Some extra thoughts and tidbits that didn't get into the Commentaries.
Overall, we're aware that it's hard to Commentate on a game where all you have is the logfile. We're trying to figure out some solution that lets us provide some kind of extra information to make it more obvious to the Commentators what's going on. Ideas solicited.
It is not easy playing against a Finn when they slip into using their native language. Tuomo would be muttering under his breath and CLAIMING to be counting Movement Factors, but was he really just calling my mama fat?
That one broken reinforcment squad of mine never rallied, the whole game.
As Martin, Dave, and others have said, 19X6 seems like a Fools Dream for the Russians. Not worth it - too hard to hold.
Setup - Dave and Martin wondered about my Dummy in 19Z2. As we've all noted, I've never played Tuomo before, so I had no idea whether he'd go after my turn 2 reinforcing infantry by pushing along that board edge himself. Those guys in 19Z2 were there to pretend to stop any such run. Shrug. Not much good can be done with the Dummies here, but I figured this might have some value. Ditto for the ?+1 who started the game down in 17H0, pretending to guard against a southern board edge run.
Loved that Tuomo named his tanks Dave and Martin
I'm happy that my Fancy MMG Firelane Trick with the HIP 10-2 worked, but one will note that the Russians gleefully ran through said firelane on both turns 2 and 3 with nary a scratch. FRUSTRATING!
German 2 - Dave and Martin felt like there were too many Germans coming in on the east side of board 19. It was just 467/LMG and two HS, one of which had the MTR and really wasn't going to do much except sit in that woods line and throw meatballs toward bd17 all game. Sure, one could say this was an unnecessary dilution of the German reinforcements, but I like to pressure my opponent's flank because some people really don't like that. Didn't seem to bother Tuomo too much; he didn't divert much of anything to stop them and managed to break the 467 when it finally did make its dash to threaten 17I8, but I still feel like this was a good idea.
German 3 - Falling back from 17P9 is a tough proposition. Think my 10-2, 127/MMG ate a 4-1 shot as they tried to skulk away and got lucky to survive. And yet, I think you really want to have that MMG in there to throw the firelane out toward J0 on R3, and you ultimately do want to retain the P9 building itself, so I think it's just one of those things you have to hope for the best.
EFFING immobilization on my tank with the Russian MTR! GRRR!
That 152mm-inspired Flame in 17S6 never did turn into a Blaze, all game. WRT Control of such a hex if the thing did Blaze up, I think A26.161 says it would go to whichever side controls the majority of adjacent hexes at game end. Which would be a Big Old Mess to figure out.
Russian 3 - I really didn't think much about what would happen when the weak German at-start forces started getting captured. Certainly the Russians could pass those Prisoners around and start creating halfsquads everywhere. Ugh.
German 4 - Yes, it was Dave's MGs that Stunned my CE tank. Shouldn't have taken that risk; I went CE in order to get 1 more MP out of the turn by using Road Movement. Totally not worth it. Totally bailed out by the Dice Gods.
Loved having my wounded 6+1 succeed in his Escape Attempt DR and create a Melee with his broken Guards. Helped block off that hex from Russians reinforcing P9.
Why were the Germans so aggressive in taking back P9? Shrug. The infantry reinforcements really weren't gonna jump off from the 17U9 woods line and make a push for the buildings on the west side of town. I thought P9 was the key to everything at that point, as it lets you push into the N9 woods and threaten all of the town, including I8. So I wanted to grab it while it was unoccupied. But yeah, I started getting into that "in for a penny, in for a pound" thing, where the first semi-aggressive move fails, so you just keep on reinforcing failure. Especially on turn 5's disastrous moves where I couldn't survive a 2-flat RFP shot to save my life.
Yes, the TCA change for the immobilized tank in 19N7 was to cover the west side in case a KV-2 came looking for trouble.
Russian 5 - Sniper took out my wounded 6+1! AWWWW.
Tuomo did the right thing by not trying to fix Dave's MA; the tank was better off as a mobile MG platform.
Our game didn't turn into a "Benny Hill" scenario with KV2's chasing MkIVs, but I wouldn't have minded that. I'd think the MkIVs could win that race, being faster with lots of cover to duck behind. But tell that to the guy in X3 who found himself with few good options once Martin trundled up to X5. Somehow I thought there was more cover with all the Woods hexes to Bypass behind, but nope. Had Martin not scored with that Advancing Fire Critical Hit, that MkIV was actually going to start G5 by plowing into the building in W3, just to get out of Martin's LOS. The other KV2 (Dave) in V3 might have been a tad surprised (visions of the Kool Aid Man breaking through the building shouting OHHH YEAHHH!) but he didn't have a MA to object with.
In retrospect, think how things would have been different if Martin had spent turn 6 moving back to the middle of town instead of cleaning up U5. Would have kept the German tanks from doing those fancy things during their turn 6. Funny how one little less-than-optimal move can have such huge impact.
German 5 - yes, Martin, it's possible for both of us to be doing really well AND really badly
You guys were right, I didn't need to push that much to eat all of that resid. At that point, I anticipated losing three more building hexes (W3, W4, U5) and I wanted to push. Didn't have a lot of time left, it felt like.
Russian 6 - funny, I didn't even think about the Russians continuing from W3/W4 to take the building in CC3. Would have helped the Russians.
German 6 - yes, I didn't illegally double-bounding-fire that tank. He overran M7 and then VBM'd P6, DMing the brokie in that hex
Russian 7 - no, that wasn't the end of the game! We had two more half-turns. Lemme describe them.
Here's what the board looked like at that point:
German 7:
PzIV in O6 moves through KV's hex, into bypass of P4, tries his sD7 but fails. Loops around the western side of Q4, stops in R4, takes an 8+1 BFF MG shot at the 447/LMG in R5, who Pins. Goes CE, moves to T5, ESB's and asks for 2 more, succeeds, moves into bypass of U5-U6, ends in Motion. We thought this would help with VCs since that was still a German-controlled Building Hex at the time. We THOUGHT that in order to retake the building hex, the Russians would need to pass a PAATC in order to advance in to the hex. Hope that was right.
PzIV in P6 moves down into bypass of P4, tries his sD7 but fails, goes to O4, stops, nails KV2 with a BFF TH DR of 5, TK DR of 3 (final TK # was 4). KV-2 crew survives. tank continues to O3 and stops, facing P4
467/MMG in P6 assault move over the wall to Q6, get hit with a 6-down-1 shot from the Pinned 447/LMG in R5, K/2 result, surviving HS BH's, goes berserk, charges R5, survives SFF shot
HS in P9 cx's to S7, survives a 4-2 from the 9-0,447 in P4L1, boxcars. advances in to retake bldg.
237 in O6 cx's, goes to P6, breaks from a 2-2 SFF shot from P4L1
wnd10-2, 127/MMG in O6 skulk to O7
CCPh - everybody survives CC in R5
R8 -
Dave tries to repair his MA, malfs it, is recalled
9-0's stack in P4L1 move downstairs and into bypass in Q4, take a 4-down-3 shot from O6, 1MC, leader is OK but squad pins and HS breaks, game over. Game board looked like this: