenty picture)

[(turn twenty picture)]

Orders phase: Really, can't you figure this out on your own?

Action phase: That was interesting. The tank just drove off to the south, completely ignoring my troops again. A few grenades were thrown, but no hits were scored. I might keep possesion of that VL after all.

Endgame:

(endgame picture)

[(endgame picture)]

Grrrrrrr.... how the hell does that happen? I got about ten units in and around the VL, and I don't keep possesion? Looks like my enemy was left with a total of:

One healthy tank

One immobilized tank

and three routed squads, all nowhere near the VL's.

(combat statistics)

[(combat statistics)]

Dang it! So close to forcing a surrender...

(AAR picture)

[(AAR picture)]

Not quite the result I had hoped for. That gives me total of about 75 points through two games, and really leaves me behind the eight-ball points wise for my final game. By the way, for some reason my truck crew abandoned their vehicle 300 meters behind the lines. What's up with that?

Self Critique: Well, with the exception of losing both my tanks, the scenario played out pretty much like I expected; my opponent charged across the bridge into a hail of gunfire, and if I had tried going across, we would've met in the middle. My only major mistakes were:

* Not being more careful with my tanks. I left them in the same position too long. To be fair, they were in a good position to start with, and did a real number on his troops. My opponent himself said that they scared the hell out him when he saw them. But I should have known better to leave them where he knew where they were and could easily get at them. I should've moved them every two turns.

* Getting fixated on killing that disabled Cromwell. I lost far too many men trying to knock that tank out, when it was in a fairly harmless position and I could have worked around it with little difficulty.

* Not protecting the northern VL better. I should have left a squad or two in the VL building, to both protect it and hold some kind of claim to it should it come under contention, as it did.

Opponent Critique: Charging across the bridge in the rain and the dark with largely green troops with marginal close range firepower against even an opponent like vanilla Heer was a big mistake. Charging his Cromwells across the the bridge in the rain and the dark into an area where you know two enemy tanks have set up camp was a potentially disasterous mistake that worked out big due to outrageous good luck. I know, if I had tried that, I would've lost both tanks for sure... Leaving his side completely ungarrisoned was a mistake that I simply failed to capitalize on. And persisting in the assault even after I had destroyed more than half of his infantry was dubious, though in his defense, once he had lost that much, he had to try and go for the whole bag, because he would have been too far behind in the score anyways.

Scenario Critique: Overall, it was very challenging and fun, if a little predictable after "Medium Rare". My only major complaint is that the Panzerfaust-60 issued to my troops were largely useless; more/better fausts issued to each squad or a couple of panzerschrecks would bring things a little more even with the PIATs the Poles had.

- Bad Monkey!

[ February 21, 2002, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Bad Monkey! ]

[Ligur]

That is some serious AAR there, Monkey.

[voidhawk]

AAR for Give & Take

Canadian:voidhawk

German: Bobbaro

I was quite surprised to find some German troops in the town to begin with, as although my briefing hinted at this, I did not believe it as the map just screamed out "meeting engagement". I certainly did not approach the town assuming they would be there - perhaps I was lucky my opponent did not set up any ambushes, or that I didn't walk into any. I used my 2| mortars in a direct fire role to pound a small light building that contained the German HQ unit; it effectively took it out of action and allowed my other troops to assault that area and take over the buildings around it.

My main stratgey was to take over the 2 big heavy buildings and the church on my side, and (as I didn't think I would be able to hold it) take out the big heavy building on the German side right away with my tank when it arrived, in order to deny its use to my opponnent. My reinforcements came in dribs and drabs, and I hurried them to the town along the road as fast as I could, even making them run part of the way. Once in the town I advanced one squad at a time, while having the other squad (or squads) cover their approach to the next building. When I had troops in place covering the center group of buildings from 3 directions, I sent some troops into them just in case the Germans would try to rush some troops into them from their side - that was always my biggest fear, as they seemed to have a never-ending supply of troops (once they arrived). In fact, I was surprised to see just how many troops my opponent had when I looked at the map at the end! I think I only had about 1 Company's worth, without the Vickers and only 1 piat and 2 2" mortars.

My opponent made good use of his flamethrower; that came as quite a surprise to me even though I suspected it might be one when I saw the half-track. Fortunately, my M4 was close by, and was able to take out the half track when it tried to come in close to the center buildings a second time. I was really careful with exposing my M4 as I assumed my opponents must have had a StuG or Pnz IV hiding out somewhere - I think that would have helped the play balance more. I think it was kind of unfair that I had a tank, and my opponent did not. Even my flamethrower (a Badger - never played with one of those before!) had more armour protection than his half track.

I have to say I was kind of pleased with my arty - I was quite worried about the mass of troops on my right flank near the church, as all I had was one platoon there, and the pine trees around the church would have hidden any German advance until it was probably too late for me to do anything about it. Not sure if my opponent even had an arty observer?

In order to keep my troops from being fired at from multiple directions, I tried to sneak them around the inside of the buildings until they were only exposed from the direction they wanted to fire at. Also, I placed many of them on ambushes to avoid exposing themselves while firing at long-rang targets. Unfortunately for me, in the last 3 turns or so they still kept popping up to fire at further-away troops and I took some unnecessary losses that way.

Thanks to Bobbaro for a fast & furious rate of email exchanges - it was almost like a TCP/IP game! We are now into our first post-tourney game.

Final score: 82-18 for the Canadians.

[SuperTed]

BM (Hmmm...),

That was an incredible AAR! I really enjoyed it immensely and hope you'll be writing several more.

[thewood]

I feel a need to clarify something. I do not blame my troops or some trumped up issue with game balance. I let my little silicon soldiers down and here are the reasons I will give at my hearing:

1) Seeing that the only way to gain VLs was across the bridge. I still feel vindicated by the fact that not a single german made it across the river.

2) I knew the Cromwell speed would get it over the river quickly and that part played out very well.

3) I knew I had to quickly get at least a platoon across the river to establish a safe passage for the tanks and follow-up infantry.

4) My goal was to control the pace and activity in the engagement, unfortunately, the german strategy of just letting the Poles throw themselves on rocks turned out to be a better one.

What would I do differently:

1) I am pretty proud of getting smoke onto the german positions, but I planned on following up with 3" HE to keep any reinforcements suppressed. Instead, I accidently rushed my FO across the bridge as expensive riflemen and fodder.

2) Once the Pz IV's were knocked out, I should have focused my two tanks on pounding a hole in the german lines before bringing the whole set of reinforcments in.

3) I should have held a platoon of reserves. One fresh platoon around turn 15 would have made the difference.

My main goal for the entire scenario was to keep the fighting on the german side of the river. My secondary goal should have been to interdict the main reinforcements. I should have stayed focused and kept the pressure on one side of the german line, but in the heat of battle, every target looks tempting.

If anyone wnats to take anything away from this, its that aggressiveness will keep your opponent constantly reacting. That's good, as long as you follow through on your plans and your reacting isn't part of your oppoentns well thought out plans.

Good game BadMonkey and I will take a rematch any day.

[Leta]

Well, here is may AAR of Give & Take

German: White4

Canadians: Leta

Setup: A platoon of Elite Canadian soldiers into the woods, NW of a small village sourrounded by woods, with a road crossing E-W. The only large VL is situated in the middle of the village, in the center of 4 tall light buildings. Snow and snow and snow ...

The B platoon (Lt. Smithson) sneaks across the woods towards a bunch of small houses near them. His purpose is to take a good position before the arrival of the Germans (and before his forces were spotted), and a strongpoint where wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

Sneaking and using splits squads for recon, Lt. Smithson squad finally reach the first houses and then they saw the first signs of German occupation: a roadblock who cuts the main road close to a tall strong building. Then, they receive a radio message: Platoon C (Lt. Landry) is on the way.

While B platoon stands in position, C platoon advance along the road to the end of the woods and then turn right to deploy in the woods, left of the road.

Once C platoon reach his positions, B platoon starts to advance house to house towards the tall strong building, near the houses who sourrounded the VL. When one of the squads cross open ground, a German squad starts to fire at them, causing some casualties, but the squad manage to reach a small house near the tall building.

The other 2 squads of the B platoon and 1 squad of C platoon (along with the 2 mortars) starts a heavy cover fire who puts the germans (by this time the Canadians know they are poor Volkssturm grandpas) running out. Some other german squads firing from a light tall building south of the road commence to withdraw (suffering heavy casualties) due to the rifle and mortar fire of C platoon who starts to advance on the right flank of B platoon.

While B platoon takes control of the tall strong building, a new reinforcement arrives: D platoon (Lt. McMillan) with Cpt. Arrow, a PIAT and a Veteran FO 3” mortars.

B platoon soon starts to receive rifle (and panzerfaust!) fire from the near light tall building and the 2 buildings in front of them. They see that the 3 buildings north, west and south of the VL are occupied. The germans in this buildings directs fire towards platoon B who, after take some casualties, decide to retire to the back of the building, out of enemy LOS. The Germans in the building south of them soon withdraw to the VL buildings due to the rifle and mortar fire of C platoon. Meanwhile, D platoon arrives at the end of the road and starts crossing the woods to deploy at the right flank of platoon C.

B and C platoons are stopped by the heavy rifle and MG fire. D platoon advance to reach his positions; his purpose is to attack the enemy positions around the church to outflank the VL buildings while B and C platoons returns fire. The mortars lay a smoke barrier in front of the VL buildings to provide a breath to B platoon. The FO, meanwhile, give orders to fire directly (but without clear LOS) to the VL position.

It looks a stalemate ... but at this moment, a new reinforcement appear: a Sherman V tank who quickly advances, using the road, to the firefight.

The tank advances to a safe position (far from the fearsome german Schrecks) and starts firing to the first VL building while the first 3” grenades starts falling. The Volkssturn squads in the VL buildings seems hesitants, but the Canadians look at some German squads who run to support the harassed troops in the VL buildings.

The FO decide to advance to a new position with clear LOS (in a small building behind the strong tall building), because some of the last shells have exploded dangerously near the B platoon. The tank, meanwhile, continue with area fire against the west VL building and his occupants starts to withdraw. D platoon almost reach his deployment positions.

Then, the west VL building collapses. His remaining occupants withdraw to the other 3 buildings who are now exposed to fire. One squad of the C platoon runs to a small building near the church (while D platoon runs 100 m. behind him) but the they starts to receive heavy fire from the church and the south VL building, reducing the squad to a half. A couple of german squads runs from the east VL to the curch, taking some casualties while crossing open ground.

The FO reaches his new position an immediatly orders to fire to the VL, this time with a clear LOS across the rubble. The tank advances to the right to have clear LOS to the Germans in the church and starts firing at them. The D platoon deploys in a strong tall building west of the church (over the two floors) and starts firing at the germans in the church when they see a German Halftrack who quickly advances directly towards them. D platoon receives the HT with a rifle salvo and he stops. Meanwhile, the tired PIAT walks to the D platoon building. In this moment, a Badger flamethrower appears, advancing quickly to support B platoon who are stopped in his building.

But the HT isn’t stopped definitively. When he advances only to 20m. to D platoon building, the Canadians see with horror he’s a flamethrower HT who, in only 5 seconds and with only 2 shots, turn to flames the strong building with D platoon in it and the small building occupied by the brave C platoon squad. They all withdraw, some broken. In the other side of the road, the situation is a mirror: the Badger has reached a fire position and has flamed a tall light building plenty of German squads and MG’s. The 3” mortars shells, meanwhile, starts to fall over the 3 remaining VL buildings, and the Germans in it are all taking cover.

With the Badger flaming all who moves, the 3” shells hammering the VL buildings and the C platoon covering them, the B platoon make some advance to the small building in front of them. B platoon can see a lot of German squads who runs to the east, probably panicked. In the other side, the weary PIAT try to outflank the HT, but just when he take LOS of the HT, an accurate MG round kill the entire team. The tank has starts to move to fight with the HT who is retreating in reverse to a safe place (at this moment the VL flag turns from German to Neutral, turn 19).

While the Badger give a ration of flames to a couple of German squads in the rubble, the B platoon runs directly to the north and south VL buildings causing a general withdraw of the mauled remaining German squads in it. D platoon charges towards the church, occuping it, with the tank aid. The German HT remains in a safe place, shooting sporadic MG rounds. The FO redirects fire in front of B platoon and in the middle of a bunch of panicked German squads who run to the east. (the VL flag turns to Canadian, turn 20).

The German have placed some islands of resistance in a few small buildings and wooden patches east of the VL buildings but a quickly advance of the Badger (who just flamed a wooden patch plenty of German squads) and the heavy 3” mortar fire continuosly fallen causes another general German rush. D platoon is safely placed in the church, firing to all the Germans in sight and B and C platoons are firing from the VL buildings, now all in his hands. The tank advances along the road left to the church, hunting the HT who is in the far side of a wooden patch east of the church.

The tank, finally, reaches the HT position, killing him with a point blank shot. The Badger just flamed another wooden patch and a tall light building NE of the VL and the FO is shelling the running Germans. The battle is almost over and the Volkssturm battalion are disbanded.

In the last minutes of the battle, the Canadians just remain in position, spending their last ammo rounds in the few German squads who aren’t routed.

The final results are (Allied Major Victory):

AXIS (27)

218 casualties (46 KIA)

1 vehicle knocked out

111 men OK

ALLIED (73)

65 casualties (17 KIA)

59 men OK

Well, I'm waiting anxiously for the White4's AAR. He's a good writer and knows how to put the feeling in it.

C'mon man! I'm writing now the Nothing Fancy AAR!

[SuperTed]

Very good AARs, guys. Thanks for the effort.

[SuperTed]

Keep 'em coming...

[SuperTed]

The Olympics end, but we keep going...

[SuperTed]

Why are professional figure skaters not allowed to participate in the Olympics, but NHL players are?

[Dave H]

Originally posted by SuperTed:

Why are professional figure skaters not allowed to participate in the Olympics, but NHL players are?

Who's going to come watch professional figure skaters if they can't even outscore the amateurs in the Olympics? Historically, winning an Olympic medal opens the door to making the big money in the professional ranks. Once you're already a pro, why risk your status of "former Olympic medal winner" to become "current 35'th place finisher"? I'm sure if a professional skater challenged the system, they'd get to try to qualify. All the other professional athletes who want to participate can.

I also suspect the producers of the professional ice shows would frown on their best skaters taking months away from their job to prepare for the qualifying competition, and the Olympics. Once they turn pro, they're kind of locked in to "the show must go on". Actually, I'm amazed the NHL owners allow players to compete in the Olympics during the season. Somehow I can't picture George Steinbrenner :eek: allowing Derek Jeter a few weeks off in the middle of a pennant race to play baseball for the USA. And could you imagine Al Davis :mad: allowing one of his Raiders to miss a few games if football was an Olympic sport? Me neither.

[SuperTed]

Dave,

Well, I must admit including professional athletes takes the fun out of watching much of the Olympics. Men's basketball, of course, is the most ridiculous example.

[SuperTed]

We'll keep this one simple:

Bump!

[Dave H]

Originally posted by SuperTed:

Dave,

Well, I must admit including professional athletes takes the fun out of watching much of the Olympics. Men's basketball, of course, is the most ridiculous example.

Ted, I saw the girl who won the gold medal in figure skating on ESPN this morning. She has become the second woman figure skater to have her picture on the Wheaties box. Can you say "Time to cash in?" So can she (and her parents). And I don't blame them a bit. Don't look for her to come back in four years to defend her title.

To put her age in perspective, she said her next goal is to get a 1600 on her SAT scores. I wouldn't bet against her. She seems very determined.

[SuperTed]

I am the walrus...

[SuperTed]

What would you think if I sang out a tune...

[BeauCoupDinkyDau]

Originally posted by SuperTed:

What would you think if I sang out a tune...

SuperTed is insane in the membrain! Insane in the brain!!! :eek:

Am I the only one that thought that song (while having a great rythm) was completely stupid? How the h*** is someone insame in the "barrier that holds a cell together?"

[SuperTed]

Originally posted by Vader's Jester:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by SuperTed:

What would you think if I sang out a tune...

SuperTed is insane in the membrain! Insane in the brain!!! :eek:

Am I the only one that thought that song (while having a great rythm) was completely stupid? How the h*** is someone insame in the "barrier that holds a cell together?" </font>

[BeauCoupDinkyDau]

LOL Ted! L-O-L!!

[SuperTed]

VJ,

Not only do I make the best scenarios and run the best tournament, but I am also the funniest person here. :cool:

[Dave H]

Originally posted by SuperTed:

VJ,

Not only do I make the best scenarios and run the best tournament, but I am also the funniest person here. :cool:

And also the most modest.

[SuperTed]

Originally posted by Dave H:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by SuperTed:

VJ,

Not only do I make the best scenarios and run the best tournament, but I am also the funniest person here. :cool:

And also the most modest. </font>

[White4]

Give and Take, White4 (german)vs Leta (canadian).

Hans wiped his red and swollen hands on his smock. The snow was still falling in the woods, muffling the slow tramping shuffle of the grandpas. He shook his head ruefully.

"Hey! You hold a Schmisser THIS way. Gott in Himmel!" The oldster peered at him through blearly eyes, still akwardly holding the submachinegun by the barrel. "Look grandpa, if you shoot that thing, pull the trigger you understand, the barrel will get hot and your hand will feel it. Ok?" Wordlessly the grey haired man pulled away and joined the masses tramping wearily through the forest, and soon

disappeared in the snow. Reflexively, Hans clicked the safetly on the Schmisser. Woodenly, he turned and followed the old man, still shaking his head.

It had been only two hours before that he had been leading this battalion down a roughly plowed road into town. Schmidt had scrounged up these grandfathers and swiftly armed them. If they remembered thier time in the Great War, Schmidt made them officers.

An advance guard had been rushed into the town while Hans finished organizing the battalion. As they marched off, word came in that the advance guard had made contact. The Canadians were swiftly moving from building to building, seeming impervious to the fire of the advance guard. Within the first seven minutes, the Canadians had wiped out the defenders of the roadblock by concentrated fire from four buildings. Hans led the old men at a run into the village. He intended to try and stall with the

first, now tired, company while the rest came up fresh. The oldsters took up positions among the trees and a wooden building by the roadblock. Panting, they watched as the remnants of the advance guard flee from the canadians. Immediately the oldsters came under accurate mortar and rifle fire. Several immediately fled, only to be cut down in the street by the Canadians. But somehow he rallied them to

stay. Most didn't fire back, but cowered in the corners of the building. He cursed, he screamed, but they refused to listen. His radio man had come over then and told him that the Canadians were trying to flank his position to the south towards the church. Hans shouted one last curse at the cowering grandpas and ran to the mansion. "You, you,you and you, come with me." Bewildered, the second companies' first platoon followed him into the church. "You are to hold this building at all costs."

A thunder of gunfire came from the canadian positions. Outside, Hans could see the fleeing knots of conscript grandpas scattering into the slowing advancing reinforcements. He grabbed the radio.

"Schmidt, get those men up here. The Canadians are all over the place." "But Major, they are tired, a lot of them have already fallen out on the approach march, and-"

"I don't care! Bring them up and they can rest in the positions that they will die in!"

He tossed the microphone back the the radio

operator. Outside, the canadians contented themselves with shooting up the church with rifles. To the north, vague shapes of the canadians flitted from house to house, trying to surround the fearful defenders.

The mansion was teeming with conscripts, some fleeing the roadblock, some firing back at the

Canadians, all of them tired. He walked out behind the mansion, telling the new arrivals to hide in place, and rest up. He had a vague idea of using them for a counter attack. Thats when the first explosion hit him. A fresh wave of panicked grandpas ran by.

"Panzer!" "Panzer!"

Hans quickly ran to a corner and looked around. A Sherman was parked about 150m away, casually

shelling the mansion. He could see the tank commander sipping tea while he shouted down to his gunner.

Hans jerked back around the corner, yelling as he went.

"Everybody out! Schnell, schnell, into the courtyard or behind the mansion! Move! Move!"

He grabbed the radio man and yanked out the microphone.

"Schmidt! Where are the panzerschreck crews?"

A pause, an enternity, while the ground shuddered and men died..

"Sir, they are still back in the woods, they are going as fast as they can, sir-"

Hans clicked off. "We are lost."

The radio buzzed and cracked. "Major! I have found a flammen-halftrack, and I am sending it your way!"

Hans leaped to his feet. The day could still be his! Quickly he told the half track to make best speed for the church and burn the building to the west of it. Hans looked up in time to see the north west corner of the mansion disappear into a billowing cloud of

debris. There were only a few men left. Behind him the officers were trying to rally the desperate, tired men. He looked south again as the roar of the halftrack's diesel reverberated through the town.

A wash of flame appeared beyond the church. Men cheered, and Hans moved among them, pushing them

upright and forcing them to look.

"We will win! Pick up your gun! Move!"

Hans gestured to the radio man. "Tell the halftrack to move back behind the church and then up behind the mansion- the tank will be coming after it."

"Jahwohl, Major."

The radio man stepped back to his pack as the rhymic clank of tracks came down the street. Thats odd, thought Hans, why would the Sherman come down here?

The heat wave knocked him off his feet as the ground erupted in flame. Shrieking torches resembling men danced around Hans as he covered his face with his hands, the instinctive training forcing him to roll, roll until he bumped up against the mansion's outer wall. The pain flooded over him, and he forced his hands into the snow. Looking up, he saw a Sherman without a turret hosing the nearby buildings with flame. Dimly he could see a trembling pair of old men methodically fire panzerschrek rounds at the Sherman. None hit. The flamethrowing Sherman rolled closer, and engulfed the panzerschrek team with fire. Hans crawled away. Dazed, he watched as the flammen halftrack nosed around the woods and stop. Idly he noted the worn tracks spinning off the sprocket wheel as the mud churned up under the half track. The squeal of rubber padded tracks announced the presence of the Sherman as it nosed its cannon around the trees and leveled on the halftrack. Hans feverently wished the halftrack would trigger its flamethrower, but the crew had just looked up from their thrown track when the

Sherman fired. The explosion joined the roar of the burning town around him. He dropped his head into the snow. All the effort, all the pain, for nothing...

[Leta]

Ha,ha, White4. I was sure your AAR of Give & Take will be a true work of art ... and it is!

Coooool .... :cool:

[ February 28, 2002, 04:12 PM: Message edited by: Leta ]

[SuperTed]

W4,

Very nicely done indeed.