AAR SPWAW River Crossing Meeting Engagement ..

[danstudentvcc]

This is a River Crossing between the Soviets [danstudentvcc] and the Germans[mattcurtis] ..

The map is custom made and features a double-lane bridge.

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The setups have been done and it is already turn 02. My Soviet forces expect to face some stiff German opposition; it is doubtful the Germans will fail to deploy regular line troops and their standard elite tank crews.

None-the-less the crossings will be attempted and defended against and in the end Stalin will confer the Order of Lenin on each of us conscriptees!

On to the battle.:devil:

danstudentvcc

[themattcurtis]

NICE :)

I'm in. Don't reveal any info or post any screenshots you don't want me to see, and I'll post developments from the German point of view :cool:

Should be bloody :devil:

Looking forward to gettin' the Turn.

[danstudentvcc]

[QUOTE=themattcurtis]NICE :)
I'm in. Don't reveal any info or :cool:
Should be bloody :devil: QUOTE]

Turn02: Found some more German tanks on the road. Shot them up and sent air support after them. They've been out in the open for two turns. Wonder if they'll brave it out and force a call-up of Soviet armor. Planes got lost and found only Pz 3's instead of the Tigers!! phooey!

:) danstudentvcc

[themattcurtis]

NO......they were in the open for 1 Turn. I waited 1 Turn to see if I could get the borscht loving masses to show their hand before I moved out. Instead, some lily-livered commissars called down fighter-bombers on a pair of Panzer IVs parked to my rear....choom choom choom choom.....20mm flak just weren't enough, and the Russian flyboys were apparently on top of their game. X2 dead tanks :dead:

On the plus side, Stalin's boys spent 450 belts worth of 12.7mmm ammo and only managed to rattle a squad of tankriders. With their transport (more Panzer IVs) now pulling back, the grunts are on their own. They're rallying nicely.

Up near the bridge, we dump a bucketload of 210mm nebelwerfer rounds on the western shoreline bordering that steel and concrete span (hoping to keep any Russian weapon crews on other side suppressed). The heavy tubes pound a few buildings to rubble, start some fires and our legit heavy hitters (read Tigers this time :love: ) roar into the open, making for the western shore as fast as their underpowered engines can manage. We'll see how close we can get before having to call off the arty.

Down south, a walking barrage of smoke begins to mask the breadth of the river as it appears this nameless Guards division is going to try a crossing in their lend-lease barges.

I'll probably lose. But it'll be with style.

Matt
PS -- need to take screenshots next time

[themattcurtis]

Tigers crash across the bridge, laying smoke along their route -- cover that is bolstered by our mortars. Eeeek....cover doesn't completely cover our hanomags. Oh well :rolleyes:

Russian conscripts dash from cover to cover down south on the opposite side of the shore. HE from a hidden emplacement kills one.

The Sturmoviks come back :o

And die!!!! :devil:

One of them, at least. 20mm flak knocks the plane to the ground, and so burns a Hero of the Soviet Union.

The planes themselves accomplish little except to worry a couple of armored crews.

The panzer platoon that was sitting on the road and got peppered by HMG fire moves to avoid any incoming arty, and does trade some ineffectual shots with ISU-122s that appear across the river.

Otherwise, smoke is continued to be strewn across the river to cover the Russian crossing to the south. And heavy machine guns make the TURN REPLAYS last three frigging hours by shooting every round of ammo at tanks more than 1,200 yards away. Dunno about that. It's grating, but accomplishes nothing.

[Double Deuce]

And heavy machine guns make the TURN REPLAYS last three frigging hours by shooting every round of ammo at tanks more than 1,200 yards away.Geez, how many purchase points you 2 playing with! :nuts:

[themattcurtis]

The expected radio broadcasts from Moscow are strangely absent....no commie spin on what's unfolding (you still posting Gus?) :whist:

Once we actually have some folks butting head I'll put up some screens. As it is, I can't take any snapshots of my side of the river without revealing half my deployments -- so images will likely center around the Tigers once the shooting starts in earnest.

Speaking of the Tigers :love: They've pushed their way onto enemy held soil, just shy of the first Victory Hex, and 120mm mortar rounds are starting to land about the panzers. The blasts send razor-sharp shards of shrapnel pinging off the armored hulls, but do little to distract the crews. Soviet flyboys have harrassed our forces crossing the bridge, so the bulk of my armored infantry support is still held up, but at least a couple of squads are onhand to screen the Panzers from any unpleasantries.

And that expected Soviet crossing to the south has yet to materialize :hmmm:

Meanwhile, a handful of 75mm HV guns on our side of the river will hopefully provide some cover for the assault force's flanks. I've seen some infantry squads chugging their way north -- and that one unit lost at least one grunt because they moved too far in the open.


BTW -- just so folks can picture what the thing looks like, the setting is November of 43, and a N-S river, maybe 10 hexes wide on average, bisects the map neatly in half. Gus made it, and it looks nice in that he's plunked in some sand bars and outcroppings to keep it looking natural. On either side, you have pretty congested terrain, with heavier buildings near the immediate ends of the bridge, and lighter structures as you progress outwards from the span. Both sides have back roads to allow lateral movement of their troops (so as to reinforce any defenders trying to crush an enemy landing). And the shorelines themselves have the odd patch of open ground (broken by brush and assorted greenery) for cover. Gus's side of the bridge ends in what looks kinda like a square/traffic circle, and the nebelwerfer barrage set a few of those first buildings on fire and beat the living hell out of the surrounding ground. An email that my arty "missed him" was just fine :)

'Cause he's tryin to fool me (doubt anyone in the area survived without at least a little boo boo) or else there was no one immediately next to the bridge. And if there was no one immediately shy of the bridge -- that's FANTASTIC :D

As bad as my tactics may prove to be, at least I'll have some time to establish a toehold.

[danstudentvcc]

Going into the 2/5th point of the game: Turn 4 - 8.
Actually, the arty did less than anything. There were no losses; the suppression did not cause even conscripts to bolt; and aside from killing alot of civilians trapped in their homes by the outbreak of hostilities .. no obvious impediment was encountered.

However, the once the troops see tanks the situation will change quickly. We may have to enact on plans to setup friendly mg's behind the counter-attack.
No mercy! No surrender!! No retreat is possible!!!

And now I know that it is for my little sasha that we are fighting. :D

etc .. etc .. [it's on all the Moscow channels].

So on we go to the counter-attack.

danstudentvcc

[themattcurtis]

We'll use lil' Sasha to lube the tracks of our glorious panzers :devil:

There are no non-combatants. Today's dead family of 8 are 8 less conscripts thrown at rifle point toward our MG42s. Forward!!!! :horse:

PS -- what points do I get for those families :coolban:

[danstudentvcc]

We'll use lil' Sasha to lube the tracks of our glorious panzers :devil:
There are no non-combatants. Today's dead family of 8 are 8 less conscripts thrown at rifle point toward our MG42s. Forward!!!! :horse:

PS -- what points do I get for those families :coolban:
That banana is cute. I can imagine it saying the map works fine Gus.

Sorry for the retreat flag problem Matt.

I our game for some reason that I can't recall the flags came out reversed.
I must've started working on the map thinking I would be Soviet right side but player one then changed my mind later when setting up and in my haste then forgot I had already edited the flag .. hence I am left-side map at start forces and right-side retreat and reinforcement... boy won't that be pretty when the units arrive somewhere unexpected only to face overwhelming fire! and a quick adieu right off the map..

I am so disgusted with myself for not checking this right after the setup file was completed; or for not having at least completed all the dummy trials and completing the checklist to make certain that the game was setting up with:
correct weather and visibility
air available for both sides
no retreat flag conflict with terrain
the correct buy points hence no reinforcement point foulups
and of course game turn length and date/type of battle.

All the little fiascos that force game restarts.

Gus [danstudentvcc]

[themattcurtis]

Mass Confusion reigns on the battlefield. :confused:

Panzergrenadiers and Russian riflemen simultaneously lose their ability to discern east from west. An awkward silence ensues, followed by a quick series of handshakes and promises to try again in the morning. Every one promises to keep the "do over" a secret from Berlin AND Moscow :hush:

Sadly, the Reds suffer one last battlefield casualty when Lt. Strube's Tiger accidentally reverses over a little girl sitting in the rubble. Call her "Squisha" :cry:

No problem on the map. We'll ask folks to stick around this thread as we try again. Should have the first post in a day or two.

Matt

[danstudentvcc]

FIne I don't mind secrets but that little girl squisha thing has got to be avenged.
You deviant.
You you uber mensch ...

Anyways. It appears I started to ahve too much fun and forgot that SP is also hard work. The game's batt-gen has Force Nation map sides hard coded to some critical historical dates. So while in the scenrio editing you can setup any force to be on any mapside in Batt-Gen games this is not true. Thus both Matt and I were retreating into one another!!

So we are restart with Soviets still Pl-1 but on the R-side of the map...the flags are now correct.

As well the battle date has been bumped up to Sept'44....look here daily for SturmTiger assault reports. They usually cause a long scroll list of infantry and tank kills to appear when they are in the game.

Thanks for your patience Matt.

I squisha you with my fingers; I now squisha the book shelves with my fingers .. oh oh the libraian is looking at me --- I better put my hand down and cut back on the squishing for now.

danstudentvcc

[themattcurtis]

Let's try this again......
(I've finished purchasing and deploying my units).

Lt. Peter Strube stands squarely in the open commander's hatch of his panzer, hands resting on the steel behemoth's armored turret. Spread out before him is a forested river valley dominated by a massive steel and concrete bridge that spans yet one more river -- an anonymous stretch of greyish water maybe 500 meters across at its widest point. North and south of the buildings lining the bridge are patches of wooded terrain which end maybe 50 meters from the shoreline, surrendering to thin strands of open ground.

Ivan's over there somewhere. Just two days before, the Mongol hordes swept out of the east to push Strube's beleagured company across the river to the western shore. Yet one more step in a string of humiliating retreats.

Well, no more. Word has come down from headquarters that Strube and his tanks are expected to lead a localized counteratack to try and reclaim that last ground. The HG Panzer Division will have its revenge. :mad:

THAT'S RIGHT, THE HERMANN GOERING PANZER DIVISION. Who needs those SS yo-yos when you can have that fat flyboy's crack paras and their tanks to shove down Stalin's throat? :smoke:

[danstudentvcc]

:TRUCE:

danstudentvcc