Goliath vs Obsidian

[Goliath]

Defecting to the other side, taking command of the Germans will be great fun, although it could have started better...

The Allies had done a good job in the center, breaking through to Petriano along the W road, and almost all the way to San Angelo along the eastern. It was my intention to give those spearheads some special treatment, but as will become apparent below, not much was accomplished.

Anyway, I started the turn with movements, with the plan to establish a forward defence along the lines given by General Staff. Almost all units were divided, combined-arms stacks formed in urban areas and hilly terrain where possible, etc. Interdiction was heavy, as expected.

For the first round of combat, I set up LA ML with unmoved units against 13,17 (Petriano); 15,16 (just S of San Angelo); The HQ at 10,20; and against 18,16. Unmoved artillery were used on direct attack; artillery that had moved were on TR for this round. Luftwaffe was intact :clown:, and made a sortie against the Allied naval vessels, sinking a destroyer. The other combats didn't do much, but inflicted losses for losses taken.

This was where disaster struck in the form of a failed force proficiency check :paperbag: (I am pretty sure I didn't use any moved units for attacks or direct bombardments, so I suppose it must have been bad luck with the check :mad:) As a consequence, some of my sparse artillery assets are in useless deployments, and a number of units, that were intended to attack, are not dug in. Bad news when Frances gets really brutal in turn 2...

Here is the situation before the first combat round, which proved to be the final position of turn 1. (Note that place names are shifted two hexes south, which sometimes is confusing)

[Foggy]

Defecting to the other side, taking command of the Germans will be great fun, although it could have started better...

The Allies had done a good job in the center, breaking through to Petriano along the W road, and almost all the way to San Angelo along the eastern. It was my intention to give those spearheads some special treatment, but as will become apparent below, not much was accomplished.

Anyway, I started the turn with movements, with the plan to establish a forward defence along the lines given by General Staff. Almost all units were divided, combined-arms stacks formed in urban areas and hilly terrain where possible, etc. Interdiction was heavy, as expected.

For the first round of combat, I set up LA ML with unmoved units against 13,17 (Petriano); 15,16 (just S of San Angelo); The HQ at 10,20; and against 18,16. Unmoved artillery were used on direct attack; artillery that had moved were on TR for this round. Luftwaffe was intact :clown:, and made a sortie against the Allied naval vessels, sinking a destroyer. The other combats didn't do much, but inflicted losses for losses taken.

This was where disaster struck in the form of a failed force proficiency check :paperbag: (I am pretty sure I didn't use any moved units for attacks or direct bombardments, so I suppose it must have been bad luck with the check :mad:) As a consequence, some of my sparse artillery assets are in useless deployments, and a number of units, that were intended to attack, are not dug in. Bad news when Frances gets really brutal in turn 2...

Here is the situation before the first combat round, which proved to be the final position of turn 1. (Note that place names are shifted two hexes south, which sometimes is confusing)

Okay - some of this training CRAP has gone too far:surprise: Make sure your units are entrenched and dug in before a early turn ending - please count on these as a newbie:halo: Take advantage of every piece of terrain possible;)
Defend behind every river hex possible - DO NOT fight for any bridge hexes -
you'll be pounded by the Allied artillery:surprise: Your goal is to exact every Allied loss possible in this scen - his artillery and air support is just too powerful for counterattacks:cry: Remember - your troops are better -
supported by even weak artillery - the body count will rise just as historical basis suggests:bite:
All infantry units should be on ignore losses in good defensive terrain - fight the impulse to counterattack - they're dead meat if not entrenched:eek:

[Goliath]

Given the early turn-end debacle last turn, I expected bad news during allied turn 2. Sure enough, since I never had the chance to do something about the forward-positioned Allied units in the hills, a large chunk of units (about three infantry regiments, and some artillery assets) were enveloped. On the other hand, Urbino was successfully defended, and the front near Fano basically held.

I got eight rounds of combat this turn, but in hindsight I'm not sure it was a good idea to initiate combat at all. Sure, I managed to connect the surrounded units, and Luftwaffe sunk a few ships. However, the air interdiction starting each combat round was murderous. Smaller units got evaporated, and many other units were knocked out of their entrenchments. Should I just sit tight under such conditions? It seemed that interdiction damaged my over-all position more than the gain of particular combats.

Another thought: would it be better to disband artillery pieces that most likely will be lost, in the hope of having them added to the replacement pool?

Loss penalties at end of turn were Allied 28, German 23.

Here is a screen-shot of the situation at end of turn:

[General Staff]

Another thought: would it be better to disband artillery pieces that most likely will be lost, in the hope of having them added to the replacement pool?No. Unless they're likely to be hit by a ground attack- say if you have an almost surrounded arty unit with a one-hex only exit to the rear and not enough MPs to go through it. And putting too much in the replacement pool can result in a unit attempting to reconstitute, in which case it takes what it needs to rebuild and puts itself on a schedule for return 2+ weeks out, which means it will never show at the time scale of this scenario.

It's a rare occasion I decide disbanding a unit is worth it. Sometimes a unit is of such poor quality that their equipment is better in the pool for use elsewhere than being dropped like a hot potato at first contact with the enemy. The occasional (near) surround situation.

On interdiction and looking back to my turns 1 and 2 (it gets much easier later in the scenario), one idea is to try to force the attacks you're going to make last longer by setting them up as Limited Attack but with Limited or Ignore Loss settings, which means they'll try to stay in there for 2 or 3 rounds at least. It may result in your units' destruction but interdiction only hits at the beginning of each combat round so you'll get hit by interdiction once for the 20-30% of your turn rather than taking a hit each 10%. Then again there's no guarantee your units will not disengage after one round.

[Goliath]

On interdiction and looking back to my turns 1 and 2 (it gets much easier later in the scenario), one idea is to try to force the attacks you're going to make last longer by setting them up as Limited Attack but with Limited or Ignore Loss settings, which means they'll try to stay in there for 2 or 3 rounds at least. It may result in your units' destruction but interdiction only hits at the beginning of each combat round so you'll get hit by interdiction once for the 20-30% of your turn rather than taking a hit each 10%. Then again there's no guarantee your units will not disengage after one round.

Thanks, in retrospect I realise that this might have been a better way to set up my attacks. Many rounds of ML-attacks only created more opportunities for interdiction...

[General Staff]

Thanks, in retrospect I realise that this might have been a better way to set up my attacks. Many rounds of ML-attacks only created more opportunities for interdiction...Yes. Me too. Worst air interdiction I think I ever saw.

[Goliath]

Luckily, Allied progress was not as extensive as I had feared. Air interdiction is still a killer (72%), and given the experiences from the previous turn, I decided that no attacks were critical enough to be worth the cost. This effectively means that I have given up the encircled units S of San Angelo, hoping that they will affect Allied movement a bit and tie up troops a while longer. I concentrated on disengaging units, creating some depth in my defences. Reinforcements still feel far away...

VPs (and loss penalties) Allied: 11 (-28), German: 89 (-24).

[Goliath]

Air interdiction has begun to diminish - "only" c. 50% this turn. The Allies have penetrated the Gotic Line near Montecalvo, so this turn I tried to do what I could to patch in that area. Allies took S:t Angelo and the bridge (unblown!) in a sweep. With the experience of what high air interdiction can do, I decided against attacks this turn. I do not regard the situation as hopeless - yet. Loss penalties are: Allies 34, Germans 30, so I am at least taking some toll. Also, reinforcements should be due next turn, so hopefully there are not too severe Allied break-throughs before that...

[General Staff]

Turns 2-4 Allied bombers are withdrawn. Around 40% of total strength. At turn 4 and given Allied progress I think your only chance is casualty count, so I'd hit infantry stacks with Direct Arty LA/ML attacks- 10,15 for example.

And rest the LW and then later go for the Allied Naval Squadron off the coast with the JU-87s and ME-109s on AS. But I'd only send in at close to 100% efficiency- supply and readiness.

Otherwise dig using engineers and try to keep them out of harm's way, site arty well for maximum coverage, defense in depth and use combined arms stacks.

[Goliath]

The Allies made good progress, and smashed my Gotic Line defences in several places. I did what I could to regroup units, but the situation looks grim. At last some reinforcements, though!

I noticed a problem in the scenario: the 'German 10th Army 76th Pnz Korps' formation contains too many units - I was unable to subdivide one of my newly arrived units :surprise:.

[Goliath]

26th Panzer Division arrived this turn to much applause. To be honest, not much remained that was in a state to applaud... Anyway, I managed to erect a front line of sorts, and also found a red stack that could be attacked with some success. At the moment, Allied VP are 47 and loss penalty 34, against German VP 53 and loss penalty 33. Still a draw, but four turns remain...