2nd turn

[JFrederiksen]

Well, my second turn started out ok, as I really managed to cover some ground, which I did at the cost of engaging the enemy.
I made a stupid mistake and attacked with a unit that had used half of its movement allowance, and thus ended up with only two combat rounds...
Good things:
- Managed to enter the suburbs of Caen from both the W and the E, while keeping the enemy pinned from the N. Caen will soon become "Festung Caen", an encircled mass of troops being bombarded several centuries back in time by me (I hope).
- Managed to get almost an entire division N of Quineville, where it will hopefully be relatively easy going towards Cherbourg along the coast, supported by my naval guns.
- Held all bridges over the Taute River, and reinforced my position there as well. I am now nearing Carentan from the E as well.
- Pushed a British armoured brigade as far S as Noyers Bocage, meaning the German player now faces a choice to either let this brigade run loose in the rear of his lines, in which case I will go for a massive encirclement of all his forces in the Caen - Bourgebus area, or to weaken his Caen defense and stop my armoured brigade with these units, in Which case I hope to make the smaller encirclement of Caen itself in a turn or two.

Bad things:
- I did not sufficiently widen the Omaha bridgehead, which means the German player can slow me down there with relative ease.
- I did not decisively beat his forces in the Bayeux area, which means he can conduct an orderly retreat and set up a new line of defense in more favorable terrain.
- All of the British air units and half the American ones are reorganizing, meaning I have only ONE air unit on interdicition, leaving the Germans free to use road movement all over Normandy.
- I forgot to properly disperse my naval units near SWORD BEACH, leaving them vulnerable to fire from coastal batteries, of which two are in range.

All in all a good turn which should have been an excellent one had it not been for my own stupidity. That is two times in a row now that I haven´t been thorough enough. Let us hope there will not be a third.

[Heinz57]

Dang, for just Turn 2, you are doing awesome. I don't think you have anything to worry about - you are in a good position everywhere.

[Joss]

OK, turn 2... I've captured Bayeux, Crossed Pegasus Bridge in force, advanced nicely through the bocage in front of Omaha.

Turned over the northern advance to the 90th Infantry while I moved the fourth infantry across the Douve River in force west of Carentan... someone left the barn door open :) I can now advance on Carentan from the west or drive on La haye and cut the Cotentin in half. I'll need to think about that one....


The Brits advance nicely across the center of the map with their armor concentrated.

Take a look and let me know if I'm missing something.

Thanks.

Joss

[Heinz57]

Joe,

You're doing quite good. A few pointers -

1. As you near the end of each turn, you want to shift units into defensive mode - use the shield and sword method in strongly contested areas. One unit digs in (shield), one unit remains available to attack (sword). That gives you the best combination. Hex 35, 30 will invite an Axis respose - slightly overstacked - several battalions, none dug in.

2. Overstacking...while not always possible or necessary to avoid in every instance...in any area that is on the front line and the opponent has the potential to counterattack - you never want to overstack. Overstacked units take increased casualties both when attacking and being attacked. Light green-yellow is not so bad, but anything with an orange or red circle is considered a primary target of opportunity. If nothing else, simple artillery fire into that hex will frequently generate as many casualties as a regular attack - and have a better chance at digging units out of entrenchments. The penalties for overstacking beyond just increased casualties is a greater potential for units to retreat...because of the casualties. On this consideration, you could possibly lose Pegasus Bridge...though you do have armor there which will help...

As a rule, it is better to have two units not overstacked defending a hex than to have three or more that are overstacked.

Behind the front lines...overstacking doesn't much matter, in this scenario - but others where you do face an enemy air force, interdiction hits will hurt a bit more. So, it's always best to avoid it.

3. You are doing good on Omaha. It is probably the toughest beach overall for advancing. But, you also receive plenty of reinforcements there, too.

4. Take care (i.e. attention to detail) if you can dig in a unit, the best setting is "Ignore Losses". (39, 28).

Your keeping your units organized by color - which is good. Your main difficulty will be Pegasus Bridge. Elsewhere you are proceeding on or ahead of schedule.

Good Job!

Mark

[Joss]

Mark,

Thanks for the pointers! I must admit I don' think I've paid a whole lot of attention to the consequences of overstacking (I think I just believed "more is better" :) ) I will look more closely at that.

Also the subtelites in digging in. I try to dig in at the end of the turn but got caught short on this one as the turn ended before I thought it might. But the idea of dig one unit in and leave one unit available to fight... I had not considered that thinking it would be best to place them all on the defensive.

Thanks for the tips!


Joe

[mangus2000]

Heres turn Two, only got one combat turn this time compared to three the last. No troops dug in properly. Expecting bad news from turn three.

[viridomaros]

Heres turn Two, only got one combat turn this time compared to three the last. No troops dug in properly. Expecting bad news from turn three.

this sounds pretty strange i thought the minimum you could get was three how come it didn't work. James we need you here i think :smoke:

[Heinz57]

Early turn endings are still possible as a result of failed proficiency checks. Also, if you dig in an artillery unit and then use it for direct support of an attack - that will kill a turn. The same applies to attacking with units having used a greater % of their movement points than the others - that can kill a turn -- i.e. you are attacking mostly with units that have 80-100% of their movement remaining; but somewhere you select a unit having only 20-30% of their movement.

What I'm not certain about is if the penalty (turn-burn) is retained under the Max Rounds Per Battle rules.

Before pressing the resolve attacks button, it would be worthwhile to check your units again real quick or the combat planner dialogue to see if more boxes are showing up than you want.

[Heinz57]

Just a quick note that I'll be on more frequently starting tomorrow. My landlord sold my apartment and gave me about 24 hours notice...already moved and settled, but a bad few days.

Everyone with a game running should go ahead and start a thread for their game for easier reference and tracking.

[larryfulkerson]

...James we need you here i think....


James said something yesterday about his laptop crashing and needing to get it into the shop for repairs and that he would probably be down for about a week or so.

[viridomaros]

James said something yesterday about his laptop crashing and needing to get it into the shop for repairs and that he would probably be down for about a week or so.

now we know who to blame if our team loses :D

[viridomaros]

Early turn endings are still possible as a result of failed proficiency checks

that might be the explanation :angry:

Also, if you dig in an artillery unit and then use it for direct support of an attack - that will kill a turn. The same applies to attacking with units having used a greater % of their movement points than the others - that can kill a turn -- i.e. you are attacking mostly with units that have 80-100% of their movement remaining; but somewhere you select a unit having only 20-30% of their movement.

Then how do you explain that when i have played the scenario against the po as the allied and the german were able to fire with their coastal batteries 3 times per turn (they have 0 movement points though).

[Heinz57]

I believe a subroutine was created for the coastal defense units with TOAW III that enable them to fire without causing turn endings. As they have no movement to burn, 70% of 0 is still 0, so they aren't affected the same way as an artillery unit that starts with 20 movement points and digs in (to 0) in which case they have 0/20.

So...you should be very careful about leaving your ships within artillery range.

[Heinz57]

I just ran a test on this and confirmed it. Was able to get many rounds in with the coastal artillery, using it alone. Moved an artillery unit, dug it in, then used to in direct fire and immediate turn ending.

[viridomaros]

ok thanks for the explanation

[Redstorm]

Ok turn two results...I'll await your opinions