Green Hell of Inor CG III (Dennis Brothers)

[lionelc62]

I'll be posting pictures soon of my setup for the second day. We both bought Artillery Interdictions. I think its a no-brainer for the French, since the German gets the bonus 10 CPP and will be rolling a bunch. I was a little surprised by the German purchase of one. He also bought two counter-batteries and I bought none. I consider myself pretty lucky since my rolls weren't bad at all for the interdiction. I assume his losses will also be light; if any since he is applying a -2 to all of the rolls. I did lose a squad from a company and a half squad from a platoon, along with a single SW. We did have a question as to whether these losses are announced (type/strength), just the CVP value is announced or are they totally kept a secret? I announced the squad and a half and threw them in the dead bin we keep next to the map, but kept the SW type a secret to avoid giving him information on my purchases. Hopefully that is what the intent was.

We won't be back playing until Steve gets back from his "avoid the family on Thanksgiving" vacation in the Bahamas.

Yes, you do it right, don't announce exact interdiction losses until the end of the scenario.
Thansk

 

[sdennis]

We won't be back playing until Steve gets back from his "avoid the family on Thanksgiving" vacation in the Bahamas.

And for the record I'm only avoiding SOME of my family members, not all. (and it's not Neil or his ex-wife!)

I will post a picture of my drink on a beach in Exuma Bahamas! Hopefully be doing it by 3:00 tomorrow!!!

 

[Den589]

As suspected, Steve only lost a half squad in his interdiction rolls. So a complete waste of 2 CPP by me, the only consolation being he burned 2 CPP on his interdiction and 3 on Counter-battery to protect his guys. The net effect is he has a 1.5 vs .5 squad CVP advantage to start the CG day. We shall see what the delay rolls were, but alot of my stuff was bought in Reserve so not much potential help for Steve there.

 

[sdennis]

Inor will return after this brief break…

 

[sdennis]

It’s not wine but when in Rome…..

 

[Tuomo]

Steve - given how Michigan finally beat Ohio State while you were out of the country, I'll gladly foot part of the bill for you to do this every year.

 

[sdennis]

Steve - given how Michigan finally beat Ohio State while you were out of the country, I'll gladly foot part of the bill for you to do this every year.

I just told my wife you said that time so you’re on the hook!!!

 

[Den589]

We got back to Inor this weekend and got through German turn 2. We both bought Artillery interdiction, he bought two counter batteries and a bombardment and we netted not much from all of that pre-game activity. 1.5 squads dead and two broken squads for me and .5 squads dead for him. I did get a fanatic squad and a hero out of the bombardment on a heat of battle.

Through two turns, French casualties are still just the 1.5 squads killed pre-game and the German casualties are up to 2.5 squads so far. 1.5 were double broke to death by a French mini-kill stack and .5 rolled a 12 on a MC.

Here's the fight for the Bridge (pre-marked who is probably going to Prep in the upcoming turn):




Here's the Finger of woods where the main battle was on the first day:



Here's the battle for the Farm, Steve is attempting to go around the wire line it seems and is smoking the front trench with a newly purchased 81* Mortar in Q4; his mini-kill stack led by a 9-1 has run up under the motorcycle in S10 adjacent to the trench line, but I used almost the max fortification purchase this day and bought a bunch of Wire to slow the attack on the Farm:



He also entered an entire company in the Woods-Road area attempting to scream past this flank:



Purchases that are known so far. Steve knows I bought an Algerian Company, an 81MTR platoon, a 37INF platoon and a ton of fortifications. I know he has bought a company (unknown which, but I think the cheaper one), an 81*MTR platoon, a fortification point (or 1/2 point probably) and a bunch of platoons (I lost count; some on motorcycles). No armor/vehicles have been seen.

The woods road area is a bit concerning, but I do have a lot of guys over here. The Farm is about to get really interesting, with our forces right in each others faces, but nobody wants to step up into LOS yet.

 

[lionelc62]

It seems that casualties will rise up soon given the lenght of the frontline

 

[Den589]

It seems that casualties will rise up soon given the lenght of the frontline

Yeah, I've been falling back alot in most areas, but especially at the farm the French have been given hold every square meter orders.

 

[sdennis]

The bombardment drifting maximum in the completely wrong direction has drastically changed the attack. My hope was to push in the finger of woods after the bombardment and make the farm buildings untenable...

 

[Den589]

So we got to the French turn 4 of the second scenario and this is the situation.

This is the Bridge area; I brought on two armored cars who drove up and parked on the bridge; hiding behind the orchards from the 37L AT gun up on the hill, they overran the 4-6-7 that was trying to retake the bridge and are now daring anybody to approach it:



Here's the battle for the Finger as we are calling it. Not much action here through the whole day as after the bombardment failed, Steve hasn't pushed much here. We both have pretty strong forces here.



The Farm. He continues to try to go around the wire line and neither of us is brave enough to step adjacent and absorb fire. I did have a major error in regards to hex BB12. He rushed the truck and a squad adjacent and I did everything right, dismantled the 60 Mtr. so I could self-break and rout with it. Then for some reason i thought his guy was CX, wouldn't advance or some other stupid thought and I failed to self break him. The result is he has a nicely dismantled French 60 MTR in my foxhole that he can rout with now if the adjacent 4-5-7 can manage to break him. This is why I am not a good player, forgetting what I had planned on doing is 75% of my undoing.



The Woods Road is where the main German effort has been today, an entire company has been pushing me back all day. I've held my own, but continue to slowly fall back with the help of numerous Reserve units that he has activated in his advance.



We've discussed the different nature of this CG. The terrain makes it very different than the urban warfare that we mostly play. I think the replay-ability of this CG should be huge, because the German can decide where he wants to go, completely changing the battle. Steve completely ignoring Inor Village seems to be a rare choice, he has completely focused on the Finger of Woods the first day and today the Woods Road with a minor push at the Farm.

 

[sdennis]

I too am liking this CG so far. I'm not sure if ignoring Inor Village is a winner or loser so far, only time will tell. One concern I have is a lucky sniper or couple of rolls might completely turn the tide on any extended front like this. Imagine in the pic above if a sniper and/or lucky break gives me a hole in his line... I can run through before he can do anything about it.... Hope springs eternal

 

[lionelc62]

I too am liking this CG so far. I'm not sure if ignoring Inor Village is a winner or loser so far, only time will tell. One concern I have is a lucky sniper or couple of rolls might completely turn the tide on any extended front like this. Imagine in the pic above if a sniper and/or lucky break gives me a hole in his line... I can run through before he can do anything about it.... Hope springs eternal

Ignoring Inor is not usual, but it is not unusual also to have the French taking the village back after 2-3 CG Date. And the Germans can win even in this case, so we will see how it goes in you CG!

You can win without taking the village but you have to take most of the woods in this case.

Lionel

 

[sdennis]

You can win without taking the village but you have to take most of the woods in this case.

Lionel

I thought taking Inor Village was a victory condition???

 

[lionelc62]

I thought taking Inor Village was a victory condition???

No at the end of the CG the GErmans win if the French control <= 22 CG VP.
You need Inor Village for the 'sudden death' VC.

 

[sdennis]

Bad memory! Thanks for the info.

 

[Houlie]

I appreciate this rolling AAR. Curtis Brooks and I are planning to start CG1 in January. It would be my first CG ever. The three dates makes it perfect for me -- manageable size, reasonable commitment (just three dates) and no night. We're both excited to start playing it!

 

[Den589]

We got into turn 6 Monday and the Germans decided to jump on the wire in the Farm sector hoping for the end of the day roll. He promptly rolled a 6 and the battle continues. So the French will hopefully be shooting two halfsquads off of the wire in just a moment.

The Bridge sector is below , the only thing that has happened here is that his 50* mortar got a lucky to kill IFT roll of snakes and burned one of the AC before the other armored car broke the manning half squad. He did malf. then X out his 81* mortar on this flank, but pretty much status quo here otherwise. Gusts pushed the blaze into the stream-brush hex. Can a stream-brush hex burn???? We think so.



Pretty much the same in the finger of woods, he's made some slight moves up the hill for a hex or two and has finally found some mines just in front of my trench line in R21. Not much movement otherwise here.



The Farm has seen quite a bit of fighting with one of my 37INF guns getting retribution for my burning armored car by burning one of the annoying Kfz trucks in the grain in V9 The half squads that are hung up on wire in U10 and T11 are adjacent to a small horde of French who will be shooting them off and/or going under the wire through my nifty trenches to kill them in CC.. The 81 mortar Steve moved into T4 really rules this part of the battlefield, sight lines from that hex are huge. Thank God he can't set up there and will have to move it there again tomorrow or set up back a few hexes in a slightly less advantageous spot. The fight over the BB12 foxhole continues, I shot one squad out of there and killed it in the rout phase, but shortly after re-occupying it the mortar shot the French squad out of the foxhole and the Germans retook it. I'll be prepping into the foxhole again with an 8+2 and see if we can retake it for a second time. The half squad manning the 50* mortar in DD6 broke, so that could help.




That brings us to the Woods-Road section. Here I'm falling back on all fronts, he's really advancing well here and has taken almost every VP he's earned today on this front. I have around 12-14 squads and three leaders over here and it has not been anywhere near enough to stop him. Last turn I was FPF'ing a squad and generally firing like mad with almost no net effects. I have zero solutions as to what I can do to slow him in this dense terrain. He's constantly concealed and 4+1's or 6+1's are just not cutting it.



With the holiday, not sure when we will get back to this, but it should end quickly. 50/50 shot to be over after the French 6th turn.

 

[Den589]

We have concluded scenario 2 with the French rolling a 3 to end the day in the bottom of turn 6. There was very little change from the above pictures. I successfully kicked him off of the wire near the farm and jumped into the hexes, but since he dug a foxhole in U9, he's going to be right on top of me to start the next scenario. I was able to get into close combat in the foxhole in BB12, but during the refit conclusion of melee, I died. So he has a small platoon, consisting of 2 squads, 8-0 and one of the annoying AAMG trucks centered on that foxhole and a couple of hexes adjacent to it. This is a killer to me, as not only is this going to be hard to defend, but it also puts my dm 60 MTR sitting in no mans land.

Casualties were as follows: Germans lost 24 CVP and the French lost 17 CVP. Both lost one vehicle and the German lost a 81*MTR; with the rest being infantry.

I've continued to husband my forces, giving territory, but pretty soon I'm going to have to hold and put up a fight. Purchase and setup will be commencing for Day 3.