Disaster Posted August 8, 2000 Share Posted August 8, 2000 After watching a documentary on the seige of Dien Bien Phu I decided to build this new scenario. I've tested it a couple times and made big changes to the force makeup each time. Now I need others to test it. Please try it out and give me feedback! Thanks all! Polish Fort (test) v.1 by Disaster Type: Defend the Polish fort against a heavy SS assault. Large battle. Short Description The SS have launched a surprise assault against a Polish fort on the edge of a river. The fort is very large and has three outlying redoubts, each with anti-tank guns and howitzers. However, the SS have a battalion of veteran infantry / pioneers, backed up by artillery with armour on its way to support the attack. The Polish commander must decide whether they can defend all or some of the fort. Reinforcements are on the way but will they help make a stand or merely cover the retreat? The battle begins as Polish defenders stumble from their barracks and race to the perimeter where stealthy SS assault engineers have crept within shooting distance of the fort's precious defensive artillery. A column of relief troops are on the other side of the river and must be shuttled across the river to support the bleary-eyed Poles. Things get worse as it becomes clear the SS mean to take the fort at all costs as armour and more infantry join the attack. As each fortified redoubt is the subject of an attack, the Polish commander must make quick decisions to support one side over another. These will not be an easy decisions. Basic order of battle The SS commander has lots at his command and initially has nearly a battalion within range. However, the Polish redoubts are fortified with barbed wire, mines, and stone walls. Their anti-tank and howitzers will pound any troops that stay in one place for long. These must be destroyed if the armour is to have any chance of overruning the Polish positions! Both sides can call artillery strikes. A German attack caught by a bombardment will be a slaughter. But the Poles have few places to hide from a German fire mission. If the Germans are stopped at the wire, the Poles will gain time for Allied armour to show up. Until then, their two companies must defend with tooth and nail. Objectives The German commander will gain points for taking any of the three outlying redoubts, but cannot allow the Poles to hold onto the center of the fort at all. The Polish commander must make a decision, whether they should commit all their resources to holding or pull out as many units as possible across the river. Time 50 moves. Download here: http://www3.telus.net/pop_n_fresh/combatmiss/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Von Brizee Posted August 9, 2000 Share Posted August 9, 2000 I will TAKE that fort! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disaster Posted August 9, 2000 Author Share Posted August 9, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Von Brizee: I will TAKE that fort!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ehhh, well I recommend you play Polish commander. I have no idea how the AI will handle the Polish commander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TOBRUK Posted August 9, 2000 Share Posted August 9, 2000 Hi Disaster, I was intrigued by the situation described in your scenario; a sort of strategic withrawal. Very interesting; so I've decided to try it out. I'm now in turn 10 and there's carnage on both sides. Playing as Poles, my troops decimated mostly by 'panic' in face of continuos assault. I can see that there are numerous ways to approach this scenario, and that in itself makes it playable and re-playable! My time is limited so I don't know when I'll finish but I'll e-mail you a report when I do. Already it seems as if the scenario may not require 50 turns; at least at the rate I'm taking casualties. Anyway- thanks for writing what looks like a promising scenario -T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disaster@work Posted August 9, 2000 Share Posted August 9, 2000 When I read that Von Brizee took the SS side of this scenario I felt a chill. Uh oh, I thought, I didn't actually intend it to be played from the German side. So last night until 2am I played the German side to see how the AI would handle the Polish defender. The reason why I thought this might be a problem is because I specified the north edge to be the exit for the Polish troops, giving a *human* defender the option to try and save the fort OR escape with hopefully enough units for points. However, with the Polish defender being commanded by the AI, would the AI make that choice at all? Wouldn't the AI just pull up stakes and run like a schoolgirl? **Spoilers** Please read only after playing the scenario. Read (as a designer) if you are interested to see what the AI would do with this problem. . . . . . . . . . What happened: As the Germans I assaulted immediately on the south and the eastern sides, laying down mortar fire on the NE and SE redoubts. As I feared, the AI Polish infantry did not rush to the perimeter to catch my forces in the open. Unlike me, the Poles did not even fire with their arty .. until, that is my forces got half way. Their howitzers and anti-tank opened up just as the bulk of my howling grenadiers eached the midpoint. This disrupted my attack a bit, as some units broke and scattered, but the Pole AI machinegunners were too exposed when they opened fire and were subsequently suppressed. Designer's note: Foxhole emplacements help, but only if you intend to leave troops where they are supposed to defend. In my scenario, I wanted the bulk of the Polish troops to stumble from their barracks to meet the 'surprise' attack. Unfortunately, because you can't lay out groundworks, these troops have nothing to go to and will be exposed if they defend at the edge! BTS, we need the ability to lay out trenches and foxholes before hand! Anyway, most of my attacking pioneers made it to the wire and proceeded to crest the ridge. By this time most of the outlying redoubt's arty had been silenced or suppressed. Here is where things got interesting. The moment my pioneers crested the ridge, they were met by a hail of gunfire from the inner works of the fort, as I had intended. Inside the fort is a ridge that commands the other redoubts from which a howitzer and vickers can sweep attackers. This worked well, IMO. The moment my attackers gained the ridge, they were slowed considerably by fire from within. However, I could now see what decision the AI made in regards to the exit. The AI indeed was pulling out everything that was moveable. Whatever infantry could run, were dashing for the bridge to get to the other side. What was impressive was the way the AI was covering their retreat. Of course, the arty could not move and thus were already sacrificial victims to slow the SS attack. But also the internal machineguns were lagging behind and were firing at the attackers. Mortars too were keeping up a fire on the wire's edge. On the north eastern redoubt my attack completely stopped because it was exposed to inner fire. Also, a timely artillery barrage by the Poles shocked those troops who had taken the NE redoubt beyond recall. A more aggressive (human) defender could have retaken the NE redoubt. Alas, the AI had decided the gig was up from the beginning of the scenario it seemed. With reinforcements my SS pioneers now backed by infantry swarmed over the outlying redoubts but had to fight hard to gain the center, especially the inner works as at some point the AI seemed to decide that some of the infantry would stay behind as a rear guard. The inner howitzer also was a major trouble as I did not at that time have access to heavy guns to reply and had used up my artillery support smoking one of the redoubts. It reminded somewhat of the climax of the civil war movie Glory, where the Federals boiled over the reb fort only to meet arty inside the fort. In time, I managed to sneak up a Panzerschreck to take it out while suppressing it with machineguns and some light armour that had arrived. Also interesting was that the Polish gun carriers and HTs stayed behind to fight it out, again keeping my SS boys' heads down. With the arrival of my tank reinforcements I completed the taking of the fort, wiping out the Pole HTs and gun carriers. As the first tanks crested the redoubts the remaining Polish infantry surrendered and others scrambled for the bridge. The sadist in me couldn't let this happen and I rolled a Tiger toward the bridge, mowing down the poor Poles mercilessly. Polish armour popped up to attempt to cover some of the retreat, complicating one of my reinforcement maneuvers (my initial assault force was totally spent and most were not inclined to move from their positions). Designers Note: In my next version I will reduce the strength of my SS armour reinforcement to give the Polish armour event more meaningful. The final act was to speed the Polish off the map. This was a bridge assault and proved more difficult than I had designed. Since the AI did not shuttle its reinforcement company of troops across the bridge to aid the defense of the fort, they all ended up investing the northern bank of the river. Only by steadily bombarding the northern bank and then rushing across with whatever troops I could scrape up could I complete the victory. Conclusion: As I suspected, with the AI commanding the Polish troops, still a total victory for the German side. However, the AI pulled some surprises that, as a designer, I can attempt to strengthen with better force balancing. Also, by putting some troops already at the perimeter I can slow the initial pace of the German assault. I was mostly satisfied by the challenges of the geography, including how the inner layout of the fort made for hard fighting once the attackers had gained the perimeter. Finally, the German force was meant to be somewhat overwhelming but in the next version I will cut down the number of reinforcements. ------------------ To download my scenarios: go to http://www3.telus.net/pop_n_fresh/combatmiss/index.htm [This message has been edited by Disaster@work (edited 08-09-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disaster@work Posted August 9, 2000 Share Posted August 9, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TOBRUK: Hi Disaster,<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Thanks for trying it out, Tobruk! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I was intrigued by the situation described in your scenario; a sort of strategic withrawal. Very interesting; so I've decided to try it out.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I should point out to others wanting to try this test scenario that they do have the option to try and save the fort. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Already it seems as if the scenario may not require 50 turns; at least at the rate I'm taking casualties.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes, I replayed it again last night as the Germans and I think it can be limited to maybe 40 turns. [This message has been edited by Disaster@work (edited 08-09-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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