View Full Version : Another AAR I'll never finish (probably)
This will be lengthy and dry, and extremely boring. If I were you, I'd not read it. But, as they say, there is no accounting for taste, lol.
In case anyone was wondering, Nana was saved and all the russians drank home brew and ate potatoes (those of them left alive, that is). However, I believe her house got demolished, much to everyone's lament.
To any of the opponents I bailed on last summer, Im sorry. It's rare that I actually finish anything. I've learned to live with it...
That said, this AAR will be about playing a campaign with Robo's ROQC Campaign ruleset, following a platoon of Pzr IVF tanks, or their replacements, from Barbarossa to Berlin.
Afraid I've saved no shots from the first battle, but I'll post the results.
BARBAROSSA
Meine Namen ist Yushal. Ich wahr eine Leutnant in das Heer von dem Wehrmacht ins das Jahre Ein und Vierzig...
My apologies, I ought to be speaking english now, of course. Better, at least, than russian <chuckles>.
In June of 1941, I was commander of a platoon of the very finest war machines the world had ever seen... Four Panzer Mark IV-F tanks fresh from the Ruhr were mine to direct as my men and I stood on the brink of the most incredible gamble one man ever attempted. Barbarossa!
We were fresh from training, and quite full of ourselves. Grun Soldaten, we were styled by the infantrymen from France and the Balkans. We didn't care, life was grand for us in those amazing days in Prussia. I remember the pretty girls from Memel and how Drago got drunk and broke his small finger on the skull of some Feld-Marshall's aide. We were lucky to get away before the authorities turned up. You certainly wouldn't wish their interests on anyone you knew...
At any rate, orders came in early June. Our first mission was to escort some armored cars and light tanks through enemy lines to join forward elements in exploiting the initial German success. Russian infantry were infesting these heavy woods through which the road passed, but we found a way around the most dangerous point for our tanks. The Pioneers were slack however, failing to completely clear all the mines upon the road, as were the infantry I had ordered to pacify the southern side of the roadway. They failed to knock out a russian pillbox until late in the battle and it destroyed some of the following elements. Two others were immobilized by mines, as was one of our own tanks, tho we later recovered and repaired it easilly.
I did gain alot of favor with my superiors for this action, but no real benefit for myself or my men. We were soon after thrown into serious battle for which we were not quite prepared, in our minds at least...
Late June 1941
I wasn't surprised to recieve the dispatch that read I was to mount an attack upon a strong force of russian infantry in a small town up the line. We would attack at dawn and secure the village and its environs without loss...
Well, those were my orders, at least. What actually occurred bore little resemblance other than the part about attacking at dawn. We certainly did attack at dawn, and attacked hard, always pushing, pushing, pushing, until the men could push no more. But losses were high to my mind. It was, if I may speak a word in my own defense, 45 minutes of Hell. It was my first real command and I was not prepared for the realities of warfare. Perhaps I never was... but you will make that decision for yourself when we are through here, I'm sure.
It was, as I say, dawn. The village lay nestled between large hills, with very light tree cover making any approach I chose very dangerous. As it turned out, it seems the direct approach straight into the village along the road might have been much better, but i chose a flanking approach on the enemy's left, for it was hidden from the best gun emplacement positions and offered some cover for infantry.
I knew from my briefing that te russians were thought to be about a quarter stronger in manpower and equipment than usual for this sector, and that I would be slightly less well supplied in the men I was given to accomplish my mission.
I believe I still have a map here somewhere showing my approach...
Screenshot - B2_Setup
At my command I had one company of riflemen, a platoon each of Pioneers and Armored Panzer Grenadiers, 2 tank hunter teams, 2 HMGs, one LMG. There were also 2 mobile 81mm mortar teams, and two 81mm mortar FOs, and finally a platoon of PSW 222 armored cars.
We lay smoke heavilly to mask our approach and crept up to the depression in the east without loss. But then we did encounter serious resistance when we began our turn to the north. The infantry 50mm mortars were a godsend, those that could gain LOS on the enemy, but I believe the 81mm teams were nearly useless the entire battle.
Screenshot - B2_HillATaken
If I were to claim heroes in the engagement, it would be the riflemen, who bore the brunt of the fighting all the way, even breaking and regrouping time and again until they could not continue. Or perhaps the Pioneers, who massed to charge into the enemies teeth on the right as we neared the village, having minutes before been sent scattering in disarray from russian artillery.
Screenshot - B2_HillB
At any rate, a ceasefire occurred and not a moment too soon. Perhaps we could have overrun the village in another ten minutes, and perhaps we could have been destroyed to last man. Who could say? I do know that the battlefield was bloody enough as it was...
Screenshot - B2_End
Result and next battle /OOC
Exp gain for core force: Yushal 1, Dragotin 2, Krieghund 4, Sieg 2.
Favor -2, adjusted for difficulty +30%
Favor total +42.
No promotions or citations, no losses of men or equipment.
OOC - SETUP
Well, I'm not sure the best way to present stuff, how to show ROQC and balance the story element, so Im going to start and end with an OOC section for the setup and results of the campaign ruleset.
I have rolled up the next battle, but not played it yet. We've moved on to July 41. We have another Axis Attack to carry out, again versus infantry, but this time with a combined arms force instead of mechanized (tho of course I used my core force of tanks last battle anyway). It will be 1000 points.
Medium map, 800w x 1120h, Large town, light trees, small hills, 37v turns, dusk, with max rarity of 80% for force purchase. Russian forces will be weakened, but with full ammo loads, and there will be +10% of them. I have still used none of my 42 accrued favor. My force is still of green quality.
With a little better planning and a little luck, I should do much better this time. At least I hope so, tho approaching the city has me worried...
Why can't I find you on the ladder?....I see you have done other stuff along time ago?:smoke:
Hi there, 205. I dont think I have ever registered on your ladder. Its not really my line; I've tried it before on another site. Thanks for the reply (any reply is better than none :smoke: ). Hope you enjoyed reading the above!
After the engagement at the village, my unit spent a week or so without seeing anything other than sporadic action. I spent this time examining my failures and re-analyzing my training. I vowed that the next time I fought, I would see my men through to victory.
Luckily, my failures in June were overlooked by my superiors and I recieved orders to lead yet another attack further up into Lithuania in early July. In addition to my tank platoon, I would recieve command of the following:
1x company Rifle 41 (3 pltn of 4 squads, 10 men per squad with 50mm mortar support)
1x pltn Pioneers (with flamethrower support)
2x pltn Recon 41 (3 squad of 8 men)
1x 81mm mortar FO
2x 81mm mortar teams
5x MG34 HMG
My initial thoughts were to attack along the southwestern side of the town, but I did reconsider and decided the best approach to be directly from the west, just north of the road where there lay a natural depression. This turned out very well and we encountered no resistance until lead elements entered the town itself.
I will draw you a diagram of my force disposition as we began to push into the city. The rifle company, as you see, led the way. I decided early on to concentrate my efforts upon the town proper, and not attempt to take the building and woods to the south as my superiors also wished until the town was consolidated in German hands in its entirety.
see screenshot B3_Advance1
Following the rifle platoons came my recon platoons and tanks, and behind them the Pioneers, who I split into two groups further into the battle, and attaching the flamethrower teams to the lead squads. All 50mm mortars were sent with the company commander towards the north in case of guns, which were indeed found where I expected. The 81mm teams I must admit were useless to me and I ought to have sent them along with the 50s...
see ss B3_Advance2
see ss PrepforAssault
The mortars, flamethrowers and such which followed the lead elements began running into trouble with fire from the southern buildings and trenches. So I sent the 81mm FO forward to plot a bombardment on those positions as soon as he could do so. This proved wise and caused the soviets to flee that sector and I suspect knocked out one gun emplacement there.
see B3_Shelling
One small action of note, for which Unterofficier Beck recieved a citation, involved his squad capturing an ampulomet team that had fired its weapon and landed a direct hit upon Beck's position. Aflame, Beck rushed forward onto the Soviets, killing two and capturing a third.
see B3_UntBeck
Here I have another diagram of how the disposition of troops developed over the course of the battle. We knew by this time, from the lack of uniforms and equipment, that we faced conscripted troops. Losses were extremely light. How much that fact had to do with my leadership and how much to do with the tendency of the soviets to break and run, I shouldn't care to speculate on. The russians did attempt to mount counterattacks from both the norht and the south, but were held off primarily by the mg teams.
see B3_Developments
At the end of the action, parts of the town lay in ashes and rubble, with russian bodies sprawled about. The sewers filled with russian blood... We saw many who got away from us tho, fleeing eastwards. I am sure we faced many again later in the war, but we rejoiced that day to see them run. Better if we had killed them to the man. Better at least for Germany.
see B3_FinalAssault
All in all, my performance turned out to be more than satisfactory. Mine and my troops, that is. We decimated the forces facing us, almost to the man and suffered very few casualties of our own. Unterofficier Krieghund was knocked out when schrapnel from mg fire struck his helmet, but he recovered by battle's end. The panzers came through it all fine, chalking up a sum total of about 60 soviets killed and one bunker knocked out. I expect I was recognised for this action in the upper ranks, tho who knows for certain.
see B3_Result
max six attachments per post I guess
As you see above, I scored a total victory overall in that last battle. Even tho the commander from unit Kreighund was a casualty, die rolls allowed his recovery and return to service, much as die rolls allowed the recovery of my incapacitated tank in the first battle. Therefore, my core force of panzers remains complete.
I gained 61 favor for this battle, earning me a promotion value, so I am at +1 Promotion Value (I will be promoted at +3, if I ever get there). My four panzer units stand now at exp 18/15/16/15 respectively. I have a total of 103 favor to use now if I so wish.
The next battle also happens in July of 41. I have rolled up the variables for it already. It will be an Allied Assault (Soviet Counterattack) for 1000 points. I will have an Infantry force versus the soviet Combined Arms force and they will again have +25% force value available. I spent 25 favor to increase my own points by 10%, meaning the ratio will be about my 1100 versus about 2200 for the soviets, I think. Yikes... In addition, it will be a night battle! I considered spending favor to make it occur at dawn, but it should be fun and I have no wish to get continually bombarded from afar by 500 points of soviet artillery... I also spent 20 favor to increase my own ammo supply from 60% to 80%, and 10 favor to change the max rarity of units I can purchase from 50% to 80%. So I start this battle now with a total of 48 favor remaining.
The map will be Medium sized, 960x880. Village, moderate trees, gentle hills and light damage. 43 turns, variable. I'd show a screenshot of it, but I haven't generated it yet :)
Wish me luck! I suppose I will buy some flamethrowers, they ought to do well in a village at night. Too bad they run out of ammo so quickly. Maybe a flammpanzer is a better bet. But Im likely already over my allowance for armor when I count my core force. We'll have to see if flame-halftracks were available in July 41 in the northern region.
Later!
It still seems strange to me that my orders were to hold near the wheat fields and the lake, and not in the village proper. Perhaps the high command felt the Soviets might merely probe into the village and withdraw. They did not and not one of my men expected them to. At any rate, from our position we could not even see the village. It was so dark, one could see nothing further than 60 meters, and lucky to spy a tree at that distance, let alone a man.
I deployed my 75mm guns forward, with HMG and rifle support, sighted in on probable transit paths any soviet armor might choose. In fact, all but one squad and the 50mm mortars and 150mm gun were forward. I had three good trenches dug behind our lines and multiple foxholes behind the men for them to fall back into if necessary.
see B401_Disposition
The Soviets, true to their doctrine, opened up with a heavy artillery barrage near the wheatfield to my southwest, lasting over 4 minutes. Thankfully none of the men were deployed there, tho one errant shell struck near a squad of rifle. No one was injured. We set ourselves to wait, glad of the warning.
Starting at 8 minutes past midnight, multiple sound contacts began to be reported in the vicinity of the village, directly in front of our positions. The men felt they could be light AFVs, or possibly just trucks. Then, at 11 minutes into the new day, we made contact with russian infantry on our left! Panzer platoon advanced slowly a short ways to lend support and encountered a soviet T-26! My first shot penetrated his upper side hull nicely as shots began ringing out down the line.
A second T-26 was soon knocked out by Prevo's 75mm on the right as we began to hear heavier engines come growling our way. Panzers advance another 30 meters! Sieg takes two direct hits from a BT Fast Tank which break up and shatter off our Krupp steel before it too is hit; the soviet explodes into flame.
see B415_75mmKill
At the same time, a B-26 equipped with flamethrower burns Prevo out of his position, effectively ending our anti-armor capacity on the right, and continues to flame the woods where our men hold off the russian advance. The squad under direct fire retires to a fallback position. A second squad panics and breaks under the onslaught soon after and orders are issued to the reserves to reinforce the right.
At this point, hearing the whine of soviet engines to the east of me, I tell Sieg to hold position while the rest of the platoon hunt southwards to deal with the advancing soviet threat in the center. That may have been the wisest order I ever gave...
see B417_SiegKill
After a short advance and crushing of much soviet dead and dying and the destruction of another light armor unit, I order Krieghund to hold and Dragotin and I advance further to the south. We encounter a soviet T-34 and miss twice each at short range! What appears to be a second T-34 is suddenly on our left flank, but this turns out to be a relatively harmless T-26 flame-tank. We concentrate our guns on the T-34, which has me sighted while the T-26 draws onto Dragotin's panzer. If he connects, his small AP round can easily penetrate our side armor at this range!
see B419_ArmorinTrouble
Our next shots destroy the T-34 and then the T-26, but Krieghund is in turn blown up by what later turned out to be a Soviet OT-134 Flame Tank, with a well placed jet of burning naphtha, as he leaves his post to rush to our aid! Let that be a lesson to any who believe they can disregard orders in battle.
At half-one we begin the counterattack! Now, what I am about to tell you I have never told another soul. I didn't piece it together until days later, but I kept it to myself. I fired canister shot into those woods at some russian infantry rushing by me. That one shot of grape killed three men from Unt. Kunze' squad as they advanced upon the wood. Of course it was the best thing, not to speak of it, but still, I always felt bad for those young men...
see B425_FriendlyFire
The battle ended soon after that; they could have been spared. The russians surrendered. Fools - they could have slipped away easily in that darkness... We discovered at dawn that there were no T-34s, only BT-7s, OT-133 flametanks and some tankettes.
see B43x_Result
End
This Normal difficulty level may be too easy for me. If the next battle goes as well for me as the last two, then I am going to ratchet it up a notch. But of course this last night assault was completely unfair to the AI, lol. I thought it would make me as blind as him, but all it did was make him twice as blind...
So, I have lost one tank unit. Not understanding the rules properly, I did not roll for reinforcements (the tables say it isnt necessary if the unit is completely destroyed, but I am now told differently by a person) and thought I had to buy a new unit with favor, so for the next battle at least the core will be operating with three tanks.
Commander Yushal has passed 20 experience and so becomes a "regular" quality unit in game terms. He also rolled for a command bonus and recieved stealth which vehicles cannot have, so no bonus for him now. However, he did qualify for the Iron Cross, having caused 51 infantry casualties and destroying one mortar and 3 soviet light tanks!
I also made another promotion value, putting me at +2 out of three :)
My favor for battle four worked out as +102 <boggle>, so I have 150 total at the start/end of battle five, having used none on pre-battle stuff.
Battle five will be another exploit action. The type is Axis Probe with +10% enemy forces at 40 turns. My combined arms force will pacify the russian infantry at dawn, with a battle force size of 1250 on a small map. The terrain will be farmland, light trees, large hills, light damage. Max 20% purchase rarity, all troops fit and all at 60% ammo loads.
I bought the following:
2x 105mm artillery FO - green
1x ZB30 LMG - green
2x Panzer Rifle Company (2x MG34 HMG per) - regular
1x pltn PSW 222 armored cars (4 vehicles) - veteran
1x StuG IIIB - veteran
This cost me 1368 points. My total was 1250 times 1.4 (for probe attacker) minus 382 (my total core size). Turns out I should have subtracted merely 273, which would be the point cost of the three tanks being committed to battle. Cest la Vie... We'll call it a small added handicap.
The battle is prepared now and ready to fight. Below is the map and disposition of my troops. I have a metric ton of infantry (compared to how I usually play) so I plan to put the pressure on quickly and keep it up. What scares me is the artillery he may have, but at least we are at a low ammo level. I am considering a preparatory bombardment with my 72 rounds of 105mm.
Even if you don't finish the whole thing it is an enjoyable read, and is fun to follow. BTW, what settings do you have the AI on? I'm just curious, because those are some good kill/death ratios you have going in your battles.
Hi Kawaiku! Thanks :)
Settings vary with every battle, or can, altho I have computer exp bonus always set to off (so far). However, the AI troop quality is also set to random, so unless the game weights this element in the battle generation, I could be facing anything from conscripts to crack troops at any time. Ive just been lucky getting alot of lower quality troops I think so far.
Other settings are determined by die rolls according to the campaign rules (ammo lvl, fitness...).
Well, I have done the next two battles and Im afraid nothing really noteworthy happened or I was just to involved in the battle to write them up as I went along, so I am going to just make a summary of them.
The battle number 5, which I discussed earlier, was an utter failure! Poor Yushal... I had an auto-cease fire, likely due to ammo levels, when I was about 60 meters from the objectives. However, no way I could have taken them, let alone got the exploit elements thru to the exit zone. My troops got cut to ribbons!
Also had a very hard time with the guns. The AI had plenty of them, with 4 set up with great vantage points behind stone walls, right together. My artillery I basically wasted in prep bombardments on empty bushes, lol, and it took forever to get the 50mm mortars in range.
We lost Yushals tank and three men from that unit, as well as one man from Sieg's unit. The only good bit is we did recieve full reinforcements after the battle (easy enough to get when you get a two-month hiatus til the next battle, and I spent 30 favor on returning casualties).
I earned -64 favor for this battle, causing me to devolve into +1 promotion value :(
Below you will find the setup and cease-fire screens.
Battle 6 was another Axis Assault. 700 points, only 28v turns.
Map was Large (800/800), village, moderate trees, modest hills, heavy damage.
My Mech force versus Soviet Infantry force, which turned out to be green quality. Soviets had 125% points to spend. I had 80% ammo and weakened troops, while the russians were full and fit.
I had one tank bog down early but it was able to support the initial assault up the hill. The attack went very well, but slowly and I had an auto-ceasefire due to time just before I was able to overrun the final soviet flag.
I gained 35 favor for this battle.
Here is the end screen, The next battle is set for November. Winter is upon us!
Success. Failure. Success. Failure. Success... Failure! The tides of war. This is the story of my career as it is the story of every empire and every conqueror in history. Oh there are some few in the annals of history that purport to have suffered no defeats, but this must be ********. Every man is still no more than a man, no matter the honors and valors they accrue.
Orders came to us in October to fortify a small farm against another night attack. But where were my men? Men cannot be spared, they said! Very well... I was given some few anti-tank rifles and tank hunter teams equipped with the panzerwurffenminen, and a single platoon of riflemen. Again the night was pitch black. But this would prove no walk in the park like before.
Sometime around 3 am scouts reported approaching engine noise and I quickly deployed the men in two groups, one either side of the farm area. As the soviet armor began to appear in the shroud of darkness, the tanks were ordered to converge upon the centre mass. We ought to have coordinated this better to arrive at the same time, but I had hoped to save the infantry from their fate.
Before we could approach enough to sight the russians, the soviet tanks spotted the infantry in a small strip of woods and began pouring on mg fire. Obergefreiter Beck demonstrated for them the proper use of the Panzerwurffenminen, scoring two direct hits upon the russian tanks, one of which exploded in a great ball of roiling smoke and flame. We crept ahead, fearful of surprises. I doubt he could have been saved at any rate.
see B7_PzrMines
Less than half a minute later I am told, cannister shot wiped him out, as well as decimating one squad of infantry in the same blast. A pity, and his terrible fate. At least he was spared the hardships to come in the next few years. For his actions I put him in for the Iron Cross, posthumously. But I do not know to this day whether it may have been awarded or not.
see B7_Cannister
When myself and my partner PzIV reached the fighting, we faced no loss than three enemy armored units initially, with more approaching. Quickly, we each took out two BT-7s. It was just bad luck that we targetted those four first. Next we engaged in a point blank duel with what we identified in the morning as soviet T-34s and T-40s. A duel which we lost.
see B713_Tanks1
see B713_Tank2
One more PzIV was lost this battle, but all russian armor was destroyed, either by Obergefreiter Pighunter, by Panzerwurffenmine, or grenade bundle. All except for one, which fled the battle. Once the tank battle had been decided, the russian infantry had to be hunted down and destroyed. There weren't enough men to redeploy in a defensive picket, so I ordered them to hunt down the russians to the man or make certain they fled the sector while we had the initiative.
see Pz_GBundle
see B720_HidingSpot
In the morning, we buried our dead and tookcare of the wounded. Three tanks lost, many infantry, and most importantly, my driver and Obg. Sieg's driver and gunner. Truely, it was a wonder that Sieg and his crew were able to escape the burning panzer. It just wasn't their time I suppose.
Surprisingly, my superiors were happy with the result, and I was able to obtain a new driver with decent training and one new tank. Dragotin's tank was salvaged and repaired in the week following. So my unit is once again at 75% status. Sieg would just have to sit out the next battle; I do not think he minded this penalty. They tell me to rest and expect action again in December...
Settings vary with every battle, or can, altho I have computer exp bonus always set to off (so far). However, the AI troop quality is also set to random, so unless the game weights this element in the battle generation, I could be facing anything from conscripts to crack troops at any time. Ive just been lucky getting alot of lower quality troops I think so far.
Yea when thinking about it, it adds to the realism. I'm gonna check it out when I get a chance(not play it tho lol, way too much for little 'ole me:halo: )
Realism wasn't the primary objective of this campaign, though I did do my best to achieve as much of it as possible. Fun was the primary goal for me - and the ability to play a campaign reminiscent of the first Steel Panther game.
Let me quote the rules:
"The aim is to provide enjoyment and perhaps teach a bit of history along the way. It is not to provide meticulous historical accuracy"
In that, I think I succeeded quite well :D
The war end? All of a sudden it's all quiet on the Eastern Front :-(. I hope the man didn't end your operation too soon(although I'm looking at the Spires of Moscow as I type this ;)), that would be a drag. Anyways I brought the Mariachi Band to entertain your troops until you come back:cool:
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n73/kawaiku/Random%20Images/TheThreeAmigos.jpg
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