CMBN: Taking the Soccer Pitch (Conclusion)

[Scott Tortorice]

This is the final part of an AAR I posted on my blog. I decided to post this last part here when my blog slid off the sidebar.

Continuing....

When last I left off, there were only 16 minutes left on the clock, and I was fighting to hold back a surging Wehrmacht that was doing everything it could to secure the objective (the aforementioned 'soccer pitch'). Using a combination of mortars and 105 arty, I blunted the AI surge by forcing them to go to ground. Here's a cool picture of the arty show:

​

With that accomplished, I then began assaulting the lower corners of the rectangular objective. Here you can see some troops, an ad hoc force of former MG ammo bearers (I was getting that desperate for troops) rushing to secure the bottom right corner of the "soccer pitch":

Unfortunately for the assaulting troopers, while the near clump of trees was clear, there appeared to be a beat-up HQ squad that nevertheless managed to kill one of my Joes during the assault :

Despite their casualties, my squad managed to overcome the resistance and even get the Germans to surrender:

​

​

​

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Meanwhile, my trusty M3A1 halftrack, commanded by the steely Forbes (this guy will be getting a medal!), kept making trips right up to the edge of the objective - and falling friendly arty - to drop off more troops:

​

The SITREP:

​

Of course, I still had to contend with that darn Pz IV that would pop out and bulls eye an occasional vehicle from across the battlefield and then disappear again:

​

Hate that guy.

Having secured the bottom two corners, it was time to take the top two. This was going to decide who won the match. If the top corners were heavily defended despite all the arty, I would probably lose the last two of my proper assault squads...and the game. I only gave myself a 45% chance that this would work. So I called off the arty, and sent in the troops:

​

Once they crossed the road, I figured they would get mowed down. Here we go....

​

Much to my surprise, he made it! :joy: Soon, the rest of his squad followed! I quickly sent a second squad to reinforce, but before they got there, this happened:

​

Victory! :vsign:

I have to say that was a fun QB. I think that was the most arty I ever used in a game. The effect was telling:

​

The picture is a bit small, but all those lumps are piles of Germans that were caught out in the open during the arty strikes.

The only thing I regret is that I never got that Pz IV. A few more turns I might have had him as I had some 105s zeroed in on his position and also detailed an ad hoc AT team to start stalking him. They were just edging up to his area when the game ended.