AAR - Bertoldo The Brave - HF2

[Major Issues]

Played Bertoldo The Brave against JR. You may be familiar with him thru his Caesar avatar:



This is one of the Hatten scenarios. I had the Americans. I decided not to set up the M18s on board, but to hold them back until I had an opportunity to swoop in and take out a Panther or SPW 251/21.

I had several units set up front. I was worried about what JR's Prep Fire could do to 6 morale guys, but didn't want to concede the whole east side of the board without slowing him down. JR chose not to Prep, assuming that most of my front units were dummies. They weren't, but I didn't make him pay. In exchange for a broken HS, he broke or CC'ed all of my front units. Those broken were swarmed and eliminated for failure to rout. Ouch.

A Panther parked in C12, which gave me a HD side shot from my HIP 57L in A13. I waited until my PF, and took out the Panther, and an empty HT behind it. On the other side, a wimpy shot against a SPW 251/21 resulted in its Recall when he rolled a 12.

I had one bazooka on my left with Bertoldo The Brave. This is what I pictured Bertoldo as looking like:



He took a shot at a passing HT, taking the backblast, and missed while wounding himself.

Some Germans in the center broke, but I lost my 60 MTR to malfunction. I had an opportunity to advance a concealed HS with a bazooka to get a side shot at his remaining Panther, or a front shot against the remaining SPW 251/21. JR tried to tempt me by running infantry up adjacent. I held my fire, waiting for him to start one of my juicy targets. Instead, in the Patented JR Sleazy Move Of The Game, he started moving a SPW 251/1 with a broken MG to VBF me. Knowing what he was going to try to do, Bertoldo fired, again taking the backblast, and killed himself while missing the HT. My bazooka HS fired, taking the backblast, missed, and CRed himself.

Here is what Bertoldo really looked like:



JR advanced a lot of guys out into the street. I had a good PF against them, and brought in my M18s to take on a SPW 251/21 and shore up my left flank. The M18 on my left broke a squad, but was then stunned by an 8+2 shot. On my right, the SPW 251/21 made a successful Motion attempt, and still managed to stun the M18 with my armor leader. I lose the one stunned M18 in CC.



I threw in the towel. I had two Guns, one M18 and three squads left. Although I had broken a lot of his infantry, his could come back. He had 4 leaders left out of his original 5. Most of my broken guys had died from JR's good use of movement to nail them for failure to rout. (No Quarter is in effect.)

I could have had better Rubble placement. I thought that rubbling a building also eliminated the adjacent wall. I probably had too many guys up front, and paid for it.

Fun game. JR sent a message about his stunning victory off to Berlin.

 

[jrv]

I had several units set up front. I was worried about what JR's Prep Fire could do to 6 morale guys, but didn't want to concede the whole east side of the board without slowing him down. JR chose not to Prep, assuming that most of my front units were dummies. They weren't, but I didn't make him pay. In exchange for a broken HS, he broke or CC'ed all of my front units. Those broken were swarmed and eliminated for failure to rout. Ouch.

Although it might have seemed like I assumed they were dummies, I did not. I always make sure. My halfsquads all get themselves extra life-insurance for a reason. Vince had four-and-a-half squads (out of eleven) up on the front-ish line. Their mutual support was weak, and they had no support from behind, making them vulnerable to elimination. With a little help from some VBM freeze sleaze (big shout out to the armor guys; you rock!) In the outpost line I ended up losing 1 squad to Vince's 4.5, a very acceptable ratio given that I started with a 16:11 ratio of squads. As a bonus I was moving rather than Prep Firing, even if less than if the line had been undefended.

JR

 

[jrv]

The Germans have to control between eight and ten building hexes to win this scenario. The variation comes from the results of the armor battle. If the Germans have a Panther (out of two) at game end, the number of hexes needed is reduced by one, and if the Americans have a M-18 at game end (out of three), the number of hexes is increased by one. The hexes are deep within the town, with the furthest being seventeen hexes from the German start position. With seven turns, the Germans need to move roughly two-and-one-half hexes per turn, which is a fair clip for a battle with a lot of buildings.

The Germans have a well balanced force which outnumbers the Americans in most ways. They start with sixteen squads, five leaders, and seven AFVs to the Americans eleven-and-one-half, three, and three respectively. The Americans have a hero as well, a 57L ATG and an 81* MTR.

The German mixed force of armor and infantry can easily overwhelm any portion of the American infantry that isn't covered by anti-tank assets. The Americans have a fair amount of anti-tank assets with the 57L ATG, two Bazookas, and the three M-18s. Their problem is more that the M-18s can't be HIP, making it fairly clear where they are (if they are on-board; both sides can bring on any part of their OB as reinforcements). The Americans have three obvious firebreaks at which to stand up to the Germans: the at-start line, around H12 and around J19. There are seven victory locations between the first and the second firebreaks. The Germans have to cross all three firebreaks to win. The at-start firebreak lets the Germans use their armor in a set-piece battle. Unless the Americans commit AT assets the Americans in this area will probably be lost. Vince lost about 40% of his infantry and perhaps held the Germans up half a turn.

The second line held strong for a couple turns. His ATG killed my Panther on the bottom of the first turn, but it was positioned on the flank (A13) and was avoided by other armor. The Germans pushed into the M14 area with infantry, the other Panther and the SPW 251/21 to break through there while other infantry engaged in the center and on the German right. The American heavy, squad, and 9-1 leader in J13 managed to shoot up the attacks on the center and right until an advancing fire four up one shot from a 5-4-8 and the 9-2 (which I had wanted to move but forgot) broke the American kill stack. The American M-18s rushed on turn three, with two of them rushing at the SPW 251/21. It went into motion, then Stunned an M-18 that came too close (twelve up two against seven ML? Danger, Will Robinson). The Panther came to the rescue along with a squad with PSK and one with captured BAZ. The other M-18 attacked on the other side of the board but was also Stunned and done in with CC. (I forgot to roll for my ATMM: 5 DOH!). Vince had lost a six of his squads plus had two others broken at the start of American turn four. He had lost two of his M-18s and was about to lose the third (I rolled the JR-Tracy-Alternate-Universe result, and he was ded). With only three squads left plus an out-of-position, out-of-HE ATG and the still HIP 81mm MTR, Vince called it.

On review my plan to put a MMG in the only second level location (N7) didn't do as much as I thought it might. I was planning to send the 9-2 leader up there as well, but the leader was needed elsewhere. I did not think about setting up a halftrack blitz, loading the three SPW 251/1s with infantry and driving into the rear victory area, but I probably should have. The American AT assets are stretched pretty thin, and this might give the Germans easy VC hexes, especially in the back.

Vince did not set up any of his dummy counters as 5/8" dummies. My thinking is that the Americans should set up dummies to attract Panthers, then use the 57L ATG to ambush them. They might also be used to channel the Panthers in other directions. The Americans can rubble two hexes (which then generates two other, random rubble hexes), and these rubble hexes might be used for the dummies (or as a twist, for a real M-18). The Americans should probably hold off most/all of the M-18s (which Vince did) then rush on board at the appropriate time to stiffen the third firebreak. Like Vince I would like to try to defend that first firebreak, but I don't think the Americans can do it unless they commit more than they can afford to lose. The second firebreak is defensible, but the Americans should not hold it until the last man and the last cartridge. That only works for Germans. Once the Germans have started to work through they should be falling back from it to the third firebreak. I think the Americans need to garrison the back victory area to make a halftrack blitz less feasible. Perhaps the HMG together with a dummy/real M-18 in a rubble location and perhaps some dummy infantry would be enough to keep the Germans honest.

Overall I think this is a nice scenario. The Americans have to think hard about how to deal with the German armor, and they have to time their fallback carefully lest the Germans get behind them. The Germans have to be prepared to lose some units for the greater cause, but can't be rash about losses.

JR

 

[jrv]

Although I don't think the Americans want to defend the start line, they might be able put up some resistance on the back side of some of that area. In particular the École in I12 might be defended and perhaps G11, K11, E11/E12 and/or C12. The goal would be to slow the Germans from gaining positions for crossing the second firebreak. The units on that other side of the firebreak would be at some risk, but because No Quarter is in effect [HF2], if broken they will take interdiction rather than surrender. With the American broken ML of eight some remnants might make it back. It's likely that there are some American AT assets on the other side of the street, meaning that the German armor can't just run roughshod like they can at the start line. Two squads or so might cost the Germans a turn.

JR

 

[waltermcwilliam]

What did you do with the American 81MM? I have looked for a possible location for spotted fire, but there really isn't anything that struck me as good?

 

[jrv]

What did you do with the American 81MM? I have looked for a possible location for spotted fire, but there really isn't anything that struck me as good?

As I recall Vince had his in J19, and never used it. Towards the game end I was in the area, and with lots of halftracks, but I was either under the minimum range or out of LOS. That was not by plan. I had no idea the MTR was there, and in fact by that time I had forgotten he had a MTR.

Some quick other ideas: J30, split the final defensive area. Perhaps a good spot for the HMG too. N21, keep the fields clear and a shot at L19. H20, WP at K18 and/or I18 as the Germans begin their assault on the final area.

JR

 

[esprcorn]

I would LOVE if you would include some screenshots or photo's of your board in the actions...

 

[jrv]

I would LOVE if you would include some screenshots or photo's of your board in the actions...

We played face-to-face. We have a strict policy of no recording equipment. We contract with the Secret Service to sweep the room before we start. They aren't that good at sweeping however, and I usually run a vacuum over the floor after they have left. There was no record of the playing, and if asked we will deny that the event even took place. This post will self-destruct in five seconds. Would that this applied to most posts on the internet.

JR