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Closing the Pocket AAR


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Turn 35-40

cmnormandydemo2011-05-duxo.png

The "luckiest M10 ever" is finally burning...

My Panther hit him again and the crew bailed out.

Soon after that my Panther (i only have one in combat) got hit by ATG fire from the tree line behind the village. I thought i killed them long ago !

But no problem, the shots bounced off and the Panther got that gun with his second HE round.

One of my Marders finished the Sherman at the bridge, the tank exploded.

The other Sherman behind the village drove into a wood and i lost LOS to him.

cmnormandydemo2011-05-unc7.png

But suddenly another M10 showed up and hit my Panther at the tracks and immobilized him !

My Panther fired back and KO'ed him with the first shot.

cmnormandydemo2011-05-6nzz.png

So i have a Panther with a damaged main gun and one who cant move...argh !

During this tank combat the 1.Zug assaulted the village while the HMG's and PSW supressed the enemy.

As they reached the next hedgerow there were still some GI's !

But as they saw the angry Germanic's they decided to run away...most of them died anyway.

cmnormandydemo2011-05-odqx.png

My 2.Zug was now on the way to support the attack. After all enemy tanks in overwatch are burning wrecks that was no longer a problem.

I decided to push forward with my two PSW on the right flank to mow down the routing GI's.

That turned out to be a bad idea...a Sherman was in the village and soon KO'ed one PSW !

I will try to get him with a Panzerschreck team...

cmnormandydemo2011-05-be1l.png

Only 5 minutes left to capture the village !

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The key for the American armor is to avoid fighting the German armor at long range. Race your tanks to the village and keep an eye out for the Panthers. Position your tanks within the village or hull-down in the ditch behind the village. Strike the Panthers when they present their vulnerable flanks. If possible, try to have more than one tank shooting at a single target at the same time.

Good advice was thinking along those lines

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What does that matter? Common courtesy dictates that if you are going to post a detailed commentary of a battle that everyone is about to play for the first time you should at least put a spoiler warning somewhere on the post.

We are all playing this demo for the first time and and feeling our way through it as if on a first date with the hot chick from high school. Who needs someone giving a blow by blow discription of the battle anyway? Its like telling us the hot chick wears falsies.

What is this reflexive complaining?

If you don't want scenario information, don't read an AAR. Don't click the link. It had the name of the scenario in the title. An After Action Report, will by definition, include some details of the battle covered. FYI.

If you can't do the math on that one without the magic word 'spoiler' included, well I wonder about you.

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Just finished this mission as German (iron): 92 - 1000. Sweet! 7 men kia, 3 wounded, lost 3 of my light vehicles. Nice mission.

Jeez, how do you people do it ?

I'm playing at Basic Training level and still losing a ton of guys - can't see the enemy before he opens up.

At least 2 of my HMG's have lost half their crew to mortars. And just as I'm forcing the enemy out of the village, enemy tanks come over the ridge ( ok, not so bad, Panthers are badass ) with supporting arty - one of my squads in the hedge/wall hook to the right of the village just ate some 105's - whole squad gone in an instant !

No chance to see spotting rounds and run - spotting rounds drop at 31:45, main volley lands at 31:10 same turn :(

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@Baneman

you need to watch for enemy spotting rounds. as soon as you guesstimated the area of impact, you make your guys run FAST to next best cover at least 50m to 100m or more if possible ;)

only problem is when the next best cover is an open field or some bad location under observation by the enemy. i try to go forward in that case if anyhow possible. a advance under enemy fire can be more gentle to the men then being fully hit by arty or mortars.

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I agree with Pandur on that, like i said a few pages ago:

After some spotting rounds hit my right flank i withdraw my HMG and 2nd Platoon from there and minutes later artillery hammered this position.

Also you should start playing WEGO, no way RT can be fun... ;)

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Also you should start playing WEGO, no way RT can be fun... ;)

dont say that, even Steve admits to playing RT. i dont know how they do it and thier casualties must be really bad but it seems they have fun of some sort :confused:

while it takes me several houers for closing the pocket, they can play it 3 or 4 times while i do it once, maybe they are simply more persistant...

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The plan:

I will start with a pre-planned smoke screen that will be provided by my 10.5 cm leFH 18.

This smoke screen should help the 1.Zug to cross the open ground infront of them unharmed.

The HMG's will supress enemy ATG's and infantry as will the PSW's to while being hull down in the small clearings.

If the smoke screen is deployed i will move the 1. and 2.Zug forward.

1.Zug will advance through the ocharde in the middle and infiltrate the village.

2.Zug will advance on the right flank and capture the crossroads and dug in there to provide flanking fire into the village.

My mortars will supress any spotted enemy threats.

Most likely this will be enemy ATG's in the tree line behind the village...

I put my HMG's into hide mode, just like the two Rifle Platoons. My FO has a short cover-arc so he not opens up while still spotting. The same goes for the HMG Section leader and a Panzerschreck team of the 1.Zug.

I have positioned the Company HQ close to the mortars, the FO is in radio contact with this HQ, so he can spot for the on-map mortars too.

Let the battle begin...

Just finished this as Germans, WeGo, Elite. Total Victory with 146 points for the Americans.

As in the video AAR, I pushed both Zugs down the middle. I didn't feel that one would have sufficient firepower to provide suppression while assaulting. Started with an artillery barrage on the town center with the mortars providing the smoke. First platoon moved quickly to the edge of the orchard under cover of smoke and artillery. As soon as they reached the hedgerow, the second platoon moved up.

By this time, Panthers had arrived and they took up overwatch positions on the hilltop. After a second, short (linear) barrage on the American front line, the first Zug assaulted and moved easily into the first row of buildings. The second soon followed.

Once I had secured the Command Post it was mostly just mopping up. The kitties had taken out three or four of the Shermans, plus one of the M10's, by this time and the rest were playing mouse with the cats. One Sherman had sped into town before a Panther could nail it and this tank caused most of the problems that I had inside town. Some smoke from a Marder and a sneaking 'schreck team finally took care of it. Neither AT gun was a factor after one took out an armored car that I got careless with (I didn't think they had LOS and I left it sitting. MEMO to self: When in doubt, MOVE FAST). The gun died quickly with a short mortar barrage.

One M10 sat in the same position as the "badass M10" in your game. The only way to reach it from the positions I was in was to move one of my Panthers to the road... along with a couple of Marders and a PSW for bait, the M10 was distracted long enough for the Panther to get the kill.

Two of the American TD's survived, but both were hiding at endgame. Oddly enough, one had moved to the east edge of the board and sat there for at least 15 minutes with his gun aimed off the board. There was no damage noted at the end of the game. The other M10 had its optics destroyed during an exchange where it immobilized an armored car... it just pulled back behind the hill and sat out the rest of the fight.

I lost two Marders and one PSW. One of my Panthers and the PSW mentioned above were immobilized. One of the Marders died while trying to KO the M10 on the hilltop road; the other just decided not to reverse after a shoot and scoot... if he'd left after the ten-second pause he might have lived to try again. :(

So far, the game has exceeded my abundant expectations. I tried RT in the Tutorial scenario last night and will NEVER play RT again. I just can't move around the board fast enough, even with pauses, to keep up with what's going on. The worst part was taking a Minor Defeat because I lost track of time. I had multiple squads less than ten meters from both of the VL's when time unexpectedly ran out.

Anyhow, thanks BF!!! Superb game, can't wait for the whole enchilada.

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