J 186 Castles on the Horizon

JoeArthur

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I have exactly the same problem - my tanks end up becoming blazing wrecks. I asked Craig Benn about this and he pointed out that moving a tank across another tanks LOS was just death. Hiding round objects, preventing your opponent from moving forward whilst not giving him a shot on you..........ASL becomes geometry.
 

Danno

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I have exactly the same problem - my tanks end up becoming blazing wrecks. I asked Craig Benn about this and he pointed out that moving a tank across another tanks LOS was just death. Hiding round objects, preventing your opponent from moving forward whilst not giving him a shot on you..........ASL becomes geometry.
I am also somewhat clumsy with AFVs. I find the person who shoots first tends to win the armor duel. And the vehicles distract from the infantry combat.
 

jrv

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I don't see many of the british AFVs using HD either behind hillocks or in crest in the wadis. While taking out the halftracks is an attractive idea, if the german decides not to use them aggressively I would not pursue them. The german will come to you, and he has eight tanks that are fairly vulnerable to the ordnance the british have. The others (the Pz IVE & the Pz IIIH) are not invulnerable either. In these types of battles the vehicles survive several hits before finally succumbing to fire, so unless a unit is about to die immediately, I would not (often) take any great risks when firing. The north hillock (and probably the south hillock) is going to fall if the german concentrates on it. It has to be defended to slow the germans down but its fall is not unexpected. Given the attack that developed the crusaders probably should have come in behind the back hillock and positioned themselves HD, then either fired at the flank if the germans attack the front hillock or had the Stuarts support from the flank if the germans charged the back hillock. I'm also not seeing any Smoke from the germans. They have lots of ways to put it down, so that's a bit surprising too.

JR
 

Roy

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This scenario looks like fun. I love the desert game, and the map looks wonderful. I commented on Scott's blog that if I only have 1 real AT asset, I won't be Intensive Firing unless I'm in self preservation mode.

I HAVE to play more actual desert. What a hoot.
 

jrv

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I commented on Scott's blog that if I only have 1 real AT asset, I won't be Intensive Firing unless I'm in self preservation mode.
The british have a fair number of AT assets, although most are not Guns. From where he positioned the ATG he was going to have a hard time using it because the range was always going to be fairly long, especially for a light caliber. And if you roll a twelve, even if you aren't using intensive fire there's a good chance that the gun never makes it back from the dead. But I think that intensive fire on the first turn from a gun that is not in any danger is a bit premature.

JR
 

jrv

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As strategy my first thought would be to use the ATG on the center front hillock and put a Stuart HD near each side hillock. If the germans attack strongly north or south, the ATG would cover that direction and the Stuart away from the action would also move to the center hillock into a HD position. One could also position both Stuarts in the center, but the loss of TK due to long range makes me want to have at least one Stuart in a position to get normal-range shots. Note that putting the ATG on the hillock summit in the center means it can't be emplaced. I am willing to accept that.

JR
 

jrv

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On the blog site it is suggested that the british tanks set up HD on the hillock summits. Unfortunately vehicles can't use a hillock summit for HD [F6.51]. They can claim height advantage, but I think the tanks are better off HD behind the hillock [F6.5], at least until the germans climb onto a hillock of their own. Then because the LOS is no longer same level, the brits would not be hull down. At that point they could duke it out manno-a-manno, they could move behind the hillock summit and become HD relative to tanks on a hillock again, or they could move to HD in a wadi. The problem with being on a hillock and behind a summit is that there is no LOS past the hillock summit to a lower (i.e. ground) level. Once the germans start climbing onto hillocks the brits may have to accept combat without being HD or make a quick shift into a wadi.

JR
 

jrv

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Some minor points: the Crusaders have good sM. The british 51mm MTR has the possibility of Smoke. When one of the british AFVs is having trouble, try for some Smoke to help out. Even the Stuarts might pop a puff of Smoke once in a while.

JR
 
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