Complete AAR (1st battle) Using RobO's Campaign Rules

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Intro
This AAR is the first in a series of reports detailing battles fought by a Panzer IIIF platoon deployed in the southern USSR (starting June 1941). I'll be using RobO's Quick Campaign Rules to determine the nature of each battle, and how the unit's performance in those engagements impacts it on a month-to-month basis. The hero of my epic narrative is Lt. Von Cutsem, tank-ace-in-the-making.

Anyway - the first battle is being fought under "Advance" operational orders. An Axis probe (700 pt battle) fought on a 700X1040m map. Settings are town, moderate tree cover, modest hills, no damage and 50 Turns. Along with the Panzer IIIF platoon I'm going to field an Aufklarung company, four SPW 251/1s and an 81mm mortar FO.

The map shows me that my goal will be to seize at least two of the three Victory Flags represented on the board while taking as few casualties as possible. Panzer IIIFs and an infantry company supported by nothing heavier than 81mm mortar tubes aren't going to wrack up a staggering body count when thrown against an enemy deployed in light or heavy buildings. They just don't have the firepower. So to accrue Favor I need those flags which are positioned on or near the major W-E road bisecting the community. At least they make sense. My commander wants me to sniff around the traffic artery and secure it for follow-up units, if possible.

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Like the above shot? It's a rare Time/Life photo of Cutsem's tank -- accompanied by panzergrenadiers -- as it provides overwatch for units approaching suspected Russian positions. Dated Summer of '41.

OPENING ROUNDS
The approach to the town is dominated by two bowl-like depressions, one in the North, the other in the Nouth, divided by a ride which features a W-E road. The bulk of the buildings straddle a N-S ridgeline, with the rest on the reverse slope. There are some small wooded patches of terrain, but not many of any appreciable size.

The scenario begins with two platoons of infantry - covered by the company's 50mm mortars and HMG 34s -- advancing along the northern edge of the map. The third platoon is nestled within four halftracks, dropped on the central W-E road. Its job will be to secure the right flank of our probe, and provide immediate assistance to the Panzer platoon as Panzer IIIFs are REALLY out of their element in an urban environment. I don't envy the Hanomags' approach as they'll be tearing along an elevated ridge exposed to fire from multiple directions (at least until they get into town). Von Cutsem's platoon is lined up in reverse slope positions, securing our right flank and waiting to push into this quiet little burg once the armored recon platoon has secured a foothold and sniffed out any hidden AT assets.

First blood is drawn by our Panzers, which make sure the HTs won't be hit by long range fire on their way into town. Unt. Lonn edges out of hiding and spots a BT light tank positioned in open ground just South of the "downtown district." After trading a few shots with his Russian counterpart, he manages to plunk a 37mm round through its front hull at a range of 572m. Panicked crewman drop through the stricken vehicle's hatches only seconds later as the cowardly Bolshies run for cover. Another Russian tank is immediately spotted (Von Cutsem tentatively IDs it as a T-26). By now, the entire platoon has moved into hull-down positions overlooking the enemy's far right flank, and this second threat retreats out of sight after its front armor is penetrated by 37mm AP. Rumor has it one of the Russian crewmen is using the hole in the plating as a pencil holder.

My attached infantry begin leapfrogging towards the slopes leading to the map's northernmost VL after the sounds of this armor skirmish have faded into silence. I now endure several turns of …nothing as the grenadiers push to the East. Starting on turn 5 my HT borne platoon races down the central road and grabs a foothold in the first row of buildings bordering that lane. Von Cutsem's Panzer platoon maneuvers by element (2 tanks providing overwatch while the rest of the unit moves into new firing positions) and soon catches up. Some enemy infantry is spotted running North into town and draws MG fire without any obvious losses. No one sticks his head out to look for them. Rather we're showing caution, as we have plenty of time to work with.

Nothing major occurs until Turn 13, when Lonn radios he has spotted a Russian T-37 tankette sitting in a cluster of buildings maybe 300m to the East. Hungry to earn a second ring for his gun barrel, Lonn tags the tiny AFV - it resembles nothing more than a clockwork toy - with two AP rounds. But the inadequacy of the German "doorknocker" soon becomes apparent as the little vehicle keeps puttering along in reverse, desperately seeking to escape the Panzer's line of sight.

Within moments, Lonn is joined by Unt.Kaufmann (their job from the start was to assume overwatch positions as Von Cutsem and the remaining Panzer III get ready to scoot down the main street). Between the two of them, they will have inflicted a total of SEVEN front hull penetrations before the vehicle coasts to a halt, its engine and suspension shot to Hell. Kaufmann scores the kill.

The first shot shows Lonn's BT kill, the second that hapless T-37. You can see the smoke still lingering around Kaufmann's gun barrel (he's on the ridge). Lonn is just firing for the sake of adding insult to injury. Both shots are taken at the moment of impact.

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Poopy:(
I can only attach one jpeg at a time. Anyway, here's the BT

[Cap'n Fantastic]

At this point, all four German crews silently contemplate their odds of surviving any action involving a T-34.....

During this minor exchange, Lt. Englen's Aufklarung platoon suffers the first German casualties of the battle, as its point squad is targeted by a Russian infantry element hidden in a nearby house. The grenadiers were moving into a tiny patch of woods, but are soon cowering in fear after three of their number are toppled by a hail of small arms fire. Within seconds, the Russians are hugging their hardwood floor as German MG fire begins perforating the ramshackle structure.

Fire from two Panzers, three 251/1s and a HMG34 I've managed to bring forward suppress, and then route the Russian infantry in that building. Soon enough, Englen's platoon has secured a pair of structures within spitting distance of the northernmost flag.

The infantry guarding my right flank (3rd platoon) gradually move towards the center of town, and soon the whole company is pushing East, leapfrogging from building to building, and relying on machine gun fire from their accompanying Panzers to drive Russian infantry from their occupied structures. A rule of thumb I've adopted is to never advance more than 40m in open ground unless a pair of Panzers is immediately on hand to provide support. Soon, 3rd platoon has captured the flag positioned on the W-E road, gunning down a Conscript Rifle Squad which attempts to recapture of the nearby structures (see pic), and then a Company Command Element. The rest of the Bolshies just run.

During this time, Russian positions in the northernmost VL are suppressed by 81mm mortar fire and the MG34s of my Panzers (I don't expect the tubes to topple any buildings, but they will keep some heads down in those uniformly light buildings).

Lt. Englen and his platoon then turn their attention to this spot on the map, and have soon captured that flag, driving out the defenders and butchering another Russian Rifle Squad which sounds to have lead a "Human Wave" charge all on its lonesome.

There are a LOT of Russians in this town, but their quality was set at "Low" (this is June of 1941, after all) and a ton of elements are simply running the moment they draw fire. The only serious resistance comes in the form of a 82mm mortar barrage, which misses my reserve platoon but - to my horror - manages to knock out two of my three 50mm mortars. These poor schmoes had been sitting in dead ground and doing an excellent job (via a Lt. acting as spotter) of flushing out MG nests located in some scattered trees. Even in their reverse slope positions they are forced to abandon their weapons, and this causes me to REALLY cringe. It's going to put a hurting on my favor.

Other than that, the battle is pretty much over. Short bounds by my infantry, covered by Cutsem's Panzers, flushes squad after squad out of hiding, and these conscripted (or green) farmboys are in no mood to stand and weather punishment. By the time the battle is over, I have achieved a Major Victory while suffering slightly less than 10% casualties.

The pic, BTW, shows 3rd platoon advancing towards that flag by the main road. Kaufmann's Panzer can be seen providing covering fire. "Area Fire" into a light building eventually caused a Company HQ element to bolt, and my grenadiers happily shot them in the back.

[Cap'n Fantastic]

So What's It All Mean?

Stats
· German - 11 wounded, 3 KIA (14 total)
· X2 50mm mortars KO'd
· 129 men OK

-- VS --

· Russian - 73 wounded, 19 KIA (92 total)
· 2 vehicles destroyed (BT-5 Fast Tank and T-27 Tankette)
· 160 men OK

Result
· Major Victory (72% victory overall, 66% of flag points held by Germans)

Heroes of the Day
· 3rd Platoon, which suffered four casualties while gunning down 39 Russian troops.
· I guess my Panzers (who were actually kind of let down by the lack of Russian armor), with 2 AFV and 38 infantry kills.

Favor Calculations
We receive 16 pts for Territory gained (66% of flag points -50% = 16).
We receive 22 pts for Victory percentage (72%-50% = 22%)
No gains for enemy infantry kills
Gained 6 points (3 each) for enemy vehicle kills
Lost 2 points (1 each) for our lost mortars
Under Advance operational orders, our Victory points are multiplied by .4
So the final tally is as follows: 16 + (22X.4) + 6 - 2 = 28.8, rounded up to 29
Not bad at all.

Experience
Lonn's Panzer bagged an AFV and six infantry casualties. As a result, he receives +1 experience for infantry kills and another point for that BT Fast tank. +2 exp

Kaufmann shot down a T-37 and nine infantry , so he also receives +2 exp

The other two tankers each receive +1 for their infantry kills (12 and 11, respectively). Needless to say, while this skirmish didn't help, it isn't rushing anyone towards Veteran status either.


No replacements.

Next Battle
Rolled a "3" and a "1" for a total of "4" = next battle will also be set in June of 1941.

[Cap'n Fantastic]

So...what did everyone think? ;)

If you read this, PLEASE reply regarding whether you wanna keep reading about these guys. I had fun, and felt I did alright in meeting the realistic expectations of a Probe (low casualties, the bulk of the road in my hand and decent losses on the enemy). Due to the lack of heavy support at hand, I didn't go nuts chasing the Russians down. But I'm about to get an Exploit or Advance mission soon, waddya think? Want more?:)

[Palantir]

Very interesting.

I may have missed something but this is against the PO correct?

Maybe add a reduced overview map at the beginning so we can get an idea of what the lay out is as you talk about it.

I like the condensed reporting of just the critical action.


Waiting for the 2nd battle report.

Kerry :cheeky:

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Overhead shot is the one thing I forgot. No problem now that I have the whole screenshot thing figured out (not saying the quality is all that hot, just that I can do them at all).

The campaign is designed for solo play, if that's what yer asking.

I should have the results of the 2nd battle on Monday or so.

[RobO]

Very interesting, but then I'm obviously biased. I'm glad that my rules come to good use.
Originally posted by Cap'n Fantastic
Favor Calculations
We receive 16 pts for Territory gained (66% of flag points -50% = 16).
We receive 22 pts for Victory percentage (72%-50% = 22%)
No gains for enemy infantry kills
Gained 6 points (3 each) for enemy vehicle kills
Lost 2 points (1 each) for our lost mortars
Under Advance operational orders, our Victory points are multiplied by .4
So the final tally is as follows: 16 + (22X.4) + 6 - 2 = 28.8, rounded up to 29
Not bad at all.
I think it should be 40% losses + 40% kills + 20% victory for an Advance, that is -0.4*2 +0.4*6 +0.2*22 = 6 Favor.
I didn't include Territory (Flags) in the Advance. Perhaps I should. Yeah, there's probably room for improvement here. Perhaps 40% losses, 20% kills, 20% territory, 20% victory. How does that sound?
Experience
Lonn's Panzer bagged an AFV and six infantry casualties. As a result, he receives +1 experience for infantry kills and another point for that BT Fast tank. +2 exp

Kaufmann shot down a T-37 and nine infantry , so he also receives +2 exp

The other two tankers each receive +1 for their infantry kills (12 and 11, respectively). Needless to say, while this skirmish didn't help, it isn't rushing anyone towards Veteran status either.

And they all get +2 just for being there (and having an opportunity to wet their pants).

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Those favor calculations were my mistake, then. I assumed the boxs left blank were counted at 100%, and that the ones marked 40% or 20% or whatever were the only ones reduced. 6 Favor it is. I better do better than that, then, as it'll take me Years to get a better tank model.

I dunno, tho -- I'd think anything covered by "Advance" operational orders should include values for territory (the idea is to gain ground, right?) and total victory %. Just my two cents

[Cap'n Fantastic]

Yer revised %s sound a bit better:D

Good to see my guys got a little more experience, as well.

[RobO]

Actually, the percentage distributions for Attack, Advance, Delay and Hold probably needs a bit of rethinking, Giving 40% weight to losses makes it difficult to accumulate a high amount of favor.

For now, I think you can safely award yourself 12 Favor for this mission. :D
Your mission briefing was definitely worth a bit of extra Favor.

[Cap'n Fantastic]

C'mon now...a bunch of people have looked at this in the past day, and so far Kerry and Rob are the only ones to respond. I'm looking for feedback:argh:
Do you wanna hear more? Do you want it to go away? Are you indifferent? It took some time to put this together and so far only 2 people have taken the 30 seconds needed to voice their opinions.
Myself, I like talking about the CMBB game rather than whether the driver's seat of the SiG33 is accurately represented (or other such topics you can find elsewhere on the net).
Didn't mean to whine. And part II probably WILL be posted just 'cause I wanna do it.:D

[Dazooz]

Reading and enjoying Cap'n!
Keep it up.

I agree that an overhead view would have helped us put together the action, I'm sure there will be one on next battle!

I just downloaded the campaign rules and am planning on giving them a try myself this weekend as my in-laws are going to watch my daughter and I should have a bit of time!

Got to finish my Bulge '44 scenario though before starting a new one!

Good job though, looking forward to the rest!