Huzzar!

[afreu]

I played the mission yesterday evening. Actually I only wanted to browse through the scenarios to see what is there after finishing the Road to Montebourg campaign. But I was fascinated by the size of the Huzzar map and got drawn into the scenario.

SPOILERS

(played in real-time)

I don't remember the geographic directions of the map exactly. So for orientation purposes I assume that the US setup position was in the south of the map and the Germans attacked from the North.

I chose to play the US side because I was eager to face the challenge of fighting against some serious German armour (there is little armour in the Montebourg campaign).

During the setup phase I ordered the scout units to cover each of the fords and bridges on the map. The idea was not to stop any German advance across those points with the scouts alone but to get sufficient warning of any German movement to allow the according deployment of US armour and infantry. All scout units were positioned on the south side of the river behind hedgerows or other cover. The only exception was two M3 Stuarts that I sent into the small village on the north side of the river.

After the game began the scouts moved to their designated observation points. One M8 Greyhound, that was observing the train tracks from the south side of the river, spotted the first enemy units advancing towards the village. He quickly retreated behind cover (I feared that there might have been heavy armour in that initial wave) and I prepared the two M3s in the village to confront the Germans heading towards them. My intention was to destroy two or three of the advancing enemy units and then to move the M3s to the south side of the river and wait for reinforcements. However, as German and US units came face to face one of the M3s got hit immediately and blew up. The other M3 hid behind some buildings and managed to kill the AFV that had shot at the other M3. The crew of the disabled M3 managed to bail out and moved into some buildings, providing a view on the train tracks. It became clear that the German force advancing towards the village was made up of scouts mounted on halftracks and some Pumas. At this point I only waited for the right moment to retreat with the remaining M3 towards the south side of the river. However, it turned out that the M3 was in a rather lucky position, hid behind some buildings, looking down the main street towards the tracks. Vehicle after vehicle appeared in the M3's sights and got taken out. That little tank must have killed 5-6 AFVs, most of the German recon force.

With the M3 holding the enemy in check, I changed my plan and decided to move the first reinforcements into the small village as fast as possible. Hence, when the company of Shermans arrived, I immediately ordered the biggest platoon of five Shermans to the village on the north side of the river. I moved the other platoons to cover the eastern and western crossings respectively. But for now, it seemed that the German advance towards the village was stalled. At that point, I had each of the three major crossing points covered by a platoon of Shermans and a couple of Scouts. In the following minutes little happened and I waited for further reinforcements to arrive and for more signs on where the German main thrust was going to happen. Somehow, my instincts told me that the western crossing would be relatively save, so I moved the arriving AT guns to the eastern side to cover the approaches from behind some hedgerows. One of the armoured infantry platoons was sent to the west as well, while the other infantry platoon was ordered to the village in the centre.

Soon, the first German units appeared on the hill north of the eastern crossing. An unlucky Sherman was hit immediately by the advancing German armour. The other tanks (3 Shermans) were safely behind cover, while the arriving AT guns and armoured infantry hid as well. The halftracks accompanying the German advance were quite easily destroyed by the Shermans. However, it soon became clear, that there were at least two heavy Panthers as well. After one of those beasts advanced across the river, the infantry and a Sherman attacked it from the side, while the AT guns and another two Shermans engaged from the front. This combined effort brought the tank down. The second Panther was not such an "easy" kill. It stopped on an open field north of the western crossing. I assume it was immobilized since it did not move for the rest of the game. The tanks and AT guns were facing the front and a little of the right side of the Panther tank. Two AT guns and three Shermans fired continually on the Panther and only after ca. 20 minutes did the German crew finally abandon their tank. After the heavy German armour was gone the MG and mortar from the infantry platoon dealt with the remaining German force in the east.

Meanwhile, in the village at the centre of the map my forces clashed with another German advance. Note that this clash took place at the same time as the encounter in the east. So I was constantly switching between the two battles. Since I was initially occupied with the battle in the east I did not move the Shermans and armoured infantry platoon in the village into defensive positions. All of the sudden I noticed a German group consisting of armoured infantry and Stugs! advancing from the north-west. I hurried to move my troops into the centre of the village in order to hide them from the German armour. From this position the US forces managed to hold the German attack at the outskirt of the village. Some of the German infantry tried to infiltrate the village from the north, but I manoeuvred my own infantry to prevent their advance. The Stugs were covering the village from an open field to the north-west of the village. Some of the half-tracks and one Stug tried to advance along the main street into the village but were quickly killed by the Shermans and AT teams, which were hiding inside it. In order to eliminate the remaining Stugs, I decided to commit the third Sherman platoon, which was covering the western crossing. They moved to the north side of the river and came out behind the German advance from the west. Quickly, they killed the two remaining Stugs. With them gone the US force in the village mopped up the remaining German attackers.

Major victory.

All in all, this is a truly great scenario. These kinds of scenario bring out the best in CM gameplay.

It was already quite a tough fight, but I expected a heavier attack by the Germans. I think 1-3 additional heavy tanks and more infantry would create a more challenging but still winnable scenario.

[George MC]

Hi Afreu

Great AAR mate

It's a bit of a see saw action that's for sure. I hesitated to give the Germans more armour - especially Panthers - due to how good they can be. There are several German AI Plans and some are more aggressive than others. In one plan the Germans do push forward rather agressively, especially the Panthers. I also hung off giving more heavy armour as I think a human as OC for the Germans could play way cannier making this very tough for the US. Still it's getting a few plays H2H so if anyone who plays it H2H would be so kind as to post some comments I can see if it needs 'tweaked' and upload a tweaked version to the repository?

Thanks again for all the comments. Cheers!

[Holman]

Actually, There might be a problem. When I opened it again just now it was all messed up in 3-D preview mode - everything was blocky and corrupted looking. Anyone else had this when opening a scenario in the editor?

I don't think the map is corrupt. What you're describing sounds like what happens when CM is running out of memory. Huzzar is a huuuuuge map, and it probably wants everything your computer can give it.

I have opened the map to have a look, too, and once I got very weird results: for instance, the sky texture was replaced by the wheatfield graphic, so the whole world was overhung with hazy brown crops.

I think I've determined that Huzzar is OK when it's the first scenario you open. That is, don't play several turns of other scenarios in CMBN before attempting Huzzar. Do it with a fresh program start to free up memory.

[Lets_All_Fight]

I don't think the map is corrupt. What you're describing sounds like what happens when CM is running out of memory. Huzzar is a huuuuuge map, and it probably wants everything your computer can give it.

I have opened the map to have a look, too, and once I got very weird results: for instance, the sky texture was replaced by the wheatfield graphic, so the whole world was overhung with hazy brown crops.

I think I've determined that Huzzar is OK when it's the first scenario you open. That is, don't play several turns of other scenarios in CMBN before attempting Huzzar. Do it with a fresh program start to free up memory.

Running out of memory? Really? That's a monster map, then. I'm running 6 gig of ddr3 but I was thinking of doubling it. And there I was thinking it was an ATI card issue. I'm going to blame it on the ATI card anyway - I'm looking for an excuse to upgrade.

[George MC]

It's a biggie for sure

Just working on a 3.5km x 3.2km map. Less bocage more rolling open fields - and still plays on my PC.

[CAMO]

Made this vid yesterday, Huzzar is the only game Ive played so far and loved every second of it.

Hope you guys enjoy the vid.

[Broken]

Hi Afreu

Great AAR mate

It's a bit of a see saw action that's for sure. I hesitated to give the Germans more armour - especially Panthers - due to how good they can be. There are several German AI Plans and some are more aggressive than others. In one plan the Germans do push forward rather agressively, especially the Panthers. I also hung off giving more heavy armour as I think a human as OC for the Germans could play way cannier making this very tough for the US. Still it's getting a few plays H2H so if anyone who plays it H2H would be so kind as to post some comments I can see if it needs 'tweaked' and upload a tweaked version to the repository?

Thanks again for all the comments. Cheers!

I think your balance is pretty close for human vs human. If you bumped the number of Panthers, you would probably have to bump the number of Shermans 76's, and/or bump to Veteran. The Panthers can't dominate this map like they could a more open map, but dealing with even four of them is still a handful if you are playing against a human opponent (just a guess).

[Vanir Ausf B]

Broadsword

I believe you'll find this map among the QB maps. It is called:

Assault Large Rough (bocage - water) QB - 025

Attack Large Rough (bocage - water) QB - 25

Probe Large Rough (bocage - water) QB - 25

I just checked this out and was disappointed to discover that the QB version is stripped down to less than half the size with nearly all the trees removed :confused:

[George MC]

Made this vid yesterday, Huzzar is the only game Ive played so far and loved every second of it.

Hope you guys enjoy the vid.

Nice Enjoyed it.

[George MC]

I think your balance is pretty close for human vs human. If you bumped the number of Panthers, you would probably have to bump the number of Shermans 76's, and/or bump to Veteran. The Panthers can't dominate this map like they could a more open map, but dealing with even four of them is still a handful if you are playing against a human opponent (just a guess).

Yeah I don't want to add anymore units (danger of mission creep!). The Panthers are tough to take out but it is easy to get flank shots, still in the hands of a good human player they can make life uncomfortable for the US player.

Still be keen to hear how players get on though. Like you, I reckon the balance is pretty close though

[PezBailarin]

I've played it H2H, as german, and crushed the Amis who finally surrendered. The recon phase was a bloodbath, just a m5 and some panicked crews survived. Then 3 stugs and 1 panther took care of every American tank except for one who remained hidden.

I lost one panther who got confused in a traffic jam (my fault) and 3-4 armored vehicles.

Americans pushed hard in the middle, but I stopped them harder with 2 stugs and infantry. They probed with three shers in the east most ford, and 1 stug blowed 2 enemy tanks. The third decided not to push his luck and stood hidden forever. Americans arrived in the farm before I could, and I lost 1 panther. Another one destroyed 4 shermans and caused heavy infantry losses. But I knew there was an AT somewhere (later I knew there were two) and didn't want to expose my panther too much. I was planning to bring there my reserve forces (2 panthers and 1 stug. I needed the rest to overwatch some other fords) when the enemy surrendered.

I couldn't have seized the farm, but no problem with the main bridge. The secret objective was a bit too obvious. Strangely I wasn't awarded the AZ3 though I definitely crossed it several times

[Pete Wenman]

Huzzar !

P

[Sakai007]

LoL, man I have got to try some of that stuff, wonder if you can get it here in the states.

[gunnergoz]

Huzzar !

P

Absolutely hilarious! Never saw or heard of the vid or the product before, but a great intro to it I must say. BZ for posting it.

[umlaut]

Huzzar !

P

Ah!!

Now I see, what the breech teams were for (even though they were misspelled)

[Frankster65]

Huzzar !

P

LMFAO! That was good.

[Bob Willett]

Did any of you who played Huzzar experience the glitch of having vehicles getting stuck on the main bridge to where it no longer could be highlighted to command plus inf that would do the same and movement plots that would terminate into the water when trying to plot movements across the bridge of from the bridge? The new patch was to fix bridge glitches but I've found as well as my PBM buddy this glitch still exists on maps with bridges.....We took out all mods and this problem continues